High Renaissance

c.1490 – 1525

15th -16th Century

Architecture, Painting & Sculpture

C. 1490-1525 Culmination of developments from the Early

Renaissance period – anatomy, perspective Resulted in technically perfected work by

artists Key Words: clarity, simplicity, harmony,

idealism, order, balance.

Figures placed in harmonious groups Carefully balanced compositions Idealised landscape backgrounds – nature

used to express the divine Classical dress Technical brilliance Self confident Humanism

Concepts

High Renaissance Architecture

High Renaissance Architecture represents the peak achievement in classical simplicity and harmony.

The central-plan layout (rotational symmetry where the plan when rotated around its central point, looks the same from any viewpoint),was often used for Roman temples, was now exemplified as the ultimate in classical balance.

High Renaissance Architecture

The founder and leader of High Renaissance architecture - Donato Bramante (1444-1514)

Born in Urbino. Turned from painting to architecture

Greatest completed work is the Tempietto - a Doric shrine which is traditionally held to mark the site of St Peter’s martyrdom. Despite its small size, the Tempietto is often considered the crowning work of High Renaissance architecture.

Bramante’s Tiempetto

Tempietto: webs.woford.edu

A small circular temple (marking where St Peter was martyred) The building is heavily influenced by the style of the Temple of Vesta - the most sacred site of Ancient Rome.

High Renaissance Architecture

Bramante designed the Cortile of St. Damaso and the Belvedere at the Vatican.

In 1506 Bramante’s design for Pope Julius II’s rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica was selected, and the foundation stone laid. After Bramante’s death and many changes of plan, Michelangelo, as chief architect, reverted to something closer to Bramante’s original proposal.

Bramante’s unfinished masterpiece is a central-plan design for Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.After his death in 1514 the construction of this building encountered consistent delays and the replacing of numerous architects inevitably resulted in a complete transformation of Bramante’s original design. (Michelangelo was one of these architects and is responsible for the present appearance of the great central dome.)

Saint Peter’s Basilica Plan

Other Noted Architects

Antonio da Sangallo (1485-1546) was a student of Bramante’s – designed the Palazzo Farnese, arguably the greatest Renaissance palazzo.

Michelangelo Buonarroti ( 1475- 1564) – Dome and Façade of St Peter’s Basilica, Rome , Laurentian Library

Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537) – Villa Farnesia, Palazza Massimo alle Colonne.

High Renaissance Painting

Painting reached its peak of technical competence, rich artistic imagination and heroic and harmonious composition.

Artists disregarded extraneous detail and showed an ideal world.

Forms, colors and proportions, light and shade effects, spatial harmony, composition, perspective, anatomy - all are handled with total control and an unprecedented level of accomplishment.

High Renaissance Painters

Giovanni Bellini (1430 - 1516) Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) Michelangelo (1475 - 1564) Raphael (1483 - 1520) Titian (1477 – 1576)

Giovanni Bellini (1430 - 1516)

Venetian artist born into a family of painters A skilled painter of portraits integrated with

detailed landscape settings. Considered to have revolutionized Venetian

painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style.

Most noted paintings: Agony in the Garden (1460), the San Giobbe Alterpiece(1487) and Enthroned Madonna with Saints (1505)

The Agony in the Garden is an early painting c.1459-65. National Gallery, London

The San Zaccaria Altarpiece

(also known as Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints) . 1505

San Giobbe Alterpiece (c.1487)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

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Mona Lisa (c. 1503-06)

A painter, scientist, inventor, sculptor from Florence.

Trained under Verrocchio. Small number of works

survive. Love of botany, geology and

anatomy. Most noted works include The Last Supper, Mona Lisa and The Virgin on the Rocks.

Developed the technique known as Sfumato – layering of paint with subtle gradation of tone

Lady with an Ermine Czartorsyski, Poland

Baptism of Christ, Uffizzi, Italy

The Annunciation Uffizi, Italy

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne,

Louvre, France

Depicts emotion in expression and gesture.

Innovative use of figurative composition.

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The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist (15 06-1508)

This is one of the few examples of Michelangelo’s painting ( together with the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel)

A painter, sculptor and poet, considered one of the greatest High Renaissance artists.

Raised in Florence and trained under Ghirlandaio.

Considered himself foremost a sculptor.

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Raised in Florence, his patrons included the Medici family and the Papacy in Rome ( Pope Julius II)

Apprenticed to prominent Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio at the age of 12, but soon began to study sculpture instead.

Classical & Idealised human forms

Profound religious themes.The Entombment (c.1500)

National Gallery, London

Michelangelo

The Sistine Chapel is considered to be the greatest artistic creation in the history of mankind.

It From 1508 until 1512 Michelangelo worked on this project. He had always considered himself foremost a sculptor and resisted the task but relented and bowed to pressure from Pope Julius II.

The Sistine Chapel

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) 1483-1520

Painter, Architect Noted his Madonna’s and for large figure

compositions in the Vatican in Rome. Clarity of form and ease of composition Most famous work is The School of Athens –

perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of High Renaissance Art

The School of Athens

The Wedding of the Virgin (1504)

An altarpiece

The Sistine Madonna (c1513)The Triumph of Galatea (c1512)

Titian (1477 – 1576)

Trained with Bellini and Giorgione . One of the most expressive painters of his time and is

known as the greatest Venetian artist of the sixteenth century,

Most noted for his glorious use of colour in his paintings and was a highly skilled portraitist.

He excelled in highly decorative mythological paintings.

Unlike other artists of the time, he devoted himself solely to oil painting

Titian's first major public commission in Venice:-

The Assumption of the Virgin

For the high altar of Santa Maria Gloriosa deiFrari (1516–18)Established his place as the leading painter of the city.

Venus of Urbino (Uffizi, Italy).

Venus, the mythological goddess of love, is the subject of a number of paintings by Titian.

Titian's portraits are remarkable for the way in which they seem to express a psychological dimension while also suggesting something of the sitter's status and importance. His ability to flatter, idealise whilst encompassing realism soon became the benchmark for future aristocratic portraiture.

Bacchus and Ariadne (1523-24)

High Renaissance Sculpture

High Renaissance sculpture is characterized by an "ideal" balance between stillness and movement.

Madonna and Child1501-05, Marble, Bruges

High Renaissance Sculptor

Michelangelo - God put the sculpture within the rock and that the artist must uncover it

Humanist

At age 23, Michelangelo completed his magnificent Pieta.

• The employment of contraposto is almost exaggerated in the composition.

• He began work on the colossal figure of "David" in 1501, and by 1504 the sculpture ( 4.34m/14 ft 3 in tall) was in place outside the Palazzo Vecchio.

• The statue became a symbol for the new republic that had replaced Medici rule.

• Michelangelo portrayed David partly as the ideal man, partly as an adolescent youth at the moment he faces the giant, with the deed before him.

During the High Renaissance there was the development of small scale statue for private patrons, the creation of busts and tombs also developing.

The subject matter related to sculpture was mostly religious but also with a significant strand of classical individuals in the form of tomb sculpture and paintings as well as ceilings of cathedrals.

Moses – detail from the Tomb of Julius II1545

Tomb of Julius II1545

MarbleRome

Acknowledgements

Art Associates Maria Moore

Margaret O’Shea

Local Facilitator TeamAine Andrews

Joe CaslinJane Campbell

Siobhan CampbellNiamh O’Donoghue

Niamh O’NeillKeith O’Rahilly

Sheena McKeonTony MorrisseyMonica White

Many thanks to the following for their invaluable contribution to the European Art History and Appreciation series of workshops and resource materials.

PDST Professional Development Service for Teachers

PDST Professional Development Service for Teachers

The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and

Skills under the National Development Plan 2007 -

2013

Cultural & Environmental Education

Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST)Dublin West Education Centre,

Old Blessington Road,Tallaght,Dublin 24

National Co-ordinatorConor Harrison

Mobile: 087 240 5710E-mail: conorharrison@pdst.ie

AdministratorAngie Grogan

Tel: 014528018 Fax: 014528010E-mail: angiegrogan@pdst.ie.