Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/37

* RENAISSANCE ART. 23 shown fli:it :i sfri)iii;ly iv;ilisti<- sclionl Imd pre- viously (lovplnpod ill Hurifuiuly. Xorthern I'ranop. and Flnndors. ospprially in tlio seulpturp n{ such artists as Claux Sluter, Bcaunevcu. and Jean de Caniljiai. Tlic age of the Renaissanee, though it practically closes before lUOO, was not superseded by a Gr;p('oelassicaI revival until about the pe- riod of the French Revolution. Painting was the ty[)ical art of the Renaissance because it best expressed its realism. In archi- tecture the style was far less original, its char- acter being less constructive than decorative. The preponderance of the secular spirit led to a decadence of religious art in all forms. The previous tendency toward general types in art gave way before a ncAV individualistic tendency, each artist creating his own personal style. Only in painting were the peculiarities of local schools very prominent. Tuscany was followed by Lombardy in the de- velopment of the Renaissanee about 1400, and shortly afterwards by Venice. Rome and Naples were simply meeting places for Tuscan and Lom- bard artists. France was the tirst foreign coun- try to follow the example of Italy, with whom its rclati(nis of all kinds had long been of the closest. Spain, in some parts, then followed quite early in the sixteenth century. Not till the middle of the century did Germany and Eng- land accept the new style to any large extent, and even then with less of pure beauty and classic precision than in Italy and France. Renaissance sculpture and painting are of such im]>ortance in the history of the general development of these arts that it is most con- venient to treat them under the general articles. Architecture — Italy. Gothic architecture had never acquired a deep-rooted hold in Italy and Italian architects had been seeking for a new style ever since the decline of the Romanesque. This they foiind in a study of the Roman ruins, out of whose tolumns, entablatures, and arches they de- veloped a style which, .sharing the pagan spirit of Roman art, was more successful in secular than in religious buildings. Coming at a time of individualism, it developed personal and loeal phases of style, and its history is the history of the works of individuals, not of a national style. It developed into a system of decoration and com- position rather than of construction, although it made etTective use of the dome and vault. Sev- eral periods of Italian Renaissance can be dis- tinguished: (1) Early or Free Renaissance, c. 1420-1500; (2) High or Classic Renaissance, e. 1.500-1.580; (.3) the Decline of Barocco, c. 1.580- 1780. The founder of the style was the Floren- tine Brunelleschi, the greatest designer of the early Renaissance and equaled only by Michel- angelo and liramante among later men. In the Pazzi Chapel (1425) and the two great basilican ehurches of Santo Spirito and San Lorenzo he re- vived the moldings and details of classic architec- ture, but neither he nor his followers. IJIichelozzi and Giuliano da Majano. attempted any close imitation of Roman buildings. The two great palaces of this first period in Florence, viz. the Riccardi by Jlichelozzi (1430) and the Pitti (1435), though Roman in scale and in minor de- tails, were of a thoroughly modern and Floren- tine type. Alberti was the first to attempt strict- ly Roman and classic exterior design in both re- ligious and secular architecture bv the use of RENAISSANCE ART. Mipciposcd order>, pilasters, entablatures, and Roman arches. Florentine architects of later date, Ros.sellino and Francesco di (Jiorgio, carried the new style to Pienza, Siena, and Coilona, ami others, like the Majani, Laurana, and Giuliano ili San Gallo, to Naples, Urbino, and Home. The ducal palace at Urbino is one of the most im- posing masterpieces of the Early Renaissance. In Lombardy the new style developed a prolific school of design which, retaining the use of terra-cotta ornament, open arcades, and .some me- diu'val details, was more varied and picturcsipie than the Florentine, Its infiuence was carried to Venice by the Lombards, and there gave rise to the most richly decorative of all the loeal Renaissance styles, through the free use of mar- ble incrustations and surface carving. To Lom- bardy belongs also the most highly decorateil fagade of the Renaissance, that of the Certosa at Pavia ; and from Lombardy came Bramante. the genius who inaugurated the Middle Renaissance, after his establishment in Rome in 14!(0, While most of his ])redcccssors had been pri- marily goldsmiths or decorators, Hramanle was a master-builder, and became an architect in the true modern sense. He was the first to embody the genuine Roman spirit in modern design, as in his Tempietto. and in his designs for the Vatican and Saint Peter's (1.503-OG). Henceforth both the Lombard and earl' Tuscan systems of orna- ment were abandoned for plain surfaces and colossal details; the new style w.as severe and grandiose ; only in the interiors was decoration still abundant. The design that embodied its best features was Bramante's plan for Saint Pe- ter's. The Roman school under him now suc- ceeded the Tuscan in the leadership, and the study of Vitruvius and the measuring and draw- ing of Roman ruins became an aeeejited part of every architect's training. R^iphael, Pcruzzi, and Antonio da San Gallo were among Bra- mante's foremost pupils; the Farncsina, Massiui, and Farnese palaces embody their ideas, the last named being the most imposing in Rome. But meanwhile the Venetian school had not lost the individual charm (see Venice) of its civic and palace architecture under Guglielmo Bergamasco and his rivals and then under the neo-classic leader Sansovino, whose Libreria di San Marco and Palazzo Comaro marked an epoch in Vene- tian architecture. This middle period closes with Jlichelangelo, whose genius, like Bramante's. also usliered in a new period, that of the scientifically developed Renaissance, based upon the dee])pst study of classical monuments. Remodeled by Michelangelo, Saint Peter's remained even more the type for Renaissance churches. The dome, cither single or grouped, the tunnel vault and cross vault, often coff'ered. continued the orthodox forms of cover- ing. Internal piers became heavier, while col- umns often took the place of pilasters outside. The single order after the colossal example of it given at SainI Peter's by Michelangelo reigned supreme. Vignola's works ' present this style under a more refined aspect and mark the be- ginning of the villa architecture of the Roman school. (See Lante, Villa.) In the palaces of Alessi and others at Genoa monumental stair- cases and vestibules are the central point for grandiose and original treatment, rather than the facades. The progressive domination of classic formulae is observed alike in the writings and