By: Aya Ayadi And Haneen Hussein Renaissance- Art By: Aya Ayadi And Haneen Hussein

William Shakespeare(5) William Shakespeare was born in England. He attended a grammar school, he did not attend a big college like Oxford or Cambridge. He got married and had 3 kids. Then later he became an actor, poet, and playwright. A few years later, he joined a group called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. They opened a theater. However, they lost their rent. Then they found another theatre and bought it. Shakespeare and 8 other men performed comedies, tragedies, histories, morals, pastorals, and more. 

William Shakespeare (cont.)(5) Shakespeare wrote many plays that are still read today. Some of which include: Hamlet Romeo and Juliet Macbeth A Midsummer Night’s Dream And many others

Questions Can you name any other of Shakespeare’s works?

Proto-Renaissance(3) The Renaissance is the period following the Middle Ages. The beginning of the renaissance was in Italy in the late 13th century and early 14th century. This period was called the “proto-renaissance” period. Painter Giotto was a famous painter in this period. His art made advances in making the human body more realistic. His frescoes decorated many cathedrals (such as ones in Assisi, Rome, Naples and others). This period came to an end in the late 14th century by plague and war. The influence of this period emerged in the early years of the next century.

High Renaissance Art (1490s- 1527)(3) There was three main artists that were the masters of art in this period. Many works of art showed religious images.

Questions How did the “proto-renaissance’ period come to an end? Who were these 3 main artists? Which fictional characters were named after these great artists?

Leonard Da Vinci (1) He was born in Vinci, Italy and was raised by his grandparents. He was very smart at a young age. He used to practice art with Verrocchio (his instructor) in Florence. From these lessons he became better than his instructor. He wanted to be different and come up with new things, so instead of using egg tempera as painters usually did he started to paint on dry plaster, which he put on the wall. The technique he used in the Mona Lisa is called “sfumato”. Which means without lines or borders. What this means is that he would blur the line between two objects on a painting.

Leonardo Da Vinci (cont.)(2) He was prototyped as the “renaissance man” He was a painter, inventor, engineer, architect, and was very curious about science. He made the 2 very famous paintings: The Mona Lisa (Florence) and The Last Supper (Milan) He had many more paintings and other diagrams of human anatomy. Interesting fact: he had diagrams of flight about 400 years before airplanes were invented.

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Questions Do you know any other paintings done by Leonardo Da Vinci? What was Leonardo Da Vinci prototyped as?

Michelangelo (2) He was raised in Florence and practiced painting from a young age. He used to work with the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. From this teacher he mastered the art of frescoes. Frescoes are paintings done on fresh, wet plaster with water based paints. A lot were done on walls. (We have seen then in Ancient Greece, so they are not new.) He brought the depiction of human form to a new height in paintings, architecture, and sculptures. One of his famous paintings: the roof of the Sistine Chapel Sculptures: “Pieta” in Rome and “David” in Flourence He recreated the human body with stones because of his accurate study of anatomy.

Questions Name one similarity between Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Raphael (2) He was admired greatly for his madonnas (or paintings of the Virgin Mary). In these paintings he tried to achieve beauty like no other had done. His paintings emphasized proportion and harmony. His famous painting “School of Athens” shows philosophers of Ancient Greece- this painting shows renaissance’s worship of classical ideals and the painters perspective.

Northern Renaissance The Renaissance did not only occur in Italy, but in many other places such as in Northern Europe. Some important painters were Jan van Eyck and Albrecht Durer. Eyck was one of the first to use oil paints, which allowed artists to use many colors that helped create details. He painted nature by trying to use as much detail as possible (not perspective like the Italians did). Durer was a German artist who tried to mix the artistic ways of the Italians (perspective) and Eyck’s was (detail). He would carefully examine the human form and create and ideal of beauty in his paintings.

Questions How did Albrecht Durer try to make his paintings?

Bibliography "Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci." Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.gardenofpraise.com/art17.htm>. "Renaissance Art." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art>. "Mona Lisa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa>. "The Life of Mr. William Shakespeare." The Life of Mr. William Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.gprc.ab.ca/employees/homepages/ghanna/life.html>.