Renaissance Art
Renaissance art is a component of the Renaissance is a period of renewed literary , artistic , and scientific , which occurred in Europe in the sixteenth century.
A key aspect of the Renaissance period as is the renewal of subjects and the arts in Europe after the Middle Ages. Time markers specific for this art movement is difficult. It is commonly accepted that the artistic Renaissance began in Italy in the fourteenth century and then spread throughout the rest of the continent at different rates and different degrees depending on geography. It is the result of the influx of scientists, architects, artists and intellectuals from the court of the Sultan. The civil conflict in Constantinople prompt departure. The flower of the old Byzantine Empire, which enlivened the sultan's court in Europe will import astronomy, mathematics, but also poetry and graphic arts.
It extends the sixteenth century and reached so many countries in its heyday. Renaissance is not a flashback: new technologies, the new political, social and scientific enable artists to innovate. For the first time, the art enters the private sphere: the works are not only controlled by religious or secular power , but enter the mansions.
Today, the French collections from this period are exhibited in the National Museum of the Renaissance , located in the Castle of Ecouen (Val d'Oise). It is the only museum in France dedicated to Renaissance art. The museum displays works of course from all over Europe and even East orphvreries Germany, Flanders tapestries, ceramics Turkey, Italian paintings ... Moreover, the Chteau d'Ecouen is in itself a testimony to the monumental architecture of the Renaissance.
Summary |
Ideas and creative subjects
Humanism and artistic production
While in medieval artistic creation was essentially geared towards the Christian religion, the Renaissance artistic uses humanistic themes (tolerance, freedom of thought, peace, education for the development of the individual, etc.). and the mythology ancient. The renewal of philosophical reflection provides artists with new ideas: with Neoplatonism , Man is the center of the universe. Painters and sculptors do not hesitate to represent the beauty of the naked human bodies. The study of ancient texts, the renewal of philology with Lorenzo Valla , enable architects to get rid of the Gothic style. They use the teachings of Pythagoras and Vitruvius to develop their plans. The thought is released gradually religious constraints and aspirations turned to happiness, peace and progress. Writers and philosophers interested now in all fields of knowledge. They copy and translate manuscripts and looking for new texts. These ideas are spreading renewed on the European continent through the printing and travel humanists. The first libraries were created such as the Vatican Apostolic Library (circa 1450).
Rediscovery of Antiquity
With the arrival of artists and compilations Byzantine , driven by the Ottoman invasion, Vegetius , Pythagoras , Euclid is available again in their original Greek manuscripts. Printing using Roman characters. In the visual arts, the nude is more widely used than in the Middle Ages and the movement is rendered realistically by the hips.
Popular mythology of Greco-Roman
The Renaissance artists re-read the myths of pagan antiquity that give them new areas of production. Archaeological findings ( group of Laocoon ), as the excavations of the Baths of Caracalla by Farnese , inspire sculptors and architects of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The villa of the emperor Hadrian or the Roman Pantheon built models offer dramatically different from the Gothic style. Forms of antiquity back in fashion: columns , pilasters , pediments , domes , statues decorate the buildings of this era. The Old Testament and Catholic Christianity continue to inspire works of art.
New technical means
The advance of science to the arts benefit: throughout the fifteenth century , painters mastered better and better linear perspective and proportion. In XIV century , the advent of oil paint gives more depth to the works. The use of canvas is gradually replacing the wooden stand. Da Vinci 's Mona Lisa performs with the effects of sfumato. The invention of printing in the middle of the fifteenth century and the new techniques of engraving ( woodcut ) authorize the reproduction and dissemination of works on the continent. The prints are proliferating in books and replace the precious illuminated medieval manuscripts.
Arts and Sciences
Progress was marked in medicine and anatomy, especially after the first translation of many ancient works of Hippocrates and Galen to the XV and XVI centuries , and the progress made under the auspices of the ancient authors include the resolution of equations of the third degree and the astronomical discoveries of Nicolas Copernicus , of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. At the end of the sixteenth century,Galileo had made the leap and applied mathematical models for physics. Geography was transformed by a new empirical knowledge derived from explorations beyond Europe and the first translations of ancient works of Ptolemy and Strabo. Knowledge is then applied in drawing, painting and sculpture, as evidenced by the famous illustration of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci or the engravings of Drer. It is then possible to define a system of ideal proportions and accurately represent a human body. The paintings and frescoes are more realistic than in the Middle Ages.
A context for the revival of arts
Return to growth
After the demographic decline of the fourteenth and first half of the fifteenth century , Europe's population begins to regain its pre-crisis level. Even if outbreaks are recurrent in Europe until the eighteenth century , the great black plague was far away. The famines are more widely spaced. The high densities encountered in the sixteenth century in Flanders and northern Italy are conducive to an intensification of work. The Hundred Years War ended in 1453 and castles will gradually leave room for pleasure palace. Between 1500 and 1580 , the climate seems milder before cooling again during the Little Ice Age. With the discovery of America in 1492 , gold and silver flowing into Europe and promote economic recovery. Major maritime travel and commerce allow the growth of large cities and their embellishment.
Patrons allow artists to practice their art
The princely courts are the ideal setting for the flowering of Renaissance culture. In the arts, many patrons were important collections. They all belong to the aristocracy of power (princes, dukes, kings, pope) and economy (large traders who invest their money in the artistic production).
- The Medici : Lorenzo the Magnificent supports the artistic creation of Verrocchio and Botticelli.
- Orders of Montefeltro covers areas as diverse as bibliophile, tapestries or paintings.
- Ludovico Sforza ( one thousand four hundred and fifty-two - 1 508 ), Duke of Milan , made work of Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante.
- The popes are working artists of the Renaissance in Rome: Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel , Alexander VI Borgia ( 1 492 - 1503 ), Julius II ( 1503 - 1 513 ), Leo ( 1 513 - in 1521 ), Paul III Farnese ( 1534 - 1549 )
- In France, the Italian wars are an opportunity for the kings to get in touch with Renaissance art and plunder some of his masterpieces. Francis I invited Italian artists ( Leonardo da Vinci at Amboise , Benvenuto Cellini , Rosso Fiorentino , Primaticcio at Fontainebleau ...).
- The merchants also become art lovers: Jacques Heart in France in the fifteenth century century, the wealthy Italian banker Roberto Strozzi in 1489 ...
A geography of the Renaissance
North: Venice , Padua , Ferrara , Mantua , Milan , Parma.
Center: Florence , Rome , Urbino , Perugia
To the south: Naples Central and Eastern Europe
The history of the Germanic countries is marked by the development of printing by Gutenberg and the success of engraving ( Schongauer , Albrecht Drer ). The sculpture flourished between 1460 and 1520. The altar painting is at its peak with Mathias Grnewald. The merchant and banker Jacob Fugger often travels to Venice and falls under the charm of Italian Renaissance art. It accommodate a chapel at Augsburg , expression of a specifically German Renaissance architecture. In 1548 , Titian established himself in that city and painted portraits for the merchant class. With the Reformation , a movement iconoclastic spreads and destroys religious works in the Germanic countries. Eastern Europe was probably less receptive to the Italian model. Some Italian artists worked to Moscow , but they were few. The territories were looking more toward Orthodox Byzantium to Rome. They are of Slavic culture and use the Cyrillic. From 1453, Constantinople passes into the hands of Ottoman Turks. In the second half of the fifteenth century , the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus organizes a brilliant court and a library known to Buda. Vienna knows the destruction caused by the Ottomans in 1529. Then Ferdinand of Habsburg (1503-1564) introduced the Italian art at his court the Hofburg. In Prague , Rudolph of Habsburg (1552-1612) was surrounded by artists Mannerist such as Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611), Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), Hans von Aachen (1552-1615) and Adrien de Vries ( 1545/46-1626).
France: a Renaissance original
In addition, the Italian model was confronted with modifications or to national resistance: Protestants reject the Roman model. In France elaborated an original synthesis between inputs Italian and French medieval tradition. Du Bellay Italianization denounced the French language. If the Chambord castle is built on a focused, few French architects to adopt this model. The castle Ecouen represents what type of palaces whose architecture is both medieval (square, very imposing, surrounded by a moat ...) and Renaissance (decorating windows, multiple chimneys ...).
On this aerial photograph of Castle Ecouen we clearly see the medieval elements: the square plan, and strategic dominance, the moat ...
On this front we may actually feel the influence of the Italian Renaissance, with an ornamentation that recalls the ancient palace.
Finally, on the other front we can see that if the castle is structurally symmetric (square), each facade is unique and very different.
 | Click on a thumbnail to enlarge |
The chteau of Azay-le-Rideau retains medieval-style round towers. The Chateau de Chenonceau , Fontainebleau , Chantilly , Anet or Gaillon are not symmetrical. This is especially the grounds and Italian decor that are established, following the Italian Wars (see especially the painted fireplaces Ecouen castle , unique items that symbolize the influence of Italian decorative art). Philibert Delorme even wanted to create an architectural French. Jean and Franois Clouet , of Flemish origin, are at the service of Valois. Jean Clouet carries a portrait of the humanist Guillaume Bude.
Italy
The early Renaissance in Italy (the rest of Europe and especially France):
According to historians of art, she begins to Duecento (XIII century) or Trecento (XIV century) by a period known as Pre-Renaissance (According to art historian Jacob Burckhardt, the Renaissance before time starts from the eleventh century in Tuscany and spread until the next century Provence and Italy median) and continues in full by the Early Renaissance in Quattrocento.
It turns into High Renaissance in the early Cinquecento (between 1500 and 1530), followed by the mannerisms or Late Renaissance ranging from 1520 (Raphael's death) to quickly finish in 1580.
The Baroque , which begins at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries , also born in Italy, then continues into late Baroque, specifically named Rococo period (which is followed by neoclassicism ).
Netherlands and Scandinavia
In painting, the landscapes are not necessarily old , but reproduce the regional environment: Quentin Metsys painted a northern rural scenery behind the Virgin and Child with Lamb ( 1515 - 1524 ). Also in northern Europe, Pieter Bruegel the Elder , Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Patinir embody resistance to Italian themes.
In the fifteenth century , the prosperity of Bruges is manifested in the wool trade, but also in the arts: Jan van Eyck , Hans Memling and Gerard David settled here. The Burgundian Netherlands remain the main center of production of tapestries in Europe.
Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden produce paintings for the altars of churches. Hugo van der Goes ( 1435 / 45 - 1482 ) painted a triptych for the Florentine banker Tommaso Portinari. In the early sixteenth century , Antwerp Bruges eclipse as a financial and trading. Metsys Quentin ( 1465 / 66 - 1530 ), Joachim Patinir ( 1475 / 85 - 1524 ) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder ( 1525 / 30 - 1569 ) work and represent the bourgeoisie. The painter Jan Gossaert visited Italy and broadcasts its way into the Spanish Netherlands. Scorel Jan van (1495-1562) was influenced by Raphael and Michelangelo. Philip II of Spain buys paintings of Flemish masters Rogier van der Weyden and Hieronymus Bosch. In the second half of the sixteenth century, Pieter Bruegel the Elder specializes in genre painting. In 1566 , a wave of iconoclasm Protestant cause significant damage in the cathedral of Antwerp.
England
In the British Isles, the Renaissance art can begin to flourish after the Wars of the Roses ( 1485 ) and the rise of English naval power. The first printing press was installed in 1476 at Westminster by William Caxton. Hans Holbein the Younger worked in London from 1532. It carries the portrait of the English humanist Thomas More. German merchants of the Hanseatic League and the King Henry VIII of England are its main customers. The monarch made see the Palace of Whitehall and Hampton Court , and build Nonsuch Palace.
Iberian Peninsula
In the arts Iberian, the Arab influences are visible in the early fourteenth century. The kingdom of Granada remains in the hands of Nasrid until 1492. Gil Siloam , probably originating in the Netherlands, working for the King of Castile and still respects the Gothic tradition. But his son Diego of Siloam / A> (second half of the sixteenth century) was inspired by the Italian Renaissance by adopting the symmetry. Guas Juan ( 1430 - 1496 ), architect to the court of Isabella the Catholic, drew the plans of the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo. Style Plateresque , which is characterized by a profusion of ornament, a great success in Spain in the sixteenth century. After the Council of Trent, the cons-reform is felt in the arts (art Jesuit ) and literary ( Juan de la Cruz , Teresa of Avila ). In 1561 , Philip II moved his court to Madrid and built the palace of El Escorial. It acquires Italian paintings but Flemish. Finally, in the 1570s, the Greek painter El Greco settled in Toledo: his work combines elements Byzantine and Venetian. In Portugal , the Manueline the openness of the country from sea Henry the Navigator.
The architecture of the Renaissance
In the fifteenth century , the architectural treatises multiply through print. They are inspired by the work of Vitruvius, De architectura. It's in the Florence of those days that reads the break with medieval traditions. The main names in architecture are then Leone Battista Alberti , Bramante , Brunelleschi , Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Palladio. The architect of anonymity out (we know little about the names of the architects of the Middle Ages) and enjoys an unprecedented social promotion.
Religious architecture
Gothic architecture favored verticality and technical prowess. The Renaissance architecture prefers horizontal lines and seeks harmony volumes. The ancient orders reappear on the capitals of columns. Decorative elements borrowed from ancient flourish on the fronts: bas-reliefs, pilasters , trophies , vases, garlands, ... The most remarkable architectural novelty is the central plan with a dome, inspired in particular the Pantheon in Rome. There are numerous examples in Italy ( St. Peter's ), less frequent in the rest of Europe (Chapel Chateau d'Anet ). It was not until the seventeenth century to see developed domes. The basilica also makes his return and the importance of the transept is reduced.
Civil Architecture
Advances in artillery rendered ineffective the defense of the medieval castle. Francis I shaved the dungeon of the Louvre. Also, the stately home changes radically in appearance during the fifteenth century: the walls are pierced by windows, the decor invading fronts and arcaded galleries multiply Blois , Chenonceau , ... The Villa d'Este in Tivoli gives a taste of rural residences in Italy, Palaces and place of refinement. Parts with new functions appear, as the firm, used to study and writing. Private libraries enriched printed books ( incunabula ), but also works of art.
Architects of the Renaissance
Painting
Improvement of painting techniques
- the tonal painting
- improvement of varnish , including through research of Leonardo da Vinci
- painting on canvas replaces painting on wood, too expensive Renewal themes
Adam and Eve by Albrecht Drer The nude is painted for himself, he becomes subject to full and aesthetic expression. The landscapes are also important and are made for their intrinsic value, especially by the painters of Flanders who inaugurated a long tradition. In the sixteenth century , the princes begin to create genuine collections of paintings. The allegories ( Botticelli ) and mythological iconography allow the secular to develop. The female nude is both erotic and the expression of an ideal of beauty. The portrait already existed in the Middle Ages, in profile, it diffuses into the middle classes of the Renaissance. The most famous is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The portraits come to decorate the palaces and galleries of pleasure palaces. They are becoming more important in size and immortalize the kings on horseback. However, the Renaissance art also continues as the Middle Ages, Catholics represent the themes. Jesus and his mother, Mary, appear in the works of Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael. In the field of sculpture, the Pieta are reserved matters.
Main painters of the Renaissance
Complete list
* See: Painter of the Renaissance
Famous artists of the Italian Renaissance :
- Michelangelo , the original name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. 1475-1564
- Donatello , the original name Donato di Niccol di Betto Bardi. 1386-1466
- Piero della Francesca. 1420-1492
- Raphael , original name of Raffaello Sanzio. 1483-1520
- Benvenuto Cellini
- Pierino da Vinci , the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci
Geographical spread by country:
Conclusion
Leonardo da Vinci is crossing the milestone by abolishing the balance between line and color in favor of modulation of chromatic edges. Raphael and Michelangelo follow in his footsteps and create art forms that will be references for all of Europe. Renaissance Western art allowed to reach its peak. Mutation of the world picture by the natural sciences and the great discoveries, the religious and political tensions and social unrest are reflected in the arts. The real and the ideal, the secular and the sacred, movement and rest, space and surface, line and color are reconciled in a beneficial harmony.
- The Baroque continues late Renaissance
References
- Naples , under the domination of the Crown of Aragon , where he developed an art of Iberian type.
Notes
Dance of the Renaissance : the flip , French painting located Penhurst Place, Kent - wrongly associated with the Elizabethan era. Related articles
- The Baroque continues late Renaissance.
External Links
- Texts on the arts of the Renaissance
- The encyclopedia of the Agora
- Renaissance castles
- Chateau de Fontainebleau
- National Museum of the Renaissance
- Sculpture in Florence in the fifteenth century
- (In) Drawings of the Renaissance
- (In) The rediscovery of Antiquity
- (In) The Renaissance in Europe: maps, timelines and works
- (In) Society for Renaissance Studies
- Site Architectura Centre for Advanced Studies of the Renaissance in Tours
Bibliography
- Peter Burke , The European Renaissance, Paris, Le Seuil, 2000.
- Vincent Cronin , The Florentine Renaissance, London, Collins, 1967 ( ISBN 0-00-211262-0 ), The Flowering of the Renaissance, London, Collins, 1969, ( ISBN 0-7126-9884-1 ), The Renaissance, Collins , London, 1992 ( ISBN 0-00-215411-0 )
- Jean Delumeau , The Civilization of the Renaissance, Paris, Flammarion, 1984.
- Jean Delumeau , R. Lightbown, The Renaissance, Paris, Le Seuil, 1996.
- Collective, The Renaissance Europe 1470-1560, Editions du Temps, 2002, Collection Questions History ( ISBN 2-84274-200-1 )
- Philippe Morel, The Renaissance art, between science and magic, PU Rennes, 2005 ( ISBN 2-7535-0196-3 )
- Grard Legrand , Renaissance Art, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd editions., 2005, Understanding Collection, Format: Paperback - English edition ( ISBN 0-550-10121-7 )
- Sophie Bajard Claude Mignot, Daniel Rabreau , Art History Flammarion. Modern times: the fifteenth-eighteenth centuries, Flammarion, 1996 Collection Art History ( ISBN 2-08-011602-9 )
- Daniel Arasse Andreas Tnnesmann, The Renaissance mannerist, Gallimard, 1997, Collection The universe of forms ( ISBN 2-07-011278-0 )
- Heydenreich l. H., flowering of the Renaissance, 1972, Collection The universe of forms (ISBN B0000DT43L)
- Collective, Universal History of Art, Volume 6. Renaissance: the Quattrocento Italian, Flemish painting, editions Ldf, 1993 ( ASIN 2035052165)
- Collective, Universal History of Art, Volume 7. Renaissance and Mannerism, Ldf Editions, 1993 ( ASIN 2035052173)
- Florence Revisited Rene Ventura F-2006 Field Ed office - belles lettres
- Frdrique Lemerle and Yves Pauwels, The architecture of the Renaissance, Paris, Flammarion, coll. All Art, 2nd edition, 2003
External Links
RenaissanceRenaissance History Trecento , XIV century Quattrocento , XV century Cinquecento , XVI century 
Periods Pre-Renaissance Renaissance First High Renaissance Late Renaissance Renaissance Art Furniture Architecture Dance Literature Music Painting Poetry Sculpture Theatre Philosophical schools Humanism Neoplatonism Medici Averroism Geography Italy France Germany Flanders Netherlands Spain
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ...