HUMANISM AND RENAISSANCE ART

1. Watch this seminar course on line to understand the influence of Humanism in Renaissance Art (double click on the picture on top, The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, to watch the video)

2. After watching and grasp the main ideas of this subject, watch it one more time and fill the gaps of the transcript.

3. Why, according to the video, do some of these pictures shape renaissance ideas? Write the possible answer under each one of them. 

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Jessica has taught junior high History and college seminar courses. She has a master's degree in Education.

In this lesson, we will be discussing Renaissance art, focusing primarily on paintings, sculptures, and architecture. We will also be learning how humanism affected the art of this time period.

 Hi, it's me, Jessica, your history instructor for the day. Today we'll be discussing Renaissance art, from painting to __________ to architecture. Our goal for this lesson will be to grasp how the intellectual philosophy of __________, or the belief in the independence and value of man, __________ the famous artwork of the Renaissance. In order to do this, I've made a scrapbook for us to look at together, filled with some of my favorite Renaissance pieces.

 However, before we get to the scrapbook, let's quickly review the definition of the Renaissance - it was a period beginning in the late __________. During this period, people began taking an interest in the learning of earlier times, especially the cultures of ancient __________ and __________. As the French word implies, it was a rebirth of the appreciation and study of classical times.

 Renaissance paintings of Mary did not contain the __________ that was __________ in earlier works. Comparing Madonna and Child Paintings.

Now on to my scrapbook. On our first page, we have the famous Madonna and Child in Glory, painted by Cione somewhere around the year 1360 AD. Notice how Mary is very __________ in the picture and has an ornate halo of gold. It's like the artist wanted to emphasize that she and the child are __________ beings, not of this world, and above common man.

Now take a look at the painting on the left. This one is Bugiardini's Madonna and Child with St. John, painted about 150 years later in the year 1510 AD. In this painting, Mary and the child look very __________. Mary has no halo, and the halos of Jesus and John are very __________, almost translucent. Even more interesting - notice how the __________ of the two paintings differ. In the earlier painting, the background seemed ethereal, or almost __________, while the latter painting has a natural, Earthly __________. This is a great example of one of the main effects humanism had on Renaissance art - works became centered around the human individual and the Earthly experience rather than the heavenly realms.

 Let's continue. On the next page, we have Raphael's famous Deliverance of St. Peter next to Bellis' Liberation of St. Peter. Raphael's was painted in 1514, while Bellis painted his somewhere around 1665. Notice again how the earlier painting of Raphael's emphasizes the angel with a heavenly glow [brillo] as the backdrop [fondo], while Peter was also given a solid halo. Now contrast this with the very realistic __________ of Bellis' work, in which the angel looks very _________, and Peter sports no halo at all.

 This concept can also be seen in the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. This famous piece of artwork found its place on the ceiling of the _________ somewhere around 1512. Notice, again, how Michelangelo placed Adam in a natural landscape, with natural man as the emphasis of his painting. In fact, God himself is depicted as ________, in human form, he's no larger than Adam, and he's surrounded by very human-looking angels.

 This is also mirrored in Da Vinci's The Last Supper, painted in the late 1490s. This painting shows Jesus as a man with no _________ features at all.

The idea that humans were worth painting in their natural form was also heralded by Leonardo da Vinci in his well-known, uber-famous Mona Lisa. When Da Vinci created this famous lady, somewhere between the years 1503-1519, he opted to focus solely on humanity without any ___________ themes. This trend is also seen in Carracci's The Bean Eater, painted somewhere around 1582, and Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted somewhere in the year 1665.

 This move toward humans standing ________ as a valid theme in art is also seen in the sculptures of the day. Again, take a look at Michelangelo's famous David of 1504. In this one, you can definitely see the humanistic influence in Michelangelo's work - how he strove to capture the human essence of David through sculpture.

Jesus was painted without a halo in this famous painting. Last Supper Jesu: no Halo. This is also seen in his earlier work, The Pieta, sculpted in 1499, and his latter work, Moses, crafted around 1515. Again, these two works show Biblical characters in their humanity with no halos or supernatural trappings.

A second effect of humanism on Renaissance art was the imitation, or the rebirth, as the word 'Renaissance' implies, of the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. During the medieval period of history, most art produced was centered on the Church. However, as humanism took hold [arraigar], the Greek and Roman ideals of human beauty were also reborn. Take a look at Botticelli's 1486 rendering of The Birth of Venus and Raphael's 1509 fresco The School of Athens. These two works focus on Greek history and mythology with no 'head nod' [asentimiento de cabeza] to the church.

Bandinelli also gave kudos to the Roman culture with his sculpting of Hercules and Cacus during the years 1525-1534.

This move toward ancient Greek and Roman cultures also heralded the return of logic and accuracy to art, a concept earlier works had generally abandoned. Compare the 12th century work of Mary Magdalen Announcing the Resurrection to the Apostles to the realistic accuracy of Pierro della Francesca's 15th century The Flagellation of Christ. Notice how the latter work of Francesca uses perspective - the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface, so as to give the right impression of their height, width, and depth.