Renaissance in Italy, Harper
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Dr John R GIBBINS WESTERN CIVILISATION: From the Ancient Greeks to the Present. An intellectual and cultural history of the West Part IV Lecture 17 The Renaissance Canon – Lives of the Artists, Vasari, Understanding Art, Form and Meaning, Genres and the Renaissance artists. Retrospective The Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement between 1430 and 1600 aiming to civilize feudal medieval Europe, by self consciously and vigorously reviving the superior example, curriculum, literature, history, politics, ethics, philosophy, art, sculpture and cities of the Classical worlds of Greece and Rome Renaissance means Re-Birth of the Classical World and was coined by Georgio Vasari in 1560’s 4 Theories – 1) ‘Spirit of criticism and Genius’: A Gift of God (Vasari); Rise of City State politics and of Roman inspired Civic Humanism (Baron and Skinner: Florence); 3) Migrants fleeing from Byzantium bringing Oriental ideas and fashion (Jeremy Brotton: Venice); The re- awakening of the Dionysian current repressed by Christianity for a millennium (Burckhardt) Sources Gomberich,E H, The Story of Art, Phaidon Burckhardt, Jacob, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Harper Clark, Kenneth, Civilisation, BBC Vasari, Georgio, The Lives of the Artists, Penguin Blunt, Anthony, Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600, OUP Zoller, Frank, Botticelli, 2007 Castiglione, The Courtier, http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com Novels and Visual Sources Dunant, Sarah, The Birth of Venus, Little Brown, 2005 In the Company of the Courtesan (On court life in Venice), Little Brown, 2006 Stone, Irving, The Agony and the Ecstacy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo, 2004 edition King, Ross, Brunelleschi’s Dome, New York, 2000 Hibbert, Christopher, The House of the Medici: Its Rise and Fall, 1999 The Borgias, 2011, TV Series coming soon, Jeremy Irons as Caesera, created by Tom Fontana The Borgias, BBC TV 1981, Pebble and Taylor with Oliver Cotton – good, 11 parts Shepherd, M. ed., Friends of Mankind: Marsilio Ficino, 1999 The Plan: Genres not Artists A list of artists would be pointless Historical narrative is long and contentious We have too large a field to cover everything Genres or Types of paintings allow us to organize in an analytic framework This allows comparison and contrast We will learn more about core ideas, debates and disagreements A Genre is a kind, a species or type Genres of Renaissance Art Core Genre Religious and Philosophical (Thinkers, Ideas, Ethical, Values) Classical and Pagan (Civic, Political, Military, Crisis) Courts, Patrons and Hero’s (Nobles, Celebrities, Women, Nepotism, Courtiers, Intrigue) Sub Genres Landscape, seascape, skies, heavens Nature, biology, botany, animals, physiology, sexuality, sensuality Science, bodies, anatomy, physics, medicine, astronomy Architecture, buildings, maps, plans, sarcophagus, monuments Art itself, line, perspective, the studio, self portrait Literature, Comedy, Tragedy, Romance Forms and materials Italy preferred oil paintings, fresco (oil on plaster, marble and stone) Northern Renaissance preferred illuminated MSS, woodwork, tapestry and stone architecture (climate) The Northern Renaissance artists are Durer, Van Eyck, Holbein, Grunewald Florence preferred rich colours, thick texture brush work, stress on line, draughtsmanship and philosophy Venice preferred light, colour, smooth texture, painterly finish, romantic themes, exoticism – Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, El Greco, Bellini family, Giorione, Vivarini Germany and Durer ( who studied in Padua and Venice) preferred nature, animals, anatomy, realism Britain and France preferred books, carving, architecture and stained glass – Henry 8th employed Holbein as Court painter Giorgio Vasari and his Narrative 1511-1574, born Arezzo, near Florence – his Museum Studied art under Andre del Sarto then Michelangelo, friendships with most of the great artists of his time and was their impresario Visited Rome and studied Raphael especially Enjoyed the Patronage of the Medici, for whom he advised on buildings, town planning and commissions – designed the Uffizi A few significant paintings, in Vatican collection, in Florence at in the Vasari Museum in Arezzo, the Doumo, the Gallery over the Ponte Vecchio Bridge over the Arno His Lives of the Artists 1550, then 1568 and many editions after in many languages Established the genres of art history and criticism The Plot Roman and Greek art had reached standards of perfection now lost In the Medieval period art became inferior – two dimensional, crude, repetitive, narrowly focused on religious themes, lacking genius and style Giotto the Tuscan rediscovered the lost art forms Brunelleschi perfected depth and perspective Tuscan painters developed it through three periods identified as the Three Parts of the Book Its perfection is reached in the work of Michelangelo who he feted and adored nd Venice ignored in 1st and then added to 2 edition The Authors intentions To identify the historical narrative Invent and popularise the idea of the Renaissance Identify a critical form of analysis for evaluating and comparing artists and works of art Locate each artist within that story Apply the analytic framework Evaluate each artist and epoch To preach the superiority and supremacy of Florentine Art Downgrade Venice, Dutch art, Durer – non Florentine art Rewarded the patronage of Cosimo de Medici Maclehouse and Brown, Vasari on Technique, Dent, 1960 Rubin, Patricia Lee, Georgio Vasari: Art and History, 1995 Defects Biased to Florence – and against Venice Subjective – no references to primary sources The concept of genius lacks credibility Gods hand is a poor theoretical base and claim His own work is simplistic, superficial, uncritical? He is a Courtier to the Medici and Papacy and suffers the deficiencies implied by that role But he invented the concept; the historical narrative and the new historiography within art history How to understand Art? Art is artefact – a human invention It works because the artist can trick you (your brain) into seeing something not there – a city, God, a woman – when all that is there are signs or signals or re-presentations of the object in a sign language. The viewer has to create the illusion Signs are signifiers (lines etc) that induce signification or meanings to the viewer This can only happen if you share a communal visual language – a system of sign (invented and deployed widely) Those who invent the sign system, and/or deploy it are the powerful – they manipulate our understandings and via inference or induction, and the actions they then induce Nature or Nurture Ernst Gombrich like A.N. Chomskey, considers the sign system, like language capacity, to be embedded in the brain – we are hard wired to decrypt signs. The ‘Beholder bequest’ Saussure, Wittgenstein and most Cultural and Media theorists, consider that all the many language systems to be invented social constructs, each autonomous, self referential, and generating its own signs and significances Modern Structuralists take a moderate view arguing that a sign system becomes so embedded that it appears and acts as if its natural and determined (Levi-Strauss, Althusser, Barthes, Foucault) Post-structuralists argue that even this fact is the product of significant efforts by elites to dominate language, signs and hence thoughts, words and deeds (Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard) Form and Meaning In all languages form shapes meaning – no meaning without it Whichever view is taken it is accepted that for a sign system/language to work, requires the following: A Public group of users (no private languages) A shared grammar or sign system With negotiated shared rules and techniques of usage Meaning is established by contemporary usage (not history) negotiated between users Words and signs mean what they are intended to mean within a particular language by the speaker/artist and are understood to mean by both Audiences and Umpires (critics, listeners and experts) (3 Parties) Understanding painting – a formal analysis (1) Materials – horses for courses (e.g. stone, marble, oils) – artists and we need to know why chosen Colour – Goethe’s colour system (e.g. dark and deep are conservative, regal/religious depressing while light and bright are radical, popular and happy) Line – straight, geometric are conservative, stable, powerful while curved and natural are challenging about change and dynamism Depth or Perspective – 2 dimensions imposes the message and stability, dimensions gives change and new openings (could use Laws of Perspective, drafted by Brunellesco, Donatello, Jan Van Eyck, or a grid box) More formal means (2) Size – big gives public access and impact, while small encourages personal response and intimacy Technique – fine brushwork gives polish and opulence (Bernini) while broad brushwork gives a natural and everyday impact (Van Gogh) Genre – do you chose a romantic, comic, tragic, religious, erotic, landscape, portrait form to communicate your meaning? Mood and dynamics – the feelings induced by the the intermixture or blending of all the elements Even more formal elements (3) Location – where will it be displayed – in a Medici or Sattchi gallery, a Cathedral, a public square, your private home, in everyday urban sites (Banksy and Graffiti) – horses for courses again Patronage – who is paying, what are their values, needs and expectations Audience – who did the artist identify as the consumers of his image – elite or masses?