Renaissance

C

Sculpture

During the Middle Ages, sculpture, like all medieval art, was subordinated to religious architecture and the needs of the Catholic Church. Although late medieval sculpture, known as Gothic (see Gothic Art and Architecture), was more realistic than earlier medieval sculpture, it was still highly stylized to symbolize certain religious ideas and conventions. However, Italian medieval sculpture had always preserved some elements of the classical tradition. In the 13th century, Italian sculptors Nicola and Giovanni Pisano combined Gothic conventions with the freer, more dynamic naturalism of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the early 15th century, increasing mastery of materials and techniques, together with greater expressiveness, was achieved by sculptors Jacopo della Quercia and Lorenzo Ghiberti. In his relief panels for the east door of the baptistery of the cathedral of Florence, Ghiberti incorporated levels of perspective and effects of light and shade that had seemed possible only in painting.

Both Quercia and Ghiberti still conceived of sculpture as ornamental relief for religious architecture. It remained for Ghiberti's contemporary Donatello to construct figures that were natural in form and could be viewed from all sides. Among the other important sculptors of the early Renaissance were Andrea del Verrocchio and members of the Robbia family. Renaissance sculpture reached its peak in the early 16th century, primarily with the works of Michelangelo.

D

Architecture

Renaissance architecture, like Renaissance sculpture, was largely inspired by the rediscovery of classical forms and principles. In the 15th century, architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti saw in the ruins of ancient Rome the foundation for a new architecture based on the principles of geometry and mathematics. Brunelleschi produced the first great works of Renaissance architecture in buildings such as the Church of San Lorenzo and the Pazzi Chapel in Florence. Alberti wrote theoretical treatises explaining the principles of Roman architect Vitruvius. His work on the Church of San Francesco, a Gothic church in the central Italian city of Rimini, is typical of the early Renaissance. It illustrates the tendency to remodel old buildings by adding classical approaches to form, such as the use of symmetry, and classical features, such as arches and columns.

An important Renaissance contribution to the development of Western architecture was the revival of the dome, an architectural feature that was first introduced by the Romans. Brunelleschi's great dome on the cathedral of Florence is one of the outstanding achievements of the period. Renaissance architects were also interested in secular buildings of all kinds, including palaces, libraries, and theaters. Outstanding examples of secular Renaissance architecture include Florence’s Palazzo Medici-Riccardi by Italian architect Michelozzo and the Olympic Theater and Villa Rotonda, designed by Andrea Palladio and located in the northern Italian town of Vicenza. Palladio's use of columns and domes in houses and villas illustrates the application of classical principles of design to secular structures.

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Another important Renaissance architect was Donato Bramante. His Tempietto, a shrine in Rome, is an outstanding example of a circular building with a domed roof, a popular form during the Renaissance. Raphael, Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi, Giacomo da Vignola, Michelangelo, and members of the Sangallo family were all among the outstanding Renaissance architects of the 16th century.

E

Music

A similar interest in experimentation and a desire to meet the needs of the secular world applies to the history of music during the Renaissance. Innovations in this field began with the musicians of France and the Low Countries. French composers such as Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th century and Josquin Desprez in the late 15th and early 16th centuries established the principles of polyphonic (multivoice) and contrapuntal music (see counterpoint). Flemish composer Orlando de Lassus applied these principles to a wide range of musical forms in the 16th century.

As these innovations were taking place, music also grew increasingly secular and was enjoyed in many settings outside of the church. Both men and women of the upper classes were expected to understand music and to perform it. They regularly amused themselves by singing poetic musical compositions called madrigals or by playing a variety of instruments, including lutes, viols, and a form of harpsichord called a virginal.

Attention to the musical tastes of secular society also affected sacred music. Not only were the technical innovations applied to music for the church, but frequently sacred melodies were used for more popular entertainment. The leaders of the Counter Reformation within the Catholic Church eventually intervened to halt this tendency. The sacred music of 16th-century Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina represents an effort to restore a devotional spirit to music without sacrificing the technical innovations made by the earlier composers of the Renaissance.

X

Legacy of the Renaissance

The Renaissance was a time when long-standing beliefs were tested, and Europeans became increasingly confident that they were creating a whole new culture. It was a period of intellectual ferment that prepared the ground for the thinkers and scientists of the 17th century. The Renaissance idea that humankind rules nature, for example, contributed to the development of modern science and technology. Renaissance thinkers used classical precedents to preserve and defend the concepts of republicanism and human freedom. These ideas had a permanent impact on the course of English constitutional theory. Renaissance political thought may also have been a source for the form of government adopted in the United States. Above all, however, the Renaissance left to the world monuments of artistic beauty that define Western culture.