Monday, March 24, 2014

Spanish Renaissance


The Spanish Renaissance emerged from the Italian Renaissance and the year 1492 is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Renaissance in Spain. This period was greatly impacted by the moors with the architecture and decoration. The Spanish Renaissance went through two main phases, the Plateresco Phase and the Desornementado Phase. The Plateresco Phase resembled the work of a silversmith and was mainly used on exteriors, church buildings, furniture and patios. On the other hand the Desornamentado phase was a powerful style that was unornamented.

Plateresco Phase

Desornamentado Phase

Another style of architecture was Herrera architecture which is named after Juan De Herrera. This style was influenced by the Italian Renaissance and classical forms. Borroque style also came into play which included wood carvings and sculpturs. This style was applied to exterior doorways and interior decoration.

Juan de Herrera

El Transparente- Borroque Style

Current Applications:

Reflects both Italian and Spanish Renaissance


Responses:
I reviewed Chanel's blog and I like how she talked about the style of the interiors that the Spanish Renaissance had. She mentioned the colors and geometrics that they incorporated into their design. She also talked about the beautiful gardens and fountains specifically found in the Alhambra which I find to be fascinating as well. I also reviewed Lindey's blog and I really like how she said that even though the Spanish Renaissance was influenced by the Italian Renaissance, they had a style that was unique and their own. I also really liked her current application picture of the stairs with the different tile patterns on each step because it really reflects how unique and intricate the floor patterns were during the Spanish Period.

Video:


For this video I chose to do a YouTube of a song from the Renaissance. I found a lot of videos that focused a lot on the music of that time and I think it would be cool to post one because music was very important during the Spanish Renaissance and was a form of expression.



Sunday, March 23, 2014

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance was a period of great culture and acheivment that began in Florence. The word Renaissance means "rebirth" and was best known for their renewed interest in the classical culture and cultural acheivments. The revival of the classical orders can be seen when looking at the Palazzo Rucellai. The pilasters follow the classical orders with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian capitals.
In this image you can see that each floors capital has a different order. The first being Doric, the second being Ionic and the upper floor being Corinthian. I found this to be pretty interesting because the architecture brought all of the classical orders together in one building.

The furniture of this time period was mainly made out of wood, mostly walnut, and was usually very rich in style. Large chests were highly desired and a common feature in a lot of homes. One thing I found interesting was that even thought they were very expensive, they were bought by nearly all of the social classes. Wealthier people had more elaborate ones and even though these were made to put things inside of them, a lot were used simply for decoration.

I like these photos a lot because you can see how detailed and elaborate these chests were.


Current applications:




Responses:

I really enjoyed reading Sammy's blog. She talked about how during the this period people were a lot more focused on interiors and how their homes actually looked rather than just being safe and I think she showed some really good examples of that. I also thought John's blog was very informative and I liked how he focused a lot on the people of this period. People who played a big role and were very influential to the culture. He brought up "earth changing inventions" when he mentioned the invention of the printing press which was something that was verying important to this time and was groundbreaking. 

Video:





I chose to post this video because it sort of summarizes the renaissance and points out key aspects which I think is really cool.