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Module 10
First things first:
The Growth of Humanism
The Growth of Humanism
Humanism is related to the Renaissance in several ways. During the Renaissance the printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg in 1440 in Germany. This was what helped spread information. People became more interested in Roman and Greek texts, including science, geometry, philosophy, art, and poetry. The printing press allowed these subjects to reach more people quicker and easier and it increased the amount of learning throughout the world. Humanists believed that all the liberal arts should be enjoyed by all people. This was new! They believed that the liberal arts was a way to express oneself so they encouraged the learning of these arts. (I believe this too!)
Johann Gutenberg
Some of the most famous artistic works that were produced during the Renaissance
Some of the most famous artistic works that were produced during the Renaissance
The Mona Lisa (Da Vinci)
The Last Supper (Da Vinci)
David (Michelangelo)
The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)
The Creation of Adam (Michelangelo). Can you name them all?
Let's have a look at the artist Sandro Botticelli
You may remember this one...
Adoration of the MagiSandro Botticelli c. 1475–1476, Tempera on panel
In Botticelli's painting, he inserts himself far right (looking at the viewer) and puts Cosimo de Medici, kneeling in front of the Virgin, and his son Piero in the red robe. There are others from the family in the painting as well. This was often happening in Renaissance art. The patrons wanted to be in the pictures!
Detail from Sandro Botticelli, Self-portrait from the Adoration of the Magi
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities
A bonfire of the vanities (falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by authorities as sinful. The phrase usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of Friar Girolamo Savonarola collected and burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art, and books in Florence., in an attempt restore a due sense of piety to the city. He was a Dominican friar who many followed. He had some good ideas and preached against excess and "vanity". But he went too far. "He encouraged gangs to roam Florence, even breaking into private homes to drag out any artworks with subject matter not considered sufficiently sober and religious. Along with hundreds of paintings and sculptures, perhaps more, objects associated with personal vanity and frivolity were also condemned: everything from mirrors to dice to books to playing cards to fashionable clothing." (from Noah Charney, The Museum of Lost )
He destroyed the works of Ovid, Propertius, Dante, and Boccaccio. He was the equivalent of the Grinch! ;)
Botticelli , was an impassioned follower of the preacher’s rhetoric, carrying some of his own paintings to the square to be burned. Thankfully, Primavera and The Birth of Venus (c.1484) both survived only because they were held at the Villa di Castello, a Medici country residence outside of Florence and beyond the reach of both Savonarola and Botticelli himself.
Great piles were burned in enormous bonfires, the largest occurring on 7 February 1497, ironically the exact spot in Piazza della Signoria where Savonarola himself was burned at the stake one year later.
While the Early Renaissance had been centered on Florence, and largely paid for by the Medici family, the High Renaissance was centered on Rome and paid for by the Popes. Indeed, it very nearly bankrupted the city.
While the Early Renaissance had been centered on Florence, and largely paid for by the Medici family, the High Renaissance was centered on Rome and paid for by the Popes. Indeed, it very nearly bankrupted the city.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known best as simply Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known best as simply Michelangelo
This video is a bit old fashioned,(no bells and whistles) but wonderful still.
But there was simply nothing simple about him! Michelangelo
David, by Michelangelo 1501–1504Fun Fact:-Michelangelo's David is 17ft tall.
And here is a close up of the "skin hangs loose"
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) the polymath (a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.) was born in Anchiano, Tuscany (now Italy), close to the town of Vinci that provided the surname we associate with him today. In his own time he was known just as Leonardo or as “Il Florentine,” since he lived near Florence—and was famed as an artist, inventor and thinker.
Read more about Leo here: (new page)
And of course what is known as the most famous painting in the world: The Mona Lisa
And of course what is known as the most famous painting in the world: The Mona Lisa
Painted for a nobleman of his wife, Lisa Giocinda or Mrs (Mona) Lisa
Perfect painting, however was not really made famous until 1911 when Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Suddenly images of the artwork were splashed across international newspapers, as the two-year police hunt hit dead-end after dead-end.
In December 1913 Peruggia was finally caught and the Mona Lisa was recovered, becoming the best known painting in a time before we shared images on TV, internet, and phones.
The Mona Lisa (Lisa del Giocondo)c. 1503-06 oil on panel
We will end this Module and our time in Italy with the fresco extaordinaire...The School of Athens, By Raphael.
Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall. This was Raphael's greatest work (1508–11) It was painted in the Vatican at the same time that Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel. In this large fresco Raphael brings together representatives of the Aristotelian and Platonic schools of thought.
Notice how they analyze this painting based on the composition in parts and as a whole.
In a nut shell: the Italian Renaissance was noted for four things.
A revival of Classical Greek/Roman art forms and styles
A faith in the nobility of Man (Humanism)
The mastery of illusionistic painting techniques, maximizing 'depth' in a picture, including: linear perspective, and foreshortening
The naturalistic realism of its faces and figures, enhanced by oil painting techniques like sfumato.
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