Class 3 Sep.28.09 Technologies of realism, Printing Press, Protestant Reformation

Masaccio, ‘Holy Trinity’ Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1425-27/28, fresco



-meant to look like a stone funerary monument

-barrel vault: an elongated or continuous semi-circular vault shaped life a half-cylinder
trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) effect with barrel vault through use of linear perspective

-use of Classical columns, semi-arch, coffered ceiling, roundels

-body is more muscular and somewhat idealized

-moralizing message below ( Momento Mori)



Michelangelo, ‘Sistine Chapel’, Vatican, Rome, 1475-81






-Weighty, idealized, Muscular figures - Classical Period

-These paintings in Sistine Chapel shows that Michelangelo was greatly influenced by Masaccio

-Michelangelo was mostly a sculptor



Campin, 'Merode Altarpiece'





- Intuitive Perspective : not mathematical

-extreme detail achieved through use of oil paint



Johanne Guttenberg, 1450 Printing Press




- Inventor: Johann Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, in 1450-5


- he made the very first machine printed book, with movable type – the 42 line Bible.

- Europe wasn’t the first culture to have printing.

- Expanded Access to Books, Literacy, Knowledge, Power

- this promoted the exchange of ideas, and hence, increased and sped up cultural change.


-------------> Protestant Reformation


Leonardo da Vinci, ‘Vitruvian Man’ c.1490, ink.



-taken from first-century BCE Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius’ theories on the body

-Leonardo's own observation

-Leonarado’s passions were mathematics, engineering and the natural world

-precise details of anatomy and the geometric basis of perfect proportions

----->an example of science, antiquity, mathematics

Chiaroscuro: (Italian word = light/dark) technique that creates spatial depth and volumetric forms through gradations in the intensity of light and shadow

Sfumato: (Italian word meaning “smoky, soft”) In painting ,the effect of haze in an image. Resembling the colour of the atmosphere at dusk.

Printing Press: is a machine that uses movable metal type to print text.

Protestant Reformation: was a powerful revolt against the Catholic Church.

Martin Luther: was a German reformer monk who publicly criticized all of this.

95 Theses: Martin Luther wrote up a list of 95 complaints against the Church, and nailed it to the church door in Wittenberg.