Humanism In High Renaissance Art

During the early Renaissance, faces and bodies were painted in more lifelike poses than previous works and figures started to express real sentiment. In the 15th century, paintings using the newly perfected medium of oil based pigments were particularly popular. It quickly became the preferred painting medium throughout Europe. Artists during this period were on a quest for greater realism. However, tempera and oil painting, although common, were not the only mediums used during the early Renaissance. Beginning in the 1430s, the technique of engraving began to replace the barely developed woodcut medium. Well developed by 1450, engraving proved a much more pliable method. Book illustrations and common single prints were made less and less through …show more content…
Linear perspective, shading and other techniques of realism were mastered during this period. High Renaissance artists established the idea of humanism, which was thinking that devoted more prominence to Man and less to God. One of the most renowned artists of the High Renaissance was Michelangelo (c. 1475-1564). Known as the greatest sculptor of his day and one of the finest Mannerist artists, Michelangelo completed works in architecture, painting and sculpture that differed from High Renaissance uniformity. Mannerism overemphasized the qualities High Renaissance art accentuated like proportion and balance. Michelangelo was fascinated with human form and used the human body to express all he had to say. Sculpture during the High Renaissance was embodied by Michelangelo. The marble sculptures he crafted are impeccable, revealing his technical mastery. His David was unlike other Davids before him in that he is shown in a tense state before the battle. His face displays an uneasy expression as if he is caught in the middle of his choice to fight Goliath and the fight itself. Michelangelo is stressing the mental nature of David’s triumph rather than the physical. As the High Renaissance became the Late Renaissance, several of the Mannerist elements Michelangelo used were repeated by other artists, such as El Greco (c. 1547-1614). El Greco’s dramatic use …show more content…
The Renaissance’s straight lines became curves. Baroque art had a tendency to be immense, with massive wall paintings, colossal frescoes for the ceilings of churches and palaces and sculptures that towered over their audiences. Baroque architecture was intended to create illusion. Roofs were enlarged and interiors created with care to show the impressive properties of light and shade. Annibale Carracci (c. 1555-1619) was a distinguished Baroque painter who led the transition from Mannerism to Baroque. He advocated a return to naturalism, rebuffing the synthetic style of Mannerist painting. Carracci’s realism in his compositions used a more lifelike and naturalist style than in the Renaissance. His Loves of the Gods ceiling frescos in the Palazzo Franese in Rome are his most famous works. The scenes illustrate selections of earthly and divine love. Carracci painted the figures inside the panes in an even light while a contrasting light to illuminate the outside figures from below. This use of light gives the outside figures a look comparable to statues lit by torches. His new and emotive form of movement was a distinctive characteristic of the Baroque style. Nevertheless, as the Age the Enlightenment neared, an adverse