HISTORY OF RENAISSANCE ART (With paintings and photos).

Recover the classics.

During the Renaissance, artists seek in the tradition of classical antiquity models of harmony and beauty. In addition, the art acquires a greater autonomy, with respect to the Church, since the noble families of the bourgeoisie commission works destined to extol its greatness. Hence, the content of the works evolves, which cease to be only of a religious nature. In addition, sculptors, painters and architects no longer develop as artisans, but as artists, with a determined creative individuality. This wide movement is gestated in Italy and cover the fifteenth century (the Quatrocento) and XVI (the Cinquecento).

Adan creation; Painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti.

How to distinguish Renaissance art.

Renaissance architecture is characterized by the use of symmetry and the dome, as well as the break with classical architectural rules. The palaces are detached from the architecture and bets on the curved lines the stIaccito (bas-relief technique) and the geometric schemes, in search of the perfection of the human figure and its maximum expressiveness. Finally, the Renaissance painting is reflected in the canvases through a linear perspective, a refined drawing, the technique of sfumato (the blurring) and exact anatomical proportions. A common feature of the arts is that they show greater interest in the human figure and profane life.

The vitruvian man; Leonardo da Vinci. .

Discover the perspective.

In the Renaissance one of the discoveries that will revolutionize the history of art takes place: perspective, that is, a set of graphic and mathematical rules that allow reproducing on paper or on any flat surface, with scientific accuracy, the appearance of the reality. The most used perspective is the linear or conical call. One of its fundamental laws is that the parallel lines represent converging in a final point called vanishing point (a modern example would be the train tracks that, although parallel, on a paper have to be drawn approaching as they are lost in distance). The merit of having perfected this system is attributed to the Florentine Filippo Brunelleschi, a multidisciplinary artist who highlighted architecture in particular.

Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, one of the main works of Filippo Brunelleschi. .

Renaissance Architecture.

Like the rest of the arts, the architecture of the Renaissance took as a model the classics. The great innovator was Filippo de Brunelleschi, who studied systems and construction techniques that had been used in temples and old buildings. The application of these classic rules offered solutions for most problems and allowed the architect to save time and concentrate on developing new solutions. This system would be maintained throughout the Renaissance, enriched continuously with original contributions such as those of Leon Battista Alberti, in the fifteenth century, and the Donato Bramanto and the great Michelangelo, in the sixteenth century.

St Peter's basilica; Architecture where three great artists participate like Donato Bramante, Miguel Ángel or Bernini. .

. Panoramic View of St. Peter's Basilica..

Leon Battista Alberti

The forentino Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is the second great innovator of Renaissance architecture. Very learned man, he studied studying the architecture of Rome and was a humanist in love with ancient classicism. Its buildings show an inclination towards classicism, especially on the facades, where the columns, arcades and capitals allow us directly to the triumphal arches and Greco-Roman temples. His most important work is the church of San Andrés, in Mantua. Alberti was also the one who first formulated the artistic theory of the Renaissance, through three treatises.

His most important work is the church of San Andrés, in Mantua.

Michelangelo project.

Roman apogee.

After the birth and development of the Renaissance in Florence throughout the 15th century, architecture reached its maturity stage mainly in Rome, where in the 16th century they produced their best works Donato Bramante (1444-1514) and the great Miguel Ángel Buonarroti (1475-1564). To this stage belongs the small temple of San Pietro in Montorio, a work by Bramante that was built as the model of Renaissance balance and refinement. The construction of the new basilica of San Pedro, begun in 1506 on a project by Bramante and later continued by Michelangelo, meant the full culmination of Renaissance architecture.

Temple of San Pietro in Montorio, by Bramante.

Sculpt the man.

The sculpture also recovers the classical spirit in the 15th and 16th centuries. From there derive their characteristic features: the accentuated naturalism, that is, a constant search for similarity, and interest in the human figure, both for the form of the body, and for its expressive potential. But it was not enough for the Renaissance sculptor to capture reality: his goal was to do so by achieving the maximum possible aesthetic performance, that is, by perfecting the technical means. For example, and especially in the reliefs, theories of linear perspective were applied to give the representation complex effects of depth.

The Rapture of the Sabine Women by Giovanni Da Bologna.

Donatello.

The most important sculptor of the fifteenth century, or Quattrocento (as this period is called in Italian), is the Florentine artist Donatello (1386-1466). His work is characterized by the senility, expressiveness and psychological and dramatic load of the characters represented. Between his production it emphasizes especially David, the first sculpture of nude in round bulk in all the European art. He also sculpted the series of statues of the chapel of Orsanmichele, the four prophets of the cathedral of Florence and the equestrian statue of Condottiero Gattamelata..

David; by Florentino Donatello. .

Micheangelo, artista total.

La escultura del siglo XVI estuvo dominada por la trascendencia de la obra de Miguel Ángel Buonarroti (1475-1564), el genio toscano que cultivó todas las artes, aunque continuamente repetía que se consideraba preferentemente escultor. Miguel Ángel aportó nuevos recursos a este arte, como el mayor dinamismo de las formas o la expresión de fuerza contenida. La tensión está en la base de todas sus obras, tanto pictóricas como escultóricas y arquitectónicas. De hecho, todas mantienen lo que se denomina un equilibrio inestable: parecen estar a punto de quebrarse bajo el peso de sus contrastes y la fuerza de cinado por las estatuas de la Antigüedad Clásica.

In the Final Judgment; Miguel Angel.

His facet as a sculptor.

Of such inspiration were born works like his famous David. Along with this magnificent expression of arrogance, serenity and contained energy, stand out in the sculptural production of the Tuscan genius the Pietà, who sculpted for the basilica of San Pedro in the Vatican, the figures of Moses and the slaves (the only ones made for the grandiose project of the tomb of Pope Julius II) and the funerary collection of the tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano de 'Medici.

David; By Michelangelo.

The frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

With little more than thirty years, Michelangelo realized the enormous frescoes of the Sistine Chapel practically without help. The final result was the colossal work in which the main stories of the Old Testament are narrated. The artistic genius of Michelangelo is manifested in the development and delineation of human figures, represented in the most dynamic attitudes, in the most difficult twists and foreshortenings, shortening them according to the rules of perspective. Muscles and bodies are traced with lines charged with expressive energy.

Obsession by man.

The Renaissance painter, in accordance with the spirit of the time, focuses his interest on the representation of man. The figures acquire an unparalleled corporeality: They are no longer silhouettes or profiles without thickness that are cut out on the background, if not great characters located with precision in a realistic space, represented in a reliable way thanks to a new technique: The Perspective. Modeling with shadows and lights highlights the bodies and perspective arranges the figures in space. The first great renovator is Masaccio. Other great painters of the XV century are Fra Angelico Piero della Francesca and Sandro Botticelli.

With Masaccio, painting enters the Renaissance.

The novel conception of painting that prevails in the Renaissance is due in large part to Masaccio (1401-1428). His most famous work is the fresco of the Brancacci chapel, in the Church of Santa María del Carmen (Florence), where scenes of the life of Christ, the miracles of Saint Peter and the expulsion of Adam and Eve in paradise are illustrated. earthly. His painting tends more to simplicity, his characters seem flesh and blood and are drawn respecting the mathematical propositions and perspective that the artist had learned from Florentino Brunellesci.

The Tribute; from Maccio.

The geniuses of the XVI century.

The painting of the sixteenth century has three of the greatest exponents of pictorial art of all time: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Rafael Sanzio. His works reach an almost insurmountable perfection in technique. Some young artists, carrying to their ultimate consequences the language of the three great geniuses, will create a special style called * Mannerism *. With them, the balance proper of the Renaissance compositions breaks, the figures lengthen, the movements become tense and the colors contrast. Other great artists of this current are Tiziano and Giorgione.

Titian and Giorgione.

Tiziano Vecellio (1485-1576) painted paintings with a mythological theme ("Danae", "The Rapture of Europe") and was a great portraitist of kings and emperors ("Charles V at the Battle of Mulberg). In these works, as in the representation of sacred themes, Giorgione, author of "La Tempestad", was Titian's teacher in the Venetian school.

Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) represents the quintessence of the Renaissance spirit of inquiry. As an artist and scientist, he became interested in the knowledge of reality and the fantastic transformation of scientific observations. Studious of nature, he observed the behavior of light and its effects on the figure and the landscape. In fact, he was the first artist who fused the human figure and the landscape. He also studied the human body in all its variety of attitudes and movements. His deep study of physiognomy had its realization in La Gioconda. The most striking thing in this painting is the smile, which manifests itself in the eyes, rather than in the mouth. Among his masterpieces are also The Last Supper ", " San Juan Bautista " and " The Annunciation ".

The Gioconda.

La Anunciación

The Last Supper. .

Saint John Baptist.

Rafael, the measured painter.

Born in the small town of Urbino, Raffello Sanzio, better known as Rafael (1483-11520), soon became one of the most sought-after painters in the Italian capital, both for the extraordinary fascination that his art produced and for his kindness and balanced personality. His works manifest an extraordinary purity of forms and a perfect balance between reality and ideal beauty. The most outstanding are the frescoes that decorate the Estancias of the Vatican, with famous scenes such as "The School of Athens", "The Parnassus" and "The Dispute of the Sacrament". Rafael also painted numerous portraits, in which an admirable concordance between the reality of the character and his ideal form is revealed.

The Sacramento Ranch.

The Parnassus.

The School of Athens.

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