The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (399 page)

 
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Renaissance
.

Term meaning ‘rebirth’ applied to an intellectual and artistic movement that began in Italy in the 14th cent., culminated there in the 16th cent., and influenced other parts of Europe in a great variety of ways. The notion of a rebirth refers to a revival of the values of the classical world, and the concept was used as early as the 15th cent., by Italians who thought they were living at a time when the qualities of ancient art and literature were blossoming anew after centuries of barbarism. In the following century
Vasari
gave the idea of such a revival a systematically developed form; he thought that art had declined in the Middle Ages, had been set once again on its true path by
Giotto
, and had risen to its greatest heights in the work of his friend and hero
Michelangelo
. To modern historians this picture seems much too simplistic, and the Renaissance is seen more as a period of gradual change than as a sudden break with the past. Nevertheless, the intellectuals of the Renaissance were the first people to coin a period identity for themselves, and this in itself gives the label a certain coherence. Scholars may debate endlessly over the exact interpretation of many aspects of the period, but in the general historical scheme of things, the Renaissance has come to represent the time when ‘Medieval’ turns into ‘Modern’ and the religion-dominated world of the Middle Ages gives way to a culture more responsive to the individual.
In the visual arts, the revival of the antique can be seen most clearly in architecture, for classical architecture uses a ‘vocabulary’ of forms that distinguishes it unambiguously from the Gothic style, and there can be no doubt that
Brunelleschi
is entitled to rank as the first Renaissance architect. He was interested in Roman buildings probably more for what he could learn about engineering problems than for stylistic reasons, and he was undogmatic and unarchaeological in his use of antique detail, but he had an instinctual understanding of classical design, and his buildings—based on simple mathematical ratios—have a lucidity and harmony worthy of comparison with the finest ancient models. In sculpture, the beginnings of the Renaissance are sometimes traced as far back as Nicola
Pisano
in the late 14th cent. because he is known to have been directly influenced by Roman sarcophagi. However, it is not until
Donatello
, in the early 15th cent., that we find a sculptor who had thoroughly assimilated the spirit of ancient sculpture, rather than simply borrowing motifs from it. In painting, it is harder to define the Renaissance in terms of antique influence, as very little ancient painting survived compared with the fairly abundant remains of Roman architecture and sculpture to be found in Italy. From the writings of ancient authors, however, classical painters were known to have excelled in fidelity to nature, so this quality was seen as a keynote of Renaissance painting. Because Giotto made such great advances in naturalism he is sometimes put at the head of the Renaissance tradition in painting, but it is more consistent to give this position to
Masaccio
, who brought a new scientific rigour to the problems of representation.
Masaccio, like his friends Brunelleschi and Donatello, was a Florentine, and it is thus reasonable to see Florence as the cradle of the Renaissance, and the period around 1425, when they were producing some of their most innovative works, as a major turning point in European art. Florence continued to be of pre-eminent importance throughout the 15th cent., but in the 16th cent. Rome and Venice were equally significant centres for the arts. The culmination of the Renaissance came in the period from about 1500 to 1520–a time which is now known as the High Renaissance. During this time the three most famous artists of the age—
Leonardo
, Michelangelo, and
Raphael
—produced works that have for centuries been regarded as touchstones of perfection and the fulfilment of all the ideals that artists had pursued since Giotto. In architecture,
Bramante
represents a similar peak, and his noble and grave designs were regarded in his own time as having truly recaptured the majesty of Roman buildings.
The ideals and imagery of the Italian Renaissance did not generally begin to spread to the rest of Europe until about 1500. Albrecht
Dürer
was the outstanding artist of the ‘Northern Renaissance’, making it his mission to transplant the new Italian ideas onto German soil. His work was of enormous importance in spreading Italian ideas, and during the 16th cent. it became a normal part of the career of ambitious young artists from northern Europe to follow in his footsteps across the Alps. By this time, however, Italian art had entered the phase called
Mannerism
, and much Italian-inspired art of this period in Germany, France, and the Netherlands can be classified as Mannerist rather than Renaissance. Most northern artists imitated only the superficial characteristics of Italian art, and only a few—such as Jan van
Scorel
—absorbed something of the order, poise, and dignity associated with the High Renaissance. In England, Renaissance ideas made only superficial impact during the 16th century, Italian influence being mainly confined to decorative motifs (and many of these were used in debased or misunderstood forms). It was not until the 17th century that there emerged an English artist—Inigo
Jones
—who thoroughly understood Renaissance ideals, and by this time Italian art had progressed through Mannerism to the
Baroque
.

 
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(1575–1642).
Bolognese painter. From about 1584 to 1593 he was a pupil of
Calvaert
, then he entered the
Carracci
academy, where he inherited their tradition of clear, firm draughtsmanship. Reni's style was also strongly influenced by the several visits he made to Rome, the first of them soon after 1600. He flirted briefly with the
Caravaggesque
manner (
Crucifixion of St Peter
, Vatican, 1603), but
Raphael
and the
antique
were the main inspiration for his graceful classical style, as is seen in his most celebrated work,
Aurora
(1613–14), a captivatingly beautiful ceiling fresco in the Casino Rospiglioso in Rome. After Ludovico Carracci's death in 1619, Reni became the most important painter in Bologna, running a large and prosperous studio, whose products (mainly religious works) were sent all over Europe. He cut an impressive, aristocratic figure, always fashionably and expensively dressed and usually attended by servants, but he was noted for his modesty and hated profanities and obscenities. According to his biographer
Malvasia
‘It was generally thought that he was a virgin…When observing the many lovely young girls who served as his models, he was like marble.’ (He was, however, addicted to gambling.) His fame in his lifetime was great and in the 18th and early 19th cents. many critics went into raptures, ranking him second only to Raphael.
Winckelmann
, for example, compared him to
Praxiteles
, and
Reynolds
wrote that ‘his idea of beauty…is acknowledged superior to that of any other painter.’ He fell from favour under the scornful attacks of
Ruskin
(who detested the Bolognese painters in general), and until well into the 20th cent. a just appreciation of his stature was prevented by the failure to distinguish between his own works and those by his countless (often extremely insipid) imitators. The great exhibition devoted to him in Bologna in 1954 was a turning point in his critical fortunes, and his status as one of the greatest Italian painters of the 17th cent. is now firmly re-established. His late works in particular show an ethereal beauty of colouring that sets him apart from any of his contemporaries. The best collection of his work is in the Pinacoteca in Bologna.

 
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