MAPEH 9

Handout No. 2

ARTS 9
2 QUARTER
ND

Renaissance Period (1400-1600)

- was the period of economic progress.
- stirred enthusiasm for the study of ancient philosophy and artistic values.
- Italian Renaissance began in the late 14th century
- was an era of great artistic and intellectual achievement with the birth of secular art.
- The focus was on realistic and humanistic art.
- a period of artistic experimentation
- It brought people into a full view just like the human figures in Greek Art.

Renaissance Art
- was characterized by accurate anatomy, scientific perspective, and deeper landscape.
- depicted real-life figures and their sculptures were naturalistic portraits of human
beings.
- In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late
Medieval art.

Renaissance Architecture
- was characterized by its symmetry and balance.
- marked the transition of Europe from the Medieval Period to the Early Modern Age
- By 1500, The greatest cathedral building of the age was the rebuilding of St. Peter’s
Basilica in Rome.

Classical Greeks
- believed in the harmonious development of the person through a sound mind and the
practice of athletics.

Characteristics of a well-rounded person (according to renaissance people)

- knowledgeable in a number of fields such as philosophy, science, arts, including
painting and music
- who applies their knowledge to productive and creative activity.
FAMOUS ARTISTS OF RENAISSANCE PERIOD
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarotti
Simoni

Born: March 6, 1475

Died: February 18, 1564 (aged 88)
From: Italy
Period: Renaissance

About:
- Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist in his time.
- Most of his works in paintings, sculpture, and architecture rank among the famous in
existence.
- Among his outstanding works as sculptor were the following:
1. “Pieta”
2. “Bacchus”
3. “Moses”
4. “David”
5. “Dying Slave”
6. “Dawn and
Dusk”

Two of his best-known works, “The Pieta” and “David”, were sculpted before he turned
thirty years old. He also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history
of Western art: the scenes from “Genesis” on the ceiling and “The Last Judgment” on
the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
 Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

Born: April 15, 1452

Died: May 2, 1519 (aged 67)
Known for: Painting, Drawing, Sculpting,
Science, Engineering, Anatomy,
and Architecture
Period: Renaissance

About:
- Leonardo Da Vinci became popular in present times through the novel and movie, “Da
Vinci Code.”
- He was known as the ultimate “Renaissance Man” because of his intellect, interest,
talent, and his expression of humanist and classical values.
- His well-known works were:
1. “The Last Supper” - the most reproduced religious painting of all time
2. “Mona Lisa” - the most famous and most parodied portrait
OTHER WORKS:
3. “The Vitruvian Man”
4. “The Adoration of the Magi”
5. “The Virgin of the Rocks”.

Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
 Born: April 6, 1483
Died: April 6, 1520 (aged 37)
Known for: Painting and
Architecture
Period: Renaissance

About:
- Raphael’s work was admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its
visual achievement of interpreting the Divine and incorporating Christian doctrines.
- Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he formed the traditional trinity of
great masters of that period.
- His main contributions to art were his unique draftsmanship and compositional skills.
 Donatello
Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi

Born: 1386
Died: December 12, 1466
Known for: Sculpture
Period: Renaissance

About:
- Donatello was one of the Italian great artists of the period.
- He was an early Renaissance Italian sculptor from Florence.
- He is known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture.
- His works included the following statues and relief:
1. “David”
2. “Statue of St. George”
3. “Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata”
4. “Prophet Habakkuk”
5. “The Feast of Herod”.
Famous artworks of Renaissance Period

1. PIETA
- Michelangelo approached the subject which until then had been given form mostly
from north of the Alps, where the portrayal of pain had always been connected with
the idea of redemption as represented by the seated Madonna holding Christ’s body
in her arms.
- Michelangelo convinces himself and his spectators of the divine quality and the
significance of these figures by means of earthly and perfect beauty, but of course,
these are human standards.

2. MONA LISA
- stems from a description by Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, who wrote,
“Leonardo undertook to paint for Francesco del Giocondo the portrait of Mona Lisa,
his wife.”
- Mona, in Italian, is a polite form of address originating as Madonna- similar to
Ma’am, madamme, or My Lady in English.
- This became Madonna and its contraction Mona.
- The title of the painting, though traditionally spelled “Mona”, is also commonly
spelled in Modern Italian as “Monna Lisa”.
3. THE TRANSFIGURATION
- was Raphael’s last painting which he worked on up to his death.
- Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the late Pope Clement VII, the
painting was conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France.
- The painting exemplifies Raphael’s development as an artist and the culmination of
his career.
- The subject was combined with an additional episode from the Gospel in the lower
part of the painting.

4. Donatello's bronze statue of David (circa 1440s)

- is famous as the first unsupported standing work of
bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first
freestanding nude male sculpture made since
antiquity.
- It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed
with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after
defeating the giant. - The youth is completely
naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots,
and bears the sword of Goliath.