Art In The Renaissance

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Prior to approximately 1000, Italy suffered a period of Dark Ages, where the population shrunk and culture growth was severely stunted. This was dually caused by the settling of the Lombards in Northern Italy and the corruption of the Roman Church, which both affected central Italy and Tuscany. Throughout the period of 1000-1400, Italy experienced a political and economic revival and flourished in terms of art, culture, and religion. The artistic innovations during this time period serve as a foundation for intellectual and creative prosperity in the Early Renaissance period after 1400. The art revival in Italy in the early part of 1000-1400 was primarily influenced by Ancient Roman art and Classicism. Early Gothic sculpture imitated the…show more content…
Italo-Byzantine styles from the east influenced the painting in the 1200s, particularly the Florentine painter Cimabue. Cimabue served as the first stepping-stone from flatter, linear Italo-Byzantine painting style by building upon these techniques and adding a softness and increased humanism to his artworks. Similarly, Giotto built a foundation for the naturalism seen in later Renaissance artwork with his incredibly novel frescos. In Giotto’s frescos, he painted his figures to resemble statue figures, which gave more expression and physical presence, even from the side or back. He also used rounder faces and eyes to create a more human appearance. He only included was what necessary to convey the stories, leaving out excess details, yet including bits of humor and narrative in his frescos. These proto-renaissance painters began the transition from decorative, less human depictions of religious scenes, towards a more natural style that contains narrative and characters that exhibit emotions. Further, Sienese painter made large strides for in style in technique. Similar to the Florentine paintings, there was great growth in the storytelling and relatability of religious art. In contrast, Sienese art was more decorative and extravagant in terms of materials and textures, such as drapery and clothing worn by the subjects. Duccio, Martini, and Lorenzetti all contributed foundational innovations during this proto-renaissance. Duccio introduced a novel emotional intensity to his work. His paintings of Christ’s life is intricate in physical details, but is also detailed in terms of how many scenes he decided to paint. Duccio also experimented with a different perspective from the flat, forward, frontal views from most prior artworks. Changes in perspective really demonstrated the movement away from Italo-Byzantine styles and towards Renaissance

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