Transcript THE RENAISSANCE
THE RENAISSANCE THE “REBIRTH”
MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
• Today, people like to romanticize the time period known as the Middle Ages.
• Tales of courtly love in which knights rescue their beloved ladies from the perils of ruthless overlords are almost entirely make believe.
• Even the wealthy did not live lives of leisure, as one would suppose from reading fantasies written about the time.
MYTH #1 – CASTLE LIFE
• Firstly, land was owned by approximately 1% of the population.
• Only those who owned land could afford to build a castle.
• The rest of the population consisted of the clergy (2%) and the peasants (97%).
• The clergy lived in monasteries with little conveniences.
• The peasants lived in hovels.
• A person’s status in life was unchangeable. • The minority group, the nobility, were blessed with lives of mostly leisure.
• The majority peasant group were sentenced to lives of hard toil 7 days a week throughout the daylight hours.
• They were commanded by their noble landowning lords.
STATIC SOCIETY
• For the 1000 years of the Middle Ages, ~400 – 1400 A.D., the entire focus of a person’s life was to make it to the afterlife.
• They prayed up to 6 times a day for protection or help.
• They did not believe in self reliance or self preservation.
• People believed all diseases and misfortunes were punishment by God.
AN AGE OF FAITH
• The average person only bathed once a year, if that and wore the same clothes yearlong.
• Their animals (pigs, dogs, chickens) lived in their homes with them.
• They did not treat diseases, only prayed for cures.
• They had terrible diets, mostly of dark bread and gruel.
• Their average life span was 35 years.
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Because of their close proximity to their animals, they had the same fleas and lice.
• During several stretches of years during the Middle Ages, the Bubonic Plaque ravaged the population.
• Up to a third of the population of Europe was killed by it.
• It is a disease carried by fleas.
• The clergy, who mostly came from the noble class, were necessary for interceding with God on the victims’ behalf.
• Here plague victims are being blessed by a Bishop so that they might be cured.
• The ill will of God was the only source of disease in their minds.
INTERCESSION
FOCUS OF ATTENTION
• Because peoples’ attention was directed to the afterlife, they did not pay attention to the world around them.
• People and objects were depicted symbolically.
INACCURATE PROPORTIONS
• People were not depicted in accurate proportions, either from one part of their body to another, or to things in their environment.
• Notice how large the people are in comparison to horses and buildings.
PERSPECTIVE ERRORS
• Notice the town and castle.
• There are people looking over the walls.
• Also notice the giant people sitting across the top of the image. They have seemingly no relationship to the scene below.
• The town and castle are not in perspective at all.
• The horses are as large as the town.
FURTHER ERRORS IN PERSPECTIVE
• In the upper image, the ceiling has straight beams. They should angle toward the center.
• In the lower image, the sizes of objects do not change as they go back into the distance. Also, the building is larger on its back side that on the side facing the viewer.
• Notice the larger size of the king and the small size of the oxen.
• Artworks from the Middle Ages are almost entirely religious in subject matter.
• Artworks were limited to sculptures which were part of buildings, icons of tempera painted on wooden panels, manuscript illuminations painted with either watercolors, inks or tempera on parchment or vellum, stained glass, or tapestries.
• Frescoes became more popular toward the end of the age.
MEDIEVAL MEDIA
PRIOR TO THE MIDDLE AGES
• The Roman Empire ruled all of Europe prior to 400 A.D.
• The Romans had a different philosophy about mankind’s place in the world.
• They believed that nature could be mastered through careful study and innovation in engineering.
• The Romans bathed frequently, wore a variety of clothes, practiced medicine, had well rounded diets, modified the environment to control disease bearing insects, and lived to an average age of 72.
• They focused on the world around them and studied it to understand how it worked.
SELF-AWARENESS
• The Roman’s philosophy about mankinds’ ability to master their world through innovation and study is called Humanism.
• They followed the ancient Greeks in this belief system.
• This philosophy is exhibited in the realism of their art.
• This image is from the Ixion Room of the House of the Vetii in Pompeii, which was buried by a volcano in 79 A.D.
• Notice the fairly realistic perspective and the solidity and naturalism of the figures.
• At the end of the Middle Ages, in the1300’s, art would begin to mirror a change in philosophy back towards the ideals of self-determination from the Greeks and Romans.
• Cimabue is one of the last Italian artists to paint in the Medieval mode.
• He was the master of his age.
LATE MEDIEVAL ART
FROM REAL LIFE
• In the middle of his career, Cimabue made a great discovery.
• During his time, most people traveled by foot from town to town.
• He was walking from one town to another, when he came across a young shepherd boy drawing sheep on a rock with a stick of charcoal.
• This boy’s name was Giotto di Bondone.
• Cimabue was so impressed with the child’s drawings that he immediately found his father and requested that Giotto apprentice under him.
• Art changed forever.
• Giotto’s gift to art was the practice of drawing from life.
• He always studied his subjects carefully, drawing as he looked at them.
• This made his work far more accurate in proportion, space, and form.
• Notice the careful shading of the figures to look rounded and 3-D.
GIOTTO’S LEGACY
• Giotto’s masterpiece is the Arena Chapel.
• It contains a series of frescoes depicting scenes from Christ’s life. • A fresco is a painting on plaster. There are two types of fresco: • Buon fresco or “true fresco” which is a technique of painting onto moist plaster with colors ground up in a limewater mixture. With this technique the painting is soaked into the plaster. It is not just on the surface.
• Fresco secco or “dry fresco” is a technique of painting on dry plaster with watercolor. With this technique the painting is only on the surface of the plaster.
• Giotto painted using buon fresco.
ARENA CHAPEL
• Giotto is called the Pre Renaissance artist, because of the realism of his work.
• He is not full Renaissance artist, because the subject matter of his work is still Medieval.
• He will however influence all of the Renaissance artists.
• All artists of the next generation would travel to view his works as part of their training.
PRE-RENAISSANCE
A TIME OF CHANGE
• It would take the people of the nation where the original Roman innovators lived to jumpstart society out of the Middle Ages.
• Great strides in philosophy and innovation would begin in the southern European nation of Italy.
GREAT INSTIGATORS
• One family is responsible for changing the Western world and moving it out of the Middle Ages: the Medicis of Florence.
• Cosimo di Medici, the head of a powerful banking and merchant family in Florence began to support philosophers, historians, engineers, musicians and artists as a patron.
• He pushed for the philosophy of Humanism, an ancient Greek belief system, to become the guiding force behind innovation in all aspects of life.
HUMANISM
An ancient Greek philosophy that focused on the belief that humans are the supreme creation.
It supposes that human beings are like God in that they can create totally new ideas and solutions to problems encountered in life.
This philosophy would stress the study of the natural world, medicine, civil engineering, architecture that focused on human needs, and other earthly problems.
This belief system would promote the study of the physics of how objects work and how natural systems function.
FLORENCE, ITALY THE CRADLE OF CHANGE
THE RENAISSANCE
• It would originate in and be focused around the city of Florence, Italy.
• It would create changes in lifestyles which would lengthen life.
• It would generate situations that would allow for people of genius to pursue their areas of study and be recognized for their gifts.
• It would move visual arts from a craft to a liberal art worthy of recognition.
• It would promote the idea that solutions to physical problems on earth could be discovered and life could thus be improved.
• It would allow people of lower classes to move upward in society based upon their abilities.
• For several generations, the Medici family would continue to be the major instigators of change through their patronage of philosophers, historians, engineers, mathematicians, musicians, and artists.
• Their wealth and power rivaled ruling families all over Europe.
MEDICI FAMILY
FILLIPPO BRUNELLESCHI
• Fillippo Brunelleschi was an artist who was recognized early by Cosimo di Medici for his talents in sculpture and architecture.
• Brunelleschi made fundamental discoveries in how to depict space by inventing one-point linear perspective.
INNOVATIVE DOME
• To sell his idea and win the commission for the design of the dome for the Florence Cathedral, Brunelleschi developed a drawing method, linear perspective.
• His dome design is also innovative, because it is actually a double dome, which makes it much stronger.
CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE
• Brunelleschi also designed his patrons’ new palace in Florence.
• His design was clearly influenced by Roman architecture.
• It has rounded arches, different treatments for each level, and attached pediments.
• Palazzo Medici, Florence, Italy and its main courtyard
BALANCE AND HARMONY
• Architecture from the Renaissance became far simpler and more symmetrical in design than buildings from previous periods.
• Elements of Roman architecture appear: pedimental roofs, attached columns, arched openings and clearly delineated levels.
• Alberti, Sant’ Andrea, Mantua, c. 1470
MASACCIO
• The first painter to incorporate Brunelleschi’s linear perspective techniques into his artwork was Masaccio.
• This painting, Holy Trinity, is a fresco.
• The figures are life-size.
• The clothing and figures are shaded in the method of Giotto.
• The alcove is an illusion, all paint.
• It is painted to seem as if it goes back into space.
• This painting was so realistic at the time, that people fainted when it was first revealed, because they thought Christ was real.
MASACCIO’S MASTERPIECE
• The Tribute Money has very believable perspective.
• The figures appear to be three-dimensional and solid.
• Proportions are accurate and believable.
EARLY RENAISSANCE
• Early Renaissance artists focused on depicting naturalistic and believable space.
• This artwork by Pieter Perugino uses one-point perspective.
• It is titled Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter. It is a fresco in the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) at the Vatican in Rome. It dates from 1481-1482.
• This painting is as much about the depiction of space as the story.
RENAISSANCE SUBJECTS
• Throughout the Renaissance the main subject matter will still be Christian stories.
• This is mostly because the Catholic Church was the main patron.
• This fresco is titled, The Annunciation. It was painted between 1438 and 1445 by Fra Angelico.
• Some wealthy patrons also commissioned portraits.
• This painting was made by Fra Filippo with tempera on a wooden panel around 1440.
• Its title is Portrait of a
Man and Woman at a Casement.
SCULPTED REALISM
• The changes in art were not limited to painting.
• Sculptors also were influenced by Greek and Roman art.
• Sculptors arranged their figures in contrapposto, or weight shift, so that the weight was on one leg.
• David, Verrocchio, c. 1465-1470, bronze.
DONATELLO
• The influence of the ancient artists is very apparent in the works of Donatello.
• He was a sculptor who entire career was spent under patronage of the Medicis.
• His figures are very naturalistic.
• He was influenced by Verrocchio.
A COMPETITION BETWEEN GIANTS
• Just as the Medicis sponsored a competition to design the cathedral in Florence, they also sponsored a contest for the design of the Baptistry doors.
• The Baptistry was a building solely for the purpose of Baptisms.
LORENZO GHIBERTI
• Brunelleschi, the great architect, competed for the commission, but Ghiberti won the job.
• These are the second set of doors he designed.
• They are gold plated over wooden relief carving.
• Michelangelo was so impressed with them, he called them “The Gates of Paradise.” The title has stuck until the present time.
• Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1425-1452, gold plated over wood, Baptistry, Florence
• Amazingly, Ghiberti has incorporated the concepts of linear perspective into these relief panels.
Isaac and His Sons,
Detail from
Gates of Paradise
SANDRO BOTTICELLI
Birth of Venus, c. 1484-1486, tempera on canvas
Botticelli’s lyrical depictions of mythological themes have been favorites of art lovers for centuries.
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (Spring), c. 1482, tempera on canvas
AMAZING ILLUSIONS
• Through his use of perspective techniques, our last Early Renaissance artist created the illusion of looking upward into the sky through a hole with little cherubs in foreshortening looking down at the viewer.
• These types of paintings will influence later styles of art seeking tromp l’oeil illusionism.
• Mantegna, Ceiling of Camera degli Sposi, Room of the Newlyweds, 1474, fresco
TEACHER TO THE MASTERS
• While himself a major artist and member of the Medici artists, Ghirlandaio is best known as the teacher of several very important artists: Michelangelo Buonarrotti in particular.
• Ghirlandaio, Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, 1488, tempera on panel
HIGH RENAISSANCE
• The High Renaissance is a period of art which occurred after the mid-15 th century.
• It was characterized by the inclusion of three master artists who are considered to be perhaps the greatest artists of all time: Leonardo daVinci Michelangelo Buonarrotti Raphael Sanzio
LEONARDO DA VINCI
• Leonardo daVinci was the man for whom the term “Renaissance Man” was coined.
• Leonardo was a genius who discovered how most systems in the human body function, who developed many machines for flight, locomotion, war, and others, who was a talented musician, and a master visual artist.
• This painting is a masterful example of Leonardo’s invention of “sfumato”. This technique creates blurred edges and a hazy atmosphere.
• The most famous face in history: Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1505, oil on canvas
THE LAST SUPPER
c. 1495-1498, Santa Maria della Grazie Considered the most perfectly composed image in history.
Leonardo experimented with painting oil paint in the fresco secco technique. Moisture trapped between the oil and plaster immediately caused paint to begin flaking off.
• Following the building’s almost total destruction during WWII, The Last Supper has been strenuously guarded, including replacing the structure destroyed by bombs.
• Most of the image is still readable, however the entire original surface is gone.
• The image is more or less a ghost image of what it once was.
• The home of this famous painting is now a museum.
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTTI
• Michelangelo was a child prodigy.
• He was brought into the Medici palace as a child and raised along side the Medici children.
• From the beginning, he saw himself as a sculptor.
• He was able to make stone seem to come to life.
• Pieta, 1498-1500, marble
• Michelangelo was able to carve every muscle, fold, and texture with ease out of hard stone.
• His forms are so muscular and supple they seem to be lifelike.
• He chose expression of mood and idea as his focus.
• Here David is preparing mentally to fight Goliath.
• David, 1501-1504, marble
David
A GRAND EGO
• Michelangelo was well aware of his special gifts.
• When he completed this sculpture, he supposedly tapped the knee and said… “Now speak!” • Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Moses, 1513-1515, marble
GREATER EXPRESSION
• Later sculptures became more and more expressive.
• These two sculptures are part of Lorenzo di Medici’s tomb.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Tomb for Lorenzo de Medici, Night and Day, marble
TOWARDS BAROQUE ART
• Baroque art will be characterized by twisting and moving forms.
• Also, Baroque forms have a lot of expression in faces and motions.
• This sculpture is partially unfinished.
• Its surfaces are full of varying textures. These help to create a very strong mood of suffering.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Pieta, 1547-1555, marble
A GREAT PAINTER
• The Pope commissioned Michelangelo to repaint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome.
• Michelangelo argued that he was a sculptor not a painter to no avail.
• He spent four long years painting this ceiling.
• It is one of the greatest masterpieces of art ever made.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508-1512, buon fresco
• 22 years after he finished the ceiling, Michelangelo was sent back to the Sistine Chapel by another Pope to paint the wall over the altar.
• This painting is very different in style from his earlier pure Renaissance painted ceiling. • Instead of calm, balance and harmony, these figures twist, contort and writhe across the wall.
• This is a very expressive and emotional image.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, The Last Judgment, 1534 1541, buon fresco
A MASTER ARCHITECT
• The Pope interrupted Michelangelo’s sculpturing again to have him finish his new cathedral, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican, Rome.
• The Pope wanted only a master to design the most important church in all of Christendom; the home of the Catholic faith.
• After leaving the Sistine Chapel, the visitor can travel into St. Peter’s and view the amazing dome which Michelangelo designed to complete the cathedral.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, 1547, the Vatican, Rome, Italy
For his dome design, Michelangelo incorporated Brunelleschi’s double shelled dome. He then added windows to admit light. There is actually a gallery at the base of the dome around which the visitor may walk, over a hundred feet above the floor!
MICHELANGELO’S STYLE
• Michelangelo’s architectural style is characterized by symmetrical balance, simplicity and repetition of shapes.
• His ordered style would influence later building styles, especially the Neoclassical architectural styles.
• Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Laurential Library vestibule and reading room, 1523-1571, architecture
• The architect that was most famous at the end of the Renaissance was Andrea Palladio.
• His buildings combine many features of Roman building styles.
• His symmetrical arrangements of parts will show up again during the Neoclassical period.
• This building influenced Jefferson’s Monticello.
• Andrea Palladio, Villa Capra La Rotonda, 1566 1580, architecture
PALLADIO
RENAISSANCE PLANS
• Palladio’s designs are characterized by symmetrical balance, repetition of forms, balance, and simplicity.
• His forms derived out of Michelangelo’s architectural style.
• Andrea Palladio, Floor plan for Villa Capra La Rotonda
RAPHAEL SANZIO
• Raphael is the final great Renaissance master of the High Renaissance.
• He died relatively young, but all of his works are masterpieces.
• He incorporated the triangular composition and sfumato of Leonardo and the three-dimensional solidity of Michelangelo.
• Raphael’s color is unique to him though. He often used brilliant red and intense blue.
• Raphael Sanzio, Madonna of
the Meadow, 1505, Oil on wood panel
• This one painting is a culmination of all things gained by the Renaissance: the philosophy of Humanism, reverence for classical Greece and Rome (building structure and clothing, representation of great thinkers from the past.) • Note two main figures are Leonardo (left center with blue top and orange toga) and Michelangelo seated leaning on a stone in foreground.
• Raphael Sanzio, The School of Athens, 1508-1511, buon fresco