Renaissance Architecture

• The Italian term for Renaissance is "Rinascimiento" — with "Re" meaning 'again', and "Nascere" meaning 'be born'
• It was a movement applied not only to architecture but also to literature, painting, and manners / customs
• Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect — famous for his biographies of Renaissance artists. Other than coining the term "Gothic", he also coined the term "Renaissance" in print, through an awareness of an ongoing "rebirth" in the arts
• Giorgio Vasari wrote "Le Vite du' Pui Eccelli Pittori, Scultori, ed Architettori" 'Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, Architects'
• Originated in Florence, Italy at the start of the 15th century as the Gothic style never took a firm hold
• The Renaissance style spread to France, Germany, England, and the rest of Western Europe
• Renaissance Architects rejected the intricacy and verticality of Gothic for the simplicity and balanced proportions of classicism
• Renaissance used Humanism to celebrate rationality and mankind's ability to make and act upon empirical observations of the physical world. It was the time when they rediscovered classical Greek philosophies such as "Man is the measure of all things" from Protagoras
• Humanism was accomplished through the study of the "Studia Humanitatis" which is known today as 'Humanities' with fields like: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy
• Virtuvius' work was one of the first books to be printed in 1487
• The architectural theorists of the revived antique style — Alberti, Serlio, Francesco de Giorgio, Palladio, Vignola, and Gullio Romano — all wrote treatises that owed something to Vitruvius
• Vitruvius largely influenced the rediscovery of Greek and Roman architecture
• Architect-artists were men who were no longer just master masons but scholars as well
• Architecture was no longer a continuation of practical tradition but also a literary idea — one would not simply put up a building, one would be following a theory
• Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio used the invention of printing to spread classic literature that caused a revolt against medieval forms
• Renaissance Architecture is the rebirth of classical culture revolving around ancient greco-roman forms — with designs that appealed to both emotion and reason, that also emphasized proportion, symmetry, and geometry
• The 3 key figures in the Renaissance are:

  1. Filippo Brunelleschi
  2. Leon Battista Alberti
  3. Andrea Palladio
• Filippo Brunelleschi is the first Renaissance architect to devise a way to draw linear perspective
• Leon Battista Alberti wrote "Ten Books on Architecture" — which became the bible of Renaissance architecture and explained the principles behind linear perspective
• Andrea Palladio specialized in domestic architecture and was also the chief architect of the Venetian Republic who wrote "Four Books of Architecture" which gained him recognition
• Phases of Renaissance Architecture:

  • Proto Baroque
  • Palladian
  • Baroque
  • Rococo / Late Baroque
• Proto Baroque is evident in the works of Michaelangelo — where churches were crowned with domes along with regular distributions of fenestrations
• Palladian Renaissance is inspired by the Roman-like designs of Andrea Palladio, emphasizing proportion and symmetry
• Baroque has strong curves and rich decoration that define the style, with the works of Lorenzo Bernini being prominent at the time
• Rococo or Late Baroque is florid, asymmetrical, and elaborate in style
• Renaissance plans were symmetrical
• Walls were made of ashlar masonry laid in horizontal courses of large blocks of stone that were rusticated to give an impression of dignity
• Walls that were not completely made of masonry had rusticated wall corners made of "Quoins" that gave an appearance of strength
• Pediments were low-pitched roofs that were supported by columns
• Name the Pediment Styles:

  A) angular

  B) broken angular

  C) open

  D) curved / segmental

  E) broken segmental

  F) swans neck / broken

  
• wall skylines are characterized by horizontal cornices which gave simplicity of outline
• arcades, doors, and windows are spanned by semi-circular arches
• Tabernacle windows look like small shrines (aedicules)
• Kneeling windows "Inginocciata" are windows supported by "aedicules" or brackets
• Domes and semi-circular vaults are a predominant feature of Renaissance roofs
• Columns used classic orders with standardized proportions — and were varied by rustication
• Moldings are projected horizontal cornices that cast deep shadows
• Ornaments were carefully executed and finely crafted with subjects of classical mythology, pagan subjects, and fresco paintings