Phases Of Renaissance Art

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"Known as the Renaissance, the period immediately following the Middle Ages in Europe saw a great revival of interest in the classical learning and values of ancient Greece and Rome" according to the article "Renaissance Art" from History.com. Starting in Italy, the movement spread throughout Europe over a course of time. During this period many changes happen to the world of art. The Renaissance can be divided into phases. The first of these phases is referred to as the Early Renaissance. According to the article "The Renaissance" by Shelley Esaak states “Early Renaissance generally means artistic goings-on in the Republic of Florence between the years 1417 and 1494.” There a numerous reasons this movement all began in Italy; Italy was among …show more content…

“In barely twenty-five years, from shortly before 1500 to about 1520, some of the most celebrated works of Western art were produced" (Getlin 372). Two well-known artists were from this period; Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Leonardo is often known as a “Renaissance man” as he was good at many things. Study of Human Proportions is a well-known investigation of his, in which he related the human body to a square and circle to establish ideal proportions of the body. (Getlin 372) In Living With Art it states “Leonardo’s interest in mathematics is also evident from his careful rendering of perspective.” Michelangelo first had a reputation of being a sculptor. He was commissioned to sculpt the biblical hero David in which it shows his debt to classical sculptures, but it was not a simple restatement of Greek art, for it shows Renaissance characteristics. (Getlin 373) “The Greeks knew how bodies looked on the outside. Michelangelo knew how they looked on the inside, how they worked, because he had studied human anatomy and had dissected corpses. He translated this knowledge into a figure that seems made of muscle and flesh and bone, through all in marble” (Getlin 373). Another characteristic is the sculpture has tension and energy; David is not so much standing in repose as standing in readiness. (Getlin 373) “Classical Greek statues tended to have calm and even vacant expressions. But David is young and vibrant- and angry, …show more content…

(Essak) “The Northern Renaissance style evolved gradually out of the late Middle Ages, as artists became increasingly entranced with the myriad details of the visible world and better and better at capturing them”(Getlin 378). Art differed dramatically in the northern countries of Western Europe from Italy. “Northern artists did not live among the ruins of Rome, nor did they share the Italians’ sense of a personal link to the creators of the Classical past” (Getlin 378). Whereas the Italian 's were obsessed with structure, accurate perspective and the underlying musculature of the body; the northern artists perfected their skill at rendering the precise outer appearance of their subjects.(Getlin 381) Northern Renaissance artists focused on detail, showed works with middle-class and peasants, had a lot of decoration and interest 's in landscape. A newly developed medium of oil paint was formed and artists were turning to paint on panel with this.(Getlin 380) Albrecht Durer visited Italy in attempt to fuse the Northern love of meticulous observation with the Italian idea and discovers because he thought Northern art relied too much on instinct and lacked a firm grounding in theory and science.(Getlin 382) From the book it states "Protestant reforms of the 16th century included an

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