What is the Renaissance?

The Renaissance is a period in the history of Europe beginning in about 1400, and following the Medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages.


"Renaissance" is a French word meaning "rebirth". The reason that the period is called by this name is that, at that time, people started taking an interest in the learning of ancient times, in particular the learning of Ancient Greece and Rome. The Renaissance was seen as a "rebirth" of that learning. The Renaissance is often said to be the start of the "modern age".

Main Artist Events in the Renaissance

§ 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti wins the Competition for the Florence Baptistry Doors.
§ 1420s, Masaccio and Masolino paint the Brancacci Chapel, in Florence.
§ 1440s, Donatello makes the statue of Gattamelata on Horseback, Padua.
§ 1470s, Botticelli paints the Birth of Venus, in Florence.
§ 1490s, Leonardo da Vinci paints the The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa in Milan.
§ 1508-1512, Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Rome.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance genius.

He was good at many things, but was most famous as

a painter. He was also a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer, an inventor, an anatomist, a sculptor, an architect, a botanist, a musician and a writer. Leonardo was curious about everything in nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things.

Leonardo da Vinci believed that in order to paint objects or people, an artist had to understand their structure – how they are formed or put together. He was able to study things and understand them clearly. He figured out and drew diagrams to explain how birds fly – several centuries before slow motion cameras showed the same ideas. Da Vinci believed that an artist could show emotions in portraits. He did this with a technique called Sfumato, meaning smoke, in which he painted a colour that turned slowly from light to dark tones to give off a kind of misty glow or smoky mystery. He tried to paint portraits that showed emotions, not just a blank stare.


I think Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest painter to have lived. Not only did he paint super realistic paintings for kings and the rich, he managed to add hidden meanings and secrets in his paintings. For example, the Mona Lisa, meaning “the joking one” and “my lady”, Da Vinci painted her with a very subtle smirk. I think this work is   extremely creative and outstanding for his time. Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, his interest in the human body and the way in which humans register emotion in expression and gesture, his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition, and his use of the subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together to make one of the finest artists to have ever lived.

Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is very plainly dressed. For a portrait, a woman would usually put on her best clothes and jewellery. Mona Lisa has a dark dress and a fine black veil over her head. Leonardo often left symbols in his paintings that give clues about the person. The unusual thing about this picture is the smile. The smile is the clue to her name: Mona Lisa Giacondo. Giacondo means "the joking one". (Mona is short for Madonna which means "My Lady".)

Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism

I like the artists way of making this extremely famous painting look Brand new and modern again. Although the art is simple the use of big circles and simple colours makes the piece seem very fine and really holds your eye as there appears to be a lot more detail than there actually is.

The Last Supper

The painting shows the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples, before his capture and death. Leonardo chose to paint the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the surprise and upset that this caused to the twelve followers of Jesus. He tells the story through the actions and faces of the people in the painting. Some of them are talking, some of them have stood up, some are raising their hands in horror.

Leonardo tried to improve on an older technique of Tempera painting by painting on dry plaster rather than the traditional wet plaster. This would allow the painter to not wait as long before adding another layer of paint waiting for the plaster to dry. This in turn allowed for the capturing of the intensity of emotion in the mind of the painter more efficiently rather than him becoming frustrated in waiting for paint to dry.

Ancient Egyptians used tempera painting of sercoficus’.









This is a modern artists rendition of the last supper from Lionsgate.

You may be interested to discover that "Dodgy" Dolph Lundgren (who betrayed the team in the original Expendables) is sitting in Judas' seat, and on the right of Mr. Stallone, sitting in John the Apostle's hotspot, you'll discover a lady by the name of Maggie. But why would a newcomer be flanking his Slyness? Surely Ying Yang (Jet Li) would be a better fit? Well, the gag is that after an extraordinary conspiracy theory that the figure of John the Apostle might be a woman so it's probably most appropriate to have the only female member of the cast take that spot. 

Ben Shahn

•Was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism
•Shahn's primary medium was egg tempera, popular among social realists.
•1939

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Along with Leonardo da Vinci, he is often called a "Renaissance man" which means that he had great talent in many areas.

David

David is a statue by Michelangelo, begun in 1501 and completed in 1504. It is made of marble and is 17 feet tall. It is a statue of a shepherd, David, whose story is told in the Bible. David fought a battle with a giant soldier called Goliath. He beat Goliath by knocking him down with a small stone from his slingshot. David later became King of Israel. Michelangelo has carved the figure naked, in the way that Ancient Roman statues of Classical Gods were often made.

find this; work of art/statue incredible, the sheer scale of the piece is massive and the fact is that it took 3 years to sculpt is astonishing. The detail and accuracy to real human likeness in this statue is among the greatest ever seen. Michelangelo uses lines and shapes for the definition on ‘David’ very well. He cannot use colour so he had to rely on the shadows and the tones it creates for definition of the lines he sculpted out of it.

The Statue of David has influenced modern artists to recreate and use the image of him for posters, graphic design and other pieces of art. There are modern day replicas of David all over the world. Of most notes is the Bronze in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in 2007 a Modern Artist created a 1:220 Bronze replica of David as a toy along with a museum for kids. 

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a Baroque period artist/sculpture and ultimately the successor to Michelangelo, in 1624 he finished a piece also called David which was life sized and its influence was directly from Michelangelo’s David. He is standing in a different pose but the similarities are that it is sculpted from marble. Bernini’s statue differs from Michelangelo because, in Bernini’s, David is in motion. Although not the same size it is easy to see the links between the two different statues.

The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.

I think the whole painting and designing and time spent on the Sistine Chapel is astonishing. The sheer scale of the painting is massive. Michelangelo really demonstrated the full potential of his art potential when he painted this piece. He goes into great detail and shows many different positions of people standing. He shows great emotion in his paintings which really tell the story of the bible passages in the paintings.

 

The Sistine Chapel Painting (Mainly the creation of David) has inspired many artists. Historically a late Baroque style 1700s painter Francois Lemoyne painted a lesser known Ceiling Frescoe named “Apotheosis of Hercules”.

I believe that this painter was influenced by Michelangelo because their ceiling paintings show many of the same qualities. Their use of light really makes the painting stand out. The colours, lines and detail used by Lemoyne are a lot grander although both painting are extremely high quality. I like Michelangelo’s sheer detail and form of his human figures because they are a lot more detailed however the vastness and amount to look at in Lemoyne’s is greater.




John Alvin is a modern graphic designer who took direct inspiration from Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” in the designing of his poster for the 1982 film E.T. The connection seems obvious of the 2 fingers touching. This is almost a joke as well as a hidden “conspiracy” or “message” in the film was that aliens created us.

Raphael

To the right is a painting by Raphael called Madonna del Prato. It is a depiction Mary with Christ and John the baptist. The blue symbolizes the church and the red Christ's death, with the Madonna the uniting of Mother Church with Christ's sacrifice. With her eyes fixed on Christ, her head is turned to the left and slightly inclined, and in her hands she holds up Christ, as he leans forward unsteadily to touch the miniature cross held by John. The poppy refers to Christ's passion, death and resurrection. 

I really like the calming primary colours used by the artist in this painting. Reds and Blues and Browns are very prominent making the picture seem simple, however it is filled with detail. The way the figures are standing in a pyramid is very obvious too. This is a very clever use of lines in a painting.

Mr and Mrs Andrews

This is a rococo style painting by the artist Tomas Gainsborough. I believe this painting was inspired at some scale by Raphael. It is a rococo style painting, which were directly influenced by renaissance and baroque style painting, which Raphael was. The paintings have a lot of similarities with the sprawling backgrounds and the people in them being the centre of focus. They both use primary colours and incorporate a lot of detail in their work. 

Another art movement which could have used influences from Raphaels work could be Neo-plasticisim. From looking at the colours used by the artists alone the movements use very similar primary colour palettes. Their use of light and darkness in the art, although it may not seem, are very similar.

Bibliography

"Online Etymology Dictionary: "Renaissance"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

BBC Science and Nature, Leonardo da Vinci Retrieved May 12, 2007

BBC History, Michelangelo Retrieved May 12, 2007

Burke, P., The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries 1998)

a b Strathern, Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (2003)

Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel, SLOVO, Moscow, 2006. ISBN 5-85050-825-2

Encyclopædia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.

Har, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World, Scarecrow Press Incorporate, 1999, ISBN 0-8108-3724-2

Marco Rosci (1977). Leonardo. Bay Books Pty Ltd.

Paolo Rossi (2001). The Birth of Modern Science. Blackwell Publishing.

Bruno Santi (1990). Leonardo da Vinci. Scala / Riverside.

Rolland, Romain (2009). Michelangelo. BiblioLife. ISBN 1-110-00353-6.

Bibliography

"Online Etymology Dictionary: "Renaissance"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
BBC Science and Nature, Leonardo da Vinci Retrieved May 12, 2007
BBC History, Michelangelo Retrieved May 12, 2007
Burke, P., The European Renaissance: Centre and Peripheries 1998)
a b Strathern, Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (2003)
Peter Barenboim, Sergey Shiyan, Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel, SLOVO, Moscow, 2006. ISBN 5-85050-825-2
Encyclopædia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.
Har, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World, Scarecrow Press Incorporate, 1999, ISBN 0-8108-3724-2
Ackerman, James (1986). The Architecture of Michelangelo. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-00240-8.
Clément, Charles (1892). Michelangelo. Harvard University, Digitized 25 June 2007: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, ltd.: London.
Condivi, Ascanio; Alice Sedgewick (1553). The Life of Michelangelo. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-01853-4.
Baldini, Umberto; Liberto Perugi (1982). The Sculpture of Michelangelo. Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-0447-X.