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Renaissance And The Renaissance

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The Renaissance marks a pivotal period in history which focused primarily on the development of art culture. In order to properly discuss the topic, the term ‘renaissance’ along with many others must be fully understood. According to the Miriam-Webster dictionary, the Renaissance is “the transitional movement in Europe between medieval and modern times beginning in the 14th century in Italy, lasting into the 17th century, and marked by a humanistic revival of classical influence expressed in a flowering of the arts and literature and by the beginnings of modern science.” It was later decided that the Renaissance could be divided into two periods: the ‘Early Renaissance’ and the ‘High Renaissance’. The ‘Early Renaissance’ began around the …show more content…

It can be argued that Da Vinci was the most influential artist of the time due to his contribution to the craft which came from his ability to innovate, proven by his use and development of ‘sfumato’ and ‘chiaroscuro’. Sfumato is a technique in which the artist does not use harsh lines as an outline, but rather a variety of colors to add depth to a figure and thus rendering it much more realistically as a hazy form. Chiaroscuro is another technique which challenges the way artists rendered forms in that it created depth by contrasting light and shadow. Other terms which were key to a successful work of art during the High Renaissance included pyramidal composition which was a work based structurally on the pyramid, one point perspective which is the implementation of just one vanishing point in a work, foreshortening which used perspective to represent an object extending back in a perpendicular plane of sight, and fresco which was the application process involving the use of a thin layer of plaster over an already existing plaster surface to apply pigment to which would cause the pigment to become a permanent part of the surface. In addition to these, there is also what was known as figura serpentinata which was a term to describe the shape of the …show more content…

Italian artist Sandro Boticelli painted the famed Birth of Venus in the mid 1480s. This was around the time where themes in paintings began to represent more mythological concepts instead of just strictly religious concepts. It was intended as a sensual painting to hang in a bedroom and is alleged not have been seen for 50 years after It was painted, likely for this reason. It is currently hanging in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The painting takes after it’s environment due to the fact that it was painted during the High Renaissance period, and thus has some of the characteristics which were key to it. The painting itself is roughly six by nine feet, and uses tempera paint on canvas. At the time the painting was created the most common material to paint on was wood, but canvas was a lot cheaper and wouldn’t warp depending on the weather like wood would. Paintings done on canvas were considered to be less impressive because the materials were not up to the standards at the time. This may also speak to why Botticelli’s works often did not receive recognition until some 400 years post creation. The painting is of a landscape where

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