Italian Renaissance (1400 – 1600)

Italian Renaissance Art The Italian Renaissance [REN-ah-sans], which means “rebirth,” was one of the most important periods in the history of art. During this time, there were many outstanding master artists in painting, sculpture (which is hard materials carved into works of art), and architecture (which is the design of buildings). The time period for the Renaissance was about AD (more than 500 years ago). The country of Italy is in southern Europe. It looks like a boot on the map! (Look at the map on the previous page—can you find Italy?) The Renaissance marked a change in the importance of artists. Before, an artist was considered to be more like a worker craftsman (someone who made horseshoes, for example). During the Renaissance, artists were considered really special for the first time. In the Renaissance, art and science were closely connected. Art was influenced by the science of anatomy (which is the study of the human body), and by math, which explained “perspective.” Perspective in painting is making objects on a flat surface look like they have depth and shadows. Some artists of the Renaissance, like Michelangelo, had an amazing genius and a strong personality, and were able to achieve fame and fortune because of their creative powers.

Michelangelo Buonarroti Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, called Michelangelo, was an artist during the Renaissance. He was born in Italy in 1475 (died 1564). He was brilliant and talented in many ways: he could paint, sculpt, design buildings, and write poetry. Michelangelo is best known for his sculptures (hard materials carved into works of art) and frescoes (paintings on wet plaster).

Michelangelo – Sculpture When Michelangelo was a child, his mother became ill and couldn’t care for him, so he was sent to live with a stonecutter. Michelangelo later joked that this is where he learned to love cutting stone into sculpture. He spent years studying the human body. He even looked at dead bodies so he could learn the way the muscles and bones were attached and how arms and legs moved. He drew sketches of people, concentrating on getting the muscles just right. His sketches of bodies helped him to do sculpture. Do you see how he drew muscles here? What other body parts did he study in this drawing?

Michelangelo - Sculpture Michelangelo was very religious, and many of his masterpieces show religious scenes or people from the Bible. One of his most famous sculptures was David, the biblical hero who defeated the giant Goliath. The work was finished in the year 1504.

Michelangelo - Sculpture This is a close-up of David. He is said to have a “worried look” here because he is about to face the giant Goliath in battle. Michelangelo lived in Florence, Italy, and he wanted the citizens there to be like David and stand up for themselves. The statue of David is more than 14 feet tall. That’s taller than 2 men stacked on top of each other’s shoulders! Is David’s hair curly or straight? How can you tell? (Remember, he is all made of marble stone!)

Michelangelo - Sculpture Michelangelo believed that there was a sculpture in every piece of stone. He tried to let the stone speak to him and become what it was meant to be. His job as the artist was to “free” the sculpture from the stone. Do you see how this sculpture is trying to free itself? This sculpture is called The Blockhead Slave. Why do you think that?

Michelangelo - Sculpture This sculpture is called the “Pieta” [Peeyet TAH]. Some people consider this the finest sculpture ever made by anyone! Michelangelo created the Pieta between the years 1498 and He was about 25 years old when it was finished. Look at the skirt. Can you believe that it is made of hard marble stone? What makes it look like real fabric?

Michelangelo - Sculpture Here is a close-up of the Pieta sculpture. This was the only piece of work ever signed by Michaelangelo, and he did so in anger when he overheard someone say they thought another artist had done it. He was so upset about the signature that he never signed anything else. Michelangelo’s signature is on the woman’s sash here.

Michelangelo – Painting In 1508, Michelangelo was asked by the pope (who was head of the church) to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo, who always thought of himself as a sculptor, would now have to perfect the art of fresco, which is painting on plaster. After 4 years, he had painted over 300 figures on the ceiling. The project was very hard for Michelangelo. Can you imagine lying on your back on a scaffold to paint a huge ceiling every day for 4 years?

Michelangelo – Painting

Michelangelo painted many Bible scenes on the chapel ceiling. One of the most famous is God creating Adam. How does it look like Adam was created in this picture?

Michelangelo – Painting The artist may have gotten this idea of creation from a medieval hymn (or song), which asks the 'finger of the father’s right hand' to give the faithful people speech, love, and strength. What makes the hands look so real here? This painting of the fingers touching is very famous.

Michelangelo – Painting The fingers pointing painting has inspired many similar things, including this movie poster!

Michelangelo – Painting This is another famous image from the chapel known as the Delphic Sybil. Sybils were women who were prophets, or foretold the future. What colors do you see here? These colors didn’t use to be so bright.

Michelangelo – Painting Years of candle smoke in the chapel made the frescoes dirty and dingy. All the ceiling artwork was carefully restored between 1980 and Some people say the restored colors were not Michelangelo’s intention. Here is a “before and after” photo of the figure of Daniel.

Michelangelo – Art Response If you were going to paint a whole ceiling with pictures, how many would you paint? Of what? Draw a plan for a ceiling’s worth of pictures. This is an actual map of the paintings on the Sistine Chapel. Imagine lying on your back to paint all your pictures!

Michelangelo Bonus Slides! If there’s time, let’s see what else Michelangelo could do besides sculpture and painting! Michelangelo was also an architect and designed this building, called the Campidoglio, which was the seat of the civic government in Rome. He helped design the most impressive building in Rome, too! See the next slides!

Michelangelo - Architecture Michelangelo's crowning achievement as an architect was his work at St. Peter’s Basilica, where he was made chief architect in The building was originally designed by Donato Bramante, but Michelangelo became responsible for the outside (exterior) and for the dome. Michelangelo was in his 70s when he worked on the basilica, and he refused to accept any payment for it, saying it was his service to God.

Michelangelo - Architecture For the dome's exterior, Michelangelo used a ribbed design with columns. He first created a model out of wood. You can still see the model today on display in Rome (at the Vatican). The model is 17 feet 8 inches high x 12 feet 8 inches in diameter. That’s almost as tall as 3 men on each other’s shoulders!

Michelangelo - Architecture The real dome is 265 feet high x 190 feet in diameter!

Michelangelo - Architecture And of course, the ceiling is painted!