(Week 4 -option 2)

            The Influence and Impact of Humanism on Renaissance Art

The Renaissance marks the victory of individualism and the uncompromising prominence of the individual.  People no longer concentrated all of their thoughts and efforts upon the blessed existence that awaited them in heaven. The style of painting began to change and the standard of beauty was being measured by fundamental and uncompromising representation of individual qualities. 

During the 15^th Century patronage shifted from the church to the merchant class and wealthy patrons of the patrician class.  Humanism was emerging and religious devotion, though still an important part of people’s lives, was being restructured to accommodate the belief that man can be the master to his own fate   Artists were elevated in social standing and their art was looked upon not as simple hobby crafts, but as divinely inspired creations. Classical humanism was a key dynamic of the Italian Renaissance. This philosophical movement was based on the idea that every person’s life had value and dignity. Humanism also stressed man’s position in the natural world.  The Humanists believed modern man should look to the classical writings and art of the ancient Greeks and Romans as a tool or guide for ethical living and scholarship.  New modern innovations and knowledge provoked this particular era into a new way of seeing, doing and living. Paintings of the High Renaissance are extremely radiant and vivid. In contrast to the former preference for beauty of an angelic type, the focus shifted to depicting powerful, energetic, secular beings.  A highly valued synthesis of science, geometry and art, along with the natural world were the core inspirations of this new style of art.  The techniques used by painters of the High Renaissance were quite innovative in themselves. Their use of newly developed oil mediums and incandescent colors created a unique vividness to their paintings.  Italian High Renaissance artists achieved an ideal of harmony and balance comparable with the works of ancient Greece or Rome. Renaissance Classicism was a form of art that showed the world as it was. Forms, colors and proportions, light and shade effects, spatial harmony, composition, perspective, and anatomy were all are handled with total control and a level of accomplishment for which there are no real precedents.

The Mona Lisa was painted between 1503 and 1506 and is Leonardo's most famous piece of work.  It is just as well known for its amazing use of technical innovations as it is for the enigmatic smiling subject.  Da Vinci used a pyramid design by placing the woman in a simple calm space for the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face and hands all glow in the same light. This light source gives the surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles.   He modified this pyramid formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as the element which divides Mona Lisa and the viewer. The woman sits ridigidly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her possible serious and reserved nature.  Her gaze is fixed on the observer which she seems to silently invite to this intimate communication. Due to the brightly lit face being framed with various darker elements (her hair, veil and shadows), the woman appears very alive.  Da Vinci achieved this by using a  new method of not drawing outlines, in the corners of her mouth and eyes for example.  Although I feel that her expression is somewhat androgenous, I can feel her smiling with the gaze of her eyes alone in a flirtatious manner. This style of painting is a perfect example of two techniques, sfumato and chiaroscuro both of which Leonardo became a great master at. The Mona Lisa is simple yet exquisite with details that bring it to life.

           

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