Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)
Born 1267 in Florence, Giotto was renowned for his work in frescos—a painting technique where a mural is painted upon a fresh or wet lime plaster. Pictured below is Scenes from the Life of Joachim - 6. Meeting at the Golden Gate. Painted between 1304 and 1308, it depicts Anne and Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary. Giotto plays with proportion and cutting the Shepard off to draw the viewers’ attention to the action.[1]
Scenes from the Life of Joachim, number 6: Meeting at the Golden Gate, Giotto di Bondone.
Courtesy of Scrovegni Chapel. Public Domain.
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi “Donatello” (1386-1466)
Donatello was an Italian sculptor born and raised in Florence. His most famous work is his sculpture David from the biblical story of David and Goliath. Made from bronze and completed in 1428, the sculpture is famous for being the first male nude statue since the Romans nearly one thousand years ago.[2]
David, Donatello.
Courtesy of Palazzo del Bargello. Public Domain.
Fra Angelico (1400-1455)
Born in Florence, Angelico was both a Dominican friar and an exceptional painter. His most celebrated work is a painting finished in 1422, The Annunciation, depicting the angel Gabriel informing Mary that she will give birth to a son by miraculous means.[3]
The Annunciation, Fra Angelico.
Courtesy of Diocesan Museum in Cortona. Public Domain.
Jan van Eyck: (1422-1441)
Jan van Eyck was an early painter from the Netherlands whose most famous works are The Arnolfini Portrait, depicting Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. Curiously, it is not a record of their marriage, but rather a chance for Van Eyck to show off his mastery of light—specifically how it glints off the brass chandelier.[4]
This video explains why this painting is so special.
The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck.
Courtesy of The National Gallery. Public Domain.
Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464)
From northern Belgium, the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden completed The Deposition in 1435. The scene depicts the grief of Christ's followers as he is lowered from the cross. The painting is renowned for its depiction of Christ—beautiful but not superhumanly muscular—as well as conveying the emotion of his followers.[5]
The Deposition, Rogier van der Weyden.
Courtesy of Museo del Prado. Public Domain.
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
The Italian painter Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Botticelli, produced some of the most famous works in European history. Here is The Birth of Venus, painted as canvas was becoming a more popular medium than wood.[6] After her birth, Venus rode a seashell to the island of Cythera; she was accompanied by Zephyrus, who carried the nymph Chloris, while the goddess of spring (Pomona) waited to greet her on shore.[7]
Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli.
Courtesy of Uffizi Museum. Public Domain.
Giovanni Bellini (1435-1516)
Bellini was based in Venice and painted The San Giobbe Altarpiece, which depicted several saints in the same place with the Madonna Mary and her child Jesus. The altarpiece is significant because not only was this court of heaven a new trend, but the saints appear to be inviting the viewer to join them. “If you are as faithful as me,” St. Francis on the extreme left seems to say, “then you can join this group of saints.”[8]
San Giobbe Altarpiece, Giovanni Bellini.
Courtesy of Gallerie dell'Accademia. Public Domain.
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)
Hieronymus Bosch worked in the Netherlands and was primarily a painter. Painted around 1503-1515, The Garden of Earthly Delights is a five-panel altarpiece—two exterior panels and three interior panels that depict the story of creation and sin. The exterior two panels of the altarpiece depict God creating the world. In the first panel, God introduces Adam to Eve. In the second panel, their children (humanity) engages in all sorts of sin and debauchery. In the final panel, God delivers punishment in hell.[9] The painting almost seems to allude to Surrealist art four hundred years before Dali would paint the Persistence of Memory.
The exterior two panels of the altarpiece depicting God creating the world. The text reads “Ipse dixit, et facta sunt” (For he spoke and it was
done) “Ipse mandate, et create sunt” (He commanded, and it stood fast).
Courtesy of Museo del Prado. Public Domain.
The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch.
Courtesy of Museo del Prado. Public Domain.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most accomplished artists in history. He was a brilliant artist, inventor, and mathematician whose works remain some of the greatest ever produced. The Last Supper depicts Christ’s final meal with his apostles before Judas identifies Christ to the authorities, who will arrest him. The scene captures the apostle's reactions during the moment when Christ says, “One of you will betray me.” At the same moment, Christ blesses the bread and wine, the sacrament of the Eucharist, which miraculously turns the bread into his flesh and the wine into his blood.[10]
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci.
Courtesy of Hello world.
Albrecht Durer (1471-1521)
Durer was a painter and printmaker in the German Renaissance and is famed for introducing classical and biblical motifs into northern art. He has been widely acclaimed for his dramatic self-portraits and mastery of proportion, especially in his portrait below, which uses his orientation and hand gesture to imitate Christ.[11]
Self-Portrait, Albrecht Dürer The Latin text reads "I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, portrayed myself in everlasting colors aged twenty-eight years.".
Courtesy of Bavarian State Painting Collections. Public Domain.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564)
Michelangelo has been regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. He mastered painting, sculpture, architecture, and poetry. He has produced some of the most famous works of art in history, like the sculpture of David and designing the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
However, one of his greatest triumphs was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is the official residence of the pope, the leader of the Christian world. In 1508, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint its ceiling with religious scenes. Nine stories of Genesis line the ceiling, bordered by nudes holding medallions and speaking passages from the Book of Kings.[12]
A break down of what frescoes were planned for which section of the ceiling.
Courtesy of TTaylor.
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino “Raphael” (1483-1520)
Raphael was one of the greatest painters to ever work for the Vatican. He and Michelangelo worked at the same time and had a rivalry of epic proportions. He completed the fresco The School of Athens in 1511, which immortalized and celebrated the intellectual accomplishments of the Greeks.[13] It features Plato and Aristotle in the center as they debate their respective perceptions of reality. Other notable figures include Pythagoras, Ptolemy, the Arabic philosopher Averroes, Euclid, and Persian astronomer and philosopher Zoroaster holding his celestial sphere. Curiously, Raphael himself is included, gazing directly at the viewer while his rival Michelangelo is represented as Heraclitus, a pre-Plato philosopher whose ideas had long since been discredited and rejected.[14]
The School of Athens, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.
Courtesy of The Vatican Museums. Public Domain.
Matthias Grunewald (1470-1528)
Grunewald was a German painter who staunchly ignored the Renaissance to continue the style of Medieval painting. This is exemplified in his Isenheim Altarpiece. While it depicts Christ on the cross, gone are the idealized forms of the Renaissance Christ’s suffering in favor of showing his pain in all its horrible glory.[15]
The Isenheim Altarpiece, Mathias Grünewald.
Courtesy of Louis-garden. Public Domain.
Antonio da Correggio (1494-1534)
Correggio was a master of using color and space to breathe life into his work. His most magnificent work, The Assumption of The Virgin, was painted on the dome of the Cathedral of Parma in Italy. It portrays Mary’s ascent into heaven and her joyful reunion with Christ. The depiction of Jesus is unusual in that it focused on his superhuman physicality, reaffirming doctrines of the Catholic church that had come under attack during the first decade of the protestant reformation.
Assumption of the Virgin, Antonio da Correggio.
Courtesy of Livioandronico2013. Creative Commons (BY-SA).
Tiziano Vecellio “Titian” (1487-1576)
Titian was recognized in his own life as the greatest painter of the Venetian school by setting the standard for physical beauty and erotic undertones that would carry on for centuries. The Death of Actaeon depicts the final scene of the Metamorphoses, a Latin poem (written by Ovid) in which Actaeon surprises the goddess Dianna and sees her in the nude. To punish him, Diana turns his head into a stag, and Actaeon is mauled to death by his own hunting dogs.[16]
The Death of Actaeon, Titian.
Courtesy of The National Gallery. Public Domain.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543)
Hans Holbein, called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, was also a painter of the late gothic school.[17] He was regarded as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century; he painted several important people, including King Henry VIII. One of his greatest works is The Ambassadors finished in 1533. It depicts French ambassadors Jean de Dinteville on the left and on the right, Georges de Selve bishop of Lavaur, who was an ambassador to Austria, the Venetian Republic, and the Holy See; both surrounded by scientific and mathematical instruments.[18] The distorted human skull’s refraction is corrected when the painting is viewed from the right.
This is a video that shows the optical illusion in real-time.
The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein the Younger.
Courtesy of The National Gallery. Public Domain.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598- 1680)
Bernini was one of the greatest sculptors ever to live. His ability to capture complex and dynamic emotions and feeling in stone put even Michelangelo’s David to shame. While his sculptures The Rape of Persephone and Apollo and Daphne boast of his talents, his final masterpiece, The Ecstacy of Saint Teresa does the impossible, capturing ecstasy at the moment of spiritual ascension.[19]
Saint Teresa was a Benedictine nun who experienced visions. In one vision, an angel appeared before her with an arrow tipped with fire that he then plunged into her heart several times, filling her with a great love of God.[20] Bernini captures in stone this moment of religious and spiritual transcendence.
This video gives additional information and more visual angles of the sculpture.
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Courtesy of Alvesgaspar. Creative Commons (BY-SA).
Works Cited
Footnotes
[1] “No. 6 Scenes from the Life of Joachim: 6. Meeting at the Golden Gate by GIOTTO Di Bondone.”
[2] “Donatello’s David.”
[3] “Great Works: Annunciation (1438-45), Fra Angelico | The Independent.”
[4] “Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait | NG186 | National Gallery, London.”
[5] “The Descent from the Cross - The Collection.”
[6] “Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.”
[7]“Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.”
[8] Bellini, San Giobbe Altarpiece.
[9] “Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights.”
[10] “The Last Supper.”
[11] July 4th and Comments, “The Genius of Albrecht Dürer Revealed in Four Self-Portraits.”
[12] “Ceiling - Vatican Museums.”
[13] “Raphael, School of Athens.”
[14]“School of Athens.”
[15] “Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece.”
[16] “Titian | The Death of Actaeon | NG6420 | National Gallery, London.”
[17] “Hans Holbein the Younger | German Painter.”
[18] “Hans Holbein the Younger | The Ambassadors | NG1314 | National Gallery, London.”
[19] Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
[20] Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
Citations
Bellini, San Giobbe Altarpiece. Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/early-renaissance1/venice-early-ren/v/bellini-san-giobbe-altarpiece
Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/reformation-counter-reformation/v/bernini-ecstasy-of-st-theresa
Khan Academy. “Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern/hieronymus-bosch/a/bosch-the-garden-of-earthly-delights
ItalianRenaissance.org. “Botticelli’s Birth of Venus,” August 20, 2012. http://www.italianrenaissance.org/botticelli-birth-of-venus/
“Ceiling - Vatican Museums.” Accessed May 16, 2018. http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/volta.html
ItalianRenaissance.org. “Donatello’s David,” June 28, 2012. http://www.italianrenaissance.org/donatellos-david/
“Great Works: Annunciation (1438-45), Fra Angelico | The Independent.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-annunciation-1438-45-fra-angelico-2027376.html
Khan Academy. “Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/grnewald-isenheim-altarpiece
Encyclopedia Britannica. “Hans Holbein the Younger | German Painter.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Holbein-the-Younger
“Hans Holbein the Younger | The Ambassadors | NG1314 | National Gallery, London.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors
“Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait | NG186 | National Gallery, London.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait
July 4th, in Art |, and 2013 10 Comments. “The Genius of Albrecht Dürer Revealed in Four Self-Portraits.” Open Culture (blog). Accessed May 16, 2018. http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/the_genius_of_albrecht_durer_revealed_in_four_self-portraits.html
“No. 6 Scenes from the Life of Joachim: 6. Meeting at the Golden Gate by GIOTTO Di Bondone.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giotto/padova/1joachim/joachi6.html
Khan Academy. “Raphael, School of Athens.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/raphael-school-of-athens
Artble. “School of Athens.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.artble.com/artists/raphael/paintings/school_of_athens
Museo Nacional del Prado. “The Descent from the Cross - The Collection.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-descent-from-the-cross/856d822a-dd22-4425-bebd-920a1d416aa7
Khan Academy. “The Last Supper.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/a/leonardo-last-supper
“Titian | The Death of Actaeon | NG6420 | National Gallery, London.” Accessed May 16, 2018. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-the-death-of-actaeon
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