Transcript DJS Art and Renaissance

Art & Northern Renaissance
Medieval Art
• Artists depicted
subjects in an
unrealistic twodimensional style
• Indicated the
importance of the
soul over the body.
• Disproportionate
• Flat/Dull
• Religious themes
Renaissance Art
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Use of oil paints
3-D and realism
Lifelike
Influenced by GrecoRoman culture
• Depth, shadows
• Bright colors (oil paints)
• Emotion,
• Religion, myth,
everyday life
Leonardo da Vinci
• Leonardo da Vinci was a:
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Painter
Sculptor
Inventor
Scientist
• A true “renaissance man”, he was
interested in how things worked
• He studied how a muscle moved
and how the veins are arranged on
a leaf
• He filled notebooks with
observations & new inventions
• One of his best known paintings is
the portrait of Mona Lisa
• Leonardo also produced a famous
religious painting, The Last Supper
Michelangelo
• Like da Vinci, Michelangelo was a true
renaissance man
• He excelled at almost every area of study
• He was a painter, sculptor, architect &
poet
• Michelangelo is most famous for the way
he portrayed the human body
• He explored the Renaissance theme of
human potential (humanism) by creating
figures with power & grandeur
• Michelangelo designed the dome on St.
Peter’s Basilica, working on it until his
death in 1564
• His most famous sculpture is David, an
18 foot tall tribute to the biblical hero
• He also painted the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel in Rome
• Many of his panels combine Christian
themes with Greek values
Raphael
• Raphael was younger than
Michelangelo & da Vinci
• He learned from studying their works
• One of Raphael’s favorite subjects
was Madonna (Mary) & child (Jesus)
• His greatest achievement was the
School of Athens
• It was painted on the walls of Pope
Julius II’s library
• It shows classical & Renaissance
figures listening to Greek
philosophers
• Keep in mind Renaissance artists
didn’t ignore religious themes
• Many of the times, popes were artists
biggest patrons
• However, Renaissance artists
incorporated realism & classical ideas
when they did cover religious themes
Renaissance Spreads North
• By the late 1400s, Renaissance ideas spread to
northern Europe-especially England, France,
Flanders & Germany
• Visitors to Italy were impressed by the ideas of
Renaissance writers & artists
• Merchants carried the ideas with them as they
traveled
• By 1450 the population of northern Europe,
which had been shattered by Plague, was
recovering
• In addition, the destructive Hundred Years’ War
between England & France ended in 1453
• Many cities grew rapidly--Merchants &
kings/queens sponsored the arts
• Northern Europe had monarchies, not city-states
• When a French king took over the throne in
Naples (S. Italy) he launched an attack on N.
Italy
• Many artists moved to other countries in Europe
Northern Renaissance Uniqueness
• As Renaissance ideas spread out
of Italy, they mingled with
northern traditions
• As a result, the Northern
Renaissance developed its own
character
• Many of the humanists there
were more concerned with
religious ideals, than secular
themes popular in Italy
• The Renaissance ideal of human
dignity inspired some northern
humanists
• They developed plans for social
reform (change) based on
Christian values
Albrecht Duerer
• Albrecht Duerer was without
doubt the greatest artist of
the Northern Renaissance.
• Found inspiration in the work
of painters of both major
European artistic centers of
his time.
• Rather than simply imitating
what others were doing,
• Duerer was very much an
innovator.
• First artist who is known to
have painted a self-portrait
• And to have done a
landscape painting of a
specific scene.
Albrecht Duerer
• The range and versatility of
Duerer's work is astonishing.
• His woodcuts and engravings
made him famous
• Still considered to be the greatest
printmaker of all time.
• As an oil painter, Duerer was
equally successful at religious and
secular subjects
• Producing magnificent altarpieces
and powerful portraits.
• His drawings and watercolors are
impressive for their diversity of
subject-matter
Hans Holbein
• Born in Augsburg, a rich
merchant city with close trading
relations with Italy
• The knowledge which Durer
strove for so passionately
throughout his life…
• came more naturally to Holbein.
• Coming from a painter's family he
absorbed the achievements of
both the northern and the Italian
artists.
• He was hardly over thirty when he
painted the wonderful painting of
the Virgin with the family of the
burgomaster of Basle as donors.
Hans Holbein
• Holbein had careful attention to
detail and a certain indifference
to conventional beauty
• These were characteristics that
show Holbein had learned his
trade in the North.
• He was on his way to becoming
the leading master of the
German-speaking countries
• However the turmoil of the
Reformation put an end to all
such hopes.
Jan van Eyck
• Jan van Eyck was the greatest
artist of the early Netherlands
school.
• Held high positions in his career,
including court painter and
diplomat.
• So outstanding was his skill as
an oil painter that its invention is
often attributed to him.
• Exploited the qualities of oil,
building up layers of transparent
glazes
• Thus giving him a surface on
which to capture objects in the
minutest detail and allowing for
the preservation of his colors.