Name: Bhumika Vohra

Course: B.A Programme

Roll No19\738

INTRODUCTION

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that started in Italy at the beginning of the
1400s and lasted approximately 200 years. The Renaissance period was considered a
transition period from the medieval age into Early Modern Europe. The Italian
Renaissance was characterized by a shift in several cultural areas, from literature to
politics to religion. During the Renaissance, Italian art underwent major artistic changes
from the medieval period. The Italian Renaissance became one of the most productive
and innovative time periods in the industry of art in painting, sculpture and architecture.
Raphael, Michelangelo, Danotello and Leonardo Da Vinci the key figures that were
responsible for bringing about the significant changes in themes, styles and perspective
of Italian art from the medieval period. Although the cultural changes in areas such as
religion, literature, and sciences were considered significant contributions to the
Renaissance period, the most innovative and notable changes were made in the Italian
art, which had taken a back seat in the middle ages because of the political unrest that
was going on in Europe. Given the overwhelming changes and revival of the arts, Italian
art had the most significant impact in the Renaissance that ultimately resulted in the re-
birth of Europe.

The Italian Renaissance was highlighted by three separate periods, each of which contained
distinct aspects that contributed to the cultural “re-birth” of Europe. The three periods of the
Renaissance were the Early Renaissance (beginning of the 1400 to late 1400s), High Renaissance
(Late 1400s to early 1500s) and Late Renaissance (early 1500s to 1600). The period of the
Renaissance was led by a number of artists who were intelligent, innovative and ready to delve
into a new art form.

DANOTELLO
The first period, known as the Early
Renaissance, took place during the early 15th
century. Early Renaissance art was heavily
influenced by Donatello, an Italian artist and
sculptor and Masaccio, an Italian painter.
Donatello’s artistic style and works represent the significant facets of Early Renaissance
time period. Donatello’s bronze statue of David, considered to be his most famous work
of art, depicts a common theme of the era. David is representative of a hero, which
became a staple of early renaissance art. Heroes, which were a popular aspect of the
humanist movement, were commonly portrayed in works of art during this the Early
Renaissance. Donatello’s earlier work also depicted the idea of youthfulness which was
also another popular aspect of the humanist movement. Donatello utilized the
technique of bronzing, and was notorious for his bronze pieces of art, such as his life
size statue of David. David also displayed a new Renaissance style that is “evident in
both the classical nudity and the use of the classical contrapposto (twist of the hips), as
well as the boldness of interpretation”.

Many of Donatello’s sculptures are considered breakthroughs. For example, the statue
of David was the first nude statute of the Renaissance (C pg 612). Another statue of
Donatello, Gattamelata (the equestrian statute of Erasmo de Narni), is considered to be
one of the best proportioned sculptures ever created. . Donatello, who was considered
to be a very keen observer of human life and behavior, was able to portray different
types of figures in his work and make it them look very realistic. One of Donatello’s
remarkable achievements was his ability to move forward the naturalistic illusion and
classical idealism in sculpture. Donatello also created science of perspective through the
use of bas-relief or low relief in his work where the image is projected with a shallow
overall depth which allows for exploitation of perspective and obtain a dramatic effect.
The earliest example of the use of relief is the base of the statute of Saint George, which
is decorated with a relief of Saint George and the Dragon. In the bronze relief panel of
Feast of Herod, Donatello uses central perspective space for the first time which allows
for intensifying the actions and characterizations of the subjects and makes them look
real. (B pg 36-37).Donatello’s incorporation of Greek classical principles was evident in
the marble statute of Saint Mark. In this sculpture, Donatello took a fundamental step
toward displaying motion in the human figure by recognizing the principle of weight
shift and stresses the movement of the arms, legs, shoulders and hips.

The next period of the Renaissance that influenced the cultural “re-birth” is known as
the High Renaissance. The High Renaissance lasted from the late 15th century to about
1520. The most influential artists of this time of the High Renaissance period were
Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo Da Vinci, arguably the most renowned artist in all of art history, made great, if
not the greatest, contributions to the re-birth. Da Vinci often used religious themes in
his paintings, which was reflective of the time and the impact religion had during this
time period. During the High Renaissance time period, the Church was going through
major changes as a result of the Protestant Reformation that was underway. The
Protestant Reformation, which established the Protestant church in reaction to the
corruption of the Catholic Church,
also helped bring about the
counter-reformation which
established the Inquisition. The
Inquisition established rules of
visual imagery in the arts and tried
to enforce these rules. This common
theme of religion was represented
throughout a majority of Leonardo’s
paintings including two of his most
famous ones, The Last Supper and
Saint Jerome. The Last Supper
depicted the image of Jesus and his
12 apostles seated at the altar, with
Jesus in the center, breaking bread.
This scene is representative of when Jesus informs the apostles he has been betrayed by
one of them. In this painting, Da Vinci portrayed a common theme of Italian Renaissance
art, humanism. Humanism placed more emphasis on Man and less stress on God. In The
Last Supper painting, Da Vinci placed more of an emphasis on Jesus Christ by placing
him in the center of the painting, focusing the attention on him. Humanism attempted
to attach faces or visual beings to religion, which is why there was such a rise in
paintings of religious figures such as evangelists and saints.

Michelangelo
Michelangelo was not only a brilliant sculpture but also a great painter whose work was
a major contributor to the Renaissance. The paints on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
are one of the most famous artwork that was created during the Renaissance. Although
Michelangelo has
studied painting,
sculpture was where
his interest was. At the
request of Julius II, he
agreed to paint the
Sistine Chapel even
though painting was
not his profession. His inexperience along with the magnitude of the project were going
to be a challenge, but a challenge that he quickly overcame because of his innate talents
and desire to produce exceptional work. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was an
enormous fresco depicting various passages from the Book of Genesis including the
Creation of Adam in the ceiling and the Last Judgment at the alter. Similar to his
sculptures, his paintings also focus on the human figure and its natural beauty.

Raphael
Raphael, the youngest of the three great contributors to High Renaissance at, was an
Italian painter and architect. Raphael’s work took the artistic innovations that had been
developed by Da Vinci and Michelangelo and created his own style in depicting the
ideals of the Renaissance.The School of Athens

, one of Raphael’s most famous paintings, displays the classical spirit of the High
Renaissance. This painting along with three others completed along the walls of the
Stanza della Segnatura room, which was the library in the papal apartment at the
Vatican, show great philosophers and scientists of the ancient word coming together to
discuss their theories and ideas.. Aristotle and Plato, the two great philosophers of
ancient Greece, are portrayed as the key figures in these paintings. (C pg 653) In line
with the realism theme of this time period, the figures in Raphael’s paintings are known
for their display of realistic emotions. Another characteristic of Raphael’s work was the
perfection and grace that he portrayed in his paintings and drawings. A theme
throughout Raphael’s work is the Christian devotion and pagan beauty. This theme is
brought out in his series of Madonna paintings where Christian devotion and pagan
beauty are brought together. In one of Raphael’s best frescoes, Galatea, which Raphael
based on ancient Roman poet Orvid’s Metamorphoses, the pagan joy and excitement is
displayed praising human beauty and passionate love. Raphael also excelled at
portraiture. The subjects of his portraits were primarily scholars and courtiers
surrounding the Pope. His portraits tended to exhibit the increasing attention that High
Renaissance artists paid to the subject’s personality and psyche. In addition, Raphael
also revived the gods and heroes of classical times and the world they lived in, not to
honor them but to transform them into art.

Conclusion
The Renaissance was a period of incredible achievements and innovations in the arts. A
few artists with exceptional talent, an amazing level of imagination and an ability to
express themselves through their work, changed the world of art forever in a relatively
short period of time. They took advantage of the opportunity that history had given
them to put man and the human figure at the center of their work. The Renaissance was
a time of great artistic development where painters and sculptors were discovering
individualism, harmony, perspective and realism in their portrayal of human being. The
Renaissance began relatively slow during the Early Renaissance but sprang into full gear
during the High Renaissance waned during the Late Renaissance.

Although the Renaissance was a period of major achievements in literature, philosophy

and the sciences, the most dramatic accomplishments were achieved in the Arts. This
period of rebirth is most and foremost associated with the artistic accomplishments of ,
Donatello, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. The High Renaissance
represented an outstanding pool of talent that surfaced in the same area around the
same time. These artists were individual geniuses who combined classical work and
realism to transform the art. They took the flat and stiff images from the previous
periods and converted them into more life-like figures that displayed emotion and
reality. Italian artists and sculptors were innovative, creative, ambitious, and bold. They
dared to go above and beyond to achieve their goals and were determined to achieve
greatness in their field. As a result of the extraordinary artistic accomplishments, Italian
art had the most significant impact in the Renaissance that brought about the re-birth
of Europe.

BIBLOGRAPHY
 SINHA ARVIND 2010 EUROPE IN TRANSITION MANOHAR PUBLISHER NEW
DELHI

 BRITANNICA WEBSITE

 MODERN WORLD DHANANJAYA ROUT