Pala Di San Zaccaria

This important renaissance era painting is titled, “Pala Di San Zaccaria”. This altarpiece was painted and completed in 1505. The artist, Giovanni Bellini lived from 1430 to 1516. Bellini created his masterpiece by using oil on a canvas, transferred from wood. The famous work by Giovanni Bellini hangs 402 cm long and 273 cm wide. This means that in the San Zaccaria Church, “Pala Di San Zaccaria” takes up over 13 feet in length and almost 9 feet wide. Currently, this work is located in the San Zaccaria Chruch, Venice, Italy.

“Pala Di San Zaccaria”, painted in 1505, was arguably created at the highest point in the Italian Renaissance. The altarpiece is a great example of the renaissance’s style and new artistic techniques. To begin, “Pala Di San Zaccaria” shows it’s classic style through it’s religious significance; a painting of the virgin Madonna. To stress the paintings christian importance, the historical and priceless painting is still located in the cathedral is was originally painted for. “Pala Di San Zaccaria” also can be seen as an Italian Renaissance work because of its use of realism. The painting displays its realism through perspective of the background, anatomy of the characters’ different posture and facial expressions, and lighting which gives the canvas depth. Lastly, Giovanni Bellini’s painting can be recognized from the renaissance era because it mimics Roman ideas like the dome and the arch. “Pala Di San Zaccaria”‘s features and artistic techniques can easily show it’s audience it was painted during the high Italian Renaissance.

Crouching Boy

“Crouching Boy” is a famous sculpture from the high renaissance era by the vastly famous artist, Michelangelo. Michelangelo, one of the three most famous artists of the Italian Renaissance, was a painter and sculpture who lived from 1475 to 1564. The sculpture itself is a 54 cm tall model, almost 2 feet high. “Crouching Boy”, like many of the other popular renaissance sculptures, is made from white marble. Michelangelo took from 1530 to 1534 to perfect his work of classic Italian Renaissance art. The statue today is currently located in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

Michelangelo’s sculpture remains significant to the Italian Renaissance because if its rich image that mirrors the techniques and ideas of Michelangelo’s time. Firstly, “Crouching Boy” shows it’s classic style through the intricate design of the human figure. Mimicking the other works of the renaissance era, “Crouching Boy” displays breathtaking realism and anatomical similarity. The figure fits every description of renaissance human form like “godly perfection”, different facial expressions, perspective, and most obviously, anatomy. uncharacteristically, the statue does not show a clear religious background. Lastly, Michelangelo’s “Crouching Boy” resembles common Italian Renaissance art because of its Greek and Roman inspirations. Just as Rome made impressive columns and sculptures from marble, Michelangelo used white marble to create his 2 foot masterpiece, “Crouching Boy”.

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

This work, titled “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” is a 16th century painting by an artist named Jan Steen. The artist lived from 1625 to 1679. This specific masterpiece was completed by using oil on wood in the year 1671. “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” is one of the last great works of art from the ending renaissance era. This painting set the stage for the next generation of art: Baroque. This painting, although historically significant to the eras of Italian Renaissance and Baroque arts, received most of its fame due to the fact that it was stolen during WWII. As the Nazi Party put cities all over Europe up in flames, they managed to steal hundreds of valuable paintings from museums. Years later after the Nazi Party fell and the war ended, the rightful owner to “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” reclaimed Jan Steen’s original work of art. This painting can be seen in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as of today.

“The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” is a great example of the Northern Renaissance art movement and it’s differences with the Italian Renaissance. This painting, even though it came from the northern movement, still contains the classic brushstrokes and realism like the Italian Renaissance. First, “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” can be determined as a work from the renaissance because of the characters choice of clothing. Jan Steen, the artist, clearly admired Greek and Roman society because he painted the characters in “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” with iconic robes and ancient clothing. The painting looks like many of the other masterpieces of the renaissance era by creating the illusion of depth. The artist creates a feeling of realism by using perspective, lighting, and human posture; a common technique that was used in the renaissance. Jan Steen painted “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” which mimics other Northern Renaissance artworks by depicting a scene that is of normal citizens. This fact makes Jan Steen’s painting easy to pick out from the other Italian Renaissance works that generally showed images of high ranking individuals. Because of this, “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” remains a popular and significant work of art from the Northern Renaissance.

The Visitation

“The Visitation” is one of the less popular, but more important works of the Italian Renaissance. This painting was done by Giotto Di Bondone, who lived from the years 1267 to 1337. This particular work of art was completed in 1306. Its dimensions are 150 cm by 140 cm, which is almost 5 feet by 4.5 feet. “The Visitation” currently hangs in a museum located in Padua, Italy. Giotto was one of the founding fathers of the Italian renaissance. Giotto set the religious stage for renaissance art with  his series, “Life of the Virgin”, which contained “The Visitation”.

Giotto Di Bondone painted a christian scene in his series containing Madonna that was titled “Life of the Virgin”. This painting greatly resembles the commonly accepted works of art during the Italian Renaissance. First, Giotto’s scene clearly show religious bias by depicting an image from the bible and the virgin Madonna. “The Visitation” also resembles renaissance art with impressively detailed people with perfect anatomical proportion. The different facial expressions of each character also proves that Giotto was creating a renaissance era masterpiece. Renaissance art dealt with detail but also with copying the earlier Greek and Roman style, which can be seen through the clothing on the characters in “The Visitation”. Lastly, Giotto’s “The Visitation” can be seen as a classic renaissance work because the lines and borders of images on the canvas all converge to one point. This use of perspective was a new and rising technique that would be the norm for all paintings during the Italian Renaissance era.

Giotto’s Campanile

Giotto’s Campanile, also known as Giotto’s bell tower, is an incredibly famous but also overlooked work of early renaissance architecture. The tower is overlooked as a stand-alone building because although it is free-standing, it is considered by most to be a part of the Florence Cathedral in Italy due to its position directly next to it. This “Campanile” (which means bell tower) has seven bells in total. The tower is almost 50 feet long and stands shortly under 300 feet tall. Giotto Di Bondone was also a famous renaissance painter who lived from 1267 to 1337. His death marked Europe’s real strides into the beginning stages of the renaissance era. The bell tower was completed 1359, landing Giotto a spot as one of the founding fathers of the Italian Renaissance.

Giotto lived during the time of the Italian renaissance’s main spark in achievements, making him one of the founding fathers of the high renaissance style of paintings and architecture. Giotto, like many others, created art that was highly religious. Standing alone, the tower holds no religious meaning but, as pictured, the bell tower is located directly next to the Florence Cathedral and is generally considered to be part of the cathedral itself. The fame of the cathedral and it’s many years of standing as a historical landmark to Italy has caused Giotto’s Campanile to be a significant part of the Renaissance era. The bell tower also featured architecture that was not completely Gothic like during the times of the middle ages. Lastly, Giotto’s bell tower is a classic renaissance work of architecture because of its resemblance to Greek and Roman building arches and tiers.

The Baptism of Christ

This painting completed id the late 14th century is titled “The Baptism of Christ”. Andrea del Verrocchio is the artist who created this beginning renaissance era painting. He lived from 1435 to 1488. Verrocchio completed this work of art in 1475. He successfully created a beautiful depiction of Jesus’ baptism by using oil on wood. The entire painting hangs 177 cm long and runs just over 150 cm long. Verrocchio’s masterpiece can be found today in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

Andrea del Verrocchio’s painting, although from the earlier renaissance, still shares the common traits of past Greek and Roman art as well as great works of art from the later years of the Italian Renaissance. First, “The Baptism of Christ” clearly resembles Greek and Roman culture from the characters clothing: robes, no pants. Also, the staff with the cross on the top was a popular Roman symbol of power in high religious officials. “The Baptism of Christ”, as the name entitles, is highly religious due to the renaissance era system of artists and patrons. This painting, just like hundreds of others, focuses on human form with realistic anatomy in great detail. Also, Verrocchio’s painting uses the century’s new artistic techniques in shading, lighting, perspective, and realism. Like Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo, Verrocchio uses all these new ideas to create what is known as a classic Italian Renaissance masterpiece. 

The Tempest

This piece of art is titled “The Tempest”. Painted by Giorgione in 1511, this masterpieces is one of the more famous iconic images of the Italian Renaissance. The artist, Giorgione, lived from 1477 to 1510. Giorgione used oil on canvas to create “The Tempest” which has the dimensions of 83 cm by 73 cm. As of now, Giorgione’s painting stands suspended in the Gallerie Dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy.

Giorgione clearly shows the common brushstroke of the century with his classic depiction of life during the “rebirth”. First, he displays the new artistic advancements in perspective, lighting, and anatomy. Giorgione displays characteristic renaissance features like perspective; how the artist layered the painting to give depth from the front two people back to the bridge and finally at the farthest point back, a city line of buildings. Also like other paintings of the time, “The Tempest” uses depth by utilizing a new technique: lighting. Lastly, Giorgione shows off his artistic skill by creating the iconic depiction of “godly perfect” people with impressively realistic and anatomically correct human forms.

Pope Julius II

This masterpiece was created by the famous renaissance artist Raphael, who lived from 1483 to 1520. Raphael’s painting was completed with oil on panel in 1511, the high point of Raphael’s artistic carrier. The painting is appropriately titled “Pope Julius II”, after the pope depicted in the portrait. The portrait currently hangs in London’s National Gallery. The painting measures 63 cm long and exactly 40 cm wide. As customary to many renaissance works, “Pope Julius II” is not only a portrait of a rich man, but also a highly religious based work.

Raphael, like all other artists of the high renaissance area, was funded by a patron who could control what Raphael could and could not create. Because Raphael was paid by religious families, his art would clearly show his religious bias to Christianity. Similar to hundreds of other high renaissance era paintings, “Pope Julius II” was highly religious and resembled earlier roman ideas, like a roman pope. Also, Raphael’s portrait shows the renaissance’s attention to human detail, and extremely realistic anatomy. Along with this, Raphael shows his superior skills by creating fantastic perspective and facial expressions, something that art had not seen before the Italian Renaissance. Lastly, “Pope Julius II” shows classic renaissance resemblance through the lighting on the Pope’s robes, face, and shadowed background

The Sistine Madonna

This specific painting named the “Sistine Madonna” was painted in 1513. The artists was Raphael who lived from 1483 to 1520. The painting is currently located in a museum in Dresden, Germany. Raphael completed the original painting with oil on a canvas. The complete dimensions of the Sistine Madonna measured 265 cm tall and 196 cm long, hanging over eight and a half feet total.

The Sistine Madonna is a classic display of renaissance era skills in new artistic ideas. Firstly Raphael painted a christian scene because the artists were greatly influenced by wealthy religious figures. The Sistine Madonna also showed signs of ancient Greek resemblance with little “cherubs” and the people standing on clouds. The Sistine Madonna shows other classic renaissance techniques by showing the characters different facial expressions. The painting also shows the iconic renaissance perspective and peoples “godly perfection” of the body through detailed anatomy of the human body. Sistine Madonna also depicts lighting on the faces of each saint and Madonna herself. Lastly, the Sistine Madonna  was significant because it was one of the most famous painters of the high renaissance era, Raphael’s last painting of the Madonna.

Virgin of the Rocks

This important painting from the high renaissance era is titled “Virgin of the Rocks”. It was painted with oil on panel by none other than Leonardo Da Vinci who is best know for his other famous works like  the Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519, during which he completed this painting in the year 1484. This painting is currently located in the city of Paris. Leonardo Da Vinci created incredible paintings as well as mastering in the arts of sculpture, architecture, music, math, engineering, inventing, anatomy, and geology. This specific masterpiece is over six feet long, and hangs in Paris’ Musee du Louvre. It dimensions are 128 cm long by 198 cm high.

Leonardo painted a classic renaissance canvas by utilizing the iconic and mainstream techniques of his time. To start, Leonardo Da Vinci focused on creating life-like and realistic people. This is like many other works during the renaissance because it deals greatly on anatomy and “godly perfection of the body” – just a fancy way of saying that painted people look like real people. Also dealing with anatomy, Leonardo Da Vinci used different facial expressions on each person, which was a growing idea in renaissance art. Most renaissance art of this time also dealt with perspective and lighting, something Leonardo Da Vinci clearly displays in “Virgin of the Rocks”. Another iconic point of classic renaissance art was the religious factor. Da Vinci clearly shows us a christian scene of the virgin mother and John the Baptist. Leonardo Da Vinci also uses a great deal of sfumato – which literally translates to “gone up in smoke” – a way of shading and adding realistic depth.