Discover the Magnificent Era of Renaissance Art!
Step into the world of Renaissance art with our in-depth exploration of this transformative period in European history. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, a remarkable fusion of nature’s beauty, classical knowledge, and a shift toward individualism birthed an unparalleled artistic movement.
Join us as we uncover the essence of Renaissance art, delving into its evolution from the Early Renaissance to the grandeur of the High Renaissance. Meet iconic artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, who redefined the artistic landscape with their masterpieces and revolutionary techniques.
From the emotional depth of Giotto’s murals to the divine precision of Fra Angelico’s religious scenes, each painter contributed uniquely to this vibrant tapestry of human expression. Explore the masterpieces of Botticelli, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, and many others who shaped the Renaissance’s essence.
Embark on this journey through the corridors of history, discovering the essence of realism, perspective, and emotional expression that defined this unparalleled era of creativity. Dive into the world of Renaissance artistry with us!
【 CONTENTS 】
00:49 What is Renaissance?
03:23 Early Renaissance
04:41 Giotto
05:52 Fra Angelico
09:03 Masaccio
10:26 Filippo Lippi
11:00 Pietro Perugino
11:48 Domenico Ghirlandaio
12:21 High Renaissance
13:34 Sandro Botticelli
15:57 Leonardo da Vinci
18:30 Michelangelo
20:43 Raphael
23:31 The Northern Renaissance
24:09 Early Netherlandish painting
25:06 Jan van Eyck
26:46 Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting
27:09 Hieronymus Bosch
28:39 Pieter Bruegel the Elder
29:22 The German Renaissance
29:57 Albrecht Durer
31:01 Venetian painting
31:50 Titian
The body of art, including painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature identified as “Renaissance art” was primarily produced during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries in Europe under the combined influences of an increased awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man.
Scholars no longer believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break with medieval values, as is suggested by the French word renaissance, literally meaning “rebirth”. In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art. What is Renaissance?
The Renaissance was an artistic movement that took place in Western Europe from approximately the 14th to the mid-16th centuries. It was during this period that Western painting changed dramatically and the classics of Western painting were established.
The Middle Ages, when everything was Christ-centered, ended, and the Early Modern period, with its new human-centered values, lasted for about 400 years. The Western painting classics that developed in the Western Early Modern period are characterized by realistic depictions of biblical and mythological subjects, using perspective and shading techniques.
The church, royalty, aristocrats, and wealthy merchants became patrons. From the Renaissance to Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo, Western early modern painting can be classified. Beginning with the Renaissance, early modern painting is also called Classicism, and is characterized by realistic depictions of biblical and mythological subjects, using perspective and shading techniques.
The characteristics of Renaissance painting are “grasp of the human body,” “spatiality,” and “expression of emotion. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael are important as the three great masters of the Renaissance.
Raphael, in particular, is also known as the “Saint of Painting” and became the conservative mainstream of Western painting as a model of classicism. In addition to the three great masters, other important figures include Giotto, the pioneer of the Renaissance who became the “founder of Western painting,” and Botticelli, who opened the Renaissance.
Giotto laid the foundation of the Renaissance, Botticelli started the Renaissance in earnest, and the Renaissance reached its peak with the three great masters. Early Renaissance The early Renaissance began around the 13th century, before the so-called Renaissance in which Leonardo da Vinci and others were active.
In addition to religious paintings of monasteries and churches, portraits of influential merchants who were successful in business were painted. The two-dimensional, formal expression of the Middle Ages was replaced by three-dimensional, emotional expression. At that time, city-states in Italy were engaged in a series of conflicts.
In each city, merchants emerged who made their fortunes from the increased trade resulting from the Crusader expeditions. In addition, cultural figures from the Greek region, fleeing the Byzantine invasion of the Islamic world, entered Italy.
The result was a renaissance that restored humanity, not to the strict church, but to men of culture with wealth and knowledge. This video introduces the painters who opened the door to Renaissance painting during this period. Giotto Giotto was the founder of Western painting, the first to introduce emotional expression into painting.
And he was an important figure in initiating Renaissance painting. Giotto painted murals for chapels and cathedrals throughout Italy. His paintings are characterized by realistic paintings with expressions of emotion, depth of space, and accurate depictions of the human body.
However, in terms of classification, they are often classified as “Late Gothic” rather than Renaissance. This painting depicts a scene in which Judas, one of the Christ Twelve Apostles and a traitor, stands at the head of a group of soldiers capturing Christ and kisses Him to tell the soldiers who He is.
The figure with halo on the left is Petrus of the Twelve Apostles, who cut off the soldier’s ear to save Christ. Fra Angelico Fra Angelico was a devout monk but also a gifted painter. For him, the act of painting was not art or self-expression, but God’s will and part of his religious life.
He painted many “Annunciation” paintings in particular, 15 of which are extant. This painting depicts the Annunciation, in which the archangel Gabriel tells the virgin Mary that she is pregnant with the Son of God. The simple, clean colors depict the figure of Mary, who quietly accepts God’s will, despite her anxiety.
The realistic depiction of the cloister through the then newly invented perspective lends a sense of reality to the miraculous scene. Fra Angelico painted the Annunciation multiple times as a theme for paintings and frescoes.
This particular version of the Annunciation is located at the top of the stairs on the first floor where the San Marco dormitories are located – on the north side. One of Fra Angelico’s earliest paintings, “The Annunciation,” is in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
The common English name Fra Angelico means the “Angelic friar”. In this work, the left side depicts the anecdote “Paradise Lost,” in which Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden and mankind was burdened with original sin, contrasting Mary’s purity and Christ, who is born to restore original sin.
The sculpture on top depicts God the Father. A swallow symbolizes the resurrection of Christ. The dove, the Holy Spirit, descends to the Virgin Mary, representing the moment of her conception. Archangel Gabriel is an angel given the role of messenger through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In addition to foretelling the birth of Christ, it also predicts the birth of John the Baptist. The Annunciation was also very important in Christian doctrine, and was often dedicated to cathedrals and chapels, even as an easy-to-understand object for those believers who could not read.
There are three important elements of the Annunciation in paintings, the Archangel Gabriel, and the Dove as the Holy Spirit. And the Virgin Mary as the Holy Spirit. Masaccio Masaccio studied with sculptors and architects, introduced vanishing points and other elements in his paintings, and perfected perspective.
He died young of the plague, but he influenced many later painters. The Tribute Money is a fresco by the Italian Early Renaissance painter Masaccio, located in the Brancacci Chapel of the basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.
Painted in the 1420s, it is widely considered among Masaccio’s best work, and a vital part of the development of Renaissance art.
The painting is part of a cycle on the life of Saint Peter, and describes a scene from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus directs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish in order to pay the temple tax.
The innovative technique of one-point perspective, in which the vanishing point is Christ’s head, and air perspective, in which the mountains in the background are described as sunken tints, are used to achieve a spatial expression with depth. Filippo Lippi
Filippo Lippi was an early Renaissance master of a painting workshop, who taught many painters. Sandro Botticelli and Francesco di Pesello were among his most distinguished pupils. He ran away with a young nun, which caused problems, but he was canonized through the intercession of his patron, the Medici family.
His portrayal of Maria is said to be based on his wife, a former nun. Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil.
The Delivery of the Keys, or Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Pietro Perugino which was produced in 1481–1482 and is located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. Exaggerated perspective and exaggerated emotional expression of the figures can be seen. Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio was the first teacher of Michelangelo, one of the three great masters of the Renaissance. He was a popular Florentine painter. Depicts the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with his 12 disciples before his crucifixion. Only one person is in the foreground, Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. High Renaissance
In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance.
Most art historians state that the High Renaissance started between 1490 and 1500, and ended in 1520 with the death of Raphael, although some say the High Renaissance ended about 1525, or in 1527 with the Sack of Rome by the army of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, or about 1530.
The best-known exponents of painting, sculpture and architecture of the High Renaissance include Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bramante. Well then, let me introduce some of the painters who were active during the High Renaissance. Sandro Botticelli Botticelli is a leading Renaissance painter.
After training in the workshop of Filippo Lippi, he became Verrocchio’s assistant and then became independent. Because his patron was Lorenzo, the head of the Medici family of Florence, a secular monarch rather than a church monarch, he was able to paint Greek mythological gods rather than biblical mythology.
After Botticelli, non-Christian paintings began to be painted. He painted pagan gods, which had been taboo, and also painted nudes, which had been even more taboo, and this led to the pursuit of a freer beauty unbound by the church or existing ethics.
If one were to choose only one Renaissance painting, this work could be said to be the masterpiece of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Renaissance in its heyday. Another of Botticelli’s masterpieces and one of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance.
The Magi depicts a biblical scene of a visit to worship at Christ the Redeemer’s birth. The film depicts members of the Medici family, who were Botticelli’s patrons, as well as a self-portrait of Botticelli himself. The figure on the far right looking toward us is Botticelli.
The figure in black on the right is Lorenzo de’ Medici, a close friend of Botticelli and the ruler of Florence. The figure in the red cloak in the center is Lorenzo’s father, Piero de’ Medici. The black figure kneeling before Christ is his grandfather Cosimo de’ Medici.
The figure on the far left is Giuliano, Lorenzo’s brother. This work was both a religious painting and a portrait. Leonardo da Vinci One of the three great Renaissance masters who worked in Florence, Rome, and Milan, as well as in France. He is best known for his Mona Lisa.
The most versatile “all-around genius” in the history of mankind, he was not only a master of art, but also of military arts, anatomy, astronomy, natural history, music, architecture, entertainment, and more. He studied at Verrocchio’s workshop and became independent.
Although he is now the most famous artist of his time, he was not a super-successful artist like Michelangelo and Raphael, the other two great masters of the Renaissance, and his fame only grew in the 19th century. He was extremely versatile and was more of a researcher than an artist.
He spent much of his time researching and developing new techniques and working on scientific manuscripts, and he made many changes to his works, so many of them are still unfinished.
He spent much of his time researching and developing new techniques and drafting scientific papers, and he made many changes to his works, which resulted in many unfinished works.
Depicts the scene in which Jesus Christ announces “There is a traitor among you” at the “Last Supper” with his 12 disciples on the night before his crucifixion.
The work is characterized by perspective with a vanishing point at Jesus’ temple, the “sfumato” technique in which no outlines are drawn, “air perspective” in which distant objects appear pale and grayish, as well as anatomy-based representations of the human body.
The movements of the figures close to Jesus are depicted as large, while those farther away are depicted as small, to show the impact of Jesus’ words. Michelangelo
One of the three great masters of the Renaissance, he brought his physical expression as a sculptor to painting and became the foundation of the next era of Mannerism. One of the greatest artists in the history of Western art, he was a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet.
At the age of 13, he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio as a sculptor, and at 14, he was recognized as a full-fledged painter, demonstrating his talent at a young age and becoming a popular artist.
It depicts the scene of the “Last Judgment” on the last day of the world, when all human beings will be sorted into heaven and hell. On the right are those who will fall into hell. On the left are those who will ascend to heaven. Christ is in the center.
The rawhide to the lower right of Christ is St. Bartholomew, also a self-portrait by Michelangelo. He compares himself as a servant of the Medici family to the rawhide of a husk. Part of the ceiling paintings of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s masterpiece and the largest ceiling painting in history.
It depicts scenes from the Bible, and “The Creation of Adam” depicts a scene from the Creation. Raphael One of the three great Renaissance masters who became a model for modern Western painting, also known as the Saints of Painting. A pupil of Perugino, he was active in Florence and Rome from his youth.
He learned and absorbed a great deal from not only his master Perugino but also Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and established his own style of painting. He was favored by the Pope and painted many religious pictures.
He died at the age of 37 of a febrile illness caused by an excessive love affair, but some say that he died of exhaustion. This is a work typical of Raphael, who matured in his specialty, the Madonna and Child. This work depicts the Virgin and Child and John the Baptist.
While adhering to the conventions of the cross held by John and Mary’s red robe and blue cloak, Raphael also incorporates a turban, which was popular at the time, giving the painting a worldly and friendly impression.
The fresco was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael’s commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It depicts a congregation of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists from Ancient Greece, including Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Archimedes,
Heraclitus and The Italian artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are also featured in the painting, shown as Plato and Heraclitus respectively. The Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe.
Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renaissance, this period became the German, French, English, Low Countries, Polish Renaissances and in turn other national and localized movements, each with different attributes. Early Netherlandish painting
Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flourished especially in the cities of Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen, Leuven, Tournai and Brussels, all in present-day Belgium.
The period begins approximately with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the 1420s and lasts at least until the death of Gerard David in 1523, although many scholars extend it to the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1566 or 1568. Jan van Eyck
Van Eyck painted both secular and religious subject matter, including altarpieces, single-panel religious figures and commissioned portraits. His work includes single panels, diptychs, triptychs, and polyptych panels. Van Eyck’s work comes from the International Gothic style, but he soon eclipsed it, in part through a greater emphasis on naturalism and realism.
He achieved a new level of virtuosity through his developments in the use of oil paint. He was highly influential, and his techniques and style were adopted and refined by the Early Netherlandish painters. This work is extremely important in the history of Western painting as the first exquisite painting in oil.
The convex mirror in the painting depicts a witness, and it is thought to be a scene from a marriage ceremony. It is said to be the first genre painting depicting the daily life of citizens. Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting
Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting represents the 16th-century response to Italian Renaissance art in the Low Countries, as well as many continuities with the preceding Early Netherlandish painting. Hieronymus Bosch He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school.
His work, generally oil on oak wood, mainly contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.
One only has to look at his masterpiece, “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” to be astonished that such an odd work of art was painted more than 500 years ago. This painting is a set of three panels.
The center panel represents the present, the left panel the Garden of Eden, and the right panel Hell. Pieter Bruegel the Elder He was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes.
He was a pioneer in presenting both types of subject as large paintings. The paintings depict the construction of the Tower of Babel, which, according to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, was built by a unified, monolingual humanity as a mark of their achievement and to prevent them from scattering. The German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance.
Many areas of the arts and sciences were influenced, notably by the spread of Renaissance humanism to the various German states and principalities. Albrecht Dürer Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance.
Born in Nuremberg, he established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Dürer, a narcissist, painted many self-portraits, but this is the first time he painted a frontal self-portrait, which until then was reserved for monarchs and saints. His face resembles Christ, and his right hand represents his pride as a painter. Venetian painting
In contrast to Florence, which was the center of the Renaissance, Venetian painting is the Renaissance that developed in the Republic of Venice in the 16th century. The most famous Renaissance painters, such as Botticelli and da Vinci, emphasized drawing.
Venetian painting, on the other hand, appealed to the human senses with its emphasis on color and beauty. In Venice, painting in oil on canvas, a canvas, was preferred, and religious paintings of a secular and hedonistic nature were painted with fewer religious restrictions. Titian
He was the last master of the Renaissance and the leading figure in Venetian painting. He became the exclusive painter of the Republic of Venice, and was so popular that he even turned down an invitation from the Pope.
He captured and idealized the merits of his models, and his style, full of dynamism, was popular among the royalty and aristocracy. This is his masterpiece, the altarpiece.
The woman in the red robe and blue cloak in the center is the Virgin Mary. Above her are God the Father, the archangel Michael, and other angels. The apostles below are from the same perspective as the viewer, and together with the viewer, they look up at the Virgin in a bold composition.
The Renaissance, a period that witnessed the fusion of creativity, intellect, and innovation, has left an indelible mark on the annals of art history.
From the Early Renaissance’s emotive expressions to the pinnacle of the High Renaissance and the nuanced strokes of the Northern Renaissance, this era embodied a pursuit of beauty, knowledge, and humanistic ideals.
As we bid adieu to this journey through the corridors of Renaissance brilliance, let us carry forth the spirit of creativity, innovation, and humanism that these masters imprinted upon the canvas of history. Their works continue to enchant, inspire, and remind us of the enduring power of artistic expression.
Thank you for accompanying us on this exploration of Renaissance art.