Renaissance Art

The influence of humanism during its first two hundred years transformed much of Europe’s intellectual and creative activity. New inspirations were found, in fields as different as political theory and epic poetry, among the writers of Greece and Rome. Military strategy was rethought; universities changed their curricula. But the most spectacular impact was on the visual arts, whose radiance and originality have come to represent the era as a whole. The very appreciation of genius was a by-product of humanist thought and helped transform the artist into one of the most honored and admired figures in society.

Theodore K. Rabb, Renaissance Lives

Categories of Renaissance Art

Architecture

Painting

Sculpture

Textiles (tapestries)

Manuscript illumination

Gardens

Filippo Brunelleschi, dome of Florence Cathedral (1420-36)

Leon Battista Alberti, San Francesco, Rimini (begun 1451)

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese. Third story and attic by Michelangelo (1548).

Michelangelo, St. Peter’s Basilica, 1546-1564. Dome completed by Giacomo Della Porta in 1590.

Chateau de Chambord, France, begun 1519.

Juan de Herrera, The Escorial, near Madrid, Spain (1563-84)

Fra Angelico, Annunciation, (1440-1445), Florence.

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, (1482). Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man, (1489-90). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (1503-05). Louvre, Paris.

Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin, 1504. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Raphael, Philosophy (School of Athens), 1509-11. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome.

Michelangelo, ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508-12

Hubert and Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece (1432). Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium.

Matthias Grunewald, Resurrection, 1510-15. Colmar, France.

Albrecht Durer, The Four Horsemen, from the Apocalypse series, (1498). Woodcut. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Peasant Dance, 1567. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Donatello, David (1428-32). Bronze. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Donatello, Mary Magdalene (1454-55). Wood. Baptistery, Florence.

Antonio Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, 1475. Bronze. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Michelangelo, Pieta, 1498-1500. St. Peter’s, Vatican, Rome.

Michelangelo, David, 1501-04. Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence.

Mary of Burgundy Painter. Page with Mary at her Devotions, in Hours of Mary of Burgundy. Before 1482. Embroidered cloak. Vienna.

Unicorn at the Fountain (1498-1500), from the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestry series. Wool, silk, and metal thread. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Paul, Herman, and Jean Limbourg, Page with February (1414-16). Chantilly, France.

Though more associated with the Middle Ages, this illuminated manuscript is from the early Renaissance.

The following are obviously recreations of Renaissance gardens.