Bell Ringer – 9/17

1. m.socrative.com – Room 38178 OR Bell Ringer Card • QUESTION: Short Answer • The word “Renaissance” translates to... • If you know the answer, put what you know. • If you’re not sure, take a guess. Today, as long as you HAVE an answer, you’ll get the points  Bell Ringer – 9/17 I do NOT have your binder grades added up or in the gradebook yet. They HAVE all been checked, the scores just need to be tallied. With my surgery and the conference yesterday I just haven’t gotten to them yet. You will DEFINITELY have them by the end of the week – sorry for the delay! Most of them were GREAT!

2. Introduction to the Renaissance

3. Renaissance = “rebirth” • Rebirth of our understanding of ourselves as social and creative beings • Florence, the crucible of the Italian Renaissance, was called the “New Athens” • Liberal arts were first redefined as art – not “craft” as they were in the Middle Ages Introduction to the Renaissance

4. Arts became an essential part of learning Artists, architects, composers, and writers gained confidence from their new status and from the technical mastery they were achieving It seemed possible to surpass the works of the classical world Introduction to the Renaissance

5. Renaissance describes a new sense of self and self-awareness • Where and how the Renaissance began, and what specifically it was, is as difficult as answering the question of where and how it ended – if it ended at all! Introduction to the Renaissance

6. The rebirth of ideas began in the 1400s after centuries of stagnation • In Italy, there was a new spirit of inquiry and understanding – the classical world of Greece and Rome again became the inspiration for a superior civilization Introduction to the Renaissance

7. The Renaissance was really 3 periods, each with its own circumstances and characteristics • Early Renaissance – in Florence • High Renaissance – in Rome and Venice • Late Renaissance – occurred outside Italy in the northern European states. Introduction to the Renaissance

8. Florence, Italy • Men and women felt they had found kindred spirits in the Greeks and Romans • The Greeks gave an idealized model of humankind that could be expressed in painting and sculpture • Ideas of nobility, intellect, and physical perfection led to new conceptions of what constituted beauty The Early Renaissance

9. Scholars pursued an understanding of classical art and architecture • They became enamored with measuring things • Scientific curiosity and concern for detail led to a fascination with anatomy • Scientific investigation led to a new system of mechanical perspective • All this measuring and codifying produced a set of rules for proportion and balance • Unity, form, and perfect proportion were codified as a set of laws Antiquity

10. Papal States: large area of central Italy • Middle of 15th century • The Renaissance popes expended great time, wealth, and energy in consolidating the Papal States • Often included diplomacy and war • Filled papal offices with loyal relatives • The Renaissance popes were great patrons of Renaissance artists and ideas The Papal States

11. Benefits from the Renaissance popes were mostly in worldly realms as opposed to spiritual • Vatican Library: filled with priceless manuscripts, brought major scholars to Rome, and supported research • Rome became one of the most beautiful cities of the world The Papal States

12. Painting Early Renaissance Art

13. Highly realistic linear perspective • Treated paintings as a window into space • Paintings will appear deep • Painters used realistic light, shadow, and, most of all, human anatomy • Desire to depict the beauty of nature and human form Early Renaissance Painting Characteristics

14. 1401-1429 (died of malaria) • Employs deep space and rational perspective in his figures • Was one of the first to give us perspective • Fresco: technique of painting on a moist, plaster surface with colors ground up in water • Common throughout the Renaissance (along with some tempera panels) • Summoned in 1425 to create a series of frescoes for the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (religion supporting the arts) Masaccio (mah-ZAH-coh)

15. Deep perspective is used to create dramatic contrasts – gives solidity to the figures and unifies the paintings • Figures are strong, detailed, and very human • Compositions carefully hold the parts of the painting subordinate to the whole. Masaccio

16. Masaccio – The Holy Trinity

17. Masaccio – The Holy Trinity • Full frontal, single vanishing point perspective • Things get smaller as they approach the vanishing point • Precise anatomical detail and accuracy • Places the crucified Christ at the center • Similar to medieval artwork • The barrel vault recedes dramatically creating deep space, as if we were gazing up into 3-dimensional space

18. 1400-1455 Became an accomplished painter before taking vows in the Dominican Order Numerous works Took things one step further than Massacio Fra Angelico (ahn-JAY-lee-koh)

19. Fra Angelico - Annunciation

20. An Angel comes to Mary • Divides the canvas into thirds • The arches occupy two-thirds of the work • The rest is the receding arcade Fra Angelico - Annunciation

21. The Angel’s words are printed to appear to come out of his mouth • Mary’s response is written upside down so that it must be read from Mary toward the angel Fra Angelico - Annunciation

22. Angelico’s figures are 3D, though only slightly • Highlight and shadow contrasts are minimum, but there • Deep space – arcade recedes to a vanishing point on an imagined horizon Fra Angelico - Annunciation

23. The essences of new art were well known and well established, and it was now time for further exploration in other avenues • Lyrical expression, more poetic than anything thus far • Up to this point EVERYTHING was done for the church • Botticelli – 1445-1510 • The first major Renaissance artist to venture back into the stories of the Greek and Roman Gods • Our first “secular” artist Late 15th Century

24. Botticelli – La Primavera

25. Botticelli – La Primavera • Unconcerned with deep space • Forms emerge through outline • Subjects carry their own emotion: contemplation, sadness or happiness

26. Botticelli – La Primavera • Human, but mythical • Anatomically quite simple, but realistic • Little detailed musculature • Mostly covered by clothing • 3D figures, but seem to be floating in space

27. Botticelli – The Birth of Venus

28. Botticelli – the Birth of Venus • Depicts the mythical birth of Venus from the sea • Symbolizes the birth of beauty in the minds of humankind with ideas fertilized by divinity

29. Botticelli – the Birth of Venus • Weight seems to be suspended not in or even on the shell, rather held in place almost magically by unseen forces • Wind god blows her to shore

30. Botticelli – the Birth of Venus • Some deep space • Realistic anatomy, muscular details • Realistic light and shading

31. SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE Early Renaissance Art

32. Freestanding sculpture is dominant • Scientific inquiry and an interest in anatomy are reflected • Obsessed with measuring things – new rules for proportion • The nude, full of character and charged with energy, reappears for the first time since ancient times • As you saw in Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” • Human form was approached layer by layer, through an understanding of its skeletal and muscular framework • Even when clothed, sculpture revealed the body under the surface Sculpture

33. 1386-1466 • Saw life and reality in terms much different from his predecessors and contemporaries • Was fascinated by the optical qualities of form and by the intense inner life of his subjects • Amazingly dramatic and forceful works Donatello

34. Donatello’s David • The first freestanding nude since ancient times • His most famous work! • Partially clothed – boots, helmet • Facial expression reflects a lifelike human quality • Asymmetrical stance • Symbolizes Christ’s triumph over Satan (David’s triumph over Goliath)

35. David • He stands on Goliath’s head

36. Donatello’s David • Clear muscular detail • Individual pose and emotion • Correct proportions/anatomy • Filled with action and strength

37. Another major breakthrough of Renaissance art came in the discovery of principles for depicting perspective mechanically and naturalistically • Produces a visually convincing and attractive means of depicting objects in space • Subjects will have qualities that give them a relationship to the distant horizon Major Breakthrough

38. Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise East doors of the Florence Baptistery

39. Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise

40. Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise

41. Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise

42. Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise

43. Ghiberti’s The Gate’s of Paradise • Commissioned in 1425 • Bears 10 scenes • Ghiberti freely uses each as if it were the canvas of a painting • Perspective is employed to give sculpture a totally new sense of deep space

44. Ghiberti’s The Gate’s of Paradise • Each panel depicts an incident from the Old Testament • Scenes take on remarkable senses of space • The Story of Jacob and Esau -->

45. Ghiberti’s The Story of Jacob and Esau • Beautiful surfaces are created with delicate and careful exact detail • Receding arcades to portray depth and perspective • Took Ghiberti 21 years to complete the entire gates

46. Architects became concerned with reviving classical models, but did so along mechanical lines • Measured ruins of Roman buildings and translated proportions to Renaissance buildings • Renaissance architects applied classical detail to a wide range of forms and structures • Radical change in the outer expression of structure • Supporting elements, (such as posts, masonry, and arches) are hidden from view. Architecture

47. FilippoBrunelleschi’s Dome of the Cathedral of Florence • Brunelleschi spent 3 years completing a model • Was hired after the overall plan of the cathedral was already in place (and built) – could not be changed • Plan included an octagonal base for the dome itself

48. Filippo Brunelleschi’s Dome of the Cathedral of Florence • Eight massive ribs, like the spokes of an umbrella, are designed to admit light into the interior • Marble lantern on top holds it all together • Built from 1420-1436

49. Filippo Brunelleschi’s Dome of the Cathedral of Florence • Rises 180 feet into the air – apparent from both the inside and out • Structural considerations are subordinate • Inspired by the Pantheon  • Pantheon’s dome is impressive only from the inside. Its exterior support clutters the visual experience outside.

50. Filippo Brunelleschi’s Dome of the Cathedral of Florence • The inside, painted by Bonainuto