Chapter 8: The Early
Renaissance in Europe
Preview:
Chapter 8 covers artistic production in Europe in the Quattrocento or 15th
century. This period saw social and political turmoil throughout Europe. It witnessed
important innovations in artistic technique. Also, there was active royal,
ducal, church, and private patronage of the arts. In the Duchy of Burgundy and
Flanders (a region that included present-day Belgium, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, and northern France), powerful dukes commissioned Claus Sluter to
create the Well of Moses for the
Carthusian monastery at Champmol. Flemish painters such as Jan van Eyck
specialized in the use of oil paints on wood panel, a medium that produced
images of rich vibrancy. Portraiture became an important art form, as did
altarpieces with folding wings. Flemish paintings in general are marked by
their extraordinary realism and inclusion of scenes and objects of everyday
life. Despite the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) that crippled the French
economy, the nobility commissioned important artworks. A good example is the
illuminated manuscripts by the Limbourg brothers. Artists in the Holy Roman
Empire retained the Late Gothic style of the preceding century. The primary
artistic development in Germany came with the invention of the printing press
and innovations in printmaking. In Italy, the 15th century witnesses
the birth of the “Renaissance,” the flowering of art and the rediscovery of
classical culture. The center of the Italian Renaissance was Florence, where
the powerful Medici family patronized artists who were brilliantly innovative
in their interpretations of classical forms and themes. Artists such as
Donatello, Ghiberti, and Masaccio were inspired by antiquity in works that
upheld Catholic faith and celebrated secular figures. The inventor of linear
perspective was Filippo Brunelleschi, though the theory was also expressed in
written form by Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca. The artistic
developments in 15th century Italy laid the groundwork for the
artists of the High Renaissance and Mannerism in Cinquecento or 16th
century Italy.
Key Figures: Medici family, Savonarola, Brunelleschi,
Donatello, Ghiberti, Botticelli
Key Cultural & Religious
Terms: Renaissance, Neo-Platonism, Quattrocento.
Key Art Terms: donor
portraits, altarpiece, sfumato, linear perspective, atmospheric/aerial perspective,
vanishing point, putto/putti, contrapposto, trompe l’oeil
Key Architectural Terms: central
plan, rustication
Chapter 9: High Renaissance and
Mannerism in Europe
Preview:
Italian art in the 16th century built upon the foundation of the
Early Renaissance. It focuses on the newly developed interest in classical
culture, perspective, and human anatomy. Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
Michelangelo were the leading figures during the Renaissance, an era in which
artists were celebrated and recognized for their individual achievements.
Titian was the great master of Venetian painting, and Andrea Palladio and
Bramante were the leading architects of the Renaissance. During this period,
the Catholic Church remained the central patron of the arts, and Pope Julius II
was responsible for commissioning some of the greatest Renaissance artworks. Artists
were also recruited by the Church to contribute their talents toward its
Counter-Reformation efforts. Mannerism in Italy developed after 1520 as a
reaction to the art of the High Renaissance. In Northern Europe, the 16th
century saw profound political and cultural shifts that are reflected in the
art of the period. Early in the century, the Reformation movement sparked
lasting religious conflict throughout large areas of Northern Europe, and
artists developed new expressions of Protestant ideals. Despite the
Reformation’s criticism of Catholicism, European states maintained active
cultural exchange with Italy, and absorbed the ideals of Italian Renaissance
Humanism. In the Holy Roman Empire, the painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer
became the first international celebrity artist outside Italy. Netherlandish
painters are known for their inventive, often enigmatic forms and narratives.
This is best exemplified by the work of the country’s leading painter,
Hieronymus Bosch. El Greco was the leading painter in 16th century
Spain, cultivating a style that combined Spanish religious fervor and the
exaggerated forms of Italian Mannerism.
Key Figures: Pope
Julius II, Pope Leo X, Giorgio Vasari, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Michelangelo
Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael
Key Cultural & Religious
Terms: Pietá, Protestant Reformation, Counter-Reformation,
iconoclasm
Key Art Terms:
cartoon, chiaroscuro, colorito & disegno, Mannerism. poesia
Key Architectural Terms: belvedere,
keystones/voussoirs
Chapter 10: Baroque Europe
Preview: The
term Baroque is used to describe art and architecture of the 17th
century. Much Italian Baroque art is characterized by complex theatricality and
emotionalism. Italian Baroque architecture features dynamic, engaging
compositions, exemplified by Gianlorenzo Bernini’s sweeping colonnades
surrounding the piazza of St. Peter’s in Rome. Bernini is also the leading
sculptor in Baroque Italy, rendering figures that exhibit energy and intense
emotion. Ceiling painting in Baroque Italy reached new heights in drama and illusionism.
Caravaggio set new standards for painting on canvas, employing intense
chiaroscuro, dynamic compositions and engaging naturalism. In Northern Europe,
Catholic Flanders remained under Spanish control in this period, and its art is
close in spirit to Italian Baroque art. The Treaty of Westphalia granted the
Dutch Republic independence from Spain in 1648, and its predominantly
Protestant citizens, including a growing middle class, commissioned portraits,
genre scenes, still life and landscapes. Diego Velazquez specialized in lively,
inventive portrait arrangements. Rembrandt van Rijn, who is regarded as the
greatest Dutch artist of the era, depicted a wide range of subjects in
paintings and prints. In France, Louis XIV was the major patron, commissioning
artworks for the enormous palace complex he built at Versailles. In England,
Christopher Wren enjoyed international fame for building Saint Paul’s in
London, which blends Italian Renaissance, Baroque, and French classical styles.
Key Figures: Pope
Urban VIII, Pope Innocent X, Ignatius Loyola, Louis XIV
Key Cultural Terms &
Events: Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), Treaty of Westphalia (1648),
Calvinism, Protestantism
Key Art Terms:
Baroque, tenebrism, still life, vanitas, camera obscura, genre scenes
Key Architectural Terms: piazza,
baldacchino, lost-wax process, obelisk*, Greek cross
Chapter 11: Rococo to
Neoclassicism in Europe and America
Preview: The 18th
century in Europe and America is characterized by three major cultural
developments: the Rococo style, the Enlightenment, and Neoclassicism. Each of
these developments was linked to socio-political change and each generated
distinct artistic forms. In France, the grand palace-based culture of the
preceding century shifted to more intimate gatherings in the townhouses of
Paris, which were decorated in the elegant and refined Rococo style. The Rococo
painter Antoine Watteau depicted French high society in light colors and
delicate lines. The Enlightenment was the primary philosophical development of
the 18th century, and the critical thinking it promoted was a
driving factor in the French and American Revolutions late in the century.
Enlightenment thinking emphasized scientific empiricism and the doctrine of
progress. It developed in tandem with the Industrial Revolution that
transformed the social and economic landscapes of Europe and America. Also with
the Enlightenment came an emphasis on Humanism which inspired countless
travelers to embark on Grand Tours of Italy to rediscover the art and culture
of Classical Antiquity and the Renaissance. Interest in the classical past
spurred excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii. This gave rise to
Neoclassicism, a movement in art and architecture that revived classical forms
and themes. Jacques-Louis David became the leading French Neoclassical painter
of the age. In the United States, Thomas Jefferson designed Monticello and the
University of Virginia in the Neoclassical style. He considered Neoclassic representation
most appropriate for the civic ideals of the new American republic.
Key Figures: Voltaire,
Rousseau, Palladio
Key Cultural Terms &
Events: Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, French Revolution, American Revolution, Philosophe, ancien
regime, Grand Tour, Neoclassicism, excavation of Herculaneum & Pompeii
(1738 & 1748), fete galante
Key Art Terms: “Grand manner” portraiture , rocaille, Rococo,
veduta
*Obelisk –a tall,
four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the
top. Ancient obelisks were often monolithic (made of a single stone), whereas
most modern obelisks are made of several stones and can have interior spaces.
