Renaissance

Renaissance. Term meaning ‘rebirth’ applied to an intellectual and artistic movement that began in Italy in the 14th century, culminated there in the 16th century, and influenced other parts of Europe in a great variety of ways. The notion of a rebirth refers to a revival of the values of the classical world, and the concept was used as early as the 15th century, by Italians who thought they were living at a time when the qualities of ancient art and literature were blossoming anew after centuries of barbarism. In the following century Vasari gave the idea of such a revival a systematically developed form; he thought that art had declined in the Middle Ages, had been set once again on its true path by Giotto, and had risen to its greatest heights in the work of his friend and hero Michelangelo.

The extension of the meaning of the term from a cultural movement to a period of history began in the 18th century and this usage became firmly established in the mid-19th century. John Ruskin used the expression ‘The Renaissance period’ in The Stones of Venice in 1851, for example, Jules Michelet called a volume of his history of France La Renaissance (1855), and in 1860 Jacob Burckhardt published his highly influential book Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy). Michelet saw the Renaissance as the antithesis of the Middle Ages, and although Burckhardt did not share this view, he too had a rather romantic conception of the movement, seeing it as representing a great blossoming of the human spirit—‘the discovery of the world and of man’. In Gombrich's words, ‘The nineteenth century regarded the Renaissance as a movement of liberation from the monkish dogmatism of the Middle Ages expressing its new-found enjoyment of sensuous pleasure in the artistic celebration of physical beauty.’

To modern historians these ideas seem too simple, and the Renaissance is seen more as a period of gradual change than as a sudden break with the past (art did become more secular in many ways, for example, but traditional religious subjects still provided the staple for most painters and sculptors of the time). Nevertheless, the intellectuals of the Renaissance were the first people to conceive a period identity for themselves, and this in itself gives the label a certain coherence. Scholars may debate endlessly over the exact interpretation of many aspects of the period, but in the general historical scheme of things, the Renaissance has come to represent the time when ‘Medieval’ turns into ‘Modern’.

In the visual arts, the revival of the antique can be seen most clearly in architecture, for classical architecture uses a ‘vocabulary’ of forms that distinguishes it unambiguously from the Gothic style, and there can be no doubt that Brunelleschi is entitled to rank as the first Renaissance architect. He was interested in Roman buildings probably more for what he could learn about engineering problems than for stylistic reasons, and he was undogmatic and unarchaeological in his use of antique detail, but he had an instinctual understanding of classical design, and his buildings—based on simple mathematical ratios—have a lucidity and harmony worthy of comparison with the finest ancient models. In sculpture, the beginnings of the Renaissance are sometimes traced as far back as Nicola Pisano in the late 13th century because he is known to have been directly influenced by Roman sarcophagi. However, it is not until Donatello, in the early 15th century, that we find a sculptor who had thoroughly assimilated the spirit of ancient sculpture, rather than simply borrowing motifs from it. In painting, it is harder to define the Renaissance in terms of antique influence, as very little ancient painting survived compared with the fairly abundant remains of Roman architecture and sculpture to be found in Italy. From the writings of ancient authors, however, classical painters were known to have excelled in fidelity to nature, so this quality was seen as a keynote of Renaissance painting. Because Giotto made such great advances in naturalism he is sometimes put at the head of the Renaissance tradition in painting, but it is more consistent to give this position to Masaccio, who brought a new scientific rigour to the problems of representation.

Masaccio, like his friends Brunelleschi and Donatello, was a Florentine, and it is thus reasonable to see Florence as the cradle of the Renaissance, and the period around 1425, when they were producing some of their most innovative works, as a major turning point in European art. Florence continued to be of pre-eminent importance throughout the 15th century, but in the 16th century Rome and Venice were equally significant centres for the arts. The culmination of the Renaissance came in the period from about 1500 to 1520—a time that is now known as the High Renaissance. During this time the three most famous artists of the age—Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael—produced works that have for centuries been regarded as touchstones of perfection and the fulfilment of all the ideals that artists had pursued since Giotto. In architecture, Bramante represents a similar peak, and his noble and grave designs were regarded in his own time as having recaptured the majesty of Roman buildings.

The ideals and imagery of the Italian Renaissance did not generally begin to spread to the rest of Europe until about 1500. Albrecht Dürer was the outstanding artist of the ‘Northern Renaissance’, making it his mission to transplant the new Italian ideas onto German soil. His work was of enormous importance in spreading Italian ideas, and during the 16th century it became a normal part of the career of ambitious young artists from northern Europe to follow in his footsteps across the Alps. By this time, however, Italian art had entered the phase called Mannerism, and much Italian-inspired art of this period in Germany, France, and the Netherlands can be classified as Mannerist rather than Renaissance. Most northern artists imitated only the superficial characteristics of Italian art, and only a few—such as Jan van Scorel—absorbed something of the order, poise, and dignity associated with the High Renaissance. Although Italian artists worked in England (notably Pietro Torrigiano and Giovanni II da Maiano), Renaissance influence there was fairly limited during the 16th century, being confined mainly to decorative motifs (and many of these were used in debased or misunderstood forms). It was not until the 17th century that there emerged an English artist— Inigo Jones—who thoroughly understood Renaissance ideals, and by this time Italian art had progressed through Mannerism to the Baroque. See also Proto-Renaissance.