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171 Italy Birthplace of The Renaissance 1203656144651104 5 PDF
171 Italy Birthplace of The Renaissance 1203656144651104 5 PDF
To be a universal man
(or Renaissance man),
like Lorenzo here, you
strove to become expert
in the liberal arts as well
as learn to sing, dance,
and write poetry.
Swoon, ladies.
Swoon.
New art
The Renaissance saw a flourishing of new artistic
techniques.
Medieval art tended to be very flat and nearly always
had religious overtones.
The art that started developing in the Renaissance,
however, was different.
The biggest innovation was the use of perspective.
When you look at a scene, parallel lines seem to get
closer to each other the farther in the distance they
go until they meet at a vanishing point. Think of
standing on a railroad track and looking down them.
Renaissance artists started exploiting this optical
illusion in their art. The advantage of it is that you
created the illusion of a three dimensional image on a
flat, two dimensional surface.
Interestingly,
perspective can
also be used as to
create false
perspective, such
as here.
Or in M.C. Eschers works (though he wasnt
Renaissance).
You also start to see the use of light and shade
(chiaroscuro) and blurring outlines so it seems that
tones imperceptibly meld in to each other (thereby
creating volume: this is sfumato).
Carvaggios Crucifixion
of St. Peter. An
example of
Chiaroscuro.
Close-up of Mona Lisas
face. Notice the sfumato
blurring, especially around
the eyes, and how it
creates a 3D illusion.
You also see a renewed interest in some classical forms
in sculpture that are at the same time using realism.
Examples are Donatellos bronze David and
Michelangelos marble David.
Even Lorenzo got into it:
Theres also a greater plasticity and animation to the
characters in the paintings. They feel like theyre in
mid-movement and not just in some stone-like pose.
Architecture changed during the Renaissance too.
It was more symmetrical and centrally planned than
Gothic architecture was.
The dome of the basilica reaches 448 ft. The Statue
of Liberty, from the ground to the tip of the torch, is
305 ft.
Theres also the Sistine Chapel. Not much to look at
from the outside:
But inside
Renaissance Literature
Previously, writing was done in Latin. Advantage: it was
the scholarly language that scholars knew even when
their respective local languages were different.
Disadvantage: the commoners didnt know it.
So, authors started writing in the vernacular of their
regions. This allowed literature to have a more popular
bent. It also stagnated Latin.