High Renaissance Art in Rome

Early Renaissance: (1420-1495/1500)
           transition from theological vision of medieval art
           to Renaissance style of realism, naturalism

Classical forms recuperated, rediscovered
               Narrative and historical painting
               Mathematics, perspective
 Changing status of artist (liberal arts, humanist education))

High Renaissance: (1495 or 1500 to 1520 or 1527)
            Classic Art (classic repose)—H. Wölfflin
                 More monumental and aristocratic forms
                 Harmonious unity over decorative detail
                 Neoplatonist beauty over rational beauty
            Artistic capital shifts from Florence to Rome    

Renaissance Popes: 
          Julius II (1503-1513)--warrior pope, portrait by Raphael
                 “terribilità,” associated with Julius Caesar
                  aggressive artistic program for Rome
                  satire against Julius by Erasmus, Julius Exclusus
                          pacifist polemic against conquering Pope
                          1507 conquest of Bologna: triumphal procession in Rome          

           Leo X (1513-1521) 1st Medici Pope; Renaissance splendor
                       “God has given us the Papacy; let us enjoy it.”
                        Sale of indulgences for rebuilding of St Peter’s
                                 triggers Luther’s rebellion against Rome 1517    

Artists: Donato BRAMANTE (1444-1514) Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio
                           --first architect for New St. Peter’s Bascilica
RAPHAEL (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483-1520)
                      --painter (Papal apartments in Vatican)
MICHELANGELO Buonarroti (1465-1564) -- sculptor for Tomb of Julius II (Moses)

High Renaissance in Rome (slides)

Unearthed classical statues in Rome that influenced Renaissance artists in Rome:
            Apollo Belvedere (c. 330 BC)
            Belvedere Torso (c. 200 BC)
            Laocoon and his sons (c. 1st century BC/AD) found in 1506, Michelangelo present

Heinrich Wolfflin, Principles of Art History (1915) comparison of early and high Renaissance art

            Running pictorial narratives give way to more monumental and ‘aristocrat’ forms;
            harmonious unity (only the truly relevant) dominates over decorative detail;
            the human body is exalted; the emotion is intensified yet restrained—classic repose

Neoplatonist beauty over rational (Aristotelian) beauty:

--Alberti: the artist chooses the most beautiful things from nature: the identification of the
beautiful with the best in nature; nature’s rules must be adhered to.

--Michelangelo: beauty is an absolute idea, a divine emanation captured by the intellect
and the imagination more than by rules; the artist is inspired by nature but he must make it
conform to the divine Ideal in his mind. (Neo-platonism)

Michelangelo sonnet:

Kindly tell me, Love, whether my eyes
really see the beauty that I long for,
or if it’s just in me when, looking around,
I see that woman’s face carved everywhere…

“The beauty that you see does come from her,
But it grows when it rises to a better place,
If through the mortal eyes it reaches the heart.

There it is made divine and pure and beautiful,
Since what’s immortal wants things to be like itself:
It’s this, not that, that first leaps to your eyes.”

Raphael, self-portrait

   Raphael, Marriage of the Virgin (1504)
         [for influence of Perugino’s Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter
   Raphael, Sistine Madonna (1513) with Pope Julius II
   Raphael, Stanza della Segnatura (signature room, for signing documents)
                  part of the Vatican stanze painted by Raphael and his school
         Four walls for different sets of library books: law, literature, theology, philosophy
                 Cardinal and Theological Virtues for law library 1511
                 Mount Parnassus (classical) for books of poetry and literature, 1511
                 Disputation of the Holy Sacrament for books of theology, 1509-1510
                 School of Athens for books of philosophy, Plato & Aristotle (1510-11)

Michelangelo Buonarotti, Florentine
     Portrait of Michelangelo (1540—Jacopo del Conte)
            emphasis on head and hand: the hand follows the intellect
     Michelangelo, Moses for Tomb of Julius II (1513-16)
     Michelangelo, Bacchus (1496-1497)
     Michelangelo, Pieta’ (1497-1500)
         Sistine Chapel
             Sistine Ceiling (1508-1512)
                     Creation of Adam: neoplatonic image of ideas in the mind of God
                     Ignudi: naked male forms of human body
              Last Judgment (1534-1541)
                      Christ as Apollo,
                      Biagio da Cesena as Minos
                      Michelangelo self portrait in the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew
        Rondanini Pieta’ (1564): very different, abstract later style

Later Popes:

  Clement VII (2cd Medici Pope) 1523-34 no military defense of city         
                         1527 sack of Rome by Imperial troops of Charles V
                                  combined Spanish & German armies occupy
                                  the Vatican; Pope prisoner in Castel Sant’Angelo         

Paul III (1534-1549): Alessandro Farnese, brother of Giulia Farnese, mistress of Alexander VI
                       Janus Pope: looking forward and looking back
                                  several early illegitimate children; the personal reform
                       Counter-reformation, initates Council of Trent (1545-1563)
                        Michelangelo’s Last Judgment.