Cinquecento Italian ArtHigh Renaissance
1500-1600
Leonardo da VinciVirgin of the Rocksca. 1485oil on wood6 ft. 3 in. x 3 ft. 7 in.
Four artists who were most closely associated with the High Renaissance:Leonardo da VinciRaphaelMichelangeloTitian
Compositional devices Leonardo used in The Virgin of the Rocks to knit the figures together;Pyramidal grouping of the figures.Light simultaneously reveals and veils the forms, immersing them in a layer of atmosphere that exists between them and the viewer’s eye.
Leonardo da Vinci
Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John
ca. 1505-07charcoal heightened with white on brown paper4 ft. 6 in. x 3 ft. 3 in.
According to Leonardo, the major purpose of his scientific investigations was to discover the laws underlying the processes and flux of nature.
Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper
Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy
ca. 1495-98fresco (oil and tempera on plaster)29 ft. 10 in. x 13 ft. 9 in.
Two fifteenth‑century trends Leonardo used to synthesize in The Last Supper :Classical influence in terms of motifs and naturalistic representation.The use of perspective to create a convincing pictorial illusion.
Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa (La Giaconda)
ca. 1503-1505oil on wood2 ft. 6 in. x 1 ft. 9 in.
Leonardo considered modeling with light and shadow, and expressing emotional statesthe heart of painting
Leonardo da Vinci
Embryo in the Womb
ca. 1510pen and ink on paper
cartoon A full-size preliminary drawing.
desegno“Drawing” in Italian, closer to “design” in meaning, representing an artist’s conceptualization and intention.
sfumatoA smokelike haziness that subtly softens outlines in painting.
Donato d’Angelo Bramante
Plan for the new Saint Peter’s
1505
The building of the crossing piers and the lower choir walls was completed during Bramante's lifetime
Christoforo Foppa CaradossoMedal showing Bramante’s design for the new Saint Peter’s1506
Donato d’Angelo BramanteTempiettoSan Pietro in Montorio, Rome, Italy1502
Four aspects of the sculptural appearance of Bramante's Tempietto.
Lower level directly inspired by Roman round temples.
Resembles a sculptured reliquary.
The dome, drum, and base bear a logical and harmonious relationship to each other and to the whole.
Rhythmical play of light and shadow in the columns and balustrade.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
David
1501-1504marble14 ft. 3 in. high
Michelangelo believed measure and proportion should be kept “in the eyes,” that the artist could judge pleasing proportions, and that the artist’s authority was bound only to his idea. He used a style of vast, expressive strength conveyed through complex and erratic forms.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Moses
San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Italy
ca. 1513-1515marbleapproximately 8 ft. 4 in. high
Three figures that Michelangelo is believed to have created for the tomb of Julius II.
Moses
Bound Slave
“Unfinished Captive”
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Bound Slave
1513-1516marble6 ft. 10 1/2 in. high
The two slaves were thought to represent not as such an abstract concept, but they embody powerful emotional states associated with oppression.
Sistine Chapel (view facing west)
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
built 1473
Fond of serving in battle, Pope Julius II reigned from 1503-1513. He was a major art patron and commissioned a new design for St. Peter’s basilica, the construction of his tomb, the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the decoration of his papal apartments.
Sistine Chapel (view facing east)
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
built 1473
Michelangelo BuonarrotiSistine Chapel CeilingVatican City, Rome, Italy 1508-12frescoapproximately 128 x 45 ft.
The Creation, Fall, and Redemption of humanity. As visitors enter the chapel and walk toward the chapel, they review, in reverse order, the history of the fall of humankind. Old Testament prophets and pagan sibyls who foretell the coming of Christ are shown with depictions of conflicts between good and evil and between the energy of youth and wisdom of age. The style can be seen in the Creation of Adam, which is shown not in the traditional representation but in a humanistic interpretation that uses classical imagery and techniques, but which does not obscure the Christian message.
Michelangelo BuonarrotiCreation of Adam, Sistine Chapel CeilingVatican City, Rome, Italy 1511-12frescoapproximately 18 ft. 8 in. x 9 ft. 2 in.
Characterize Michelangelo's style in painting and sculpture with four adjectives or phrases.Figures are sharply outlined against the neutral architectural setting, rather than forming atmospheric “picture windows”.Reclining and twisting positions of the figures.Heavy musculature.Straight architectural axes (such as in Leonardo’s compositions) are replaced by diagonals and curves.
Cleaning of, Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1977-1989
Cleaning of, Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1977-1989
The effect of the color revealed during the restoration of the Sistine ceiling is that the coloring is vivid and bright, in marked contrast to the dark and smoky appearance of the formerly soot-and-grime-covered ceiling.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Drunkenness of Noah, Sistine Chapel Ceiling (pre-restoration)
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1511-12fresco
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Drunkenness of Noah, Sistine Chapel Ceiling (post-restoration)
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1511-12fresco
Sistine Chapel (view facing east)
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
built 1473
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Last Judgment
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1537-41fresco
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Last Judgment
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1537-41fresco
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Last Judgment
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1537-41fresco
Raphael
Philosophy (School of Athens)
Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome, Italy
1509-11frescoapproximately 19 x 27 ft.
The two central figures represented in Raphael's School of Athens, and what aspects of philosophy does each represent?
Plato and Aristotle. Plato points to heaven, the source of his inspiration, while Aristotle points towards earth, from which his observations of reality sprang. Plato represents the mysteries that transcend this world, and Aristotle represents nature and human affairs.
Raphael
Marriage of the Virgin
Chapel of Saint Joseph in Città di Castello near Florence, Italy
1504oil on wood5 ft. 7 in. x 3 ft. 10 1/2 in.
RaphaelMadonna of the Meadows1505oil on panel3 ft. 8 1/2 in. x 2 ft. 10 1/4 in.
Three characteristics of Raphael's style as seen in the Madonna of the Meadows Subtle chiaroscuro.Prefers clarity to obscurity, using lighter tonalities even with the dusky modeling of Leonardo.Substantial figures in a pyramidal arrangement, like Leonardo’s Madonna of the Rocks.
RaphaelGalateaSala di Galatea, Villa Farnesina Rome, Italy1513fresco9 ft. 8 in. x 7 ft. 5 in.
Raphael
Baldassare Castiglione
ca. 1514oil on wood transferred to canvas2 ft. 6 1/4 in. x 2 ft. 2 1/2 in.
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Tomb of Giuliano de’Medici
Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy
1519-1534marblecentral figure approximately 5 ft. 11 in. high
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Tomb of Giuliano de’Medici
Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy
1519-1534marblecentral figure approximately 5 ft. 11 in. high
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
Palazzo Farnese
Rome, Italy
ca. 1530-1546
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Capitoline Hill
Rome, Italy
designed ca. 1537
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Capitoline Hill and Museo Capitolino
Rome, Italy
designed ca. 1537
Michelangelo Buonarroti
plan for Saint Peter’s
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1546
Michelangelo Buonarroti
elevation for Saint Peter’s
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1546-1564
Michelangelo Buonarroti
elevation for Saint Peter’s
Vatican City, Rome, Italy
1546-1564
Giovanni Bellini
San Zaccaria Altarpiece
Santa Zaccaria, Venice, Italy
1505oil on wood transferred to canvas16 ft. 5 in. x 7 ft. 9 in.
Color and light are harmoniously balanced, softer and more luminous than Francesca; outlines dissolve in light and shadow. The effect is more glowing than the clarity of Francesca.
Venice Florence and RomeMain instrument was color Main instrument was
sculpturesque form
Colorito Disegno (drawing and design)
The poetry of the senses, delighting in nature’s beauty and the pleasures of humanity
More esoteric, intellectual themes
Concerns that distinguished the art of Venice from that of Florence and Rome
Giovanni Bellini and Titian
The Feast of the Gods
1529oil on canvas5 ft. 7 in. x 6 ft. 2 in.
Three aspects of Giorgione's style.
Soft forms in dense shadows.
Enigmatic theme in a rich, abundant landscape.
Soft, smoky, full female figures are poetic personifications of nature’s abundance.
Giorgionne da Castelfranco
Pastoral Symphony
ca. 1508oil on canvas3 ft. 7 in. x 4 ft. 6 in.
“poesia”Painting
meant to operate in a manner similar to poetry.
Giorgionne da Castelfranco
The Tempest
ca. 1510oil on canvas2 ft. 7 in. x 2 ft. 4 3/4 in.
Titian
Assumption of the Virgin
Santa Maria Gloriosa del Frari, Venice, Italy
ca. 1516-1518oil on wood22 ft. 6 in. x 11 ft. 10 in.
The most outstanding feature of Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin is his ability to convey light through dazzling color.
Titian
Madonna of the Pesaro Family
Santa Maria dei Frari, Venice, Italy
1519-1526oil on canvasapproximately 16 x 9 ft.
The massing of monumental figures, singly and in groups within a weighty and majestic architecture.
He uses perspective lines, inclination of figures, and directional lines of gaze and gesture to focus the composition
Characteristics of Titian's Madonna of the Pesaro Family are typical of High Renaissance painting;
Titian
Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne
1522-1523oil on canvas5 ft. 9 in. x 6 ft. 3 in.
Titian
Venus of Urbino
1538oil on canvas4 ft. x 5 ft. 6 in.
Titian's painting Venus of Orbino established the compositional essentials for the representation of the female nude in much of later Western art.
Titian
Isabella d’Este
1534-36oil on canvas3 ft. 4 1/8 in. x 2 ft. 1 3/16 in.
One of the most powerful women during the Renaissance, daughter of the duke of Ferrara, she married the marquis of Mantua and was instrumental in developing the Mantuan court into an important center of art and learning. She was a patron of Titian, Leonardo, and Mantegna, and was an avid art collector.
Andrea del Sarto
Madonna of the Harpies
1517oil on wood6 ft. 9 in. x 5 ft. 10 in.
Antonio Allegri da Correggio
Assumption of the Virgin
Dome fresco of Parma CathedralParma, Italy
1526-1530fresco
Antonio Allegri da Correggio
Assumption of the Virgin
Dome fresco of Parma CathedralParma, Italy
1526-1530fresco
“Proto-baroque” as it applies to the work of Correggio at Parma;
His illusionistic ceiling perspectives became the permanent tenants of Baroque churches in later centuries. He also anticipated later Baroque compositional devices in his religious panels.
Three Mannerist painters.Jacopo da PontormoParmigianno Bronzino
Five of the characteristics of Mannerist painting that can be called "anti‑Classical" and that distinguish the Mannerist from the High Renaissance style.
Mannerists consciously reveal the artifice of their art.Imbalanced compositions.Unusual complexities, both visual and conceptual.Ambiguous space.A focus on themes of courtly grace and cultured sophistication.
Jacopo da Pontormo
Descent from the Cross
Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicità, Florence, Italy
1525-1528oil on wood10 ft. 3 in. x 6 ft. 6 in.
The Mannerist style emerged during the 16th century in Italy.
Parmigianino
Madonna with the Long Neck
ca. 1535oil on wood7 ft. 1 in. x 4 ft. 4 in.
Parmigianino
Madonna with the Long Neck
ca. 1535oil on wood7 ft. 1 in. x 4 ft. 4 in.
Bronzino
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (The Exposure of Luxury)
ca. 1546oil on wood5 ft. 1 in. x 4 ft. 8 3/4 in.
Bronzino
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1530soil on woodapproximately 3 ft. 1 1/2 in. x 2 ft. 5 1/2 in.
Sofonisba AnguissolaPortrait of the Artist’s Sisters and Brotherca. 1555
Three characteristics that Sofonisba Anguissola’s Portrait of the Artist’s Sisters and Brother shares with other Mannerists portraits like those by Bronzino: Figures placed against the front plane, blocking the space.Contours are strong and sculptural.A focus on heads and hands, considered to be the carriers of grace.
One feature that is uniquely hers: Informality with relaxed poses and expressions.
Giacomo della Porta
façade of Il Gesù
Rome, Italy
ca. 1575-1584
Giacomo da Vignola
plan of Il Gesù
Rome, Italy
1568
Tintoretto
Miracle of the Slave
1548oil on canvas14 x 18 ft.
Tintoretto aspired to combine the color of Titian with the drawing of Michelangelo.
Two characteristics of Tintoretto’s painting style that point toward the Baroque style:Dynamic perspectives.Dramatic chiaroscuro.
Devices Tintoretto used to identify Christ in his version of The Last Supper;The light flaring out of the darkness; He sits above and beyond the converging perspective lines.
TintorettoLast SupperChancel. San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy1594oil on canvas12 ft. x 18 ft. 8 in.
Four features of the Palazzo del Te that are "irregular" from the point of view of Renaissance architectural practice.a. The facades, where the divergences from architectural convention are so pronounced they constitute a parody of classical style.b. The keystones seem to have not fully settled or seem to be slipping from the arches.c. Keystones placed over pediments over the rectangular niches, where no arches exist.d. The Tuscan columns carry incongruously narrow architraves.
Giulio RomanoInterior courtyard façadeof the Palazzo del TèMantua, Italy1525-1535
Paolo Veronese
Christ in the House of Levi
1573oil on canvas18 ft. 6 in. x 42 ft. 6 in.
Paolo VeroneseChrist in the House of Levi1573oil on canvas18 ft. 6 in. x 42 ft. 6 in.
Veronese's favorite subjects were;Splendid pageantry
Majestic classical architecture.
Paolo VeroneseTriumph of Veniceca. 1585oil on canvasapproximately 29 ft. 8 in. x 19 ft.
Aspects of Veronese paintings did the Holy Office of the Inquisition object;
The Holy Office accused Veronese of impiety for painting creatures such as dogs and clowns so close to the Lord.
Antonio Allegri da CorreggioAssumption of the Virgin
Paolo VeroneseTriumph of Venice
Differences in the type of illusion created by Veronese in The Triumph of Venice and that created by Correggio in The Assumption of the Virgin for the dome of Parma Cathedral;
Veronese’s perspective is not projected directly up from below. Rather, it is a projection of the scene at a 45-degree angle to the spectator.
Andrea PalladioVilla Rotundanear Vicenza, Italyca. 1566-1570
Palladio’s books had wide-ranging influence on generations of architects throughout Europe, and his influence outside Italy, most significantly in England the colonial America, was stronger and more lasting than any other architect.
A circle (the central dome-covered rotunda) inscribed in a square (the building does not have the usual wings of secondary buildings).
Andrea Palladio
Villa Rotunda
near Vicenza, Italy
ca. 1566-1570
Andrea Palladiowest façade ofSan Giorgio MaggioreVenice, Italybegun 1565
Palladio superimposed a tall, narrow classical porch on a low broad one for the facade of San Giorgio Maggiore to integrate the high central nave and low aisles.
Andrea Palladiointerior ofSan Giorgio MaggioreVenice, Italybegun 1565
Palladio’s architectural style differs from Mannerist architecture in that the play of shadow across the building’s surfaces, its reflection in the water, and its gleaming white against sea and sky create a colorful effect, prefiguring the Baroque. The interior lacks the ambiguity of the façade and evokes the High Renaissance. Wall decorations are “correctly” profiled in the classical style.