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Renaissance art

Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD[1]) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy, literature, music, science, and technology. Renaissance art took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity, perceived as the noblest of ancient traditions, but transformed that tradition by absorbing recent developments in the art of Northern Europe and by applying contemporary scientific knowledge. Along with Renaissance humanist philosophy, it spread throughout Europe, affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities. For art historians, Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the medieval period to the Early Modern age.

Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve in the Prado Museum, 1507
Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (interior view), 1432
Titian, Sacred and Profane Love, c. 1513 – 1514, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ, c. 1450, National Gallery, London
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1485, Uffizi, Florence

The body of art, including painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature identified as "Renaissance art" was primarily produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man. Scholars no longer believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by the French word renaissance, literally meaning "rebirth". In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art.

Origins edit

Many influences on the development of Renaissance men and women in the early 15th century have been credited with the emergence of Renaissance art; they are the same as those that affected philosophy, literature, architecture, theology, science, government and other aspects of society. The following list presents a summary of changes to social and cultural conditions which have been identified as factors which contributed to the development of Renaissance art. Each is dealt with more fully in the main articles cited above. The scholars of Renaissance period focused on present life and ways improve human life. They did not pay much attention to medieval philosophy or religion. During this period, scholars and humanists like Erasmus, Dante and Petrarch criticized superstitious beliefs and also questioned them. [2] The concept of education also widened its spectrum and focused more on creating 'an ideal man' who would have a fair understanding of arts, music, poetry and literature and would have the ability to appreciate these aspects of life.

  • Classical texts, lost to European scholars for centuries, became available. These included documents of philosophy, prose, poetry, drama, science, a thesis on the arts, and early Christian theology.
  • Europe gained access to advanced mathematics, which had its provenance in the works of Islamic scholars.
  • The advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily, and an increasing number of books were written for a broader public.
  • The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city, Florence.
  • Cosimo de' Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts, not associated with the church or monarchy.
  • Humanist philosophy meant that man's relationship with humanity, the universe and God was no longer the exclusive province of the church.
  • A revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello. The revival of a style of architecture based on classical precedents inspired a corresponding classicism in painting and sculpture, which manifested itself as early as the 1420s in the paintings of Masaccio and Uccello.
  • The improvement of oil paint and developments in oil-painting technique by Belgian artists such as Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes led to its adoption in Italy from about 1475 and had ultimately lasting effects on painting practices worldwide.
  • The serendipitous presence within the region of Florence in the early 15th century of certain individuals of artistic genius, most notably Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Piero della Francesca, Donatello and Michelozzo formed an ethos out of which sprang the great masters of the High Renaissance, as well as supporting and encouraging many lesser artists to achieve work of extraordinary quality.[3]
  • A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family, their influential in-law Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto.[3][4][5]
  • The publication of two treatises by Leone Battista Alberti, De pictura ("On Painting") in 1435 and De re aedificatoria ("Ten Books on Architecture") in 1452.

History edit

Proto-Renaissance in Italy, 1280–1400 edit

 
Giotto: The Lamentation, c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, foreshadows the Renaissance.

In Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the sculpture of Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni Pisano, working at Pisa, Siena and Pistoia shows markedly classicising tendencies, probably influenced by the familiarity of these artists with ancient Roman sarcophagi. Their masterpieces are the pulpits of the Baptistery and Cathedral of Pisa.

Contemporary with Giovanni Pisano, the Florentine painter Giotto developed a manner of figurative painting that was unprecedentedly naturalistic, three-dimensional, lifelike and classicist, when compared with that of his contemporaries and teacher Cimabue. Giotto, whose greatest work is the cycle of the Life of Christ at the Arena Chapel in Padua, was seen by the 16th-century biographer Giorgio Vasari as "rescuing and restoring art" from the "crude, traditional, Byzantine style" prevalent in Italy in the 13th century.

Early Renaissance in Italy, 1400–1495 edit

 
Donatello, David (1440s?) Museo Nazionale del Bargello.

Although both the Pisanos and Giotto had students and followers, the first truly Renaissance artists were not to emerge in Florence until 1401 with the competition to sculpt a set of bronze doors of the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral, which drew entries from seven young sculptors including Brunelleschi, Donatello and the winner, Lorenzo Ghiberti. Brunelleschi, most famous as the architect of the dome of Florence Cathedral and the Church of San Lorenzo, created a number of sculptural works, including a life-sized crucifix in Santa Maria Novella, renowned for its naturalism. His studies of perspective are thought to have influenced the painter Masaccio. Donatello became renowned as the greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance, his masterpieces being his humanist and unusually erotic statue of David, one of the icons of the Florentine republic, and his great monument to Gattamelata, the first large equestrian bronze to be created since Roman times.

The contemporary of Donatello, Masaccio, was the painterly descendant of Giotto and began the Early Renaissance in Italian painting in 1425, furthering the trend towards solidity of form and naturalism of face and gesture that Giotto had begun a century earlier. From 1425 to 1428, Masaccio completed several panel paintings but is best known for the fresco cycle that he began in the Brancacci Chapel with the older artist Masolino and which had a profound influence on later painters, including Michelangelo. Masaccio's developments were carried forward in the paintings of Fra Angelico, particularly in his frescos at the Convent of San Marco in Florence.

The treatment of the elements of perspective and light in painting was of particular concern to 15th-century Florentine painters. Uccello was so obsessed with trying to achieve an appearance of perspective that, according to Giorgio Vasari, it disturbed his sleep. His solutions can be seen in his masterpiece set of three paintings, the Battle of San Romano, which is believed to have been completed by 1460. Piero della Francesca made systematic and scientific studies of both light and linear perspective, the results of which can be seen in his fresco cycle of The History of the True Cross in San Francesco, Arezzo.

In Naples, the painter Antonello da Messina began using oil paints for portraits and religious paintings at a date that preceded other Italian painters, possibly about 1450. He carried this technique north and influenced the painters of Venice. One of the most significant painters of Northern Italy was Andrea Mantegna, who decorated the interior of a room, the Camera degli Sposi for his patron Ludovico Gonzaga, setting portraits of the family and court into an illusionistic architectural space.

The end period of the Early Renaissance in Italian art is marked, like its beginning, by a particular commission that drew artists together, this time in cooperation rather than competition. Pope Sixtus IV had rebuilt the Papal Chapel, named the Sistine Chapel in his honour, and commissioned a group of artists, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli to decorate its wall with fresco cycles depicting the Life of Christ and the Life of Moses. In the sixteen large paintings, the artists, although each working in his individual style, agreed on principles of format, and utilised the techniques of lighting, linear and atmospheric perspective, anatomy, foreshortening and characterisation that had been carried to a high point in the large Florentine studios of Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio and Perugino.

 
Jean Fouquet, self-portrait (1450). The earliest portrait miniature, and possibly the earliest formal self-portrait.

Early Netherlandish art, 1425–1525 edit

 
Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross (c. 1435), oil on oak panel, 220 cm × 262 cm (87 in × 103 in). Museo del Prado, Madrid.

The painters of the Low Countries in this period included Jan van Eyck, his brother Hubert van Eyck, Robert Campin, Hans Memling, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes. Their painting developed partly independently of Early Italian Renaissance painting, and without the influence of a deliberate and conscious striving to revive antiquity.

The style of painting grew directly out of medieval painting in tempera, on panels and illuminated manuscripts, and other forms such as stained glass; the medium of fresco was less common in northern Europe. The medium used was oil paint, which had long been utilised for painting leather ceremonial shields and accoutrements because it was flexible and relatively durable. The earliest Netherlandish oil paintings are meticulous and detailed like tempera paintings. The material lent itself to the depiction of tonal variations and texture, so facilitating the observation of nature in great detail.

The Netherlandish painters did not approach the creation of a picture through a framework of linear perspective and correct proportion. They maintained a medieval view of hierarchical proportion and religious symbolism, while delighting in a realistic treatment of material elements, both natural and man-made. Jan van Eyck, with his brother Hubert, painted The Altarpiece of the Mystical Lamb. It is probable that Antonello da Messina became familiar with Van Eyck's work, while in Naples or Sicily. In 1475, Hugo van der Goes' Portinari Altarpiece arrived in Florence, where it was to have a profound influence on many painters, most immediately Domenico Ghirlandaio, who painted an altarpiece imitating its elements.

A very significant Netherlandish painter towards the end of the period was Hieronymus Bosch, who employed the type of fanciful forms that were often utilized to decorate borders and letters in illuminated manuscripts, combining plant and animal forms with architectonic ones. When taken from the context of the illumination and peopled with humans, these forms give Bosch's paintings a surreal quality which have no parallel in the work of any other Renaissance painter. His masterpiece is the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Early Renaissance in France, 1375–1528 edit

 
Jean Hey, The Moulins Triptych, c. 1498, oil on panel, Moulins Cathedral

The artists of France (including duchies such as Burgundy) were often associated with courts, providing illuminated manuscripts and portraits for the nobility as well as devotional paintings and altarpieces. Among the most famous were the Limbourg brothers, Flemish illuminators and creators of the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry manuscript illumination. Jean Fouquet, painter of the royal court, visited Italy in 1437 and reflects the influence of Florentine painters such as Paolo Uccello. Although best known for his portraits such as that of Charles VII of France, Fouquet also created illuminations, and is thought to be the inventor of the portrait miniature.

There were a number of artists at this date who painted famous altarpieces, that are stylistically quite distinct from both the Italian and the Flemish. These include two enigmatic figures, Enguerrand Quarton, to whom is ascribed the Pieta of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and Jean Hey, otherwise known as "the Master of Moulins" after his most famous work, the Moulins Altarpiece. In these works, realism and close observation of the human figure, emotions and lighting are combined with a medieval formality, which includes gilt backgrounds.

High Renaissance in Italy, 1495–1520 edit

The "universal genius" Leonardo da Vinci further perfected the aspects of pictorial art (lighting, linear and atmospheric perspective, anatomy, foreshortening, and characterisation) that had preoccupied artists of the Early Renaissance in a lifetime of studying and meticulously recording his observations of the natural world. His adoption of oil paint as his primary media meant that he could depict light and its effects on the landscape and objects more naturally and with greater dramatic effect than had ever been done before, as demonstrated in the Mona Lisa (1503–1506). His dissection of cadavers carried forward the understanding of skeletal and muscular anatomy, as seen in the unfinished Saint Jerome in the Wilderness (c. 1480). His depiction of human emotion in The Last Supper, completed 1495–1498, set the benchmark for religious painting.

 
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, c. 1511, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling

The art of Leonardo's younger contemporary Michelangelo took a very different direction. Michelangelo in neither his painting nor his sculpture demonstrates any interest in the observation of any natural object except the human body. He perfected his technique in depicting it, while in his early twenties, by the creation of the enormous marble statue of David and the group Pietà, in the St Peter's Basilica, Rome. He then set about an exploration of the expressive possibilities of the human anatomy. His commission by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling resulted in the supreme masterpiece of figurative composition, which was to have profound effect on every subsequent generation of European artists.[6] His later work, The Last Judgement, painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel between 1534 and 1541, shows a Mannerist (also called Late Renaissance) style with generally elongated bodies which took over from the High Renaissance style between 1520 and 1530.

Standing alongside Leonardo and Michelangelo as the third great painter of the High Renaissance was the younger Raphael, who in a short lifespan painted a great number of lifelike and engaging portraits, including those of Pope Julius II and his successor Pope Leo X, and numerous portrayals of the Madonna and Christ Child, including the Sistine Madonna. His death in 1520 at age 37 is considered by many art historians to be the end of the High Renaissance period, although some individual artists continued working in the High Renaissance style for many years thereafter.

In Northern Italy, the High Renaissance is represented primarily by members of the Venetian school, especially by the latter works of Giovanni Bellini, especially religious paintings, which include several large altarpieces of a type known as "Sacred Conversation", which show a group of saints around the enthroned Madonna. His contemporary Giorgione, who died at about the age of 32 in 1510, left a small number of enigmatic works, including The Tempest, the subject of which has remained a matter of speculation. The earliest works of Titian date from the era of the High Renaissance, including the massive altarpiece The Assumption of the Virgin, which combines human action and drama with spectacular colour and atmosphere. Titian continued painting in a generally High Renaissance style until near the end of his career in the 1570s, although he increasingly used colour and light over line to define his figures.

German Renaissance art edit

 
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Apollo and Diana.

German Renaissance art falls into the broader category of the Renaissance in Northern Europe, also known as the Northern Renaissance. Renaissance influences began to appear in German art in the 15th century, but this trend was not widespread. Gardner's Art Through the Ages identifies Michael Pacher, a painter and sculptor, as the first German artist whose work begins to show Italian Renaissance influences. According to that source, Pacher's painting, St. Wolfgang Forces the Devil to Hold His Prayerbook (c. 1481), is Late Gothic in style, but also shows the influence of the Italian artist Mantegna.[7]

In the 1500s, Renaissance art in Germany became more common as, according to Gardner, "The art of northern Europe during the sixteenth century is characterized by a sudden awareness of the advances made by the Italian Renaissance and by a desire to assimilate this new style as rapidly as possible."[8] One of the best known practitioners of German Renaissance art was Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), whose fascination with classical ideas led him to Italy to study art. Both Gardner and Russell recognized the importance of Dürer's contribution to German art in bringing Italian Renaissance styles and ideas to Germany.[9][10] Russell calls this "Opening the Gothic windows of German art,"[9] while Gardner calls it Dürer's "life mission."[10] Importantly, as Gardner points out, Dürer "was the first northern artist who fully understood the basic aims of the southern Renaissance,"[10] although his style did not always reflect that. The same source says that Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) successfully assimilated Italian ideas while also keeping "northern traditions of close realism."[11] This is contrasted with Dürer's tendency to work in "his own native German style"[10] instead of combining German and Italian styles. Other important artists of the German Renaissance were Matthias Grünewald, Albrecht Altdorfer and Lucas Cranach the Elder.[12]

Artisans such as engravers became more concerned with aesthetics rather than just perfecting their crafts. Germany had master engravers, such as Martin Schongauer, who did metal engravings in the late 1400s. Gardner relates this mastery of the graphic arts to advances in printing which occurred in Germany, and says that metal engraving began to replace the woodcut during the Renaissance.[13] However, some artists, such as Albrecht Dürer, continued to do woodcuts. Both Gardner and Russell describe the fine quality of Dürer's woodcuts, with Russell stating in The World of Dürer that Dürer "elevated them into high works of art."[9]

Britain edit

Britain was very late to develop a distinct Renaissance style and most artists of the Tudor court were imported foreigners, usually from the Low Countries, including Hans Holbein the Younger, who died in England. One exception was the portrait miniature, which artists including Nicholas Hilliard developed into a distinct genre well before it became popular in the rest of Europe. Renaissance art in Scotland was similarly dependent on imported artists, and largely restricted to the court.

Themes and symbolism edit

 
Sandro Botticelli, Magnificat Madonna, 1480–1481, tempera on panel, Uffizi, Florence

Renaissance artists painted a wide variety of themes. Religious altarpieces, fresco cycles, and small works for private devotion were very popular. For inspiration, painters in both Italy and northern Europe frequently turned to Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (1260), a highly influential source book for the lives of saints that had already had a strong influence on Medieval artists. The rebirth of classical antiquity and Renaissance humanism also resulted in many mythological and history paintings. Ovidian stories, for example, were very popular. Decorative ornament, often used in painted architectural elements, was especially influenced by classical Roman motifs.

Techniques edit

  • The use of proportion – The first major treatment of the painting as a window into space appeared in the work of Giotto di Bondone, at the beginning of the 14th century. True linear perspective was formalized later, by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti. In addition to giving a more realistic presentation of art, it moved Renaissance painters into composing more paintings.
  • Foreshortening – The term foreshortening refers to the artistic effect of shortening lines in a drawing so as to create an illusion of depth.
  • Sfumato – The term sfumato was coined by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci and refers to a fine art painting technique of blurring or softening of sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. This stems from the Italian word sfumare meaning to evaporate or to fade out. The Latin origin is fumare, to smoke.
  • Chiaroscuro – The term chiaroscuro refers to the fine art painting modeling effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. This comes from the Italian words meaning light (chiaro) and dark (scuro), a technique which came into wide use in the Baroque period.

List of Renaissance artists edit

Italy edit

Low Countries edit

Germany edit

France edit

Portugal edit

Spain edit

Venetian Dalmatia (modern Croatia) edit

Works edit

Major collections edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Renaissance". encyclopedia.com. June 18, 2018.
  2. ^ "What were the impacts of Renaissance on art, architecture, science?". PreserveArticles.com: Preserving Your Articles for Eternity. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  3. ^ a b Frederick Hartt, A History of Italian Renaissance Art, (1970)
  4. ^ Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, (1974)
  5. ^ Margaret Aston, The Fifteenth Century, the Prospect of Europe, (1979)
  6. ^ https://www.laetitiana.co.uk/2014/07/introduction-to-renaissance-movement.html[bare URL]
  7. ^ Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 555. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.
  8. ^ Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 556–557. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.
  9. ^ a b c Russell, Francis (1967). The World of Dürer. Time Life Books, Time Inc. p. 9.
  10. ^ a b c d Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 561. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.
  11. ^ Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 564. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.
  12. ^ Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 557. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.
  13. ^ Gardner, Helen; De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G (1975). "The Renaissance in Northern Europe". Art Through the Ages (6th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 555–556. ISBN 0-15-503753-6.

External links edit

renaissance, 1350, 1620, painting, sculpture, decorative, arts, period, european, history, known, renaissance, which, emerged, distinct, style, italy, about, 1400, parallel, with, developments, which, occurred, philosophy, literature, music, science, technolog. Renaissance art 1350 1620 AD 1 is the painting sculpture and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400 in parallel with developments which occurred in philosophy literature music science and technology Renaissance art took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity perceived as the noblest of ancient traditions but transformed that tradition by absorbing recent developments in the art of Northern Europe and by applying contemporary scientific knowledge Along with Renaissance humanist philosophy it spread throughout Europe affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities For art historians Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the medieval period to the Early Modern age Albrecht Durer Adam and Eve in the Prado Museum 1507Jan van Eyck The Ghent Altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb interior view 1432Titian Sacred and Profane Love c 1513 1514 Galleria Borghese RomePiero della Francesca The Baptism of Christ c 1450 National Gallery London Sandro Botticelli The Birth of Venus c 1485 Uffizi FlorenceThe body of art including painting sculpture architecture music and literature identified as Renaissance art was primarily produced during the 14th 15th and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased awareness of nature a revival of classical learning and a more individualistic view of man Scholars no longer believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values as is suggested by the French word renaissance literally meaning rebirth In many parts of Europe Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art Contents 1 Origins 2 History 2 1 Proto Renaissance in Italy 1280 1400 2 2 Early Renaissance in Italy 1400 1495 2 3 Early Netherlandish art 1425 1525 2 4 Early Renaissance in France 1375 1528 2 5 High Renaissance in Italy 1495 1520 2 6 German Renaissance art 2 7 Britain 3 Themes and symbolism 4 Techniques 5 List of Renaissance artists 5 1 Italy 5 2 Low Countries 5 3 Germany 5 4 France 5 5 Portugal 5 6 Spain 5 7 Venetian Dalmatia modern Croatia 6 Works 7 Major collections 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksOrigins editMany influences on the development of Renaissance men and women in the early 15th century have been credited with the emergence of Renaissance art they are the same as those that affected philosophy literature architecture theology science government and other aspects of society The following list presents a summary of changes to social and cultural conditions which have been identified as factors which contributed to the development of Renaissance art Each is dealt with more fully in the main articles cited above The scholars of Renaissance period focused on present life and ways improve human life They did not pay much attention to medieval philosophy or religion During this period scholars and humanists like Erasmus Dante and Petrarch criticized superstitious beliefs and also questioned them 2 The concept of education also widened its spectrum and focused more on creating an ideal man who would have a fair understanding of arts music poetry and literature and would have the ability to appreciate these aspects of life Classical texts lost to European scholars for centuries became available These included documents of philosophy prose poetry drama science a thesis on the arts and early Christian theology Europe gained access to advanced mathematics which had its provenance in the works of Islamic scholars The advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily and an increasing number of books were written for a broader public The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city Florence Cosimo de Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts not associated with the church or monarchy Humanist philosophy meant that man s relationship with humanity the universe and God was no longer the exclusive province of the church A revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello The revival of a style of architecture based on classical precedents inspired a corresponding classicism in painting and sculpture which manifested itself as early as the 1420s in the paintings of Masaccio and Uccello The improvement of oil paint and developments in oil painting technique by Belgian artists such as Robert Campin Jan van Eyck Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes led to its adoption in Italy from about 1475 and had ultimately lasting effects on painting practices worldwide The serendipitous presence within the region of Florence in the early 15th century of certain individuals of artistic genius most notably Masaccio Brunelleschi Ghiberti Piero della Francesca Donatello and Michelozzo formed an ethos out of which sprang the great masters of the High Renaissance as well as supporting and encouraging many lesser artists to achieve work of extraordinary quality 3 A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family their influential in law Mantegna Giorgione Titian and Tintoretto 3 4 5 The publication of two treatises by Leone Battista Alberti De pictura On Painting in 1435 and De re aedificatoria Ten Books on Architecture in 1452 History editProto Renaissance in Italy 1280 1400 edit nbsp Giotto The Lamentation c 1305 Scrovegni Chapel foreshadows the Renaissance Main article Italian Renaissance painting In Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries the sculpture of Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni Pisano working at Pisa Siena and Pistoia shows markedly classicising tendencies probably influenced by the familiarity of these artists with ancient Roman sarcophagi Their masterpieces are the pulpits of the Baptistery and Cathedral of Pisa Contemporary with Giovanni Pisano the Florentine painter Giotto developed a manner of figurative painting that was unprecedentedly naturalistic three dimensional lifelike and classicist when compared with that of his contemporaries and teacher Cimabue Giotto whose greatest work is the cycle of the Life of Christ at the Arena Chapel in Padua was seen by the 16th century biographer Giorgio Vasari as rescuing and restoring art from the crude traditional Byzantine style prevalent in Italy in the 13th century Early Renaissance in Italy 1400 1495 edit Main articles Italian Renaissance painting Italian Renaissance sculpture Florentine painting Florentine Renaissance art and Venetian painting nbsp Donatello David 1440s Museo Nazionale del Bargello Although both the Pisanos and Giotto had students and followers the first truly Renaissance artists were not to emerge in Florence until 1401 with the competition to sculpt a set of bronze doors of the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral which drew entries from seven young sculptors including Brunelleschi Donatello and the winner Lorenzo Ghiberti Brunelleschi most famous as the architect of the dome of Florence Cathedral and the Church of San Lorenzo created a number of sculptural works including a life sized crucifix in Santa Maria Novella renowned for its naturalism His studies of perspective are thought to have influenced the painter Masaccio Donatello became renowned as the greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance his masterpieces being his humanist and unusually erotic statue of David one of the icons of the Florentine republic and his great monument to Gattamelata the first large equestrian bronze to be created since Roman times The contemporary of Donatello Masaccio was the painterly descendant of Giotto and began the Early Renaissance in Italian painting in 1425 furthering the trend towards solidity of form and naturalism of face and gesture that Giotto had begun a century earlier From 1425 to 1428 Masaccio completed several panel paintings but is best known for the fresco cycle that he began in the Brancacci Chapel with the older artist Masolino and which had a profound influence on later painters including Michelangelo Masaccio s developments were carried forward in the paintings of Fra Angelico particularly in his frescos at the Convent of San Marco in Florence The treatment of the elements of perspective and light in painting was of particular concern to 15th century Florentine painters Uccello was so obsessed with trying to achieve an appearance of perspective that according to Giorgio Vasari it disturbed his sleep His solutions can be seen in his masterpiece set of three paintings the Battle of San Romano which is believed to have been completed by 1460 Piero della Francesca made systematic and scientific studies of both light and linear perspective the results of which can be seen in his fresco cycle of The History of the True Cross in San Francesco Arezzo In Naples the painter Antonello da Messina began using oil paints for portraits and religious paintings at a date that preceded other Italian painters possibly about 1450 He carried this technique north and influenced the painters of Venice One of the most significant painters of Northern Italy was Andrea Mantegna who decorated the interior of a room the Camera degli Sposi for his patron Ludovico Gonzaga setting portraits of the family and court into an illusionistic architectural space The end period of the Early Renaissance in Italian art is marked like its beginning by a particular commission that drew artists together this time in cooperation rather than competition Pope Sixtus IV had rebuilt the Papal Chapel named the Sistine Chapel in his honour and commissioned a group of artists Sandro Botticelli Pietro Perugino Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli to decorate its wall with fresco cycles depicting the Life of Christ and the Life of Moses In the sixteen large paintings the artists although each working in his individual style agreed on principles of format and utilised the techniques of lighting linear and atmospheric perspective anatomy foreshortening and characterisation that had been carried to a high point in the large Florentine studios of Ghiberti Verrocchio Ghirlandaio and Perugino nbsp Jean Fouquet self portrait 1450 The earliest portrait miniature and possibly the earliest formal self portrait Early Netherlandish art 1425 1525 edit Main articles Early Netherlandish painting and Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting nbsp Rogier van der Weyden The Descent from the Cross c 1435 oil on oak panel 220 cm 262 cm 87 in 103 in Museo del Prado Madrid The painters of the Low Countries in this period included Jan van Eyck his brother Hubert van Eyck Robert Campin Hans Memling Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes Their painting developed partly independently of Early Italian Renaissance painting and without the influence of a deliberate and conscious striving to revive antiquity The style of painting grew directly out of medieval painting in tempera on panels and illuminated manuscripts and other forms such as stained glass the medium of fresco was less common in northern Europe The medium used was oil paint which had long been utilised for painting leather ceremonial shields and accoutrements because it was flexible and relatively durable The earliest Netherlandish oil paintings are meticulous and detailed like tempera paintings The material lent itself to the depiction of tonal variations and texture so facilitating the observation of nature in great detail The Netherlandish painters did not approach the creation of a picture through a framework of linear perspective and correct proportion They maintained a medieval view of hierarchical proportion and religious symbolism while delighting in a realistic treatment of material elements both natural and man made Jan van Eyck with his brother Hubert painted The Altarpiece of the Mystical Lamb It is probable that Antonello da Messina became familiar with Van Eyck s work while in Naples or Sicily In 1475 Hugo van der Goes Portinari Altarpiece arrived in Florence where it was to have a profound influence on many painters most immediately Domenico Ghirlandaio who painted an altarpiece imitating its elements A very significant Netherlandish painter towards the end of the period was Hieronymus Bosch who employed the type of fanciful forms that were often utilized to decorate borders and letters in illuminated manuscripts combining plant and animal forms with architectonic ones When taken from the context of the illumination and peopled with humans these forms give Bosch s paintings a surreal quality which have no parallel in the work of any other Renaissance painter His masterpiece is the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights Early Renaissance in France 1375 1528 edit Main article French Renaissance nbsp Jean Hey The Moulins Triptych c 1498 oil on panel Moulins CathedralThe artists of France including duchies such as Burgundy were often associated with courts providing illuminated manuscripts and portraits for the nobility as well as devotional paintings and altarpieces Among the most famous were the Limbourg brothers Flemish illuminators and creators of the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry manuscript illumination Jean Fouquet painter of the royal court visited Italy in 1437 and reflects the influence of Florentine painters such as Paolo Uccello Although best known for his portraits such as that of Charles VII of France Fouquet also created illuminations and is thought to be the inventor of the portrait miniature There were a number of artists at this date who painted famous altarpieces that are stylistically quite distinct from both the Italian and the Flemish These include two enigmatic figures Enguerrand Quarton to whom is ascribed the Pieta of Villeneuve les Avignon and Jean Hey otherwise known as the Master of Moulins after his most famous work the Moulins Altarpiece In these works realism and close observation of the human figure emotions and lighting are combined with a medieval formality which includes gilt backgrounds High Renaissance in Italy 1495 1520 edit Main articles High Renaissance and Italian Renaissance painting The universal genius Leonardo da Vinci further perfected the aspects of pictorial art lighting linear and atmospheric perspective anatomy foreshortening and characterisation that had preoccupied artists of the Early Renaissance in a lifetime of studying and meticulously recording his observations of the natural world His adoption of oil paint as his primary media meant that he could depict light and its effects on the landscape and objects more naturally and with greater dramatic effect than had ever been done before as demonstrated in the Mona Lisa 1503 1506 His dissection of cadavers carried forward the understanding of skeletal and muscular anatomy as seen in the unfinished Saint Jerome in the Wilderness c 1480 His depiction of human emotion in The Last Supper completed 1495 1498 set the benchmark for religious painting nbsp Michelangelo The Creation of Adam c 1511 from the Sistine Chapel ceilingThe art of Leonardo s younger contemporary Michelangelo took a very different direction Michelangelo in neither his painting nor his sculpture demonstrates any interest in the observation of any natural object except the human body He perfected his technique in depicting it while in his early twenties by the creation of the enormous marble statue of David and the group Pieta in the St Peter s Basilica Rome He then set about an exploration of the expressive possibilities of the human anatomy His commission by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling resulted in the supreme masterpiece of figurative composition which was to have profound effect on every subsequent generation of European artists 6 His later work The Last Judgement painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel between 1534 and 1541 shows a Mannerist also called Late Renaissance style with generally elongated bodies which took over from the High Renaissance style between 1520 and 1530 Standing alongside Leonardo and Michelangelo as the third great painter of the High Renaissance was the younger Raphael who in a short lifespan painted a great number of lifelike and engaging portraits including those of Pope Julius II and his successor Pope Leo X and numerous portrayals of the Madonna and Christ Child including the Sistine Madonna His death in 1520 at age 37 is considered by many art historians to be the end of the High Renaissance period although some individual artists continued working in the High Renaissance style for many years thereafter In Northern Italy the High Renaissance is represented primarily by members of the Venetian school especially by the latter works of Giovanni Bellini especially religious paintings which include several large altarpieces of a type known as Sacred Conversation which show a group of saints around the enthroned Madonna His contemporary Giorgione who died at about the age of 32 in 1510 left a small number of enigmatic works including The Tempest the subject of which has remained a matter of speculation The earliest works of Titian date from the era of the High Renaissance including the massive altarpiece The Assumption of the Virgin which combines human action and drama with spectacular colour and atmosphere Titian continued painting in a generally High Renaissance style until near the end of his career in the 1570s although he increasingly used colour and light over line to define his figures German Renaissance art edit nbsp Lucas Cranach the Elder Apollo and Diana Further information German Renaissance German Renaissance art falls into the broader category of the Renaissance in Northern Europe also known as the Northern Renaissance Renaissance influences began to appear in German art in the 15th century but this trend was not widespread Gardner s Art Through the Ages identifies Michael Pacher a painter and sculptor as the first German artist whose work begins to show Italian Renaissance influences According to that source Pacher s painting St Wolfgang Forces the Devil to Hold His Prayerbook c 1481 is Late Gothic in style but also shows the influence of the Italian artist Mantegna 7 In the 1500s Renaissance art in Germany became more common as according to Gardner The art of northern Europe during the sixteenth century is characterized by a sudden awareness of the advances made by the Italian Renaissance and by a desire to assimilate this new style as rapidly as possible 8 One of the best known practitioners of German Renaissance art was Albrecht Durer 1471 1528 whose fascination with classical ideas led him to Italy to study art Both Gardner and Russell recognized the importance of Durer s contribution to German art in bringing Italian Renaissance styles and ideas to Germany 9 10 Russell calls this Opening the Gothic windows of German art 9 while Gardner calls it Durer s life mission 10 Importantly as Gardner points out Durer was the first northern artist who fully understood the basic aims of the southern Renaissance 10 although his style did not always reflect that The same source says that Hans Holbein the Younger 1497 1543 successfully assimilated Italian ideas while also keeping northern traditions of close realism 11 This is contrasted with Durer s tendency to work in his own native German style 10 instead of combining German and Italian styles Other important artists of the German Renaissance were Matthias Grunewald Albrecht Altdorfer and Lucas Cranach the Elder 12 Artisans such as engravers became more concerned with aesthetics rather than just perfecting their crafts Germany had master engravers such as Martin Schongauer who did metal engravings in the late 1400s Gardner relates this mastery of the graphic arts to advances in printing which occurred in Germany and says that metal engraving began to replace the woodcut during the Renaissance 13 However some artists such as Albrecht Durer continued to do woodcuts Both Gardner and Russell describe the fine quality of Durer s woodcuts with Russell stating in The World of Durer that Durer elevated them into high works of art 9 Britain edit Further information English Renaissance and Renaissance in Scotland Britain was very late to develop a distinct Renaissance style and most artists of the Tudor court were imported foreigners usually from the Low Countries including Hans Holbein the Younger who died in England One exception was the portrait miniature which artists including Nicholas Hilliard developed into a distinct genre well before it became popular in the rest of Europe Renaissance art in Scotland was similarly dependent on imported artists and largely restricted to the court Themes and symbolism editSee also Themes in Italian Renaissance painting nbsp Sandro Botticelli Magnificat Madonna 1480 1481 tempera on panel Uffizi FlorenceRenaissance artists painted a wide variety of themes Religious altarpieces fresco cycles and small works for private devotion were very popular For inspiration painters in both Italy and northern Europe frequently turned to Jacobus de Voragine s Golden Legend 1260 a highly influential source book for the lives of saints that had already had a strong influence on Medieval artists The rebirth of classical antiquity and Renaissance humanism also resulted in many mythological and history paintings Ovidian stories for example were very popular Decorative ornament often used in painted architectural elements was especially influenced by classical Roman motifs Techniques editThe use of proportion The first major treatment of the painting as a window into space appeared in the work of Giotto di Bondone at the beginning of the 14th century True linear perspective was formalized later by Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti In addition to giving a more realistic presentation of art it moved Renaissance painters into composing more paintings Foreshortening The term foreshortening refers to the artistic effect of shortening lines in a drawing so as to create an illusion of depth Sfumato The term sfumato was coined by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci and refers to a fine art painting technique of blurring or softening of sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or three dimensionality This stems from the Italian word sfumare meaning to evaporate or to fade out The Latin origin is fumare to smoke Chiaroscuro The term chiaroscuro refers to the fine art painting modeling effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three dimensionality This comes from the Italian words meaning light chiaro and dark scuro a technique which came into wide use in the Baroque period List of Renaissance artists editItaly edit Main article Italian Renaissance painting Giotto di Bondone 1267 1337 Filippo Brunelleschi 1377 1446 Masolino c 1383 c 1447 Donatello c 1386 1466 Pisanello c 1395 c 1455 Fra Angelico c 1395 1455 Paolo Uccello 1397 1475 Masaccio 1401 1428 Leone Battista Alberti 1404 1472 Filippo Lippi c 1406 1469 Domenico Veneziano c 1410 1461 Piero della Francesca c 1415 1492 Andrea del Castagno c 1421 1457 Benozzo Gozzoli c 1421 1497 Alessio Baldovinetti 1425 1499 Antonio del Pollaiuolo 1429 1498 Antonello da Messina c 1430 1479 Giovanni Bellini c 1430 1516 Andrea Mantegna c 1431 1506 Andrea del Verrocchio c 1435 1488 Giovanni Santi 1435 1494 Carlo Crivelli c 1435 c 1495 Donato Bramante 1444 1514 Sandro Botticelli c 1445 1510 Luca Signorelli c 1445 1523 Biagio d Antonio 1446 1516 Pietro Perugino 1446 1523 Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449 1494 Leonardo da Vinci 1452 1519 Pinturicchio 1454 1513 Filippino Lippi 1457 1504 Andrea Solari 1460 1524 Piero di Cosimo 1462 1522 Vittore Carpaccio 1465 1526 Bernardino de Conti 1465 1525 Giorgione c 1473 1510 Michelangelo 1475 1564 Lorenzo Lotto 1480 1557 Raphael 1483 1520 Marco Cardisco c 1486 c 1542 Titian c 1488 1490 1576 Corregio c 1489 1534 Pietro Negroni c 1505 c 1565 Sofonisba Anguissola c 1532 1625 Low Countries edit Main articles Early Netherlandish painting and Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting Hubert van Eyck 1366 1426 Robert Campin c 1380 1444 Limbourg brothers fl 1385 1416 Jan van Eyck 1385 1440 Rogier van der Weyden 1399 1400 1464 Jacques Daret c 1404 c 1470 Petrus Christus 1410 1420 1472 Dirk Bouts 1415 1475 Hugo van der Goes c 1430 1440 1482 Hans Memling c 1430 1494 Hieronymus Bosch c 1450 1516 Gerard David c 1455 1523 Geertgen tot Sint Jans c 1465 c 1495 Quentin Matsys 1466 1530 Jean Bellegambe c 1470 1535 Joachim Patinir c 1480 1524 Adriaen Isenbrant c 1490 1551 Germany edit Hans Holbein the Elder c 1460 1524 Matthias Grunewald c 1470 1528 Albrecht Durer 1471 1528 Lucas Cranach the Elder 1472 1553 Hans Burgkmair 1473 1531 Jerg Ratgeb c 1480 1526 Albrecht Altdorfer c 1480 1538 Leonhard Beck c 1480 1542 Hans Baldung c 1480 1545 Wilhelm Stetter 1487 1552 Barthel Bruyn the Elder 1493 1555 Ambrosius Holbein 1494 1519 Hans Holbein the Younger c 1497 1543 Conrad Faber von Kreuznach c 1500 c 1553 Lucas Cranach the Younger 1515 1586 France edit Enguerrand Quarton c 1410 c 1466 Barthelemy d Eyck c 1420 after 1470 Jean Fouquet 1420 1481 Simon Marmion c 1425 1489 Nicolas Froment c 1435 c 1486 Jean Hey fl c 1475 c 1505 Jean Clouet 1480 1541 Francois Clouet c 1510 1572 Portugal edit Grao Vasco 1475 1542 Gregorio Lopes 1490 1550 Francisco de Holanda 1517 1585 Cristovao Lopes 1516 1594 Cristovao de Figueiredo c 1543 Jorge Afonso 1470 1540 Antonio de Holanda 1480 1571 Cristovao de Morais Nuno Goncalves c 1425 c 1491 Francisco Henriques 1518 Frei Carlos 1540 Spain edit Jaume Huguet 1412 1492 Bartolome Bermejo c 1440 c 1501 Paolo da San Leocadio 1447 c 1520 Pedro Berruguete c 1450 1504 Ayne Bru Juan de Flandes c 1460 c 1519 Luis de Morales 1512 1586 Alonso Sanchez Coello 1531 1588 El Greco 1541 1614 Juan Pantoja de la Cruz 1553 1608 Venetian Dalmatia modern Croatia edit Giorgio da Sebenico c 1410 1475 Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino 1418 1506 Andrea Alessi 1425 1505 Francesco Laurana c 1430 1502 Giovanni Dalmata c 1440 c 1514 Nicholas of Ragusa 1460 1517 Andrea Schiavone c 1510 1515 1563 Works editGhent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck The Werl Triptych by Robert Campin The Portinari Triptych by Hugo van der Goes The Descent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden Flagellation of Christ by Piero della Francesca Spring by Sandro Botticelli Lamentation of Christ by Mantegna The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci The School of Athens by Raphael Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo Equestrian Portrait of Charles V by Titian Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald Melencolia I by Albrecht Durer The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger Melun Diptych by Jean Fouquet Saint Vincent Panels by Nuno GoncalvesMajor collections editNational Gallery London UK Museo del Prado Madrid Spain Uffizi Florence Italy Louvre Paris France National Gallery of Art Washington USA Gemaldegalerie Berlin Germany Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City USA Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Belgium Brussels Groeningemuseum Bruges Belgium Old St John s Hospital Bruges Belgium Bargello Florence Italy Chateau d Ecouen National museum of the Renaissance Ecouen France Vatican museums Vatican city Pinacoteca di Brera Milan ItalySee also edit nbsp Arts portal nbsp Visual arts portalDanube school Forlivese school of art History of painting I Modi Mughal art Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting Lives of the Most Excellent Painters Sculptors and ArchitectsReferences edit Renaissance encyclopedia com June 18 2018 What were the impacts of Renaissance on art architecture science PreserveArticles com Preserving Your Articles for Eternity 2011 09 07 Retrieved 2021 10 19 a b Frederick Hartt A History of Italian Renaissance Art 1970 Michael Baxandall Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy 1974 Margaret Aston The Fifteenth Century the Prospect of Europe 1979 https www laetitiana co uk 2014 07 introduction to renaissance movement html bare URL Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich p 555 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich pp 556 557 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 a b c Russell Francis 1967 The World of Durer Time Life Books Time Inc p 9 a b c d Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich pp 561 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich pp 564 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich pp 557 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 Gardner Helen De la Croix Horst Tansey Richard G 1975 The Renaissance in Northern Europe Art Through the Ages 6th ed New York Harcourt Brace Jovanovich pp 555 556 ISBN 0 15 503753 6 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Renaissance paintings The Inquiring Eye European Renaissance Art a teaching packet from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D C Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Renaissance art amp oldid 1204940869, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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