Some Key Principles of the

Renaissance

• Imitation of nature

• Desire to surpass classical models in quality

• Rationality and empirical knowledge

• Reconciling these other goals with

Christianity

• Arts innovation through trade, travel,

growing patronage

Some Key Principles of the

Renaissance

• Imitation of nature

• Desire to surpass classical models in quality

• Rationality and empirical knowledge

• Reconciling these other goals with

Christianity

• Arts innovation through trade, travel,

growing patronage

Principles of the Renaissance

Imitation of nature

– Giotto’s study of live models, animals, etc

– Realistic human anatomy and proportion

– Development of linear perspective

– Atmospheric perspective

– Contrapposto figures in sculpture and painting

Giotto di Bondone. Marriage at Cana, Raising of Lazarus, Lamentation, and

Resurrection / Noli Me Tangere. 1305–1306. Each scene approx. 6’ 5" × 6’.

Giotto (1303-6) and Raphael (1507)

Hildegarde of Bingen

Cosmos from

Liber Divinorum Operum,

12th century

Leonardo da Vinci,

Vitruvian Man from Notebooks

(1487) Italy

Principles of the Renaissance

To surpass classical models in quality

– Ad fontes – back to Antique sources in texts and

rediscovery of artworks

– Revival of Humanism as a philosophy placing

interest of humans as focus of life

– Embrace of nude male figure in art

– Return to Classical orders in architecture

Lysippos. The Weary Herakles (Farnese Hercules).

A Roman copy by Glykon of the 4th-century BCE bronze original. Height 10’ 6”.

MichelangeloSistine Chapel Ceiling (1511-12)

“Temptation and Expulsion”

Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athenodoros of Rhodes.

Laocoön and His Sons. Probably the original of 1st century BCE or

a Roman copy of the 1st century CE. Height 8’.

22-09

Michelangelo

David

(1501-03)

Andrea Palladio, Villa Capra or Villa Rotonda (1557-83)

Near Vicenza, Italy

Principles of the Renaissance

Rationality and empirical knowledge

– Realistic human anatomy and proportion

– Development of linear perspective

– Sophisticated compositions often idealized or

emphasizing interaction between figures

– Embrace of symmetry and proportion in design

– Technical innovations in materials (bronze, oil

paints), new theories and writing about art

(Vasari, Alberti, Durer)

Giotto (1303-6) and Leonardo (1490)

Raphael, Sistine Madonna (1512) Giotto, Ognissanti Madonna (1310)

Principles of the Renaissance

Christianity as major theme

– Subjects include Saints, Biblical characters

– Religious commissions for churches, chapels

– Reconciling religion with Classical ideals

(Ancient Greeks and Romans came before

Christianity)

Andrea Mantegna,

Saint Sebastian (1460)

Donatello, Saint Mark (1415)

Florence, Italy

Contrapposto

22-09

Michelangelo

David

(1501-03)

Cimabue, Madonna and Child in Majesty (1280) Giotto, Ognissanti Madonna (1310)

Giotto

Arena, or Scrovegni Chapel

(1303-6) Padua, Italy

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi. Annunciation. 1333. 10' × 8’ 9”.

Gentile da Fabriano,

Strozzi Altarpiece

Adoration of the Magi

(1423)

Jan van Eyck. Double

Portrait of a Giovanni

Arnolfini and His Wife.

1434. 33 × 22 1/2”.

Robert Campin, Merode Altarpiece with Annunciation, two donors, and Joseph (1425)

Flemish, oil on panel

Rogier van der Weyden, Annunciation (1435-40) Flemish, oil on panel

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation (1898)

How does Michael Baxandall’s “period eye” help make sense of

this?

Andrea Mantegna,

Saint Sebastian (1460)

Venetian painting

Giovanni Bellini

San Giobbe Altarpiece (1487)

Oil paint on panel

Sacra conversatzione - sacred conversation

Titian,Assumption of the Virgin

(1516-18)

Santa Maria del Fiore Duomo

Florence Cathedral

(1296-1470)

Three Renaissance artists:

Giotto (1334-59) Campanile

Fillipo Brunelleschi (1420-40)

Dome

Lorenzo Ghiberti

(1401-1452) Baptistery doors

Left: Filippo Brunelleschi and Right: Lorenzo Ghiberti. Sacrifice of Isaac.

1401–1402. 21 × 17 1/2”.

Filippo Brunelleschi

Pazzi Chapel Santa Croce Church

(1429) Florence

Attributed to Michelozzo di Bartolomeo.

Façade, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence. Begun 1446.

Masaccio, Tribute Money fresco in Brancacci Chapel (1425-28) Sainta Maria del Carmine,

Florence, Italy

Continuous narration: Apostle Peter shown in three separate moments in unified composition

One-point perspective

Inscription:

“I was once what you are; what I am, you

will be.”

Masaccio. Trinity with the Virgin,

St. John the Evangelist, and

Donors.

c. 1425–1427/1428. 21' × 10’ 5”.

Donatello, Saint Mark (1415)

Florence, Italy

Contrapposto stance

Iconography of the saints

Donatello, David (1440)

Courtyard at Palazzo Medici (1446)

Paolo Uccello. The Battle of San Romano. 1438–1440. Approx. 6' × 10’ 7”.

Palazzo Rucellai (1446-51)

Attributed to Leon Battista Alberti

Sandro Botticelli. Birth of Venus. c. 1484–1486. 5’ 8 7/8" × 9’ 1 7/8”.

Notebooks -- sketch of central plan church

Leonardo da Vinci

Self-portrait (1514)

Leonardo da Vinci

Virgin of the

Rocks (1490)

Key terms for Leonardo:

• Sfumato

• Chiaroscuro

Leonardo da Vinci,

The Last Supper

(1495-1498)

Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy

Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa(1503-06)

Raphael,

Sistine Madonna

(1512-13)

22-17

Raphael, School of Athens (1509-11)Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/SchoolAthens.htm

PHILOSOPHY

JUSTICE

POETRY

THEOLOGY

School of Athens

Arts Sciences

Parnassus

Lyric

Poetry

Epic

Poetry

Disputá

Conservative Liberal

Virtues

Justinian

Gregory IX

Solomon

Adam andEve

Apollo

Astrology

RAPHAEL: Stanza della Segnatura -- Themes

RAPHAEL

Transfiguration (1516-20)

Michelangelo. David. 1501–1504. Height 17’ without pedestal.

MichelangeloSistine Chapel Ceiling

“The Creation of Adam”

MichelangeloSistine Chapel Ceiling (1511-12)

“Temptation and Expulsion”

Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athenodoros of Rhodes.

Laocoön and His Sons. Probably the original of 1st century BCE or

a Roman copy of the 1st century CE. Height 8’.

Giotto, Arena, or Scrovegni Chapel

(1303-6) Padua, Italy

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

(1508-12, 1535) Vatican

22-13

Michelangelo

Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel (1534-1541)

Saint Peter’s Basilica

Antonio da Sangallo plan (1539-46)

Michelangelo (1546-93)

Mannerism

Pontormo

Descent from

the Cross

(1525-28)

Parmigianino

Madonna with the Long Neck

(1535)

Tintoretto (1555) and

Gentileschi (1610)

Susannah and the Elders

Gentileschi: Judith and Her

Maid Servant, 1625