1.2 - High Renaissance

Question 1

What happened in the High Renaissance?

Answer 1

Began around 1485 or 1490. Focus shifted from Florence to Rome due to the wealth and power of the popes. This power was provided especially by Pope Julius II, patron of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Pope Leo X. Rome had now become a city in which the 2 major national traditions of Italy converged, classicism and christianity. One generation long the High Renaissance was a short but important period that was very influential on future art.

Question 2

How did the High Renaissance end? Give 2 possibilities.

Answer 2

1. The period came to a close at the death of Raphael in 1520 because his paintings are widely held to epitomize the Renaissance style. 2. Ended when Rome was sacked and burned by troops serving the Holy Roman emperor Charles V in 1527. Many artists fled the city, thereby further spreading the ideas of Italy over western Europe.

Question 3

How did the High Renaissance continue Early Renaissance interest?

Answer 3

In humanism, classicism and individualism, artist and authors perfecting some of the ideas of their Early Renaissance predecessors and developing ideas of their own.

Question 4

How did the reinvention of Rome go?

Answer 4

1. In the middle of the 15th century Pope Nicholas V had close ties to the Florence humanists. With them, he began to rebuild Rome´s ancient churches and began to assemble a massive classical library, paying humanist scholars to translate ancient Greek texts into Latin and Italian. 2. Archeological discoveries led to Rome´s reinvention as the classical center of learning and art. Sixtus established a museum in 1747 to house several discoveries. 3. Sixtus IV commissioned the Sistine Chapel. Classical sculpture was placed in the Vatican´s sloping gardens.

Question 5

Chiaroscuro

Answer 5

a technique developed by Leonardo da vinci, for modeling forms in light and dark.

Question 6

Sfumato

Answer 6

painting technique developed by leonardo da vinci, in which the outlines of objects are hazy, as if in a smoky atmosphere.

Question 7

Venetian oil painting

Answer 7

surrounded by water and built over a lagoon, humidity made fresco painting impossible in Venice. from 1475, poil painting (pigments mixed with linseed oil) was developed in the netherlands and fresco painting in venice gradually ceased.

the use of oil on canvas led to a new kind of painting. applying colors in glazes (layers of transparant color), painters were able to create a light that seemed to emanate from the depths of the painting itself.

The texture of the canvas itself was exploited. Stroked over a woven surface the brush deposits more paint on top of the weave and less in the crevices. This textured surface in turn catches actual light, leading to an almost shimmering vibrancy.