The document provides an overview of the High Renaissance period in Italy from 1500-1600. It focuses on the major artistic developments and achievements of masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bramante. During this period, Florence was initially the epicenter of the Renaissance before being surpassed by Rome, where many large architectural projects were undertaken. The document examines key works and innovations of the major artists, including Leonardo's sfumato technique, Raphael's synthesis of styles, Michelangelo's masterful sculptures and Sistine Chapel frescoes, and Bramante's classical central-plan designs.

1. The High Renaissance
Italy, 1500 to 1600
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages
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2. Rome with Renaissance and Baroque Monuments
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3. Goals
• Understand the transition from the early Renaissance to the High
Renaissance.
• Understand that the major center for artistic development in the
High Renaissance was Florence.
• Realize that Rome replaces Florence as the new epicenter of the
Renaissance and be able to explain why. Give examples of major
artistic/architectural projects undertaken in Rome.
• Recognize the technical and aesthetic achievements of the High
Renaissance and the Mannerist era.
• Examine the lives and works of the great individual artists of the
High Renaissance.
• Understand the distinctions between the High Renaissance and
Mannerist works of art.
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4. 22.1 The High Renaissance
• Recognize the achievements of individual artists of the High
Renaissance.
• Explore the development of sculpture and architecture.
• Examine the classical and expressive developments in
architecture during the High Renaissance.
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5. The Achievements of the Masters
• Leonardo da Vinci: superb master of line, pioneer of
sfumato, inventor, naturalist, and painter of the soul’s intent.
• Raffaelo Sanzio (a.k.a Raphael): younger master painter
who incorporated elements of Leonardo and Michelangelo
into his own unique style.
• Michelangelo Buonarroti: master of sculpture, also
excellent painter and architect, the man in demand.
• Bramante: major architect who favored classical buildings;
rejuvenated the central-plan design.
• Venetian masters
– Bellini, Giorgione, Titian (painters)
– Palladio (architecture)
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6. LEONARDO
• Examine the “unified representation of objects in an
atmospheric setting” – a groundbreaking achievement of
Leonardo.
• Examine the Mona Lisa as a convincing representation of a
real person.
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7. Leonardo painted the Virgin of the
Rocks, and it is said this work is a
masterpiece in expressing emotional
states. He modeled the figures with
light and shadow - a technique he
learned from earlier works by, the 15th
century Italian artist, Masaccio.
The pyramid, as formed by the figures,
was one of the favorite compositional
devices of painters of the High
Renaissance.
LEONARDO DA VINCI, Madonna of the Rocks,
from San Francesco Grande, Milan, Italy, begun 1483.
Oil on wood (transferred to canvas), 6’ 6 1/2” x 4’.
Louvre, Paris.
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8. Leonardo's style fully
emerges in the cartoon,
Virgin and Child with
Saint Anne and the Infant
Saint John.
The cartoon is ordered
with pictorial logic and
visual unity.
LEONARDO DA VINCI, cartoon for
Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and the
Infant Saint John, ca. 1505–1507. Charcoal
heightened with white on brown paper,
4’ 6” x 3’ 3”. National Gallery, London.
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9. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Last Supper, ca. 1495–1498. Oil and tempera on plaster, 13’ 9” x 29’ 10”.
Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
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10. • In Leonardo's Last Supper, each figure was individualized. The numerous
preparatory sketches and studies he made for the work indicate how
carefully he thought about this work as a complete entity representing the
entire story and its theme.
• Leonardo broke with traditional iconography by the placing Judas, whose
face is in shadow, on the same side of the table as Christ and the other
Disciples.
• The curved pediment above the head of Christ represents a halo.
• The converging lines of the one-point radiate from the head of Christ.

11. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Mona Lisa, ca. 1503–1505.
Oil on wood, 2’ 6 1/4” x 1’ 9”. Louvre, Paris.
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12. LEONARDO DA VINCI, The Fetus and Lining
of the Uterus, ca. 1511–1513. wash, over red chalk
and traces of black chalk on paper, 1’ 8 5/8”.
Royal Library, Windsor Castle.
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13. RAPHAEL
• Trained in Umbria by Perugino (Christ Delivering the Keys the
Kingdom to Saint Peter)
• Famous for paintings of the Madonna and Child
• Young master moved to Rome; influenced by Bramante
• Absorbed elements of the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo
to create his own unique style
• Talented, popular, and beloved artist who died young (entombed
in the Pantheon)
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14. Perugino was Raphael's
teacher.
Observe similarities
between this work and
the work of Perugino.
RAPHAEL, Marriage of the Virgin, from the Chapel
of Saint Joseph in San Francesco, Città di Castello,
Italy, 1504. Oil on wood, 5’ 7” x 3’ 10 1/2”.
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
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15. RAPHAEL, Madonna in the Meadow, 1505.
1505–1506. Oil on wood, 3’ 8 1/2” x 2’ 10
1/4”. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
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16. RAPHAEL, Philosophy (School of Athens), Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome, Italy, 1509–1511. Fresco, 19’ x 27’.
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17. RAPHAEL, Galatea, Sala di Galatea,
Villa Farnesina, Rome, Italy, 1513.
Fresco, 9’ 8” x 7’ 5”.
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18. Increasingly artists of
the High Renaissance
paid particular attention
to the subject's
personality and psychic
state. This could be said
to describe the
portraiture of Raphael.
RAPHAEL, Baldassare Castiglione,
ca. 1514. Oil on canvas, 2’ 6” x 2’ 2”.
Louvre, Paris.
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19. MICHELANGELO
• Study Michelangelo’s Pieta and its significant features
• Examine the formal references to classical antiquity in
Michelangelo’s David.
• Examine Michelangelo’s humanistic interpretation of the
Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings, especially in the Creation of
Adam.
• Realize the popularity and longevity of Michelangelo resulted
in his involvement in many other projects often
simultaneously.
• Notice differences in the mature work of Michelangelo.
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20. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
Pieta, ca. 1498-1500. Marble, 5’ 8 ½”
high. Saint Peter’s, Vatican City, Rome.
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21. Michelangelo's fascination with the
human body was a lifelong pursuit.
In his David, he presented a perfect
body with an attuned mind, prepared
and ready for action. It is a combination
of athletic tension and psychological
insight.
Michelangelo portrayed David with
stern watchfulness before the battle.
It become a political statement, when it
was placed near the west door of the
Palazzo della Signoria, representing how
a smaller force fighting for what is right
could defeat a giant.
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, David, from Piazza della
Signoria, Florence, Italy, 1501–1504. Marble, 17’ high. Galleria
dell’Accademia, Florence.
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22. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
Moses, from the tomb of Pope Julius II,
Rome, Italy, ca. 1513–1515 Marble, 7’ 8
1/2” high. San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.
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23. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Bound Slave (Rebellious Captive),
from the tomb of Pope Julius II, Rome, Italy, ca. 1513–1516. Marble,
7’ 5/8” high. Louvre, Paris.
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24. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, New
Sacristy (Medici Chapel), San Lorenzo,
Florence, Italy, 1519–1534. Marble,
central figure 5’ 11” high.
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25. The central theme of
Michelangelo’s Sistine
ceiling is organized to
represent the chronology
of Christianity.
Pope Julius II, who
commissioned the ceiling,
was one of the most
important Roman patrons
of Michelangelo.
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City,
Rome, Italy, 1508-1512. Fresco, 128’ x
45’.

26. Interior of the Sistine Chapel (looking east),
Vatican City, Rome, Italy, built 1473.
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27. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Creation of Adam, detail of the ceiling (FIG. 22-1) of the Sistine Chapel,
Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1511–1512. Fresco, 9’ 2” x 18’ 8”.
In the scene, Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, God and Adam confront each
other in the primordial void. Adam is part of the earth while the Lord transcends the earth in
this humanist interpretation of the event.
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28. MICHELANGELO, Last Judgment,
altar wall of the Sistine Chapel,
Vatican City, Rome, Italy,
1536–1541. Fresco, 48’ x 44’.
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29. BRAMANTE
• Examine the achievements of Donato Bramante: innovative
central-plan designs based on classical sources (influence of
Roman circular temples), and the beginning of new St.
Peter’s in Rome.
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30. DONATO D’ANGELO BRAMANTE,
Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome,
Italy, 1502(?).
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31. DONATO D’ANGELO BRAMANTE, plan for the new Saint Peter’s, the Vatican, Rome, Italy, 1505. (1) dome, (2) apse.
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32. CHRISTOFORO FOPPA CARADOSSO, medal showing Bramante’s design for the new Saint Peter’s, 1506.
Bronze, 2 1/4” diameter. British Museum, London. 32

33. Michelangelo, the Architect
• Examine how Michelangelo updated and preserved
Bramante’s plans for the new St. Peters, but added “the
sculptor’s touch.”
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34. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
plan for Saint Peter’s, Vatican City, Rome,
Italy, 1546. (1) dome, (2) apse, (3) portico.
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35. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Saint Peter’s (looking northeast), Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1546–1564.
Dome completed by GIACOMO DELLA PORTA, 1590.
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36. ANTONIO DA SANGALLO THE YOUNGER, courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, Italy, ca. 1517–1546.
Third story and attic by MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, 1546-1550.
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37. 22.2 16th Century Venetian
Art and Architecture
• Analyze the designs of Palladio; remember his importance to
future architects such as Thomas Jefferson
• Describe the Mannerist pictorial devices displayed in
Venetian art.
• Examine the issues of drama, dynamism, and color in
Venetian art and the contributions of individual artists.
• Explore the art of patronage portraits and the role of
women.
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38. PALLADIO
• Examine the architecture and theories of Palladio.
• Realize that his work was inspired by the writings of the
ancient Roman architect VITRUVIUS.
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39. ANDREA PALLADIO, Villa Rotonda (formerly Villa Capra), near Vicenza, Italy, ca. 1566–1570.
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40. ANDREA PALLADIO,
plan of the Villa Rotonda
(formerly Villa Capra),
near Vicenza, Italy, ca.
1550–1570. (1) dome, (2)
porch.
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41. ANDREA PALLADIO, aerial view of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy, begun 1566.
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42. ANDREA PALLADIO, interior of San Giorgio Maggiore ,Venice, Italy, begun 1566.
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43. 16th Century Venetian Painting
• Realize that Venetian painters were among the earliest to use oil
painting in Italy
• Result of oil painting --- Venetian paintings are known for their
rich colors
• Notice that Venetian paintings are often sensuous
• Recall the work of Venetian masters
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44. GIOVANNI BELLINI, San Zaccaria Altarpiece,
1505. Oil on wood transferred to canvas,
16’ 5” x 7’ 9”. San Zaccaria, Venice.
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45. GIOVANNI BELLINI and TITIAN, Feast of the Gods, from the Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara, Italy,
1529. Oil on canvas, 5’ 7” x 6’ 2”. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Widener Collection).
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46. GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO (and/or TITIAN?), Pastoral Symphony, ca. 1508–1510. Oil on canvas,
3’ 7 1/4” x 4’ 6 1/4”. Louvre, Paris. 46

47. GIORGIONE DA
CASTELFRANCO,
The Tempest, ca. 1510.
Oil on canvas,
2’ 8 1/4” x 2’ 4 3/4”.
Galleria
dell’Accademia, Venice.
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48. Titian's remarkable sense
of color and his ability to
convey light through color
emerge in the altarpiece,
Assumption of the Virgin.
TITIAN, Assumption of the Virgin, 1516–1518. Oil on wood,
22’ 7 1/2” x 11’ 10”. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.
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49. TITIAN, Madonna of the Pesaro Family,
1519–1526. Oil on canvas, 15’ 11” x 8’
10”. Pesaro Chapel, Santa Maria dei
Frari,Venice.
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50. TITIAN, Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne, from the Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara, Italy, 1522–1523.
Oil on canvas, 5’ 9” x 6’ 3”. National Gallery, London. 50

51. TITIAN, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas, 3’ 11” x 5’ 5”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. 51

52. Portraits and Patronage in Venice
• Explore the art of portraits and the role of powerful female
patrons.
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53. TITIAN, Isabella d’Este, 1534–1536. Oil on canvas,
3’ 4 1/8” x 2’ 1 3/16”. Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna.
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54. Discussion Questions
 Why do works of art from the High Renaissance continue
to be understood as the most famous art in the western
world?
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