Analyzing Classical, Medieval, and

Renaissance Art

Objective: You will compare classical, medieval, and Renaissance art to see how classical traditions were revived during the Renaissance.

Characteristics:

• Perfect, ideal figures• Bodies look active• Bodies nude or dressed in togas• No emotion on faces• Scenes show heroes or people doing real tasks of

daily life• Little background or sense of perspective (when

distant objects look small and far)

Introduction to Classical Art

Discobolus by Myron c. 450 B.C

• Man throwing discus• Designed to celebrate Olympic

victory• Athletic skills important for

Greeks• Balanced in the midst of action• Strong body arranged to

create harmonious shape• Represents ideal man in Greek

society

Characteristics:

• Subjects mostly religious• Figures look flat and stiff with little real movement• Important figures are large• Fully clothed, draped in deeply carved, stiff-looking

clothes• Faces show little emotion• Paintings use vibrant colors• Flat, painted figures• Backgrounds are 1 color, no realistic space

Introduction to Medieval Art

Narthex Tympanum A.D. 1120

• Sculpture fits into an arching space over the entrance doors to a church in France

• Jesus in center, sending apostles (side of him) all over the world to preach

• People surrounding them are people waiting for preachers

• Jesus is largest and most important

• Bodies are not realistic

Characteristics:

• Subjects religious and non-religious• Figures look ideal and perfect• Bodies active and moving• Fully clothed or nude• Real people doing real tasks• Expressive faces• Paintings use natural colors• Interest in nature• Backgrounds are full and have perspective• Paintings are symmetrical (balanced on both sides)

Introduction to Renaissance Art

School of Athens by Rafael A.D. 1510

• Decorates 1 whole wall of a room in the pope’s palace in Rome

• Pictures great thinkers of Greece

• Figures in motion• Plato and Aristotle

stand at the center of painting

• Classic architecture• Uses perspective• Symmetrical