Visual arts produced during the European Renaissance
Renaissance art
(1350 ? 1620
[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
.
[2]
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.
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.
[3]
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.
[4]
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.
[5]
- A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in
Venice
through the talented
Bellini
family, their influential in-law
Mantegna
,
Giorgione
,
Titian
and
Tintoretto
.
[5]
[6]
[7]
- 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
]
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
]
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.
Early Netherlandish art, 1425?1525
[
edit
]
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
]
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
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
]
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.
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
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.
[8]
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
]
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
.
[9]
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."
[10]
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.
[11]
[12]
Russell calls this "Opening the Gothic windows of German art,"
[11]
while Gardner calls it Durer's "life mission."
[12]
Importantly, as Gardner points out, Durer "was the first northern artist who fully understood the basic aims of the southern Renaissance,"
[12]
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."
[13]
This is contrasted with Durer's tendency to work in "his own native German style"
[12]
instead of combining German and Italian styles. Other important artists of the German Renaissance were
Matthias Grunewald
,
Albrecht Altdorfer
and
Lucas Cranach the Elder
.
[14]
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.
[15]
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."
[11]
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
]
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
]
Active in France
[
edit
]
Portugal
[
edit
]
Spain
[
edit
]
Venetian Dalmatia (modern Croatia)
[
edit
]
Works
[
edit
]
- Ghent 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 Goncalves
Major collections
[
edit
]
- National 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, Italy
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Renaissance"
.
encyclopedia.com
. June 18, 2018.
- ^
"Renaissance art | Definition, Characteristics, Style, Examples, & Facts | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. 2024-05-06
. Retrieved
2024-05-23
.
- ^
"Renaissance art | Definition, Characteristics, Style, Examples, & Facts | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. 2024-05-06
. Retrieved
2024-05-23
.
- ^
"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
[
permanent dead link
]
[
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
.
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]
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