Artistic Rebirth

The Renaissance is one period of literary revival , Art istic, and scientific, which occurred in Europe by the dissemination of new informations among a well-read man medium.

One of the essential aspects of the Renaissance as a period is the renewal of the topics and the Art in Europe after the Moyen-âge. To give precise chronological terminals for this artistic movement is difficult. It is usually allowed that the artistic Rebirth starts in Italy at the 15th century then is diffused in the remainder of the continent, at different intervals and degrees according to the Géographie. It is prolonged at the 16th century and then reaches in many countries its apogee. The Rebirth does not constitute a flashback: the new techniques, the new political context, social and scientific make it possible to the artists to innovate. For the first time, the Art penetrates in the sphere of the private one: works are not only any more ordered by the religious or secular capacity, but enters the middle-class houses.

Ideas and subjects of creation

The humanistic ideas came from Antiquity Greco-Roman.

Humanism and artistic production

Whereas to the Moyen-âge artistic creation was primarily turned towards the Christian religion, the artistic Rebirth uses the humanistic topics (tolerance, freedom of thought, peace, education aiming at the blooming of the individual, etc) and of the ancient Mythologie. The renewal of the philosophical reflection provides to the artists new ideas: with the Néoplatonisme, the Man is in the center of the universe. The painters and the sculptors do not hesitate any more to represent the beauty of the stripped human body. The study of the ancient texts, the revival of the Philology with Lorenzo Valla, make it possible to the architects to be freed from the Gothic style. They use the lesson of Pythagore and Vitruve to work out their plans. The thought is released gradually from the religious constraints and turns to the aspirations to happiness, peace and progress. The writers and the philosophers are interested from now on in all the fields of the Connaissance. They recopy and translate Manuscrit S and seek new texts. These renewed ideas are diffused on the continent of Europe thanks to the Imprimerie and with the voyages of the humanistic ones. The first libraries are created such as the apostolic Bibliothèque vaticane (about 1450).

Redécouverte of Antiquity

Thanks to the arrival of compilations and Byzantine artists , driven out by the Othoman invasion, Végèce, Pythagore, Euclide is again available in their original Greek manuscripts. Printing works uses the Roman characters. In the visual arts, the naked one is more used that to the Middle Ages and the movement is returned in a realistic way by the hanchement.

Sail of mythology gréco-Roman

The artists of the Rebirth read again the myths of the Pagan antiquity which give them new subjects of production. The archaeological discoveries (Group of Laocoon), like the excavations of the Thermal baths of Caracalla by the Farnèse, inspire the sculptors and the architects of XVe and XVIe centuries. The villa of the emperor Hadrian or the the Pantheon of Rome offers models of construction radically different from the Gothic style. The forms of Antiquity return to the mode: column S, Pilaster S, pediment S, Cupola S, statues decorate the buildings with this time. The Old Testament and catholic Christianity always inspire works of Article.

New technical means

The projection of sciences benefits arts: throughout the 15th century, the painters better and better control the linear prospect and the proportions. To the 14th century, the appearance of the Oil-base paint gives more depth to works. The use of fabrics replaces little by little the wooden support. Léonard de Vinci carries out the Mona Lisa with effects of Sfumato. The invention of printing works in the middle of the 15th century as well as the novel methods of Gravure (Xylography) authorize the reproduction and the diffusion of works on all the continent. The Estampe S multiply in the books and replace invaluable the Enluminure S of the medieval manuscripts.

Sciences and arts

The scientists and the doctors improve knowledge of the Anatomie thanks to the dissections: the knowledge is then applied in drawing, painting and sculpture, as testify some celebrates it Homme of Vitruve of Léonard de Vinci or engravings Dürer. It is then possible to define a system of ideal proportions and to represent an human body accurately. The tables and the frescos are more realistic than with the Middle Ages.

A context favorable to the rebirth of arts

See also: Arti

Return of the growth

After the demographic decline of and first half of the 15th century, the European population starts to find its level of before the crisis. Even if epidemics are recurring in Europe until the 18th century, large the Black Death moved away. The Famine S are spaced. The strong densities which one meets in XVIe century in Flandres and Italy of North are favorable to an intensification of work. The Guerre One hundred Year old is completed in 1453 and the strong castles will gradually leave the place to palates of approval. Between 1500 and 1580, the climate seems softer before again cooling during the Petit Ice Age. With the discovery of the America in 1492, gold and the tributary money in Europe and support the economic revival. The great voyages and the maritime trade allow the rise of the big cities and their embellishment.

The patrons allow the artists to exert their art

The courses princely are the privileged places of the blooming of the reappearing culture. In the artistic field, many Mécène S constituted of important collections. They all belong to the aristocracy of the capacity (princes, dukes, kings, pope) and of the economy (large merchants which invest their money in the artistic production).

A geography of the Rebirth

The historians are of agreement to say that the artistic Rebirth was born in Italy at the 15th century (some speak even about a Pre-Rebirth at the 14th century) and diffused itself in the remainder of the continent primarily at the 16th century. The conditions of this Rebirth were specific: the peninsula was divided into several concurrent principalities which wanted each one to shine more than the others, which encouraged creation and the artistic emulation.
Ensuite, Italy concentrated the essence of the ancient Roman inheritance, especially since Greece was under Othoman domination. Finally Italy is urbanized and enriched by the trade for a long time. It acts like a magnet for the artists, the merchants and the monks (Rome) European. The Italian Diaspora is important in the Western big cities since the Middle Ages.

The Italian art was not the only reference during the Rebirth: the hearths Burgundian and Flemish were also influential. The painters and the Flemish tapestry maker S marked of their print the courses European of XVIe century.

Central and Eastern Europe

See also: German Rebirth

The history of the Germanic countries is marked by the development of printing works by Gutenberg and the success of engraving (Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer). The sculpture opens out between 1460 and 1520. The painting of retable is with its apogee with Mathias Grünewald. The merchant and banking Jacob Fugger often goes to Venice and fall under the seduction from Italian art reappearing. He makes arrange a vault with Augsburg, expression of a reappearing architecture specifically German. In 1548, Titien is established in this city and paints portraits for the commercial middle-class. With the Reform, a movement Iconoclasme spreads and destroys religious works in the Germanic countries. Eastern Europe was undoubtedly less receptive with the Italian model. Some Italian artists worked with Moscow, but they were very few. The orthodoxe territories more looked towards Byzance towards Rome. They are of Slavic culture and use the Cyrillic one. As from 1453, Constantinople passes in the hands of the Othoman Turks. In second half of XVe century, the king of Hungary Mathias Corvin organizes a brilliant court and a considered library with Buda. Vienna knows destruction caused by the Othomans in 1529. Then Ferdinand de Habsbourg (1503-1564) introduced the Italian art at its court of the Hofburg. With Prague, Rodolphe de Habsbourg (1552-1612) is surrounded artists mannerists such as Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611), Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593, Illustration 6 ), Hans von Aachen (1552-1615), and Adrien de Vries (1545/46-1626, Illustration 1 ).

France: an original Rebirth

See also: French Rebirth

Moreover, the Italian model encountered adaptations even to national resistances: the Protestants refuse the Roman model. In France an original synthesis between the Italian contributions and the medieval French tradition is worked out. Of Bellay denounced the Italianization of the French language. If the Château of Chambord is built according to a centered plan, few French architects adopt this model. The Château of Azay-the-Curtain preserves round towers of medieval inspiration. The Castle of Chenonceau, of Fontainebleau, of Chantilly, of Anet or Gaillon are not symmetrical. In fact especially the reasons and the Italian decoration are established, following the Guerres of Italy. Philibert Delorme has even desired to create a architectural Ordre French. Jean and François Clouet, of Flemish origin, are with the service of Valois. Jean Clouet carries out a portrait of humanistic the Guillaume Budé.

Netherlands and Scandinavia

See also: Flemish Rebirth

In the pictorial field, the Paysage S are not inevitably ancient, but reproduce regional environment: Quentin Matsys paints a Scandinavian rural decoration behind the Vierge with the child with the lamb (1515 - 1524). Always in Northern Europe, Pieter Bruegel Old the, Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Patinir incarnate resistance to the Italian topics.

At the 15th century, the prosperity of Bruges appears in the trade of wool, but also in arts: Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and Gerard David settled there. The Burgundian Netherlands remain the principal production center of Tapisserie S in Europe.

Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden produces tables for the furnace bridges of the churches. Hugo van der Goes (1435/45 - 1482) painted a triptych for the banker Florentin Tommaso Portinari. At the beginning of the 16th century, Antwerp Bruges eclipse like money market and commercial. Quentin Massys (1465/66 - 1530), Joachim Patinir (1475/85 - 1524) and Pieter Bruegel Old the (1525/30 - 1569) there works and represents the middle-class. The painter Jan Gossaert visit Italy and diffuses his fashion in the Spanish Netherlands. Jan van Scorel (1495-1562) is influenced by Raphaël and Michel-Angel. Philippe II of Spain buys paintings of the Flemish Masters Rogier van der Weyden and Jerome Bosch. In second half of XVIe century, Pieter Bruegel Old the specializes in the Peinture of kind. In 1566, a wave of Iconoclasme Protestant causes important damage in the cathedral of Antwerp.

England

In British Isles, the artistic Rebirth can start to open out after the Guerre of the Two-Pinks (1485) and the emergence of the English maritime power. The first press to be printed is installed in 1476 with Westminster by William Caxton. Hans Holbein the Young person works in London starting from 1532. It carries out the portrait of humanistic English Thomas More. The German merchants of the Hanseatic League then the king Henri VIII of England are its main customers. The monarch makes increase the palates of Whitehall and Hampton Court, and build Nonsuch Palace.

Iberian peninsula

See also: Century of Spanish gold

In Iberian arts, the Arab influences are still visible at the beginning of the 14th century. The Royaume of Grenade remains with the hands of the Nasride S until 1492. Gil of SILOE, undoubtedly originating in the Netherlands, works for king de Castille and still respects the Gothic tradition. But his/her son Diego of SILOE (second half of XVIe century) takes as a starting point the Italian Rebirth by adopting symmetry. Juan Guas (1430 - 1496), architect at the court of Isabelle the catholic, draws the plans of the monastery of San Juan of los Reyes in Tolède. The plateresque Style, which is characterized by a decorative profusion, is a great success in Spain in XVIe century. After the council of Thirty, the Counter-Reformation is felt in the artistic field (art Jésuite) and arts person (Juan of Cruz, Therese d' Ávila). In 1561, Philippe II installs his court with Madrid and makes build the palate of Escurial. It acquires Italian but such Flemish tables. Lastly, in the years 1570, the Greek painter Greco is established in Tolède: its work mixes Byzantine and Venetian elements. With the Portugal, the Style manuélin testifies to the maritime opening of the country since Henri the Navigator.

The architecture of the Rebirth

See also: Architecture of the Rebirth

At the 15th century, the treaties of architecture multiply thanks to printing works. They take as a starting point the work of Vitruve, Of structured . It is in the Florence of this time that is read the rupture with the medieval traditions. The principal names of architecture are then Leone Battista Alberti, Bramante, Filippo Brunelleschi, Léonard de Vinci and Andrea Palladio. The architect leaves anonymity (one knows little the names of the architects of the Middle Ages) and profits from a social advancement without precedent.

Religious architecture

The Gothic architecture privileged verticality and the technical prowess. Reappearing architecture prefers the horizontal lines and seeks the harmony of volumes. The ancient orders reappear on the capitals of the columns. Decorative pieces borrowed from Antiquity flower on the frontages: low-reliefs, Pilaster S, Trophy S, vases, garlands,… The architectural innovation most remarkable is the Plan centered with cupola, in particular inspired by the the Pantheon of Rome. The examples are many in Italy (Saint-Pierre of Rome), less frequent in the rest of Europe (vault of the Château of Anet). It is necessary to wait the 17th century to see developing the domes. The plan basilical makes also its return and the importance of the Transept is reduced.

Civil architecture

Progress of artillery makes ineffective defenses of the castle extremely medieval. François Ier makes shave the keep of the Louvre. Also, the residence seigneuriale radically changes aspect during XVe century: the walls are bored windows, the decoration invades the frontages and the galleries with arcades multiply with Blois, Chenonceau,… The villa of Hadrian to Tivoli gives the taste of the rural residences in Italy, palate of pleasure and place of refinement. Parts with the new functions appear, like the cabinet, which is used with the study and the writing. The private libraries grow rich by the printed books (Incunable S) but also by works of Article.

Architects of the Rebirth

Painting

See also: Painting of the Rebirth

Improvement of the techniques of painting

  • the tonal Painting

  • improvement of the varnished, in particular thanks to the searchs for Léonard de Vinci
  • painting on fabric replaces painting on wood, too expensive
  • the table of rest

Renewal of the topics

The naked one is painted for itself, it becomes prone to whole share and esthetic expression. The Paysage S also take importance and are carried out for their intrinsic value, especially by the painters of the Flandres which inaugurate a long tradition. At the 16th century, the princes start to constitute true collections of tables. The Allegory S (Botticelli) and the subjects mythological allow the iconography profane to develop. The naked female one is at the same time erotic and the expression of an ideal of beauty. The Portrait existed already with the Middle Ages, of profile; it is diffused in the middle-class mediums of the Rebirth. Most famous is the Joconde of Léonard de Vinci. The portraits come to decorate the galleries of palate and the castles of pleasure. They take importance in the face and immortalisent the kings with horse. However, the art of the Rebirth also continues, as with the Middle Ages, to represent catholic topics. Jesus and his mother, Marie, appear in works of Léonard de Vinci or Raphaël. In the field of the sculpture, the Pieta S are privileged subjects.

Principal painters of the Rebirth

List to supplement
to *Voir the category: Painter of the Rebirth

Famous artists of the Italian Rebirth:

Geographical propagation by country:

Conclusion

It is Léonard de Vinci who reaches the decisive stage by abolishing balance between the line and the color with the profit of the chromatic modulation of the circumferences. Raphaël and Michel-Angel follow its traces and create artistic forms which will be references for all Europe. The Rebirth made it possible Western art to reach its apogee. The change of the image of the world by the natural science and the great discoveries, the religious and political tensions as well as the social disturbances are reflected in arts. Reality and the ideal, the crowned layman and, the movement and the rest, space and surface, the line and the color are reconciled in a beneficial harmony.

See too

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