2) WHAT TO THINK ABOUT IN EACH PERIOD

2) What to think about in each period

Pre-Renaissance Period – Gothic architecture (pointed arches)

       Sculpture - focuses on emotions rather than anatomy (Pisanos)

       Painting - focuses on emotional drama rather than accurate perspective or beauty, (Giotto, Duccio,) emphasis on holy nature of X.

Early Renaissance Period – 1401-1445

1409 -invention of one-point perspective by Brunelleschi demonstrated in two panels (now lost.) Technique means all diagonal lines in painting meet at one point (the vanishing point.) It renders more accurate natural 3-dimensional space for figures in 2-dimensional painting.

1424-47 – first use of one-point perspective in painting by Masaccio in the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel.

1436 – Leon Battista Alberti writes treatise on painting and dedicates

it to Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Luca Della Robbia, Ghiberti, and Donatello.

Architecture – Brunelleschi reintroduces Roman and Greek elements into buildings, rounded arches (change from Gothic pointed), columns with capitals, strict set of proportional units, domed cathedral.

Sculpture – Interest in accurate anatomy from seeing ancient Greek and Roman statues, desire to replicate and improve on ancient models,

Donatello’s David – first free-standing male nude in bronze since antiquity. Della Robbia uses Latin inscription in Cantoria and realistic-looking children in Cantoria plaques. Beauty more important than emotional drama.

Painting – Figures made to look as though bodies under drapery have  weight and volume, first use of one-point perspective for accurate space,

bodies are still too large in proportion to architecture, desire to render

accurate natural light and shadows cast by figures. Self-consciousness of artist in self-portraiture (Masaccio first in Florence) and in signatures on works of art. Interest in human beings and human problems – humanism.

Emphasis on human nature of X.

Middle Renaissance Period – 1445-1475

Architecture – large fortress palaces with rounded arches and ancient capitals on columns, Latin inscription on S.M. Novella and pediment

like that of an ancient temple. Rebirth of interest in classical arch.
Rereading of Vitruvius' treatise on architecture.

Sculpture – dissection informs an accurate anatomical rendering of bodies, desire to produce ancient stories (Hercules) in bronze and marble.

Painting – Accurate rendering of light effects in landscape, ancient

stories as well as Christian and Old Testament ones, desire to give

bodies movement and animation, increased interest in mythological

subjects, botanical accuracy in painting, accurate anatomy, less interest

in emotional drama of scene. Sharp, hard contours for figures.

Late Renaissance Period – 1475-1500

Architecture – beginning interest in centrally-planned churches, proportional set of rules for church facades (Carceri – height of upper storey is 2/3 the height of lower storey); continuation of ancient elements (rounded arches, columns with capitals, units repeated in rhythm).

Sculpture – Michelangelo’s nascent career with bas-relief Madonna of Chair and free-standing full figures in the round (Pieta); Christian subjects are given ancient 3-dimensional treatment. Graceful hands and figural stances (Verrocchio’s Doubting of Thomas.)

Painting – Full fresco cycles for Florentine churches use: color balance, accurate light effects, accurate anatomy, symmetry of color and of number of figures, large-scale lives of saints with contemporary portraits mixed into the scenes. Portraiture becomes art unto itself. One-point perspective of course, and desire to mirror nature on walls of churches. Interest in foreshortening (seeing object head-on.) (Examples:  Mantegna’s Christ, Camera degli Sposi ceiling, Ghirlandaio’s bending men in S.M. Novella,) and figures seen “di sotto in su” (from below looking up) (Example: Camera degli Sposi.) Desire for harmony and calmness, serenity. Desire for figures to portray graceful movement and stance. Beauty more important than drama. Ghirlandaio and Botticelli -sharp, hard contours for their figures. Leonardo introduces “sfumato” style of painting (smoky, unclear contours) to his scenes.

High Renaissance Period – 1500-1550

Architecture – desire for centrally-planned churches greatest (Tempietto), continuation of ancient elements applied to Renaissance proportions and rounded arches and temple fronts, domed churches

(Tempietto and St. Peter’s). Palazzi are lighter and airier (Palazzo della

Cancelleria, Rome) but still use basic ancient principles of columns and capitals and rounded arches with repeated elements.

Sculpture – Colossal size introduced with Michelangelo’s David

(desire to emulate ancient colossal statues of myth), accurate anatomy

from dissection continued; power of gigantic subjects (Moses).

Reintroduction of ancient sculpture’s idea of  CONTRAPPOSTO (vertical line drawn down sculpted figure such as David shows his own left side in motion, right side at rest; the consequence of this difference is that the figure seems alive and about to move.) Marble sculpting is carried to new heights by Michelangelo’s skills. Figures given emotional power as well as physical power.

Painting – Biblical subjects and Ancient Philosophy together in same

building requested by same patron (Pope Julius II): Sistine Ceiling and

School of Athens. Colossal figures (Adam and God) give importance to stories on ceiling and walls.  Contemporary portraits still appear in scenes. Raphael continues earlier elements of Symmetry, Calmness, one-point perspective, hard contours, consistent light source, beautiful and graceful figures, and desire to combine ancient beliefs with Christian.

Mannerism -Influenced by bright colors in Sistine Ceiling, Mannerists such as Pontormo juxtapose garish oranges and greens and yellows and don’t use background or one-point perspective, reduced interest in accurate anatomy (elongation of bodies and necks and fingers.) Mannerists return to emotional drama. Venetian painters, influenced by Leonardo’s sfumato, soften contours, reduce linearity, emphasize painterly qualities.