Humanities & Classics 1002
|
|
Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
    |
|
Since we have spent a good deal of time on the art of the Renaissance, I thought some of you may want to know a few interesting bits of trivia about the people and works we have seen.
Leon Baptiste Alberti: Remember him? He introduced the idea of perspective to the Renaissance thinker. He was a fantastic architect and he had a particular interest in churches. However, he never got to build his "Ideal Church"---here are the guidlines he would have followed if this project ever materialized: 1) Based on a circular, or centrally planned design (preferably circular) 2)Raised up on a platform, so as to remove it from the common place life- this would give the church the "dignity" it deserved 3)Built in an open city square, isolated so that the people could view it from every angle 4)Constructed of white marble- "purity" 5)Contain a hemispherical dome as a reference to the heavens 6)Have paintings, both inside and outside, of heros/saints of the church.....the closest thing to this idealized church ever actually constructed was the "Tempietto", or small temple built by Bramante in Rome, 1502
Michelangelo: This guy was a master at his craft- he was first and foremost a sculptor. So, when he was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, where do you suppose he went for inspiration? To sculpture, of course! Two sources are known to have influenced Michelangelo's painted figures. The first was the portal door of a Bologna, Italy church designed and executed by the artist Jacopo. He is not a very famous artist today, but Michelangelo saw Jacopo's expression of Biblical events (creation of Adam, creation of Eve, the temptation of Eve, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden) and was moved by the long, fluid lines. They seemed to sweep through the engravings and give the figures life; creation from an inertial state. In addition to this door, Michelangelo was able to be present in Rome in 1506 when a group of Hellenistic (Greece, 200-250 BC) statues was unearthed. The one which particularly caught his eye is commonly know today as the Laocoon, which shows a father and his two sons fighting a group of deadly serpants. These figures are extremely compressed- their every muscle is tense as they combat the evil that will surely destroy them. It is an heroic stuggle---what could be more perfect to express the creation of man? Michelangelo began to paint the Sistine ceiling in 1508, and if you look at his human figures, especially the ignudi (nudes that frame the main painted planes), you will see that they are in every conceivable contorted pose...these are figures of ACTION- they are not stiff and lifeless---what a revolutionary idea!
Leonardo da Vinci: I know that there are too many websites to count about this man, but here are just a few interesting facts: First, his Vitruvian figure (man in a circle). Ever wondered WHY he put it in a circle? Well, it was (and still remains) a common belief that God created man in his own image. The circle, in the eyes of God, is thought to be the most perfect form. -SO- man, an physical image of God's perfection, should justly fit into the most perfect shape---it all makes sense if you think of it that way! (Also, this idea influenced Alberti's ideal church plan, which, if you remember, was circular).......And what techniques do you suppose Leonardo used to exalt his holy figures? The same techniques used for centuries before and after. Here's a brief list: oval face, geometrically encompassed forms, logical order, supranatural beauty (idealized), intensity of color, make the figure the focal point of the painting, the occasional halo or hint of a halo, flowing garments, make the other figures more angled or awkward or active, show the figure frontally immobilized, make the other figures seem drawn to the image you want stressed---these things are now common place among artists, but Leonardo was one of the first people to join them all in one painting......one last tidbit on LdV- when he applied to paint the "Last Supper" in a cloisters in Milan, he listed his military values and abilities first, because he felt that the supreme "art" of the Renaissance was war. At the very end of this very long letter, he casually added that, if asked, he could "paint with the best of men"- hmmmm...shows the confidence he had in his many individual talents, eh? Now there's the Renaissance, all wrapped up in one neat human package!
If any of you actually made it to the bottom of these ramblings of mine, BRAVO! Hope that at least some of it was of interest and that you learned something you didn't know before! CIAO!