High Renaissance
The
High Renaissance is a rather subjective art term denoting the culmination of the
Italian Renaissance art between
1500 and
1525.
The High Renaissance painting is generally held to have been born in the late
1490s, when
Leonardo da Vinci executed his
Last Supper in
Milan. The style was introduced to architecture by
Donato Bramante who in
1502 built the
Tempietto, with its majestic proportiogns signifying the full-scale revival of ancient Roman architecture. The High Renaissance sculpture, as exemplified by
Michelangelo's
Pietà and
David, is characterized by the ideal balance between statics and movement. The serene mood and luminous colours of
Giorgione and young
Titian exemplify the High Renaissance in
Venice.
The High Renaissance is widely viewed as the greatest explosion of creative genius in history. Even relatively minor painters active during the period, such as
Fra Bartolomeo and
Mariotto Albertinelli, produced works remarkable for their perfect harmony and total control of the painterly mediums. In the late works of
Raphael,
Andrea del Sarto and
Correggio the elongated proportions and exaggerated poses prefigure the nascent
Mannerism, as the Late Renaissance is referred to in the history of art. Raphael's death in 1520 and the
Sack of Rome (1527) spelled the end of the High Renaissance.
