Italian Renaissance Art - The Start Of A New Era
Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2009
by Annie Deakin
Annie Deakin
The Italian Renaissance was the first movement of the entire renaissance movement, which included art, music, poetry and much more. The renaissance was a period of great cultural change that was a period of transition between medieval time and modern Europe. Literally the word renaissance means rebirth and that is what happened in society, a new culture was born.
Italian renaissance painting was a huge influence over the art world and has influenced paintings to this day. Some of the great artists from the Renaissance period include Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Piero della Francesca, Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone.
Some of the stylistic changes of the Renaissance that were seen in the art and sculpture was the use of three dimensional figures that where realistic. Prior to this many of the features of a human, particularly the face where elongated or unproportional because that was considered beautiful. Realism was quickly grasped and used and can be seen in many of the frescos painted by Piero della Francesca and the panel paintings of Masaccio.
This new idea of perspective and creating something that was three dimensional on a 2 dimensional canvas was a new technique that was very authentic. Many of the artists of the time also wrote scientific documents on this perspective. This new perspective let painters accurately represent the human body and landscape as you would see it in real life.
Some other new techniques included the manipulation of light and dark. A perfect example of this is portraits painted by Titian. This is also the first time that art had subjects that were non-religious. Much of mythology was painted such as the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Many of these artists were deeply religious but painted non-secular works of art.
Certain positions became popular and are now classicized. This was mainly due to the sculpture Donatello. He developed the contrapposto pose and free standing sculptures. Much of these classic posses offered a more realistic sculpture and emotional intensity of the subject. These sculptures actually depicted their figures as if they were in actual motion.
Much of the principles of renaissance art were also mimicked in architecture. Many of the new buildings built in the renaissance period gave a new sense of light, clarity and space. Many of the paintings and artwork found in these buildings were designed and made by the famous renaissance artists, most famously having Michelangelo paint the Sistine chapel. The architecture was meant to bring enlightenment as well as clarity.
The period of the Renaissance was very important to the history of art as many of the renaissance ideas occurred again during the impressionistic period though they were used in different ways. This was a critical turning point in society in which science and how the world worked became very important.
Annie Deakin is an expert furniture and interior design writer who is currently interested in headboards, home accessories and living rooms.
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