The third period of the Renaissance is called "High Renaissance". The art of this period extends approximately in Italy from 1490s to 1527. The Catholic Church remained a major patron of the arts during the Renaissance, through the popes and other prelates, as well as the convents, monasteries, and confraternities (Raditsa, The Art of Renaissance Europe, 15). At this time, the center of the influence of Italian art changed from Florence to Rome, because of an accession to the papal throne Julius II, who was an ambitious, brave and adventurous person. He hired best Italian artists, who created numerous important art works and gave an example of love to art. Many monumental buildings were built and magnificent sculptures, frescoes and paintings were made, which are still considered as a pearl of the World art. Painting, sculpture, architecture harmoniously went together, helping one another and influencing on each other.
The art of Quattrocento was permeated with humanism, with a belief in the creativity of man, in limitlessness of its capabilities, in a reasonable structure of the world. The main problem of art was a civic duty, a high moral character, heroism, a beautiful image, harmoniously created and strong body and spirit of a hero, who was able to rise above the level of everyday life. Search of such ideal led the art to the synthesis, to the generalization, to the disclosure of the general consistent patterns of phenomena, to identify its logical interconnection. Cinquecento art denied particulars of minor details in the name of a generalized image, in the name of the desire for a harmonious synthesis of the beautiful aspects of life. Antiquity was being studied more thoroughly, it was reproduced with greater rigor and consistency. Peace and dignity took a place of a beauty, which was one of purpose of the preceding period. Reflections of the medieval art, which we could see at Quattrocento art, completely disappeared, artworks became more classic. But an imitation of the ancient artists didn’t affect artist’s independence; they freely adopted and applied experience of ancient Greco-Roman art.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Santi were the most remarkable artists of the period High Renaissance. All three of them utilized the rules of perspective and illusionism, but willingly departed from exact mechanical precision in order to create desired visual effects (History and context, 5).
Leonardo da Vinci invented a painting technique “sfumato”, which consists of applying a hazy glaze over painting, in order to make paintings closer to reality. He used an experimental mixture of media on such well-known art works as “Last supper”. Rafael wanted to show perfection and beauty of human body with flowing lines, easiness of figures in the space. In the paintings of the Quattrocento artist Botticelli, such as "Birth of Venus" and “The Spring”, images are generalized with a simplification of color, shape and volume.
Michelangelo’s statue "David" became a standard of the human body image for many centuries. But it’s different from sculpture of David of Quattrocento sculptor Donatello. He shows the Jewish king in a moment of triumph, highlighting the victory. David accepts the miracle modestly, with touching humility, Michelangelo, on the contrary, shows him before the battle. David of Michelangelo won not because of the miracle, but the clarity and power of his spirit, agility developed body and a full sense of moral rightness.
Works cited
History and context. Art of the Renaissance and Baroque Europe (1400-1750). Pdf file
Raditsa, Bosiljka, et al. The Art of Renaissance Europe. A Resource for Educators. Pdf file.
