Renaissance Art: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting

Renaissance Architecture

Renaissance architecture represents a significant break from the preceding Gothic period. Gothic buildings had reached a level of accomplishment and perfection that proved difficult to surpass. Gothic cathedrals could not be made lighter or more slender. Architects were faced with a choice: repeat existing forms or seek new paths. Renaissance architecture turned to the classics, characterized by the use of Greco-Roman building elements, such as:

• Arches
• Barrel vaults
• Pediments
• Classical orders

It also emphasized a strong sense of proportionality, another Greco-Roman inheritance. The Renaissance saw extraordinary development in civil architecture. Not only did the Church possess the power and money for major works, but bourgeois gentlemen also desired to build sumptuous palaces. However, important churches, inspired by Christian basilicas, were still constructed.

Renaissance Sculpture

Renaissance sculpture broke with the past, exemplified by Ghiberti's reliefs for the second set of doors of the Baptistery of Florence. It displayed characteristics common throughout the Renaissance: a return to classical standards, anthropocentrism, and a revaluation of the human figure. A significant contribution to Renaissance sculpture was movement, at odds with the ideal of balance and proportionality. For the first time since antiquity, free-standing sculpture was created, such as Donatello's David. During the Middle Ages, sculpture was primarily practiced as relief decoration for religious buildings. However, the study of perspective was eagerly pursued due to the desire for naturalism, and relief sculpture reached a level of perfection difficult to surpass.

Renaissance Painting

Painting took on a significance previously unknown and is arguably the best demonstration of the influence of the new art. The virtual absence of Greco-Roman painting remnants did not prevent Renaissance painters from embracing the classical sense of the time. They reflected this in their works, drawing inspiration from sculpture for human proportionality and from literature for their narratives. Renaissance painting broke decisively with the purely Gothic style, which was rigid and symbolic, leaning instead towards natural beauty and the interplay of volumes. Concern for total pictorial realism, aiming to create credible, naturalistic scenes, led to a thorough study of optics and perspective. This resulted in the development of mathematical, geometric perspective, based on lines converging at a vanishing point, later superseded by aerial perspective.

Technically, the emergence of oil painting was of great importance. While the use of oil as a binder was known in medieval times, it was perfected during the Renaissance, primarily by Jan van Eyck, and spread throughout Europe. Oil paint allowed for the creation of glazes through layering and textures, achieving perfect, brilliant qualities that made objects appear hyperreal. Renaissance painters mastered this technique, giving their work revolutionary values of fineness, brightness, detail, and realism.