ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

Renaissance is the epoch of Humanism and the Revival of Learning born in Italy after revival of the culture and science of Italy and the whole western world. The human being, the beauty and the joy of this life were now the center of attention.

The earlier Tudor period was a time of transition from the late medieval to Renaissance culture. The new architecture imported from Italy had little in common with the Gothic style. With the interest to classics there came a tendency to the ancient forms and styles in architecture and art. It was in early 16 th century that the influence of the Italian Renaissance architecture was really felt in England in the pure classical lines of Inigo Johnes the example of this style was the Whitehall palace. Christopher Wren, a very outstanding architect used the classic forms with great purity and correctness. After the great fire of London he rebuilt a great number of churches, cathedrals, palaces, houses of the rich people of London. St. Paul’s cathedral is a good example of this style.

Architects and painters were invited from Italy and other western countries. Many of them, though being foreigners were allowed to enrich British culture and are generally treated by historians as the founders of the English school of painting, as for instance Hans Holbein Junior, an outstanding German painter. He depicted all details of the sitter’s appearance. His portraits were so realistic, that they expressed the sitter’s character, his thoughts, and his inner life. English portrait painting started from Hans Holbein Junior’s works. The wealthy houses were soon filled with portraits of ancestors often painted by provincial painters imitating Holbein. Rubens and Van Dyck, the great Dutchmen are also revered as creators of English painting for they were attracted by the English titles and agreed to be treated as English painters.

One of the most famous representatives of the English Renaissance culture was Thomas More, lawyer, scholar, writer, and statesman. His great work was “Utopia” published in Latin in 1516, a scathing satire on feudalism and the emerging capitalism, on the government and society of England.

The description of contemporary England with all the evils of poverty for the many and luxury for the few is made in striking contrasts to the island of “Utopia” where there is not private ownership of land and industrial tools, where community of goods, a national system of education, the rule of work for all. More does not condemn the feudal system, sad assurance that the new system, based on money is no smaller evil. He looks forward the new fair social society with no exploitation, equal rights to all members of the society.

The second stage of Renaissance in England was the age of the theater. In the first period it was the time of “morality play” and the “mystery play”. The theater reflected the reality of those days, showing the political antagonism of the society. There were also plays by classical Greek and Roman tragedians staged by university students. The first theaters were mobile. The actors staged their plays on the squares, markets, taverns and roadside inns.

In 1576 the first theater was built in London by a group of actors and soon theaters appeared everywhere – rough and primitive structures, roofless and curtainless, seating some thousand people.

The third stage of Renaissance epoch was characterized by increasing decay of drama.

Inner history

The speed of the development of language was lesser than in Middle English. The language developed quickly at the beginning of this period and slower – at the end (with the exception of the word stock which develops equally quickly during the whole period). When the literary norm was formed, it, being always very conservative, prevented the change of the language that is why the speed of the development slowed down.

Renaissance is the French word for rebirth. It is the time of change that happened in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries.

It was an age of growth in Europe. New, powerful city states emerged. A new middle class had more and more money to spend. Great artists, writers and thinkers lived during this time.

During the Middle Ages many people who lived in the countryside worked on the land that they got from the noblemen. In return, they were protected by them.

City life changed towards the end of the Middle Ages. There was a small middle class population and people had more freedom than in the countryside.

The Plague

Between the middle and the end of the 14th century, the plague, also called "Black Death" killed almost half of Europe"s population. It spread most rapidly in the larger cities where many people lived.

This led to economic depression. Merchants and traders had fewer people to sell their goods to, so they lost a lot of money.

The new middle class

When the plague slowly decreased in the 15th century, the population in Europe began to grow. A new middle class emerged -bankers, merchants and tradespeople had a new market for their services.

People became wealthier and had more than enough money to spend. They began to build larger houses, buy more expensive clothes and get interested in art and literature.

The middle class population also had more free time, which they spent learning foreign languages, reading, playing musical instruments and studying other things of interest.

The Renaissance was especially strong in Italian cities. They became centres of trade, wealth and education. Many cities, like Venice, Genoa and Florence had famous citizens who were very rich and gave the city a lot of money.

Exploration and trade

Exploring the seas and sailing to other continents became very important during this era. Sailors had better instruments and maps, ships were built so that they could endure longer journeys. Most of them had big sails that were driven by strong winds.

Portuguese navigators started to explore the western coast of Africa from which they brought gold and ivory home. Later on they discovered that sailing around the southern tip of Africa would bring them to India and Asia. These places offered spices, valuable cloths and silk. Explorers brought them home and sold them to wealthy families in Europe.

After Columbus had discovered America in 1492, many Spanish, French and Italian explorers followed. The Spanish were the most successful. They conquered much of Central and South America and brought home gold and silver from the Inca and Aztec empires.

Printing

In 1445 the German Gutenberg invented the printing press. He changed the lives of millions of people throughout Europe. For the first time, bookmaking became cheap and Gutenberg was able to print many books very quickly.

In the Middle Ages books were very expensive because they were written by hand. Only priests and monks could read them because most of them were written in Latin.

In the Renaissance the middle classes had the money to buy books but they wanted books that they could read in their own language. A publishing boom broke out and buying and selling books began to prosper in many European countries. People bought travel books, romances, poetry and almanacs. They read more and became better educated.

Humanism

The printing of books led to a new way of thinking. Scholars of the Renaissance returned to the writings of Greek and Roman philosophers. These writings are called the "classics". More and more scholars learned to read Greek and Latin and studied old manuscripts on topics like science, art and life.

During the Middle Ages people were guided by the church, which was against wealth, trading goods and other worldly interests. Humanists, however, did not believe that much in religion. They thought that money and trade were important in life and that citizens needed a good general education.

During the Renaissance a churchman named Martin Luther changed Christianity. In 1517 he wrote a list of things that he didn"t like about the church and posted them on the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Luther also wanted the church to hold masses in German instead of Latin so that people could understand them better. Many other Christians agreed that the church was in need of change. Luther and others founded new religions and split away from the Roman Catholic Church.

Art and architecture

In the Renaissance artists and architects used mathematics to plan their works. They discovered that many objects in nature have a certain proportion. They called this the golden mean. It is often found in the shape of a leaf or in the form of buildings. Many of them found out that the human body also displayed proportions. Renaissance architects built new buildings that were symmetrical.

Artists of the Renaissance started to experiment with perspective in their works. They learned that if they made an object smaller and put it in the background of a picture it appeared farther away. They also painted with more realism than earlier artists.

Many great artists of that time started their studies or worked in Florence. Michelangelo was the most famous artist of the Renaissance. He studied painting and sculpture in Florence, where he created his famous sculpture of David for the Florence cathedral. In his later life he painted the ceiling of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican-probably his most famous painting.

Florence

Although changes took place everywhere in Europe, Florence was the centre of the Renaissance. Fifteenth century Florence was an exciting place to be. At that time the city was independent and had a population of about 60,000.

12 guilds controlled trade in the city. The members of these guilds were very rich and held high positions in the city"s government. They also gave the city a lot of money.

Most powerful among the guilds were the textile workers. Florence was the centre of cloth making and cloth trading. Wool of excellent quality came from England. In Florence the raw material was cleaned, spun, dyed and woven. The finished material was very expensive and sold in other European cities.

Another source of income was banking. Many families of Florence were successful bankers. They even produced a gold coin, the "florin", which became popular in all of Europe. The most famous bankers were the Medici. They controlled Florence up to the beginning of the 18th century.

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the most famous people of the Renaissance period. He was not only a famous painter but also studied science, designed machines and drew plans for new inventions.

Young Leonardo grew up near Florence and studied painting with the great painters of the city. After a few years in Milan, where he painted for a famous duke, he came back to Florence and painted a new hall for the city council.

In his paintings da Vinci experimented with many techniques that artists hadn’t used before. For example, he started to use perspective in his paintings. He put small objects in the background to make them appear far away. He also experimented with light, shade and colours.

The Adoration of the Kings is an unfinished painting. You can only see the figures as outlines of light and dark areas. In this painting he shows three kings who worship the Christ child.

Da Vinci finished painting The Last Supper in 1497. The painting shows the last meal of Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles. In the picture Jesus has just announced that one of them will betray him. He created this famous scene on a wall of a dining room in a monastery.

Mona Lisa is probably the most famous painting ever painted. It is a portrait of the young wife of a Florentine silk merchant. It shows a young woman with her famous smile sitting on a balcony high above a landscape.

Da Vinci"s other interests

Leonardo was interested in mechanics and he had ideas that no one had thought about before. For example, he drew plans for an airplane, a helicopter and a parachute. He sometimes worked as an engineer or military architect and designed tanks, machine guns and bridges that could be moved.

Leonardo showed great interest in the human body. He dissected dead people in order to study bones and other parts of the body. He also made drawings to show how the human body worked. Like other artists, da Vinci was interested in the proportions of the human body. In his drawing of the Vitruvian Man , he showed that a human being fits perfectly into a circle and a square. It is one of the most famous pictures of European art.

Nature and the growth of plants and trees was also one of da Vinci"s fields of interests. He tried to find out what made birds fly.

Later on, da Vinci started writing books on many of these topics but never completed them. They were forgotten but when they appeared again centuries later, they showed that Leonardo da Vinci was much ahead of his time.

Source: National Geografic site

By Tom O"Neill

[Примечание переводчика - А.П.Чехов говорил: "Больных становится больше потому, что больше становится врачей". Если переиначить, то шедевров становится больше потому, что становится больше специалистов по шедеврам.]

Bianca Sforza attracted few stares when introduced to the art world on January 30, 1998. She was just a pretty face in a frame to the crowd at a Christie"s auction in New York City. Nobody knew her name at the time, or the name of the artist who had made the portrait. The catalog listed the work-a colored chalk-and-ink drawing on vellum-as early 19th century and German, with borrowed Renaissance styling. A New York dealer, Kate Ganz, purchased the picture for $21,850.

Бианка Сфорца поначалу не привлекла пристальных взоров, когда появилась в мире искусства 30 января 1998 года. Просто милое лицо в рамке среди многочисленных лотов на аукционе Кристи в Нью-Йорке. Тогда никто не знал её имени, как и имени создателя этого портрета. По каталогу она значилась как цветной рисунок на пергаменте мелом и чернилами [неизвестного] немецкого художника начала 19-го века с элементами стиля Ренессанса. Кейт Ганц, коллекционер из Нью-Йорка, купила эту картину за 21850 долларов.

The price hadn"t budged almost ten years later when a Canadian collector, Peter Silverman, saw Bianca"s profile in Ganz"s gallery and promptly bought it. The drawing might actually date from the Renaissance, he thought. Ganz herself had mentioned Leonardo da Vinci, that magical name, as an influence on the artist. Silverman came to wonder, What if this is the work of the great Leonardo himself?

Десять лет цена картины оставалась прежней, пока профиль Бианки не увидел в галерее Ганц канадский коллекционер Питер Силвермен. Он немедленно купил эту картину. Ему показалось, что она действительно могла быть написана в период Ренессанса. Сама Ганц упоминала магическое имя Леонардо да Винчи, который мог оказать влияние на создателя картины. И Сильвермен задумался: а что, если это и есть работа самого великого Леонардо да Винчи?

That someone could walk into a gallery and buy a drawing that turns out to be a previously unknown Leonardo masterpiece, worth perhaps $100 million, seems pure urban myth. Discovery of a Leonardo is truly rare. At the time of Silverman"s purchase, it had been more than 75 years since the last authentication of one of the master"s paintings. There was no record that the creator of the "Mona Lisa" ever made a major work on vellum, no known copies, no preparatory drawings. If this image was an authentic Leonardo, where had it been hiding for 500 years?

Это выглядит как миф чистой воды: некто заходит в галерею и покупает рисунок, который оказывается ранее неизвестным шедевром Леонардо да Винчи стоимостью около 100 миллионов долларов. Новые открытия картин Леонардо случаются очень редко. Когда Сильвермен купил эту картину, прошло 75 лет со времени последней находки картины гениального мастера. И нигде не было сведений о том, что создатель "Моны Лизы" писал на пергаменте, не было известно никаких копий таких работ, никаких рисунков-этюдов для них. Если это подлинный портрет кисти Леонардо, то где он прятался 500 лет?

Silverman emailed a digital image of Bianca to Martin Kemp. Emeritus professor of art history at Oxford University and a renowned Leonardo scholar, Kemp regularly receives images, sometimes two a week, from people he calls "Leonardo loonies," convinced they have discovered a new work. "My reflex is to say, No!" Kemp told me. But the "uncanny vitality" in the young woman"s face made him want a closer look. He flew to Zurich, where Silverman kept the drawing in a vault. At 13 by 9¾ inches, it is roughly the size of a legal pad. "When I saw it," Kemp said, "I experienced a kind of frisson, a feeling that this is not normal."

Силвермен по электронной почте направил цифровое фото Бианки Мартину Кемпу - почётному профессору истории искусств Оксфордского университета и широко известному специалисту по Леонардо да Винчи. Кемп постоянно получает такие фотографии, порой по паре в неделю, от "фанатиков Леонардо да Винчи", убеждённых, что они нашли новую работу художника. Кемп рассказал мне: "Моей рефлекторной реакцией было сказать "Нет!" Но "непостижимая живость" лица молодой женщины заставила его присмотреться внимательнее. Он полетел в Цюрих, где Сильвермен хранил этот рисунок в специальном хранилище ценностей. Размером рисунок - с блокнот с отрывными страницами: 13 на 9,75 дюймов. Кемп говорит: "Я испытал нервную дрожь при первом взгляде на картину, почувствовав её необычность".

That initial shiver of excitement compelled Kemp to embark on his own investigation. He was aided by high-resolution multispectral scans by Pascal Cotte of Lumiere Technology in Paris, allowing Kemp to study the drawing"s layers, from first strokes to later restorations. The more Kemp looked with his connoisseur"s eye, the more he saw what he considered evidence of Leonardo"s hand-how the hair bunched beneath the strings holding it in place, the beautiful modulation of colors, the precise lines. Shaded areas showed distinctive left-handed strokes just like Leonardo"s. The expression, poised but pensive, the look of someone growing up too fast, conveyed Leonardo"s maxim that a portrait should reveal "motion of the mind."

Это содрогание заставило Кемпа начать собственное исследование картины. Паскаль Котт из парижской компании Lumiere Technology помог провести высокоточное (много)спектральное сканирование картины, что позволило Кемпу проследить наложение слоёв от первых штрихов до позднейшей реставрации. Глазом знатока Кемп всё больше узнавал манеру письма Леонардо да Винчи - строение кисти, прекрасные цветовые переходы, точность линий. На затенённых участках ясно виделись мазки левой рукой, характерные для Леонардо. Выражение лица, уравновешенное, но задумчивое (как у девочки, быстро становящейся взрослой) соответствовало творческому кредо Леонардо о том, что портрет должен показывать "движение души".

Kemp also needed proof that the portrait had been made during Leonardo"s lifetime (1452-1519) and that its historical particulars fit the artist"s biography. The vellum, probably calfskin, had been carbon-dated, its origin placed somewhere between 1440 and 1650. Costume research revealed that the sitter belonged specifically to the Milanese court of the 1490s, with its fashion for elaborately bound hair. Leonardo lived in Milan during this time, accepting commissions for court portraits. Stitch marks on the edge of the portrait suggested that it came from a book, possibly one commemorating a royal marriage.

Кемпу нужно было доказать, что портрет был создан при жизни Леонардо (1452-1519) и что его художественные особенности соответствуют биографии художника. Провели радиоуглеродный анализ возраста пергамента (он, скорее всего, сделан из кожи телёнка), который показал время между 1440 и 1650 гг. Исследование костюма показало, что на картине придворная дама из Милана 1490-х годов. Тогда была мода на сложную укладку волос с лентами. Как раз в это время Леонардо жил в Милане, писал там придворные портреты. Следы переплёта на краю портрета наводят на мысль, что он вырван из альбома - возможно, посвящённого королевской свадьбе.

Kemp"s detective work led him to a name, Bianca Sforza. An illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Milan, she was married in 1496 to Galeazzo Sanseverino, commander of the Milanese troops and a patron of Leonardo"s. Bianca was 13 or 14 at the time of the portrait. Tragically, she died a few months later, likely from an ectopic pregnancy, a not uncommon fate for young court brides. Kemp named the drawing "La Bella Principessa," the beautiful princess.

Детективная работа Кемпа позволила раскрыть имя девушки на портрете - Бианка Сфорца. Её, незаконную дочь герцога Милана, в 1496 году выдали замуж за Галеаццо Сансеверино, командира миланских войск и патрона Леонардо да Винчи. Портрет написан, когда Бианке было 13 или 14 лет. Она трагически умерла несколько месяцев спустя при (эктопической) беременности, что случалось тогда нередко. Кемп назвал этот рисунок "Прекрасная принцесса".

In 2010 Kemp and Cotte published their findings in a book. Several prominent Leonardo scholars agreed, others were skeptical. Carmen Bambach, curator of drawings at New York"s Metropolitan Museum of Art, was quoted as saying that the portrait simply "does not look like a Leonardo." Another scholar thought the image too "sweet." The specter of a high-quality forgery was raised. Doubt seemed to collect around the portrait"s sudden, almost miraculous appearance. Where had it come from?

В 2010 году Кемп и Котт опубликовали книгу о своих исследованиях. Несколько выдающихся специалистов по творчеству Леонардо приняли их выводы, другие проявили скепсис. Кармен Бамбах, куратор отдела рисунка в Метрополитен Музее Нью-Йорка, как говорят, заявил, что портрет "просто не похож на работу Леонардо". Другой эксперт признал портрет слишком "приторным". В воздухе стал витать призрак высококачественной подделки. В центре сомнений оказалось внезапное, почти чудесное появление портрета. Откуда он взялся?

Kemp didn"t know. Then, almost like divine intervention, a message came from D. R. Edward Wright, emeritus professor of art history at the University of South Florida. Having followed the very public dispute, Wright suggested to Kemp, whom he had never met, that his answer might lie in the National Library of Poland in Warsaw, inside a book called the Sforziad . Wright, an expert on Renaissance iconography, described it as a deluxe commemorative volume for the marriage of Bianca Sforza, a fit occasion for a Leonardo portrait.

Этого Кемп не знал. И вдруг, как по божественному изволению, пришло сообщение от Д.Р. Эдварда Райта, прочётного профессора истории искусства университета Южной Флориды. Он следил за публичными спорами насчёт картины и высказал Кемпу (с которым не был знаком) предположение, что разгадка может находиться в Национальной библиотеке Польши в Варшаве, в книге под названием "Сфорциада ". Райт, специалист по иконографии Ренессанса, сообщил, что этот роскошный альбом был создан к свадьбе Бианки Сфорца, что могло стать подходящим поводом для создания её портрета Леонардо да Винчи.

Funded by a National Geographic Society grant, Kemp and Cotte traveled to Warsaw. Cotte"s macrophotography revealed that a folio had been removed from the exact place in the Sforziad where a portrait would have been added. The moment arrived when they inserted a copy of Bianca"s portrait into the open book. It fit perfectly. For Kemp, this was the clincher: " ‘La Bella Principessa" was a one-off portrait by Leonardo that had gone into a book and then onto a shelf."

С помощью Национального географического общества Кемп и Котт выехали в Варшаву. Макрофотографии Котта обнаружили точное место в альбоме "Сфорциада", откуда был изъят портрет. Они вставили копию портрета Бианки в открытый альбом. Совпадение было идеальным. Для Кемпа это положило конец сомнениям: "Прекрасная принцесса" написана Леонардо для этого альбома, но позже была отделена от него.

According to Wright, the volume reached Poland in the early 1500s, when a member of the Sforza family married a Polish royal. The leaf was sliced out, possibly at the time of the book"s rebinding in the 17th or 18th century. The trail grows faint here. What is known is that at some point it was acquired by an Italian art restorer, whose widow put it up for sale at Christie"s.

Согласно Райту, этот альбом попал в Польшу в начале 16-го века, когда кто-то из семьи Сфорца сочетался браком с кем-то из семейства польских королей. Возможно, портрет был вырван из альбома при его повторном переплетении в 17-ом или 18-ом веке. Затем следы портрета теряются. Известно, что позже его приобрёл один реставратор из Италии, вдова которого и выставила портрет на продажу на аукционе Кристи.

Authenticating a centuries-old artwork, especially a potentially rare, extremely valuable Leonardo, is seldom a clear-cut, objective process. Ego, personal taste, and fear of litigation all get tangled up in the judgment. To reach wider consensus, Kemp sent his latest findings to a number of leading specialists. Almost all refused comment, including for this article. Agreement "will take time," concedes Kemp, "but I have clear confidence in where I am." One thing is sure. Should the day come when Bianca Sforza"s face hangs in a museum as a true Leonardo, everyone will stare.

Установление подлинности произведения искусства, созданного несколько веков назад, - особенно такого редкого и ценного, как картина Леонардо да Винчи - почти никогда не бывает простым и чисто объективным. Личные эго, личные вкусы, страх судебных процессов - всё это влияет на принятие решения [о подлинности]. Чтобы достичь широкого консенсуса, Кемп разослал свои последние научные выводы ведущим специалистам. Почти все отказались комментировать, в том числе и для нас. Кемп говорит: "Чтобы прийти к согласию, необходимо время. Но я полностью уверен в своих выводах". Одно можно сказать точно. Если настанет день и Бианку Сфорца вывесят в музее как подлинную работу Леонардо да Винчи, то все будут смотреть на неё пристально.

[Примечание переводчика - кажется странным, что если портрет был вырван из альбома, то, скорее всего, в этом альбоме "Сфорциана" он был не единственным, нарисованным Леонардо да Винчи. Почему же не исследуют другие рисунки свадебного альбома?]

The Renaissance (1400-1520 AD)

The Renaissance was "A revival or rebirth of cultural awareness and learning that took place during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, particularly in Italy," according to Art In Focus. It followed the Middle Ages, and was basically a time of the revival of learning after the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, a time with little increase of ideas, inventions or developments. During the Renaissance, art was a branch of knowledge. It was a way to show God and his creations, as well as a science, of anatomy and perspective. Also during the Renaissance there were many people who used art as a way to record discoveries and inspired people to take pleasure in the world around them.

In 1452 AD, a genius named Leonardo da Vinci was born in a small town called Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a local lawyer. When he was small he loved to draw pictures of plants, insects, flowers, animals, and birds. When Leonardo was in his teens his father took him to Florence, Italy, to study at the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. When Leonardo was twenty, he was so good at painting that he helped his art teacher finish his painting. Not only was Leonardo an artist, but he was also an architect, musician, sculptor, scientist, inventor, and mathematician. He kept detailed records of all of his inventions in his notebooks, which he wrote backwards so nobody could steal his ideas. One of his sketches in his notebook was of a skull. He used lines possibly to measure the length and the width of the human head. He might have done this to be able to paint the human head in proper proportion, and more life like. Leonardo painted very realistically, as you can see in the painting Ginevra de’Benci, which is of a young lady. Another advancement of Leonardo’s was to make his backgrounds very detailed and in proper aerial perspective. The techniques he might have used in his paintings are as follows: He would first cover a wood panel with gesso then, rough in the figures on the panels. The major forms were then modeled in a brownish tone. He would also use his fingers as well as his palms for the under molding. He would then use a fine "minever" brush for details. Leonardo was a genius in his approach to art and many other areas of study.

Another great artist of this time was Michelangelo Buonarroti. He was born near Florence, Italy, in 1475 AD. When he was thirteen, he learned a lot about art while walking through the streets on his way to school. He recorded mentally images he saw in ever day life. His teacher was Domencio Ghirlandio, a very famous artist. Ghirlandio taught Michelangelo many things, but none more important than the art of fresco. Fresco is painting on wet plaster, so that when the plaster dries, the paint is part of the wall. It is very useful because the paint will not flake off and will last for a very long time. Michelangelo used this technique while painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Although Michelangelo was a good and prolific painter, he enjoyed sculpting the most. One of his most famous statues is the Pietа. Every one loved it and found it hard to belive that such a young artist sculpted it at the age of twenty-four. He sculpted it out of a large block of marble. Another of his paintings was The Crucifixion of St. Peter. This painting showed how well Michelangelo could paint the anatomically correct human figure, and his use of proportion correctly. It is apparent that he paid a lot attention to details as well. Michelangelo, as well as Leonardo, were both geniuses in art and paved the way for other great artist of this time period and time periods to come.

The Renaissance was period of time when art was very important. It was a way for people to not only express them selves, but a science as well. The death of Raphael signals the end of the Renaissance and the rise of mannerism, which lead into the Baroque Period.

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The Renaissance

When the
Renaissance began in the 14th century, art began to take on a different level
of expression as time passed by. The 16th century marked a period where the
Renaissance was believed to have reached its peak in Renaissance art. This period
was known as the High Renaissance and lasted from 1500 to 1527.

The period
involved a shift in artistic style and objectives as well as a shift to Rome and the Papal court.
The church continued to be the greatest patron of the arts, where they had reached
the peak of its influence in Rome.

Famous artists working for the church during
the time started painting works of art that contained similar characteristics
of the Early Renaissance, only much more improved. One of the main
characteristics of paintings was the construction of ideal harmony and balance.

The
artists that became famously known in the High Renaissance had worked on their
advancements in the artistic styles and techniques from the earlier
Renaissance. By looking back at how they achieved this, I will use Correggio’s
Virgin and Child with Young St. John the Baptist to see how ideal harmony
balance was specifically constructed.

The
fourteenth century marked a painful transition from the medieval period to the
world of the Renaissance. Its beginning was burdened with disaster and racked
by war which had led many people to produce changes about the European society.
Moving in towards the Renaissance, new stirrings such as realistically
portrayed art were brought in, including the significance of the unique talents
and potential of many individuals. Florence
became a place for talented artists and the power of the banking families
played a large part in the patronage of the arts. Artists began signing their
works and producing art that was turned away from the religious subject to a
depiction of the natural world. Advancement in artist’s work included
representation of perspective, use of space by making it look uncluttered, a
clear focal point, unity, clarity, and use of muted colors.

However,
this representation was not enough for the great artists of the High
Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo revealed not only the
complete mastery of the earlier advancements in the Renaissance, but also
represented ideal qualities and harmonious compositions. If the artists of the
Early Renaissance in Florence
had created and worked hard to introduce the techniques and styles of
Renaissance art, then these artists were responsible for taking art to a level
of noble expression by mastering those techniques. Art took in a toll in
becoming more geometrically precise, more realistic, mathematically accurate,
subjects showed more signs of emotion and movement, and more detailed
backgrounds were present. It was Pope Julius II who commissioned such artists
to produce fine pieces of art carrying these characteristics.