for Senior High School - Arts and Design Track

1. RENAISSANCE
Humanism or Early Renaissance

2. A new artistic culture emerged and expanded
in Italy in the 15th century.
◦Humanism also fostered a belief in individual potential and
encouraged individual achievement.
◦Humanism also encouraged citizens to participate in the
social, political, and economic life of their communities.
◦Shifting power relations among the numerous Italian city-
states fostered the rise of princely courts and control of
by despots.
◦Princely courts emerged as cultural and artistic centers.
◦Their patronage contributed to the formation and character

3. Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance is divided into
three phases for study:
◦The Early Renaissance in the early and
mid 1400s.
◦The High Renaissance in the late 1400s-
early 1500s.

4. The Early
Renaissance in Italy

5. Florence
Renaissance means rebirth.
Artistic leaders lived in Florence which was
dominated by the Medici – a powerful family
who were great patrons of the arts.
Florentine artists, fueled by a renewed interest
in ancient Greece and Rome as well as science

6. Sculpture and Civic Pride in the Early
Renaissance
 The Republic of Florence cultivated civic pride and
responsibility resulting in competitions to embellish
the city's buildings.
The competitive nature of these projects, which were
usually sponsored by civic or lay-religious
organizations, promoted innovation and signaled
official approval of the new, classically inspired style.
The emulation of antique models, however, was also
supplemented by a growing interest in the

7. The “Gates of Paradise”
 One such competition was to create the
doors to the baptistry at the Cathedral of
Florence.
Artists submitted brass relief panels on the
subject – the “Sacrifice of Isaac”.
The following panels were submitted for

8. Filippo Brunelleschi's
competition panel shows a
sturdy and vigorous
interpretation of the Sacrifice of
Isaac.
Brunelleschi 1401-1402. Gilded
bronze relief, 21" x 17". Museo
Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

9. Lorenzo Ghiberti's competition
panel emphasizes grace and
smoothness.
Ghiberti 1401-1402. Gilded bronze
relief 21" x 17” Museo Nazionale del
Bargello Florence.

10.  Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1455) won the
competition
 His "Gates of Paradise" are
comprised of ten gilded bronze relief
panels depicting scenes from the Old
Testament.
View of the completed doors on the Baptistry, in
Florence

11. In Isaac and His
Sons, Ghiberti
creates the illusion
of space using
perspective and
sculptural means.
Ghiberti also persists
in using the
medieval narrative

12. Donatello (1386-1466)
◦Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, universally known as
Donatello, was born in Florence around 1386 and died there
in 1466.
◦The powerful expressive qualities of his work made him the
greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance.
◦Donatello's early works, still partly Gothic in style, are the
impressive seated marble figure of St John the Evangelist for
the cathedral façade and a wooden crucifix in the church of
Santa Croce. The latter, according to an unproved anecdote,
was made in friendly competition with Brunelleschi, a

13.  The Wooden Crucifix in the Church
of Santa Croce is attributed to
Donatello, although this
attribution is not shared by all art
historians.
 The work reflects Donatello's
creative force, his search for new
forms of expression and liberation
from established rules.
 Crucifix, 1412-13 Wood,

14.  This statue, of St. John, which was
commissioned by the Opera del
Duomo but executed much later -
the payments go from 1413 to 1415
 Particularly remarkable are the
saint's acute and penetrating
expression, and the realistic
treatment of his open hand on the
book.
 St John the Evangelist,
1410-11 Marble, height: 210 cm,

15.  Donatello's bronze statue David is the first
freestanding nude bronze since ancient
times.
 The biblical David was a symbol of the
independent Florentine Republic.
 The figure stands in a relaxed classical
Contrapposto Position.
 David, ca. 1428–1432.
Bronze,
5' 21/4" high.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

16. Italian Painting in the Early
Renaissance
The International Style
persisted but became
increasingly suffused with a
variety of naturalistic

17. Masaccio (1401-1428)
◦introduced a new monumental style that
revolutionized Italian painting.
◦Masaccio's manipulation of light and shade
(chiaroscuro) give an almost tangible sense of three-
dimensional substance to his figures and
◦his application of the new linear perspective to create
the illusion of spatial depth or distance provided

18. Masaccio,
Tribute
Money,
ca.
1427
Brancacci
Chapel,
Santa
Maria
del
Carmine,
Florence,
Italy,
Fresco,
8'
1"
x
19'
7".
 Masaccio's fresco of the Tribute Money in the Brancacci
Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence shows
psychologically and physically credible figures illuminated
by a light coming from a specific source outside the

19.  Masaccio's Holy Trinity fresco in Santa
Maria Novella embodies two principal
Renaissance interests:
 realism based on observation,
 and perspective
 Masaccio, Holy Trinity,
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence, Italy,
ca. 1428.
Fresco, 21' x 10' 5".

20. Fra Angelico (Guido di Pietro)
(1400-55)
◦A Dominican friar, “Brother Angel” was in fact a highly
professional artist, who was in touch with the most
advanced developments in contemporary Florentine art.
◦He probably began his career as a manuscript illuminator,
and his early paintings are strongly influenced by
International Gothic.
◦His most famous works were painted at the Monastery of
San Marco in Florence.

21.  Fra Angelico,
Annunciation,
San Marco,
Florence,
1440–1445.
Fresco, 7' 1" x
10' 6".

22.  Many of the frescos are in the
friars' cells and were intended as
aids to devotion;
 with their immaculate
 their economy in drawing and
composition, and
 their freedom from the
accidents of time and place,
they attain a sense of blissful
serenity
 Presentation in the Temple 1440-41,
Fresco, 158 x 136 cm; Cell 10, San
Marco, Florence

23.  The brilliance of the early morning
is real enough, but the irradiating
light, the floating rather than
walking figure of Christ, the wealth
of natural detail in the garden, are
for devotional reasons and
intended to stimulate the
meditation of the monk who lived
in the cell.
Noli Me Tangere,
1440-41
Fresco, 180 x 146 cm
Convento di San
Marco,

24. Alessandro Botticelli (1445 -
1510)
◦After Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli comes as the next great painter
of the Florentine tradition.
◦The new, sharply contoured, slender form and rippling sinuous line
is synonymous with Botticelli.
◦Nothing is more gracious, in lyrical beauty, than Botticelli's
mythological paintings Primavera and The Birth of Venus, where
the pagan story is taken with reverent seriousness and Venus is the
Virgin Mary in another form.
◦He often used mythology and allegory as metaphors for

25. Birth
of
Venus,
ca.
1482.
Tempera
on
canvas,
approx.
5'
8"
x
9'
1".
Galleria
degli
Uffizi,
Florence.
Sandro
Botticelli's
Birth
of
Venus
is
a
lyrical
and
courtly
image.

26. Primavera.
c.1482.
Tempera on panel.
Galleria degli
Uffizi,
Florence, Italy.

27. This painting marks the end of
Botticelli's ‘Medici” period, from
this point onwards the subject-
matter of his paintings changes
and becomes increasingly
religious.
Pallas and the Centaur,
1482,
Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm,
Galleria Deglin Uffizi,
Florence.

28. Perhaps the most authentic
portrait of Giuliano assumed that
to be painted in the lifetime of
Giuliano. However, the death
symbols (the dove sitting on the
dead branch and the half-open
door) on the picture contradict this
assumption.
Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici.
c.1476-1477.
Tempera on panel.
National Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC.

29. Botticelli,
Adoration of the
Magi,
Tempera on panel,
27 ½ x 41”, Uffizi,
Florence

30. Early 15th century Architecture
◦Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) adopted a
classically inspired rational approach to
architecture that employed both classical
architectural forms (e.g., round arches, columns)
and a system of design based on carefully
proportioned shapes (e.g., the square, circle) or
units fitted together in strict but simple ratios.

31. Brunelleschi's
double-shelled
dome for the
Florence
Cathedral is
original in
section and
designed
around a
skeleton of
twenty-four
of which eight
are visible on
the exterior. The
structure is

32.  The Architect
Leon Battista
Alberti (1404-
1472) designed
a façade for the
Church of
Sant'Andrea
that linked
together a
Roman temple
front and a
triumphal arch.
 The façade's
vertical and

33. Alberti's design for the
Palazzo Rucellai in Florence
includes classical elements
such as flat pilasters, a
classical cornice, and
rustication.
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI,
Palazzo Rucellai,
Florence, Italy,
ca. 1452–1470.

34. Alberti,
West
Façade
of
Santa
Maria
Novella,
Florence,
Italy,
ca.
1458–1470

35. RENAISSANCE
High Renaissance

36.  No singular style characterizes
the High Renaissance, but the
major artists of the period—
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,
Michelangelo, and Titian—
exhibit a high level of technical
and aesthetic mastery.
 These artists also enjoyed an
elevated social status, while
their art was raised to the

37.  Leonardo da Vinci (1452
- 1519)
 Leonardo da Vinci's
ranging interests and
scientific investigations
informed and enhanced
art.
 He studied the human
and considered the eyes
most vital organs and
sight the most essential

38.  In one of Leonardo's notebooks
containing his anatomical
studies is a drawing of an
Embryo in the Womb.
 It is an early example of
scientific illustration.
 Leonardo also worked as both
architect and sculptor.
Embryo in the Womb, ca. 1510. Pen
and ink on paper.

39.  He made a systematic study
of the flying movements of
birds and investigated the
anatomy of the wing.
 He also studied general forms
of movement in nature and
understood that motion was
the result of force and
counterforce.
Flying machine, c. 1487
Metalpoint, pen and ink on paper, 235 x
176 mm
Insritut de France, Paris

40.  Leonardo's dramatic Last Supper in the refectory of the church of Santa Maria delle
Grazie in Milan shows the Twelve Disciples reacting to Christ's pronouncement that
one of them will betray him.
 The forceful and lucid conceptualization of the moment is enhanced by features in the
design of the simple room. • Christ is the psychological and also the perspective
focus of the painting.
 The Twelve Disciples, who register a broad range of emotional responses, are
Last Supper,
1495–1498.
Fresco (oil and
tempera on
plaster) 29' 10"
x 13' 9".
Refectory, Santa
Maria delle
Grazie, Milan.

41.  Leonardo's famous portrait of Mona Lisa
shows a half- length figure seated in a
loggia with columns against the
backdrop of a mysterious uninhabited
landscape.
 Leonardo uses a smoky sfumato and
atmospheric perspective to enhance
the figure's ambiguous facial
expression, which serves to conceal or
mask her psychic identity from the
viewer.
Mona Lisa,
ca. 1503–1505.
Oil on wood, approx. 2'6" x 1'9".
Louvre.

42.  Michelangelo created works in
architecture, sculpture, and
painting that departed from High
Renaissance regularity.
 His often complex and eccentric
style expressed strength and a
looming tragic grandeur.
 He insisted on the artist's own
authority and independence
believed that an artist's own
inspired judgment could identify
pleasing proportions.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

43.  At the age of 21 Michelangelo went to
Rome for the first time. We still
possess two of the works he created in
this period (Bacchus and Pietà);
others must have been lost for he
spent five years there.
 The statue of Bacchus was
commissioned by the banker Jacopo
Galli for his garden and he wanted it
fashioned after the models of the
ancients.
Bacchus, 1497,
Marble, height: 203 cm,
Museo Nazionale del Bargello,
Florence

44. In 1499, he
completed this Pieta
for the Vatican.
Christian emotion
never has been
more perfectly
united with
form.
Michelangelo,
Pieta, 1499.
Marble. St. Peter’s,
Vatican.

45. Michelangelo, David, 1501–1504. Marble, 14'
3" high.
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

46. In less than four years, (1508-
1512) Michelangelo painted a
monumental fresco on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
organized around a sequence of
narrative panels describing the
Creation as recorded in the
biblical book Genesis.

47. The Holy Family with the infant St. John
the Baptist (the Doni Tondo)
c. 1503-05,
Tempera on panel,
Diameter 47 in; Uffizi,
Florence.
 the Doni Tondo by
Michelangelo, had been
cleaned during the 1950s,
and revealed colors very
similar in their intensity to
those that appeared in
the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
after its cleaning.

48.  Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)
 In 1504, Raphael moved to
where he remained until 1508.
 These years were very
his development.
 He studied works of Leonardo
Vinci and Michelangelo there,
which he was greatly
 Yet he proved, that his ability
adapt from others what was
necessary to his own vision and
to reject what was incompatible
with it was faultless.

49.  Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin
shows Joseph's success in the
competition with other suitors
for the hand of Mary.
 The polygonal temple in the
style of Bramante establishes
and dominates the structure of
this composition, determining
the arrangement of the
foreground group and of the
other figures.
The Betrothal of the Virgin
('Sposalizio’),
1504 Oil on panel, 170 x 118 cm
Brera, Milan

50.  The Madonna of the Meadow is the first of a
series of full-length figure compositions that
portray the apocryphal encounter between the
Child Jesus and the boy Baptist.
 The boy Baptist is supposed to have recognized
and worshipped Christ as the Redeemer even in
their childhood. Raphael makes this clear by
letting Christ take the cross from John
 Done during Raphael’s stay in Florence,
Michelangelo's influence on Raphael is evident
this composition.
 But Raphael exerts his own balancing capacity on
the Leonardesque volumetric conception,
infusing it with the idyllic serenity which
characterizes his paintings from this period.
Madonna of Belvedere,
1506, Oil on wood, 113 x 88 cm,
Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna

51.  The School ofAthens
(1509) is the depiction
of philosophy.
 Plato and Aristotle
are standing in the
center of the picture at
the head of the steps.
The School of Athens (detail), 1509 Fresco,
Stanza della Segnatura, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican

52. The Transfiguration was the last
work Raphael painted.
It was commissioned by
Cardinal Giulio de' Medici. •
Raphael died unexpectedly on
Good Friday.
Raphael. c.1519-1520.
The Transfiguration.
Oil on panel.
Vaticano, Pinacoteca Apostolica Vaticano,
Rome.