Spanish Renaissance

What I Learned

This period was a fusion of Christian Spain with Moorish art that was called Mudejar. This term denotes a style of Iberian architecture and decoration, of the 12th to 16th centuries, strongly influenced by Moorish taste and workmanship. (This term is also used to describe Moors who converted to Christianity.) This style incorporated Islamic elements into the Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance style buildings that were being created. It is a symbiosis of techniques and ways of understanding architecture resulting from Muslim and Christian cultures living side by side. This style is characterized by the used of brick as the main material. These are some buildings done in Mudejar style:

Teruel Cathedral

Mudéjar Tower of El Salvador

Castle of La Mota

These two different religious groups created two different schools of art in Spain. One was the Moors from Africa and the other was the Spanish Christian groups. The final expulsion of the Moors occurred in 1607. This was a great lost to the handicrafts and commerce of southern Spain.

This is Alhambra which is the last of the Spanish palaces completed before the expulsion of the Moors. (1354)

The Court of Lions found inside Alhambra.

Court of Pools found inside Alhambra.

  

The Cathedral of Seville is located in Seville-Andalusia, Spain. It was the largest cathedral in the world in the 15th century and was even larger than the Hagia Sophia, which was the former holder of this title for nearly a thousand years. (Today it is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.) This cathedral contained 80 chapels and held 500 masses daily. It was built to demonstrate the wealth of the city. According to local lore, the members of the cathedral chapter said: "Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will think we are mad." Construction began in 1402 and continued until 1506. Five years after construction ended, in 1511, the dome collapsed and work on the cathedral recommenced. The dome collapsed again in 1888, and work was still being performed on the dome until at least 1903. The 1888 collapse occurred due to an earthquake and resulted in the destruction of "every precious object below" the dome at that time.

Cathedral of Seville Exterior

 Here are some pictures from inside the cathedral: 

 

                     




                           


The last picture is of the tomb of Christopher Columbus who is buried inside the cathedral.

There were several different design phase's in this period including Plateresco and Desornamentado. Plateresco had minute and delicate ornament that resembled the work of a silversmith. This is probably where the name was derived from seeing as platero is Spanish for silversmith. Here are some pictures exhibiting this style:

Desornamentado was a reaction to Plateresco style. It was a powerful style that was characterized by austerity and it used carefully defined proportions. Since it was a reaction to an ornamental style, this style was a much more simplistic style. It was applied to court, ecclesiastical, and public buildings. El Escorial, which is shown in the next three pictures, is an example of a building done in this style.

 My Favorite Spanish Renaissance Architecture

I talked about and showed some pictures of Alhambra earlier, but it is still one of my favorites of the Spanish Renaissance. There are just so many beautiful pictures of this place. Here are some more:

Another one of my favorite buildings from this time is Jaén Cathedral by Andrés de Vandelvira who also had some other beautiful buildings from this time including Cathedral of Baeza and Vázquez de Molina Square .

Jaén Cathedral facade

Jaén Cathedral

Cathedral of Baeza exterior

Cathedral of Baeza interior

Vázquez de Molina Square

Vázquez de Molina Square

Modern Applications

This is the Casa del Prado Theater in San Diego's Balboa Park. It was constructed for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915-16 that commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal. As you can see it was created to emulate Spanish Renaissance style.

This is Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. It was built on the grounds of an old luxury hotel built in 1988 with the Ponce de Leon hotel remaining as the centerpiece.

Flagler College Lobby

Lobby inside Flagler College Ceiling

Dining hall

Flagler room

Here are some pictures of modern luxury residential homes  designed in Spanish and Italian Renaissance styles:

Italian Renaissance Blog Response

This week I looked at Flor and Justine's blogs.

Flor mentioned that one-point perspective was created during this time which was a cool fact that I didn't know. I also liked how she dissected the different parts of the interiors of the time. She talked about how most walls were plaster and frescoes were prominent at the time. Some rarer walls were made of marble or wood paneling. Then she talked about how the floors were most commonly made of wood and rarely made of marble or had Turkish carpets. Next she talks about the ceilings and how they were considered their own piece of architecture. They usually had joists running in one direction or cross-beams were used. Some ceilings were plaster and were even painted.

I also liked this picture of a modern application from her blog.

Justine talked a lot about Palazzos and Piazzas. She said that many of the Palazzos could be found in a Piazza which was what the town square was called during the Renaissance. Piazzas were usually lined with cafes and shops and are where most people gathered for festivals, political events, and celebrations.

Here's a picture of a Piazza from Justine's blog.

Sistine Chapel Video

This is a video I found that shows that Michelangelo's Sistine chapel ceiling frescoes and talks more about them. I loved this because it went into more depth about each painting.

Itialian Renaissance

What I Learned

Renaissance is a term meaning rebirth and all of this began in Italy. This was a time when classical forms were refined and adapted for new uses. At this time everyone, no matter their monetary status, was interested in the arts. This was the first time that the arts were focused on interior/residential design. The design was inspired by ancient Rome and Greece. They dug up some ancient site and modeled their buildings after them.

The Florence Cathedral was the most important religious structure in Florence at this time. It was designed by Brunelleschi who built it based on inspiration from the Pantheon. 

Florence Cathedral

Palazzos were the style of house at this time. Their facades implemented important design elements such as repetition, alternation, and progression.  This style was well known for having three divisions, compound windows, and a heavy projecting cornice. Palazzos also had a central courtyard that was similar to that of a Roman domus. It contained now hallways, had walls pierced with niches, and had living space on the second and third floors over a store which was similar to the Roman insula.

Palazzo Facade

Palazzo Farnese by Michelangelo

The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolommeo who was an architect for the Medici family. The Medici family were very influential patrons of the arts at this time. Floor plans for building included three guiding principles: symmetry, public rooms were immediately accessible from the mail entrance, and the Palazzo would be divided into smaller apartments. Rustication was used on the facade of this particular Palazzo. This process makes the exterior appear rugged and rustic like a fortress. 

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

This shows the rustication better.

My Favorites

Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo.

Savonarola Chair

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Modern Applications

Cher's Itatalian Renaissance-style California villa.

Rodarte, a California-based fashion label, released a collection of dresses that was inspired by Italian art, specifically Renaissance frescoes in the monastery of San Marco by Fra Angelico in Florence, as well as the Baroque sculpture - Ecstasy of Saint Teresa - by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome. Frescoes have vibrant colors that look chalky so that's one of the main fresco influences in these dresses. They found colors that were chalky but still vibrant.

Annalena Altarpiece by Fra Angelico - One of the inspiration pieces for the dresses.

Bonus: Italian Renaissance in Pop Culture

The Mona Lisa is an extremely famous painting that is recognized by almost everyone worldwide. This is why it is not surprising that several versions of it have shown up in pop culture. Here's one of the better examples:

Lego Mona Lisa

Another da Vinci piece, Vitruvian Man, has shown up in Pop Culture. This example is of a design created for a T-shirt that mixes the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender with Vitruvian Man.

The original Vitruvian Man

The T-shirt spin-off.