These Renaissance artists are forever immortalized. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most notable artists that worked within the European Renaissance Period, roughly between 1350 and 1620 CE.
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00:00Two sculptors have tried their hand at this block before you. It's totally beaten up.
00:04It's useless.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the most notable artists that work within the European Renaissance period.
00:14Roughly between 1350 and 1620 CE.
00:17He didn't want to paint a lot. He wanted to paint a perfect painting.
00:23Number 10. Titian.
00:25He's doing something new in painting that is so radical that you can't really think about painting in the same way afterwards.
00:31The Renaissance period includes works from many different forms of art, including painting.
00:36Titian was among the very best painters of his day.
00:39An Italian artist who eventually became known for his vibrantly alive, gorgeous sense of color.
00:45He was very lucky because Venice was the center of the pigment trade.
00:49And he could choose the very best materials, the most rich and colorful ones.
00:55Religious themes were commonplace for many of Titian's contemporaries,
00:59yet his assumption of the Virgin still stands out today, thanks to the energy afforded by his color choices and composition.
01:06Titian's human and divine figures practically leapt from the man's canvas,
01:11and his work is rightfully lauded today as something truly special.
01:14Gestural brushwork, his approach to layering of color,
01:19and his use of that to tell stories with not just narrative precision, but emotional and psychological precision.
01:27Number 9. Albrecht Dürer.
01:30He was an extraordinary artist.
01:32The first big name that one should get excited about.
01:37He stands alone, really.
01:39Italy wasn't the only place where enlightened artists created future masterpieces for the world to love and enjoy.
01:44Albrecht Dürer was of German origin, yet spoke frequently with Renaissance masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.
01:52As a result, Dürer brought with him influences from these artists and adapted them to his own artistic endeavors.
01:58Though a gifted painter, Dürer's greatest legacy is as a printmaker.
02:02The idea of publishing and distributing art is a very new thing.
02:08Dürer started this whole idea.
02:10His genius is exemplified in his engraving Melancholia I.
02:14This piece captures brilliantly the human condition of contemplation and melancholy within an unearthly winged female humanoid,
02:21and serves as a prime example of Albrecht Dürer's conceptual eye.
02:25With its plethora of symbols, Melancholia I is sometimes called Dürer's Summa,
02:30because it brings together so many of his interests and ideas.
02:34Number 8. Sandro Botticelli.
02:37This artist from Florence, Italy painted both mythological and religious figures over the course of his career,
02:43and captured both in a powerful and influential manner.
02:46He uses luminous color, but what is also really important about a work such as this
02:51is that we are immediately drawn to the emotion in the work.
02:55Sandro Botticelli was one of multiple artists who was invited to work on the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City,
03:01and his resulting works, Youth of Moses and Punishment of the Sons of Korah are wondrous to behold.
03:07However, it was Botticelli's knack for form and composition
03:10that helped make his aforementioned work with mythology among his best known and most enduring.
03:15He is letting the viewer know stylistically that what they are looking at is a product of imagination.
03:21What we are seeing here is movement and energy not seen before.
03:26Pieces like The Birth of Venus are recognizable even to neophytes of the Renaissance period,
03:31while Primavera captures beautifully the artist's connection to humanity.
03:35She tilts her head to one side and holds up her drapery and motions with her hand and looks directly at us.
03:42And in a way, it's impossible not to want to join her in the garden.
03:46Number 7. Jan van Eyck or Jan van Eyck
03:50Consumerism was rampant, and the ultimate way to show off your wealth was to commission a portrait.
03:57And by the 1430s, a portrait by Jan van Eyck was the most exclusive status symbol.
04:03The surviving works of Jan van Eyck showcase how this artist, who was born in what's now modern-day Belgium,
04:09adapted his international Gothic influences with the emerging Renaissance to create some absolutely stunning pieces.
04:16In an era of flat, disproportionate pictures, he appeared with this seemingly supernatural realism
04:22and became one of the most celebrated painters in art history.
04:26The facial expressions and colors are singularly present within his work.
04:30The Arnolfini portrait highlights van Eyck's talents particularly well, as does his Ghent altarpiece.
04:36This latter work might be van Eyck's masterpiece, an insanely complex and gorgeous polyptych
04:41that codified van Eyck's oil painting technique,
04:44while also taking art approaches from the Middle Ages and modernizing them for the Renaissance.
04:49It was described by one 15th century viewer as embodying the very art of painting.
04:54And today, it's regarded as the foundation of painterly realism in the West.
04:59Number 6. Donatello
05:01Single figures, crucified Christ, saints, just amazing artist, amazing artist.
05:09And in his honor, I've invited a friend of mine.
05:15We don't mean to sound flippant, but it was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
05:19that probably served as the first entry point for many to explore Renaissance art.
05:23And there's nothing wrong with that,
05:25especially if consuming TMNT media leads anyone to discover the works of Donatello.
05:30Can you tell me who you are again, dude?
05:31Because I don't got a lot of clue what you do.
05:33Born Donato di Nicolo di Betobardi,
05:36this Florence-born artist was a sculptor by trade,
05:39and possessed a unique creative eye when it came to capturing the human form.
05:43His bronze sculpture of the biblical David, in particular,
05:46eschews any sort of martial aggression,
05:49instead choosing to focus upon the beauty and innocence of youth.
05:52Meanwhile, his statue of Saint George is another
05:55that captures facial expression and emotion in a truly unique style.
05:59His eyebrows are knit together, there are wrinkles in his forehead,
06:03and there's a real sense of anxiety and uncertainty about what's to come.
06:08And so you feel this figure marshalling his courage.
06:12Number 5. Raphael
06:14He was born Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino in an area known as Urbino,
06:19now considered part of Vatican City.
06:21This artist is probably best known by another name, however, Raphael.
06:25From sculpture and prints to tapestries and mosaic,
06:28he's one of the giants of the Italian Renaissance.
06:30This painter and architect tragically didn't live to see his 40th year,
06:35but the work that he conceived in his time went on to live forever.
06:39This includes pieces such as his fresco, The School of Athens,
06:42or his commissioned pieces within Vatican City.
06:44Raphael carefully planned his composition for the Stanzione drawings.
06:48These drawings illustrate his inventiveness,
06:50but also the hard work that went into arranging these grand compositions.
06:55Raphael was lauded in his time, and today,
06:58for his ability to capture natural and recognizable expressions within his human figures.
07:03As a result, his religious work possesses a power and glory
07:06the likes of which have rarely been equaled.
07:08Following his death, Raphael passed immediately into myth.
07:12Painter, architect, visionary, and genius.
07:15Number 4. Hieronymus Bosch or Hieronymus Bosch
07:20So much focus is rightfully placed upon the beauty and grace present
07:23within some of the greatest Renaissance works,
07:26but what about the grotesque or the unsettling?
07:29This is where Hieronymus Bosch comes in.
07:31He grew up in a time of deep religious anxiety.
07:34In late medieval Christianity, ideas about sin, death, and the devil
07:38were becoming more sophisticated,
07:40and descriptions of hell, like in Dante's Inferno, were becoming more vivid.
07:44The Dutch painter's penchant for creating disturbing imagery
07:47has gone on to influence not only other artists,
07:50but your favorite movies and album covers to boot.
07:53The work of Bosch is often defined by his nightmarish creatures
07:57and the exaggerated facial expressions of his human characters.
08:00As he leans into his proclivity for complex symbolism,
08:03his paintings become increasingly inventive sermons
08:06on human weakness and subsequent punishment.
08:08It's easy to become entranced and obsessed by them as a result,
08:12including his iconic triptych, the Garden of Earthly Delights.
08:16Even today, it's the visions of hell first conceptualized by Hieronymus Bosch
08:20that largely live on today within our collective subconscious.
08:24It was clear that he had a dark and vivid imagination,
08:27and the matters of religion and morality clearly occupied his mind.
08:30Number 3. Michelangelo
08:33Is there any sculpture from the Renaissance period
08:35more recognized today than Michelangelo's Statue of David?
08:38It's one of those works that's endured beyond this caprese-born artist's lifetime,
08:43and into perpetuity as an all-time masterpiece.
08:46The Renaissance period produced a lot of famous sculptures.
08:49But today, when people refer to old master sculptures,
08:53most of us picture him, the most iconic sculpture of the Renaissance period.
08:58David, for many, stands as an idealized image of youth, vigor, and vitality.
09:03And yet, the work of Michelangelo is still so much more than just this one piece.
09:07Michelangelo had never painted a fresco in his life,
09:12and suddenly he paints the greatest fresco of all time.
09:16At age 40, never having studied architecture,
09:20he builds the Medici Chapel in the Laurentian Library.
09:23It's a vibrant cornucopia of paintings, sculptures, frescoes, and more,
09:27all delivered with an artist's amazing eye for the human form.
09:30His work on the Sistine Chapel is iconic, his legacy certified,
09:35and his influence boundless for all of those who continue to work in his wake.
09:38It's a celebration of being human, of the human body,
09:42also of creation itself, which he creates there on the ceiling.
09:46Number 2. Caravaggio
09:48The work of Michelangelo Merisi, the Caravaggio,
09:51arrived late within the Renaissance period,
09:53but the immense quality of his work simply speaks for itself.
09:57It stirs deep emotion in its immediacy.
10:01It puts passion into the passion of Jesus.
10:04Caravaggio was a master of a heightened form of chiaroscuro,
10:08defined by intense contrasts between light and dark,
10:11that came to be known as tenebrism.
10:13The maestro's work, as a result,
10:15emphasized the grotesque nature of his violent pieces,
10:18while underlining the beauty of his more subtle works.
10:21He holds a lantern, signifying the power of the artist
10:24to illuminate the stories that mean the most to us,
10:27to make them personal, realer than real.
10:30Caravaggio's work went on to influence the Baroque period of art
10:33in the aftermath of Renaissance,
10:35and prime examples of this include his Medusa,
10:38as well as Judith beheading Holofernes.
10:40He broke with convention and created with a rare intuitiveness
10:44that still prompts shock and awe today.
10:46Before we unveil our top pick,
10:48here are a few honorable mentions.
10:51Filippo Brunelleschi, an architectural pioneer.
10:54Brunelleschi left behind no sketches and no details
10:58as to exactly how he achieved his masterpiece.
11:02Today, it remains the largest masonry dome in the world,
11:06more than 500 years after it was built.
11:09Hans Holbein the Younger, a master portraitist.
11:12The German-born court painter
11:14to Britain's legendary King Henry VIII,
11:17immortalized one of the most dramatic casts of characters
11:20in Western history.
11:21Sofonisba Anguissola, a pioneer for women in the arts.
11:25And began painting portraits of people around Lombardy,
11:29including at the court in Milan.
11:31And while there, one of her major patrons is a Spaniard
11:36who sees to it that Sofonisba is invited
11:39to the Spanish court.
11:41Fra Angelico, a holy man painting holy subjects.
11:44Faces, although they're generalized,
11:47are very specific in certain ways as well,
11:49especially around the eyes,
11:50which are actually the most detailed part
11:52of the entire painting.
11:54You really feel, even though they're separated by this column,
11:57that their gazes meet.
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12:16Number one, Leonardo da Vinci.
12:18His genius is universal.
12:21It speaks to everybody.
12:22It speaks volumes that the influence and work
12:24of Leonardo da Vinci still manages to stand out
12:27within a crowd of so much enviable talent.
12:30Simply stated, the man could do it all.
12:32So do it all he did,
12:34from sculpting and painting to architecture,
12:36lecturing, and writing.
12:37The key to Leonardo da Vinci is that
12:41he doesn't make a distinction
12:43between the beauty of nature that he studies in his science
12:46and the beauty of his art.
12:48Leonardo da Vinci remains an artist's artist,
12:51a man who's not only known for masterpieces
12:53such as the Mona Lisa,
12:54but also for his genius intellect
12:56and dogged pursuit of knowledge.
12:58It doesn't seem unfair to label da Vinci
13:00as a man out of time,
13:02since so many of his hypotheses and ideas were untenable
13:06due to technological advancements
13:08not yet catching up to the man's boundless wellspring of ideas.
13:11He could have spent more time just being a painter,
13:16but had he done that,
13:17he wouldn't have been Leonardo da Vinci.
13:19Who's your favorite Renaissance artist?
13:21Have you ever seen any of these famous works in person?
13:24Let us know in the comments.
13:30Do you agree with our picks?
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