Renaissance Art

Renaissance Art

Mr. Redelsheimer

World History

Three ErasThree Eras

Part 1: Early Renaissance -- Florence

Part 2: High Renaissance -- Rome

Part 3: Northern Renaissance

Part 1:

The Early Renaissance

Florence

1300s and 1400s

Giotto

Painted frescoes on wet plaster walls.

Human figures look more lifelike:

• Rounded forms

• People interact

• Faces show emotion

• Tried to create an illusion of depth.

GhibertiBaptistry Doors

Cathedral in Florence

1401-1451

Bronze panels.

Each panel shows a different scene from the Bible.

Illusion of depth, background scenery in each panel.

BrunelleschiDome of Cathedral

Florence, 1420-1436

First such large dome built in Europe since Roman Era.

Required technological innovation and new engineering skills.

DonatelloDavid

First European since the Classical Era (Greeks and Romans) to make a large, free-standing human figure in the nude.

Masaccio (1401-1428)

Christ Descending from the Cross

Used the technique of perspective, which had been developed by Brunelleschi, to give the appearance of distance.

Renaissance Terms

Quattrocento:

Century beginning in 1400

Humanist:

scholars who studied classical texts

Vernacular:

common, everyday language

Part 2:

The High Renaissance

Rome

Early 1500s

MichelangeloSistine Chapel

In the Vatican, Rome

1508-1511

Restoration of the Sistine Chapel

Before

After

Michelangelo

“My stomach is thrust toward my chin,

My beard curls up, toward the sky,

My head leans right over into my back,

My chest is like that of an old shrew,

The brush endlessly dripping onto my face,

Has coated it with a multi-colored paving.”

Raphael

(1483-1520)

Raphael was a favorite painter of Pope Leo X.

Notice realistic forms and expressions even in a painting with a religious theme.

Raphael

Notice realistic facial features and expressions in this portrait.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

The Last Supper (fresco, Milan)

Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa

The model for this painting is thought to be the wife of a Florentine merchant.

Note realistic form, facial expression, and natural background with a sense of depth and distance.

You Tube Mona Lisa

Part 3:

The Northern Renaissance

Northern Europe

1500-1600

Albrecht Durer(Germany)

Artists like Durer helped spread Renaissance ideas to Northern Europe. Durer traveled France to work for Francis I. When he returned to his home in Germany, he brought with him Renaissance techniques and ideas.

Hans Holbein

(Germany)

Known for painting portraits, including Henry VIII of England.

Jan van Eyck

(Flanders)

Italian merchant and his wife living in Flanders

Symbolism in the painting:

•Candle in the chandelier represents Jesus

•Fruit on the windowsill represents the innocence of humanity

The End

Sources:

• DC Heath, World History: Perspectives on the Past

• Saint Paul Academy and Summit School: www.spa.edu