Chapter 14: The Early Renaissance in 15th Century Italy
Map of Italy in the 15th Century
• Economic growth leads to the rise of middle class– middle class defined as those who achieve considerable prosperity as a
result of personal success
• Newly rich middle class initiate Renaissance via patronage of scholarship, literature, and the visual arts (Medici, Gonzaga, Barberini families in Italy)
• Humanism-19th century term referring to a revival of classical ideals concerning liberals arts such as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy
• Humanism involves notions of perfection through pursuit of knowledge; according to worldview of 14th and 15th century, the most profitable information was derived from classical models (keep in mind this displays bias toward certain cultures)
Italy and the Emergence of the Renaissance
ItalyDates and Places: • 1400-1500• Independent courts on
the Italian peninsula
People:• Humanism • Revival of classical
learning• Self-aggrandizing
patrons Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401–1402. Bronze relief, 17 23/32” x 14 61/64.”
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
ItalyThemes:• Life of Christ and the
Virgin Mary • Secular life • Classical themes
Forms:• Linear perspective• Classical forms• Optical naturalism• Window onto the world Piero della Francesca, Flagellation, c. 1460.
Tempera on panel, 22 7/8" x 32.” Ducal Palace, Urbino, Italy
FlorenceExample: • Civic commission (Wool
Merchants Guild)• Bronze doors of baptistery• Linear and aerial
perspective• Classical models• Story-telling narrative
clarity• Importance of drawing
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, 1425–1452. Gilt bronze, 31 ¼” each square. Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence.
Florence
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panels for Gates of Paradise,
1401-1402. Gilt bronze, 31 ¼” each square. Bargello, Florence.
Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panels for Gates of Paradise,
1401-1402. Gilt bronze, 31 ¼” each square. Bargello, Florence.
Florence
Filippo Brunelleschi, Il Duomo (Dome of Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore), 1420-1436. Marble, brick; dome 100’ high, 459’ diameter. Fig. 14.1
FlorenceBrunelleschi and Linear Perspective• Civic commission· Daunting task inherited from 13th
century Florence· Brunelleschi developed mechanism to
deliver materials up to area under construction
· Each lower section acted as a reinforcement for the next higher level
drum
Dome showing Brunelleschi's innovative structure of 24 ribs derived from the
baptistery, enabling the cupola to be built without scaffolding
Diagram of Brunelleschi’s experiment with perspective.
Florence
FlorenceExample: • Images from the Old
Testament• Use of linear
perspective• Fluidity of design• Balanced proportion• Classical architecture• Continuous narrative
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Story of Jacob and Esau, panel from Gates of Paradise, 1425–1452. Gilt bronze, 31 ¼” each square. Baptistery of San Giovanni,
Florence.
FlorenceExample:
Donatello (1389-1466)• Guild of Linen Weavers
commission• St. Mark holds book (Gospel)• Contrapposto posture• Balance between left
(vertical and static) and right (diagonal, fluid)
Donatello, St. Mark, 1411-1413. Marble, 7’9.” Museo di Or San
Michele, Florence. Fig. 14.4
FlorenceExample: • Fresco in church, donor
portraits • Applies linear perspective
based on location of viewer’s eye
• Illusionistic extension of viewer’s space
• Classical architectural vocabulary
Masaccio, Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors,
c. 1424–1427. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fig. 14.5
Details from Masaccio, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors, c. 1424–1427. Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
“What you are I once was; what I am, you will be.”
Details from Masaccio, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors, c. 1424–1427. Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
Masaccio, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors, c. 1424–1427. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fig. 14.5
Perspective rendition of Masaccio, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors, c. 1424–1427. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Fig. 14.5
Florence
Brancacci Chapel and detail of left wall with frescoes by Masaccio and others, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Fig. 14.6
Florence
Example:• Frescoes in Brancacci
family chapel• Subject life of St. Peter,
patron saint of donor
• Collaboration piece with Masolino (1383-c.1440)
• Largest group of surviving frescoes by Masaccio• Collaborative piece with Masolino (1383-c.1440)
Masaccio, The Tribute Money, c. 1425. Fresco, 8’ 1” x 19’ 7.” Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine,
Florence. Fig. 14.7.
FlorenceExample: Fra Angelico (c. 1400-55)• Fresco-water based pigment
applied to fresh moist plaster. Fresco secco (dry) refers to the application of paint upon a dry wall.
• Naturalist painter• Architecture echoes convent• Postures of submission• Graceful forms• Simple composition• Inscription is call to prayer Fra Angelico, Annunciation, c. 1440-1445.
Fresco, 7’ 1” x 10’ 6.” Dormitory of the Convent of San Marco, Museo di San Marco, Florence.
Fig. 14.9.
Types of Fresco• Buon fresco-technique consists of painting
in pigment mixed with water = on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar (created by mixing sand, slaked lime=calcium hydroxide)Ca(OH)2 and water) or plaster
• A secco- (secco=dry) painting done of dry plaster meaning the pigment will need some binding agent, like egg=tempera, glue, or oil
FlorenceExample: Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410-61)• Clarification of imagery for laity,
less emphasis on gilding and decoration, more on figures and message
• Influence of Masaccio and Brunelleschi
• Located on main altar • Sacra conversazione-Madonna
with patron saints of Florence (Zenobius and Lucy)
Domenico Veneziano, St. Lucy Altarpiece or Madonna and Child with Saints, c. 1445. Tempera on panel, 6’ 10” x 7.’ Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Fig.
14.10
FlorencePeople:• Medici family dominates city of
Florence 1434-1494– Cosimo de’ Medici patriarch
• Family of merchants and bankers– Bankers to the pope– Political and religious
leaders– Cultural leaders, patron of
artists
Andrea del Verrocchio, Bust of Lorenzo de’ Medici, c. 1480. Painted terracotta, 25 7/8” x 23 ¼” x 12 7/8.” National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. Fig. 14.17.
Florence• The Medici, “Godfathers of the Renaissance”
Medici family tree
Florence
Example: • Medici family chapel• First full statement of
architectural aesthetic• Emphasis on symmetry and
regularity• Romanesque and Early
Christian influence
Filippo Brunelleschi, Nave of San Lorenzo, c. 1421-1469. Florence. Fig. 14.2.
Florence
Example: • Christian cathedrals derive
from Roman basilica plan with the apse facing east and entrance facing west
• Symbolic reference basilican cruciform
• Designed with harmonious proportions in play
Plan of San Lorenzo, Florence. Fig. 14.3.