Renaissance

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

Florence, Italy 145h-15th century

Wealthy patrons of art - the Medici Family

• interest in CLASSICAL (greco-roman) art → revival

“Rebirth” of literature, science, and art

Artists enjoy high status

Humanistic belief - man is the center of the universe

• Architecture is secular and less tall (less about getting close to the sky where Heaven and God is)

Appreciation of beauty - recalls the past of Classical Greek and Romes

“Palazzo Rucellai” Florence, Italy; Alberti; 1450; Stone Masonry

Secular - the private home of Giovanni Rucellai

• the patron = GIovanni; he was a wool merchant

Based on design of Palazzo Medici AND Colosseum → revival of classical design

4 stories

Greco-Roman = columns and barrel arches

Shows political loyalty to Medici family by basing it off of their Palazzo

Complete divorce from medieval - flat facade, horizontal lines

Benches - for public use

“David” Donatello; 1450; Bronze

Patron =- Medici Family

5 feet tall (freestanding)

Greek = nude, bronze, contrapposto stance

Revived the fresstanding nude (Greco-Roman)

Displayed PRIVATELY (in atrium), young, intimate

Displayed in private courtyard of Medici home

• Shows the patron’s (the Medici family’s) social status

• First time showing a biblical figure in nude (strange, not at first public)

Later placed in town hall for political propganda

• David = up and coming city (Florence) who defeats a larger enemy (France = Goliath)

Shows David from David and Goliath - AFTER David slays Goliath - David has his foot on Goliath’s head to show dominance

People of Florence identified with David - defeated a larger enemy (France)

“Pazzi Chapel” Florence, Italy; 1460; Italian Renaissance; Brunelleschi

Brunelleschi - comes up with linear perspective

Patron - Pazzi family for monk’s cloister (meditation) and family funerals

Emphasizes their wealth AND piety

Modeled after the PANTHEON

• Central plan

• proscenium

• Oculus

INTERIOR:

Grey pietra stone - emphasizes geometry

PENDENTIVE (like Hagia Sophia)

• dome on a square of arches

• Corinthian capitals

• Roundels for artwork - used Baked clay reliefs (combines tradition -Greek Roundels- with innovation/modern materials - baked clay reliefs)

“Birth of Venus” 1485; Sandro Botticelli; Tempera on Canvas

Tempera = type of paint

Patron - Medici Family

Innovation = Canvas & PASTEL colors

Venus = Roman goddess of love (humanism - revival of classical/Greco-Roman ideals/culture)

Based on poem by HUMANIST writer Poliziano

Form is based on Greek sculpture of goddess (contrapposto stance)

Light skin color, looks like marble → Roman

Flat background - very Medieval (past), but shows innovation through canvas and pastel colors

TRIANGLE - stability and balance

Smooth contours, charoscuro

• shading to look 3d (modeling)

“Madonna and Child With Two Angels” Fra Filippo Lippi (artist); 1465; Tempera on Wood

Close up, theatrical scene, includes the viewer/seems like the viewer is apart of the scene/image - like Lamentation from Arena Scrovegni

Trompe Loeil - illusionistic painting

• The painting is flat, but has a drawn in picture frame with figures, such as Mari and the angel, coming out

Background - showed a SPECIFIC PLACE - Arno Valley, Italy

• It was a PLACE ON EARTH

• Easily recognized by viewer (Florentine) and showed a specific time

• Down on Earth to be more relatable to the viewer - Humanism

• bg. not gold (showing timelessness and divinity) like Medieval times - reflects the humanistic focus on the human experience and the natural world

Mary - shown wearing a crown of pears and veil in hair

• wearing modern Florentine clothing, appearing like a Florentine noble woman. This makes Mary, a religious figure, look more relatable, contemporary, approachable, and grounded in the human world, thus showing the humanistic focus on human experience.

Idealized naturalism - chiarscuro, empirical science

• look contemporary - humanism

Rise in art status - bc they have the talent and creativity to create the work → they now control how and when they release work, but b4, the patron controlled this

HUMANIZATION OF TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS ART

“Venus of Urbino” Titian (artist); Oil on Canvas; 1538

Patron - Duke of Urbino

Function - educate Duke of Urbino’s wife on three roles

• 1. be a beautiful, sensual wife and serve the husband

• 2. Be a doting housewife -seen by the child reaching into toy box in the back

• 3. Be loyal

Private viewing, likely covered in silk cloth

• highly sensual → not fit to be public

Asymmetrical balance, ISOSCELES TRIANGLE (balance, stability)

• balance through the PENDANT (object placed near the foot)

• The pendant is a DOG, symbolizing loyalty and fidelity

Challenging gaze- Venus is looking at viewer

Belle Donne - “beautiful female” - token of love during courtship, idealized beautiful female

Venus REPRESENTS THE IDEAL WIFE, is NOT the wife

Based on Giorgione’s sleeping Venus, BUT Giorgione’s Venus…

• is outside, less sensual

• Closed eyes - no challenging gaze like Venus of Urbino

• No pendant

Northern Renaissance

15th century, after Florence

• Florence starts renaissance, but it spreads later

Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg

Controlled by wealthy Dukes of Normandy (France)

Newly wealthy citizens commission art (PATRONS)

Private prayer and meditation

Farther from the Catholic Church and the Pope

“Annunciation Triptych” (Merode Altarpiece); Workshop of Robert Campin; 1430; Oil on Wood; Northern Renaissance

Triptych - painting on 3 panels

Narrative - The Annunciation - Angel Gabriel is telling Mary she’s pregnant w/ Jesus

Setting - A CONTEMPORARY HOME

• Humanism - relatable to the humans of the time

• Mary is portrayed as a contemporary upper-class individual- This makes Mary, a religious figure, look more relatable, contemporary, approachable, and grounded in the human world, thus showing the humanistic focus on human experience.

Bench = Attempt at linear perspective (Brunelleschi)

Depth in overlapping

LEFT PANEL

• Shows the Donor and His Wife

• Using wealth to establish piety - including their image in an expensive painting of a biblical narrative

• Placed in their home as a devotional image (BUT did not have healing powers)

RIGHT PANEL

• Joseph in his workshop - Jesus was also a carpenter

• Building a rat trap - rat trap symbolizes the Devil

“Arnolfini Portrait” Jan Van Eyck; 1434; Oil on Wood

Content/Context: COULD BE…

• 1. marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini AND Giovanna Cenami

• 2. a memorial to dead wife

• 3. Could be a business merger between the two powerful merchant families

HYPPEREALISM - EXAGGERATED realism

• emphasize artist talent and skill - more commissions from patrons - more money

Convex Mirror = a mirror that curves OUTWARD - would distort proportions - Eyck keeps the detail and realism even in the mirror - showcase his (the artist) talent

• has roundels that show Christ’s Crucifixion

New oil-glazing technique - layers of color

3 quarter face view - super interactive

• Just like Niobedes Krater

SYMBOLS

• Dog = loyalty and fidelity

• Clothing = shows wealth and social status

• Fat Stomach = 1. could show her pregnancy AND/OR 2. Show wealth and status by showing she has enough status to access that amount of food

• Single Burning Candle = represents the ever present eye of God

• Oranges= wealth and status - Oranges were not native to the area, thus oranges were only accessible to the wealthy who could import it

• Removed shoes - show respect by honoring a sacred area

• St. Margaret Chair - patron’s Saint of child birth

• Red Bed - death during child birth - the red color could indicate that the wife may have died during child birth due to bleeding out, thus this portrait could be a memorial to the dead wife

“Adam and Eve” 1505; Albrecht Durer; Engraving

Apprenticed with local painter —

• artists are valued/more high status → open workshops with apprentices who help

Engraving - printmaking for MASS PRODUCTION

• things are portable, for working-class merchants, cheaper

Contrapposto stance

position references Apollo and Venus

Book - Manual of Measurement (like Polykleitos’ Canon)

Idealized naturalism

4 animals = the 4 temperaments (dominant, outgoing, patient , sad)

A parrot = in Germany, the parrot was believed to make the sound “eva ave”, which translates to hail mary

Broken tree branch in Adam’s hand represents the tree of LIFE, while the fig in Eve’s hand is the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

“Hunters in the Snow” Bruegel the Elder; Oil on wood; 1565; Netherlands

Commisioned by WEALTHY banker - Jongelink

Idyllic yet challenging nature = unsuccessful hunt, yet ice skating

Genre scene = scenes of everyday life

• No Jesus, no patron, no King or Queen, just regular people

Atmospheric perspective - as things get farther away, they get SMALLER AND BLURRIER

Extreme depth

Blue lapis lazuli paint

“Isenheim Altarpiece” 1515; Oil on Wood; Matthias Grunewald; German

Painted for MONASTERY of St. Anthony - church run hospital

St. Anthony = patron saint of skin diseases (shown in right panel)

• the hospital treats skin diseases → Jesus is shown with skin diseases

Muted green colors contrasted with bright red - St. Luke describes a DARK sky during crucifixion

• red contrasting with muted colors = like Night Attack

Catholic doctrine symbols - lamb spurting blood into chalice - represents the Eucharist

LOOK IN BINDER FOR LABELING

Mysticism (emotional connection to religion) - like Rottgen Pietta

Jesus is seen physically suffering → relates to the audience of the ill hospital patients → humanism thru this relation

Historically accurate depictions of the plague

ISENHEIM ALTARPIECE OPENED:

Colors are BRIGHTER

more light

3 celebratory stories

• Annunciation

• the birth of Christ and celebration of Mary and Child

• Ascension of Jesus

Gives HOPE because even though Jesus suffered, he resurrected and ascends to heaven → If the patients are devoted, their current suffering will not compare to the joy that comes when they enter heaven

HIGH RENAISSANCE

16th century Italy

Explosion of creative genius

Shift in patronage- the CATHOLIC CHURCH

• just as it was before merchants

• 16th century - wanted to renovate St. Peter’s Basilica

• Sells INDULGENCES to fund - pieces of paper marketed as a way to forgive sins and save unabptized dead family members

Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rafael

Italian Ren Problem - spiritual figure looked TOO human, NOT divine

High Ren SOLUTION - realistic AND divine

“The Last Supper” Leonardo da Vinci; 1495; Oil and Tempera

15×29 ft. - Italian’s convent’s dining hall wall → the monk also eating here js as the people are in the painting

Tempera on stone experiment - the painting didn’t last/was not permanent

Jesus seen blessing bread and wine, establishing the eucharist

Individualized emotions - like Lamentation

Judas is modelled after a real criminal - empirical science

Sfumato - smoky lines - mimic how eye sees naturally

SHOWS DIVINITY OF JESUS

• Jesus seen as the calm amongst the chaos (like Palette of King Narmer and Alexander Mosaic)

• Implied halo - empty space around him

• Center of one point perspective - center of the universe

• 4 in front of window - has nature - Heaven

• Equilateral triangle

SYMBOLISM

• Judas = holding the bag of money that the soldiers paid him so he can identify Jesus for arrest, reachign for same plate as Jesus → will betray him

• John = reflection of Jesus, will carry on teachings after death (theory = believed to have been Mary Magdalene/Jesus’ wife)

• Peter = slicing hand with knife, will sever ear of Roman soldier

• Nature in window - paradise/heaven, accessed only through Jesus

“Sistine Chapel Ceiling” Michelangelo; Vatican City, Itlay; 16th century; Fresco

Pope Julius II’s private chapel

• originally wanted geometric dots, but Michelangelo was a sculptor

Greco-Roman influence: Pediment, corinthian columns, proscenium

More ornate than usual for Renaissance - It was in Vatican City, the center of the Catholic Church and home to the Pope, and it was for the Pope

like Temple of Minerva (Etruscan) - statues on the ceiling

Michelangelo’s sculpture background - 300+ figures

Divine power to create men

• Michelangelo though he had this divine power because he could make the perfect man out of marble

Contrast - Good vs. Evil; Light vs. Dark

Creation → Redemption of Man

Trompe Loeil - illusionistic painting, not carvings/sculptures, but paintings - painted the painting frames

Entrance to chapel, you see the Drunkeness of Noah, representing the sin of mankind

Shows history in reverse - man is a sinner → will be redeemed

“CREATION OF ADAM”

• Chiaroscuro (empirical science)

• Conflict - youth (Adam; innovation) vs. Age (God; wisdom)

• Billowing fabric behind God looks like a brain, representing God’s wisdom

• Complementary shapes of God and Adam, convex and looked like puzzle pieces, sacred geometry, heaven

LAST JUDGEMENT ON THE BACK WALL OF SISTINE CHAPEL

• you have a choice, follow Christianity and go to heaven, or do not and go to hell

“School of Athens” Raphael; 1510; Fresco; Vatican City

Pope Julius II - demonstrate knowledge and impress with intellect - like Alexander Mosaic

Located in a secular place - Papal Apartments - Stanza della Segnatura (where the pop signed documents)

Look ODD - shows greatest mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers - non-biblical figures (Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras) - reaches out to the Humanistic population

Setting - Roman baths

four frescoes on four walls - each fresco shows one of the four branches of human knowledge

• 1: Theology

• 2. Law

• 3. Poetry

• 4. Philosophy (this)

All participants on the bottom of the painting, emptier upper space - Humanist belief bc humans are also grounded on Earth, not up to the heavens

One point perspective (center = Plato and Aristotle)

Chiaroscuro

Combines Christianity and History

Look in notebook for labeling

MANNERISM

did NOT like Renaissance because it was too perfect, not creative and imperfect like humans

The artwork is more awkward, like a person with imperfections made it

“Entombment of Christ” MANNERISM; 1528; Jacob Pontormo; Tempera on Panel

Mannerism = Rejection of Renaissance ideals - wanted to see artist’s hand in the imperfections

Psychological tension - lack of focal point, chaotic composition

Entombment OR Deposition? Lack of clues and symbols like Renaissance works would have

FLAT background, artificial colors

Soft colors = pastel = Botticelli

Awkward body positions