Name _____________________________________

Introduction to Renaissance Painting: Notes

For each picture viewed in class, identify the following:

• What is the subject matter of the painting? Is it religious or secular in nature?
• What colors are used?
• Notice the size of the figures in the painting.
• How realistic is the painting? Do babies look like babies? Are the human forms round or angular?
• Consider the pose.
• What symbols are used? What messages do these symbols convey?
• Can you determine from this picture what may have been valued in the lives of the painters/public?

Byzantine Paintings

"Enthroned Madonna and Child"

"Saint James Minor"

Renaissance Paintings

"Birth of Venus" (Botticelli)

"Madonna and Child" (Masaccio)

"Madonna and Child" (Da Vinci)

"Holy Family (Doni Tondo)" (Michelangelo)

After viewing the pictures, compare the following qualities between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Subject Matter	Byzantine	Renaissance
Colors
Symbols
Perspective