High Renaissance in Italy (1495-1520)

High Renaissance architecture first appeared at Rome in the work of Bramante at the beginning
of the 16th century. The period was a very brief one, centred almost exclusively in the city of
Rome; it ended with the political and religious tensions that shook Europe during the third
decade of the century, culminating in the disastrous sack of Rome in 1527 and the siege of
Florence in 1529. The High Renaissance was a period of harmony and balance in all the arts,
perhaps the most definitive moment in this respect since the 5th century bc in Greece.

Political and cultural leadership shifted from Florence to Rome particularly because of a
succession of powerful popes who wanted to develop the papacy as a secular power. The
greatest of all was Julius II (1503–13), who was likewise a fabulous patron of the arts. Almost
all the leading Italian artists were attracted to Rome. With the exception of Giulio Romano,
none of the important artists active in Rome at this time was Roman by birth.

Bramante, the leader of this new manner, had already acquired an architectural reputation at
Milan. Almost immediately after his arrival in Rome, in 1499, there was an amazing change in
Bramante’s work, as he became the exemplar of the High Renaissance style and lost his
Lombard early Renaissance qualities. The Tempietto (1502), or small chapel, next to San Pietro
in Montorio, typifies the new style. Erected on the supposed site of the martyrdom of St. Peter,
the Tempietto is circular in plan, with a colonnade of 16 columns surrounding a small cella, or
enclosed interior sanctuary. The chapel was meant to stand in the centre of a circular court,
which was likewise to be surrounded by a colonnade, so that the whole structure was to be self-
contained and centralized. The enclosing circular court was never erected. The ultimate
inspiration of the Tempietto was a Roman circular temple, like the temples of Vesta at Rome
or Tivoli, but so many notable changes were made that the Renaissance chapel was an original
creation. On the exterior it was organized in two stories: the Doric colonnade forms the first
story, above which is a semicircular dome raised high on a drum. The present large finial, or
crowning ornament, on the dome is of a later date and destroys some of the simplicity of the
massing. Niches cut into the wall of the drum help to emphasize the solidity and strength of the
whole, as does the heavy Doric order of which Bramante was so fond—in contrast to
Brunelleschi, who had a predilection for the ornate Corinthian. The monument is very simple,
harmonious, and comprehensible.
 Rome: TempiettoTempietto, designed by Donato Bramante, 1502; in the courtyard of San
Pietro in Montorio, Rome.© Yehuda Bernstein/Dreamstime.com

Several churches present the same qualities as the Tempietto on a larger physical scale. The
church of Santa Maria della Consolazione (1504–1617) at Todi, probably by Bramante, is
likewise centralized in plan, being square with a semicircular or polygonal apse opening off
each side. The mass is built up of simple geometric forms capped by the cylinder of a drum
and a slightly pointed dome. On the interior the outstanding quality is a sense of quiet,
harmonious spaciousness. The Florentine architect Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, influenced
by Bramante, created his church of San Biagio at Montepulciano (1518–29) on a Greek cross
plan. On the facade in the two recesses of the arms of the cross were to rise two towers, the
right one never completed. Otherwise the massing is similar to that of Todi, with dome and
drum above. All the moldings and ornamental elements were carved with strong projection, so
that on the interior heavy Roman arches, with deep coffers containing rosettes, define the tunnel
vaults rising over the arms of the church. The churches at Todi and Montepulciano are
pilgrimage churches or shrines and thus have the centralized planning characteristic of the
martyrium or church built over the tomb of a martyr or saint.

Sangallo’s church at Montepulciano reflects Bramante’s greatest undertaking, the rebuilding

of St. Peter’s in Rome. Early in 1505 Pope Julius II began to consider the question of a tomb
for himself that would be appropriate to his idea of the power and nobility of his position. The
sculptor Michelangelo soon presented a great project for a freestanding tomb, but such a
monument required a proper setting. The Renaissance artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari
claimed that the question of an appropriate location for this projected tomb brought to the
Pope’s mind the idea of rebuilding St. Peter’s, which was in very poor condition. Bramante,
therefore, prepared plans for a monumental church late in 1505, and in April 1506 the
foundation stone was laid. Bramante’s first design was a Greek cross in plan, with towers at
the four corners and a tremendous dome over the crossing, inspired by that of the ancient
Roman Pantheon but in this case raised on a drum. The Greek cross plan being unacceptable,
Bramante finally planned to lengthen one arm to form a nave with a centralized crossing. At
his death in 1514 Bramante had completed only the four main piers that were to support the
dome, but these piers determined the manner in which later architects attempted the completion
of the church.

Several notable secular buildings were as important as the central-plan churches of this period.
At the papal palace of the Vatican, next to St. Peter’s, Bramante added two important features.
The great Belvedere court (begun 1505) was planned to bring together the two disparate
elements of the older palace attached to the church and the Belvedere villa of Innocent VIII on
the hill above the palace. Bramante gave the new court a neo-antique flavour recalling the
imperial palaces on the hills of Rome and the hippodromus on the Palatine. Terraced up the
hillside on three levels joined by monumental stairs, it was enclosed on the two long sides by
arcaded loggias with superimposed orders. This large court was completed in the later 16th
century with some minor changes, but in 1587 the whole concept was destroyed by the building
of the present Vatican Apostolic Library across the centre of the court. Just before his death,
Bramante also began a series of superimposed loggias attached to the face of the old Vatican
Palace looking out over the city and river. As completed by Raphael, there are two
superimposed arcades with Tuscan and Ionic orders and a colonnade with Composite columns.

The largest palace of the High Renaissance is the Palazzo Farnese (1517–89) at Rome, designed
and commenced by a follower of Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, nephew of the
older Sangallo. At Sangallo’s death, in 1546, Michelangelo carried the palace toward
completion, making important changes in the third story. On the exterior Sangallo gave up the
use of the Classical orders as a means of dividing the facade into a number of equal bays; he
used instead a facade more like those of the Florentines, but with quoins, or rough-cut blocks
of stone at the edges of the building, to confine the composition in a High Renaissance fashion.
The facade is composed in proportions as a double square. On the interior the central square
court is more Classical, using superimposed orders. Based on the ancient Roman Theatre of
Marcellus or the Colosseum, the two first floors have an arcade supported by rectangular piers
against which are half columns. On the third story Michelangelo eliminated the arcade and
used pilasters flanked by half pilasters, which destroyed the High Renaissance idea of the
careful separation and definition of parts.

Rome: Palazzo Farnese

Facade of the Palazzo Farnese, Rome by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and
Michelangelo,
1517-89
One of the most charming buildings of the period is the Villa Farnesina (1509–11) at Rome by
Baldassarre Peruzzi from Siena. Designed for the fabulously wealthy Sienese banker Agostino
Chigi, the villa was the scene of numerous elaborate banquets for the pope and cardinals. A
suburban villa, the Farnesina was planned in relation to the gardens around it with two small
wings projecting from the central block to flank the entrance loggia. Originally, another loggia
opened at the side upon the gardens stretching to the bank of the Tiber, but this loggia was later
walled in. The elevation appears as two stories comparted into equal bays by Tuscan pilasters.
The neat, reserved quality of the present building was originally lightened by painted fresco
decoration over all the exterior wall surfaces. Other important buildings were designed by the
painter Raphael, such as the Villa Madama (begun 1518) at Rome or the Palazzo Pandolfini
(begun c. 1516) at Florence.

Italian Mannerism or Late Renaissance (1520–1600)

Mannerism is the term applied to certain aspects of artistic style, mainly Italian, in the period
between the High Renaissance of the early 16th century and the beginnings of Baroque art in
the early 17th. From the third decade of the 16th century, political and religious tensions
erupted violently in Italy, particularly in Rome, which was sacked in 1527 by the imperial
troops of Charles V. The school of Bramante and Raphael, which had produced the High
Renaissance style, was dispersed throughout Italy as artists fled from devastated Rome.
Mannerism appeared and prevailed in some regions until the end of the 16th century, when the
Baroque style developed. Mannerism was antithetical to many of the principles of the High
Renaissance. Instead of harmony, clarity, and repose it was characterized by extreme
sophistication, complexity, and novelty. Mannerist architects were no less interested in ancient
Classical architecture than were their predecessors, but they found other qualities in ancient
Roman architecture to exploit. In fact, they often displayed an even greater knowledge of
antiquity than did earlier artists.

For Vasari, as a practicing Mannerist architect, the same criteria of stylishness in design could
be applied to a building as to a work of painting or sculpture. Vasari designed and built for an
educated elite, one that would appreciate both his understanding of the rules of Roman
architecture and the ingenious liberties that he took with these rules. Florentine and Roman
16th-century architecture is characterized by a secular cleverness—a building was judged on
elegance, ingenuity, and variety of form.

The change in style between the High Renaissance and Mannerism can be seen in the work of
Baldassarre Peruzzi, who was active in both periods. Unlike his High Renaissance Villa
Farnesina, Peruzzi’s design for the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne (about 1535) in Rome shows
indications of Mannerism. The facade of the palace was curved to fit the site on which it was
erected; instead of remaining the passive form it had been in the earlier phases of Renaissance
architecture, the wall surface was beginning to assert itself. The Classical order is limited to
the ground floor of the palace; the upper three stories have imitation drafted stonework made
of brick covered with stucco, inscribed to feign stone coursing. Under these three stories in the
centre of the facade is a loggia or colonnade, which seems of questionable adequacy as a
support for the apparent load. The second story has rectangular windows crowned by Peruzzi’s
usual neat lintel supported on volutes, but the windows of the upper two stories are set
horizontally with rather elaborate curvilinear moldings about them. There is, therefore, no
longer a harmonious balance among the various stories. The architecture shows a greater
emphasis on decorative qualities than on the expression of structural relationships.

Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome, by Baldassarre Peruzzi, c. 1535.Alinari/Art Resource,

New York

After the resolved Classical order and measured harmony of Bramante’s High Renaissance
buildings, two main, though interwoven, directions of Mannerist development become
apparent. One of these, emanating largely from Peruzzi, relied upon a detailed study of antique
decorative motifs—grotesques, Classical gems, coins, and the like—which were used in a
pictorial fashion to decorate the plane of the facade. This tendency was crystallized in
Raphael’s Palazzo Branconio dell’Aquila (destroyed) at Rome, where the regular logic of a
Bramante facade was abandoned in favour of complex, out-of-step rhythms and encrusted
surface decorations of medallions and swags. The detailed archaizing elements of this manner
were taken up later by Pirro Ligorio, by the architects of the Palazzo Spada in Rome, and by
Giovanni Antonio Dosio.

The second trend exploited the calculated breaking of rules, the taking of sophisticated liberties
with Classical architectural vocabulary. Two very different buildings of the 1520s were
responsible for initiating this taste, Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library in Florence and the
Palazzo del Te by Giulio Romano in Mantua. Michelangelo’s composition relies upon a novel
reassembly of Classical motifs for plastically expressive purposes, while Giulio’s weird
distortion of Classical forms is of a more consciously bizarre and entertaining kind. The various
exterior aspects of the Palazzo del Te provide a succession of changing moods, which are
contrived so as to retain the surprised attention of the spectator rather than to present him with
a building that can be comprehended at a glance. In the courtyard the oddly fractured cornice
sections create an air of ponderous tension, whereas the loggia is lightly elegant. Similarly, the
illusionistic decoration of the interior runs the full gamut from heavy (if self-parodying) tragedy
to pretty delicacy. Giulio also created a series of contrived vistas, through arches and doors,
much like that later projected by Michelangelo for the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. Such
management of scenic effects became one of the hallmarks of later Mannerist architecture.

Increasingly, architecture, sculpture, and walled gardens came to be regarded as part of a

complex (but not unified) whole. In the Villa Giulia (c. 1550–55), the most significant secular
project of its time, Vasari appears to have been in charge of the scenic integration of the various
elements; Giacomo da Vignola designed part of the actual building, while the Mannerist
sculptor Bartolommeo Ammanati was largely responsible for the sculptural decoration. In spite
of the continuous stepped vista, the building makes its impact through a succession of diverse
effects rather than by mounting up to a unified climax. There, and in Vasari’s design for the
Uffizi Palace (1560), the vista seems to have been based upon the supposed style of antique
stage sets, as interpreted by Peruzzi. It is not surprising that the Venetian architect Andrea
Palladio came closest to achieving a fully Mannerist style in his Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza,
where the receding vistas and rich sculptural details create an effect of extraordinary
complexity. Similarly, it is not surprising that the greatest of the later Mannerist architects in
Florence, Bernardo Buontalenti, should have been an acknowledged master of stage design.
He was employed at the Medici court as a designer of grandly fantastic ephemera—mock river
battles and stage intermezzi (interval entertainments) in which elaborate stage machinery
effected miraculous transformations, figures descending from the clouds to slay dragons that
spouted realistic blood, followed by music and dance all’antica. As a garden designer,
Buontalenti enriched the traditional formal schemes with entertaining diversions, in which
water often played a prominent role—either in fountains or in wetting booby traps for the
strolling visitor. Buontalenti’s buildings possess much of this capricious spirit in addition to
his brilliantly inventive command of fluently plastic detailing.

Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, Italy; designed by Andrea Palladio and completed by Vincenzo
Scamozzi, 1585.© travelview/Fotolia

In their treatment of detail, 16th-century Florentine architects inevitably looked toward

Michelangelo as their example of innovative genius. Michelangelo’s Medici Chapel in San
Lorenzo was executed, in Vasari’s opinion, “in a style more varied and novel than that of any
other master,” and “thus all artists are under a great and eternal obligation to Michelangelo,
seeing that he broke the fetters and chains that had earlier confined them to the creation of
traditional forms.” By Vasari’s time the Mannerist quest for novelty had reached a thoroughly
self-conscious level.

Michelangelo’s later architecture in Rome was more restrained than his Florentine works. In
1546 he was commissioned to complete St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, succeeding Antonio da
Sangallo the Younger. During the next 18 years he was able to complete most of his design for
the church, except the facade and great dome above. He returned to a central-plan church
reminiscent of Bramante’s first project but with fewer parts. Michelangelo’s elevation, still
visible at the rear or sides of the church, is composed of gigantic pilasters and a rather high
attic story. Between the pilasters are several stories of windows or niches. Unlike the
harmonious orders and openings of the High Renaissance, these are constricted by the pilasters
so that a tension is created in the wall surface. Michelangelo planned a tremendous semicircular
dome on a drum as the climax of the composition. Engravings of his original project suggest
that this dome would have been overwhelming in relation to the rest of the design. The great
central dome was executed toward the end of the 16th century by Michelangelo’s follower,
Giacomo della Porta, who gave a more vertical expression to the dome by raising it about 25
feet (8 metres) higher than a semicircle. In the early 17th century, the Baroque architect Carlo
Maderno added a large nave and facade to the front of the church, converting it into a Latin
cross plan and destroying the dominating quality of the dome, at least from the exterior front.

Early Mannerism in northern Italy developed out of the dissolution of the school of Bramante
after 1527. Giulio Romano, the chief assistant of Raphael, became court artist and architect in
the city of Mantua. With the works of Galeazzo Alessi of Genoa, Leone Leoni of Milan, and
Sebastiano Serlio of Bologna, Mannerist architecture gained a firm hold. In 1537 Serlio began
to publish his series of books on architecture, in which he examined antiquity through
Mannerist eyes and provided a series of pattern-book Mannerist designs. Three years later,
Serlio joined the Italian Mannerist painter Francesco Primaticcio at Fontainebleau, where he
helped to consolidate the early acceptance of Mannerist ideals in France. In the work of
Alessandro Vittoria, the influence of central Italy was pronounced. His heavy ceiling moldings
are composed of Classical motifs and bold strapwork. The north’s taste for bizarre fancies—
such as Vittoria’s fireplace for the Palazzo Thiene—was often in advance of that in Rome and
Florence.

Even Venice proved to be quickly susceptible to the clever tricks of Mannerist license. Michele
Sanmicheli, a pupil of Bramante and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, returned after the sack
of Rome to his native town of Verona and later went to Venice, where his architecture shows
a clear awareness of Giulio Romano’s Mantuan experiments. Another prominent architect in
Venice was the Florentine sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, who also had fled to the north from
Rome after the sack. Sansovino’s architecture, as represented by the Loggetta (1537–40) at the
foot of St. Mark’s campanile or by the Old Library of St. Mark’s (Libreria Vecchia [1536–88]),
is rich in surface decorative qualities. The library has two stories of arcades; it has no basement
but merely three low steps, so as to match the Gothic Palazzo Ducale opposite it. The upper
entablature is extremely heavy, equaling half the height of the Ionic columns on which it rests.
The rich application of relief sculpture with no unadorned wall surfaces creates this decorative
quality, which has only superficial affinities with Florentine Mannerism.

This period of free and decorative Mannerism was followed by a more restrained Classical
architecture seen to perfection in the work of one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance,
Andrea Palladio. The city of Vicenza, not far from Venice, was almost completely rebuilt with
edifices after his design, including the basilica or town hall (1549) and the Loggia del
 Capitaniato (1571), as well as many private palaces. In the varied design of these buildings and
in numerous villas in the Venetian mainland around Vicenza, Palladio brilliantly demonstrated
the versatility of a range of neo-antique formulas. The Villa Capra or Rotonda (1550–51; with
later changes) is magnificent in its simplicity and massing. In the centre of a cubelike block
(typical of most Palladian villas) is a circular hall, and on all four sides are projecting Classical
temple fronts as porticoes, resulting in an absolute Classical symmetry in the plan. In Venice,
Palladio built several churches, all with the Latin cross plan and rather similar facades. San
Giorgio Maggiore (1566–1610) has a Roman temple front, on four giant half columns, applied
to the centre of the facade; abutting the sides are two half temple fronts with smaller coupled
pilasters. The resulting composition suggests the interpenetration of two complete temple
fronts in a Mannerist way, since the elements of the composition are less independent than they
would be in High Renaissance architecture. Also typical of Mannerism is the way in which the
interior space, instead of being Classically confined, is permitted to escape through a
colonnaded screen behind the sanctuary into a large choir at the rear. Palladio’s greatest fame
rests on his treatise I quattro libri dell’architettura (1570; The Four Books on Architecture).

The most important architect of this period in Rome was Giacomo da Vignola, who wrote a
treatise, Regola delli cinque ordini d’architettura (1562; “Rule of the Five Orders of
Architecture”), devoted solely to a consideration of the architectural orders and their
proportions. Like Palladio’s book, Vignola’s Regola became a textbook for later Classical
architecture.

Of his many buildings, the project for the church of Il Gesù (1568) at Rome, the central church
of the Jesuit order, was very influential on the later history of architecture. The plan is a Latin
cross with side chapels flanking the nave, but the eastern end is a central plan, capped by a
dome. Il Gesù’s plan was imitated throughout Europe, but especially in Italy, during the early
Baroque period of the 17th century. Vignola built the church except for its facade, which was
executed by Giacomo della Porta. Della Porta, inspired by Vignola’s original design, created a
facade concentrated toward its centre, which, like the plan, was the prototype for most early
Baroque facades of the late 16th and 17th centuries.

What is the High Renaissance? - Characteristics

The period known as the High Renaissance roughly spans the four decades from 1490 to the sack of Rome in
1527. It represents the accepted apogee of Renaissance art - the period when the ideals of classical
humanism were fully implemented in both painting and sculpture, and when painterly techniques of linear
perspective, shading and other methods of realism were mastered. While the preceding Early Renaissance
had been centred on Florence and largely paid for by the Medici family, the High Renaissance was centred on
Rome and paid for by the Popes. Indeed, it very nearly bankrupted the city.

The key High Renaissance artists in Rome included Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) master of oil painting and
sfumato; Michelangelo (1475-1564), the greatest sculptor and fresco painter of the day; Raphael (1483-
1520), the finest painter of the High Renaissance; Correggio (1489-1534), the Parma painter, famous for his
illusionistic Assumption of the Virgin (Parma Cathedral) (1526-30); and Donato Bramante (1444-1514), the
leading architect of the High Renaissance. Provincial painters included Luca Signorelli (1450-1523), whose
Sistine Chapel murals and Orvieto Cathedral frescoes are believed to have been an important influence on
Michelangelo.
High Renaissance Works of Art

Masterpieces of High Renaissance painting include: Michelangelo's Genesis

Sistine Chapel frescoes; Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks (1484-6, Louvre,
Paris), Lady with an Ermine (1490) Czartoryski Museum, Krakow, Last Supper
(1495-8, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan) and Mona Lisa (1503-5, Louvre);
Raphael's Sistine Madonna (1513), Transfiguration (1518-20), Portrait of
Baldassare Castiglione (1514-15) and School of Athens (1509-11), in the
Raphael Rooms in the Vatican; and Titian's Assumption of the Virgin (1518, S.
Maria Gloriosa dei Frari).

Highlights of High Renaissance sculpture include: Pieta (1500, St Peter's,

Rome) and David by Michelangelo (1501-4, originally located in the Piazza
della Signoria, Florence, now in the city's Academy of Arts).

The High Renaissance unfolded against a back-drop of mounting religious and

political tension, which affected painters and sculptors, as well as patrons of
the arts throughout Italy. After the sack of Rome in 1527, it was superceded
by the more artificial and dramatic style of Mannerism.

Political Developments During the High Renaissance

Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492, together with

Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world in 1522, trashed the prevailing
dogma of a flat earth; in 1512 Copernicus placed the sun (not the earth) at
the centre of the visible universe. These discoveries rocked the foundations of
theology along with many assumptions about human life.

In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, causing upheaval throughout

the country. In the same year, political rivalry in Florence led to the rise and
fall of the fanatical cleric Girolamo Savonarola (1494-8), which severely shook
Florentine art in the process. (During this time it is said that Botticelli actually
pledged to renounce art.)

In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, triggering the

Reformation and plunging much of Europe into chaos. This led to a number of
military conflicts between Charles V (ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low
Countries and southern Italy), Francis I of France, Henry VIII in England and
the Popes in Rome. The era ended with the sacking of Rome in 1527.

With such uncertainty at large, it seems incredible that the High Renaissance
could have occurred at all. Yet it did. Indeed, the years between 1490 and the
sack of Rome in 1527 saw a huge outpouring in Italy of all the visual arts.
This golden age - perhaps the most creative era in the history of art - set the
standards in both fine art painting and sculpture for centuries to come.

Rome: The Centre of the High Renaissance

Rome now superceded Florence as the focal point of the Early Renaissance,
not least because of papal ambition to make Rome even greater than its
Florentine rival. The exorbitant patronage of Pope Julius II (1503-13) and
Pope Leo X (1513-21) secured and retained the services of painters like
Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo, all of whom created oils and mural
painting of startling novelty, plus architects like Donato Bramante, a key
figure in the redevelopment of St Peter's Basilica. Driven by Popes who
wished to use art to reinforce the glory of Rome, the High Renaissance
marked the zenith of the return to classical humanist values based on ancient
Greek art and culture. As the Church was the major patron, Christian art
remained the major genre.

For the leaders of the Florentine High Renaissance once Leonardo and
Michelangelo had departed: see Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), leader 1508-
12; replaced by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530).

Meanwhile in Venice... Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) was busy developing a

separate school of Venetian painting, based on the primacy of colorito over
disegno. His pupils included the short-lived enigmatic Giorgione (1477-1510),
Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547) and Titian (c.1477-1576), arguably the
leading colourist of the Italian Renaissance, as well as provincial masters like
Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556). See, in particular, Giorgione's Tempest (1508,
Venice Academy Gallery) and Sleeping Venus (1510, Gemaldegalerie,
Dresden); For information about portraiture, see: Venetian Portrait Painting
(c.1400-1600).

Elsewhere in Italy, High Renaissance values also influenced provincial centres

like the Parma School of painting and the later Bolognese School (1580s on).

Note: Much pioneering work on the attribution of paintings during the Italian
Renaissance, was done by the art scholar Bernard Berenson (1865-1959),
who lived most of his life near Florence, and published a number of highly
influential works on the Italian Renaissance.

High Renaissance Aesthetics

Ever since Giotto abandoned medieval hieratic art in favour of depicting

nature, his successors from the quattrocento managed to find more and more
ways to improve their portrayal of the real world. Techniques involving linear
perspective and vanishing points, foreshortening, illusionistic devices,
chiaroscuro and sfumato shading - all these methods were mastered during
the High Renaissance. During the cinquecento, the near universal adoption of
oil painting eliminated the matt colours of the 15th century, and made it
possible for distance to be conveyed solely through the gradation of tones - a
process known as aerial or atmospheric perspective.

Even so, despite the growing realism being achieved in their art, High
Renaissance artists aspired to beauty, and harmony more than realism. Their
paintings may have been based on nature but they had no interest in mere
replication. Instead they looked for ultimate truth in a study of the classical
world of Greek and Roman culture. It was this that provided artists with an
ideal of perfection: their aesthetics. Thus, Greek philosophy provided the
secret of the perfect human type with its proportions, muscular structure,
oval face, triangular forehead, straight nose, and balance - with the weight on
one hip - all of which can be seen in the paintings of Raphael, and the
immensely expressive sculpture of Michelangelo. The latter in particular was
never afraid to bend the realistic rules of anatomy and proportion, in order to
increase his power of expression.

It was through Classical Greek philosophy that Renaissance theorists and

artists developed their idea of 'Humanism'. Humanism was a way of thinking
which attached more importance to Man and less importance to God. It
 imbued Renaissance art with its unique flavour, as exemplified in works like
Leonardo's Mona Lisa (a non-religious painting), Michelangelo's David - a
more human than religious statue - and Raphael's cool secular fresco School
of Athens. Even when High Renaissance artists painted religious paintings, or
sculpted a religious scene, very often they were not glorifying God but Man.
They were exalting the ideals of classical aesthetics. Paradoxically, a few
mythological works - such as Jupiter and Io (1533) by Correggio - do the
opposite: they don't glorify men but Gods!

Note: In the eyes of at least one European Renaissance expert - Jacob

Burckhardt (1818-97), Professor of Art History at Basel University and author
of "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy" (Die Kultur der Renaissance in
Italien), published in 1860, the first fifty years of the 16th century
represented the Golden Era of Renaissance art.

For details of European collections of quattrocento and cinquecento Italian

painting, see: Art Museums in Europe.

High Renaissance Architecture

The rediscovery of Greek architecture and later Roman architecture, and its
rejuvenation by Italian Renaissance architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446), Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72), Guiliano da Sangallo (1443-
1516), Donato Bramante (1444-1514), Raphael (1483-1520), Michelangelo
(1475-1564), Baldessare Peruzzi (1481-1536), Michele Sanmicheli (1484-
1559), Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570), Giulio Romano (1499-1546), Andrea
Palladio (1508-80), and Vincenzo Scamozzi (1548-1616), led to the
reintroduction of classical values in nearly all building designs of the time.
Greek Orders of architecture were discovered, along with ideal building
proportions, while Doric and Corinthian columns were incorporated into a
variety of religious and secular structures. Renaissance domes began to
appear, crowning the tops of churches and palaces.

High Renaissance architecture is best exemplified by the works of Donato

Bramante, notably the initial design for the dome of the new St Peter's
Basilica in Rome, as well as the Tempietto (1502) at S. Pietro in Montorio, a
centralized dome that recalls Greek temple architecture. He was also closely
involved with Pope Julius II in planning the replacement of the 4th century
Old St Peter's with a new basilica of gigantic size.

Part of the enduring legacy of Italian Renaissance art is the Beaux-Arts style
of architecture. A lavish mix of Renaissance and Baroque styles, Beaux-Arts
designs emerged during the 19th century, and were championed by
graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. In America, the style was
introduced by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-95) and Cass Gilbert (1859-1934).
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/high-renaissance.htm#definition

oward the end of the 14th century AD, a handful of Italian thinkers declared that they were living in a
new age. The barbarous, unenlightened “Middle Ages” were over, they said; the new age would be a
“rinascità” (“rebirth”) of learning and literature, art and culture. This was the birth of the period now
known as the Renaissance. For centuries, scholars have agreed that the Italian Renaissance (another
word for “rebirth”) happened just that way: that between the 14th century and the 17th century, a
new, modern way of thinking about the world and man’s place in it replaced an old, backward one. In
fact, the Renaissance (in Italy and in other parts of Europe) was considerably more complicated than
that: For one thing, in many ways the period we call the Renaissance was not so different from the era
that preceded it. However, many of the scientific, artistic and cultural achievements of the so-called
Renaissance do share common themes–most notably the humanistic belief that man was the center
of his own universe.

https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/italian-renaissance

Background of Italian Reniassance

The Italian Renaissance took place during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It was a
time for rebirth of art, and when people became interested in the human anatomy, and
religeous works. Art was very detailed, and more classical. They had a lot of use of
shadows. The Italian Renaissance was devided into three catagories: Early, High, and
Late Renaissance. Most paintings were made of linseed oil, oil paint, or powdered
pigment. There were thousands of works done during the Italian Renaissance. The
word Renaissance is French for rebirth . The Renaissance actually began in Tuscany,
Italy. Most pictures, paintings, ans sculptures from the Renaissance were from
churches, religious things, and holy things. Most of the artists who greatly influenced the
Italian Renaissance were Leonardo Da Vinci, Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi,
Michelangelo, Titian, Botticelli, any so many more. The Italian Renaissance helped
influence the Elizabethan era, and the German Renaissance. There are many words
describing the Italian Renaissance including, expressive, historical, realistic, important,
famous, dull, dark, elegant, shadows, stone, powerful, and personal.

The Characteristics Of Italian Renaissance

The characteristics of Italian Renaissance are, it began in the opening phase of the
Renaissance. Italian Renaissnace began in Tuscany and centered in the cities of
Florence and Sienna. Italian Renaissance is best known for cultural goals and
achievements. Italian Renaissance is focused mostly on religious themes, such as
scenes from the Bible and portraits of Jesus and the Saints. Renaissance painters
used new techniques to bring their art to life with life-like expressive faces. One of
the most impotant artists was Giotto di Bondone. He was called "The Father of
Western Painters." Giotto brought new drama and realism to art. The people in his
paintings had life-like,expressive faces and natural landscapes. In addition, he used a
technique called perspective for making paintings look 3-D. Also, Leonardo Da Vinci
was very important. He made many sketches and blueprints for inventions. He also
is the artist of many famous paintings during the Reniassance such as the Last
Supper, and the Mona Lisa. He was so important during this period in art, that he
was called "The Renaissance Man." The paintings were very detailed, and used a lot
of shadow. There are currently over 1,000 different paintings from the Renaissance.

http://eram.k12.ny.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=36363&
PHPSESSID=e4eb6b72e6475bcc835285e8fef278a4

Renaissance architecture
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Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502, by Bramante. This small temple marks the place
where St Peter was put to death.
Temple of Vesta, Rome, 205 AD. As one of the most important temples of Ancient Rome,[1] it became
the model for Bramante's Tempietto.

Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 14th
and early 17th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and
development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture.
Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by
Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its
innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities. The style was carried
to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with
varying degrees of impact.

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
ancient Roman architecture, of which many examples remained. Orderly arrangements of
columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes,
niches and aedicula replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of
medieval buildings.

Renaissance
The School of Athens, Raphael, 1509–1511

Topics

 Humanism
 Age of Discovery
 Architecture
 Dance
 Fine arts
 Literature
 Music
 Philosophy
 Science
 Technology
 Warfare

Regions
 Bengal
 England
 France
 Germany
 Italy
 Poland
 Portugal
 Spain
 Scotland
 Northern Europe
 Low Countries

Criticism
  Criticism

 v
 t
 e

Contents
 1 Historiography
 2 Development in Italy – influences
o 2.1 Architectural
o 2.2 Political
o 2.3 Commercial
o 2.4 Religious
o 2.5 Philosophic
o 2.6 Civil
o 2.7 Patronage
o 2.8 Architectural theory
 3 Principal phases
o 3.1 Quattrocento
o 3.2 High Renaissance
o 3.3 Mannerism
o 3.4 From Renaissance to Baroque
 4 Characteristics
o 4.1 Plan
o 4.2 Columns and pilasters
o 4.3 Arches
o 4.4 Vaults
o 4.5 Domes
o 4.6 Ceilings
o 4.7 Doors
o 4.8 Windows
o 4.9 Walls
o 4.10 Details
 5 Development in Italy – Early Renaissance
o 5.1 Brunelleschi
o 5.2 Michelozzo
o 5.3 Alberti
 6 Spread of the Renaissance in Italy
 7 High Renaissance
o 7.1 Bramante
o 7.2 Sangallo
o 7.3 Raphael
 8 Mannerism
o 8.1 Peruzzi
o 8.2 Giulio Romano
 o 8.3 Michelangelo
o 8.4 Giacomo della Porta
o 8.5 Andrea Palladio
 9 Progression from Early Renaissance through to Baroque
 10 Spread in Europe
o 10.1 Croatia
o 10.2 Kingdom of Hungary
o 10.3 Russia
o 10.4 Poland
o 10.5 Crown of Bohemia
o 10.6 France
o 10.7 Netherlands/Flanders
o 10.8 Germany
o 10.9 England
o 10.10 Spain
o 10.11 Portugal
o 10.12 Scandinavia
o 10.13 Baltic States
 11 Legacy
 12 See also
 13 References
 14 Bibliography
 15 Reading
 16 External links

Historiography
The word "Renaissance" derived from the term "la rinascita", which means rebirth, first
appeared in Giorgio Vasari's Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori Italiani The
Lives of the Artists, 1550–60.

Although the term Renaissance was used first by the French historian Jules Michelet, it was
given its more lasting definition from the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, whose book, Die
Kultur der Renaissance in Italien 1860, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1860,
English translation, by SGC Middlemore, in 2 vols., London, 1878) was influential in the
development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance. The folio of measured
drawings Édifices de Rome moderne; ou, Recueil des palais, maisons, églises, couvents et
autres monuments (The Buildings of Modern Rome), first published in 1840 by Paul
Letarouilly, also played an important part in the revival of interest in this period.Erwin
Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, (New York: Harper and Row, 1960)
The Renaissance style was recognized by contemporaries in the term "all'antica", or "in the
ancient manner" (of the Romans).

Development in Italy – influences

Main article: Italian Renaissance

Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance.
It is in Florence that the new architectural style had its beginning, not slowly evolving in the
way that Gothic grew out of Romanesque, but consciously brought to being by particular
architects who sought to revive the order of a past "Golden Age". The scholarly approach to
the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of
factors were influential in bringing this about.

The Romanesque Baptistery of Florence was the object of Brunelleschi's studies of perspective

Architectural

Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural
members that expressed their purpose.[2] Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate
these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery and Pisa Cathedral.

Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. Apart from the Cathedral of
Milan, (influenced by French Rayonnant Gothic), few Italian churches show the emphasis on
vertical, the clustered shafts, ornate tracery and complex ribbed vaulting that characterise
Gothic in other parts of Europe.[2]

The presence, particularly in Rome, of ancient architectural remains showing the ordered
Classical style provided an inspiration to artists at a time when philosophy was also turning
towards the Classical.[2]

Political

In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the
area that surrounded them, making the movement of artists possible. This enabled Florence to
have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France.

In 1377, the return of the Pope from the Avignon Papacy[3] and the re-establishment of the
Papal court in Rome, brought wealth and importance to that city, as well as a renewal in the
importance of the Pope in Italy, which was further strengthened by the Council of Constance
in 1417. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s
temporal power throughout Italy.[4]
Commercial

In the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. The large
towns of Northern Italy were prosperous through trade with the rest of Europe, Genoa
providing a seaport for the goods of France and Spain; Milan and Turin being centers of
overland trade, and maintaining substantial metalworking industries. Trade brought wool
from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, the
industry on which its wealth was founded. By dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport,
and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in
particular turned their attention from trade to the lucrative business of money-lending. The
Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes
themselves as they did so, by reason of both wealth and influence. Along the trade routes, and
thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists,
scientists and philosophers.[4]

Pope Sixtus IV, 1477, builder of the Sistine Chapel. Fresco by Melozzo da Forlì in the Vatican Palace.

Religious

The return of the Pope Gregory XI from Avignon in September 1377 and the resultant new
emphasis on Rome as the center of Christian spirituality, brought about a boom in the
building of churches in Rome such as had not taken place for nearly a thousand years. This
commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, reaching its
peak in the Baroque period. The construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely
important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peter's, one of Christendom's most
significant churches, were part of this process.[5]

In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than
spiritual. The unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin
Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. However, as the technology and finance
were found to complete it, the rising dome did credit not only to the Blessed Virgin, its
architect and the Church but also the Signoria, the Guilds and the sectors of the city from
which the manpower to construct it was drawn. The dome inspired further religious works in
Florence.
Four Humanist philosophers under the patronage of the Medici: Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landino,
Angelo Poliziano and Demetrius Chalcondyles. Fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Philosophic

The development of printed books, the rediscovery of ancient writings, the expanding of
political and trade contacts and the exploration of the world all increased knowledge and the
desire for education.[2]

The reading of philosophies that were not based on Christian theology led to the development
of Humanism through which it was clear that while God had established and maintained
order in the Universe, it was the role of Man to establish and maintain order in Society.[6]

Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, head of the Medici Bank, sponsored civic building programs.
Posthumous portrait by Pontormo.

Civil

Through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the
marks of citizenship. This led to the building of structures such as Brunelleschi's Hospital of
the Innocents with its elegant colonnade forming a link between the charitable building and
the public square, and the Laurentian Library where the collection of books established by the
Medici family could be consulted by scholars.[7]
Some major ecclesiastical building works were also commissioned, not by the church, but by
guilds representing the wealth and power of the city. Brunelleschi’s dome at Florence
Cathedral, more than any other building, belonged to the populace because the construction
of each of the eight segments was achieved by a different sector of the city.[2][7]

Patronage

As in the Platonic academy of Athens, it was seen by those of Humanist understanding that
those people who had the benefit of wealth and education ought to promote the pursuit of
learning and the creation of that which was beautiful. To this end, wealthy families—the
Medici of Florence, the Gonzaga of Mantua, the Farnese in Rome, the Sforzas in Milan—
gathered around them people of learning and ability, promoting the skills and creating
employment for the most talented artists and architects of their day.[7]

Architectural theory
Further information: Mathematics and architecture

During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, but also a matter
for theoretical discussion. Printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas.

 The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria ("On the Subject of Building") by
Leon Battista Alberti in 1450. It was to some degree dependent on Vitruvius's De
architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re
aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture.
 Sebastiano Serlio (1475 – c. 1554) produced the next important text, the first volume of
which appeared in Venice in 1537; it was entitled Regole generali d'architettura ("General
Rules of Architecture"). It is known as Serlio's "Fourth Book" since it was the fourth in
Serlio's original plan of a treatise in seven books. In all, five books were published.
 In 1570, Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) published I quattro libri dell'architettura ("The Four
Books of Architecture") in Venice. This book was widely printed and responsible to a great
degree for spreading the ideas of the Renaissance through Europe. All these books were
intended to be read and studied not only by architects, but also by patrons.

Principal phases

Palladio's engraving of Bramante's Tempietto

Plan of Bramante's Tempietto in Montorio

Historians often divide the Renaissance in Italy into three phases.[8] Whereas art historians
might talk of an "Early Renaissance" period, in which they include developments in 14th-
century painting and sculpture, this is usually not the case in architectural history. The bleak
economic conditions of the late 14th century did not produce buildings that are considered to
be part of the Renaissance. As a result, the word "Renaissance" among architectural
historians usually applies to the period 1400 to ca. 1525, or later in the case of non-Italian
Renaissances.

Historians often use the following designations:

 Renaissance (ca. 1400–1500); also known as the Quattrocento[9] and sometimes Early
Renaissance[10]
 High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525)
 Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600)

Quattrocento

In the Quattrocento, concepts of architectural order were explored and rules were formulated.
(See- Characteristics of Renaissance Architecture, below.) The study of classical antiquity led
in particular to the adoption of Classical detail and ornamentation.

Space, as an element of architecture, was used differently from 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).[11]

High Renaissance

During the High Renaissance, concepts derived from classical antiquity were developed and
used with greater confidence. 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.[12]
The Campidoglio

Mannerism
Main article: Mannerism § Mannerist architecture

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 frequently used the giant order in his architecture,
a large pilaster that stretches from the bottom to the top of a façade.[13] 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.[14]

From Renaissance to Baroque

Main article: Baroque architecture

As the new style of architecture spread out from Italy, most other European countries
developed a sort of Proto-Renaissance style, before the construction of fully formulated
Renaissance buildings. Each country in turn then grafted its own architectural traditions to the
new style, so that Renaissance buildings across Europe are diversified by region.

Within Italy the evolution of Renaissance architecture into Mannerism, with widely diverging
tendencies in the work of Michelangelo and Giulio Romano and Andrea Palladio, led to the
Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric.

Outside Italy, Baroque architecture was more widespread and fully developed than the
Renaissance style, with significant buildings as far afield as Mexico[15] and the Philippines.[16]

Characteristics
Raphael's unused plan for St. Peter's Basilica

The obvious distinguishing features of Classical Roman architecture were adopted by

Renaissance architects. However, the forms and purposes of buildings had changed over
time, as 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.[17]

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.
Sant'Agostino, Rome, Giacomo di Pietrasanta, 1483

Façade

Façades are symmetrical around their vertical axis. Church façades are generally surmounted
by a pediment and organised by a system of pilasters, arches and entablatures. The columns
and windows show a progression towards the centre. One of the first true Renaissance
façades was the Cathedral of Pienza (1459–62), which has been attributed to the Florentine
architect Bernardo Gambarelli (known as Rossellino) with Alberti perhaps having some
responsibility in its design as well.

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

Classical Orders, engraving from the Encyclopédie vol. 18. 18th century.

Columns and pilasters

The Greek and 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. One of the first
buildings to use pilasters as an integrated system was in the Old Sacristy (1421–1440) by
Brunelleschi.

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. Alberti was one of the first to use the arch
on a monumental scale at the St. Andrea in Mantua.

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 as at the St. Andrea in Mantua.

Domes
Main article: History of Italian Renaissance domes

The Dome of St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

The 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.
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.[18]

Ceilings

Roofs are fitted with flat or coffered ceilings. They are not left open as in Medieval
architecture. They are frequently painted or decorated.

Doors

Doors 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.
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. Emblematic in this
respect is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, begun in 1517.

Courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

In the Mannerist period the “Palladian” arch was employed, using a motif of a high semi-
circular topped opening flanked with two lower square-topped openings. 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.

Walls

External walls are generally constructed of brick, rendered, or faced with stone in 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, as at the
Palazzo Medici Riccardi (1444–1460) in Florence. Internal walls are smoothly plastered and
surfaced with lime wash. For more formal spaces, internal surfaces are decorated with
frescoes.

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. Some architects were
stricter in their use of classical details than others, but there was also a good deal of
innovation in solving problems, especially at corners. 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.[2]
Development in Italy – Early Renaissance
The leading architects of the Early Renaissance or Quattrocento were Brunelleschi,
Michelozzo and Alberti.

Brunelleschi

The person generally credited with bringing about the Renaissance view of architecture is
Filippo Brunelleschi, (1377–1446).[19] The underlying feature of the work of Brunelleschi
was "order".

Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence.

In the early 15th century, Brunelleschi began to look at the world to see what the rules were
that governed one's way of seeing. He observed that the way one sees regular structures such
as the Baptistery of Florence and the tiled pavement surrounding it follows a mathematical
order—linear perspective.

The buildings remaining among the ruins of ancient Rome appeared to respect a simple
mathematical order in the way that Gothic buildings did not. One incontrovertible rule
governed all Ancient Roman architecture—a semi-circular arch is exactly twice as wide as it
is high. A fixed proportion with implications of such magnitude occurred nowhere in Gothic
architecture. A Gothic pointed arch could be extended upwards or flattened to any proportion
that suited the location. Arches of differing angles frequently occurred within the same
structure. No set rules of proportion applied.

From the observation of the architecture of Rome came a desire for symmetry and careful
proportion in which the form and composition of the building as a whole and all its subsidiary
details have fixed relationships, each section in proportion to the next, and the architectural
features serving to define exactly what those rules of proportion are.[20] Brunelleschi gained
the support of a number of wealthy Florentine patrons, including the Silk Guild and Cosimo
de' Medici.
The dome of Florence Cathedral (the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)

Florence Cathedral

Brunelleschi's first major architectural commission was for the enormous brick dome which
covers the central space of Florence's cathedral, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in the 14th
century but left unroofed. While often described as the first building of the Renaissance,
Brunelleschi's daring design uses the pointed Gothic arch and Gothic ribs that were
apparently planned by Arnolfio. It seems certain, however, that while stylistically Gothic, in
keeping with the building it surmounts, the dome is in fact structurally influenced by the great
dome of Ancient Rome, which Brunelleschi could hardly have ignored in seeking a solution.
This is the dome of the Pantheon, a circular temple, now a church.

Inside the Pantheon's single-shell concrete dome is coffering which greatly decreases the
weight. The vertical partitions of the coffering effectively serve as ribs, although this feature
does not dominate visually. At the apex of the Pantheon's dome is an opening, 8 meters
across. Brunelleschi was aware that a dome of enormous proportion could in fact be
engineered without a keystone. The dome in Florence is supported by the eight large ribs and
sixteen more internal ones holding a brick shell, with the bricks arranged in a herringbone
manner. Although the techniques employed are different, in practice both domes comprise a
thick network of ribs supporting very much lighter and thinner infilling. And both have a
large opening at the top.[2]
The church of San Lorenzo

San Lorenzo

The new architectural philosophy of the Renaissance is best demonstrated in the churches of
San Lorenzo, and Santo Spirito in Florence. Designed by Brunelleschi in about 1425 and
1428 respectively, both have the shape of the Latin cross. Each has a modular plan, each
portion being a multiple of the square bay of the aisle. This same formula controlled also the
vertical dimensions. In the case of Santo Spirito, which is entirely regular in plan, transepts
and chancel are identical, while the nave is an extended version of these. In 1434
Brunelleschi designed the first Renaissance centrally planned building, Santa Maria degli
Angeli of Florence. It is composed of a central octagon surrounded by a circuit of eight
smaller chapels. From this date onwards numerous churches were built in variations of these
designs.[21]

Michelozzo

Michelozzo Michelozzi (1396–1472), was another architect under patronage of the Medici
family, his most famous work being the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, which he was
commissioned to design for Cosimo de' Medici in 1444. A decade later he built the Villa
Medici at Fiesole. Among his other works for Cosimo are the library at the Convent of San
Marco, Florence. He went into exile in Venice for a time with his patron. He was one of the
first architects to work in the Renaissance style outside Italy, building a palace at
Dubrovnik.[5]
Palazzo Medici Riccardi by Michelozzo. Florence, 1444

The Palazzo Medici Riccardi is Classical in the details of its pedimented windows 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.[2]

Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti, born in Genoa (1402–1472), was an important Humanist theoretician
and designer whose book on architecture De re Aedificatoria was to have lasting effect. An
aspect of Humanism was an emphasis of the anatomy of nature, in particular the human form,
a science first studied by the Ancient Greeks. Humanism made man the measure of things.
Alberti perceived the architect as a person with great social responsibilities.[5]

Sant'Andrea, Mantua, the façade

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 to others. Miraculously,
one of his greatest designs, that of the Church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, was brought to
completion with its character essentially intact. Not so the church of San Francesco in Rimini,
a rebuilding of a Gothic structure, which, like Sant'Andrea, was to have a façade reminiscent
of a Roman triumphal arch. This was left sadly incomplete.[5]
Sant'Andrea is an extremely dynamic building both without and within. Its triumphal façade
is marked by extreme contrasts. The projection of the order of pilasters that define the
architectural elements, but are essentially non-functional, is very shallow. This contrasts with
the gaping deeply recessed arch which makes a huge portico before the main door. The size
of this arch is in direct contrast to the two low square-topped openings that frame it. The light
and shade play dramatically over the surface of the building because of the shallowness of its
mouldings and the depth of its porch. In the interior Alberti has dispensed with the traditional
nave and aisles. Instead there is a slow and majestic progression of alternating tall arches and
low square doorways, repeating the "triumphal arch" motif of the façade.[22]

Façade of Santa Maria Novella, 1456–70

Two of Alberti’s best known buildings are in Florence, the Palazzo Rucellai and at Santa
Maria Novella. For the palace, Alberti applied the classical orders of columns to the façade
on the three levels, 1446–51. At Santa Maria Novella he was commissioned to finish the
decoration of the façade. He completed the design in 1456 but the work was not finished until
1470.

The lower section of the building had Gothic niches and typical polychrome marble
decoration. There was a large ocular window in the end of the nave which had to be taken
into account. Alberti simply respected what was already in place, and the Florentine tradition
for polychrome that was well established at the Baptistery of San Giovanni, the most revered
building in the city. The decoration, being mainly polychrome marble, is mostly very flat in
nature, but a sort of order is established by the regular compartments and the circular motifs
which repeat the shape of the round window.[2] For the first time, Alberti linked the lower
roofs of the aisles to nave using two large scrolls. These were to become a standard
Renaissance device for solving the problem of different roof heights and bridge the space
between horizontal and vertical surfaces.[23]

Spread of the Renaissance in Italy

The Church of the Certosa di Pavia, Lombardy

In the 15th century the courts of certain other Italian states became centres for spreading of
Renaissance philosophy, art and architecture.

In Mantua at the court of the Gonzaga, Alberti designed two churches, the Basilica of
Sant'Andrea and San Sebastiano.

Urbino was an important centre with the ancient ducal palace being extended for Federico da
Montefeltro in the mid 15th century. The duke employed Luciano Laurana from Dalmatia,
renowned for his expertise at fortification. The design incorporates much of the earlier
medieval building and includes an unusual turreted three-storeyed façade. Laurana was
assisted by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Later parts of the building are clearly Florentine in
style, particularly the inner courtyard, but it is not known who the designer was.[24]

Ferrara, under the Este, was expanded in the late fifteenth century, with several new palaces
being built such as the Palazzo dei Diamanti and Palazzo Schifanoia for Borso d'Este. In
Milan, under the Visconti, the Certosa di Pavia was completed, and then later under the
Sforza, the Castello Sforzesco was built.[2]

Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice

In Venice, San Zaccaria received its Renaissance façade at the hands of Antonio Gambello
and Mauro Codussi, begun in the 1480s.[25] Giovanni Maria Falconetto, the Veronese
architect-sculptor, introduced Renaissance architecture to Padua with the Loggia Cornaro in
the garden of Alvise Cornaro.

In southern Italy, Renaissance masters were called to Naples by Alfonso V of Aragon after
his conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. The most notable examples of Renaissance
architecture in that city are the Cappella Caracciolo, attributed to Bramante, and the Palazzo
Orsini di Gravina, built by Gabriele d'Angelo between 1513 and 1549.

High Renaissance
The crossing of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan, Bramante (1490)

In the late 15th century and early 16th century, architects such as Bramante, Antonio da
Sangallo the Younger and others showed a mastery of the revived style and ability to apply it
to buildings such as churches and city palazzo which were quite different from the structures
of ancient times. The style became more decorated and ornamental, statuary, domes and
cupolas becoming very evident. The architectural period is known as the "High Renaissance"
and coincides with the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Bramante

Donato Bramante, (1444–1514), was born in Urbino and turned from painting to architecture,
finding his first important patronage under Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, for whom he
produced a number of buildings over 20 years. After the fall of Milan to the French in 1499,
Bramante travelled to Rome where he achieved great success under papal patronage.[5]

The apse of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Bramante’s finest architectural achievement in Milan is his addition of crossing and choir to
the abbey church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan). This is a brick structure, the form of
which owes much to the Northern Italian tradition of square domed baptisteries. The new
building is almost centrally planned, except that, because of the site, the chancel extends
further than the transept arms. The hemispherical dome, of approximately 20 metres across,
rises up hidden inside an octagonal drum pierced at the upper level with arched classical
openings. The whole exterior has delineated details decorated with the local terracotta
ornamentation.

In Rome Bramante created what has been described as "a perfect architectural gem",[2] the
Tempietto in the Cloister of San Pietro in Montorio. This small circular temple marks the spot
where St Peter was martyred and is thus the most sacred site in Rome. 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. As
approached from the cloister, as in the picture above, it is seen framed by an arch and
columns, the shape of which are echoed in its free-standing form.

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. After Bramante’s death and
many changes of plan, Michelangelo, as chief architect, reverted to something closer to
Bramante’s original proposal. See below- Michelangelo.[2]

The Palazzo Farnese, Rome (1534–1545). Designed by Sangallo and Michelangelo.

Sangallo

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, (1485–1546), was one of a family of military engineers.
His uncle, Giuliano da Sangallo was one of those who submitted a plan for the rebuilding of
St Peter’s and was briefly a co-director of the project, with Raphael.[5]

Antonio da Sangallo also submitted a plan for St Peter’s and became the chief architect after
the death of Raphael, to be succeeded himself by Michelangelo.

His fame does not rest upon his association with St Peter’s but in his building of the Farnese
Palace, “the grandest palace of this period”, started in 1530.[2] 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. The upper of the three equally
sized floors was added by Michelangelo. It is probably just as well that this impressive
building is of brick; the travertine for its architectural details came not from a quarry, but
from the Colosseum.[2]
Palazzo Pandolfini, Florence, by Raphael

Raphael

Raphael, (1483–1520), Urbino, trained under Perugino in Perugia before moving to Florence,
was for a time the chief architect for St. Peter’s, working in conjunction with Antonio
Sangallo. He also designed a number of buildings, most of which were finished by others. His
single most influential work is the Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence with its two stories of
strongly articulated windows of a "tabernacle" type, each set around with ordered pilasters,
cornice and alternate arched and triangular pediments.[2]

Mannerism
Main article: Mannerism

Mannerism in architecture was marked by widely diverging tendencies in the work of

Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi and Andrea Palladio, that led to the
Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric.

Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne.

Peruzzi

Baldassare Peruzzi, (1481–1536), was an architect born in Siena, but working in Rome,
whose work bridges the High Renaissance and the Mannerist. His Villa Farnesina of 1509 is
a very regular monumental cube of two equal stories, the bays being strongly articulated by
orders of pilasters. The building is unusual for its frescoed walls.[2]

Peruzzi’s most famous work is the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome. The unusual
features of this building are that its façade curves gently around a curving street. It has in its
ground floor a dark central portico running parallel to the street, but as a semi enclosed space,
rather than an open loggia. Above this rise three undifferentiated floors, the upper two with
identical small horizontal windows in thin flat frames which contrast strangely with the deep
porch, which has served, from the time of its construction, as a refuge to the city’s poor.[23]
Palazzo Te, Mantua

Giulio Romano

Giulio Romano (1499–1546), was a pupil of Raphael, assisting him on various works for the
Vatican. Romano was also a highly inventive designer, working for Federico II Gonzaga at
Mantua on the Palazzo Te, (1524–1534), a project which combined his skills as architect,
sculptor and painter. In this work, incorporating garden grottoes and extensive frescoes, he
uses illusionistic effects, surprising combinations of architectural form and texture, and the
frequent use of features that seem somewhat disproportionate or out of alignment. The total
effect is eerie and disturbing. Ilan Rachum cites Romano as “one of the first promoters of
Mannerism”.[5]

Michelangelo

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) was one of the creative giants whose achievements
mark the High Renaissance. He excelled in each of the fields of painting, sculpture and
architecture and his achievements brought about significant changes in each area. His
architectural fame lies chiefly in two buildings: the interiors of the Laurentian Library and its
lobby at the monastery of San Lorenzo in Florence, and St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

St Peter's was "the greatest creation of the Renaissance",[2] and a great number of architects
contributed their skills to it. But at its completion, there was more of Michelangelo’s design
than of any other architect, before or after him.

St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's

The plan that was accepted at the laying of the foundation stone in 1506 was that by
Bramante. Various changes in plan occurred in the series of architects that succeeded him,
but Michelangelo, when he took over the project in 1546, reverted to Bramante’s Greek-cross
plan and redesigned the piers, the walls and the dome, giving the lower weight-bearing
members massive proportions and eliminating the encircling aisles from the chancel and
identical transept arms. Helen Gardner says: "Michelangelo, with a few strokes of the pen,
converted its snowflake complexity into a massive, cohesive unity."[7]

Michelangelo’s dome 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.

There is a wooden model of the dome, showing its outer shell as hemispherical. When
Michelangelo died in 1564, the building had reached the height of the drum. The architect
who succeeded Michelangelo was Giacomo della Porta. The dome, as built, has a much
steeper projection than the dome of the model. It is generally presumed that it was della Porta
who made this change to the design, to lessen the outward thrust. But, in fact it is unknown
who it was that made this change, and it is equally possible and a stylistic likelihood that the
person who decided upon the more dynamic outline was Michelangelo himself at some time
during the years that he supervised the project.[26]

The vestibule of the Laurentian Library

Laurentian Library

Michelangelo was at his most Mannerist in the design of the vestibule of the Laurentian
Library, also built by him to house the Medici collection of books at the convent of San
Lorenzo in Florence, the same San Lorenzo’s at which Brunelleschi had recast church
architecture into a Classical mold and established clear formula for the use of Classical orders
and their various components.

Michelangelo takes all Brunelleschi’s components and bends them to his will. The Library is
upstairs. It is a long low building with an ornate wooden ceiling, a matching floor and
crowded with corrals finished by his successors to Michelangelo’s design. 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 in what Pevsner refers to as a “flow of lava”, 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 center is steeper than at the two sides, fitting only eight
steps into the space of nine.

The space is crowded and it is to be expected that the wall spaces would be divided by
pilasters of low projection. But Michelangelo has chosen to use paired columns, which,
instead of standing out boldly from the wall, he has sunk deep into recesses within the wall
itself. In San Lorenzo's church nearby, Brunelleschi used little scrolling console brackets to
break the strongly horizontal line of the course above the arcade. Michelangelo has borrowed
Brunelleschi’s motifs and stood each pair of sunken columns on a pair of twin console
brackets. Pevsner says the “Laurenziana... reveals Mannerism in its most sublime
architectural form”.[23][27]

Il Gesù, designed by Giacomo della Porta.

Giacomo della Porta

Giacomo della Porta, (c.1533–1602), was famous as the architect who made the dome of St
Peter’s Basilica a reality. The change in outline between the dome as it appears in the model
and the dome as it was built, has brought about speculation as to whether the changes
originated with della Porta or with Michelangelo himself.

Della Porta spent nearly all his working life in Rome, designing villas, palazzi and churches
in the Mannerist style. One of his most famous works is the façade of the Church of the Gesù,
a project that he inherited from his teacher Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. Most characteristics
of the original design are maintained, subtly transformed to give more weight to the central
section, where della Porta uses, among other motifs, a low triangular pediment overlaid on a
segmental one above the main door. The upper storey and its pediment give the impression of
compressing the lower one. The center section, like that of Sant'Andrea at Mantua, is based
on the Triumphal Arch, but has two clear horizontal divisions like Santa Maria Novella. See
Alberti above.
The problem of linking the aisles to the nave is solved using Alberti’s scrolls, in
contrast to Vignola’s solution which provided much smaller brackets and four statues to stand
above the paired pilasters, visually weighing down the corners of the building. The influence
of the design may be seen in Baroque churches throughout Europe.
Andrea Palladio

Andrea Palladio, (1508–80), "the most influential architect of the whole Renaissance"',[2]
was, as a stonemason, introduced to Humanism by the poet Giangiorgio Trissino. His first
major architectural commission was the rebuilding of the Basilica Palladiana at Vicenza, in
the Veneto where he was to work most of his life.[5]

Villa Capra La Rotonda

Palladio was to transform the architectural style of both palaces and churches by taking a
different perspective on the notion of Classicism. While the architects of Florence and Rome
looked to structures like the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine to provide formulae,
Palladio looked to classical temples with their simple peristyle form. 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, rather than on a large scale as
Alberti used it at Sant’Andrea’s. This Ancient Roman motif[28] is often referred to as the
Palladian Arch.

The best known of Palladio’s domestic buildings is Villa Capra, otherwise known as "la
Rotonda", a centrally planned house with a domed central hall and four identical façades,
each with a temple-like portico like that of the Pantheon in Rome.[29] At the Villa Cornaro,
the projecting portico of the north façade and recessed loggia of the garden façade are of two
ordered stories, the upper forming a balcony.[30]

Like Alberti, della Porta and others, in the designing of a church façade, Palladio was
confronted by the problem of visually linking the aisles to the nave while maintaining and
defining the structure of the building. Palladio’s solution was entirely different from that
employed by della Porta. At the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice he overlays a tall
temple, its columns raised on high plinths, over another low wide temple façade, its columns
rising from the basements and its narrow lintel and pilasters appearing behind the giant order
of the central nave.[2]

Progression from Early Renaissance through to Baroque

Keystone with profile of man, Palazzo Giusti, Verona, Italy

In Italy, there appears to be a seamless progression from Early Renaissance architecture

through the High Renaissance and Mannerist to the Baroque style. Pevsner comments about
the vestibule of the Laurentian Library that it "has often been said that the motifs of the walls
show Michelangelo as the father of the Baroque".
While continuity may be the case in Italy, it was not necessarily the case elsewhere. The
adoption of the Renaissance style of architecture was slower in some areas than in others, as
may be seen in England, for example. Indeed, as Pope Julius II was having the ancient
Basilica of St. Peter’s demolished to make way for the new, Henry VII of England was
adding a glorious new chapel in the Perpendicular Gothic style to Westminster Abbey.

Likewise, the style that was to become known as Baroque evolved in Italy in the early 17th
century, at about the time that the first fully Renaissance buildings were constructed at
Greenwich and Whitehall in England,[31] after a prolonged period of experimentation with
Classical motifs applied to local architectural forms, or conversely, the adoption of
Renaissance structural forms in the broadest sense with an absence of the formulae that
governed their use. While the English were just discovering what the rules of Classicism
were, the Italians were experimenting with methods of breaking them. In England, following
the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, the architectural climate changed, and taste moved
in the direction of the Baroque. Rather than evolving, as it did in Italy, it arrived fully
fledged.

In a similar way, in many parts of Europe that had few purely classical and ordered buildings
like Brunelleschi’s Santo Spirito and Michelozzo’s Medici Riccardi Palace, Baroque
architecture appeared almost unheralded, on the heels of a sort of Proto-Renaissance local
style.[32] The spread of the Baroque and its replacement of traditional and more conservative
Renaissance architecture was particularly apparent in the building of churches as part of the
Counter Reformation.[23]

Main article: Baroque architecture

Spread in Europe
Main article: Northern Renaissance

The 16th century saw the economic and political ascendancy of France and Spain, and then
later of Holland, England, Germany and Russia. The result was that these places began to
import the Renaissance style as indicators of their new cultural position. This also meant that
it was not until about 1500 and later that signs of Renaissance architectural style began to
appear outside Italy.

Though Italian architects were highly sought after, such as Sebastiano Serlio in France,
Aristotile Fioravanti in Russia, and Francesco Fiorentino in Poland, soon, non-Italians were
studying Italian architecture and translating it into their own idiom. These included Philibert
de l'Orme (1510–1570) in France, Juan Bautista de Toledo (died: 1567) in Spain, Inigo Jones
(1573–1652) in England and Elias Holl (1573–1646) in Germany.[32]

Books or ornament prints with engraved illustrations demonstrating plans and ornament were
very important in spreading Renaissance styles in Northern Europe, with among the most
important authors being Androuet du Cerceau in France, and Hans Vredeman de Vries in the
Netherlands, and Wendel Dietterlin, author of Architectura (1593–94) in Germany.
Croatia

Cathedral of St. James, Šibenik

Main article: Architecture of Croatia

In the 15th century, Croatia was divided into three states – the northern and central part of
Croatia and Slavonia were in union with the Kingdom of Hungary, while Dalmatia, with the
exception of independent Dubrovnik, was under the rule of the Venetian Republic. The
Cathedral of St.James in Šibenik, was begun in 1441 in the Gothic style by Giorgio da
Sebenico (Juraj Dalmatinac). Its unusual construction does not use mortar, the stone blocks,
pilasters and ribs being bonded with joints and slots in the way that was usual in wooden
constructions. In 1477 the work was unfinished, and continued under Niccolò di Giovanni
Fiorentino who respected the mode of construction and the plan of the former architect, but
continued the work which includes the upper windows, the vaults and the dome, in the
Renaissance style. The combination of a high barrel vault with lower half-barrel vaults over
the aisles the gives the façade its distinctive trefoil shape, the first of this type in the
region.[33] The cathedral was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001.

The loggia around the courtyard of Visegrád Castle

Kingdom of Hungary

Old Town Hall (Levoča), Slovakia

Main article: Renaissance architecture in Central Europe

One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was the
Kingdom of Hungary. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus
and Beatrice of Naples in 1476. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons arrived at Buda
with the new queen. Important remains of the Early Renaissance summer palace of King
Matthias can be found in Visegrád. The Ottoman conquest of Hungary after 1526 cut short
the development of Renaissance architecture in the country and destroyed its most famous
examples. Today, the only completely preserved work of Hungarian Renaissance architecture
is the Bakócz Chapel (commissioned by the Hungarian cardinal Tamás Bakócz), now part of
the Esztergom Basilica.[34]

Russia
The Palace of Facets on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin.

Main articles: Russian architecture and Renaissance architecture in Eastern Europe

Prince Ivan III introduced Renaissance architecture to Russia by inviting a number of

architects from Italy, who brought new construction techniques and some Renaissance style
elements with them, while in general following the traditional designs of the Russian
architecture. In 1475 the Bolognese architect Aristotele Fioravanti came to rebuild the
Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, damaged in an earthquake. Fioravanti
was given the 12th-century Vladimir Cathedral as a model, and produced a design combining
traditional Russian style with a Renaissance sense of spaciousness, proportion and symmetry.

In 1485 Ivan III commissioned the building of a royal Terem Palace within the Kremlin, with
Aloisio da Milano being the architect of the first three floors. Aloisio da Milano, as well as
the other Italian architects, also greatly contributed to the construction of the Kremlin walls
and towers. The small banqueting hall of the Russian Tsars, called the Palace of Facets
because of its facetted upper story, is the work of two Italians, Marco Ruffo and Pietro
Solario, and shows a more Italian style. In 1505, an Italian known in Russia as Aleviz Novyi
built 12 churches for Ivan III, including the Cathedral of the Archangel, a building
remarkable for the successful blending of Russian tradition, Orthodox requirements and
Renaissance style.

Courtyard of Wawel Castle exemplifies first period of Polish Renaissance

Poland
Main articles: Renaissance in Poland, Renaissance architecture in Central Europe, and Mannerist
architecture and sculpture in Poland

Polish Renaissance architecture is divided into three periods: The First period (1500–50), is
the so-called "Italian". Most of Renaissance buildings were building of this time were by
Italian architects, mainly from Florence including Francesco Fiorentino and Bartolomeo
Berrecci (Wawel Courtyard, Sigismund's Chapel).
In the Second period (1550–1600), Renaissance architecture became more common, with the
beginnings of Mannerist and under the influence of the Netherlands, particularly in
Pomerania. Buildings include the New Cloth Hall in Kraków and city halls in Tarnów,
Sandomierz, Chełm (demolished) and most famously in Poznań.

In the Third period (1600–50), the rising power of Jesuits and Counter Reformation gave
impetus to the development of Mannerist architecture and Baroque.[35]

Crown of Bohemia
Main article: Czech Renaissance architecture

Royal Summer Palace in Prague considered the purest Renaissance architecture outside Italy[36]

The Renaissance style first appeared in the Crown of Bohemia in the 1490s. Bohemia
together with its incorporated lands, especially Moravia, thus ranked among the areas of the
Holy Roman Empire with the earliest known examples of the Renaissance architecture.[37]

The lands of the Bohemian Crown were never part of the ancient Roman Empire, thus they
missed their own ancient classical heritage and had to be dependent on the primarily Italian
models. As well as in other Central European countries the Gothic style kept its position
especially in the church architecture. The traditional Gothic architecture was considered
timeless and therefore able to express the sacredness. The Renaissance architecture coexisted
with the Gothic style in Bohemia and Moravia until the late 16th century (e. g. the residential
part of a palace was built in the modern Renaissance style but its chapel was designed with
Gothic elements). The façades of Czech Renaissance buildings were often decorated with
sgraffito (figural or ornamental).

During the reign of Holy Roman Emperor and Bohemian King Rudolph II, the city of Prague
became one of the most important European centers of the late Renaissance art (so-called
Mannerism). Nevertheless, not many architecturally significant buildings have been
preserved from that time.

France
French Renaissance: Château de Chambord (1519–39)

Main article: French Renaissance architecture

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
châteaux 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
(See Châteaux of the Loire Valley).[2][20]

Antwerp City Hall (finished in 1564)

Netherlands/Flanders
Main article: Renaissance in the Netherlands

As in painting, Renaissance architecture took some time to reach the Netherlands and did not
entirely supplant the Gothic elements. An architect directly influenced by the Italian masters
was Cornelis Floris de Vriendt, who designed the city hall of Antwerpen, finished in 1564.
The style sometimes known as "Antwerp Mannerism", keeping a similar overall structure to
late-Gothic buildings, but with larger windows and much florid decoration and detailing in
Renaissance styles, was widely influential across Northern Europe, for example in
Elizabethan architecture, and is part of the wider movement of Northern Mannerism.

In the early 17th century Dutch Republic, Hendrick de Keyser played an important role in
developing the Amsterdam Renaissance style, which has local characteristics including 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. Carved stone details are often of low profile, in strapwork resembling leatherwork, a
stylistic feature originating in the School of Fontainebleau. This feature was exported to
England.[2][20]
Germany

Juleum in Helmstedt, Germany (example of Weser Renaissance)

Main article: German Renaissance

The Renaissance in Germany was inspired first by German philosophers and artists such as
Albrecht Dürer and Johannes Reuchlin who visited Italy. Important early examples of this
period are especially the Landshut Residence, the Castle in Heidelberg, Johannisburg Palace
in Aschaffenburg, Schloss Weilburg, the City Hall and Fugger Houses in Augsburg and St.
Michael in Munich. A particular form of Renaissance architecture in Germany is the Weser
Renaissance, with prominent examples such as the City Hall of Bremen and the Juleum in
Helmstedt.

In July 1567 the city council of Cologne approved a design in the Renaissance style by
Wilhelm Vernukken for a two storied loggia for Cologne City Hall. St Michael in Munich is
the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. It was built by Duke William V of Bavaria
between 1583 and 1597 as a spiritual center for the Counter Reformation and was inspired by
the Church of il Gesù in Rome. The architect is unknown.[2][4][20] Many examples of Brick
Renaissance buildings can be found in Hanseatic old towns, such as Stralsund, Wismar,
Lübeck, Lüneburg, Friedrichstadt and Stade. Notable German Renaissance architects include
Friedrich Sustris, Benedikt Rejt, Abraham van den Blocke, Elias Holl and Hans Krumpper.

England

English Renaissance: Hardwick Hall (1590–1597).

Main articles: Elizabethan architecture and Palladian architecture

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 strapwork 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 Italian Renaissance architecture in England was Inigo Jones
(1573–1652), who had studied architecture in Italy where the influence of Palladio was very
strong. Jones returned to England full of enthusiasm for the new movement and immediately
began to design such buildings as the Queen's House at Greenwich in 1616 and the
Banqueting House at Whitehall three years later. These works, with their clean lines, and
symmetry were revolutionary in a country still enamoured with mullion windows,
crenellations and turrets.[2][38]

Spain
Main article: Spanish Renaissance architecture

Santa Cruz Palace (1486–1491) in Valladolid is considered to be the earliest extant building of the
Spanish Renaissance.

The Escorial (1563–1584), Madrid.

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 façade, that
brought to the mind the decorative motifs of the intricately detailed work of silversmiths, the
Plateros. Classical orders and candelabra motifs (a candelieri) combined freely into
symmetrical wholes.

From the mid-sixteenth century, under such 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 Mannerism, examples of which include the palace of Charles V in
Granada and the Escorial.[2][4][20]
Portugal

Cloister of the Convent of Christ, Tomar, Portugal, (1557–1591), Diogo de Torralva and Filippo Terzi.

Main articles: Renaissance architecture in Portugal and Portuguese Renaissance

As in Spain, the adoption of the Renaissance style in Portugal was gradual. The so-called
Manueline style (c. 1490–1535) married Renaissance elements to Gothic structures with the
superficial application of exuberant ornament similar to the Isabelline Gothic of Spain.
Examples of Manueline include the Belém Tower, a defensive building of Gothic form
decorated with Renaissance-style loggias, and the Jerónimos Monastery, with Renaissance
ornaments decorating portals, columns and cloisters.

The first "pure" Renaissance structures appear under King John III, like the Chapel of Nossa
Senhora da Conceição in Tomar (1532–40), the Porta Especiosa of Coimbra Cathedral and
the Graça Church at Évora (c. 1530–1540), as well as the cloisters of the Cathedral of Viseu
(c. 1528–1534) and Convent of Christ in Tomar (John III Cloisters, 1557–1591). The Lisbon
buildings of São Roque Church (1565–87) and the Mannerist Monastery of São Vicente de
Fora (1582–1629), strongly influenced religious architecture in both Portugal and its colonies
in the next centuries.[2]

Nordic Renaissance: Frederiksborg Palace (1602–20)

Scandinavia
Main articles: Architecture of Denmark and Architecture

The Renaissance architecture that found its way to Scandinavia was influenced by the
Flemish architecture, and included high gables and a castle air as demonstrated in the
architecture of Frederiksborg Palace. Consequently, much of the Neo-Renaissance to be
found in the Scandinavian countries is derived from this source.

In Denmark, Renaissance architecture thrived during the reigns of Frederick II and especially
Christian IV. Inspired by the French castles of the times, Flemish architects designed
masterpieces such as Kronborg Castle in Helsingør and Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød.
Frederiksborg Palace (1602–1620) in Hillerod is the largest Renaissance palace in
Scandinavia.

Elsewhere, in Sweden, with Gustav Vasa's seizure of power and the onset of the Protestant
reformation, church construction and aristocratic building projects came to a near standstill.
During this time period, several magnificent so-called Vasa castles appeared. They were
erected at strategic locations to control the country as well as to accommodate the travelling
royal court. Gripsholm Castle, Kalmar Castle and Vadstena Castle are known for their fusion
of medieval elements with Renaissance architecture.

The architecture of Norway was influenced partly by the occurrence of the plague during the
Renaissance era. After the Black Death, monumental construction in Norway came to a
standstill. There are few examples of Renaissance architecture in Norway, the most
prominent being renovations to the medieval Rosenkrantz Tower in Bergen, Barony Rosendal
in Hardanger, and the contemporary Austrat manor near Trondheim, and parts of Akershus
Fortress.

There is little evidence of Renaissance influence in Finnish architecture.

Baltic States

The House of the Blackheads in Riga, Latvia

Main articles: Renaissance in Poland and Architecture of Estonia

The Renaissance arrived late in what is today Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the so-called
Baltic States, and did not make a great imprint architecturally. It was a politically tumultuous
time, marked by the decline of the State of the Teutonic Order and the Livonian War.

In Estonia, artistic influences came from Dutch, Swedish and Polish sources.[39] The building
of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads in Tallinn with a façade designed by Arent Passer, is
the only truly Renaissance building in the country that has survived more or less intact.[40]
Significantly for these troubled times, the only other examples are purely military buildings,
such as the Fat Margaret cannon tower, also in Tallinn.[41]

Latvian Renaissance architecture was influenced by Polish-Lithuanian and Dutch style, with
Mannerism following from Gothic without intermediaries. St. John's Church in the Latvian
capital of Riga is example of an earlier Gothic church which was reconstructed in 1587–89
by the Dutch architect Gert Freze (Joris Phraeze). The prime example of Renaissance
architecture in Latvia is the heavily decorated House of the Blackheads, rebuilt from an
earlier Medieval structure into its present Mannerist forms as late as 1619–25 by the
architects A. and L. Jansen. It was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt during the
1990s.[42]

Lithuania meanwhile formed one half of the large Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.

Renaissance influences grew stronger during the reign of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus. The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
(destroyed in 1801, a copy built in 2002–2009) show Italian influences. Several architects of
Italian origin were active in the country, including Bernardino Zanobi de Gianotis, Giovanni
Cini and Giovanni Maria Mosca.[43]

Legacy
Main article: Renaissance Revival architecture

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, Montreal (19th century)

During the 19th century there was a conscious revival of the style in Renaissance Revival
architecture, that paralleled the Gothic Revival. Whereas the Gothic style was perceived by
architectural theorists[44] as being the most appropriate style for Church building, the
Renaissance palazzo was a good model for urban secular buildings requiring an appearance
of dignity and reliability such as banks, gentlemen's clubs and apartment blocks.[45] Buildings
that sought to impress, such as the Paris Opera, were often of a more Mannerist or Baroque
style.[46] Architects of factories, office blocks and department stores continued to use the
Renaissance palazzo form into the 20th century, in Mediterranean Revival Style architecture
with an Italian Renaissance emphasis.[23][47]

Many of the concepts and forms of Renaissance architecture can be traced through
subsequent architectural movements—from Renaissance to High-Renaissance, to Mannerism,
to Baroque (or Rococo), to Neo-Classicism, and to Eclecticism. While Renaissance style and
motifs were largely purged from Modernism, they have been reasserted in some Postmodern
architecture. The influence of Renaissance architecture can still be seen in many of the
modern styles and rules of architecture today.
High Renaissance Painting (c.1490-1530)

Contents

• High Renaissance Painting: Characteristics

• Greatest High Renaissance Painters
• Leonardo da Vinci (c.1490 onwards)
• Raphael (1483-1520)
• Michelangelo (1475-1564)
• Dispersal of the High Renaissance Trio
• Mannerist Tendencies (c.1512 onwards)
• High Renaissance Ideals Outside Rome and Florence
• Venetian High Renaissance Painting
• Giorgione (1477-1510)
• Titian (c.1488-1576)

Related Resources

• Pre-Renaissance Painting (c.1300-1400)

• Early Renaissance Painting (c.1400-90)

High Renaissance Painting: Characteristics (c.1490-1530)

The style of Italian painting known as "High Renaissance" represents the

The Tempest (c.1508) (Detail)
By Giorgione.
Venice Academy. A masterpiece from
the Renaissance in Venice.
summit of Renaissance art and the culmination of all the exploratory
activities of the quattrocento. It is characterized above all by the qualities of
harmony and balance. Although movement is both necessary and important,
it is always dignified and calm, and the viewer's eye is always provided with
a point of focus. The picture is invariably totally balanced and self-contained,
so that it satisfies the definition of beauty as offered by Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-72) in his treatise Della Pittura: "such complete harmony of parts to
which nothing can be added or taken away without destroying the whole."
High Renaissance painting is neither as intense nor as self-conscious as that
of the Early Renaissance. Nor is it as contrived as so much of Mannerist
painting was to be. In respect of its evident calm and monumentality it is
often bracketed with High Classical Greek Sculpture of the 5th century BCE.

Detail from, The School of Athens

(1509-11), in the ‘Raphael Rooms’ at
the Vatican Palace, Showing Plato
and Aristotle.

WORLD'S BEST ART

See: Best Artists of All Time.
See also: Greatest Paintings Ever.

Greatest High Renaissance Painters

Its greatest exponents were the Florentine geniuses Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo, together with the Urbino master Raffaello Santi - known as
Raphael - and the Venetian colourist Tiziano Vecellio - known as Titian. Other
important High Renaissance painters include Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530)
and Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517) in Florence, Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516),
Giorgione (1477-1510) and Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547) in Venice.
That said, the story of the High Renaissance is closely associated with the
Renaissance in Rome, where ambitious Popes including Julius II (1503-13)
and Leo X (1513-21) financed a wide range of public art projects to ensure
that the city surpassed Florence as the greatest cultural centre in Italy. In
fact, both Florence and Rome became key stop-overs in the European Grand
Tour of the 18th century. Important artists active outside the major centres,
include Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489-1534), the creator of the highly
influential fresco the Assumption of the Virgin (Parma Cathedral) (1526-30).

Leonardo Da Vinci (c.1490 onwards)

The advanced style of painting practiced by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan was

continued with modifications in Lombardy by his principal Milanese follower
Bernardino Luini (c.1480-1532) and others. It found no immediate converts in
his native Florence, however, even though his unfinished panel painting
"Adoration of the Magi" remained close by the city, in the Monastery of San
Donato a Scopeto. Some contemporaries of Leonardo, such as Botticelli,
Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Filippino Lippi did imitate the broad outlines of the
picture, but they failed to absorb its deeper and more innovational features.
The real impact of Leonardo's painting was seen only when he returned to
Florence in 1500. Fellow artists and members of the public flocked to the
church of the Santissima Annunziata to see his full-scale study for The Virgin
and Child with St. Anne. His great mural depicting the Battle of Anghiari
(1503-06) competed with work by his rival Michelangelo in a civic competition
to record the history of Florence. Neither the panel nor the mural was ever
finished. Even so, his art left an abiding impression on his native city. More
was to come. His masterpiece Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), now in the Louvre,
revolutionized portraiture, with its innovative shading technique - sfumato.
(See also his earlier Lady with an Ermine, 1490, Czartoryski Museum,
Krakow.) Among those greatly influenced by Leonardo's handling of light and
shade was Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), later leader of the Florentine High
Renaissance.

In addition, his Renaissance drawings stimulated both fellow artists to make

similar preparatory studies for their paintings, and patrons to collect them.
Above all, his reputation as an artist - who was also a scientist and scholar -
rubbed off on his fellow artists, leading to improved opportunities and status
for all.

Raphael (1483-1520)
The artist who assimilated most from the painting of Leonardo was
undoubtedly Raphael. Son of the painter and writer Giovanni Santi, he was
greatly influenced in his early days by Perugino (1450-1523). At the age of 21
he came to Florence as a respected artist, only to discover to his
consternation that everything he had learned was old-fashioned and
ultimately provincial. His immediate response was to set about learning the
new style from the Florentines, including provincial artists working in
Florence, such as Luca Signorelli (1450-1523). Out went his old style of
drawing, with its tight contours and interior hatching; in came the more
flowing style of Leonardo. From a close study of Leonardo's Virgin of the
Rocks he came up with a new type of Madonna set against a soft and gentle
landscape (The Madonna of the Goldfinch, Uffizi). He borrowed the format of
Leonardo's Mona Lisa for his portrait paintings, and he also made a
meticulous study of Michelangelo's sculpture. Within 5 years, by the time he
left for Rome in 1509, Raphael had absorbed all Florence had to offer and was
poised to make his own artistic statement.

Located on the upper floor of the Vatican palace, the Stanza della Segnatura
was used by the ageing pontiff Pope Julius II (1503-13) as a library. It was
here, between 1509 and 1511, that Raphael painted his famous fresco The
School of Athens. It was the room's second mural painting to be completed,
after La Disputa, on the opposite wall, and is regarded as one of the clearest
and finest examples of the High Renaissance style. In this work, like Leonardo
before him, Raphael creates a balance between the movement of the figures
and the order and stability of the pictorial space. He populated the
composition with numerous figures in a diverse variety of poses, yet
manipulated these poses so as to finally lead the eye of the spectator to the
central pair of Plato and Aristotle whom he made the converging point of his
system of linear perspective. A masterful example of High Renaissance
painterly technique. See also his wonderfully harmonious Sistine Madonna
(1513-14, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden).

Raphael's style continued to influence generations of artists in Rome and

elsewhere. See, for instance, the work of Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), the
leader Catholic artist after Bernini.

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

While the 26-year old Raphael was frescoing the Vatican apartments, the 33-
year old Michelangelo Buonarroti was (against his will) decorating the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel (1508-12) with his Genesis fresco. Although trained in
fresco painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio - and influenced by others like Luca
Signorelli - and despite having painted several high quality panels (eg. Tondo
Doni, 1504-06), Michelangelo really saw himself as a sculptor. He actually
began painting his Genesis fresco in collaboration with a number of other High
Renaissance artists whom he knew from Ghirlandaio's workshop, but soon
dismissed them, and painted the entire ceiling alone. Over the next four years
(1508-12), he decorated some 1,000 square-metres of ceiling with a seething
mass of brightly coloured figures, illustrating scenes from the biblical Book of
Genesis, as well as others from the Old Testament and Classical mythology.
One of these religious paintings - entitled The Creation of Adam - in which the
kinetic energy of God the Creator contrasts vividly with the flaccid lifeless
form of Adam - is regarded by many scholars as Christianity's greatest
pictorial work. The Sistine ceiling was acclaimed as a masterpiece in its own
time, and its creator was henceforth known as Michelangelo "Il divino", the
divine Michelangelo. Contemporaries talked of his awesome power
("terribilita") and divine genius. These three artists - Leonardo, Raphael and
Michelangelo - played a pivotal role in raising the status of the painter (and
his disegno) to a new level, on a par with architects and similar experts. As it
was, their enormous achievements set standards that were impossible to
surpass - a factor which contributed to the emergence of the anti-classical
style of Mannerism (c.1530-1600).

Dispersal of the High Renaissance Threesome

By 1513, the year of Julius II's death and the accession of Pope Leo X, the
three greatest painters of the Italian High Renaissance were occupied with
new projects that diverted them from their previous paths. Leonardo was at
the French court in Milan, where he devoted himself to refining the Mona Lisa,
writing his treatises and working on tasks for the French monarch. Italian
patrons meanwhile had become wary of his relentless curiosity - a double-
edged quality which resulted in most of his projects being left unfinished.
Michelangelo was sculpting the tomb of Julius II in Rome; in 1516 he returned
to Florence to complete a number of sculptural and architectural jobs for the
Medici family. As for Raphael, he was becoming overloaded with
administrative duties as the architect overseeing the construction of the new
St. Peter's Basilica. As his workload increased, he began to depend more and
more on Giulio Romano (c.1499-1546) and his other assistants. As a result
only a handful of paintings were completed by his own hand during the period
1514-20. One of these was the glorious Sistine Madonna (1513-14,
Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden), surely one of his greatest paintings.

Note: A great deal of the pioneering work on the attribution of paintings

during the High Renaissance era, was done by the art historian Bernard
Berenson (1865-1959), who lived most of his life near Florence, and
published a number of highly influential works on the Italian Renaissance in
Florence and elsewhere.

Mannerist Tendencies (c.1512 onwards)

Raphael's later Vatican frescoes in the Stanza d'Elidoro (1512-14) already

show Mannerist tendencies - see, for instance The Expulsion of Heliodorus
from the Temples and the Liberation of St. Peter. One of his last (unfinished)
works, The Transfiguration (1518-20, Pinacoteca Apostolica, Vatican, Rome)
also shows unmistakable signs of Mannerist expressionism. In fact, some art
historians believe that the dramatic tension contained within Raphael's
figures, allied to his strong use of chiaroscuro, anticipates Baroque painting.

Leonardo's death in 1519, followed swiftly by that of the 37-year old Raphael
in 1520, left Il Divino Michelangelo as the sole surviving genius of the Italian
Renaissance. Fully occupied with Medici matters until 1527, when the
powerful family was expelled from Florence, and then again from 1530 to
1534, it wasn't until 1534 that he settled in Rome. In the meantime, the High
Renaissance world in which he had matured as an artist had changed out of
all proportion. Rome had been sacked (1527) by troops of Emperor Charles V
- who forced the Pope to abandon the Vatican and flee to Orvieto - and
Florence besieged. Furthermore, the principles of High Renaissance Humanist
philosophy had been overtaken by the rise of Northern Protestantism and its
clash with the militant Catholic Counter-Reformation was on the horizon. Not
surprisingly, this collapse of High Renaissance idealism is reflected in the
dramatic content, swirling movement, and distorted forms of Michelangelo's
Last Judgment fresco (1534-41) on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel - now
regarded as the greatest masterpiece of religious art of the 16th century. As
soon as the fresco was unveiled in 1541 it became a model for young artists.
[In 1586, the painter Armenini, recollected how, as a young man, when he
was drawing in the Sistine Chapel, he would overhear discussions about
minute details of Michelangelo's work. It became a school for anatomy, the
best place in Rome to study the male nude figure.] After capturing the mood
of the moment with his thundering 'Last Judgment God', who seemed more
concerned with condemning the human race than in welcoming the blessed
into heaven, Michelangelo completed two final frescoes for the Farnese Pope
Paul III's private chapel (Cappella Paolina) - the Conversion of St. Paul and
the Crucifixion of St. Peter. The figures in these works are even more
Mannerist than those in the Last Judgment. Given his aesthetic and spiritual
doubts, it is perhaps no surprise that in his final 20 years Michelangelo largely
abandoned painting and sculpture to focus on architecture.

High Renaissance Ideals Outside Rome and Florence

The ideals or aesthetics of the High Renaissance - as illustrated by the

compositions of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo - continued to evolve
outside the two major centres of Rome and Florence. In Parma, for instance,
Correggio (1489-1534) was strongly influenced by Andrea Mantegna (1430-
1506) and Leonardo's Milanese followers. His Rest on the Flight into Egypt
(Uffizi, Florence) and the Madonna of the Bowl (1525, National Gallery,
Parma) are clearly executed in the idiom of the High Renaissance. Even so,
Correggio is probably best known for his soaring frescoes on the duomo of
Parma Cathedral (1524-30) and in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista -
which provided a perfect model for the illusionistic quadratura and other
trompe l'oeil devices of later Baroque painting - and for his late series of
sensuous Mannerist-style paintings such as Jupiter and Io (1532-3,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). See Parma School of painting, for more
details.

Venetian High Renaissance Painting

During the late quattrocento, painting in Venice followed a similar type of path
to that of the Renaissance in Florence, albeit with a Venetian twist. Giovanni
Bellini's Madonnas of 1505-10, for instance, are stylistically quite similar to
those painted by Raphael in Florence at about the same time. His San
Zaccaria altarpiece ("Enthroned Madonna with Four Saints") (1505) endows
the theme of the sacra conversazione with a definite High Renaissance
flavour. Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) was the dominant force in Venetian
painting by the 1490s, and his style had a huge impact on younger painters
such as Giorgione and Titian, as well as Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556). In any
event, Venetian painters traditionally attached more importance to luminosity
of colour (partly a result of their expertise with oil paint), as well as
compositional expressiveness - in contrast to the more rarified classical style
of painting practiced in Rome. For more about altarpiece art during the High
Renaissance, see: Venetian altarpieces (c.1500-1600); for portraiture, see:
Venetian Portrait Painting (c.1400-1600). See also: Titian and Venetian
Colour Painting (c.1500-76). See also: Legacy of Venetian Painting on
European art.
Giorgione (1477-1510)

Giorgione learned an enormous amount from Bellini, but then far exceeded
his master to create a type of lyrical landscape painting that can only be
compared with pastoral poetry. In his short career this innovative young
painter gave his contemporaries a master-class in how to exploit the medium
of oil paint to create the illusion of textures and light in their paintings. His
earliest work, the Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Liperale
(c.1504, Castelfranco Cathedral), borrows heavily from Bellini. Yet within a
few years Giorgione moved from this style of painting, via the mysterious and
foreboding Tempest (c.1505, Venice Academy Gallery), to the lyrical Sleeping
Venus (1510, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) and the dreamy Pastoral
Concert (c.1510, Louvre). The last mentioned picture reveals the Venetian
love of texture, for he renders exactly the contrasting textures of flesh, fabric,
stone, wood and foliage. Giorgione's soft, diffused light, together with his
gentle landscape - hills stretching into the distance and all harsh contours
removed, creates a perfectly pastoral mood: a technique which became
characteristic of Venetian painting of the 16th century and one of great
importance in the evolution of Baroque art.

Titian (c.1488-1576)

The impact of Giorgione on Venetian art was immediate, and on none more so
than Titian. Although not a student of Giorgione, he collaborated with him on
one project and completed a number of his paintings. In his Sacred and
Profane Love (1512-15, Borghese Gallery, Rome) Titian shows himself
capable of rivaling Giorgione using Giorgione's own painting techniques. If the
Giorgione's influence is particularly evident in Titian's profane paintings,
Bellini's is visible in the religious paintings, and he continued to act as Titian's
teacher and rival until his death in 1516 - some 6 years after the demise of
Giorgione - when Titian himself emerged as the leading figure in Venetian
painting.

Titian's inspirational Assumption of the Virgin (1516-18, S. Maria Gloriosa dei

Frari, Venice), established him as Bellini's successor. Reflecting the Venetian
love of colour in painting, its balance and movement - despite certain obvious
Mannerist elements - is comparable with that of Raphael's School of Athens,
in both its conception and grandeur. The Assumption - together with Sacred
and Profane Love (1512-15), The Entombment of Christ (1523-26, Louvre,
Paris) and the Pesaro Madonna (1519-26; Santa Maria dei Frari) - exemplifies
Titian's contribution to High Renaissance art. Once in his 40s - with the
exception of occasional calm compositions like Venus of Urbino (1538, Uffizi,
Florence) - Titian moved further and further away from the High Renaissance
idiom.

Titian's portraiture was derivative yet markedly Venetian. His masterpiece

Pope Paul III with his Grandsons (Cardinals Alessandro, Ottavio Farnese)
(1546, Capodimonte Museum, Naples) - which deliberately rivals Raphael's
Pope Leo X with Cardinals (Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi) (c.1518,
Galleria Palatina, Pitti Palace, Florence) - shows clearly that Venetian painting
was the equal of the Florentine-Roman tradition. His Danae with Nursemaid
(c.1553, Prado, Madrid) pits the sensuous colourism of Venetian painting
against the sculptural tradition of Michelangelo for later historians to judge.
 Titian's late works carry the oil medium to new heights. His painterly methods
included: full use of preparatory studies and drawings to enable him to create
paintings that look as if they have been freshly painted in the heat of
inspiration; the use of loosely juxtaposed patches of colour; paint applied
freely and loosely with the brush and then reworked with his fingers.

Two late works in particular show the scope of Titian's genius. The Martyrdom
of St. Lawrence (c.1548-50, Church of the Jesuits, Venice), painted when the
artist was 60, shows all the enthusiasm of youth. Notice the Mannerist
foreshortening and exaggeration, as well as his handling of light, which are
used to emphasize the dramatic and emotional content of the painting. The
same intensity of drama, light, and colour can be seen in Rape of Europa (c.
1559-62; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston) - a style which
prefigured the work of Rubens and the Baroque. Titian's long and magisterial
career had an enormous impact on Mannerist artists in Venice. The city's
other two great painters of the 16th century, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto,
each focused on a different aspect of Titian's style of painting and developed
it.

talian Art in the 16th Century

Say we have a time machine. Where would you go? What would you see? I vote that we head
to Italy during the 16th century. Why? Because I love art, and Italian art in the 1500s was
pretty terrific. Okay, yes, we could just go to a museum to see Italian art, but we've already
got the time machine here, so what the hey? Let's use it!

On our trip, we are going to be checking out art from a few different movements. Italy in the
early 1500s is in the High Renaissance, the last years of the Italian Renaissance, an era of
war, religious fervor, and an amazing amount of art. We are also going to see art from the
Mannerist movement, as artists moved away from the geometric perfection of Renaissance
styles and embraced more playful styles.

Ok, do we have everything we need? Renaissance-era clothing, sunscreen, Italian

phrasebook? Alright then, andiamo! Let's go!

High Renaissance Art

Well, here we are at the very beginning of the 16th century. The year is 1504, and we are
somewhere… dusty. Actually, this is a studio in Florence where marble statues are carved.
Sculpture is a major art form in the Italian Renaissance, and the masters have learned to
depict human figures in a way that is both highly realistic and very idealized.
See that man over there? That's the famous Italian artist Michelangelo, and he's working on
his masterpiece, a sculpture of David. This statue perfectly represents Renaissance ideals.
These artists greatly valued the Classical traditions of ancient Rome and Greece and so,
David is depicted as a male nude, like a Roman hero or god would have been. Michelangelo
carved this figure with idealized ratios between parts of the body, determined by geometric
formulas. David is clearly posed but in a life-like way, leaning on one foot and looking off
into the distance.

Like most Renaissance sculpture, there are multiple levels of meaning in this statue. The
actual moment depicted is just before David fights the giant Goliath. However, it also
represents the struggle of the city of Florence against more powerful and aggressive states.

We don't want to disturb Signore Michelangelo, so let's hop back in the time machine. And
off we go to Rome. It's a few years later, around 1510, and many of the most prominent
Renaissance artists are here, painting the newly rebuilt Vatican, the center of the Catholic
world. Pope Julius II has commissioned half of Italy to work on this.

The interior of the Sistine Chapel

Let's pop into this building real quick and take a peek. This is the Sistine Chapel and, oh look,
it's Michelangelo again! Ciao Michelangelo! He is working on a massive fresco, or painting
completed directly on plaster of a wall or ceiling. Notice the use of illusions to make the
figures look as if they are 3-dimensional. Religious art was very popular in the Renaissance,
and this fresco contains scenes from the creation all the way to the last judgment.
 Illusions make the fresco look 3D

We'll leave Michelangelo and head into the Papal apartments, or Stanze della Segnatura,
where we find the great artist Raphael. Right now, he is painting an image called The School
of Athens. This painting shows the greatest philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome
together inside a building that looks a lot like the Vatican's newly planned basilica. The
Renaissance was all about respecting Classical traditions, and this painting shows how the
Classical philosophers created the foundations of European intellectual culture.

The School of Athens, by Raphael

Mannerist Art
There are many more examples of High Renaissance art we could look at. Leonardo da Vinci
is painting The Mona Lisa, and Raphael is reaching the end of his career. But, for time's sake,
we need to get moving. So off we go to Florence.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/16th-century-italian-painting-sculpture-characteristics-
techniques-works.html

Italian Paintings of the 16th Century

Titian
Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, c. 1547
Samuel H. Kress Collection
1957.14.6

View all 16th-Century Italian paintings

The first two decades of the 16th century witnessed the harmonious balance and elevated
conception of High Renaissance style, perfected in Florence and Rome by Leonardo,
Raphael, and Michelangelo. It brought together a seamless blend of form and meaning. In
Venice, Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian devoted themselves to an art that was more sensual,
with luminous color and a tactile handling of paint, preoccupations that would attract
Venetian artists for generations, including Tintoretto and Veronese later in the century.

In the 1520s, Florence and Rome, but not Venice, saw a stylistic shift following the social
and political upheaval ensuing from the disastrous Sack of Rome. Mannerism, as practiced by
Bronzino, Pontormo, and Rosso, was a self-consciously elegant style that traded naturalism
for artifice, employing unnaturally compressed space, elongated figures, and acid color.
While mannerism became popular internationally, and lingered in northern Europe, by
around 1580 it had fallen out of favor in Italy. One factor was the desire of the Church,
challenged by the Protestant Revolution, to connect with the faithful. In place of mannerism’s
ingenuous complications and artificiality, the Counter-Reformation Church required painting
that was direct and emotionally resonant. The “reform of painting,” as it was called, was
launched by two brothers and a cousin in Bologna: Annibale, Agostino, and Lodovico
Carracci. They established an academy that emphasized drawing from life and looked to
inspiration from Titian and other Renaissance masters, restoring the naturalism and classical
balance of the early 16th century.

https://www.nga.gov/collection/paintings/italian-16th-century.html