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Periods of the Renaissance

Proto Renaissance

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The Betrayal of Christ

• jesus calm compared to judas treacherous face.

• jesus unflinching as he comes to get arrested, St Peter cuts off ear.

• split second before the kiss of judas → face recoils in horror as he recognises that christ is aware of the betrayal.

• christ resigns to his fate

• lamentation → two faces confronting one another

Early Renaissance: Botticelli and Masaccio

• began to reject he byzantine style of religious painting → strove to create realism in human form and space

• one point perspective/played with subject matter (mythological)

• religious works - public works → had to be comprehensible

• birth of venus being the first painting of mythological scene

  • distinctive uses of linearity

  • all form outline, little use of light to create dimension

  • covering private parts

  • suspended egg and water

  • outlined in charcoal

  • Zephyr and Chloris with limbs interlocked

  • semicircle formed by Zephyr on the left

  • slightly copied ancient prototype

Primavera

• Venus - symbol of spring being adored by flowers

• left to right, venus, the three graces, venus herself, cupid above, flora the goddess of flowers, chloris the nymph and Zephyr, the west wind

Masaccio

• florentine artist

• first of the Quattrocento period

• first to systematically explore perpective and understanding of light gave unprecedented weight and 3d.

  • space, anatomty and light

• overcame medieval flatness

• fresco technique

• still religious

  • correct source of light

the tribut money (1425-28)

• three parts (peter appears three times)

  • tax collector → in fishes mouth will be a silver coin

  • by jesus

  • giving to tax collector

• never treated with such detail before → florence introducing tax at the time

• figures occupy real space

  • stood on the ground

  • proportions and figure sizes

  • drapery even more detail than Giotto

  • both linear (perspective through line) and arial (atmospheric)(perpspectie through colour) perspective

the holy trinity with the virgin, saint john and the donors (IMP)

• orthoganal lines for perspective

• so skillful that surface looks indented

• alter was built infront 1570 only removed 19th century

• 1925 → skeleton cleaned found and found inscription

  • “once i was that which you are and what i am you will also be'“

• when viewing viewpoint parralel with steps on which the donors kneel

• god stands on a ledge behind christ → higher

• figures are not subjet to the same level of shortening as the architecture → stand out

• foreshortening → portray as closer than it is or as having less depth or distance, as an effect of perspective or the angle of vision.

Annuciation (not in test)

• figures contained clear crystalline atmosphere

Andrea Mantegna

• master of perspective and foreshortening

• important contributions to compositional technique of the Renaissance

• religious to secular

The Dead Christ

• stigmata → wounds beared from cross

• name paradoxical, portrayed as mortal which is rare (can die)

• foreshortening from feet, make it seem like you are there in the room

• mary magdalene → on the left

Ceiling painting from the camera degli sposi

• fascinated with perspective

• radial perspective

High Renaissance: Leonardo De Vinci

high → culmination of the goals of the early renassaince

• realistically rendered figures in space with credible motion and decourous style

• Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo

• most widely know artworks

→ his work embraced almost every field of study

• most passionate about anatomy and geology

• Andrea del Verrochio → De Vinci master

• 20 → given chance to paint angels in the baptism of christ

• curiosity to explore human anatomy → dissection

inventor

• submarine, tank, helicopter

• whole range of war machines for Ludovico Sforza (deadly mortar bombs)

• religious work vied with portraits as main subject matter

• religious paintings

  • last supper → created things that became the norm

  • virgin and child with St anne → seen as one of the most beautiful expressions of maternal love

• chioscura → extreme play between light and dark

• sfumato → blending of tones in a subtle way

  • in english → vanished in smoke

  • defining form

  • use of glazes, misty/dreamlike effect

Madonna on the rocks

• last phase of his work

• modulated lightining, gentle shadow, sweetness and grace of characters

Last supper

• study sign language before

  • ordinary models he found on the street

• iconic moment in history

• fresco

• asymetrical balance

• moment christ tells his disciples that one will betray

  • reactions depcited with psychological subtelty

• christ appears calm and alone amongst choas

• windows in centre of frames christ with semi-circular pediment (the only curved formed found in the architecture) → acts as halo

• linear perspective → all lines lead to head of christ

• either side are two groups of apostles

  • twelve disciples broke into 4 groups of 3

• judah leaning on table → face in darkness clutching money

Donatello

biography

• greatest sculptor of early renaissance

  Humanist statue of david

  • icons of the florentine republic

• created bronze sculpture for cosimo’s court in the Palazzo Medici

• first know free-standing nude statue prodcued since antiquity and allegory of civic duties overcoming brutality and ignorance.

• naturalistic

• posture similiar to greek

• contraposto - shifting weight onto one leg

• shepards hat

Michelangelo: High Renaissance

• one of the greatest artist to have lived

david

• shows an incredible amount of anatomical detail

• before hie battle with goliath

• republican virtues of courage and fortitude

• sling over shoulder, frozen in pose of tense, anticipation, defiance

• massive block of marble

• naturalistic style

• master at portraying subject at a moment of psychological transition

• clear influence of classical greek sculpture and contraposto pose

Raphael

The school of athens - 1509-11, Fresco

• iconology

  • leonardo as plato

Oil Painting

• pigments ground down to powder and mixed with paste with oil

Venetian Painting and Mannerism

• Venetian painters different values of colour between light and dark to create shape

• florentine artist saw these as two things

• Venetian used rich colours in their work, experimented with oil paints. values within the colours used, more sensual and personal

• fresco → merged with limestone, covers the wall. Dont see stroke, pure shape and colour

• oil → artist handprint (expression). If u understand can rly achieve hyper realism.

Titian

• one of the greatest painters of the Venetian

• various subject matters

Pesaro Madonna

• includes people who commisioned

• venetian nobleman to show gratitude for victory over turks

• static kneeling poses → in quiet praise

• can distinguish the patrons → linked to holy figures skillfully

• on left → prominent figure dressed in blue robe

  • yellow garment

  • st peter → key around him

Titian, the assumption of the virgin

• madonna ascends to heaven in gold halo of light

• watched by apostles

• titians glorious use of colour highlights

• red robes of two apostles anchor comp → red gives upward thrust to whole composition

Titian, the venus of Urbino, 1538

• naked woman

• chiascuro on face

• puppy to represent purity/innocence

Mannerism

• reject harmony and ideal props.

  • irrational settings, artificial colour, unclear subject matter, elongated form

• after high renaissance

• these artist struggled keeping up with the greats

• Jocopo de pontormo rep this shift to mannerism *

• developed in both florence and rome

• precarious poses, collapsed perspective, theatrical lighting, muscles overemphasised

  • seemed like they existed simply to show of talent

• *

  • artificial colours but still naturalistic

Venus and Cupid

• woman volumptious → the idealised at time

Jan van Eyck

Giovanni arnolfini and his wife (1435) oil on canvas

• merchant from saint italy

• document of their wedding

  • discared clogs

  • fruit for fertility

  • one burning candle shows god

• artist reflection in the mirror

• attention to detail leads us to think that it was expensive

The ghent alterpeice

• 2 vertical registers

• double set of foldable wings, inner and outer panel

• inner rep. heavenly redemption

  • includes the central deesis of christ the king, virgin mary and john the baptist

The madonna with chancellor rolin

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)

• gothic twilight, witchcraft and plague were rife, anticipating end of world

• reality not of eyes, but of mind

• his monsters and visual fantasy of the grotesque were personification of the wickedness he believed to exist

• horrific and fantastical dream images create a sense of bizarre

• very little is known about him

• work not as crazy for people in his day

The garden of earthly delights

• left → garden of eden

  • naked people, oversized animals and fruit

  • centre of the left, pink fountain

  • some real animals, some made up

  • lots of birds, accurately depicted (up to 25 types)

  • left panels, numerous oversized fruits

  • centre blue ball, represents lust

• hell, good with bad, people tortured, right panel

  • strange creatures

  • top of right panel → city on fire (apocolypse)

    • 100s of people at the bottom with demons making sure everything burns

  • at bottom there is reference to gambling

  • in hell, physical and pshycological

Pieter Breughel, 1525 - 1569

• didnt glamorise artworks, meaning that he depicted people with all their imperfections

• painted from imagination

The land of plenty, 1567, oil on panel

• gluttony

Albrecht Durer, 1471 - 1528

• german taste for linear qualities

Faith 47

• helped make graffiti an art form and not thought of as vandalism

• large painting on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface

• all architectural elements embraced

• different textures and elements

• variety of media

• acrylic paint, oil paint, spray paint

• can be compared to frescos

  • water soluable paint on wet limestone

  • painted rapidly onto wet plaster so colours penetrate and become fixed

  • can be secular or not secular

• evolved her art

• speaks about a range of societal issues

• created a mural in cincinnati during the blink light festival in 2019

  • based on the greek goddess of peace

• ‘my hands exist only . . . ‘

Wim Botha, 1974

• naturalistic sculptures

• purely from bibles