The Renaissance The Renaissance 1400s The beginning of

The Renaissance

The Renaissance • • 1400’s. The beginning of Modern Painting. A time of rediscovery in Rome. Art and literature were again brought to the forefront as were scientific studies of the body and natural world. • As skills increased, the prestige of the artist soared.

The Renaissance • Several major breakthroughs in painting made new styles a possibility. • 1) Creation of oil paints. A mineral was ground then mixed with oil and turpentine. A greater range of colors was now available. Also oil paint does not dry quickly allowing the artist to make changes to his work.

Oil Paints

The Renaissance • 2)Perspective- One of the most significant discoveries in the history of art was the method for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface, called perspective. • Painters can reduce the size of objects, mute the colors, or blur details to give the appearance of objects that are receding into the background.

Masaccio “The Tribute Money”

The Renaissance • 3)The use of light and shadow. • Chiaroscuro (pronounced key arrow skewr o). Means light/dark in Italian. • By adding shadow painters produced portraits which looked more rounded and realistic.

Chiaroscuro

The Renaissance • 4) Pyramid configuration. Grouping of figures on the horizontal was out. The pyramid composition allows your eye to move around the painting, the top of the triangle being the focal point.

Da Vinci, Mona Lisa

The Renaissance • • • The Early Renaissance (1400 -1500) First 3 Hall of Famers: 1. Tomasso Masaccio- painter 2. Donatello (Donato di Niccolo)- sculptor 3. Sandro Botticelli- painter. Masaccio was nicknamed “Sloppy Tom” as he neglected his appearance to concentrate on his artwork.

Masaccio “Self Portrait”

Masaccio, “Virgin and Child”

Donatello • Donatello brought a relaxed look to his sculptures mainly through, “contrapposto”. • Contrapposto, refers to weight being placed on one leg. • You can see the look here, on Donatello’s “Mary Magdalene”.

Donatello’s “David”

Statue of Donatello

Botticelli • Famous for “The Birth of Venus”

Botticelli, “Primavera”

Botticelli, “Self Portrait”

The Renaissance • • • The High Renaissance (1500 -1520) 3 Hall of Famers: 1)Leonardo da Vinci 2)Michelangelo di Simoni 3)Raphael da Urbino

Leonardo Da Vinci • Leonardo de sir Piero da Vinci • 1452 -1519 (67) • Primarily a painter, although he had many interests • Only 15 paintings have survived including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper • Also surviving are his journals /sketchbook

Leonardo da Vinci • The term “ Renaissance man” has come to mean an individual who radiates wisdom. • He was universally admired for his handsome appearance, intellect and charm.

Leonardo da Vinci • Listen to this description by one of his contemporaries, “His personal beauty could not be exaggerated, this tall man with blonde hair’s every movement was grace itself. His abilities were so extraordinary he could readily solve any difficulty. As if this were not enough, he could sing divinely and his charming conversation won all hearts. ”

Leonardo da Vinci • He was also an avid mountain climber who delighted in scaling great heights. • Leonardo was also fascinated with flight. He was often seen paying those keeping caged birds to set them free. • He frequently sketched wings and designed flying contraptions which he eventually built with hopes of flying himself.

Flying Machine Sketch

Leonardo da Vinci • Other inventions: A machine to move mountains, a parachute, a helicopter, an armored tank, and a diving bell. • He died at age 67 in France. On his deathbed he said he “ has offended God and mankind by not working on his art as he should have. ” • He had so many interests he felt his studies in some way detracted from his artwork.

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa • Sketch, 1499 • Done 4 years prior to the actual painting. • Da Vinci was known for putting off his work, due to his many interests.

Mona Lisa • Or La Gioconda. 1503 -Louvre, Paris • Historically, Mona was no one special. She was probably the young wife of a Florentine merchant named Giocondo. • The portrait set the standard for Renaissance paintings in many ways. • It was a great example of perspective with all lines converging on a single vanishing point behind Mona’s head.

Mona Lisa • The triangular or pyramid composition established the importance of geometry in painting. • It diverged from the stiff, profile portraits that had been the norm in the past, displaying the subject in a relaxed, natural, three-quarter pose.

Mona Lisa • Knowledge of the anatomy is so evident in the Mona Lisa’s hands that Leonardo had lived in a hospital for several months, studying skeletons and dissecting cadavers. • Mona Lisa fully realized the potential of oil paints. Instead of beginning with an outline, Leonardo used light and shadow or chiaroscuro to model her features.

Mona’s Hands

Mona Lisa • The reason she looks so lifelike is because Leonardo used many layers of the semitransparent paint. • What about the famous smile? • To avoid the solemnity of most formal portraits, Leonardo engaged musicians and jesters to amuse his subject.

Mona Lisa • By 1952 more than 61 versions of the Mona Lisa had been created. From Marcel Duchamp’s goateed version to Andy Warhol’s silk-screens. The Mona Lisa is the most reproduced image in all art.

Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

The Last Supper • Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” is known as the world’s most revered religious painting. • Leonardo declared that the artist’s intention should be to capture “the man and the intention of his soul. ” • Here he revolutionized art by capturing what was going through each figure’s mind.

The Last Supper • Leonardo immortalized the dramatic moment after Christ announced one of his disciples would betray him, with each person reacting emotionally and asking “Lord, is it I? ” through a range of gestures and expressions. • He is again using perspective with all diagonal lines converging on Christ’s head, making him the focal point of painting.

The Notebooks- Vitruvian Man

Vitruvian Man • Depicts an image of a man showing perfect geometric proportions. • Ex: • Your palm is approximately the width of your 4 fingers. • The length of your arms outspread is equal to your height. • The distance from the top of your head to your chin is approximately 1/8 your height. (Making each person 8 “heads” tall. )

Vitruvian Man

The Notebooks • Evidence of Leonardo’s fertile imagination lies in the thousands of pages of sketches and ideas in his notebooks. • His interests and expertise encompass anatomy, engineering, astronomy, mathematics, natural history, music, sculpture, architecture, and painting, making him a very versatile genius.

The Notebooks • Leonardo anticipated many major discoveries and inventions of succeeding centuries. • Among his discoveries: central heating, printing press, telescopes, bombs, etc. • His illustrations of the interior workings of the human body were so precise they could accurately teach medical students today.

The Notebooks

The Notebooks

The Notebooks- Self Portrait

Michelangelo

Michelangelo • Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonaorrti Simoni, 1475 - 1564 (88) • Born near present day Florence, Italy • Sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer • Renaissance artist • Called one of the greatest artists of all time, his works are some of the most famous in existence

Michelangelo • Michelangelo’s mother died when he was very young, 6 years old. • As a child Michelangelo was cared for by a neighbor who’s husband was a stonecutter. He grew up interested in the man’s work, watching him draw and carve into the stone and learning how to use a hammer and chisel.

Michelangelo • Michelangelo believe that creativity was divinely inspired. This elevated the status of the artist in society and allowed him to break longstanding rules. • Of all artists, Michelangelo felt the sculptor was the most godlike, saying that “God himself created life from clay. ”

Michelangelo • He described his technique as “liberating the figure from the marble that imprisons it. ” • While other sculptors added pieces of marble to disguise mistakes, Michelangelo always carved his sculptures from just one block.

“Pieta”

Michelangelo • The first work to earn him renown, carved when he was 23, was the “Pieta” which means pity. • The pyramid style arrangement and accurate anatomy were derived from Leonardo Da Vinci. • When the sculpture was unveiled a viewer attributed the work to a more experienced sculptor, unable to believe a youth could create such a triumph. When Michelangelo heard he carved his name on the ribbon across the Virgin’s chest, the only work he ever signed.

Michelangelo • When Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel by Pope Julius he was asked to paint a few vines on a blue background, to spruce up the barnlike ceiling of the chapel. • What he gave him was more than 340 human figures representing the origin and fall of man- the most ambitious artistic undertaking of the whole Renaissance.

Michelangelo • The fact that Michelangelo accomplished this feat in less than 4 years, with very little assistance is amazing. • The physical conditions were formidable. Nearly half the length of a football field, the ceiling presented 10, 000 square feet to be designed. • The roof leaked, which made the plaster difficult to paint on.

Michelangelo • The curved shape of the ceiling made it hard to get the proportions of the body correct. • In addition, he was painting upside down on seven-story high scaffold in a cramped and uncomfortable position.

Heinz History Center Exhibit

Other works

Michelangelo’s tomb • Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

Raphael • If the Renaissance artists were in a popularity contest Raphael would beat out even the handsome Da Vinci. • It was said he was so kind and gentle that even animals loved him. • His father, a mediocre painter taught his son the basics from an early age. • By 17, he was considered a master.

Raphael • At 26, he was called to Rome by the Pope to decorate the Vatican. • Raphael created many frescos there with help from an army of about 50 students. • The paintings were completed the same year Michelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel. (1512)

Raphael • When he caught a fever and died at the young age of 37, the entire court plunged in grief. • Raphael combined all the greatest characteristics of the Renaissance. He borrowed pyramidal composition and light and shadow from Da Vinci. • From Michelangelo he adapted dynamic figures and the contrapposto pose.

Raphael

Raphael- School of Athens

Raphael • “School of Athens” 1511, was Raphael’s masterpiece. • It is located in the Vatican and said to show 4 groups exemplifying certain studies. • From left to right: Philosophy, Poetry and Music, Theology or Religion and Law.

Raphael • Several artists are said to have served as models for the image. • Michelangelo is the man seated at the front of the steps. • The left central figure is said to be Da Vinci. • The right central figure is Aristotle. • The other figures are all important philosophers, artists and scholars of the time. This was to be an image of the greatest minds in Rome.

Raphael

Raphael

Raphael’s Madonna

Raphael “Cherubini”