Renaissance Art Movement Notes
The Renaissance
A period in European history from the 14th to the 17th century.
Known for the rebirth of learning, art, and culture.
Marked a significant shift in artistic expression, embracing humanism and realistic portrayal of the world.
Renaissance Period Significance in Western Art History
Cultural Rebirth
Profoundly impacted Western art history, laying the groundwork for modern artistic practices.
Emphasized individual creativity, scientific observation, and empirical evidence.
Revolutionized how art was created and perceived.
Witnessed a resurgence of interest in classical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome.
Led to a cultural rebirth across art, literature, architecture, and philosophy.
Origin and Spread
Started in Florence, Italy, a place with a rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support budding artists.
The Medici family, which ruled Florence for more than 60 years, were famous backers of the movement.
Italian writers, artists, politicians, and others declared that they were participating in an intellectual and artistic revolution different from the Dark Ages.
The movement expanded to other Italian city-states, such as Venice, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara, and Rome.
During the 15th century, Renaissance ideas spread from Italy to France and then throughout western and northern Europe.
Although other European countries experienced their Renaissance later than Italy, the impacts were still revolutionary.
Key Characteristics of Renaissance Art
Humanism
A central tenet of Renaissance art, emphasizing the value and potential of individual human beings.
Artistic works sought to reflect human experience, emotions, and intellectual achievements, departing from purely religious themes.
Perspective
Renaissance artists introduced linear perspective, a technique that created a sense of depth and realism in their compositions.
This innovation revolutionized how space and distance were depicted in art, resulting in more lifelike representations.
Secularism
Renaissance art displayed a shift towards secular subjects, portraying scenes from daily life, mythology, and the natural world.
Artists began exploring non-religious themes, reflecting a broader appreciation for the beauty and diversity of the world.
Masters of Renaissance Art
Renowned Artists
The Renaissance period boasted an array of celebrated artists, including Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian, whose masterpieces continue to captivate audiences with their technical prowess and profound artistic vision.
Artistic Geniuses
The genius of Renaissance artists transformed the way art was conceived and executed, leaving an indelible mark on the trajectory of artistic development and setting new standards for creativity, technical mastery, and cultural significance.
Iconic Works
Masterpieces such as da Vinci’s, 'Mona Lisa,' Michelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam,' and Raphael's 'The School of Athens' exemplify the unparalleled skill and innovation of Renaissance artists, transcending their era to become timeless symbols of artistic achievement.
Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337, Florence, Italy)
Life
Giotto di Bondone (b. 1267 or 1277 - d. 1337 CE), usually referred to as simply Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect whose work was hugely influential in the history of Western art.
Giotto is most famous today for the cycle of frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel of Padua where his love of drama is most effective in such scenes as Judas' betrayal of Jesus Christ.
An innovative painter who searched for far greater realism and human emotion in art than had been seen previously, he was an artist with a particular skill at constructing single dynamic scenes from familiar religious themes.
Often referred to as the 'first Renaissance painter', Giotto was certainly a bridge between the sometimes flat, characterless religious art of the middle to late medieval period and the lively innovative drama seen in the masterpieces of the High Renaissance.
Giotto Di Bondone As An Architect
He worked as a master builder on the Opera del Duomo in Florence, erecting the first phase of the Gothic (intended as much for aesthetic as utility) Bell Tower, which was called after him – Giotto’s Bell Tower.
The tower is commonly regarded as Italy’s most magnificent campanile.
Giotto di Bondone’s art style was influenced by Arnolfo di Cambio’s strong and classicizing sculpture.
Isaac Blessing Jacob
Artist: Giotto Di Bondone
Year: 1290-1295
Type: Egg tempera fresco
Dimensions: Fresco
Location: - Basilica of St Francis, Assisi
The artwork depicts the biblical scene where the patriarch Isaac blesses his son Jacob.
The fresco is set within an architecturally framed space, representing a room with a bed surrounded by ornate curtains.
Isaac, an elderly and frail figure, is positioned on the bed, extending his hand towards Jacob, who is receiving the blessing.
The composition includes other figures, presumably household members or attendants, who witness the blessing.
The painting reflects Giotto’s pioneering use of perspective and human emotion, marking a significant departure from the more stylized and formal representations of earlier medieval art.
The fresco is characterized by its vivid colors and the detailed depiction of textures, particularly in the fabrics and architectural elements.
Crucifix
Artist: : Giotto Di Bondone
Year: 1288-89
Type: Tempera and gold on wood panel
Dimensions: 578 x 406 cm
Location: Florence, Santa Maria Novella
In this artwork, the scene is focused on the figure of Jesus Christ affixed to the cross, a central motif in Christian iconography representing the crucifixion.
The cross, almost filling the entire panel, is depicted in a way that emphasizes its structural and symbolic importance.
Christ’s body is rendered with a sense of weight and volume, displaying Giotto’s skill in human anatomy that was pioneering for the time.
His head, adorned with a thorny crown, tilts in a gesture of suffering and death.
The Last Judgement
Artist: Giotto Di Bondone
Year: 1302-1305
Type: Egg tempera fresco
Dimensions: 1000 x 840 cm
Location: Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.
The depiction of Christ, which sits centrally within a multi-coloured circular outline.
A halo hovers around his head, signalling his divinity and his arms, symbolically, are spread apart.
He sits upon a throne, delivering his judgement.
The rest of the scene is then divided into three main sections, with those across the top looking downwards towards those being judged.
At the bottom, we see those rewarded on the left, and those receiving punishment on the right.
The content gives Giotto an opportunity to bring a heavy contrast of light and dark in this large mural and the overall piece features an extraordinary number of figures.
The entire space measures 20.4 \times 8.5 metres (67 x 28 ft.) and the height of the barrel vault ceiling is 18.5 metres (61 ft.).
The side wall panels each measure 2 \times 1.85 metres (6 ft. 6 in. x 6 ft. 1 in.).
Accomplishments
Revered as one of the first of the great Italian masters, Giotto brought a new sense of humanity and style to the traditions of medieval art.
Following his intervention, "flat" Christian paintings came to be seen by progressive painters as inanimate and lacking in human feeling.
Giotto's "new realism" emphasized its humanity through his attention to fine detail.
His figures were rendered, in three-dimensional space, through motions and gestures and on fine costume and furnishings details.
Though they were devoted to Christ, his human figures form the centre of his narratives.
Giotto was an admired architect. He worked in Florence as master builder for Opera del Duomo, erecting the first part of the Gothic (designed as much for decoration as function) Bell Tower which was duly named in his honor - Giotto's Bell Tower.
The tower is widely considered to be the most beautiful campanile in Italy.
Summarization
Giotto is best known for the way he explored the possibilities of perspective and pictorial space, and in so doing, he brought a new sense of realism to his religious parables.
His interest in humanism saw him explore the tension between biblical iconography and the everyday existence of lay worshippers; bringing them closer to God by making art more relevant to their lived experience.
His figures were thus infused with an emotional quality not seen before in high art, while his architectural settings were rendered according to the optical laws of proportion and perspective.
Indeed, his influence on European art was such that many historians believe it was not matched until Michelangelo took over his mantle some two centuries on.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Man (15th April 1452 – 02nd May, 1519)
Life
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography.
He has been variously called the father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time.
Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, he epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal.
Professional Life
1452: Leonardo Da Vinci was born on the April 15th, 1452 in the small village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci.
1466: Da Vinci Starts His Apprenticeship Leonardo Da Vinci was lucky to get an apprenticeship under Verrocchio, one of the best artists of his time. Apparently many of Verrocchio's artworks were done by his employees, so it is quite likely Da Vinci contributed to Verrocchio's 'Baptism of Christ'.
1472: Da Vinci is accepted into the Painters Guild of Florence
1483-1486: Da Vinci paints the first 'Virgin of the Rocks'
1485: Da Vinci Sketches Designs for a Parachute, Giant Crossbow and others
1487: Leonardo Da Vinci draws the Vitruvian Man. Possibly one of Da Vinci's most well known works is the drawing Vitruvian Man. A lot of Renaissance artwork was inspired by the human body, and Da Vinci showed a particular interest.
1498: Da Vinci paints 'The Last Supper' The last supper is a monumental piece of artwork that covers a wall of the Sistine Chapel.
1503: Da Vinci Paints 'The Mona Lisa' While he is in France, Da Vinci is hired to paint a wealthy man's wife. Her name is Mona Lisa. The piece he creates is arguably the most well known artwork of all time.
1516: King Francis I invites Da Vinci to Paint for Him. Just 3 years before his death, The King of France, King Francis I, asked Da Vinci to come paint for him. This is where he stays for the rest of his life.
May 2, 1519: Leonardo Da Vinci Dies. His body is lain to rest at the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, in France.
The Baptism of Christ
Artist: Andrea del Verrocchio & Leonardo da Vinci
Year: 1472-1475
Type: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 177 cm x 151 cm (70 in x 59 in)
Location: Uffizi, Florence.
The painting depicts(shows) the Baptism of Jesu John the Baptist as recorded in the Biblical Gosp Of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
By the 1490s Leonardo had already been described as a "Divine" painter. Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are his innovative techniques for laying on the paint; his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology; his interest in physiognomy and the way humans register emotion in expression and gesture; his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition; and his use of subtle gradation of tone.
All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.
Leonardo's Earliest Known Drawing
The Arno Valley (1473)
Adoration of Magi
Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci
Year: 1481
Type: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 246 cm× 243 cm (97 in × 96 in)
Location: Uffizi, Florence
The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a triangular shape with the Magi kneeling in adoration.
Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a self- portrait of the young Leonardo (on the far right).
Virgin of the Rocks
Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci
Year: 1483 -86
Type: Oil on Panel (Transferred to Canvas)
Dimensions: 199 cm× 122 cm (78.3 in × 48 in)
Location: Louvre, Paris London, Paris
These were 2 identical paintings created for a altarpiece at Milan, Both located at 2 different places.
Oil Technique
Leonardo learned the Northern technique of oil painting, which enabled him to explore more subtle nuances of light and shade
Psychology
Like Giotto, Leonardo understood that emotion can be expressed through facial expression and gesture
Pyramidical Arrangement of Figures
Lighting
Sfumato: smoky haze creates atmosphere and mood
Light and Vision
His figures have soft edges, rather than sharp outlines
Figures Comparison
Figures are flat, weightless vs. Figures are 3D, have weight and human personality
Halos vs. Halos fade
Hierarchic scale vs. Normal size
Gold background (Heaven) vs. Earthly setting
The Last Supper
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Year: 1494-1498
Type: Tempera on Gesso, Pitch and mastic
Dimensions: 460 cm x 880 cm (181 in x 346 in)
Location: Santa Maria Delle Grazie, Milan.
Tempera is a permanent fast drying painting medium consisting of coloure pigment, mixed with egg yolk.
Gesso – white paint Mixture.
Pitch – Derived from Coal Tar plant.
Mastic – Gum or tree Extract
It represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death, and shows the moment when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me", and the consternation that this statement caused.
Ginevra de Venci
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: National Gallery of Art
Dimensions: 1' 3" x 1' 3" (38 cm x 37 cm)
Subject: Ginevra de' Benci
Created: 1474-1478
Type: Oil paint
Ginevra de' Benci was an aristocrat from fifteenth-century Florence, admired for her intelligence by Florentine contemporaries.
The Vitruvian Man
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Dimensions: 1' 2" x 0' 10" (34 cm x 26 cm)
Created: 1490
Type: Ink
The Vitruvian Man, is a drawing by Leonardo d Vinci around 1490. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the architect Vitruvius
St. John the Baptist
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: The Louvre
Dimensions: 2' 3" x 1' 10" (69 cm x 57 cm)
Subject: John the Baptist
Created: 1513-1516
Type: Oil paint
St. John the Baptist is an oil painting on walnut Wood by Leonardo da Vinci. Completed from 151 to 1516, when the High Renaissance was metamorphosing into Mannerism, it is believed to be his final painting
Mona Lisa: The Mysterious Smile
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: The Louvre (since 1797)
Dimensions: 2' 6" x 1' 9" (77 cm x 53 cm)
Subject: Lisa del Giocondo
Created: 1503-1517
Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or "la Gioconda", the laughing one. In the present era it is arguably the most famous painting in the world.
Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality perhaps due to the subtly shadowed corners of the mouth and eyes such that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined.
The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called "sfumato", or Leonardo's smoke.
The Mona Lisa is a half- length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world."
Other Famous Art
Self Portrait
Madonna of the Carnation 1475-78
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne 1508-17
Leonardo Da Vinci: Architect/Engineer
Vinci's innovative ideas were 500 years ahead of his time.
Da Vinci's Notebook contains his advanced innovative drawings about
Self propelled cart
Flying machine
Parachute
Armored tank
Robotic knight
Triple barrel cannon
Leonardo Da Vinci: Anatomist
Drawing of the human fetus in uterus from Da Vinci's anatomical notebooks
Da Vinci's anatomical study of shoulder and neck
Michael Angelo (6th March, 1475 – 18th February, 1564)
Michael Angelo’s Early Life
Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer.
He was born in 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany
At the age of 7, he was sent to live with a stonecutter and his family in Settignano.
His father sent him to study with a tutor, but he was more interested in art. When he was 13, he was apprenticed to a painter named Domenico Ghirlandaio.
His nose was broken in a fight with another art student when he was 17 and all of his portraits show his broken nose
Michael Angelo’s Life
He was considered arrogant and was very often not satisfied with his own work.
Michelangelo believed that nature was an enemy to overcome.
He believed that the sculptor's job was to release the form that was already inside the stone and remove everything that was not part of the statue.
Michelangelo became very famous after the he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling and was regarded as the greatest living artist of his time. He was 37 and Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael were alive at this time.
Two biographies were written about him while he was alive. The second one was written by his pupil and is thought to be almost an autobiography.
Michael Angelo’s Life
When Michelangelo was a child, his mother became ill and couldn't care for him, so he was sent to live with a stonecutter. Michelangelo later joked that this is where he learned to love cutting stone into sculpture.
He spent years studying the human body. He even looked at dead bodies so he could learn the way the muscles and bones were attached and how arms and legs moved.
He drew sketches of people, concentrating on getting the muscles just right. His sketches of bodies helped him to do sculpture.
Michelangelo was very religious, and many of his masterpieces show religious scenes or people from the Bible.
One of his most famous sculptures was David, the biblical hero who defeated the giant Goliath. The work was finished in the year 1504.
Michael Angelo's Life (Timeline)
1475: Born in Caprese on March 6; family moves back to Florence, following the short stay in Caprese
1481: Mother dies in Florence
1485: Enters grammar school taught by humanist Francesco da Urbino
1488: Apprenticed in a painter's workshop run by the Ghirlandaio brothers
1490: Decides to pursue sculpture and begins work in the Medici Gardens
1494: Leaves Florence before the expulsion of the Medici Back in Rome, he begins work on Julius II's tombs and eventually ends up in Rome in 1496
1499: Completes the St. Peter's Pietà, which establishes his reputation in Rome
1501: Returns to Florence and receives commission to sculpt the Droid, which he completes in 1504
1504: Paints the Doni Tando
1505: Back in Rome, he begins work on Julius II's tombs
1508-1512: Paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling
1519: Begins designing the Medici Chapel in Florence
1524: Commissioned to design the Laurentian Library in Florence
1527-1530: Builds fortifications for the Florentine republic
1532: Meets Tommaso Cavalieri
1535: Pope Paul III commissions Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment; Michelangelo meets Vittoria Colonna; gives "presentation drawings to Colonna and other friends
1541: Last Judgment is unveiled
1546-1550: Paints the Pauline Chapel frescoes (The Crucifixion of Peter and The Conversion of Paul)
1547: Vittoria Colonna dies; Michelangelo is appointed chief architect of the new St. Peter's Basilica; begins the Florence Pietà that includes Nicodemus
1553: Ascanio Condivi publishes Life of Michelangelo
1560s: Sculpting the Rondanini Pieta
1564: Dies on February 18 at age 89
Michael Angelo Famous Artworks
Pietà (1498-1500) Saint Peter's, Vatican City, Rome. Michelangelo's representation of Mary cradling Christ's corpse brilliantly captures the sadness and beauty of the young Virgin but was controversial because the Madonna seems younger than her son.
David: The Statue
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
Florence Cathedral building committee commissioned him to fashion a statue of David.
Served as a symbol of Florentine liberty.
Michelangelo chose to represent the young biblical warrior sternly watchful of the approaching foe.
David exhibits the characteristic representation of energy in reserve.
The anatomy of David's body plays an important part in this prelude to action: Every aspect of his muscular body, including his face, is tense with gathering power.
His rugged torso, sturdy limbs, and large hands and feet alert viewers to the strength to come.
The swelling veins and tightening sinews amplify the psychological energy of the pose.
He greatly admired Greco-Roman statues, in particular the skillful and precise rendering of heroic physique.
David is compositionally and emotionally connected to an unseen presence beyond the statue, a feature also of Hellenistic sculpture.
Michelangelo invested his efforts in presenting towering, pent-up emotion rather than calm, ideal beauty.
The Sistine Chapel
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
Takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere
Restored between 1477 and 1480. A team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ.
Its dimensions (some 5,800 square feet), its height above the pavement (almost 70 feet), and the complicated perspective problems the vault's height and curve presented.
A long sequence of narrative panels describing the Creation, as recorded in Genesis, runs along the crown of the vault. (God's Separation of Light and Darkness to Drunkenness of Noah).
More than 300 figures in a grand drama of the human race.
The ceiling's design and narrative structure not only presents a sweeping chronology of Christianity but also is in keeping with Renaissance ideas about Christian history.
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
The Hebrew prophets and pagan sibyls who foretold the coming of Christ appear seated in large thrones on both sides of the central row of scenes from Genesis, where the vault curves down.
In the four corner pendentives, where the four Old Testament scenes placed with David, Judith, Haman, and Moses and the Brazen Serpent.
The ancestors of Christ fill the triangular compartments above the windows, nude youths punctuate the corners of the central panels, and small pairs of putti in grisaille. (monochrome painting using shades of gray to imitate sculpture)
Focuses on figure after figure
The body was the manifestation of the soul or of a state of mind and character.
Michelangelo represented the body in its most simple, elemental aspect-in the nude or simply draped, with no background and no ornamental embelishment.
That is why many of the figures seem to be tinted reliefs or freestanding statues.
The Creation of Adam
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
Michelangelo did not paint the traditional representation but instead produced a bold, humanistic interpretation of the momentous event.
God and Adam confront each other in a primordial unformed landscape of which Adam is still a material part, heavy as earth while the Lord transcends the earth, wrapped in a billowing cloud of drapery and borne up by his powers.
Michelangelo incorporated into his fresco one of the essential tenets of Christian faith-the belief that Adam's Original Sin eventually led to the sacrifice of Christ: Redemption of humankind.
The focal point of this right-to-left-to-right movement-the fingertips of and the Lord-is dramatically off-center.
Michelangelo's style is The reclining positions of the figures, the heavy musculature, and the twisting poses are all intrinsic.
Michelangelo replaced the straight architectural axes thus, motion directs not only the figures but also the whole composition.
The Last Judgement
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
A large fresco for the Sistine Chapel's altar wall
Michelangelo depicted Christ as the stern judge of the world-a giant who raises his mighty right arm in a gesture of damnation so broad and universal as to suggest he will destroy all creation.
The choirs of Heaven surrounding him pulse with aridity and awe. On the left, the awake and assume flesh.
On the right, demons whose gargoyle masks and burning eyes revive the demons of Romanesque tympana, torment the damned.
Michelangelo's terrifying vision of the fate that awaits sinners goes far beyond any previous rendition.
The figures are huge and violently twisted, with small heads and contorted features.
Michael Angelo as an Architect
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
Michelangelo crowning achievement as an architect was his work at St. Peter's Basilica, where he was made chief architect in 1546.
The building was originally designed by Donato Bramante, but Michelangelo became responsible for the outside (exterior) and for the dome.
Michelangelo was in his 70s when he worked on the basilica, and he refused to accept any payment for it, saying it was his service to God.
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall.
For the dome's exterior, Michelangelo used a ribbed design with columns.
He first created a model out of wood. You can still see the model today on display in Rome (at the Vatican).The model is 17 feet 8 inches high x 12 feet 8 inches in diameter. That's almost as tall as 3 men on each other's shoulders!
The real dome is 265 feet * 190 feet in diameter.
The False Ceiling is painted.
Renaissance Impact on Art, Architecture and Science
Art, architecture and science were closely linked during the Renaissance. In fact, it was a unique time when these fields of study fused together seamlessly.
For instance, artists like da Vinci incorporated scientific principles, such as anatomy into their work, so they could recreate the human body with extraordinary precision.
Architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi studied mathematics to accurately engineer and design immense buildings with expansive domes.
Scientific discoveries led to major shifts in thinking: Galileo and Descartes presented a new view of astronomy and mathematics, while Copernicus proposed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system.
Renaissance art was characterized by realism and naturalism. Artists strived to depict people and objects in a true-to-life way. They used techniques, such as perspective, shadows and light to add depth to their work. Emotion was another quality that artists tried to infuse into their pieces.
Impact of Renaissance on Art and Society
Enduring Influence on Art
The influence of the Renaissance on art has endured, shaping subsequent artistic movements and inspiring generations of artists to explore new forms of expression, aesthetic principles, and creative innovation.
Cultural and Intellectual Impact
The Renaissance fostered a climate of intellectual curiosity, scientific exploration, and humanistic ideals, contributing to advancements in various fields and leaving a profound imprint on the cultural, societal, and philosophical fabric of Western civilization.
Legacy of Renaissance Art
Lasting Legacy
The legacy of Renaissance art persists in contemporary art, influencing present-day artistic practices, cultural narratives, and aesthetic sensibilities, reflecting the enduring impact of Renaissance ideals on the evolving nature of art and visual expression.
Ongoing Relevance
Renaissance art continues to inspire dialogue and critical exploration, serving as a reservoir of timeless themes, innovative techniques, and enduring artistic achievements that resonate with contemporary artistic sensibilities and cultural contexts.