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.