Renaissance aesthetics - slide 1 Renaissance aesthetics A few historical notes on the general history of the Renaissance zDate-limits zBegan in Florence (Firenze) yimages zPrincipal leitmotiv zRapidly spread north

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 2 Renaissance aesthetics Three prominent artist-aestheticians from the Renaissance zLeon Battista Alberti ( ) yArt is an imitation of nature and of art-objects from antiquity xExtension of imitation to architecture & music

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 3 Renaissance aesthetics yThe creation of works of art requires knowledge & thus the arts belong to the humanities & artists are humanists. xTo what kind of knowledge is Alberti referring? yBeauty ~> the “harmony of all the parts” ximages - architecture & sculpture of Alberti

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 4 Renaissance aesthetics A comparative summing up of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance mimeticism up to this point zPlato - art is the imitation of nature zPlotinus - art is the imitation of nature through the Ideas zMedieval - art is a symbol system for referring to the Divine zAlberti - art is the imitation of the visible & underlying harmonies in nature

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 5 Renaissance aesthetics zLeonardo da Vinci ( ) yPainting is a science and a such contributes to the truth xIn what sense is painting a science? åPainting is “the sole imitator of all the apparent works of nature” (Treatise on Painting, fol 4v, McM. 6). åLeonardo’s peculiar conception of science

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 6 Renaissance aesthetics yNote on beauty: if the artist is to represent nature accurately, the representation must include the ugly. åImages - drawings & paintings of Leonardo

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 7 Renaissance aesthetics zMichelangelo ( ) yArt requires a specialized knowledge xEspecially anatomy & perspective yArt is the imitation of the Divine in nature yBeauty consists of order, harmony, & proportion yMichelangelo’s works of art represent the epitome of the synthesis of classical culture & Christianity

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 8 Renaissance aesthetics xMichelangelo held that the arts had reached perfection in classical antiquity; this perfection was lost & consequently the arts declined. But now the arts of antiquity have been rediscovered. åImages - some paintings & sculpture of Michelangelo

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 9 Renaissance aesthetics The place of the artist in Renaissance society zChapter from book by Bruce Cole, The Renaissance Artist at Work (New York: Harper & Row, 1983). z1. The workshop system yThe production of art was a collaborative enterprise

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 10 Renaissance aesthetics yIt was a craft engaged in for a profit vs a response to a calling or a quasi- religious vocation z2. No hierarchy of art types existed & no distinction between arts & crafts yWorkshops produced xpainted shields xbanners xchests (cassoni) - image

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 11 Renaissance aesthetics xpainted dishware xdecorated altar tables xtombs xpulpits xpaintings xsculpture

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 12 Renaissance aesthetics z3. The social status of the artist yIn the early Renaissance, belonged to the class of craftsmen xBelonged to guilds yIn the late Renaissance, the status of the artist began to change to someone with a special calling & an intellectual (umanista - a style of learning which looked back to ancient Greece & Rome for models) xEmergence of self-portraits

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 13 Renaissance aesthetics z4. Originality was not prized yApprentices followed the style of their masters Apprentices followed the style of their masters yContracts were written & only then were works of art produced xCf. today åTo the conclusion of the mimetic theory - Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas

Renaissance aesthetics - slide 14 Renaissance aesthetics A comparative summing up from the last summing up zLeonardo - art is the accurate representation of nature & accordingly a science zMichelangelo - art is the uncovering and re-presentation of the Divine in nature åTo the conclusion of the mimetic theory - Gombrich, Wilde, & Lyas