Untitled Flashcards Set

Chapter 17 - Renaissance Artists: Disciples of Nature, Masters of Invention

ca. 1400-1600

• Renaissance were self-conscious beneficiaries of Ancient Greek and Roman culture just like classical humanists

• Creativity -> Florentine sculpture by Donato Bardi _> Biblical hero David completing Donatello’s bronze

• Antonio Pollaiuolo was the first artist to dissect human cadavers to study anatomy 

• Donatello’s bronze David was notable for reviving nudity of Classical free-standing sculpture

• Contrapposto -> a position assumed by the human body in which one part is turned in opposition to another part

• Imitation -> a technique where melodic fragment introduced in the first voice of a composition is repeated closely 

• Renaissance art as a reflection of nature and humanism -> Humanism focus shifted from religious subjects to secular themes to promote human potential -> Perspective, artists like Brunelleschi developed techniques of perspective to create realistic paintings

• Examples of Renaissance artists: Leonardo da Vinci known for paintings of Mona Lisa and Last Super, Michelangelo is a master of painting and sculpture like Sistine Chapel and statue of David, Raphael known for his graceful style painting in Vatican which is School of Athens, Titian is a Venetian artist known for his use of color and his portraits of royalty

• Wealthy patrons -> Medici Family in Florence provided financial support to artists -> rise of the merchant class which sifted power away from the nobility and provided opportunities for artistic endeavors

• Supporters of arts during the Renaissance included the Catholic Church and merchants as well

• Belief that human forms mirrored a large order in the universe is rational, to cultivate rational behavior -> Renaissance architects

• Florentine artists, humanists and their patrons collected classical statuary -> recovered and revered during age of renaissance

• Latin translations of Muslim manuscripts are studied in Florence

• Bruelleschi receives the world’s first patent of monpoly for an invention 

• Art of early Renaissance -> original effort to reinterpret Greco-Roman

• Humanist writers -> Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Castiglione wrote about humanity government and society

• Spread of renaissance ideas and art spread to Northern Europe

• Northern renaissance had its own distinct characteristics such as emphasis on realism  and religion

• Key instruments popular during renaissance were organ, harpsichord, and clavichord 

• The manipulation of music to convey or illustrate literal meaning of text is word painting 

85/100 test 3

Notes on video

• Humanism - focused on central goodness 

• Age of discovery - Changed Europe, seek goods from Asia and trade exchanges for luxury goods -> made Europe rich -> reached its peak in Spain

• El Greco- focused on his life, religious paintings

• Manorism - elongated bodies

Notes in class

• Renaissance begins in Italy & Netherlands, paintings, sculptures, & architecture -> expressions of affluence

• Early Renaissance roughly 1400-1490 -> revival of classical nude -> Florentine sculpture, Donato Bardi (Donatello) -> bronze statue of David, 1st full size free standing

• Putti - plump nude boys

• Antonio Pollaiuolo -> 1st artist to dissect human cadavers to study human anatomy

• Filippo Brunelleschi -> won a civic competition based on his design of Florence cathedral -> designed it with the focus of safety 

• Leon Alberti -> argued that architectural design should be square and circle -> a guide for his buildings -> definitive principle 

• Portrait -> immortalize oneself based on one’s physical appearance/publicize one’s greatness in Gk. & Rome tradition

• Artists/scientists -> Macaccio -> Ghiberri goldsmith -> Davinci, creative concepts of flying machines and babies in wombs

• Davinci -> Raphael -> Arch. Branate & Palladia  -> Michelangelo & heroic idealism -> Renaissance in Venice 

• Music of the Renaissance -> Dusty -> Josquin -> Madrigal -> dance