14th c renaissance
TRANSCRIPT
Beginning the Renaissance
• Renaissance = rebirth• Emergence of Humanism• Transition from medieval to early modern:
– Increasing urbanization– Increasing international trade– Growing internal economies– Rise of secular powers
• City-states (local areas governed by aristocratic families) rather than ‘nations’
• Important city-states: Florence, Venice, Milan, Siena, Rome• Political alignment with the Pope (papal states) or with
other aristocrats• Mixture of Secular and Sacred
Italy ca. 1300
European society ca. 1300
• Mixture of secular and religious governments (papal states)
• Emergence of trade guilds (like unions) regulating industries, crafts, art
• Upheaval & change: “Black Death,” fracturing of papal authority, rising economic power of merchants
Humanism
• The focus on the world of human beings; the idea that the human is important, and interest in ways of investigating the human world (philosophy, history, science, the arts, the body, medicine, etc.)
• Bonaventura Berlinghieri, St. Francis altarpiece, 1235– Gilding and tempera
on wood panel– ‘Greek’ or Byzantine
style• Flat picture space• Emphasis on line• Decorative patterning• Otherworldly• Emphasis on clear
storytelling
Egg tempera
• Egg temperaa
• Details, St. Francis Altar• L: St. Francis heals a lame man• R: St. Francis gives alms to the poor
Duccio, Maesta (Virgin Enthroned), 1308-11
• Cathedral of Siena
• Measurements: over 12 by 12 feet
• Media– tempera (egg)– Gilding (gold leaf)
• Altarpiece made from wood panels
• Function: to stand behind altar (most sacred spot in church)
• Details of altarpiece, in restoration process
Duccio’s Maesta
• Secular (for town of Siena)• Sacred (altarpiece for church)• Virgin is patron saint of Siena• Altarpiece celebrates victory over Florence
• Back panels of altarpiece
• Duccio, Betrayal• Continuous narrative
• Lamentation, back of altarpiece
• Siena (city-state), Town Hall
• Public meeting room of Town Hall• Good Government in the City & Country,
Lorenzetti Bros
• Lorenzetti Brothers, Effects of Good Government in the City
• Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, (aka Maesta), 1270-80
• Modeling, chiarascuro (light and dark)
• Giotto
• R: Berlingheri, c. 1270• L: Giotto, c. 1310• Medium = tempera w/gilding
Arena Chapel, aka Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy
• Enrico Scrovegni = donor• Arena = area of town next to
Roman ruins where chapel was built
• Built for private patron, to help save soul of his money-lending dad
• A merchant, not an aristocrat
• (Enrico giving the chapel to the Virgin, det. Of Last Judgment)
• Interior, toward Altar
• Interior, toward entry/exit (last judgment)
• Medium = Fresco (fresh plaster)• cycle or program: lives of Mary’s parents,
Mary, Christ• Narrative plan
• Betrayal of Christ (peter cuts off ear, judas’ kiss)
• Contrast Giotto and 13th Century version of same scene
• Contrast Duccio w/Giotto (both about 1310)
• The Lamentation
• Lamentation, det. Mary w/body of Christ
• Foreshortening
Sculpture in 14th C Italy
• Same trends: toward humanism, new patrons, etc.
• Looking at classical Greek & Roman models
• Trying to blend classical antiquity & contemporary piety
• Nicola Pisano (“Nick from Pisa”)
• Baptistery pulpit, 1260 (late Gothic)
• Shape based on classical geometry of ‘proportional harmonics’
• Style: quoting from classical sarcophagi
• Presentation at the Temple (old priest = Dionysus)
• Christian Fortitude (adapted from Hercules)
Hercules, Roman copy of Greek original (125 CE)First labor of Hercules = kill the Nemean Lion
• Christian Fortitude (adapted from Hercules)
Saint Peter, from Moissac (12th C)
