Hang Around the World: Painting #111

Italian Renaissance :

The High Renaissance - Part 2/3

Pietro Perugino

(1448–1523, Italian)

The Galitzin Triptych
- Pietro Perugino
- oil on panel to canvas (95 x 30 cm) 1482/85
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

Aka The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John, Saint Jerome, and Saint Mary Magdalene.

Delivery of the Keys
- Pietro Perugino
- fresco (330 × 550 cm) c.1481
- Sistine Chapel (Vatican)

Jesus gives the keys (the golden key to Heaven and the silver key to Hell) to disciple Saint Peter. The main basilica in Vatican is named after St. Peter, and the delivery of keys represents authorizing Vatican.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

(1483–1520, Italian)

Saint George and the Dragon
- Raphael
- oil on panel (28.5 x 21.5 cm) c.1506
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

Saint George and the Dragon symbolizes the proclamation of a pagan domain, represented by a maiden, to Christianity.

Saint George has been the patron saint of some cities, including Venice, before becoming one for England in year 1222.

School of Athens
- Raphael
- Fresco (770 cm width) 1509-10
- Apostolic Palace (Vatican)

In the Apostolic Palace of Vatican, the public Stanze suite is the 4Raphael Rooms that are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop.
In 1508, seeing Raphael's drafts, Pope Julius II ordered the scratching off of all existing frescos, dismissed all other painters, and commissioned to Raphael the decoration of the suite of rooms, now called the Raphael's Rooms.

The Raphael Rooms together with Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome.

The Alba Madonna
- Raphael
- oil on wood to canvas (94.5 cm dia.) 1510
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist are staring at a cross in a typical Italian countryside.

Madonna and Child
- aka The Small Cowper Madonna
- oil on panel (60 x 44 cm) c.1505
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

Portrait of Bindo Altoviti
- Raphael
- oil on panel (60 x 44 cm) c.1515
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

He was a young. successful banker.

Portrait of Pope Leo X
with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici
(later Pope Clement VII)
and Luigi de' Rossi
- Raphael
- oil on panel (156 x 120 cm) c.1518
- Uffizi Gallery (Florence)

As the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici (ruler of the Florentine Republic), Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici ascended to the papal throne as Leo X with ease. As an arts protectorate, he sponsored artists like Raphael in creation.

(L) 1517 Pope Leo X embraces the increased sale of Indulgences to help build the costly St. Peter's Basilica.

(R) Woodcut depicting an Indulgence seller, ca. 1510

Indulgences were a way to clear all of your sins, so that you wouldn't go to hell.

The Sack of Rome in 1527
(Part of the War of the League of Cognac)
- Johannes Lingelbach (1622-1674, Dutch)
- private collection (Rome, Papal States)

The Sack of Rome further exacerbated religious hatred and antagonism between Catholics and Lutherans. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo

Giorgione

(1478–1510, Italian)

Self-portrait (as David)
- Giorgione
- oil on canvas (52 x 43 cm) c.1508
- Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum (Brunswick)

In western painting, the short-lived and talented Giorgione was the first to paint on canvas; the first to paint laid-down naked female, the first to pay importance to landscape; and the first to paint meaningless/無厘頭.

The Tempest
- Giorgione
- oil on canvas (83 × 73 cm) c. 1508
- Gallerie dell'Accademia (Venice)

(X-rays of the painting have revealed that in the place of the man, Giorgione originally painted another female nude.)

The Three Philosophers
- Giorgione
- oil on canvas (123 x 144 cm) c.1505-09
- Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)

The painting was finished by Sebastiano del Piombo. It shows three philosophers – one young, one middle-aged, and one old.

Adoration of the Shepherd
- Giorgione
- oil on panel (91 × 111 cm) c.1505
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

The painting was finished by Sebastiano del Piombo (c.1485–1521, Italian).

Judith
- Giorgione
- oil on canvas (transferred from panel)
(144 x 66.5 cm) c.1504
- Hermitage (Saint Petersburg)

It is said that Giorgione painted his own portrait on the head under Judith's foot.

The Sleeping Venus

(aka the Dresden* Venus)

- Giorgione (completed by Titian)

- oil on canvas (108.5 × 175 cm) c.1510
- Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden*)

Young Woman (“Laura")
- Giorgione
- canvas on wood (41 x 34 cm) 1506
- Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)

Behind her is a tree called laura in Italian.

Venetian School (Art)

From the later part of the 15th century, Venice had a distinctive, thriving and influential art scene.

Beginning with Giorgione (c. 1477–1510) and Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516), major artists of the Venetian school included Titian (1489–1576), Tintoretto (1518–1594), Veronese (1528–1588) and the Bassano (1510–1592).

Considered to bring a primacy of color over line, this tradition was seen to contrast with the Mannerism then prevalent in the rest of Italy.

The Venetian style is viewed as having had a great influence on the subsequent development of painting.

Reference: Wikipedia