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Renaissance
The Renaissance did not spring suddenly from an alleged night medieval warning s
igns exist in previous centuries. In turn, tired of hearing praise, the artists
of the twentieth century downplayed the role. Despite the nuances recent histo
ry through science and the response of contemporary artists, the Renaissance is
a period founder of Western civilization. It develops a new sense of beauty and
order the world to the extent of man.
ouvement art born Italy at the end of the fourteenth century that has million
across Europe auxetXV etenXVI common in centuries, 1448, humanism spread rap
idly throughout Europe to the Netherlands, where taught Erasmus (Praise of Folly
, 1511). Humanists imposed the idea that the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 res
ulted in a decline of thought and art, and a Dark Ages ("Gothic") ended with the
arrival of a "renaissance" cultural and artistic. The migration of Byzantine sc
holars and artists after the fall of Constantinople (1453) formed a convenient m
arker to date the beginning of this movement. In fact, art historians have long
dismissed the idea of a sudden revival. They have thus highlighted the existence
of a similar period in the eighth century (the "Carolingian Renaissance"). Th
ey also stressed continuity with the art of the XIII and XIV centuries, espe
cially the works of Cimabue (c. 1240-1302) and Giotto (1266-1337). But the notio
n of a "Middle Ages" barbarous separating antiquity from the Renaissance was to
remain deeply rooted in our conception of history.
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CASE
Details of the north portal of the Baptistery of Florence, Ghiberti. Florence wa
s the cradle of the Renaissance. / Scala - Archive Photeb
in association with the rise of humanism, the Renaissance was supported by inten
se social and political changes. It began in the late fourteenth century in Fl
orence, where sculptors (Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello), architects (Filippo Brune
lleschi) and painters (Masaccio) broke with the International Gothic to create a
new art. It spread first in northern Italy, reached Venice in the 1470s, then R
ome and throughout Italy. He knew, between 1480 and 1525, a golden age, illustra
ted by three exceptional figures: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. T
he decade of 1520 marked the end of the innovative momentum of the Renaissance.
While it penetrated into France and the countries of Central Europe, Italy sank
in fact, in anarchy. The sack of Rome by German mercenaries of Bourbon (1527) an
d the failure of the last Florentine Republic (15,271,530) symbolized this oblit
eration of primary outbreaks of the Renaissance. Art in Europe changed then to a
different style: Mannerism, illustrated in particular by the Venetian school.
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The principles of Renaissance art
The idea of humanism and the Renaissance
Painting attributed to Paolo Uccello. It represents the busts of great artists o
f the Florentine Renaissance: Giotto, Uccello, Donatello, Manetti and Brunellesc
hi. / Hubert Josse - Archive Photeb
The Renaissance art is inseparable from humanism. This intellectual movement app
eared in Italy in the entourage of Petrarch (1304-1374). It was characterized pr
imarily by a desire to break with the scholastic Latin to regain the purity of c
lassical Latin. Then the philologist Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457) was the initiator
of a modern reading of elders who allowed a break with the medieval spirit. At
the end of the fifteenth century , Hebrew and Greek were also mostly rediscover
ed. Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), translator of Plato and Plotinus, and Pico dell
a Mirandola (1463-1494) founded a Platonic Academy in Florence, which was to inf
luence Michelangelo and Raphael. With the development of printing by Gutenberg
Humanists formulated, based on ancient writings, a conception of man and his rel
ationship with nature that has upset the arts. This is the man who was taken as
an example of perfection from which artists should work. The canons of beauty be
came more and more precise because the reproduction of reality was a basic princ
iple that summed Giorgio Vasari: "The imitation of nature allows an artist to be
come more perfect he s 'approach to it "(Lives of the greatest architects, paint
ers and sculptors from Italy, 1550). Painters and sculptors sought therefore to
introduce their works in the reality of life. They enriched the details, express
ions and backgrounds.€Particular attention was paid to the anatomy, which grew w
ith the progress of the dissection. In 1509, De Luca Pacioli divina proportione
explained the results of
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Renaissance
Pliny. De re aedificatoria the architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), insp
ired by Vitruvius, influenced the whole architecture of the Renaissance. As Leon
ardo da Vinci (1452-1519), he was the archetypal Renaissance man. A pupil of Ver
rocchio, he introduced the aerial perspective in painting and the process of sfu
mato. The veil that binds the character to the landscape that surrounds it gives
her paintings a unique mystery. His sketches and cartoons to show that his theo
retical treatises universal spirit shone both in anatomy, music, mathematics and
physics.
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The European Renaissance and sponsorship
Detail of the Vision of St. Augustine (1502), Carpaccio. The Bishop of Hippo hum
anist is represented in his study. The sacred inspiration is evident in the atti
tude of the saint who remains the pen suspended and face turned towards the wind
ow. / Scala, Florence - Archive Photeb
Portrait of Erasmus (1523), Holbein the Younger. This famous portrait immortaliz
es the figure of the humanist. This work focused on his face is perfectly confid
ent man in his intellectual resources and the opportunity to understand the univ
erse. / Hubert Josse - Archive Photeb
mathematical research on the harmonious proportions of the human body (the "gold
en rule"). Above all, the Renaissance proclaimed a return to aesthetic principle
s of antiquity, without it ever was reduced to a slavish copy. Gothic survivals,
foreign influences (Byzantine,
Flemish) and the genius of masters who were able to reconcile tradition and inno
vation, gave birth to an art truly original. The artists were often theorists. L
orenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) wrote, around 1450, Commentary about ancient sculptu
res and works
The emergence and growth of the Renaissance owed much to the transformation of t
he notion of statehood. The small Italian principalities in the early fifteenth
century , then the kingdom of France and the Hapsburg Spain in the early sixtee
nth century , enjoyed a first experience of administrative centralization. The
power was there strengthened by the existence of a broad national consensus and
the emergence of reason of state (Machiavelli, The Prince, 1516). The financial
resources of the princes were increased tenfold by taxes and borrowing. Patronag
e became a means for them to satisfy their passion for beauty (collections, gall
eries) and their desire to posthumous fame. The two main centers of the Renaissa
nce were the Florence of the Medicis and the popes of Rome, Alexander VI (1492/1
503), Julius II (1503/1513) and Leo X (1513/1521). Lorenzo the Magnificent (1469
/1492) was long the symbol of the patrons, even when he did not pay its artists.
Most courses in Northern Italy and favored sustained inspiration. The Gonzaga i
n Mantua attracted artists such as Andrea Mantegna, who ended his days, or the a
rchitect Giulio Romano (1492-1546), who built the Palazzo Te. The Republic of Ve
nice, Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, the Visconti, masters of Milan and Lombardy,
the Este in Ferrara and the Malatesta in Rimini had a similar artistic policy an
d encouraged local masters. In Florence itself, the patrician families (Strozzi
Pitti) rivaled the Medici. The traditional role of the Church and religious brot
herhoods remained important. So, for the Scuola di Sant'Orsola the Venetian Carp
accio (c. 1465-1525) executed his masterpiece, the cycle of the History of St. U
rsula. In the early sixteenth century , the king's courts of France and Emperor
assumèrent the essential role of the patron. Italian ambitions of Francis I
and hegemonic dreams of Charles Quint, master of the Netherlands, King of Spain
(1516) and Emperor (1519), also had repercussions in the arts. Francis rece
ived in Touraine a Leonardo da Vinci age. Titian Charles V conferred the title o
f Count Palatine and invited him twice to his court of Augsburg. In this growth
of philanthropy and private commissions also came in a change of status of the a
rtist. It seems that his situation, long marked by a close dependence vis-sponso
r, has gradually evolved to its advantage. Playing his celebrity and a powerful
artistic competition between the princes, the artist could then, to some extent,
€choose his own topics and embodiments of the works. The de-
Continuation of CASE
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Renaissance
The Renaissance marks a shift in consciousness. The world was no longer perceive
d the same way, the ancient taboos and old fears fell. The nature became an obje
ct of observation and experimentation. The anatomy and physics appeared with art
ists studied the body of which they understood the operation, they discovered th
e principles that can give the illusion of space and volume. They figured most o
f ideograms, but the thickness, strength and weight of external reality.
Continuation of CASE
Study of a perpetual motion machine, by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was to L
eonardo da Vinci an illustration of his universal genius. His notebooks reveal a
thinker, a scientist who was interested in mathematics as well as optics, anato
my, mechanics and mapping. / Snark Archives - Edimedia
Picture Frames extracted optical (1551), Jacques Du Androuet Hoop. Very importan
tly, the engraved work of this architect proposes a directory of architectural v
ocabulary of the French Renaissance. / Library Jacques Doucet Study muscles of m
an, engraving after Titian. The Renaissance experienced a profound transformatio
n of knowledge that touched all areas. In the arts, the study of phenomena and t
he observation of the real became the rule. / Collection Viollet
investments became frequent, especially between Florence and Rome. The municipal
corporation of the burst and the artists were organized in workshops (or botteg
he in Florence). It was both schools and companies specializing in cultural site
s. A teacher will be instructing apprentices and divided the work, with the disp
arities in performance that led the organization. Padua and became a center of n
ew art through the studio of a minor painter F. Sequarcione, which adopted Andre
a Mantegna (1431-1506). The son of a master of gothic courteous, Gentile Bellini
(c. 1429-1507) introduced the Renaissance in Venice. He formed Indeed, in his s
tudio, his half-brother, Giovanni (1430-1516) and Titian, and he received Manteg
na, who became his brother.
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The Quattrocento and Cinquecento (to 1400vers 1550) in Italy
The architecture was perhaps the major art of the Renaissance. Architect of an e
ntire implementation, from foundations to the decoration, the architect enjoyed
certain rule. The first to study the remains of the Latin architecture was the F
lorentine Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). From a long stay in Rome, he brought
back to Florence architectural principles such as the arch, the classical colum
n Ionic capitals and pediments geometric. He knew, however, does not simply repr
oduce and created an innovative and original architectural style. He used it to
build San Lorenzo on the model of Roman basilicas and to draw up plans for the d
ome of Santa Maria del Fiore or the Pitti Palace. His teaching students Florenti
ne applied it to the construction of private palaces. Donato Bramante (1444-1514
) also found inspiration from the Roman monuments. Architect official SaintSiège
under Julius II, he designed the plans for the new basilica of St. Peter. His i
nfluence marked especially Palladio (1508-1580), author of Four Books of Archite
cture (1570), whose major works were the private villas that he built near Vicen
za (Villa Rotonda) and he built churches in Venice (S. Giorgio Maggiore).
In painting, the introduction of perspective was one of the major contributions
of the fifteenth century . By creating a network of escape routes, the eye of t
he viewer is led to a convergence point located at infinity. The painter gives t
he illusion of depth and can develop backgrounds. Masaccio (14011428) was probab
ly the first to master this technique in the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel in
Florence. The study and application of mathematical rules of perspective became
an obsession for the Italian painters. Paolo Uccello (1396-1475), in the Battle
of San Romano, and Piero della Francesca (1416-1492) pushed to the limit of its
possibilities the game of perspective. The second major achievement of this per
iod was the use of oil paint. She seems to have been imported from Flanders by A
ntonello da Messina in the third quarter of XV century . Mostly used by the Ven
etians, it allowed a better use of light and a greater play of colors.€It went h
and in hand with the adoption of the canvas as a support table, preferably wood
panel.
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Renaissance
The Pazzi Chapel, built by Brunelleschi in Santa Croce, Florence (mid XV ). Ver
y simple and very pure, this facade is one of the first and most important event
s of the Renaissance. / G. Dagli Orti
San Giorgio Maggiore, Palladio's built work in Venice from 1566 to 1580. Much kn
owledge of ancient monuments and theories helped to architect this order clearly
ancient vocabulary in new buildings, especially in churches. / Scala
Meanwhile, secular subjects appeared in the paint. Allegorical or mythological t
hemes were prevalent, fewer pretexts for hidden nude studies. Abandoning the chi
ld Madonna, Botticelli painted and Spring (circa 1478), inspired by verses of St
anza for the tournament Poliziano. Portraiture spread and assumed a political di
mension. Thus, Mantegna painted the Duke Ludovico Gonzaga and his wife in a room
of the palace of Mantua. At the turn of the century, the decline of the arts in
Florence, due to the strictness of the monk Savonarola, allowed
the emergence of a Roman style, represented by two opponents: Michelangelo (1475
-1564) and Raphael (1483-1520). The decoration of the Sistine Chapel by the firs
t and the apartments of Julius II (School of Athens) by the second were immediat
ely regarded as masterpieces. Meanwhile, in Venice, Giorgione (c. 14781510), the
master of Titian, laid the groundwork for a Venetian school. He cried through t
he five paintings attributed to him (including the Storm, circa 1508), a bold us
e of color and light, the first step toward mannerism.
The sculpture was the area where the ancient influence became more apparent. Cop
ies of Greek or Roman art dating from the Roman Empire were in fact readily avai
lable. The sculpture in the fifteenth century was a phenomenon essentially Flo
rentine. The production was dominated by the overpowering personality of Donatel
lo (1386-1466). Like his friend Brunelleschi, he was able to integrate the forma
l lessons of Roman art, and in particular the composition, while bending them to
his aesthetic. He made most of the major religious orders and private Florence,
including the St. George and the Orsanmichele David bronze. In the late fifteen
th century , archaeological discoveries in Rome relaunched the interest in anci
ent sculpture. The Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoon, unearthed in 1506 in the pr
esence of Michelangelo, were examples in which the sculptors were inspired openl
y and that helped to define a canon of proportions and a conventional attitude,
the hips (the Dying Slave , Michel Angelo, 1513-1515). The nude male appeared wi
th the David of Michelangelo. The use of bronze allowed monumental achievements,
like the doors of the Baptistery of Florence by Ghiberti and the equestrian sta
tues, as the Warlord Colleoni by Verrocchio (14351488).
The Renaissance in France is traditionally considered the Italian wars led to th
e discovery of the Italian Renaissance by the kings of France. The France of the
Valois then affirmed as one of the major powers of the European area. The monar
chy had emerged strengthened from the Hundred Years War and his confrontation wi
th the great feudal principalities. Aquitaine (1453), Burgundy (1477) and Britai
n were united in the national territory. Above all, the war reshaped the monarch
y and French society, as to allow the establishment of absolutism Valois. The ne
cessity of a standing army (Companies Ordinance) that had led to a permanent tax
(the
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The Vatican Stanze, decorated by Raphael. While Michelangelo was working on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Raphael was summoned to Rome in 1508 to decorate
the personal apartments of Pope Julius II at the Vatican (called Stanze). The sc
ene depicting the Battle of Ostia is the work of a student from the drawings of
the master. / Scala
Continuation of CASE
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Renaissance
Continuation of CASE
Bacchus and Ariadne (1523) Titian. The mythological characters to evoke the joyf
ul nude troops bacchantes certain bas-reliefs of antiquity. This work illustrate
s the joy of life and sensuality that accompany the Renaissance. / Focus
size). To manage these new powers, then use the royalty Parisian and provincial
bureaucracy more efficient (Chancery Chamber of Auditors). This became the matri
x of a new nobility, known as dress or service,€which slowly aggregate to the mi
litary nobility proven by conflict. It allowed the sovereign to enforce its will
without the aid of general statements, which were not met from 1484 to 1560. At
the same time, overcoming the demographic crisis arising from successive plague
of 1348, the country entered the "beautiful XVI century . Inner peace, growth
of population, agricultural progress (the introduction of maize) and the booming
trade in fact brought a relative prosperity that lasted until the 1560s. In Fra
nce, humanism had found fertile ground, prepared by the Christian humanism of Je
an Gerson (1363-1429). In addition, the Valois integrated it the rise of new lit
erature in their system of glorification of the monarchy. The secrétairebiblioth
écaire of Francis William Bude, was originally the Royal College of readers,
which was taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Clément Marot, Joachim Du Bellay
The Warlord Colleoni (1481-1488), of Verrocchio. The Republic of Venice appealed
to the Florentine sculptor to model the equestrian portrait of his condottiere.
The fierce expression, body movement, the martial-sounding express the powerful
energy of an indomitable warrior. / SEF, Turin Statue of Saint George (1415), b
y Donatello. Placed in the original niche of the corporation of the gunsmiths Or
sanmichele Florence, the statue has a quiet grandeur. The precision forms and th
e search reveals the classical ideal character found. / Scala, Florence - Archiv
e Photeb
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Renaissance
presence had so little impact on the local art. Thus, Ivan III the Great had com
e to Moscow Bolognese architect Aristotle Fioravanti, who rebuilt the cathedral
of the Dormition. Similarly, the Polish King Sigismund ordered Francesco Fiorent
ino, the Royal Palace in Krakow. Despite the strength of its commercial and poli
tical ties with Italy, the immense wealth that he brought the discovery of the N
ew World and the presence of nobles patrons, Spain was long dominated by the Got
hic tradition. It will change only in the second half of the sixteenth century M
annerism (El Greco). As for the northern countries (Netherlands, Rhineland), t
heir own art was himself partly cleared of the Gothic (Van Eyck, Bruegel, Memlin
g, Durer). Its strength was such that no Italian designs penetrated only slowly.
Finally, Britain stood aloof from all these artistic movements, despite stays T
orriegano Piero (1472-1528) at Westminster, where he built the tombs of King Hen
ry VII and Elizabeth of York.
The stairs and the guard room of the castle of Chambord. This castle, built from
1519 to Francis , is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance and demonstr
ates superbly Italian influences, the famous double helix staircase, which one s
hould perhaps Leonardo da Vinci, the castle is a building plan centered and emph
asizes the sake of symmetry and harmony of the whole. / Rozin Mazin - Top Agency
or were protected by François Rabelais I and his sister Marguerite de Navarr
e. In the arts, the Italian architect Boccador (? -1549) Was among the first to
yield to the French advance. Arriving in France in 1496, he worked on plans for
the castle of Chambord and those of the City Hall of Paris. He introduced in Fra
nce the work of Vitruvius, which relied on the masters of classical French archi
tecture: Pierre Lescot and Philibert Delorme. If the three years spent in Tourai
ne Leonardo had little influence on art in France, the arrival of mannerist pain
ters Rosso (1494-1540) and Primaticcio (1504-1570) marked the beginning of a
new era. Their main work was the decoration of apartments Francis at Fontain
ebleau (Ulysses Gallery, Gallery of Francis I ). Primaticcio also conducted n
umerous missions in Italy to purchase Francis . Both are originally from the
school of Fontainebleau (see name).
The Renaissance in Europe In the sixteenth century , artists diffused Italian R
enaissance in most European countries. But more often, the movement was limited
to a few individuals called by an enlightened prince. Their
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Decorating Gallery Francis the castle of Fontainebleau, by Rosso, begun abou
t 1533. Italian Mannerist artists gave an impetus to the original French Renaiss
ance. They created a very refined decorative program to illustrate the fables ve
ry complex. / G. Dagli Orti
The Renaissance: a golden age? The Renaissance is rapidly becoming a myth for We
stern societies. The idea of a golden age of the mind has become more readily th
an their contemporaries were struck by the large number of teachers who flashed
simultaneously in all the arts. Lorenzo Valla said he did not know he had ever i
magined "a rich harvest of good artists and good writers? All also took notice t
hat this also affects flowering minor arts. Thus, Florence, between 1460 and 152
0, became the European center of an inlay that the use of perspective and trompe
-l'oeil completely transformed. In Italy, only the music was not affected by thi
s movement. The Flemish polyphony surpassed its European rivals to the mid-sixte
enth century when the school expands Palestrina (1525-1594). But this artistic
revival, inspired by ancient Rome, was not followed by a political renaissance.
If the bursting of the micro-peninsula rival states was fruitful for the arts,
it proved detrimental to the late fifteenth century , when Italy became a battl
eground for empire and the kingdoms of France and Spain. The subjugation of the
peninsula in the 1530s, led to the end of humanism too trusting in man and the c
risis of the Renaissance. At the same time, reforms Lutheran (1517) and Calvin (
1536) reformulated on the religious anxieties which the spirit of the Renaissanc
e gave only partial responses and one for the princely elite. Art ensued in the
way of Mannerism, Baroque and herald a return to order again: French classicism.
Based on the imitation of the manner of great masters, mannerism, now held for
a period of art in itself, was long regarded as the twilight of the Renaissance.
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A. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chastel, Myth and the Crisis of the Renaissance, Skira, Geneva,
1989. P. Chaunu Time Reforms, Fayard, Paris, 1975 (1988). J. Delumeau, Italy Bot
ticelli Bonaparte, Armand Colin, Paris, 1974. B. Jestaz, the Art of the Renaissa
nce, Mazenod, Paris, 1987.
End CASE