A walk back in time would be a difference in the subject and so I have chosen to go back to one the early stages in Architecture and Design and go to the time of the Renaissance and discuss about the Architecture and Design in different countries across Europe.
The Renaissance “news” is the arts, painting, sculpture and architecture produced in Europe during the time of the Renaissance years that covered almost 200 years from 1400 to 1600. The most significant aspects of the Renaissance style is of its classical forms originally developed by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and its concern with secular life with the interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual. Artists developed aerial perspective and northern painters such as from the Flanders and Netherlands were as advanced as the Italians were and they introduced oil painting as a new medium. The Renaissance “news spread among Italy, Northern Europe, Flanders, Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain.
Italy was the first country that the renaissance first
developed in because of the availability of the works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Roman arts, architecture, and sculpture were found almost in every town and city. In the 15th Century, sculpture led to the new Renaissance. Three Florentines
made crucial innovations during this time. Filippo Brunelleschi became an archite ct and was the first true Renaissance builder. He introduced spatial integrity, which was unique to the Renaissance. Lorenzo Ghiberti was best at the relieves (Fig 1) he made for the bronze doors and Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, known as Donatello (Fig 2 – Statue of David by Donatello) was the most influential artist of the time because he travelled widely.
The Early Renaissance Painting includes Masa
ccio (Fig 3 – A fresco painting by Masaccio) who was the first painter to include the new techniques in his fresco painting of depicting the life Saint Peter. He had a very dramatic effect on the course of art although he died at the age of 27. Another early Renaissance painter is Paolo Uccello who painted the Three Battle Scenes in the late 1440s for the Medici Palace in Florence
and during the same time Fra Angelico, a monk, combined the new Renaissance styles with color and treatment (Fig 4). Some of the other artists during this time were Florence, Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini who was regarded as the founder of Renaissance painting in Venice and who was the father of Gentile and Giovanni Bellini and father-in-law of Andrea Mantegna, who were great masters of painting. Leon Battista Alberti who was a humanist, Latin scholar and prolific writer summed up the arts of the Early Renaissance. He had a little experience with painting sculpture and architecture and he designed several churches in Mantua and in his books he synthesized all innovations made and included Ancient practices. As a result, the new idea spread throughout Italy and beyond.
During the second generation of the Renaissance, the innovation in aerial and linear perspective, the rendition of landscape, the powerful figural types and the rigorous compositions were further refined. Antonio del Pollaiulo and Andrea del Verrocchio of which both were s
culptors and painters explored the complexities of the human anatomy. Leonardo da Vinci (Fig 5)whose scientific and artistic investigations were the most important to the Renaissance later took these concerns. Bright, rich, strong colors became the characteristic of the Venetian painting. Some of the leading painters of this time were Sandro Botticelli, Sebestiano del Piombo, Giorgione and Titian and Giovanni Bellini. Oil Painting on canvas was introduced at this time and also heavy outlines in establishing an image were introduced.
The artists of the High Renaissance were responsible
for taking art to a level of noble expression. The gigantic Statue of David (Fig 6) made in 1501 – 1504 by Michelangelo in Florence became a masterpiece of the High Renaissance of which the standards of the other arts were measured. Artists tended to reduce their subjects to the bare essentials so that the viewer’s attention would be drawn to the theme. The centre of the High Renaissance was shifted to Rome and the court of the Pope Julius II hire
d leading Italian artists to work on ambitious projects. An outstanding architect of that time was Donato Bramante, an Umbrian who was a painter. The most notable of all his designs was the design for the main church of the Roman Catholic Christendom for the new Saint Peter’s Basilica (Fig 7). This was later taken over by Michelangelo who changed to his own architectural aims keeping Bramante’s original design in concept.
Then in the Late Renaissance Art when Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael were working in a figurative style, others moved in a more lyric and decorative direction, which removed classical antiquity. These works and masterpieces show the new style known as Mannerism, Jacopo Carrucci also known as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino who travelled a lot ending his career
in France were the masters, during the time of the Late Renaissance. The qualities found in the arts of Rosso (Fig 8 – Art work of Rosso) and Pontormo became popular and from about 1530 till the end of the 16th Century, Italian art became consistent. Andre Palladio was an influential architect who was trained as a stone carver. His best know works can be seen in the country villas in Venice. Jacopo Sansovino too was an architect who was trained in sculpture and his best works is of the Marble Bacchus in 1514. The greatest painter of Mannerist of the time was Jacopo Robusti in Venice who combine rich color of Titian with Michelangelo’s powerful line.
Art of the Northern Europe turned into a remedy having it readily accessible for alternate solutions. The features included of late Gothic culture existed with changes that took place with the world and the personalities of Italy. Countries such as Germany, the Lowlands and England didn’t accept the changes during the Renaissance as suddenly as it came. The earliest works of the 15th Century were in a much smaller scale than the ones created in Italy.
Jan Van Eyck (Fig 9 – A Masterpiece from Jan Van Eyck) was the founder of Renaissance painting in Flanders an d Netherlands. The style was developed from realism of the Limbourg brothers and the innovations of the use of light. There were many famous artist during this time and most of the arts were evolved from the Italians. Most painting was of illustrations for folk proverbs with some humor in them. Sculptors were not innovative as they retained to the Gothic style and the Renaissance didn’t affect the architectural forms.
The French too, as the Northern Europeans were slow to accept the changes of the Renaissance and during the early 16th Century an acceptance came about by the
hiring of Italian artists to work at the court of King Francis I. In 1516, Leonardo da Vinci was brought to France but because of his old age he couldn’t do any work there. The main point of Renaissance art was seen from the work at the Palace of Fontainbleau.(Fig 10)
There was a well-known tradition in painting in Germany during the Renaissance because of the well-known artists of the time.They had very close links to the Gothic style and they also included the medieval past into their arts. The Germans too were very slow to the accept the changes of the Italians but eventually they progressed in book printing by following the art of printing. Albrecht Durer (Fig 11) led Germany to starting of using Renaissance art.
He was a painter and graphic master. His best masterpiece was the “Passion and the Life of the Virgin” which spread throughout Europe. He travelled a lot to Italy to study more about their arts. He also went to Flanders and Netherlands and learnt much more about the arts of the time. He was one of the artists who had a very imaginative mind of which he expresses in his engravings.
Spanish painters’ art was depended upon the two traditions of Northern Europe and Italy and they imported a lot of painters and sculptors from these countries for the decorative work. Titian was a leading painter of the Spanish Court during the 16th Century even though he was not in Spain at the time. Spanish architecture marks a new style due to the lack of ornamentation in their building although they followed the Italian High Renaissance style. However, they only built a Renaissance building during the Late Renaissance.
Hence a few countries, such as Northern Europe, England, Germany and the Low Lands were slow to accept the Renaissance “news”, due to the Italian artists who travelled frequently within the European countries and also because of their influence, these countries gradually accepted the changes of the Renaissance “news”. Some of these artists are Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Durer, Rosso Fiorentino, Titian and Raphael.
