Renaissance sculpture is understood as a process of recovery of the sculpture of classical antiquity. Sculptors found in the artistic remains and in the discoveries of sites of that bygone era the perfect inspiration for their works. They were also inspired by nature. In this context we must take into account the exception of the Flemish artists in northern Europe, who, in addition to overcoming the figurative style of the Gothic, promoted a Renaissance foreign to the Italian one, especially in the field of painting. The rebirth of antiquity with the abandonment of the medieval, which for Giorgio Vasari "had been a world of Goths", and the recognition of the classics with all their variants and nuances was a phenomenon that developed almost exclusively in Italian Renaissance sculpture. Renaissance art succeeded in interpreting Nature and translating it with freedom and knowledge into a multitude of masterpieces.
Characteristics
Renaissance sculpture took as its basis and model the works of classical antiquity and its mythology, with a new vision of humanist thought and the function of sculpture in art. As in Greek sculpture, the naturalistic representation of the naked human body was sought with a highly perfected technique, thanks to the meticulous study of human anatomy. In Italy, profane and religious themes coexisted equally; this was not the case in other countries such as Spain and Germany, where religious themes prevailed.
The human body represented absolute Beauty, whose mathematical correspondence between the parts was well defined, and the contrapposto was constantly used from Donatello to Michelangelo. It was at this time that sculpture was practically freed from the architectural framework, the reliefs were made with the rules of perspective and the characters were shown with dramatic expressions that led to the sensation of great terribilità in the feelings expressed in Michelangelo's sculptures, as in the face of his David.
A fundamental role was played by the figure of the Maecenas, represented by the church and noblemen who, with their patronage, obtained social prestige and political propaganda, and covered all themes: religious, mythological, daily life, portraits of characters, etc.
With the Renaissance, the Greco-Roman glyptics reappeared, which had been almost completely forgotten during the Middle Ages in fine stone carving (except for a few examples of Byzantine art), and from the 16th century, precious cameos of classical taste were carved, so perfect that sometimes they could be confused with the ancient ones. However, the use of fine stone carvings, so favored by the Greek and Roman civilizations, was hardly restored. These small reliefs served as a model, once enlarged, for decoration by sculptors in large medallions for palaces in Italy and France.
Materials
Renaissance sculpture made use of all kinds of materials, mainly marble, bronze and wood. Reproductions of statuettes in bronze were widespread in the Renaissance, due to the large number of collectors. In Florence, Antonio Pollaiuolo (Hercules and Antaeus) and Andrea del Verrocchio (Winged Boy with Fish) were the initiators, commissioned by the Medici. From the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci small bronzes with the rearing horse of a height of 23 cm are preserved. The Mantuan sculptor Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called Antico, settled in Rome for the execution of bronze reductions of ancient marbles.
Wood was used in countries such as Germany and Spain, where the great forest wealth and the traditional work of polychrome wood was deeply rooted; it was used in the execution of religious imagery, altarpieces and altars.
Terracotta was used as a more economical material, in natural color and polychrome, as used by Antonio Rossellino and his disciple Matteo Civitali in the Virgin of the Annunciation in the church of the Servants of Lucca. The Italian artist Pietro Torrigiano made in Spain several sculptures in polychrome clay, some of them are preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville. Luca della Robbia, who followed the Donatello style, is credited with the invention of enameled clay, which he used in the tabernacle of Santa Maria Novella in Florence in combination with marble to give color to the work, and later in tondos and Madonnas; his workshop, followed by his nephew Andrea della Robbia, produced a large number of works in enameled terracotta that spread throughout Europe. This has reached different parts of the world as it is a manifestation of feelings and history.