Class notes
Class Notes: Arts, Culture and History
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Class notes taken during the elective CC9001 "Arts, culture and history" at Erasmus University Rotterdam
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The Renaissance in ItalyPrelude
• Vasari: The Lives
• Calls it “Rinascimento” for the first time
• Rebirth of classical Roman and Greek empires
• 5-14th century was seen as dark and barbaric
• In the 19th venture Burchhart recognises the Renaissance as a new era
• Flaws of calling it rebirth
• Most of the ideas were actually born in the Middle Ages already
• There is a lot of beautiful art from the Middle Ages
General characteristics
• Renaissance = rebirth + idealisation of classical antiquity
• Critical reading of greek and latin philosophical texts
• Ad fontes: back to the sources
• Middle Ages
• Most knowledge based on reinterpretation of greek, Hebrew, and latin texts by christian minks
• Compare and translate original texts into vernacular
• Translated texts could be shared
• Gutenberg printing press
• Only the elite was able to read and write
• Elaborate study of classical architecture and sculpture
• Rediscover and further develop ideas
• Example: pantheon in rome
• Develop new styles and techniques based on antiquity but better
• Started in Italy because there are many antique remains
Humanism
• Late 14th century
• Individual as a starting point
• In the MA: christianity was the starting point
• Individualism
• Uomo singolare (individual)
• Uomo universale (versatility)
• From a theocratic worldview to an anthropocentric worldview
• People can take their life into their own hands
• Combine christianity and antique ideas
• Life is a gift from god, make something of it
• A person can develop themselves
• Through education and training
• Italy as a breeding ground
• Embodied new ideals of civic virtue
• Italians wanted to move away from gothic art
• The goths were responsible for the fall of the roman empire
• Father of humanism: Petrarca
• Learning is the key to a virtuous life
• Life is an eternal quest for knowledge
• Also: Pico della Miranda
• Believed he was given a unique assignment by god
• Humanist ideas in art and culture
• Subject matter: biblical and secular themes and subjects
• Cult of the genius
• Idea of successful artist and public honour
• No longer regular craftsmen
• Search for representation and understanding of reality
• Roots of rationalism and the scientific revolution
• Perspective
• Personal empirical observation
, • Artists try to represent reality
• More focus on research and experiments
• i.e. da vinci
• Develop tools to represent reality
• Example: linear perspective, sfumato (blurry elements in distance, blue and grey is
emphasised), foreshortening (when an element is in front of you), chiaroscuro (use of
contrast to create perspective)
Early Renaissance
• Transition from late MA
• Florence as a catalyst
• Most urbanised region in Europe
• Autonomous city states
• Medici family
• Rich families carried power
• Used art to accentuate their power
Painting
• Giotto di Bondone
• Late MA
• First time applying perspective
• Scrovegni chapel, Padova, 1303-06
• Masaccio
• First “real” renaissance artist
• Painted the patrons of his artworks
• New form of patronage
• Piero della Francesca
• Interest in portraiture
• “Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, ca. 1465
• Diptyque
• Sandro Botticelli
• Birth of venus, 1486
• Neo-platonistic worldview
• Earthly beauty is a reflection of heavenly beauty
• Nudity, idealised beauty
Architecture
• Direct copying of ancient styles and themes
• New idiom: “All’Antica”
• Emphasis on order, balance, symmetry, logical construction
• Leon Battista Alberti
• Facade of sant’andrea, Mantova, 1470
• Triangular pediment, triumph arch, colossal corinthian pilasters
• Height = width (square)
• Rational theory of beauty
• Based on nature
Sculpture
• Free standing sculpture
• No longer part of the architecture
• Large nudes
• Contraposto pose
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Sculptures still part of the architecture
• Porta del paradiso, baptistry, florence, 1424-52
• Donatello
• Saint George, 1415-17
• Only attached at the feet
• David, 1435 or 1430-50, or 1444-46
• Sheepherder David who defeated the giant
• Before he was always depicted as a king or a shepherd
• Here he is depicted as an adolescent
• First use of the Contraposto pose since antiquity
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