How to look at Art

Art of the Renaissance

Important Points:

Frescoes - a painting on wet plaster, plaster has lime in it. The paint becomes part of the plaster.

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/m/michelan/3sistina/

Oil Paint - Until the Renaissance period, pigments were mixed into egg yolk. The medium dryed very fast and was unable to provide intense and varied colors.

Renaissance artists used layers of translucent paint to create a luminous effect.

Secular as well as sacred subjects. Sometimes mixed.

Perspective - depth

Techniques of Chiaroscuro, sfumato, contrapposto

htttp://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/joconde.jpg

http://www.ea.pvt.k12.pa.us/htm/units/upper/arts/a/kids/digital/janice/pages/Examples.htm

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/character_animation/contrapposto.htm

Realism

Use of color

Striving for balance

The last supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1498

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/leonardo/lastsupp.jpg.html

Examples - David

The Story of David

Sculptures of David

Art for people

Late renaissance - Development of the Mannerism Style - A European art movement and style that developed between 1520 and 1600. It was a style that rejected the calm balance of the High Renaissance in favor of emotion and distortion. Works of art done in this style reflected the tension that marked Europe at this time in history.

Christ on the Cross adored by Donors, El Greco 1585-90

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/greco/donors.jpg

daVinci

Gesso - A thick, water-base paint commonly formed of plaster, chalk, or gypsum bound together with a glue. Gesso is used in manuscript illumination as a ground for some gilding processes, since it forms a raised surface ideal for burnishing and tooling. Methods of gesso preparation varied.

chiaroscuro (It. "light dark") - In painting, the modelling of form (the creation of a sense of three-dimensionality in objects) through the use of light and shade. The introduction of oil paints in the 15th century, replacing tempera, encouraged the development of chiaroscuro, for oil paint allowed a far greater range and control of tone. The term chiaroscuro is used in particular for the dramatic contrasts of light and dark introduced by Caravaggio. When the contrast of light and dark is strong, chiaroscuro becomes an important element of composition.

Sfumato: technique in painting where there are no abrupt outlines - one form is blended into another - foreground into background.

http://www.ea.pvt.k12.pa.us/htm/Units/Upper/arts/a/kids/digital/Allison/da Vinci/da Vinci2.htm corners of the mouth was considered in that period a sign of elegance. Thus Mona Lisa has that slight smile which enters into the gentle, delicate at

Contrapposto is a sculptural technique in which one hip is lower than the other because a knee has been bent or a leg has been moved forward or backward. It shows the artist's better understanding of anatomy. It is first exhibited in the ancient Greek Kritikos Boy, and can also be seen in Michelangelo's David.

http://www.fact-index.com/c/co/contrapposto.html

list of links for art

Venus - Botticelli

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/b/botticel/allegory/venus.html

Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, 1334 Jan van Eyck

http://www.lanecc.edu/artad/ArtHistoryProgram/20-12-13.htm

The last supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1498

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/leonardo/lastsupp.jpg.html

Mona Lisa, da Vinci 1503

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/joconde.jpg

http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/l/leonardo/04/index.html

Lady with an Ermine, da Vinci 1483