Precursor to the Renaissance

Precursor to the Renaissance: International

Gothic: Italian Art1150-1450

Paintings

and Sculpture

Ekkehard and Uta, statues in the west choir, Naumburg Cathedral, Naumburg, Germany, ca. 1249-1255.

ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO and others, Florence Cathedral (view from the south), Florence, Italy, begun 1296.

Virgin with the Dead Christ (Röttgen Pietà, pity or compassion in Italian), from the Rhineland, Germany, ca. 1300-1325.

Orvietto Cathedral, Lorenzo Maitani, west façade , Orvietto, Italy, begun 1310

Doge’s (Duke) Palace, Venice, Italy, begun c. 1340-1345

Virgin of Jeanne d'Evreux, from the abbey church of Saint-Denis, France, 1339.

Italian Classical Revival: 13th – 14thCentury

1. Contemporary art and the rise of humanists was a conscious revival of classical art in Italy.

2. Italians believed that medieval art was distorted and an insult to the noble art of the Greeks and Romans.

3. Classical revival remained in Italy for several Centuries and art periods.

4. Surfaced under Frederick II, King of Sicily (r. 1197-1250)5. His longing for the Roman magnificence mirrored the

neoclassical renovatio (renewal) of Charlemagne 400 years earlier.

NOTE ON ITALIAN NAMES:

Nicola Pisano (Nicholas the Pisan)Giulio Romano (Julius the Roman) Domenico Veneziano “The Venetian”Leonardo da Vinci was from the small village of Vinci and is never referred to in art history as “da Vinci”Nicknames: Giorgione meant “big George”Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini was Masolino “little Thomas”His better known pupil, Masaccio or “Brutish Thomas”

NICOLA PISANO, pulpit of Pisa Cathedral baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260.

Annunciation

Nativity

Adoration of the Shepherds

NICOLA PISANO, pulpit detail, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260.

GIOVANNI PISANO, The Annunciation and the Nativity, detail of the pulpit of Sant'Andrea, Pistoia, Italy,1297-1301

The 14th Century1. Italy consisted of City States, republic oligarchies or kingdoms2. All found wealth from maritime trade or banking and textiles3. The Black death killed almost 60% of Italy’s population4. Italian vernacular was created by Dante Alighieri in The Divine

Comedies , Inferno;the poet Francesco Petrarch plus Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron Latin still used in church liturgy

5. Petrarch wrote about illustrious men while Boccaccio wrote about famous women. Petrarch received the “Laurel Wreath Crown”

Renaissance or Rinascità in Italian Humanism:1. Essential piece sof Renaissance are art and culture; 2. Code for civil conduct3. Theory of education and scholarly discipline4. Concerned with human values and interests with or without religion 5. Roman and Greek philosophy and literature6. Human focus on reason not authoritarian or religious7. Sought no material reward just fame similar to sainthood8. Emphasized and recognized the virtue of creativity

CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, ca. 1280-1290.12’7” X 7’4”

How are the faces similar?

GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, ca. 1310. Tempera on wood, 10' 8" x 6' 8".

DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, principal panel of the Maestà (altarpiece), from the Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311. Tempera on wood, panel 7' x 13'

DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Betrayal of Jesus, detail from Maestà altarpiece, from the Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1309-1311.

Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, 1305-1306

Enrico Scrovegni is shown in the fresco of the Last Judgment presenting a model to the Virgin

Interior of the Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, 1305-1306

Campo with the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1288-1309.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. Fresco

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful Country, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. Fresco.

International Gothic15th Century

Gentile da FabrianoAdoration of the Magi1423Tempera on wood

Journey of the Magi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Journey of the Magi' (1459–61)