Upload
laura-smith
View
4.183
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Madonna and Child with
Angels, Fra Filippo Lippi
1455, tempera on wood
fig. 8-26
Europe, 1400 - 1500• Arguably the birth of the modern world and in many
ways, informed the world we live in today• Became more urban, more literary, cosmopolitan• Economic growth led to thriving middle class - bankers
and merchants• This wealth acquired not only by inheritance, as in the
hereditary aristocracy that existed in the middle ages, but by personal achievement—the idea of “self-made man” was born
• With their money, these patrons supported scholarship and the arts resulting in an explosion of learning and creativity now called the “Renaissance”
Patron: the person or entity that pays an artist to produce individual artworks or employs an artist on a continuing basis (Gardner)
“These things give me the greatest contentment and the greatest pleasure because they serve the glory of God, the honour of the city, and the commemoration of myself”
- Giovanni Rucellai, a Florentine merchant and major patron of the arts during the Italian Renaissance
Palazzo Rucellai by Alberti, c.1450
Jay Pritzker Pavilion by Frank Gehry, Millennium Park, Chicago $200 million of park budget given by private patrons
Humanism – In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty (Gardner).
Renaissance = rebirth
Naturalism – the style of painted or sculptured representation based on close observation of the natural world that was at the core of the classical tradition (Gardner).
Cimabue, c.1280
Mantegna, c.1455
Raphael, c.1514
Painting Materials
Tempera – a technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue or casein; dries quickly so applied sparingly; usu. on wood panel
Oil painting – a painting technique using oil-based pigments (popularized in early 15th century Flanders, then Italy); dries slowly; usu on wood
Fresco – painting on lime plaster, either dry or wet(in the latter, pigments are mixed with water and becomebound to plaster); most pop. in Italy in mural form
Materials for Sculpture and Architecture
Bronze - Any of various alloys of copper and tin in various proportions, sometimes with traces of other metals
Marble - metamorphic rock formed by alteration of limestone or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities
Limestone - a common sedimentaryrock consisting mostly of calcium Carbonate used as a building stone and in the manufacture of limecarbon dioxide and cement.
France, the duchy of Burgundy, and the Holy Roman EmpireBruges is capital of Flanders and economic center of Burgundy
Northern EuropeDates and Places: • 1400 to 1500• Burgundy, Flanders, France and the
Holy Roman Empire• Bruges – thriving port city (active in
wool trade, fine fabrics, banking)
People:• Artists flocked to Bruges to seek
commissions• Nobles and merchants• Pious and prosperous• Intense interest in visible and
natural worldCLAUS SLUTER, Well of Moses,
1395–1406. Fig. 8-2.
Northern EuropeThemes:• Life of the Virgin Mary, Christ • Secular images, portraits• Disguised religious
symbolism (iconography)
Forms:• Detailed renderings of
surfaces and textures • Naturalistic figures and
spaces• Oil paint for rich color, detail
and luminosity
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin,
ca. 1435–1440. Fig. 8-7.
Flanders
ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, ca. 1425–1428. Fig. 8-3.
Flanders
• Religious event (Annunciation) in contemporary Flemish home
• Disguised symbolism (book,extinguished candle, lilies, copperbasin, closed garden refer to Mary’s purityand divine mission)
• Donor portraits on left (surname Inghelbrecht = “angel bringer”)
• Private commission for household prayer
• Triptych (3-panels) in oil• Titled floor, table, bench
ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, ca. 1425–1428.
Fig. 8-3.
Flanders
JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride,
1434. Fig. 8-1.
Flanders• Secular portrait
communicated religious values
• Italian merchant home in Bruges; in Flemish bedchamber
• Disguised symbolism (dog = fidelity, st.margaret finial = childbirth, oranges = fertility, candle = God)
• Description of surfaces and reflections of light
• Artist as witness (signature and reflection in convex mirror)
• Conventional gender rolesJAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini
and His Bride, 1434. Fig. 8-1.
Flanders
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, ca. 1435, 7’x8’ Fig. 8-6.
Flanders• Rogier asst. to Campin• Dynamic composition
with action and drama• Cohesive composition
through movement • Commission for guild
(see crossbow symbol in tracery)
• Known for emotional expressiveness, sorrow
• Descriptive naturalism• Compressed space;
resembles relief carving or tableau vivant
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, ca. 1435. Fig. 8-6.
France
Jean Fouquet, Melun Diptych (right panel), c.1450, oil on wood, fig. 8-10
• French dukes significant art patrons
•Private devotional images also popular in France
•Patrons often depicted, but outside of central sacred scene (in left panel, not shown)
•Oil on wood for luminous color
Model for Mary was the late mistressof Charles VII
France• Illumination for Book of Hours
(collection of prayers and calendar) for private patron
• Illusionistic treatment of space (some Gothic conventions remain)
• Luxury item (blue and gold pigments expensive)
• Scenes of daily life among nobility and peasantry;
reaffirms beneficence and sophistication of the patron, the duke of Berry LIMBOURG BROTHERS, Les Très
Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Fig. 8-9.
Just happily toiling away for my lord
Holy Roman Empire
MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint Anthony Tormented
by Demons, ca. 1480–1490. Fig. 8-12.
• Germany is center
• Wood/printmaking/artists’ books popular media
• Gothic conventions and subject matter linger
• Gutenberg invents movabletype around 1450 and printingpress begins
Italy & the Birth of the “Renaissance Man”Dates and Places: • 1400-1500• Independent city-states
on the Italian peninsula • Frequent wars, bloody
coups and power struggles• Thriving economy (bankers,
merchants) & trade with Flanders, e.g.
Function of Art: • To reflect humanism & the
revival of classical learning• To show refined taste of
patron• As political propaganda – to
foster civic pride
The Medici – “Godfathers of the Renaissance”
Lorenzo de’ Medici by Vasarica. 1520
• Powerful banking familyin Florence (double-entry bookkeeping)
• Most famous art patronsin Italy
• Established humanist academy for artists, architects, scientists and philosophers
• Produced three Popes
Italy – “The Rationalization of Sight” Themes:• Life of Christ and Virgin• Secular life • Classical and Christian• Portraiture
Forms:• Linear and aerial
perspective• Classical forms• Optical naturalism • Window onto the world • Narrative clarity
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Flagellation of Christ, ca.
1455–1465. Fig. 8-35.
Italy• Many competitions forcivic art commissions
• Most famous held in1401 – wool merchants guild invites artists tosubmit relief panelsdepicting “Sacrifice of Isaac”
• Subject as allegory
• Winner would design east doors of baptisteryfacing Florence Cathedral
Filipppo Brunelleschi’s Sacrifice Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Sacrifice
Two Finalists (both in early 20s)
Group Activity
• Who won the competition and why? Discuss both formal design and use of materials.
• What does the competition and its outcome teach us about popular taste in the 15th century and Renaissance aesthetics?
• Which panel do you prefer? Who should have won?
Filipppo Brunelleschi’s Sacrifice Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Sacrifice
• Gothic drama and heightened emotion• Caught in mid-action• Crowded quatrefoil frame• Several cast bronze pieces (disjointed)
• Emotionally restrained, graceful movement• Classical male nude (Isaac) on Roman- inspired altar (acanthus frieze) • Interest in spatial illusion (rocky landscape)• Two cast bronze pieces (cohesive)
Renaissance Perspectival Systems
One-point linear perspective
Brunelleschi’s Experiment, 1413
Brunelleschi credited with rediscovery of principles of perspective drawing!
Theorist Alberti codified Brun.’sideas in his seminal texts On Painting, On Architecture and On Sculpture, which influenced a generation of Italian artistsand architects!
Mathematical Truth andFormal Beautyin Italian Ren.Art
MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, ca. 1424–1427. Fig. 8-23.
Masaccio = “Ugly Tom”!(1401-28)
Italy - Florence• Fresco in church, donor portraits • Applies linear perspective based on
location of viewer’s eye (overall unity & harmony)
• Illusionistic extension of viewer’s space (trompe l’oeil)
• Classical architectural vocabulary (coffered barrel vault, corinthian capitals, pilasters)
• Numerical symbolism created by implied shapes (triangle = Holy Trinity)
MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, ca. 1424–1427. Fig. 8-23.
5
ft
http://www.artbabble.org/video/ngadc/empire-eye-magic-illusion-trinity-masaccio-part-2
“I was once what you are and what I
am you will become”
Italy & The Return of the Nude
Battle of the Ten Nudes by Pollaiuolo, 1465, engraving, fig. 8-28
Italy - Florence• Donatello (along with
Brunelleschi) studied classical art and architecture recently excavated in Rome
• First nude sculpture since antiquity
• Classical principles applied to Christian subject
• Civic symbol of Florentine strength and independence
• Private patron (Medici)• Sensuous contrapposto for calm
hero• Delight in youthful and eroticized
male beauty DONATELLO, David, ca. 1440–1460.
bronze, Fig. 8-19.
Sally Mann, Popsicle Drips, 1985
Italy - Florence
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Fig. 8-27.
Italy• Like Donatello,
Botticelli celebratedsensuous beauty in artrevival of female nude
• Master of line – interested more in linear details and surface decoration than rational spatial ordering
• Lyrical and courtly style• Based on poem by humanist
inspired by Greek myth• Fully embraced pagan
subject at risk of censure• Created for Medici (Lorenzo)• Tempera on canvas (matte)
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Fig. 8-27.
Medici Venusinspired by Praxiteles1st century BCEGreek
Zephyrus &Chloris
Pomona on Cyprus
V
Italian Renaissance Architecture Florence Cathedral Dome
Brunelleschi, 1420-1436
PantheonRome2nd century CE
375’ high
Double shell
140’ crossing
Italy
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–1470. Fig. 8-33.
pediment
scroll
pilasters
arcade
Italy - Florence• Art and architectural
theorist (On Painting, On Sculpture and On the Artof Building)
• Studied ancient Roman arch. treatise of Vitruvius
• His treatise presents rules of Renaissance arch.
• Façade applies classical elements to Gothic building
• Temple frontal, scrolls• Proportional relationships
(1:1, 1:2, e.g.) to achieve beauty and harmony
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–1470.
Fig. 8-33.
• Gonzaga family ruled princely court in Mantua
• Ceiling fresco for the Camera degli Sposi (Room of the Newlyweds) in the Duke’s palace
•Entire “painted room” took nearly 9 yrs.
•Depicts activities of courtly life
•Use of Trompe l’oeil(to fool the eye) and di sotto in su(from below upward)
Italy - Mantua
Andrea Mantegna, ceiling, Camera Picta, 1465-74
An attribute ofJuno who overseeslawful marriages
Extreme foreshortening