Renaissance Art

Revision
 Renaissance Architecture
• Berpizkundeko arkitektura XV.mendearen hasiera eta
between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in
different regions of Europe, in which there was a
conscious revival and development of certain elements of
Classical Greek and Roman thought and material culture.
• The Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry,
proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they
are demonstrated in the architecture of Classical antiquity
and in particular, the architecture of Ancient Rome, of
which many examples remained.
• Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as
well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical
domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more complex
proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval
buildings
 Renaissance Architecture
• Historians often use the following
designations:
– Renaissance (ca. 1400–1500); also known as
the Quattrocento and sometimes Early
Renaissance
– High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525)
– Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600)
 Renaissance Architecture
• Quattrocento
– In the Quattrocento, concepts of architectural order
were explored and rules were formulated. The study of
classical antiquity led in particular to the adoption of
Classical detail and ornamentation.
– Space, as an element of architecture, was utilised
differently to the way it had been in the Middle Ages.
Space was organised by proportional logic, its form and
rhythm subject to geometry, rather than being created
by intuition as in Medieval buildings. The prime example
of this is the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence by
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446
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• High Renaissance
– During the High Renaissance, concepts derived
from classical antiquity were developed and used
with greater surety. The most representative
architect is Bramante (1444–1514) who expanded
the applicability of classical architecture to
contemporary buildings. His San Pietro in Montorio
(1503) was directly inspired by circular
Roman temples. He was, however, hardly a slave to
the classical forms and it was his style that was to
dominate Italian architecture in the 16th century
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• Mannerism
– During the Mannerist period, architects experimented with
using architectural forms to emphasize solid and spatial
relationships. The Renaissance ideal of harmony gave way to
freer and more imaginative rhythms. The best known
architect associated with the Mannerist style was
Michelangelo (1475–1564), who is credited with inventing
the giant order, a large pilaster that stretches from the
bottom to the top of a facade. He used this in his design
for the Campidoglio in Rome.
– Prior to the 20th century, the term Mannerism had
negative connotations, but it is now used to describe the
historical period in more general non-judgemental terms
 Berpizkundeko arkitektura

• Characteristics of Renaissance architecture:

– The obvious distinguishing features of Classical Roman
architecture were adopted by Renaissance architects.
However, the forms and purposes of buildings had
changed over time. So had the structure of cities.
– Among the earliest buildings of the reborn Classicism
were churches of a type that the Romans had never
constructed. Neither were there models for the type of
large city dwellings required by wealthy merchants of the
15th century.
– Conversely, there was no call for enormous sporting
fixtures and public bath houses such as the Romans had
built. The ancient orders were analysed and
reconstructed to serve new purposes
 Berpizkundeko arkitektura
• Elements: Plan
– The plans of Renaissance buildings have a square,
symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually
based on a module. Within a church the module is often
the width of an aisle.
– The need to integrate the design of the plan with the
façade was introduced as an issue in the work of Filippo
Brunelleschi, but he was never able to carry this
aspect of his work into fruition. The first building to
demonstrate this was St. Andrea in Mantua by Alberti.
– The development of the plan in secular architecture
was to take place in the 16th century and culminated
with the work of Palladio
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Palladio: Villa Capra or

Rotonda
Alberti: San Andres Mantua
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• Elements: Facade
– Façades are symmetrical around their vertical axis.
Church facades are generally surmounted by a pediment
and organized by a system of pilasters, arches and
entablatures. The columns and windows show a
progression towards the centre.
– Domestic buildings are often surmounted by a cornice.
There is a regular repetition of openings on each floor,
and the centrally placed door is marked by a feature
such as a balcony, or rusticated surround. An early and
much copied prototype was the façade for the Palazzo
Rucellai (1446 and 1451) in Florence with its three
registers of pilasters
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 Renaissance Architecture
• Elements: Columns and Pilasters
– The Roman orders of columns
are used:- Tuscan, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian and Composite.
– The orders can either be
structural, supporting an
arcade or architrave, or purely
decorative, set against a wall in
the form of pilasters.
– During the Renaissance,
architects aimed to use
columns, pilasters, and
entablatures as an integrated
system.
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• Elements: Arches
– Arches are semi-circular or (in the
Mannerist style) segmental. Arches are
often used in arcades, supported on
piers or columns with capitals.
– There may be a section of entablature
between the capital and the springing
of the arch.
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• Elements: Vaults
– Vaults do not have ribs.
– They are semi-circular or segmental
and on a square plan, unlike the Gothic
vault which is frequently rectangular.
– The barrel vault, is returned to
architectural vocabulary.
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– dome is used frequently, both as a very large

structural feature that is visible from the exterior,
and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where
they are only visible internally.
– Domes had been used only rarely in the Middle Ages,
but after the success of the dome in Brunelleschi’s
design for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and its
use in Bramante’s plan for St. Peter's Basilica (1506) in
Rome, the dome became an indispensable element in
church architecture and later even for secular
architecture, such as Palladio's Villa Rotonda.[12]
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• Elements: Ceilings
– Roofs are fitted with flat or coffered
ceilings.
– They are not left open as in Medieval
architecture.
– They are frequently painted or
decorated.
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• Elements: Doors
– Door usually have square lintels.
– They may be set within an arch or surmounted by a
triangular or segmental pediment.
– Openings that do not have doors are usually arched and
frequently have a large or decorative keystone..
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• Elements: Windows
– Windows may be paired and set within a
semi-circular arch. They may have square
lintels and triangular or segmental pediments,
which are often used alternately.
– Windows are used to bring light into the
building and in domestic architecture, to give
views.
– Stained glass, although sometimes present, is
not a feature.
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• Elements: Walls
– External walls are generally of highly-finished ashlar masonry, laid
in straight courses.
– The corners of buildings are often emphasised by rusticated
“quoins”.
– Basements and ground floors were often rusticated.
– Internal walls are smoothly plastered and surfaced with white-
chalk paint. For more formal spaces, internal surfaces are
decorated with frescoes.
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• Elements: Details
– Courses, mouldings and all decorative details are carved
with great precision.
– Studying and mastering the details of the ancient Romans
was one of the important aspects of Renaissance theory.
The different orders each required different sets of
details.
– Mouldings stand out around doors and windows rather
than being recessed, as in Gothic Architecture.
– Sculptured figures may be set in niches or placed on
plinths. They are not integral to the building as in
Medieval architecture
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• Influences of the Italian Renaissance:
– Italy never fully adopted Gothic style.
– Independent cities influenced in the movement of
artists.
– Cities had a prosperous trade.
– The return of the Pope to Rome gave new impetus to
religiosity.
– The development of printing made possible the
expansion of ideas and the desire of acquiring
knowledge.
– Humanism made of the man the centre of Univers.
– Patronage made possible artists’ work.
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• Cuattrocento : Brunelleschi
– Bere elementu esanguratsuena ordena da.
– Erromako aztarnen artean agertu ziren eraikuntzetan orden
matematiko sinple bat zegoela ikusi zuen. Bazegoen norma bat
Erromatar arkitekturan —arku semizirkular baten zabalera
bere altuerako bikoitza da.
– Erromatar arkitekturako ikerketa honetatik simetria eta
proportzioarekiko zaletasuna etorri zen eta eraikuntzak
kontuan hartzen dira bere osotasunean beste detaileak haien
arteko eraginak izaten.
– Lanak: Florenziako Katedraleko kupula, Hospital degli
Innocenti, San Lorenzo
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 Renaissance Architecture

• Quattrocento: Michelozzo
– He was an architect under the patronage of the Medici
family, his most famous work being the Palazzo Medici
Riccardi. A decade later he built the Villa Medici at Fiesole.
– He was one of the first architects to work in the
Renaissance style outside Italy.
– The Palazzo Medici Riccardi is Classical in the details of its
pedimented window and recessed doors, but, unlike the
works of Brunelleschi and Alberti, there are no orders of
columns in evidence. Instead, Michelozzo has respected the
Florentine liking for rusticated stone. He has seemingly
created three orders out of the three defined rusticated
levels, the whole being surmounted by an enormous Roman-
style cornice which juts out over the street by 2.5 meters.
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• Quattrocento: Alberti
– Alberti perceived the architect as a person with great social
responsibilities.
– He designed a number of buildings, but unlike Brunelleschi,
he did not see himself as a builder in a practical sense and
so left the supervision of the work
– Dynamic buildings.
– Triumphal façades marked by extreme contrasts. Projection
of the order of pilasters that define the architectural
elements.
– The light and shade play dramatically over the surface of
the building.
– Works: San Andres of Mantua, Palazzo Rucellai and Santa
Maria Novella.
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• High Renaissance: Bramante

– In Rome Bramante created what has been described as "a
perfect architectural gem", the Tempietto in the Cloister
of San Pietro in Montorio. This small circular temple marks
the spot where St Peter was martyred. The building adapts
the style apparent in the remains of the Temple of Vesta,
the most sacred site of Ancient Rome. It is enclosed by
and in spatial contrast with the cloister which surrounds it.
– Bramante went on to work at the Vatican where he
designed the impressive Cortili of St. Damaso and of the
Belvedere. In 1506 Bramante’s design for Pope Julius II’s
rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica was selected, and the
foundation stone laid.
– Works: San Pietro in Montorio, Santa Maria delle Grazie
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• High Renaissance: Sangallo
– His fame rests upon his association with the
Farnese Palace, “the grandest palace of this period”,
started in 1530.
– The impression of grandness lies in part in its sheer
size, (56 m long by 29.5 meters high) and in its lofty
location overlooking a broad piazza. It is also a building
of beautiful proportion, unusual for such a large and
luxurious house of the date in having been built
principally of stuccoed brick, rather than of stone.
Against the smooth pink-washed walls the stone quoins
of the corners, the massive rusticated portal and the
stately repetition of finely-detailed windows give a
powerful effect, setting a new standard of elegance in
palace-building.
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• Mannerism: Michelangelo
– Michelangelo’s dome of Saint Peter was a masterpiece of design using
two masonry shells, one within the other and crowned by a massive
lantern supported, as at Florence, on ribs. For the exterior of the
building he designed a giant order which defines every external bay,
the whole lot being held together by a wide cornice which runs
unbroken like a rippling ribbon around the entire building.
– Laurentian library: It is a long low building with an ornate wooden
ceiling, a matching floor and crowded with corrals. But it is a light
room, the natural lighting streaming through a long row of windows
that appear positively crammed between the order of pilasters that
march along the wall. The vestibule, on the other hand, is tall, taller
than it is wide and is crowded by a large staircase that pours out of
the library, and bursts in three directions when it meets the
balustrade of the landing. It is an intimidating staircase, made all the
more so because the rise of the stairs at the centre is steeper than
at the two sides, fitting only eight steps into the space of nine.
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• Mannerism: Palladio
– Palladio was to transform the architectural style
of both palaces and churches by taking a different
perspective on the notion of Classicism.
– When he used the “triumphal arch” motif of a
large arched opening with lower square-topped
opening on either side, he invariably applied it on a
small scale, such as windows.
– This Ancient Roman motif is often referred to as
the Palladian Arch.
– Works: Villa Capra, San Giorgio Maggiore.
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• Geography: France
– During the early years of the 16th century the
French were involved in wars in northern Italy,
bringing back to France not just the Renaissance
art treasures as their war booty, but also stylistic
ideas.
– In the Loire Valley a wave of building was carried
and many Renaissance chateaux appeared at this
time, the earliest example being the
Château d'Amboise (c. 1495) in which Leonardo da
Vinci spent his last years. The style became
dominant under Francis I .
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 Berpizkundeko arkitektura
• Geography: Netherlands
– As in painting, Renaissance architecture took some time to
reach the Netherlands and did not entirely supplant the
Gothic elements.
– In the early 17th century developed the Amsterdam
Renaissance style, not slavishly following the classical style
but incorporating many decorative elements, and giving a
result that could also be categorized as Mannerism.
– Local characteristics include the prevalence of tall narrow
town-houses, the "trapgevel" or Dutch gable and the
employment of decorative triangular pediments over doors
and windows in which the apex rises much more steeply than
in most other Renaissance architecture, but in keeping with
the profile of the gable.
Berpizkundeko arkitektura
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• Geography: England
– Renaissance architecture arrived in England during the reign
of Elizabeth I, having first spread through the Low countries
where among other features it acquired versions of the
Dutch gable, and Flemish strap work in geometric designs
adorning the walls. The new style tended to manifest itself in
large square tall houses such as Longleat House.
– The first great exponent of Renaissance architecture in
England was Inigo Jones (1573–1652), who had studied
architecture in Italy where the influence of Palladio was very
strong. He began to design such buildings as the Queen's
House at Greenwich and the Banqueting House at Whitehall.
These works, with their clean lines, and symmetry were
revolutionary in a country still enamoured with mullion
windows, crenelations and turrets
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• Geography: Spain
– In Spain, Renaissance began to be grafted to Gothic
forms in the last decades of the 15th century.
– The new style is called Plateresque, because of the
extremely decorated facades, that brought to the mind
the decorative motifs of the intricately detailed work
of silversmiths, the “Plateros”.
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– Classical orders
and candelabra
motifs (a
candelieri)
combined freely
into symmetrical
wholes.
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– architects as Pedro Machuca, Juan
Bautista de Toledo and Juan de
Herrera there was a closer adherence
to the art of ancient Rome, sometimes
anticipating Manierism, examples of
which include the palace of Charles V in
Granada and the Escorial.
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