Hallmarks of the Renaissance

The “ISMS”

INTRODUCTION EXAMPLES

Apostles, detail from the Last Judgment by Pietro Cavallinic. 1295 (fresco in Santa Cecilia, Trastevere, Rome)

MEDIEVAL ART

INDIVIDUALISM

Cosimi I de’ Medici in Armour by Bronzino,1545 (oil on wood)

INDIVIDUALISM

Double Portrait of Battista Sforza, Duchess of Urbino and Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino by Piero della Francesca, 1460s (oil on panel)

HUMANISM/CLASSICISM

The Feast of the Gods by Bellini, 1514 (oil on canvas)

Tempietto by Bramante,San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1508

HUMANISM /CLASSICISM

HUMANISM

Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man

“O Supreme generosity of God the Father, O highest and most marvelous felicity of man! To him it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.”

HUMANISM

David by Michelangelo,marble, 1501-1504

SECULARISM

Children’s Games by Pieter Bruegel, 1560 (oil on oak panel)

SECULARISM

Excerpt from The Decameron by Boccaccio (1313-1375)Niccolò Cornacchini, one of our citizens, and a man of wealth, had among other estates a fine one at Camerata … There were a few rooms in the house provided with beds and other furniture, and an old female servant lived there as caretaker, but otherwise the house was unoccupied, for which cause Niccolò's son, Filippo, being a young man and a bachelor, was wont sometimes to bring thither a woman for his pleasure, and after keeping her there for a few days to escort her thence again. Now on one of these occasions it befell that he brought thither one Niccolosa, whom a vile fellow, named Mangione, kept in a house at Camaldoli as a common prostitute. And a fine piece of flesh she was, and wore fine clothes, and, for one of her sort, knew how to comport herself becomingly and talk agreeably.

SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM

Study of Praying Hands by Dürer, 1508 (brush and ink heightened with white on blue tinted paper)

SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, 1495-1498 (fresco)

No. 29 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 13. “Last Supper” by Giotto1304-1306 (fresco in Cappella Scrovegni [Arena Chapel], Padua)

And finally … MY FAVORITE PAINTING!

GROUP ANALYSIS WORKS

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli, c. 1485 (tempera on canvas)

#1

Rearing Horse by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1483-1498 (red chalk)

#2

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein, 1533 (oil on wood)

#3

The Doge Leonardo Loredan by Bellini, 1501-1504 (oil on poplar)

#4

The Peasant Dance by Pieter Bruegel, 1568 (oil on oak panel)

#5

Excerpt from “Life of Leonardo da Vinci,” Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari (1550)The greatest gifts are often seen, in the course of nature, rained by celestial influences on human creatures; and sometimes, in supernatural fashion, beauty, grace, and talent are united beyond measure in one single person, in a manner that to whatever such an one turns his attention, his every action is so divine, that, surpassing all other men, it makes itself clearly known as a thing bestowed by God (as it is), and not acquired by human art. This was seen by all mankind in Leonardo da Vinci, in whom, besides a beauty of body never sufficiently extolled, there was an infinite grace in all his actions; and so great was his genius, and such its growth, that to whatever difficulties he turned his mind, he solved them with ease. In him was great bodily strength, joined to dexterity, with a spirit and courage ever royal and magnanimous; and the fame of his name so increased, that not only in his lifetime was he held in esteem, but his reputation became even greater among posterity after his death.

#6

The School of Athens by Raphael, 1510-1522 (fresco)

#7

Excerpt from A Letter to Boccaccio (1362) by Francesco PetrarchNeither exhortations to virtue nor the argument of approaching death should divert us from literature; for in a good mind it excites the love of virtue, and dissipates, or at least diminishes, the fear of death. To desert our studies shows want of self-confidence rather than wisdom, for letters do not hinder but aid the properly constituted mind which possesses them; they facilitate our life, they do not retard it. Just as many kinds of food which lie heavy on an enfeebled and nauseated stomach furnish an excellent nourishment for one who is well but famishing, so in our studies many things which are deadly to the weak mind may prove most salutary to an acute and healthy intellect, especially if in our use of both food and learning we exercise proper discretion. If it were otherwise, surely the zeal of certain persons who persevered to the end could not have roused such admiration. Cato, I never forget, acquainted himself with Latin literature as he was growing old, and Greek when he had really become an old man. Varro, who reached his hundredth years still reading and writing, parted from life sooner than from his love of study. Livius Drusus, although weakened by age and afflicted with blindness, did not give up his interpretation of the civil law, which he carried on to the great advantage of the state. . . .

#8