Renaissance Art Final

Atmospherical perspective

represent what you can see in the air—light, fog, shadows-shifts color

Paragone

("comparison"): a term used to describe the competition between visual art and literature as well as between painting and sculpture. 'Proceeding from the intellect, Drawing, the father of our three arts - architecture, sculpture and painting -, turns multiple elements into a global concept. The latter is like the form or concept of all things in nature, all original in its measurements. Whether the human body or animals, plants or buildings, sculpture or painting, you can understand the relationship between the whole and its different parts; the parts with each other and in relationship to the whole." -Vasari

Donatello

(1386-1466) Sculptor. Probably exerted greatest influence of any Florentine artist before Michelangelo. His statues expressed an appreciation of the incredible variety of human nature. · One of the great sculptors in Florence at the beginning of the 15thcentury · Orsanmichele · Trained in Ghiberti's workshop · Commission for Saint George (depicted as a young boy, average looking) · Created a new type of depth in a scene, like a painter · Linear perspective

Raphael

(1483-1520) 1485-1504: early years in Umbria 1504-1508: artistic formation in Florence 1504-1520 : triumph in Rome He was born in Urbino. In the workshop of Pietro Perugino. "Probably no other pupil of genius has ever absorbed so much of his master's teaching as Raphael did" · He wanted to create more movement than Perugino; less symmetrical · He only did work for private patrons · Called to Rome by Pope Julius II Giorgio Vasari : in this work "may be distinctly seen the progress of excellence of Raphael's style, which becomes much more subtle and refined, and surpasses the manner of Pietro. In this work, "there is a temple drawn in perspective with such evident care that it is marvelous to behold the difficulty of the problems which he has there set himself to solve."

Duccio di Buoninsegna

1278-1318 Siena Leader of the gothic school of painting. Contemporary with Giotto di Bondone One of the greatest Italian painters of the Middle Ages and the founder of the Sienese school. Italo-Byzantine tradition is fused with the new spirituality of the Gothic style Greatest of all his works is the Maesta, the altarpiece of the Siena cathedral Maesta: Softened Byzantine hard body outlines and drapery patterning. Limited experimentation with depicting narrative action and producing illusionistic effects. A miracle of color composition and texture manipulation. Created the glistening and shimmering effects of textiles, adapting the motifs and design patterns of exotic materials (silk) Nothing like anything that had been done anywhere else in Italy.

Renaissance Period

1300's the Renaissance begins in Italy mid 1400-1600 Renaissance everywhere else Rebirth of antiquity, Rise of the individual, Growing interest in the natural world. Scientific processes, technical processes, Italy = fragmented territory, Rise of personal relationship in religion. Protestant reformation.

Filippo Brunelleschi

1377-1466 Florentine Sculptor and Painter "The Inventor" · One of the great sculptors in Florence at the beginning of the 15thcentury · Competition with Ghiberti for Baptistry doors · Orsanmichele · Constructed the Cupola del Domo · Orsanmichele · Duomo has a double shell · Largest cupola made without modern technique · Inventor of linear perspective (central perspective) o Illusion of depth on flat surface o All lines converge in a single vanishing point · Disegno—drawing/idea

Lorenzo Ghiberti

1378-1455 Sculptor Gates of Paradise Sacrifice of Isaac · One of the great sculptors in Florence at the beginning of the 15thcentury · Eastern doors of the Baptistry "Gates of Paradise" o Stories of Joseph, detail of the figures in relief—nearly sculpture in the round

Botticelli

1445-1510 A painter who embodied platonist ideas, used color, made many paintings on an allegorical level. on aesthetic path. more concerned with grace and elegance, works: Birth of Venus, Adoration of the Magi, Primavera

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 - 1519 Epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. · Writer (not novels), arts, medicine/anatomy, influential, inventor, science · Came from the middle class · 1stknown painting is the "Baptism of Christ" · Master at faces, wings, landscape, and detail · Leonardo was very aware of his own talent—signature, date · Atmospheric technique · Linear perspective "His science enhances an understanding of his art. His in-depth exploration of optics gave him an understanding of perspective, light, and color. His goal was to discover the laws underlying the processes and flux of nature. Uses chiaroscuro, modeling with light and shadow and expressing emotional states." Virgin of the Rocks: unified representation of objects in an atmospheric setting. the melting mood of tenderness, enhanced by the caressing light, suffuses the entire composition. Expresses Leonardo's "intention of the soul"

Michelangelo

1475 - 1564 Master: Domenico Ghirlandaio Artist for the Medici family · Arrived in Florence at the time of Lorenzo Medici · Arezzo -> Florence -> Rome · 3 perfect painters to Vasari: Michelangelo, Da Vinci, & Michelangelo · Medici family banished from Florence, so Michelangelo moves to Venice, Bologna, and finally arrives in Rome to start work for cardinals · He thought painting & sculpting was good, but he preferred to sculpt · "The sculptor doesn't use his hand but his intellect" · Called by Pope Julius II to Rome · It took him 4 years to complete the Sistine Chapel ceiling La Pieta David Sistine Chapel ceiling Enjoyed sculpting more than painting Worked in Rome and Florence

Titian

1488 - 27 August 1576 Series of Venus and musician in a landscape. Allegories of music and Love as a source of inspiration. · The heir of Bellini · Was born in the mountains near Venice · Very difficult to become a painter and member of painter's guild in Venice if you weren't born in the city of Venice · Went to the city of Venice to become a painter at 10 years old, going to the workshop fo the Bellini family · Used oil painting like Bellini, but creating his own subjects · Titian was the first to become international and have a political role as a diplomat o Why he's so important to Renaissance painting · He does every possible subject: mythology, religion, portrait, etc. · He used new ways to paint—contemporary art o Fingers · Many artists copied his creations · Became an expert at portraits of rulers, always half-length The Assomption : a revolutionary painting by Titian. "Titian employed a great mass of colors. He prepared his pictures with a solid stratum of pigment. Applied remedies as a surgeon might apply them. quintessence had been covered over with its padding of flesh. Now and then he would model the light into half tint with a rub of his finger; or with a touch of his thumb he would dab a spot of dark pigment into some corner to strengthen it ; or throw in a reddish stroke—a tear of blood, so to speak—to break the parts superficially. In fact, when finishing, he painted much more with his fingers than with his brush." Vasari

Chiaroscuro

A gradual transition from light to dark in a painting; forms are not determined by sharp outlines, but by the meeting of lighter and darker areas.

Altarpiece

A painted or sculpted panel set on an altar of a church

Fresco

A painting technique that involves applying water-based paint onto a freshly plastered wall. The paint forms a bond with the plaster that is durable and long-lasting.

Oil Painting

A painting technique using oil-based pigments that rose to prominence in Northern Europe in the 15th century and is now the standard medium for painting on canvas

Tempera

A type of paint employing egg yolk as the binding medium that is noted for quick drying rate and flat opaque colors

Barrel Vault

Also called tunnel vault. Extension of a simple arch, creating a semicylindrical ceiling over parallel vault.

Arch

Alternate way of spanning a passageway. Romans preferred it to the post-and-lintel system used in Greek order. Arches constructed using wedge-shaped stone blocks called voussoirs. The central voussoir is the arch's keystone.

Giorgio Vasari

An Italian painter, architect, writer, and historian, most famous today for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. He enjoyed friendship and patronage of the Medici family. · Father of 3 arts: architecture, sculpture, and painting · His painting is best represented by the fresco cycles in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence o His paintings are often criticized as being facile, superficial, and lacking a sense of color · Regarded more highly for architecture than painting · His best-known buildings are the Uffizi in Florence (built for Cosimo I de' Medici), and the church, monastery, and palace created in Pisa. · According to Vasari in his book, the excellence of the art of classical antiquity was followed by a decline of quality during the Dark Ages, which was in turn reversed by a renaissance of the arts in Tuscany in the 14thcentury, initiated by Cimabue and Giotto and culminating in the works of Michelangelo.

Pisanello

Antonius Pisanus "Pisanello" 1390-1455 Frescos in Pellegrini Chapel in Sant'Anastasia Saint George and the Princess in Pellegrini Chapel Italian medalist and painter, a major exponent of the International Gothic style Collaborated on frescoes in the Doges' Palace in Venice Very important medallist in the first half of the 15th century. Spent his early years in Verona. Madonna of the Quail is in the Museum of Castelvecchio.

Gothic Style

Architecture: The characteristics of Gothic architecture are stone structures, large expanses of glass, clustered columns, sharply pointed spires, intricate sculptures, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses. One of their main characteristics is the ogival, or pointed arch Painting: Typological in nature. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from Byzantine icon to human, affectionate, showing refined manners of well-born aristocratic, courtly lady. More facial expression, smaller in relation to background of scenes.

Byzantine Art

Axial symmetry, highlighted, contours, rigidity, valuable materials, religious symbols, no expression, "icon", lack of modeling, lively colors, not realistic, made for church/royalty, made to inspire piety. Bi-dimensionality, no perspective, no volume.

Venetian Painting

Coloring: fundamental to conceiving painted images charged with the look of life. Less vivid colors, but used the process of layering and blending colors to achieve a glowing richness. Gradually softened their coloring until their manner equaled nature. Often worked out compositions directly on the canvas, using layered patches of colored brushstrokes rather than line to define form. Show interest of how light will affect a body and how color will describe it in a painting.

Florentine Painting

Design/Drawing: essential beginning of artistic endeavor. More vivid colors than Venetian painting. Giorgio Vasari describes "disegno" as the father and foundation of all the visual arts. How an artist expresses their inner vision. Florentine painters used drawing to study movement, anatomy, and the natural world. They developed compositions in detailed drawings before transferring them to surfaces prepared for painting. "Tuscan artists revived disegno and art was reborn"-- Vasari.

Classical Orders

Doric, Ionic, Corinthian The Greeks developed two basic architectural orders: Doric and Ionic. Columns 2 or 3 parts: the shaft, the capital, (in Ionic a base) Entablatures 3 parts: The architrave, the frieze, triangular pediment. In Doric order, the frieze is subdivided into triglyphs and metopes. Ionic distinctive feature: Spiral volutes

1401 competition for the North Doors of the Baptistery of the Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) in Florence ( Lorenzo Ghiberti Vs Filippo Brunelleschi).

Florence Sculpture and Civic Pride 1401: Competition for design of the east doors of the Florence baptistry. Ghiberti won. Brunelleschi- dramatic emotion. Ghiberti- grace and smoothness. Abraham's sacrifice: political (loyalty to Florence) and spiritual (loyalty to God) The emerging practice of collecting classical art int he 15th century influenced the appearance of classicism in Renaissance art.

Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini (around 1433-1516) Father of Venetian painting, «painter of feelings» The inventor of a new typology of painting : The Virgin and Child for private devotion. · Father of Venetian painting, a "painter of feelings" · Son of a famous painter at the time · 1stin Venice to use oil to represent feelings · Softer lines and less detail · Able to depict emotion that moved viewers · Meeting of another painter: Antonello Messina—learned technique of oil painting from Flemish people · Soft colors, natural shades, lines everything—drawing underneath

Perspective

Having to do with depth and recession in a painting or a relief sculpture. Objects shown in linear perspective achieve a three dimensionality in the two dimensional world of the picture plane. All lines, called orthogonals, draw the viewer, back in space to a common point called the vanishing paint. Paintings, however, may have more than one vanishing point, with orthogonals leading the eye to several parts of the work. Landscapes that give the illusion of distance are in atmospheric or aerial perspective.

Basilica

In Roman architecture, a large axially planned building with a nave, side aisles, and apses. In Christian architecture, an axially planned church with long nave, side aisles, and an apse for the altar. a church building that has been accorded special privileges by the pope.

Christianity

Jesus Christ- founder Monotheistic Old Testament (before Jesus) New Testament (life of Jesus) Jesus is son of God and savior of humanity Mary conceived Jesus as a virgin, announced by Gabriel. Saints: human beings, who are considered as holy because they accomplished and extraordinary life as Christians. 12 Apostles: the first followers of Jesus, renounced to the Ancient Roman religion.

Geniuses of Renaissance

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael

Mythology

Politheistic religion of Ancient Greece and adopted by Ancient Rome. Faith in several divinities, often linked to Nature. Used gods as a way to explain natural phenomenons. Literary source: Metamorphoses by Ovid.

Medici Family

Ruled Florence during the Renaissance, became wealthy from banking, spent a lot of money on art, controlled Florence for about 3 centuries. Rulers of Florence (1434-1737) 1. Cosimo the Elder (ruler 1434-1469) 2. Lorenzo The Magnificent (ruler 1469-1492) The Golden Age in Florence 1. Cosimo the Elder 2. Lorenzo "The Magnificent" (the golden age of Florence) a. Collected books & passionate about poetry b. Huge patron of paintings 3. Medici Academy and the Garden of San Marco a. Artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo b. Philosophy based on Neoplatonism c. Collection of books & works of art from Antiquity d. Garden of San Marco where artists like Michelangelo could exercise and study ancient sculptures

Giorgione

The Tempest Giorgione Da Castelfranco (Castelfranco Veneto 1477 - Venice 1510) One of the initiators of a High Renaissance style in Venetian art. A venetian master of poetic mood created through idealized form, color, and light Not sure if he's real

Masaccio

The first painter to use linear perspective The most realistic at the time. Completely abandoned gothic style Use of foreshortening Used chiaroscuro Most influential artists in such a short time. Followed closely Brunelleschi and Donatello Created lifelike figures with a fine animation and similarity to the real. Brancacci Chapel

Groin Vault

The groin or cross vault is formed by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults of equal size. Usually used for long buildings.

Dome

The hemispherical dome may be described as a round arch rotated around the full circumference of a circle, usually resting on a cylindrical drum. Usually constructed domes using concrete. Concrete dries to form a solid mass of great strength, which allowed the Romans to puncture the apex of a concrete dome with an oculus (eye) so light could come through.

Cathedral

The major church of a diocese, where the bishop has his seat.

Foreshortening

The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight. A visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space.

Greco-Roman temple design

cella: room with no windows dedicated to a god or goddess. Greek: colonnade erected around the cella to form a peristyle. Roman: freestanding columns only in a porch at the front of the building.

Corinthian capital

later Greek invention more ornate than either the Doric of Ionic. double row of acanthus leaves.

Ignudi

nude corner figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling the 20 athletic, nude males that Michelangelo painted as supporting figures at the each corner of the five smaller narrative scenes that run along the center of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Linear perspective

parallel lines appear to converge with distance

Low-relief

sculptural relief that projects very little from the background; also called bas-relief

Stiacciato

technique of rendering fine detail in marble invented by Donatello a technique which allows a sculptor to create a recessed or relief sculpture with carving only millimeters deep. To give the illusion of greater depth, the thickness gradually decreases from the foreground to the background. Dominated by Donatello.

Predella

the painted or sculpted lower portion of an altarpiece that relates to the subjects of the upper portion The base of an altarpiece that is filled with small paintings, often narrative scenes

Sfumato

the technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms. A smoke-light or hazy effect that distances the viewer from the subject of a painting.

Giotto di Bondone

· Born in Florence in 1267 and died in 1337. · Giotto brought a new era of art after Byzantine art; some describe him as the father of Western pictorial art. · His true teacher was nature, the world of visible things · Giotto's revolution in painting did not only consist of displacing Byzantine style, establishing painting as a major art form for the next seven centuries, and restoring the naturalistic approach developed by the ancients and largely abandoned in the Middle Ages. He also inaugurated a method of pictorial expression based on observation and initiated an age that might be called "early scientific". · They recognized that the visual world must be observed before it can be analyzed and understood. Western artists turned resolutely toward the visible world as their source of knowledge of nature. · Expressiveness, attempt to represent volume & movement of the body, humanity in the faces of Saint John, Virgin, & Christ · Giotto surpassed his master Cimabue · Perspective Box- 3D box invented by Giotto (he created volume & space, but it wasn't realistic) · The new art aimed to construct a figure that has substance, dimensionality, and bulk.