He took on the challenge of carving this beautiful work out of a “huge oblong chunk of pure white unflawed Carrara marble – some 18 feet high and weighing several tons – that had been badly block out and then abandoned by an earlier sculptor” (Coughlan 85). This piece had always fascinated Michelangelo, but neither he, nor anyone else, could think of what to carve from it, until now (Coughlan 85). Thus began a new era in art, the High Renaissance. He began carving this statue for the city of Florence. It would become a symbol of this
The Renaissance in 14th-17th Europe was a period of cultural rebirth and revival. Many significant new ideas arose during this movement, and these ideas were most proficiently expressed in Italy. With Florence as the cultural and artistic capital of Europe, Italian “Renaissance men” embodied the principles of the humanism movement. Through arts and science, Renaissance ideas were successfully conveyed in the Italian Renaissance. Art was a crucial aspect of expressing Renaissance ideas.
The Renaissance: The Era That defined the World By LaKeitha Lewis Prof. Scott Gressford HUMN303: Intro. To Humanities 12/07/2014 The Renaissance: The Era That Changed the World The Renaissance was an era full of some of the most profound and revolutionary innovations, inventions, and advancements, so much so that they defined civilizations for many centuries to come, even in the world of today. It was a time period that many viewed as both important and unique, having characteristics of its own earmarked by the influx of interest in the Classical style of Ancient times. The return to the classics span across all aspects of science and art. Many important events came from this era, including a surge in human awareness appropriately called “Humanism”, the re-visiting classic art styles from Ancient Roman and Greek times, and a boom in scientific discoveries.
“Today, there is a popular consensus that the term ‘Renaissance’ refers to a profound and enduring upheaval and transformation in culture, politics, art and society in Europe between the years 1400 and 1600” (Brotton 9). Science was at the forefront of this expansion because of the speed at which technology advanced communication. With the invention of the printing press, education boomed and suddenly producing accurate copies of important books of the time was no longer a major time consuming process. Not only that, but now information in textbooks could continuously be updated as scholars began to better understand and learn more about their subject areas. This newfound availability of literature helped spur the movement of Renaissance Humanism.
The Vitruvian Man in Renaissance Architecture: Man’s image as a source of inspiration for architectural order, proportion and beauty. In the early stages of the Renaissance, notions regarding all aspects of art which included architecture began to evolve from the preceding cultural movement as Renaissance artists and architects sought for more simplistic forms of expression in comparison to the complex, geometrics that was utilized in the Middle Ages. The movement began on a scholarly level but was linked with technological, ecclesiastical and economic changes and given its European locality, it provided a powerful stimulus for the development of fine art and engineering. This was coupled with a concern to seek unity with the whole classical world of Greece and Rome. Artists and Architects in Italy began looking at ancient artefacts, structures and scriptures for inspiration in seek of a new ‘truth’ and thus Humanism was born.
Some refer to the Renaissance as a rebirth, as the root of the name suggests, and also view this time as a bridge to modern society. (Renaissance, n.d.) The Renaissance period influenced all aspects of life. With the attention back to early Roman culture, there was a movement in politics toward democracy. Paintings and sculptures
Renaissance, as a word, equates to rebirth or revival. The “rebirth” or renewed interests during the Renaissance period arrived in two parts. The first being renewed interest in all aspects of ancient Greek culture, followed by the renewed interest in all aspects of ancient Roman culture. Along with the ancient teachings came a movement of humanism, or singularity stressing the importance of the individual. Artists fixated on realistic, communicative paintings and sculptures following this trend.
As for his painting career, there is only a few paintings he is fully credited for or recognized as his work. In his paintings, he has had help and collaborated with his pupils that passed as apprentices in his workshop. A couple of the most famous of his pupils include Leonardo Da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi. Whenever Verrocchio didn’t finish something, he would leave it to someone else to put some finishing touches. He left amazing art behind soon died of an unknown cause in 1488.
His face is grimaced in concentration, his muscles are contracted and taunt, and unlike the sculptures of Michelangelo and Donatello, Bernini's David is wearing clothes. Donatello, the first of the three artists to make a David, made history when he created this masterpiece. It became the first free-standing bronze sculpture that stood on its own completely unsupported and in nude form in the Renaissance period. At 5.5 feet in height and 1.8 feet in diameter at the base, Donatello’s David shows David standing with his left foot on top of the head of Goliath. The figure holds the sword that he took from Goliath in his right hand, and the rock with which he slew the giant in his left.
Jeffrey Hurwit, historian of ancient art at the University of Oregon, points out that while Greek war heroes are often depicted as nude, “in combat nakedness was suicidal” (Binns). However, while scholarship on the nude in art history has historically focused on Greece, Ellen Graves, associated lecturer in the arts at the Open University in Scotland, argues that this history goes back much further, to 25,000 BC and a “tiny statuette” known as the Willendorf Venus, which depicts a naked, “corpulent female” (Graves). This statuette was undoubtedly a fertility symbol, as fertility symbols of this nature are prevalent in Indian temple art that dates from the first century BC (Graves). Also, in early depictions of the nude males, such as those appearing in cave paintings, and early Egyptian and Mesopotamian art also has fertility connotations (“The Nude…History”). However, in Greek art, the nude takes on a different function, as Greek art memorialized “real people,” as well as gods and “godlike mythical heroes” (Graves).