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Renaissance Art The influence of humanism during its first two hundred years transformed much of Europe’s intellectual and creative activity. New inspirations were found, in fields as different as political theory and epic poetry, among the writers of Greece and Rome. Military strategy was rethought; universities changed their curricula. But the most spectacular impact was on the visual arts, whose radiance and originality have come to represent the era as a whole. The very appreciation of genius was a by-product of humanist thought and helped transform the artist into one of the most honored and admired figures in society. Theodore K. Rabb, Renaissance Lives
Categories of Renaissance Art • Architecture • Painting • Sculpture • Textiles (tapestries) • Manuscript illumination • Gardens
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese. Third story and attic by Michelangelo (1548).
Michelangelo, St. Peter’s Basilica, 1546-1564. Dome completed by Giacomo Della Porta in 1590.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, (1482). Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man, (1489-90). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin, 1504. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
Raphael, Philosophy (School of Athens), 1509-11. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome.
Hubert and Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece (1432). Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium.
Albrecht Durer, The Four Horsemen, from the Apocalypse series, (1498). Woodcut. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Peasant Dance, 1567. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Donatello, David (1428-32). Bronze. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Donatello, Mary Magdalene (1454-55). Wood. Baptistery, Florence.
Antonio Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, 1475. Bronze. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
Michelangelo, Pieta, 1498-1500. St. Peter’s, Vatican, Rome. Michelangelo, David, 1501-04. Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence.
Mary of Burgundy Painter. Page with Mary at her Devotions, in Hours of Mary of Burgundy. Before 1482. Embroidered cloak. Vienna.
Unicorn at the Fountain (1498-1500), from the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestry series. Wool, silk, and metal thread. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Paul, Herman, and Jean Limbourg, Page with February (1414-16). Chantilly, France. Though more associated with the Middle Ages, this illuminated manuscript is from the early Renaissance.
The following are obviously recreations of Renaissance gardens.