4. General Characteristics
• Study of classic works from Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome.
• Use of profane topics.
• Human beings are God’s best creation.
• There were a lot of studies about nature.
• Study of human anatomy.
• Artists started to gain prestige.
• Patronage is promoted because of the spreading of the idea of prosperity, so
nobility in the Renaissance era will sponsor artists in order to go down in history.
One of the most important families will be the Medicis in Florence.
5. Quattrocento’s
architecture
•Architects wanted to control
space with simple elements.
•Space gets rationalizated and
organised.
•Typical elements of Greek and
Roman art were used: columns,
front doorways, semicircular
archs, cornices and domes.
•The first grand work of
Renaissance style was the Dome
of Florence’s cathedral, by Filippo
Brunelleschi.
•Besides churches and
cathedrals, the “palazzi” (for
nobility and bourgeoisie) were
the most important buildings.
6. Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti is a vast mainly Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. The palace was bought by
the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand
Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry
and luxurious possessions. The architect’s name is unknown.
7. Quattrocento’s sculpture
•Sculptors worried about human representation in an ideal and well-proportioned way. Classical
models and nudes were brought back.
•They used marble, which is very difficult to sculpt, demostrating that they had quite a bit of skill
with that material.
•They introduce the main characters of the Renaissance.
Donatello will be the
forerunner of this style,
because he worked with
elegance and harmony, so
he will give a lot of vitality
to his works.
Verrochio, Leonardo’s
teacher, will work with
emotions.
We’ll understand by
comparing these
sculptures of the same
David.
8. Quattrocento’s sculpture
•Another well-known artist of this period is Lorenzo Ghiberti, who worked with
bronze and used reliefs in his porchs. His most famous work will be the Gates of
Paradise, Baptistery, Florence.
9. Quattrocento’s
paintings
•The most innovative thing will be
the use of perspective and the
study of lights.
•Artists will be obsessed by the
illustration of depth in a flat
surface.
•Naturalistic representations of
landscapes will be fundamental.
•Regarding portraits, artists will try
to despict a wide range of
emotions.
•These works will touch religious
and mythological themes.
•Patrons will be often despicted in
those works of art.
•Masaccio, Piero della Francesca or
Sandro Boticelli were some of
those painters.
Masacio: La Trinidad
10. Quattrocento’s paintings
Piero della Francesca:
The Brera Madonna.
This work represents a 'sacra
conversazione', with the Virgin
enthroned and the sleeping Child
in the middle, surrounded by a
host of angels and saints. On the
right low corner, kneeling and
wearing his armor, the patron of
arts and condottiero duke
Federico da Montefeltro. It’s a
geometric composition, based in
a triangle and a sphere, with pale
colours and a cold light.
11. Quattrocento’s paintings
Sandro Boticelli: Primavera or Allegory of Spring. The painting, depicting a
group of mythological figures in a garden, is allegorical for the lush growth
of Spring.
12. Cinquecento’s
architecture
•The main example of this
architecture is Saint Peter’s
Basilica in Vatican City. Bramante,
Raphael Sanzio, Michelangelo,
Bellini and Maderno all take part
in this work.
•Cinquecento’s architecture was
more dramatic than
Quattrocento’s.
•This kind of architecture used
classical models from Ancient
Greece and Imperial Rome.
•High Renaissance architecture
exactly followed classical canons
of proportion, and observed the
basic equality of form and
function.
13. Cinquecento’s Architecture: St Peter’s dome
Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior
of any Christian church in the world. Saint
Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest
Catholic sites.
14. Cinquecento’s architecture: St Peter’s dome
Florence’s cathedral. Brunelleschi (1417 – 1420) Dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo (XVI
century)
16. Cinquecento’s Moses
sculpture
•The most important
sculptor of this period will
be Michelangello
Buonarroti.
•He didn’t seek neither
balance nor harmony, he
will try to find a dramatic
expression, which will be
known as terribilità.
•While he develops his arts,
his sculptures will get more
lively and dramatic,
showing us the tension and
the strength of the
characters. Moses (done for
Julius II tomb) and David
are good examples of this.
David
17. Cinquecento’s sculpture: Michelangelo
•The Pietà (1498–1499) is
a masterpiece of
Renaissance
sculpture by Michelangelo,
housed in St. Peter's
Basilica in Vatican City. It is
the first of a number of
works of the same theme
by the artist: the rest of
the sculptures are “The
Deposition” ( “The
Florentine pietà”) and “The
Rondadinni pietà”. All of
them are done in marble.
18. Cinquecento’s sculpture: Cellini
Benvenutto Cellini was a great sculptor of that
time, but he was eclipsed by Michelangelo. His
main pieces were the Perseus and the Cellini
Salt Cellar, a present to Francis I, king of France.
19. Cinquecento’s paintings: Leonardo da Vinci
•Leonardo da Vinci was a great mind of the Renaissance era, being the archetypical
Renaissance man: he was interested in sciences, arts, and all sorts of knowledge.
•He had great skills painting, and his obsessions were lights, perspective and atmosphere.
•The Last Supper, a fresco painting made in Milan, achieves a balanced, harmonious
composition.
20. Cinquecento’s paintings: Leonardo da Vinci
•He improves artistic representation with techniques like the sfumato, which reflects the fog that
surrounds bodies in the horizon.
•Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are the innovative techniques that he used
in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology.
21. Cinquecento’s paintings: Raphael Sanzio
•He is considered the top of Renaissance painting because the mastered the
technique.
•He makes splendid, psychological portraits.
•His compositions were elegant and harmonious.
22. Cinquecento’s paintings: Michelangelo
•His most important piece of art is the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.
•As a student Michelangelo studied and drew from the works of the two most renowned
Florentine fresco painters of the early Renaissance, Giotto and Masaccio.
•For him, the body is simply the manifestation of the soul, or of a state of mind and character.
23. Cinquecento’s paintings: Venetians
•In the 15th century Venetian painting developed through influences from the Paduan School and Antonello da
Messina, who introduced the oil painting technique of Early Netherlandish painting. It is typified by a warm colour
scale and a picturesque use of colour. Among the leading early masters were Giorgione and Titian,
then Tintoretto and Veronese.
Giorgione: The Tempest. Veronese: Venus and Adonis.
24. Cinquecento’s paintings: Venetians
Tintoretto: The Last Supper
Tintoretto was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the
Renaissance school. Tintoretto's Last Supper incorporates an
imbalanced composition and visual complexity.
25. Cinquecento’s paintings: Venetians
Titian: Danae
Tiziano Vecelli was an Italian painter, the most important member of the
16th-century Venetian school. Recognized by his contemporaries as "The Sun
Amidst Small Stars“,Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters.
