Leadership Theories and Analysis

The Renaissance was a rebirth of cultural awareness and learning that took place during 1400 - 1500. Art became a branch of learning during the Renaissance. It was a period of time when art was very important. Artists had finally recaptured the amazing detail and realism that the Greeks and Romans perfected. Artists broke boundaries with new exciting mediums and bright colors. Filippo Brunelleschi permitted artists to decide the proportional size of a figure by inventing the vanishing point perspective. This made it possible to put everything into perfect proportion. Many elderly people are found in the paintings. Such as Man in a Red Turban on page 270 fig. 15.34 or online at http://www.abcgallery.com/E/eyck/eyck3.html.

Renaissance symbolizes the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the development of the Modern world. Early Renaissance, mostly in Italy, links the art period during the fifteenth century, between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance in Italy. It was commonly known that Renaissance developed in Northern Europe later, in 16th century. The rebirth is used to mark an era of extensive cultural achievement as a result of renewed interest in the classical art and ideas of Ancient Greece and Rome. The most important idea of rebirth stays with the belief that through learning of intellectual and artistic treasures of the Greco-Roman antiquity could reach the artistic greatness, wisdom and enlightenment. The rediscovery of classical world drastically changed the art of painting. By the year 1500, the Renaissance revived ancient forms and content. The spiritual content of painting changed - subjects from Roman history and mythology were borrowed. Devotional art of Christian orientation became classically humanized. As in the Holy Trinity on page 248 15.11 or online at http://www.inter-art.com/it/10207.htm.

Classical artistic principles, including harmonious parts, sensible expressions, and logical postures were followed. Two regions of Western Europe were mainly active during this artistic period. These were Flanders and Italy. Although the portrait also developed as a specific type in the mid-15th century, Renaissance painters reached the greatest freedom with history, pictures that located figures within a landscape or an architectural setting out of a specific story. These stories were taken either from classical mythology or Christian tradition. Within such a background, the painter was able to show men, women, and children in a full range of postures and poses, as well as their different emotional reactions and situations. The rebirth of art in Italy was associated with the rediscovery of ancient philosophy, literature, and science and the growth of practical methods of study in these fields. Therefore material subject matter became increasingly important to artists. With the revived interest in antiquity came a new collection of subjects drawn from Greek and Roman history and mythology. Like the Maesta shown on page 232 14.9 or online at http://keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/html/g/giotto/maesta.htm.

The types provided by ancient buildings and works of art also encouraged the development of new artistic techniques and the need to re-create the forms and styles of classical art. Such as the Branacci Chapel on page 249 fig 15.12 or online at http://www.wga.hu/tours/brancacc/index.html.

Crucial to the development of Renaissance art was the emergence of the artist as a creator, sought after and respected for his intellect and imagination. Art became respected as a means for religious and social teaching, and a form of personal, visual expression.

Although the progression of Italian Renaissance art was a continuous process, it was

usually divided into three major phases: Early, High, and Late Renaissance. The last phase has been the subject of complicated interpretations that recognize many opposing and comparing trends. Some researchers date the beginning of the Italian Renaissance from the appearance of Giotto di Bondone in the early 14th century. Madonna and Child can be seen at

http://www.abcgallery.com/G/giotto/giotto27.html. Or figures 14.2 and 14.3 on pages 224 & 225. Others regard his impressive achievements in naturalistic art as an separate trend. According to the second view, the constant development of Renaissance style began with the generation of artists active in Florence at the beginning of the 15th century.

The Italian renaissance suggests the rebirth of painting. It doesn't suggest that all the developments of painting came from this period. However, the masters learned to blend new and old. The list of artists who played a part in the progress in painting is as varied as the paintings. Many of the new renaissance artists were trained in the Florence of Italy. This period didn't regard artists as artisans as in the past, but were now considered independent characters. Masaccio made notable advances in the styles of paintings such as perspective, space, and surrounding his subjects in light and air. As shown in St. Giovenale Triptych

The next great step was in the mellowness and richness of colors used by Bellini. The complex strokes of color make the surrounding light and air almost inseparable from the figures. Bellini was a great artist and teacher who brought Venetian art onto the scene to the point that it was at the forefront of the Renaissance. The Painter Sandro Botticelli comes along as the next great painter after Masaccio. When you look at the painting Primavera 1482, you see the new, sharply contoured, slender form and rippling sinuous line that is synonymous with Botticelli. In the painting Botticelli catches the freshness of an early spring morning, with the pale light shining through the tall, straight trees, already laden with their golden fruit. The two paintings that are said to epitomize the renaissance are the Mona Lisa (1503-06) and the Last Supper (1495-97) by the master Leonardo da Vinci who was the elder of the Florentine masters. The observation of nature, firsthand investigations, and experimentation is what set him apart from his peers early on. The art of perspective was used extensively by Florentine artist Paolo Ucello and this was shown very well in his painting The Hunt in the Forest, 1460's. The painting shows how well he used perspective the way everything in it is organized upon a distant and almost unseen stag, a vanishing stag: the vanishing point. The art of perspective is the representation of solid objects and three-dimensional space in accordance with our optical perception of these things. We actually see the world in perspective the way things get smaller as they are farther away. During the Renaissance northern Italy was one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. Genoa and Venice both had populations of around 100,000 by 1400 and were the main

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