Course Overview
Welcome to Renaissance Art! This fascinating time period was a humanistic revival of classical art that started in Italy, and then spread throughout Europe. Dating from the 13th to the 16th century, the people of the Renaissance re-discovered the genius of the Greek and Roman people.
This class, consisting of 18 units, will expose you to the great artists of the Renaissance period, and teach you the tricks and illusions that were created to change the way paintings and sculpture were to be viewed forever. You will learn what the elements of art are, and become acquainted with the principles of design. You will examine the works of the Renaissance, not in chronological order, but in terms of the elements and how the artists implemented the elements. The techniques the Renaissance artists used still influence art today. Through this study of artistic technique you will understand how greatly the Renaissance has impacted art, and hopefully appreciate how influential this time period was.
RENAISSANCE ART
Unit Overview
In this unit, you will learn about the Classical Period. This will give you the necessary historical background and social context of the artwork you will be studying in future units. You will be introduced to the basic elements of art, which are techniques the Renaissance artists developed as they studied.
Units 2-18 will have a picture book that contains not only unit content, but high-resolution photos of the artwork you will be studying. Print out and keep this handout so that you will know how to use this resource properly. Picture Book Introduction.
I. The Classical Period
Renaissance is a French word that means "rebirth". The Renaissance was a time in history following the Middle Ages, in which there was a rebirth of ideas from the Classical Period. The Classical Period refers to the time of the Greeks and Romans. Greek civilization was a renowned part of history, stretching from 1200 B.C. to 323 B.C. During this period, great advances were made in sculpture and architecture.
So, how did the Greek's culture reach all the way to neighboring Italy? Rome was not happy to limit its land area to the Italian Peninsula, the famous boot shaped country you can spot easily on maps today. It started to conquer neighboring kingdoms and expanded itself into an empire. Starting in the third century B.C., the Romans conquered Greece in a series of wars called the Macedonian Wars.
Take a look at the two ancient temples shown above. The one on the left is Greek, and the one on the right in Roman. Not too different, are they? Instead of wasting time forcing the kingdoms and lands they conquered to become tinier versions of Rome, the Romans allowed their newly conquered people to retain their culture, as long as they swore allegiance to Rome. The Romans were very proud of their empire, and so they were eager to assimilate the best aspects of other cultures to themselves because it made them look superior. Greece had produced philosophy, drama, poetry, art, and immense stone temples and buildings. While Rome was a great society, it became greater when they integrated the genius of the Greeks into their everyday lives. Soon, the Romans were almost indistinguishable from the Greeks.
Go to questions 1-4.
II. The Renaissance
To see what made the Renaissance so great, you must first understand Renaissance society. The Renaissance beagn in Italy in the 14th century (the 1300's). From the 14th century on, the Italian peninsula would forever refer back to its ancestors who brought Greek culture to their homeland. The time known as the Quattrocentro, or fifteenth century, was the pinnacle of dedicated and productive discovery during this time period. Artistic genius was at its height; artwork was infused with mathematics, science, and philosophy.
The dominant philosophy of time was called humanism, or the belief that people are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness. They focused on human life as it was in the present, not on eternal life after death. Though some humanists were not Christians, their philosophy was not entirely hostile to Church teaching. Since Christians believed that God became a man, they held that human beings must have inherent dignity since man is created in the image of God. Both beliefs emphasized the goodness and beauty of humanity. Thus the Renaissance revival of Greek and Roman studies emphasized the value of classical study for its own sake, since man's nature enables him to know truth.
The very center of society in Europe was the Church, holding an immense amount of power. Italy was not a country. The Italian peninsula was made up of independent city states, which were cities that controlled a specified area. These cities were similar to the states we know. A city-state was centered on a single city, which could not be called a city unless it had a very large church called a Cathedral. The cathedral was home to bishops and councils. Their tasks included helping the needy, managing the school, managing the libraries and universities, distributed funding, and managing industrial organizations known as Guilds. The Church exerted control beyond political boundaries, influencing the people and leaders within each city state. The people in these city states were more devoted to religion than they were to their provinces.
Since the Church had so much power and wealth, it bought artwork and commissioned artists frequently. They used it to decorate churches, and to teach ordinary citizens lessons from the Bible. There were other purchasers of art as well. The Medici family, for instance, was the most influential family in Florence. They were the main bankers for Italy. They encouraged the arts by starting and maintaining studios where people could come to learn sculpture or painting, and were on top of the major artistic trends.
Go to questions 5- 10.
III. Artistic Elements
Renaissance artists studied how an image could be depicted more realistically on a flat surface. They were scientists and mathematicians who made great advances in the world of art.
They soon came to understand what made an effective image, and developed a system to guide them and to teach others. This system is known as the elements of art; which are line, shape, space, color, value, form, and texture.
Line: An Introduction
To have a line you must first have a plane for this line to reside on. A plane can be two-dimensional or 3-dimensional. Paintings have 2 dimensions: up and down, left and right, and all the directions in between. A sculpture, or piece of architecture, has 3 dimensions: up and down, left and right, near and far. All these dimensions are made up of points connected by lines.
The first, and most basic type of line, is the straight line. The straight line is the foundation of a Renaissance painting, the ever reliable tool that sets up a basic structure. One straight line can create the effect of distance, shape, and shadow depending on the way the artist incorperates other artistic elements on that one line. The basic structure of a straight line can be shown by a simple painting that is taller than it is wide. This is the case of portraits, such as Albrecht Durer's "Self Portrait."
One of the great trends in art is the use of imaginary lines, known as linear perspective. To use linear perspective an artist must first imagine the picture surface as an "open window", through which to see the painted world. All angles in the painting will converge onto one point. Straight lines are drawn on the canvas to represent the horizon, and "visual rays" connect the viewer's eye to a point in the distance.
The horizon line runs across the canvas at the eye level of the viewer. The horizon line is where the sky appears to meet the ground.
The vanishing point, or focal point, should be located near the center of the horizon line. The vanishing point is where all parallel lines converge onto the horizon line, appearing to come together like train tracks in the distance.
Orthogonal lines are "visual rays", helping the viewer's eye to connect points around the edges of the canvas to the vanishing point. They are the parallel lines that converge upon the vanishing point.
These images below illustrates the basic use of these three types of lines:
Now take a look at a work by a Renaissance artist. Can you visualize the linear perspective in this painting?
Shape: An Introduction
The two most basic shapes are the circle and square. The Roman architect Vitruvius had shown that a well-built man, with arms and legs extended, would fit perfectly inside both a circle and square. This idea appealed to Renaissance artists, and accounts for Leonardo Da Vinci's drawing of the "Vitruvian man". The circle and square were the ultimate measure of proportions, enabling one to draw the ideal human. This revival was called the Pythagorean revival, named for Pythagoras, a Greek mathematician and philosopher who had many followers.
The illusion of shape in pictures also was rediscovered during this time with the use of perspective, the creation of a sense of depth on a two-dimensional plane. This was often done by drawing shapes that grow smaller as they converge upon the vanishing point.
Space: An Introduction
Space, in a painting, is an achievement of the artist. Real space is three dimensional, and a canvas is two dimensional. The artist must create an illusion through the use of perspective, so that the viewer thinks he or she is looking at a three-dimensional structure. Color and shading compliment the perspective the artist has achieved.
In "The Birth of the Virgin", by Ghirlandaio, (shown above) the painting is very respectful and serene, depicting the birth of the mother of Jesus. Doesn't it look like the women in the painting are in an actual room? The fresco has a wonderful progression to the focal point, beginning at the stairs, and following the line of women coming to see Mary and her mother Anne. Mary's mother, sitting in the background, is smaller than the women standing in the foreground. The two women on the staircase are smaller still, making them seem farther away. Notice that the women are all perfectly proportioned; no doubt Ghirlandaio relied heavily on the circle and square to idealize this scene.
Color and Value: An Introduction
Color came to life during the Renaissance. In the art of the Middle ages, colors were flat and without depth. Paint was simply applied in one coat! A good example of this would be the work of Cimabue, more notably his painting, "Madonna Enthroned." He painted directly onto wood panels. The colors created a very flat painting with
little depth.
At the time of the Renaissance, many innovations were made with the use of color. Titian, a Renaissance artist, was called the master of color by many. He was extremely detail oriented, using thin, transparent layers of paint to create skin. Skin on a human is actually thousands of very thin layers, which is why you can see your veins and tendons when you look at your limbs.
In the "Assumption of the Virgin", Titian uses red in a triangular pattern to guide the eyes toward the central figure of Mary. He places warm flesh colors next to one another, to contrast against the cool colors of the clouds and the people in the background. Colors were used in dynamic ways to create lights and darks, a technique called Chiaro scuro.Color would have no variety without value. Value is the scale of intensity of a color; it can be darker or lighter. It is the relative lightness or darkness of a certain area.
Albrecht Durer, in his printmaking of works such as "The Knight, Death, and the Devil", uses a wide range of monochromatic values.
In printmaking, there are only two basic colors: black and white. The ink was black and the paper was white. To achieve color value, Durer placed the lines very close together if he wanted the color darker. If he wanted the color to appear lighter, he spaced them farther apart.
The viewer's eye mixes the white background with the black lines, creating the middle grey tones. Take a look at Durer's work. The more detailed the lines are, the darker they make the image appear. The highlights in the picture are spots where Durer let the white paper show through.
Form and Texture: An Introduction
Artists were not only interested in art, but science, engineering, poetry, and philosophy. They integrated their knowledge into their creations. Have you ever heard of a "Renaissance Man"? The term refers to an individual who has diverse interests and expertise in a number of areas.
The Renaissance was a turning point in effectively creating the illusion of form in paintings. Artists sought to realistically depict cloth, metal objects, animals, food, household items, landscapes, and buildings. Often times, in Renaissance painting, these objects were symbolic of a religious theme. There was also a rediscovery of creating realistic, though idealized, human forms in sculpture.
For example, Michelangelo was so interested in human physiology that he dissected cadavers, observing how an arm is composed of bones covered with tendons, veins, skin, and muscles. With this knowledge, he carved statues and painted subjects that looked as if they had actual bones beneath their skin.
Go to questions 11-25.
Unit 1 The Renaissance Worksheet Unit 1 Cornell Notes Worksheet
