How to Classify High Renaissance by Paint Style

Sketch by High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.

European painting in the early 1500s, particularly in Italy, is generally referred to as the High Renaissance. The High Renaissance is characterized by many scholars as the height of the period in which painters began reviving classical art techniques, producing highly sophisticated art of a kind not seen since before the Middle Ages. These techniques are readily recognizable in High Renaissance painting, if you know what to look for. With a few tips, you can classify High Renaissance paintings.

Instructions

1. Examine the orientation of the images and the perspective of their environment. Many High Renaissance painters used strict mathematical guidelines to produce the illusion of diminishing perspective. This technique is characterized by perspective lines that originate in the corners of the painting and travel inwards toward the center of the painting. Often, High Renaissance artists would include architectural elements in their paintings to emphasize the perspective effect and to highlight their interest in Classical art and architecture.

2. Check the painting's background for chiaroscuro painting technique. Chiaroscuro, meaning "clear/blurred" in Italian, is a painting technique that blends the background into darker and blurrier images. This is meant to mimic the way the human eye focuses on foreground objects and blurs background images.

3. Look for the three main themes of High Renaissance painting: Christian and Bible imagery, classical mythology and portraits. The Catholic Church in Rome had a strong influence on subject matter in High Renaissance art. As a result, many paintings of the period are of characters or stories from the Old and New Testaments. The High Renaissance was also a time of renewed interest in Greek and Roman mythology. Many High Renaissance paintings, as a result, depict characters and stories from myths of these cultures. Artists of the High Renaissance required the support of patrons, so they often painted portraits on commission of their wealthy patrons or individuals.

4. Evaluate the depiction of human anatomy. Realistic depiction of the human body was considered blasphemous during the Middle Ages, so artists were forced to depict living things in a strange, stylized manner known as "hieratic" style. The painters of the High Renaissance broke away from this style to create realistic images of adults and infants based on rigorous anatomical study and life drawing.

5. Examine the clothing for elements of High Renaissance fashion. During this period, women often wore their hair tied back and wore small chains around their necks and foreheads. Long sleeves were preferred for a woman's clothing and the waists of dresses often began just below the bust line. Men are frequently wearing hats in High Renaissance painting, particularly large, beret-like hats that would sometimes be accented with a chain or a feather. They wore tunics with long sleeves and tights, as well as belts accented with jewels and sometimes a dagger or sword. A man's hair was generally worn at about shoulder length during the High Renaissance.

References

• Hanover College History Department: Images of Renaissance Art: Italian Painting
• Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art: High Renaissance Art
• Just Italy: The High Renaissance
• Artlex Art Dictionary: The High Renaissance
• Saint Michael's College: High Renaissance
• The National Gallery of Art: Italian Painting in the 16th Century

Resources

• Cartage.org: High Renaissance in Italy