By: Mr. MooreHigh School of Economics & Finance, NY, NY

Contribution from Ms. Susan PojerHorace Greeley H. S., Chappaqua, NY

A New Approach to Studying History

A Rediscovery of Secular Classical Learning

A Perception From Antiquity That Mankind Could Exert His Will Over His

Life

Renaissance Art Focused on Man and His Ideas, promoting virtue and the dignity of man while adhering to a

sense of religious decorum

The Study of History

Characteristics: A new approach to dividing history

into three parts: antiquity, medieval, modern

Greek and Roman celebrated, not seen as pagan times

Explanations for events were based on natural and human actions, not the divine

New focus on law, government, and diplomacy instead of a focus on religious importance

History was a guide to life, not a reason to justify and glorify God

A Rediscovery of Secular Classical Learning: The

Florentine “Academy” and Platonism Origins

Florence invited Manuel Chrysoloras from Constantinople to promote Greek learning

Council of Ferrara-Florence reunited Eastern and Western churches – 1439

Byzantine Greek scholars flee the Turks after the fall of Constantinople – 1453

Goal and Appeal Synthesize Platonic tradition with Christian

teachings Belief that human reason exists in the world

humans occupy and the eternal sphere – as evidenced by mathematical and moral truths

This allows mankind to have power over their actions i.e. Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man

Secular Learning: Sir

Thomas More’s Utopia

Controlling the Human Will :

the Dignity of Man Humanists saw parallels

between their lives and those from antiquity

There developed the idea of the human will, giving men some control over their lives – not all decided by God

The Oration on the Dignity of Man is an excellent example

The Book of the Courtier by Castiglione represented the humanist “gentleman” as a man of refinement and self-control.

Baldassare Castiglione by Rafael

Art and Patronage� Italians were willing to spend a lot of

money on art./ Art communicated social, political, and

spiritual values./ Italian banking & international trade

interests had the money.

� Public art in Florence was organized and supported by guilds.

Therefore, the consumption of art was used as a form of competition for social & political status!

Renaissance Florence

The Wool Factoryby Mirabello Cavalori, 1570 1252 – first gold

florins minted

Florentine lion:symbol of St.

Mark

Lorenzo “the Magnificent”: 1478 - 1521

Rise of the Despot:

the Medici Family and Patronage of the Arts

Cosimo I de Medici: 1517 -

1574

Florence Under the Medici

Medici Chapel

The Medici Palace

Isabella d’Este:

“First Lady of the Italian Renaissance”

1474-1539

Great patroness of the arts.

Known during her time as “First Lady of the World!”

1. Realism & Expression

Expulsion fromthe Garden by Masaccio in 1427

First nudes sinceclassical times

Addition of fig leaves shows changes in mores

2. Perspective

Perspective!Perspective!Perspective!

Perspective!Perspective!

First use of linear

perspective!

Perspective!Perspective!

� The Trinity

� Masaccio

� 1427

What you are, I once was; what I am, you will

become.

Perspective

3. Classicism

Greco-Roman influence.

Secularism.

Humanism.

Individualism free standing figures.

Symmetry/BalanceThe “Classical Pose”

Medici “Venus” (1c)

4. Emphasis on Individualism Batista Sforza & Federico de Montefeltre:

The Duke & Dutchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca, 1465-1466

A Renaissance Man and Condotteri

5. Geometrical Arrangement of

Figures The Dreyfus Madonna with the Pomegranate

Leonardo da Vinci

1469

The figure as architecture!

6. Light & Shadowing/Softening

Edges

Chiaroscuro

Sfumato

7. Artists as Personalities/Celebrities

� Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, andArchitects

� Giorgio Vasari

� 1550

Vitruvian Man

Leonardo daVinci

1492The

L’uomouniversale

or

The Universal

Man

Characteristics of the Renaissance “Man”

Broad knowledge about many things in different fields – studia humanitatis

Deep knowledge/skill in one area Able to link information from

different areas/disciplines and create new knowledge

The Greek ideal of the “well-rounded man” was at the heart of Renaissance education

Mona Lisa – da Vinci, 1503-4

horizontal

vert

ical

Perspective!

The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498

The Pieta by MichelangeloBuonarroti in 1499

Marble

Commissioned by French cardinal Jean de Billheres

The Church as Patrons of the Arts

Portrait of Pope Julius II by Raphael, 1511-1512

More concerned with politics than with theology.

The “Warrior Pope.”

Great patron of Renaissance artists, especially Raphael & Michelangelo.

Died in 1513

The Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo Buonarroti

1508 - 1512

The Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling

Michelangelo Buonarroti1508 - 1512

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Creation

of the Heavens

The Sistine Chapel Details

Creation of Man

The Sistine Chapel Details

The Fall from Grace

The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11 One point perspective.

All of the important Greek philosophers and thinkers are included all of the great personalities of the Seven Liberal Arts!

A great variety of poses. Located in the papal apartments

library. Raphael worked on this commission

simultaneously as Michelangelo was doing the Sistine Chapel.

No Christian themes here.

The School of Athens – Raphael, 1510 -11

Raphael

Da Vinci

Michelangelo

Aristotle:looks to thisearth [thehere and

now].

Plato:looks to theheavens [or

the IDEALrealm].

The School of Athens – Raphael, details

Renaissance Art: Italian vs. Northern

Europe Should not be considered an appendage to Italian art.

But, Italian influence was strong. Painting in OIL, developed in Flanders, was

widely adopted in Italy.

The differences between the two cultures: Italy change was inspired by humanism with

its emphasis on the revival of the values of classical antiquity.

No. Europe change was driven by religious reform, the return to Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the Church.

More princes & kings were patrons of artists.

Characteristics of Northern Renaissance

Art The continuation of late medieval

attention to details. Tendency toward realism &

naturalism [less emphasis on the “classical ideal”].

Interest in landscapes. More emphasis on middle-class

and peasant life. Details of domestic interiors. Great skill in portraiture.

Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441)

More courtly and aristocratic work. Court painter to

the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good.

The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin, 1435.

Giovanni Arnolfini and His

Wife

(Wedding Portrait)

Jan Van

Eyck

1434

Jan van Eyck - Giovanni Arnolfini & His Wife

(details)

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

The greatest of German artists.

A scholar as well as an artist.

His patron was the Emperor Maximilian I.

Also a scientist Wrote books on

geometry, fortifications, and human proportions.

Self-conscious individualism of the Renaissance is seen in his portraits.

Self-Portrait at 26, 1498.

Hans Holbein, the Younger

(1497-1543) One of the great German artists who did most of his work in England.

While in Basel, he befriended Erasmus. Erasmus Writing, 1523

Henry VIII was his

patron from 1536. Great portraitist noted

for: Objectivity &

detachment. Doesn’t conceal the

weaknesses of his subjects.