Renaissance Art: Different Periods of Renaissance

Renaissance is the French equivalent of the Italian word rinascita which means "rebirth". This is period of European history from early 14th century to late 16th century.

Cultural rebirth was the central characteristic of the Renaissance. There is a marked revival of the values and artistic styles of classical antiquity during the period particularly in Italy. Giovanni Boccaccio in the 14th century defined Renaissance as the collective Italian efforts to imitate the poetic style of the ancient Romans. In 1550 the art historian Giorgio Vasari coined the term rinascita (rebirth) to refer to the imitation of the ancient Roman method of painting by Giotto di Bondone at the start of the 14th century.

Renaissance: Italy

The "rebirth" of art in Italy was brought about by the rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature, and science and the changes of empirical methods of study in these fields. The evolution of Italian Renaissance art was an evolving process but it is divided into three major phases: Early, High, and Late Renaissance. The

Early Renaissance

The principal members of the first generation of Renaissance artists - Donatello in sculpture, Filippo Brunelleschi in architecture, and Masaccio in painting. Early Renaissance artists create art forms that imitates the physical appearance of the natural world and in consonance with their experience of human personality and behavior.

Early Renaissance pertains to all the art of the 15th century. In 1450, a new generation of artists such as Pollaiuolo and Sandro Botticelli flourished in Florence. Leon Battista Alberti's work in Rimini and Mantua represented the best architecture of the new Humanism; Andrea Mantegna's paintings in Padua showcases linear perspective, antiquarianism, and realistic technique; and Giovanni Bellini's portrays poetic classicism.

The High Renaissance

The art of the High Renaissance sought a general, unified effect of pictorial representation or architectural composition exuding dramatic force and physical presence. The High Renaissance style endured for only a brief period (c.1495-1520) and was created by a few artists of genius, among them Leonardo da Vinci, Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.

The Late Renaissance

In 1527, Rome was sacked which hindered the progress of Italian art. Artists were forced to leave and settle in other parts in Italy, France, and Spain. Some early proponents of Mannerism, were Jacopo Carucci Pontormo, Parmigianino, and Rosso Fiorentino.

The mannerism style however were expressed extremely in the work of Giorgio Vasari and Giovanni da Bologna. Mannerism was an aesthetic movement that placed importance on refined grace and elegance -the beautiful maniera, or style, from which Mannerism derives its name. The Renaissance period is characterized by radical and comprehensive changes that took place in European culture leading to the end of the Middle Ages as it makes its transition to the modern world.