Chapter 22: Renaissance in Cinquecento Italy
Exercises for Study:
1. Select one of the following pair of artworks and describe the differences you observe between them. Each pair consists of art of the Early Renaissance (Chapter 21) and that of the High and Late Renaissance (Chapter 22). Examine the composition, technique, position of the figures, and facial expressions, as well as any relevant elements of art and principals of design (see handout from September or Google “art elements and design principals”).
ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO, David 1465 – 1470 or DONATELLO, David, 1440–1460 VS. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, David, 1501 – 1504
Interest in humanism and the rebirth of Classical, spur an interest in authentic Roman and Greek sculptures. The revival of nudity in life-size sculpture was initiated by Donatello’s David, and continued through the Renaissance. Nudity led to an increase study of human anatomy. Sculptors competed with the glory of ancient artists by creating monumental figures that revived Roman and Greek sculpture, along with the Classical’s interest in nudity and correct human proportion.
Donatello’s David, 1420s-1460s, was the first bronze nude life-size statue since antiquity. David is in an exaggerated contrapposto position, and is viewed as an androgynous figure. Nudity was used to portray David as a biblical hero, and has a positive connotation. While nudity during the Middle Ages was regarded as indecent and censorious. Nudity had only previously appeared in “moralizing contexts, i.e. Adam and Eve or depictions of sinners in hell” (Kleiner 567). The life-size work was probably not meant for public viewing, but rather housed in the Medici Palace.
Verrocchio exemplified the meaning of a Renaissance man. Not o...
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...’s family crest. Creating indentifying features that Titian was the artist. The forms that farm the central figure are both enormous and powerful; on the left is Moses and on the right is a pagan who holds the cross. These figures are from the Old Testament, therefore are illustrated as statues. Being an oil painting, Titian is allowed to be expressive with his brushworks, creating individuality. The figures form out of the darkness, creating interest in spiritual light.
Works Cited
Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A
Global History. Boston, MA: Thomson Higher Education, 2009. Print.
Nici, John B. Barron's AP Art History. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational
Series, 2008. Print.
Sorabella, Jean. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Venetian Color and Florentine Design. The
Metropolitan Muesum of Art, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
This invention distinguish his David from any other David Statue before him. At Bernini’s ear, David was a popular subject in Italy. At that time Italy did not have a powerful central government, and cities were seeking for their independence. The story of David killed Goliath and won the independence of Israel was understand as a symbol of independent. Therefore the statue of David also had political meanings. The two most famous David were from Donatello and Michelangelo. Donatello made two David, one was marble and one was bronze, but the ideas behind them are same. Donatello’s David stood still. He had successfully achieve his goal and killed Goliath, whose head lying at his feet. Michelangelo’s David was nude and had perfect athletic muscles and proportion, and fairly smooth flesh. His body was so perfect that made him immortal and divine. He had not yet embarked on the actual combat but would departure instantly. He stood still confidently. Michelangelo’s David was actually much more vivid than Donatello’s. Nevertheless, when compared to Bernini’s David, even the former seems lack the sense of motion. Bernini made his David a mortal. Bernini expressed a man in the middle of his ferocious action in an ultra realistic
As time kept passing, more and more magnificent sculptures were made by numerous artists. One of the most memorable sculpture was Aphrodite of Knidos, goddess of love and beauty. Back in the Late Classical Period, the civilians were only used to seeing ideal male nude bodies, but Praxiteles decided to make a different approach and sculpted the first female nude. Because he obviously had never seen a goddess before, he used his imagination and sculpted bathing Aphrodite as humanlike possible. He did not make it look idealistic, but instead made it beautiful with flaws.
The most well-known statue of David is the one by Michelangelo, but it is important to look at one of the original statues and the influences each preceding statue had on the next. The statues by Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini portray different views concerning the interaction between man and God.
The statue of David best describes the ongoing influence of Protestant and catholic controversy on the visual arts. Michaelangelo uses David, a character from the Old Testament as his subject matter. The story goes that David, a mer man throws a stone with a slingshot at the mighty giant Goliath and kills him. (Your basic good vs. Evil.) Michaelangelo uses Clericism in this piece by incorporating a story from the bible, and on the other hand also incorporates his humanism influence into the work of art by placing himself as the character David; Giving us the impression that even the mer man can overcome his problems with knowledge of how to defeat them, instead of continually relying on the almighty to solve your problems for you. David shows the 2 conflicting views in a magnificent statue form.
The pieces of art I will be comparing and contrasting are the three statues of David, by Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi), Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), and Bernini (Gian Lorenzo Bernini). The statues are modeled after the biblical David, who was destined to become the second king of Israel. Also most famously known as the slayer of the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone and a sling. The sculptures are all based on the same biblical hero, but differ from one another. Each David is unique in its own certain way.
Even with the fact that his David was depicted before the battle actually takes place, Michelangelo was probably inspired by concepts similar to the ones that inspired Donatello. Both artists intended to create artwork that would contrast feelings in Rome and that would make it possible for people in Florence to develop a sense of belonging to the state. Furthermore, with the Medici family sponsoring both artworks, it only seems natural that these artists wanted to create masterpieces that would trigger intense feelings in anyone seeing them and that would make the family and the city as a whole identify with David’s story.
Donatello was the son of Niccolo di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is not known how he started his career but probably learned stone carving from one of the sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence about 1400. Sometime between 1404 and 1407 he became a member of the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti who was a sculptor in bronze. Donatello’s earliest work was a marble statue of David. The “David” was originally made for the cathedral but was moved in 1416 to the Palazzo Vecchio which is a city hall where it long stood as a civic patriotic symbol. From the sixteenth century on it was eclipsed by the gigantic “David” of Michelangelo which served the same purpose. Other of Donatello’s early works which were still partly gothic are the impressive seated marble figure of St. John the Evangelist for the cathedral and a wooden crucifix in the church of Sta. Croce.
The statue of David, completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is an easily recognizable symbol to people not only in Florence, but from all around the world. The David has a special meaning for Florentines, and is a symbol of what the city strives to be; strong, courageous, and youthful. The sculpture tells the tale of the battle between David and Goliath. David, a young boy at the time, was angered at the way Goliath was treating the Israelis and stood up to the giant feat of taking on Goliath. With a simple slingshot and stone, he defeated the angry giant, and became a symbol of liberty. The story shows that anything can be done with the help of God. David is not only the most well-known sculpture in the world, but is housed in one of the most visited galleries in the world, the Galleria dell’Accademia. The David did not always stand high above the crowds filing through the Accademia, however, several other locations were considered and carried out for the statue. The David has a long history of where it was to be placed in the city of Florence, and this paper is going to explore the several locations of where the David was going to be placed, and why it ended up in the Galleria dell’Accademia.
The Biblical Story of David, a young Israeli shepherd boy who slayed the Philistine giant, Goliath has been artistically portrayed in many different ways throughout the centuries. During the Baroque and Renaissance eras, three famous artists sculpted their own interpretation of what the Israelite King may have looked like. These men were Gianlorenzo Bernini, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and Donato Di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, otherwise known as Donatello.
The Italian Renaissance and the Baroque era are two major periods in art history, some of the types of art in those periods were painting, sculpting, and architecture. During these periods, many artist gained enormous fame from creating wonderful pieces of work that represented their beliefs and artistic thinking. This essay will analyze and evaluate two pieces from those major art periods. Rembrandt 's painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and the sculpture David, by Michelangelo. These two masterpieces shed light of their significance in art history. David represents the Italian Renaissance for it being a strong symbol of the new republic, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp depicts the focus on human progression.
Michelangelo’s David does not react with the surroundings but it stands alone with the little movements disguised behind it. The sculpture brings out David as a soldier preparing for war and not a person engaged in a battle (Miller, Vandome, & McBrewster, 2010). The hands are larger than normal and the arms are longer than his body. This is meant to illustrate the renaissance period. In contrast, the Bernini’s David has aspects of motion, showing that he was already engaged in the battle with Goliath. The idea of movement is enhanced by the loosely flowing robes. In addition, the sculpture demonstrates that unlike Michelangelo’s David that has longer hands, Bernini’s David has contracted muscles. The Michelangelo’s sculpture was created during Renascence period while the Bernini’s sculpture was done during the Baroque period.
This idea of the primary importance of the human form as a measure of all proportions is basic to the Renaissance. Much of these classical features remained popular in the period to follow, the Baroque period; however, the difference between the two periods has a lot to do...
Art has gone through many significant developments throughout history. The most important turning point was the renaissance. Art took a huge turn before the 1500’s and even after. The Renaissance has assisted the world of art in breaking away from a classic structure and shaping it to what it is day. Prior to this cultural rebirth, artworks were mostly not made to scale. Paintings were unrealistic and disproportionate. Religious figures seemed to be the focus of many works. The Renaissance changed the old social context of art by introducing humanism, new themes and techniques.
This paper explains the history and development of the nude art in the Renaissance and Medieval period. In the Renaissance age the patrons and artist readopted the antiquity of the classical Greek into representation of nude. This is an epoch when drastic changes occurred in which Christian authorities no longer viewed the nude art as something conflicting or shameful. In contrary they believed that nude being reformed in ancient in classical antiquity portrays divine characteristics and emancipates the light that is pure and heroic (Long, 2008; Bonfante, 1989; Tinagli, 1997). To establish a further understanding why during the Renaissance age nude art brilliantly portrayed human anatomy, the work of some most remarkable artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Masaccio and Durer are described (Long, 2008) These minds welcomed the classical antiquity into their paintings and sculpturing and often the Greek athletic figures and mythological Venus figure were used as ideal models in depicting nude art (Bonfante, 1989). The classical renewal of nude art had specific roles attached to both male and female nude, in the world of art. The religious figures were depicted in antique forms as to convey their theological status and importance. In contrast to the Renaissance period, the Medieval representation of nude art was rare and Religious authorities oppose its development as they believed it may lead to sin and degradation (Long, 2008; Steinberg, 1983). In short this paper will present a historical overview of the nude art and how the diverse cultural attitude towards depiction of nude existed in each period.
The David’s that we are going to compare are all within the Renaissance time period and by comparing them you can see the shifts in thought and viewpoint within that period. The three statues of David by Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo all are great depictions of this story while portraying values of the Italian Renaissance period. They have many things in common while also having their own