The Renaissance: An Analysis of Concept

The term 'Renaissance' is often taken for granted. In French, it means 'rebirth.' In history classes, a cursory definition is given, being simply stated as: the revival of classical influences in art and literature and the beginnings of modern science in Europe from the 14^th- 17^th century. No thought is given to why the word applies beyond a literal definition.

It is important in a discussion of the Renaissance to understand what is meant by a 'rebirth.' Unlike other periods of history before it, the Renaissance has no particular events that distinguish it from the preceding era, in this case the Middle Ages. Surely Columbus sailed the ocean blue, cities fell and rose, and the Reformation rent the Catholic world; but all of these things happened after the Renaissance began.

'rebirth' implies a change in thought, a new perspective. Thus a better way of looking at the Renaissance involves reflecting on the change in social consciousness that it entailed. Essentially, the Renaissance began "when people realized they were no longer living in the Middle Ages" (Janson, 403).

This concept that Janson speaks of sounds overly simplistic, but that makes it no less true. As he observes, concepts of temporality changed. In the Middle Ages "history was made in heaven rather than Earth" (403). People began to become conscious that they were part of a new era and to judge time not "according to the divine plan of salvation, but on the basis of human achievements" (403).

This way of thinking accentuated the achievements of artists, poets, and classical scholars. Artists were now seen as 'creating,' which was an enormous change, since "before 1500 creating, as distinct from making, was the privilege of God alone" (Janson, 452). Fundamentally this change in temporal and intellectual consciousness became the root of 'rebirth.'

From this change arose other factors that created the cultural environment that made Renaissance art possible. A resurgence of Catholic papal power brought church patronage for enormous projects that provided work for geniuses such as Michelangelo. Economic and political rivalry among Italian city-states provoked intellectual competition among painters and scholars. City-states like Milan and Florence competed to be the most cultured, the most eloquently glorified of republics.

Artistically, the High Renaissance was absurdly short. Its major works were finished from 1495-1520, and none of the great masters lived beyond 1570. There were many artists at work during the Renaissance, but a few stand out for technical genius, composition, and coloration. Among these, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni, Raphael, Titian, and Giorgone inhabit the highest echelon. These five artists fully captured the spirit of the Renaissance 'cult of genius.' Michelangelo in particular made it possible for artists to have "a greater say in the design, content, and actual execution of their work. Their right to make it a purely personal expression of subjective ideas and feeling was increasingly recognized" (Lucie-Smith, 192).

"The motivating force of Leonardo's life was the study of nature, which he documented on thousands of pages of notebooks" (Gallup, 185). Leonardo was the epitome of the humanistic 'renaissance man.' He studied nearly every art and science, from botany to geometry, and reflected on each in turn. Surprisingly, despite Leonardo's reputation as one of the greatest painters of all time, he has left very little work extant. He was a perfectionist, which made actually finishing pieces of work difficult for him. This is certainly the case of his Adoration of the Magi, and it is a perfect starting point for a study of Leonardo's (and Renaissance) style.

After Brunelleschi's treatise on scientific perspective was published, Early Renaissance artists such as Paolo Uccelo and Masaccio had begun utilizing it religiously. In order to create the composition in the Adoration, Leonardo began by rejecting perspective in exchange for a pyramidal composition that contains two distinct realms. The symbolic nature of the characters in the sweeping triangle in the foreground is certain, but not their meaning. Besides the indistinct nature of the symbolism and the unconventional composition, "the most striking, and indeed revolutionary aspect of the panel is the way it is executed, although Leonardo had not even completed the underpainting" (Janson, 454).

The extreme contrasts of light and dark utilized in the painting, called chiaroscuro in Italian, coupled with the manner in which the shapes are modeled, make the piece an example of brilliance. The figures dematerialize in the absence of light and the modeling is performed in three dimensions to create softened forms and features. The eloquent emotive character of the figures adds to the softness and provides new warmth to figures that would have been cold and geometric in the Early Renaissance style.

Besides the Mona Lisa, Leonardo also painted the portrait of Ginevra d'Binci. This is one of the few paintings we have finished of Leonardo's. The cool classical elegance of the painting is balanced by another kind of softness, for which the term sfumato is used. Sfumato involves a softening of texture and line through the use of a light mist over the canvas. It is as if one were looking at the world through the mist produced by a waterfall. Other artists, including Raphael, would later use this technique.

The Last Supper must inevitably be included in a discussion of Renaissance art. The painting is a sad victim of one of Leonardo's experiments. Dissatisfied with the effect of tempera on frescoes, he attempted to paint with a tempera-oil medium. Unfortunately the painting began to deteriorate almost as soon as it was completed. Varying types of restoration work have left the painting in a much-altered state, but the basic composition, gestures, and facial expressions are still discernable.

The architectural framework is austerely classical and has been built around the figural composition, in order to make the figures the central factor. The figures are arranged in a tableau, much like a relief, with the head of Christ serving as the central vanishing point (Leonardo is using perspective this time). Christ is the serene focal point that contrasts the confusion on either side of him. The moment being illustrated is that just after Christ has said, "one of you will betray me." The dark form of Judas contrasts with the stricken gestures and expressions of the other apostles. The poignant resignation on the face of Jesus grants him humanity, not the unreal glorification of the divine.

Michelangelo's Pieta adopted a far more classical vein to display Jesus, but no less brilliant. This larger-than-life sculpture came from the commission of a French cardinal. The veneration of the Virgin Mary had become popular among Catholics of the age, and thus this composition, that of Mary holding the body of Christ. Michelangelo has successfully recalled the pathos of classical sculpture in the idealized but highly emotive form. The complexity of Mary's robes balance and reconcile the awkward visual relationship between Mary and Christ's limp body (Janson, 461).

The Pieta was only one expression of the masterworks that Michelangelo created. His tendency to the classical ideal set in a superhuman scale continued with his David. His "originality lay not in the choice of subject but in the actual moment in David's story which he chose to depict - the hero before, not after, his combat with Goliath" (Lucie-Smith, 203). The idealized nude figure is self consciously classical and the embodiment of Fortitude (Janson, 461). The contrapposto is accentuated even beyond classical standards, and the expression is one of serenity in the face of danger.

In painting Michelangelo was less attentive to classicism. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a project of profound ambition and self-discipline for a person who considered himself first and foremost a sculptor. Many of the Sibyls inhabiting the ceiling do not have anything at all to do with classical proportion, excepting muscular structure. The vast creative license Michelangelo was allowed shows the viewer the full extent of his genius. Like his sculptures, the figures and compositions are monumental and superhuman. Among these, some of the best examples lie in the cycles attending to the Creation. God Reaching for the Hand of Man is a perfect example. God, attended by his angels, reaches down to touch the sleepy hand of his creation. It seems obvious that God is in the midst of the electric act of giving Adam a soul.

The superhuman dramas of Michelangelo's work are much different than the calmly assured compositions of Raphael. Raphael studied the work of Leonardo and Michelangelo and eventually created a fusion of their ideas that still had a distinctly unique flavor. La Belle Jardiniere is one such composition. The figures of the Madonna, the Child, and St. John, are arranged in a triangle that recalls Leonardo's Adoration. Recalling Michelangelo's painting, the figures seem too large for the panel, superhuman in a subdued manner. Raphael utilizes sfumato in this piece, granting it a dreamlike quality. The triangular composition is given variety through the twisted body of one of the children. The background is calm and firmly balanced with the figures.

The School of Athens was produced by Raphael for the Vatican Palace in Rome. Within an architectural framework influenced by the monumentality of the Pantheon with its coffers and alcove sculptures, the great philosophers dwell in eternal conversation. The compositional structure is strung in a complicated balancing act across the curved fresco space. Groups are as carefully composed here as they were in the former painting, and the classical influence is more used here than in any other piece prior.

Raphael's genius was primarily in his fusion of the styles of Leonardo and Michelangelo to create his own. Through his work it is possible to better understand the style of the High Renaissance, but it is clear that his creativity was less experimental, if not absent. What Raphael lacked in emotive quality he often made up for with compositions of rigid mathematical perfection, thus showing skill in at least one of the humanist arts.

But another of Raphael's skills was the depiction of the real. In his portrait of Pope Leo X, he observes without any idealization at all the chubby, glowering face of his sitter. The attendant nobles with whom he sits are not idealized either. And yet, the portraits are not unflattering. Instead of showing a falsehood, Raphael has developed the qualities of his sitters' nobility into a concentrated form (Janson, 474).

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Gentili, Augusto, William Barcham, and Linda Whiteley. Paintings in the National

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