Renaissance??

Question

Can someone describe how the art and architecture of the renaissance was different from the art and architecture of the middle ages, what new styles and techniques were used during the reniassance?

Answer 1

During the Middle Ages there was a lively interest in classical literature, especially Latin and Latin translations of Greek. This attention was mostly confined to the professional activities of theologians, philosophers, and writers. In the Renaissance, however, people from various segments of society—from kings and nobles to merchants and soldiers—studied classical literature and art. Unlike the professional scholars of the Middle Ages, these people were amateurs who studied for pleasure, and their interest in art from the past was soon extended to contemporary works. Medieval art and literature tended to serve a specialized interest and purpose; Renaissance works of art and literature existed largely for their own sake, as objects of ideal beauty or learning.

The Renaissance was marked by an intense interest in the visible world and in the knowledge derived from concrete sensory experience. It turned away from the abstract speculations and interest in life after death that characterized the Middle Ages. Although Christianity was not abandoned, the otherworldliness and monastic ideology of the Middle Ages were largely discarded. The focus during the Renaissance turned from abstract discussions of religious issues to the morality of human actions.

Renaissance painters turned from the purely religious subjects of the Middle Ages to a depiction of the natural world. Technical advances in the representation of perspective, anatomy, and light and shadow were matched by a great expansion in subject matter. Portraits, studies of the human form, animals, landscapes, scenes of daily life, and historic events all joined religious subjects as acceptable material for the painter.

Giotto, a 14th-century Florentine painter, is often considered the forerunner of Renaissance painting. He broke with the highly formalized style of medieval painting, in which static, expressionless, two-dimensional figures were arranged in size and form according to their symbolic importance. Giotto based his art on observation of the real world and tried to use space and light more dramatically.

In the 15th century the artists of Florence, led by Masaccio, began to use scientific principles to solve problems of perspective and to develop new techniques for representing light and shade. At the same time, the painters of Venice experimented with color to produce a more natural effect.

During the Middle Ages the Catholic Church had been almost the sole patron of the arts, and most of the artwork produced had religious themes. By the 1400s private collectors and patrons began to demand paintings of secular subjects. Personal portraiture also appeared in the works of artists such as Piero della Francesca and Sandro Botticelli.

Representation of the natural world, however, was not enough for the great artists of the later Italian Renaissance. The masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo reveal not only the complete mastery of earlier technical advances, but also profound reflection on the nature of the material world and an effort to represent ideal qualities that underlie outward appearances. The work of Flemish artists such as Jan van Eyck in the 15th century suggests a common interest in concrete detail, but for the rest of Europe, the major impact of the new movement in art did not occur until the 17th century.

During the Middle Ages, sculpture, like all medieval art, was subordinated to religious architecture and the needs of the Catholic Church. Although late medieval sculpture, known as Gothic (see Gothic Art and Architecture), was more realistic than earlier medieval sculpture, it was still highly stylized to symbolize certain religious ideas and conventions. However, Italian medieval sculpture had always preserved some elements of the classical tradition. In the 13th century, Italian sculptors Nicola and Giovanni Pisano combined Gothic conventions with the freer, more dynamic naturalism of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the early 15th century, increasing mastery of materials and techniques, together with greater expressiveness, was achieved by sculptors Jacopo della Quercia and Lorenzo Ghiberti. In his relief panels for the east door of the baptistery of the cathedral of Florence, Ghiberti incorporated levels of perspective and effects of light and shade that had seemed possible only in painting.

Both Quercia and Ghiberti still conceived of sculpture as ornamental relief for religious architecture. It remained for Ghiberti's contemporary Donatello to construct figures that were natural in form and could be viewed from all sides. Among the other important sculptors of the early Renaissance were Andrea del Verrocchio and members of the Robbia family. Renaissance sculpture reached its peak in the early 16th century, primarily with the works of Michelangelo.

Renaissance architecture, like Renaissance sculpture, was largely inspired by the rediscovery of classical forms and principles. In the 15th century, architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti saw in the ruins of ancient Rome the foundation for a new architecture based on the principles of geometry and mathematics. Brunelleschi produced the first great works of Renaissance architecture in buildings such as the Church of San Lorenzo and the Pazzi Chapel in Florence. Alberti wrote theoretical treatises explaining the principles of Roman architect Vitruvius. His work on the Church of San Francesco, a Gothic church in the central Italian city of Rimini, is typical of the early Renaissance. It illustrates the tendency to remodel old buildings by adding classical approaches to form, such as the use of symmetry, and classical features, such as arches and columns.

An important Renaissance contribution to the development of Western architecture was the revival of the dome, an architectural feature that was first introduced by the Romans. Brunelleschi's great dome on the cathedral of Florence is one of the outstanding achievements of the period. Renaissance architects were also interested in secular buildings of all kinds, including palaces, libraries, and theaters. Outstanding examples of secular Renaissance architecture include Florence’s Palazzo Medici-Riccardi by Italian architect Michelozzo and the Olympic Theater and Villa Rotonda, designed by Andrea Palladio and located in the northern Italian town of Vicenza. Palladio's use of columns and domes in houses and villas illustrates the application of classical principles of design to secular structures.
Another important Renaissance architect was Donato Bramante. His Tempietto, a shrine in Rome, is an outstanding example of a circular building with a domed roof, a popular form during the Renaissance. Raphael, Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi, Giacomo da Vignola, Michelangelo, and members of the Sangallo family were all among the outstanding Renaissance architects of the 16th century

Answer 2

Beginning in fourteenth-century Italy, Europe went through a transition over 400 years from medieval to modern times known today as the Renaissance, meaning a "rebirth" or "revival." The Renaissance is a nebulous concept for which there is no clear beginning or end. It does, however, usefully mark the complete recovery from the barbarism of the Dark Ages to the new advancement in all fields that transcended the achievements of the great ancient civilizations.

Many different factors at work in the Middle Ages contributed to this revival and new advancement. One was the renewed interest in learning. The first college at Oxford University was founded in 1264. By 1400 there were more than 50 universities in Europe. Education and debate were stimulated by access to ancient texts preserved by the Arabs and freshly translated into Latin. Europeans had made contact with the Arabs in the Holy Land, in Sicily, and in Spain. The rediscovered works of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, for example, became the standard for teaching mathematics into the nineteenth century. The Arabs also transmitted a new system for numbers, the concept of the decimal point, and the concept of zero, all invented in India. The spread of learning accelerated rapidly following the invention of the printing press around 1450.

A second factor was the rising standard of living, especially in the great commercial cities of Italy. The Crusades had opened European eyes to the wealth of the East, especially silks, spices, and cotton. The merchants of Venice, Genoa, Florence, and other cities came to dominate the trade between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. With the excess wealth they accumulated in business, these merchants began embellishing their homes and cities with art. Sculpture, painting, architecture, music, poetry, and literature found new expression, exhibiting an interest in subjects beyond the religious themes that dominated previously in the Middle Ages. Popular depictions of everyday life, romance, and adventure revealed that European culture was becoming more humanistic and less focused on religion.

The revival was also due to technological progress that led to more efficient production of goods and services. Manufacturing, farming, and trade all improved past the abilities of the ancients. The drive for profits encouraged inventiveness and exploration. A middle class of merchants and craftsmen began grasping political power commensurate with their economic power, at the expense of a declining nobility.

By roughly 1500 the nations of Europe were leading the world in many important technologies. Energies unleashed by the exploration of the world, the search for trade routes, the Protestant Reformation, and continued political competition in Europe itself would make Europe the dominant region of the world within a few centuries.

Answer 3

Just to add a little extra information for those that are coming here for answers. Some more differences include: -In the italian renaissance the human form was a major vessel for human expression. Artists sought to paint and sculpt humans in complex environments with realism. This relates to a rediscovery of more classical art styles. - Whereas in the northern renaissance Wooden panel painting for altarpieces and illuminated manuscripts where of emphasis This is largely a part due to the gothic style churches that were prevalent in the north. Also because of the large wall space available in italian cathedrals, is gave rise to fresco painting. While in the north, the space available for their work was limited, and as a result northern painters became masters at rendering detail. Oil painting enabled artists to use a varied range of colors and add fine details.

Answer 4

Renaissance focused on worldly and human issues rather than the spiritual and religious focus of the middle ages. Renaissance art usually also had a more 3 dimensional or realistic look as well. Focused on perfecting the proportions and look of the human form. They also worked on perspective, lighting, and shading better than the middle ages. Compare a Renaissance nativity picture to that of a middle ages one, big difference.

have a nice day.

Answer 5

The word "renaissance" itself means "rebirth." The art and architecture was a "rebirth" of the classical art and sculptures of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

Answer 6

They painted and sculpted men as the beautiful and strong beings they could be, rather than the Middle Ages, which portrayed them as the weak, sinful beasts they believed they were. As shown the best in the Sistine Chapel, Adam is given the spark of life from God, and their connection, our close relation to Him, is revealed in the wonderful figure created.

Answer 7

Renaissance is bad.