Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance (or rebirth) is an Italian idea, and the Italian Renaissance generally covers the
periods from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth century. The
Italian Renaissance followed on the heels of the Middle Ages, and was spawned by the birth of
the philosophy of humanism, which emphasized the importance of individual achievement in a
wide range of fields. The early humanists, such as writer Francesco Petrarch, studied the works
of the ancient Greeks and Romans for inspiration and ideology, mixing the philosophies of Plato
and other ancient thinkers with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Under the influence
of the humanists, literature and the arts climbed to new levels of importance.
The Renaissance marked a great cultural change throughout the whole of Europe and is viewed
as a bridge between the medieval and modern ages. Scholars schooled in literature along with
poets, courtiers and schoolmasters, all with a powerful thirst for learning, became known as the
intellectual movement the humanists.

They rediscovered Greek and Latin texts and began to teach Latin literature. The poet, historian
and philosopher, Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) was one of the leading lights of the movement.

Techniques used by Renaissance artists:

1. Perspective
2. Foreshortening
3. Sfumato
4. Chiaroscuro
5. Balance and Proportion

Major phases of Italian Renaissance:

The Italian Renaissance is divided into three major phases:
1. Early Renaissance,
2. High Renaissance
3. Late Renaissance

Early Renaissance(Early 1400s):

At the beginning of the 15th century, Italy experienced a cultural rebirth, a renaissance that
would massively affect all sectors of society. Turning away from the preceding Gothic and
Romanesque periods' iconography, Florentine artists spurred a rejuvenation of the glories of
classical art in line with a more humanistic and individualistic emerging contemporary era.
Based in this flourishing new environment that empowered people to fully immerse themselves
in studies of the humanities, Early Renaissance artists began to create work intensified by
knowledge of architecture, philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, and design. The
innovations that emerged in art during this period would go on to cause reverberations, which
continue to influence creative and cultural arenas today.

This Early Renaissance is also known as the Quattrocento, derived from the Italian mille
quattrocento, meaning 1400, and refers primarily to the period dominating the 15th century in
Italian art. It was the forebear to the following High Renaissance, North European Renaissance,
Mannerism, and Baroque periods that followed.
Famous artist from Early Renaissance were Fillipo Brrunelleschi, Leon Batista Alberti,Giotto
and many others.

High Renaissance(1450 – 1520):

High Renaissance art, which flourished for about 35 years, from the early 1490s to 1527, when
Rome was sacked by imperial troops, revolved around three towering figures: Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519), Michelangelo (1475–1564), and Raphael (1483–1520). Each of the three embodied
an important aspect of the period: Leonardo was the ultimate Renaissance man, a solitary genius
to whom no branch of study was foreign; Michelangelo emanated creative power, conceiving
vast projects that drew for inspiration on the human body as the ultimate vehicle for emotional
expression; Raphael created works that perfectly expressed the Classical spirit—harmonious,
beautiful, and serene.

Late Renaissance or Mannerism (1520 to 1600):

While the High Renaissance was a time of brilliant artistic achievement, the idealized and
harmonious style that it bred soon fell into disfavor, particularly in Central Italy and Rome. After
1520, artists began experimenting with new conventions. This new style, often referred to as
Mannerism, found its origins in the works of the late Raphael and of Michelangelo's middle and
old age. The term "Mannerism" was coined in the seventeenth century to describe those who
followed in the patterns established by these two artistic geniuses. By that time scholars used the
word Mannerism as a criticism of the artificiality and distortion they observed in the art of the
later sixteenth century. These unfavorable assessments of Mannerism persisted even into the
twentieth century as critics considered the movement to be an artistic crisis that destroyed the
beauty of the High Renaissance synthesis. That synthesis had emphasized classical proportions,
ideal beauty, harmony, and serenity. By contrast, critics charged Mannerist art with being
artificial, overly emotional, vividly coloristic, effetely elegant, and contorted. Newer artistic
tastes in the twentieth century, however, have led to a positive reassessment of late Renaissance
Mannerism. Scholars have shown that the word maniera, upon which later critics based their
critical term "Mannerism," merely meant "stylish" in the sixteenth century. Thus Mannerism has
more recently been treated as a "stylish style," which prized the very same values that later critics
found distasteful. Sixteenth-century Mannerism, an artistic movement that influenced art in
Rome, Florence, and much of Central Italy, has now been shown to derive from certain
assumptions about elegance and beauty that differed from those of the High Renaissance. In
place of older assessments of the period as one of artistic decline, Mannerism has now come to
be positively assessed as a rich era of creative individual artistic expression.

Characteristics of Mannerism :
1. A use of bright, almost garish colours
2. Elaborate compositions
3. Exaggerated forms
4. Dramatic movements

Major Mannerist artists:

1. Bronzino (1503–1572)
2. Parmigianino (1503–1540)
3. Tintoretto (1518–1594)
4. El Greco (1541–1614)

Major Mannerist artworks:

1. Bronzino Crossing the Red sea,1541-1542,Fresco
2. Parmigianino Madona with the long neck,1534-40,oil on wood
3. Tintoretto The Last Supper, 1590-1594,oil on canvas
4. El Greco The Burial of the count of Orgaz,1586-1588,oil on canvas.