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SCENE 1: Introduction to Renaissance Art The central issue in the development of Renaissance Art in Italy was the renewed connection with ancient philosophy, literature and science from the Greco-Roman Period. These connections lead to a more focused look on the natural world that was developed during the Renaissance period. This meant that during the Renaissance Revolution, artists began to move away from the well-used Religious themes in painting and sculpture to more secular themes of love and romance, which were popular at the time. During the Renaissance, which is often divided into three parts, the Early Renaissance, the High Renaissance and the Late Renaissance, the emergence of art was a continuous ongoing process. SCENE 2: Early Renaissance, the Beginning Early Renaissance characterizes all of the art in the 15th century. Florence was the world center for artistic thinking because of its political situation as explained in much greater detail in the Political Section of this site See POLITICS The Republican Idea. In short, the creation of a Republic and the reduction of the power of the aristocracy, which respected artists as great men instead of a burden, helped the creation of this artistic center. Around 1450 a lot of new artists appeared in Italy such as Botticelli and Pollaiuolo who came to settle in Florence with its ideal political circumstances. SCENE 3: The art of the Early Renaissance Some of the principal figures in the Early Renaissance artistic revolution were the three artists Donatello a sculptor, Masaccio a painter and Brunelleschi an architect. These and other Renaissance artists sought to find a better way to paint or create the natural world. They tried to show human personality and behavior inside their painting and sculptures to create a more vivid image. This was a major advance from the medieval period as the artist’s only purpose was no longer to glorify God inside Monasteries and brainwash the population with art. Rational inquiry was the way to create this idea of perfect representation of the body. There was therefore a push to discover the proper laws of proportion for architecture and the correct representation of the human body in paintings. There were two ideas that were basic to all Renaissance art: the creation of ideal forms instead to replace lateral interpretations and the concept of the physical world being a vehicle of monumental spiritual beauty. By the late 15th century, the first advances in proportion, contraposto and linear perspective were rejected and replaced, as these were just basic notations; thus artists look for ways to add personal meaning and expression to their art. SCENE 4: High Renaissance-The style The High Renaissance art, unlike the early Renaissance, sought to have a general and unified view of pictorial representation or architectural composition. This means that the artists in question tried to design their works of art so that all had the same interpretation of the piece of art. This was meant to increase the expression and physical appearance of the work. This period was dominated by some of the most famous artists of the entire Renaissance period such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. SCENE 5: Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519) The High Renaissance period spanned for a brief period of about 75 years and went from approximately 1495 to 1520. It was said to have been created by the artistic genius of people like Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Donato Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael. All people who study art in the Renaissance period consider Leonardo da Vinci a model of perfection and excellence. He was in fact an illegitimate son of a Florentine notary who was accepted into the Painters Guild of Florence when he was 20. He was an enigmatic genius who began a huge variety of projects, many of which were never finished. His impressive intellect gave him an insight into the natural sciences in which he was interested for he understood that how to see was the basis to understanding nature. Some of his most famous works were the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and The Virgin of the Rocks. SCENE 6: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Michelangelo has come to be the symbol of an artist with unexplained solitary genius. His work was often of a religious nature and he spent many years working in Rome for various popes on works in the Vatican and on the tomb of Pope Julius II. His most famous work was that which he did in the Sistine chapel to depict the bible stories preceding the giving of the Law to Moses. His most famous sculpture was that of the nude statue of David, which was meant to depict the perfect male form. The last 20 years of his life was devoted to architecture of which his most famous work was the Cathedral of St Peters in Rome, still one of the largest cathedrals in the world today. SCENE 7: Late Renaissance A major catastrophe for the Italian Renaissance art was the sack of Rome in 1527; this temporarily put a stop to the city’s role in art, which forced artists to move to other centers in Italy, Spain and France. In 1520, just before the end of the High Renaissance, some artists had started to put Mannerism into their painting. This means that the artist involved included some of his personal idiosyncrasies in his art creating a link between him and his painting. Some of these artists were Pontormo, Fiorentino and Parmigianino. This was the major link between the High Renaissance and the Late Renaissance. Mannerism was a visually appealing movement that used grace and elegance in accordance to the personalities of the artists.
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