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High Renaissance Part 1

Terms

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Humanism
In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity); the exploration of individual potential and the desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty.
Cartoon
a full-size drawing made for the purpose of transferring a design to a painting or tapestry or other large work. They often reveal the artist's ideas as they evolve. [ Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist ]
Foreshortening
The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight. The extended arm of the Virgin Mary in Virgin of the Rocks is a good example. [ Virgin of the Rocks ]
Disegno
Italian for "drawing" and "design." Renaissance artists considered drawing to be the external physical manifestation (disegno esterno) of an internal intellectual idea of a design (disegno interno). [ Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist ]
Chiaroscuro
Italian for "light / dark" Creats the illusion of three-dimensionality with consistent light sources, explainable spaces, a development of perspective, and ultimately, suggesting atmospheric effects. The process includes light (bright areas), half-tones, and shadows with differences between form and cast shadows (soft to hard) [ Virgin of the Rocks, Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist ].
One-point "scientific" perspective
Refers to compositions which have a single vanishing point and are "constructed" with orthogonal (see below) which converge upon that point. It is used in conjunction with chiaroscuro. Compositions with one-point perspective create the illusion of depth and perspective and endow human figures in this space with substance. It reflects the Renaissance artists' new awareness of man's place in the world reflected in the increased interest in and expression of logic, scientific observation, mathematics, etc. [ Last Supper ]
Pyramidal composition
In the High Renaissance, it was a composition in painting or sculpture which was based upon the pyramid. It endowed the work with a sense of calmness and stability, which appealed to the viewer's sense of logic, while also contributing towards developing its space or perspective. [ Virgin of the Rocks ]
Sfumato
Italian for "smoky" or "hazy" which refers to the style of modeling developed and perfected by Leonardo da Vinci which is without line and left somewhat undefined; it is the antithesis of central Italian disegno which emphasized line and design. Except for in drawings, it required a build-up of layers of glazes on top of layers of applications of oil painting. Sfumato unites all of the figures and elements within the composition by creating a common atmospheric effect; it integrates the figures with the landscape. Sfumato veils and reveals the figures. A good example is the Mona Lisa. [ Mona Lisa]
Fresco
Italian for "fresh." It refers to the medium and process of applying a thin layer of fresh plaster on an existing plaster surface and then immediately applying color pigments (tempera) which, upon drying, become a permanent part of the wall surface. [ Last Supper, Philosophy, Galatea ]
Figura serpentinata
Literally means "serpentine figure." It refers to a new interpretation of the relaxed stance or contrapposto which is animated, dynamic, and twisting. The figures in Raphael's Galatea are good examples of this.
Neoplationism
A platonic idea which suggests that looking at and contemplating beautiful objects, sacred images, and architecture leads one's soul to a closer union with the Divine.
Orthogonal
The lines (imaginary, suggested, and painted or indicated) which can be traced from architectural features, tessellated floors, and other compositional elements converging upon a single vanishing point. [ Last Supper ]
De'Medici
A Florentine banking family: humanist thinkers and great patrons of the arts.

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