Art during the Renaissance

Themes & Techniques of Renaissance Art : 

Themes & Techniques of Renaissance Art By Ashley Kotcho

Themes : 

Themes Renaissance artists painted a broad variety of themes. Religious altarpieces, cycles, and small works for private devotion became very popular. For inspiration, painters frequently turned to Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend, a highly influential source book for the lives of saints that had already had a strong influence on many artists.

More Themes : 

More Themes The Renaissance artists wanted paintings that showed delight in human beauty and life’s pleasures. Renaissance art is more lifelike than in the art of the Middle Ages. These artists studied perspective, which is the differences in the way things look when they are close to something or far away. As a result, their paintings seem to have depth.

Painting and the Church : 

Painting and the Church Most of the paintings during the Renaissance period were specially made by or for the Catholic Church. These works were often large and painted in fresco of the Life of Christ, the Life of the Virgin or the life of a saint, particularly St. Francis of Assisi. There were also many symbolic paintings on the theme of Salvation and the role of the Church. Along with large altarpieces, small pictures were produced in huge numbers, for churches and for private individuals.

Portraitures : 

Portraitures Portraiture became common during this time, initially often formal profile portraits but gradually more three-quarter face and bust-length portraits. Patrons of art works such as altarpieces and fresco cycles were often depicted in the scenes, a distinguished example being the addition of the Sassetti and Medici families in Ghirlandaio's cycle in the Sassetti Chapel.

Florentine Techniques : 

Florentine Techniques Tempera and fresco are two techniques favored by the Florentines during this time. A dry surface, such as a wooden board, was used for tempera painting and it was covered with numerous coats of plaster in glue, and then the composition was copied from a drawing. The colors were tempered with vegetable or egg albumin.

More Techniques : 

More Techniques The fresco technique was often used for murals in churches. This technique involved painting on wet plaster. Some other techniques artists used during this period are foreshortening, sfumato, chiaroscuro, balance and proportion.

Painting Effects : 

Painting Effects Chiaroscuro is the painting effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. Balance and proportion is the use of proper sizes and the use of airy, bright colors.

Foreshortening and Sfumato : 

Foreshortening and Sfumato Foreshortening is the effect of artists shortening lines in drawings to create an illusion of depth. Sfumato is the method of blurring sharp features by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth.

Giotto di Bondone : 

Giotto di Bondone Giotto di Bondone, the first artist to paint using these styles, painted a series of frescos illustrating scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. He was able to show the human figures with a convincing appearance of mass and solidity. This gave them a sense of dignity and nobility, which improved both the human interest and the religious feeling of the paintings.

Three Dimensional Images : 

Three Dimensional Images In the Renaissance, art was closely connected to science because many artists strove for the mastery of the physical world. The art of painting profited greatly from the study of anatomy, which helped to create a more accurate image of the human body. Art now became three dimensional images on two dimensional surfaces.

Works Cited : 

Works Cited http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/07.html http://www.mrdowling.com/704-art.html http://wwar.com/masters/movements/renaissance.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Renaissance_painting#Techniques http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance_painting#Themes