European Art and History



High Renaissance and Reformation

History

During the 16th century, early Renaissance Humanism underwent a radical shift. Its medieval roots and often uncritical acceptance of the authority of Classical texts slowly gave way to a critical exploration of new ideas, the natural world, and distant lands in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The authority of the pope was even questioned in the movement known as the Reformation. The influential writings and leadership of important reformers, such as Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany, led to the establishment of Protestant churches in Northern Europe. And, at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Roman Catholic hierarchy responded with a program to counter the Reformation.

During this period, travel in Europe became easier and safer. Since artists journeyed from city to city, even from country to county, styles, and techniques became less regional and more international. Also, artists moved away from fresco painting and began using oil on canvas. Artists became sought-after international celebrities, and their social status rose as painting, sculpture, and architecture came to be seen as liberal rather than manual arts, requiring intellectual activity, not simply a technical skill.

Introduction

• Renaissance Humanism shifted its focus to a critical exploration of new ideas, the natural world, and distant lands.
• Important reformer Martin Luther and the counter-Reformation Council of Trent shaped Protestant and Catholic establishments.
• Travel became easier, which led to greater cultural exchange.

Mannerism

• A new style (Mannerism) developed in Florence and Rome in the 1520s that art historians have associated with the death of Raphael.
• This movement was characterized by artificiality, grace, and elegance over ordered balance.
• Artists distorted conventions and created contrived, mysterious forms. Figures have elongated proportions, complicated artificial poses, mysterious gestures, and dreamy expressions.

The Reformation and the Arts

• Against a backdrop of broad dissatisfaction with financial abuses and decadent lifestyles among the clergy, religious reformers within the Catholic Church began to challenge its specific practices and beliefs, especially the sale of indulgences (guarantees or relief from the punishment required after death for forgiven sins).
• Catholic priests and important early reformers Desiderus Erasmus (1466-1536) and Martin Luther (1483-1546) began to question the pope's supremacy and attempted to break away in a Reformation.
• The Protestant church formed and Rome launched a Counter-Reformation.

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper, wall painting in the refectory, monastery of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. 1495–1498.

• The Last Supper, painted in the refectory of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, was a defining work of Renaissance art.
• Leonardo arranged the disciples in four groups of three as they flank the stable, pyramidal form of Jesus in the middle.
• The scene is set in stage-like recession, with the orthogonals of the one-point linear perspective converging at the head of Jesus.
• Figures are modeled in chiaroscuro.


Michelangelo - Last Judgment

Michelangelo. Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel. 1536–1541.

The Last Judgment is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo covering the whole altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. The dead rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ who is surrounded by prominent saints. Altogether there are over 300 figures, with nearly all the males and angels originally shown as nudes; many were later partly covered up by painted draperies, of which some remain after recent cleaning and restoration.


Raphael - Philosophy or The School of Athens

Raphael. Philosophy or The School of Athens. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome. 1510–1511.

In the 15th century, a tradition of decorating private libraries with portraits of great thinkers was common. Raphael took the idea to a whole new level with massive compositions that reflected philosophy, theology, literature, and jurisprudence. There are 57 scholars in the painting, with Plato and Aristotle in the center. Plato points to the sky and Aristotle points to the ground. Raphael must have a deep understanding of the differences between the two of them in philosophical principles and they can debate different views together, so let them be on both sides of the central equally, and the vanishing point of the central happens to be concentrated between them. Interestingly, Raphael painted Plato into Leonardo's appearance and Heraclitus as the face of Michelangelo; and Raphael himself, incarnate as a young man in the corner, looked towards the viewer.