February 13
Early Renaissance and Sixteenth-Century

 

 

Camera picta frescoes

Andrea Montegna. Frescoes in the Camera Picta. 1465-74.

 

 

Camera degli Sposi = Room of the Newlyweds
 
first completely illusionistic decoration of an entire room
 
first "di sotto in su" fresco (from below upwards)

 

 

 

 

 

Camera Degli Sposi

Andrea Mantengna. Detail of the ceiling of the Camera degli Sposi. 1465-74.
Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Twelfth ed. Vol. 1. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2005. 2 vols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrea Mantegna. Dead Christ. c. 1501. Tempera on canvas.
Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Twelfth ed. Vol. 1. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2005. 2 vols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandro Botticelli
1445 - 1510

 

 

Primavera

Sandro Botticelli. Primavera. c. 1482

 

 

 

 

Characteristics of Botticelli's Style:
Emphasis on drawing and line
Outlined figures
Shallow modeling / light shading
Little concern with deep space
Does not look Medieval or Early Renaissance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birth of Venus

Sandro Botticelli. The Birth of Venus. c. 1484-86.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"venus pudica" = modest venus

 

 
   
Sandro Botticelli. The Birth of Venus. c. 1484-86.
Praxiteles. Aphrodite of Knidos. c. 350 - 340 BC.
Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Twelfth ed. Vol. 1. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2005. 2 vols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neo-Platonism
Renaissance philosophy that liberally merged Christian and pagan doctrine
Proposed that all life was linked to God by a spiritual circuit
Therefore, all revelation (whether from the Bible, Plato or classic myth) was one
Beauty, love and spiritual ecstasy were all the same thing
One could attain spiritual ecstasy through the contemplation of beauty

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystic Nativity

Sandro Botticelli. Mystic Nativity. 1500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madonna and Child with Saints

Giovanni Bellini. Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Francis, John the Baptist, Job, Domini,
Sebastian, and Louis of Toulouse. c. 1478.

 

sacra conversazione = holy conversation

 

 

 

 

 

High Renaissance
1490s - 1527

 

 

Historical Context
1492
 Columbus discovers West Indies and South America
1498 Monk Savonarola burned at stake for proposing radical religious reforms
1511 First road map of Europe
1517
 Beginning of Protestant Reformation
1522
 First circumnavigation of the earth
1534 Henry VII breaks with Catholic Church and establishes Church of England
1527 Sack of Rome

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important developments in the Renaissance:
Concept of the "Renaissance ideal" fully adopted by the aristocracy
Artists recognized as intellectuals rather than craftsmen
Artists receive more commissions from private sources
Oil becomes preferred painting media

 

 

 

 

Characteristics of the art of the High Renaissance
Confident
Humanist
Reflects admiration of classic art
Sense of stability and order
Emphasis on ration and reason
Idealized form