Renaissance Sculpture

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Renaissance Sculpture• The discovery of the nature and the human body were

more important than the imitation of Antiquity.• The polychromes, the gilding and the various

techniques employed emphasize the pictorial quality of the works.

• An innovation was that the artist was no longer content to be a mere craftsman, but he had the mission of adorn.

• Sculpture and painting are going to be together many times.

• Projects were important in cities such as Florence were competitions were hold when they had to command an important work, as in the case of the Doors of the Baptistery.

Renaissance Sculpture• During the Quattrocento there is an intention

to define an idealized, perfect bur naturalistic representation of the human body.

• The novelty is the concept of beauty embodied by youth, whereas the gerontocracy in power strove to relegate the young and adolescent to the sidelines of social life.

• The sculptures have three characteristics:– Gothic tradition– Renewal of Antiquity– Resource to the single point of view that

underlines frontality.

Renaissance Sculpture• Tomb sculpture.

– The wall tomb was the favourite framework used by the Renaissance sculpture.

– The backed tombs were contaminated by the successive forms taken by altarpieces: the recess was surrounded by statuette aligned vertically on the pilasters.

– Artists adopted a tripartite structure, contrasting the central arcade, which emphasized the image of the deceased with lateral niches containing statues of saints or virtues.

– The development of the representation of the dead denoted a new conception of the portrait. Depiction of faces was often dictated by the concept of the ideal

Renaissance Sculpture

• Tomb sculpture.– The wall tomb was the favourite framework used by the

Renaissance sculpture.– The backed tombs were contaminated by the successive

forms taken by altarpieces: the recess was surrounded by statuette aligned vertically on the pilasters.

– Artists adopted a tripartite structure, contrasting the central arcade, which emphasized the image of the deceased with lateral niches containing statues of saints or virtues.

– The development of the representation of the dead denoted a new conception of the portrait. Depiction of faces was often dictated by the concept of the ideal

Renaissance Sculpture

• The portrait – The art of medallist developed – They tended to specify and define the

natural features of an individual, with attention to physiognomy and its psychological bearing, and without forgetting the course of the time.

– Female portraits implied a searching focus on the beauty of woman, and inspired the artist to a celebration of beauty, with a softer and more tender treatment.

Renaissance Sculpture

• Nude – There is a predominance of male nudes. They

follow the Gothic tradition.– Female nudes appear in small bronze statues,

imitating the antique statuary.– Male nude kept the workshops especially busy.– Some of the models are those made by

Michelangelo: Bacchus and, later on, David.

Renaissance Sculpture

• Mannerism – Works oscillated between the fantastic and the maniera (following the example of Michelangelo)

– Sometimes the ideal took preference– Powerful images opposed to elongated

weightless ones– Undulating spirals animated groups and twisted

sinuous bodies– Exaggerated expression to the point of morbidity

and the bizarre was preferred– Instead of being a sign of decadence, the

diversity shows an art in search of itself.

Renaissance Sculpture

• Materials and technique– Bronze substituted other precious

materials. It was casted and finished by chisel. At the beginning it was not highly polished

– Extensive use of marble and fine calcareous stones

– Details of images are sometimes gilded– Backgrounds can be coloured

Renaissance Sculpture

• Authors and examples:– Ghiberti: Doors of the Baptistery in

Florence (East Doors and Paradise Doors)

Renaissance Sculpture

Donatello: David, Condottiero Gattamelata

Renaissance Sculpture

– Michelangelo: (Terribilita) Pieties, David, Medici’s Tombs

Renaissance Sculpture

Renaissance Sculpture

Renaissance Sculpture

• Mannerism:– Materials: stucco, a mix of plaster, lime and

sometimes powdered marble is well suited for modelling.

– The search for effect was often concentrate on polychrome sculpture.

– Fountains appear combining sculpture with the effects of water.

– In tombs marble and bronze are the main materials.

– Artists were itinerant, attracted by rulers to their courts.

Renaissance Sculpture

– Mannerism:• Cellini: Perseus

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• Berruguete: Toledo’s Choir stalls

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• Leoni: Charles V’s portraits