The Role Of Humanism In High Renaissance Art

The High Renaissance (1490-1527) was a period of Italian painting that had the qualities of harmony and balance with dignified, calm movement. It was also a time when painterly techniques of linear perspective, vanishing points, shading (chiaroscuro and sfumato) and other methods of realism were mastered. There were significant changes in the development of early sixteenth century Venetian paintings, in particular, Titian’s paintings during the High Renaissance. I’ve chosen Gallery 607 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art because it has the works of Titian, who was one of the greatest Venetian artists, well known for his remarkable use of color and for his appealing renderings of the human form. Titian created rich, luminous images by layering

oil paint onto canvas. However, like many of the Renaissance painters, Titian showed an interest in humanism, which was highlighted in several of his artworks. I’ll be looking at three of Titian’s paintings, these include, Madonna and Child 1508, Portrait of a Man 1515 and Venus and Adonis 1554. In particular, I’ll be focusing on the relationship between these paintings; this relationship is that they were all influenced by Renaissance humanism. Humanism caused not only an increased awareness of realism of the figures, but also an appreciation for humankind and the celebration of human achievement. The major impact of humanism was that it changed the way in which figures were painted in the middle ages and brought a sense of stability and order to art.
During the period of the High Renaissance there were several discoveries that rocked the foundations of theology, along with many assumptions about human life. In his book, Interpretations of Renaissance Humanism, the author Mazzocco, lists these discoveries. In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. Then in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, causing upheaval throughout the country. However, in the same year, there was the rise and fall of the fanatical cleric Girolamo Savonarola in Florence, which severely shook Florentine art in the process. In 1512, Copernicus placed the sun (not the earth) at the center of the visible universe. While in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, triggering the Reformation and plunging much of Europe into chaos. Finally, in 1522 Magellan circumnavigated the world, proving that the earth was not flat. Indeed, the years between 1490 and the fall of Rome in 1527 saw a huge outpouring in Italy of all the visual arts. This golden age, perhaps the most creative era in the history of art, set the standards in both fine art painting and sculpture for centuries to come.
Mazzocco defines Humanism as “a system of thought that focuses on humans and their values, capacities, and worth; a cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized human potential to attain excellence and promoted direct study of the literature, art, and civilization of classical Greece and Rome.” In other words, Humanists were more curious about life in the present and focused on the achievements of the individual.

Hence, instead of religious issues, humanists examined worldly subjects that the ancient Greeks and Romans had studied. This led the people of the Renaissance to become interested in other areas of science, the natural world, biology and astronomy. Humanism had direct effects on Renaissance paintings, as the artists, in particular Titian, incorporated these new ideas in his paintings. Firstly, ordinary people grew to be the same size as saints, and saints began to look more like ordinary people. Secondly, halos became fainter and eventually disappeared. Thirdly, the natural landscape began to appear as a background in paintings, unlike the Middle Ages, when artists represented figures of heaven against a gold background. In fact, the natural landscape introduced the idea of atmospheric perspective. Fourthly, artists became famous for their work, and the human body was depicted in anatomical accuracy, and frequently nude. The perfect human type had proportions, muscular structure, oval face, triangular forehead, straight nose, and balance with the weight on one hip. Lastly, the use of mathematical perspective to represent three-dimensional space in paintings was invented. These ideas that were influences from humanism, laid the foundation of how art would develop in the years that

followed.