HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Know Your Italian High Renaissance

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Know Your Italian High Renaissance Artists… Leonardo Palladio Michelangelo Raphael Bramante Titian Mannerist Artists… Tintoretto Pontormo

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo was the quintessential “Renaissance Man”, studying all types of subjects. He was an Artist, Sculptor, Architect, Scientist, Engineer and Inventor. Worked as an apprentice to Verrocchio Self-Portrait drawing, c 1512.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Leonardo Da Vinci, “Virgin of the Rocks” 1485. Oil on wood (transferred to canvas), approx. 6’ 3” x 3’ 7”. Louvre Paris. Triangular Composition

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Excerpts from da Vinci’s Notebook

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Despite it’s ruined state and its restorations, this piece is by far the most impressive of Leonardo’s works. Christ and his 12 disciples are seated at a long table set parallel to the picture plan in a simple, spacious room. Leonardo amplified the painting’s highly dramatic action by placing the group in an austere setting. Christ appears isolated from the disciples, framed by the window behind him. It serves as a halo. The artist took people out of his real life and used them as figures for his painting, but had problems with Judas because he couldn’t find a significant figure for him. When he did finally paint him, he portrayed him with his hand over a dish because of Christ’s foretelling that “he that dippeth his hand with me into the dish, he shall betray me” refering to Judas’ betrayal. He is also leaning back from Christ and in a shadow. Christ was the last to be painted. Leonardo Da Vinci. “Last Supper” ca. 1495 -1498. Fresco.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Leonardo Da Vinci. “Last Supper” ca. 1495 -1498. Fresco. Divine THREEs: Trinity & Theological Virtues Earthly FOURs: Elements & Cardinal Virtues

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Other Last Supper renditions

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Other Last Supper renditions

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Other Last Supper renditions

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Other Last Supper renditions

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Other Last Supper renditions

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE World’s most famous portrait. Leonardo took three years to finish the portrait and it is said to be of Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine. It was his favorite piece – so much so that Leonardo kept it for years. Leonardo Da Vinci, “Mona Lisa” ca. 1503 -1505. Oil on wood, approx 2’ 6” x 1’ 9”. Louvre, Paris.

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HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Portrait of Mona Lisa Giaconda OR Self-Portrait of da Vinci?

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE “Portrait of Ginerva Benci”, Oil on Wood, 1474 -76. Other Important works by da Vinci “Virgin of the Rocks”, 1485. Oil on wood. .

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HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE In 1501, the city of Florence asked Michelangelo to work a great block of marble, called “The Giant, ” left over from an earlier aborted mission. From this stone, David was sculpted, the defiant hero of the Florentine republic and, in so doing, assured his reputation then and now as an extraordinary talent. David’s formal references to classical antiquity appealed to Julius II, who associated himself with humanists and with Roman emperors. Thus, this sculpture and the fame that accrued to Michelangelo on its completion called the artist to the pope’s attention, leading to major papal commissions. The artist chose to depict David not after victory, but turning his head to his left, sternly watchful of the approaching foe. His whole muscular body, as well as his face, is tense with gathering power. Michelangelo, David 1501 -1504.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, David 1501 -1504. Michelangelo worked for the Medici family in Florence Claimed to have taught himself to carve marble by studying the Medici collection of classical statues Michelangelo, David Galleria dell’Academia, Florence, Italy 1501 -1504

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE It’s a larger than life sculpture, the height of David reaches over 13 feet tall. It’s also sculpted in perspective (top heavy), so if viewed from below the figure looks proportional. Contrapposto or a weight shift is also apparent in this sculpture. Michelangelo, David 1501 -1504.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Exterior of Sistine Chapel

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Pope Julius II gave the reluctant Michelangelo the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo faced enormous difficulties: relative inexperience in fresco technique, large dimensions, height above pavement, and perspective. Depicting the most august themes of all, the Creation, Fall, and Redemption of humanity, Michelangelo spread a colossal decorative theme with over 300 figures. A long sequence of narrative panels describing the creation, as recorded in the biblical book Genesis, runs along the crown of the vault. The hebrew prophets who foretold the coming of Christ appear seated in large thrones on both sides of the central row. Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508 -12

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1508 -1512

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1508 -1512

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1508 -1512

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Rome, Italy 1508 -1512

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo The Last Judgment Fresco Sistine Chapel, Italy 1541.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE When the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns, “ Michelangelo worked da Cesena's semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. It is said that when he complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain. Biago da Cesena (the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies) painted as Minos, Ruler of Hell

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Tomb of Pope Julius II

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, Moses 1513 -1515 Commissioned by Pope Julius II as part of his immense tomb, (which was never completed as planned… Julius used more funds to the building of St. Peter’s) Horns on head were traditionally meant to be divine, but scripture may have meant that Moses was “radiant”, not “horned”. Inspired by Greek Hellenistic sculpture Laocoon & Sons

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Michelangelo, Pietà, c 1500, Marble, 5’ 8. 5”. A Pietà is the Virgin Mary holding and mourning dead Christ Italian for “compassion” Popular in Northern Europe, but rare in Italy Made by Michelangelo when he was 24 Only major work that has Michelangelo’s signature on it (on the strap across her chest)

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Latin for “Michelangelo Buonarroti Made This”

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE The marble sculpture is encased in bullet-proof glass inside St. Peter’s in Rome.

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Shortly after Bramante left Milan for Rome, he received a commission from King Ferdinand Queen Isabella of Spain to build a small shrine to mark the site of St. Peter’s crucifixion. Bramante chose to design a circular temple. The Tempietto (or “little temple”) captures Classical Roman ideals: a circular cella and simple mathematical ratios. Bramante, Tempietto, 1505. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Sixteen Doric columns surround the cella. The distance between the columns is four times their diameter. Bramante, Tempietto, 1505. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Layout of Bramante’s Tempietto

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Sixteen Doric columns surround the cella. The distance between the columns is four times their diameter. Bramante, Tempietto, 1505. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE A Brief History of St. Peter’s in Rome… 1506 Bramante designs a Greek-Cross plan for a new St. Peter’s to replace the old church. 1514 Bramante dies, and the building of the church is put on hold for over 30 years. 1546 Michelangelo becomes Chief Architect for the building of St. Peter’s… built up to the dome.

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HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 1630 Painting of St. Peter’s

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE St. Peter’s at Night

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Vatican guards at St. Peter’s are always Swiss and still wear the traditional uniforms originally designed by Michelangelo!

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE Palladio, Villa Rotunda, 1566, HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE From Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture