The Italian Renaissance: Art

Medieval Art Fusion of different styles

Roman ideas (techniques of sculpture lost)

Christian ideas Church richest, most

powerful institution in Medieval world

Had the money to support artists throughout Medieval period

Northern European “Barbarian” artistic tradition (Celtic, Germanic)

Byzantine (iconography) Much of the non-religious

medieval art is lost to us No concept of preserving

art outside of church

St. Francis’ Rule Approved

Giotto (1288-92?) Tempera (egg yolk

mixed with pigment) on wood and ground gold

Questions Glowing head? Realistic? Depth

perception?

Medieval Art: Religious Themes

The Crucifixion Giotto (1305) Tempera on wood

andground gold.

Questions Realism? Glowing

heads? Depth?

Medieval Art: Religious Themes

Characteristics of Italian Renaissance Art

1. Bright colors & oil paints (change in material used)

2. Focus on realism Natural poses

were life-like, realistic (like the GREEKS!)

Showed personality & emotion in the art

Expulsion fromthe GardenMasaccio1427First nudes sinceclassical times

3. Perspective

(Della Pittura – Alberti)

Use of perspective

(horizon line, vanishing point) Shadowing created

illusion of depth Made items in background smaller

Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, Andre Mantegna (1481)

Notes…Realistic?

…Perspective?

Perspective!

Betrothal of the Virgin

Raphael1504

Compare & Contrast Perspective

4. Classicism� Obvious Greco-

Roman influence� Individualism (free

standing figures)� Symmetry/Balance

Statue of HabacucDonatello (1423-25)

School of Athens - Raphael

5. Emphasis on Individualism� Batista Sforza & Federico de

Montefeltre: The Duke & Duchess of Urbino (Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466)

6. Geometrical Arrangement of Figures

� The Dreyfus Madonna with the Pomegranate

� Leonardo da Vinci (1469)

� The figure as architecture!

Raphael’s Canagiani Madonna, 1507

Lorenzo the Magnificent

1449-1492Grandson of CosimoRuled Florence, 1469 to deathPatron to Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli

Cosimo de Medici

1389-1464Medici bank = base of powerTook over Florence, 1433Patron to Brunelleschi, others

Adoration of the Magi

Entire Medicifamily shown

Who are the “magi”?

Who is in farright, lookingat viewers?

Brunelleschi’s Dome

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1436) Won competition to

design dome for new Cathedral in Florence

Before starting, he travelled around Italy for inspiration

Used the ancient Romans’ architectural concepts Parthenon, in Rome Used ribs to

support dome

Brunelleschi – ArchitectBuilt lightweight innerdome, then exterior domeof wind resistant material

Dimensions: 137 feet acrossWeight: 40,785 tons containingover four million bricksTime to construct: 16 years

Dome Comparisons

Il Duomo St. Peter’s St. Paul’s US Capitol (Florence) (Rome) (London) (Washington)

Renaissance Religious Themes

Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child, Fra Filippo Lippi 1406-1469Emotion of face -she looks like a real mother - tired, worn down

Leonardo da Vinci “Study of

Hands”

“Study of the Gradations of shadows”

“Self portrait”

Helicopter

Parachute“Vitruvian Man”

Notebook page(written backwards!)

Leonardo, the Inventor:

Pages from his Notebook

Machine gun

Tank

Helicopter

Leonardo, the Scientist (Biology):Pages from his Notebook

� An example of the humanist desire to unlock the secrets of nature.

Leonardo, the Scientist (Anatomy):

from his Notebook

Mona LisaLisa di Antonio Maria Gherandini“Mona” - Italian version of ‘Madonna’ or ‘my lady’

A Macaroni Mona

Mona Lisa – da Vinci, 1503-4

A Picasso Mona

An Andy Warhol Mona

Mona Lisa OR da Vinci??

Original, now

The Last Supper

What original might have looked like

horizontal

vert

ical

Perspective!

The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498

A Da Vinci “Code”:St. John or Mary Magdalene?

Michelangelo

The Pieta

David

15c

16c

What

a

difference

a

century

makes!

The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Creation

of the Heavens

The Sistine Chapel Details

Creation of Man

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Last Judgment

The End