4. The Return to Humanism
• If in the Middle Ages, people did not see
themselves as important, or at the center of
things, the Renaissance brought about a
refocusing on humanity by the beginning of
the 15th century
• Florence became the capital of cloth trade
and had the richest bank
• Their was a revival of the classical aesthetics
of ancient of Greek and Rome
5. • Gutenberg invented the printing press
• The Ancient works of the Greeks and Romans
were made available in great numbers
6. Masaccio
• Regarded as the first important artist of the
Renaissance
• Was also known as ‘Clumsy Thomas’ because
he did not pay attention to his appearance
despite his skill with the brush
9. The Holy Trinity
• One of Masaccio’s greatest works in Santa
Maria Novella in Florence
• Painted when he was just 21 years old
• Like Giotto, M ignored unnecessary detail and
focused his attention on mass and depth
• Figures overlapping and modeled in light and
shadow to look real
• Illusion of a small chapel makes the work
more lifelike
10. • Inside the chapel is the Holy
Trinity, St.John, and the Virgin Mary.
• The two figures who commissioned the work
are found on each side
• Made good use of Filippo Brunelleschi
discovery of linear perspective
11.
12. Linear Perspective
• geometric system that showed artists how to create the
illusion of depth on a flat surface
• Using this system, an artist is able to paint figures and
objects so that they seem to move deeper into a work
rather than across it.
• Slanting the lines of buildings and other objects in the
picture inward makes them appear to extend back into
space
• If these lines are lengthened they would eventually meet at
a point along an imaginary horizontal line representing the
eye level.
• The point at which these lines meet is called a vanishing
point
14. The Tribute Money
• Shows 3 scenes; Jesus telling St. Peter about a
coin, St. Peter finding the coin in the mouth of
a fish, and St. Peter paying a tax collector
• Makes use of aerial or atmospheric
perspective.
• This involves making distant objects
bluer, lighter, and duller
• Hue, value and intensity are used to create
depth
15. Blending ideas of Early Renaissance
and Gothic
• Blend of progressive ideas of the early
Renaissance and conservative ideas of the
Gothic Period
• Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Ghiberti worked in
this styles
17. Fra Angelico
• Paintings shows familiarity with Masaccio’s
work
• However, unlike Masaccio, he was not greatly
interested in creating depth and deep space
20. • Designed the Baptistry doors for the cathedral
in Florence
• His works form a unified whole in contrast
with his competitor Brunelleschi, whose work
could be divided into three panels
21. Leonardo da Vinci
• Had gracious manners, a fine sense of
humor, and great physical strength
• Possessed a curiosity that drove him to
explore everything
• Studied
architecture, mathematics, sculpture, painting
, anatomy, poetry, literature, music, geology, b
otany, and hydraulics
24. The Last Supper
• One of Leonardo’s greatest ‘failures’
• The painting began to flake off the wall shortly
after he finished it
• Shows an unusual composition which includes
Judas among the apostles
25. Michaelangelo
• Ranked alongside Leonardo as one of the
greatest artists of the Renaissance
• Gifted in many fields including sculpture,
painting, and poetry
30. The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
• Commissioned by Pope Julius the II
• Finished in four years
• Toiled day and night and lay on his back on top
of very high scaffolding just to finish the piece
• Food sent up to him and he only went down
to sleep
• Claimed that he was never able to walk
upright again after painting this ceiling
31. Raphael Sanzio
• Successful, wealthy, and admired in
comparison to Michaelangelo
• Considered to be the artist that would best
represent the Renaissance
33. The Alba Madonna
• Shows the Virgin, Christ, and John the Baptist
staring at the cross
• Gradual change from light to dark values add a
feeling of roundness and mass to the shapes
• Makes use of a trapezoidal composition
35. Sofonisba Anguissola
• The first Italian woman to gain a world-wide
reputation as an artist
• Painted portraits for the royal family at the
court of Philip II of Spain
