Michaelangelo's epic painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel shows his mastery of humanism and realism.
The Renaissance began in the year 1400 and ended in 1600. It was a period of great innovation and enlightenment in European culture. Optimism and hope of great things for humanity replaced the pessimism and despair that hung over the Dark Ages. Italy was the hub of the Renaissance movement, encouraged by rich Italian merchant families like the Medici. The movement affected the great Italian artists' painting and painting techniques in four primary areas.
Invention of Oil Paints
Michelangelo painted a masterpiece on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling during the Renaissance.
One of the most important technological advances available to Renaissance artists was the invention of oil-based paints. Prior to their use, artists were limited to water-based paints, which did not have the intensity of color or depth. Oil paints were slow to dry, so they could be altered many times before completion of a painting. Though Flemish artist Jan Van Eck is credited with perfecting the oil paint technique, Italian artists quickly adopted their use and improved upon the ingredients.
Invention of Perspective
Another important advancement in art technique was the use of perspective. Figures and landscapes in paintings no longer looked like flat, one-dimensional objects, as they had in previous centuries. Great Italian masters like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo added the illusion of three-dimensional depths to their paintings, as well as realistic proportions that elevated their paintings above those of Renaissance artists elsewhere. This use of perspective, combined with newly created, vibrant oil paints, gave the people in their paintings a lifelike presence not captured in previous works.
Classical Revival
Italian sought to paint the ideal human form. They did so masterfully with the aid of scientific discoveries in anatomy and the technological advancements in proportion and perspective. This search to perfect the human body in artwork was first manifested in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and other classical artwork. Therefore, Italian Renaissance paintings reestablished classical ideals, striving to portray the perfect male and female bodies.
Humanism and Realism
Italian Renaissance painters combined the realism of classical Greek and Roman art with the universal themes of humanity and individual emotions. Mythological and Biblical figures were painted for the first time with tangible emotions on their faces. This seemingly endowed them with true human personalities. Therefore, Renaissance painting subjects seemed more lifelike and realistic than ever before. In addition, people were painted with realistic backgrounds, such as forests and cities. In many paintings in previous eras, the backgrounds were typically one color and blank, as if there were only a sheet behind the subject matter.
Tags: Italian Renaissance, Renaissance artists, their paintings, Greek Roman, Italian artists, Sistine Chapel