Florence

Example: Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)

• Lionardo Bartolini Salimbeni commission

• Strong orthogonal lines establish perspectival scheme

• Shares International Gothic love of costume and detail

• Contemporary subject– Battle 1432, establishes

Medici power

Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano, c. 1438. Tempera and silver foil on wood panel, 6’ x 10’ 5

¾.” The National Gallery, London. Fig. 14.15.

FlorenceExample: Michelozzo di Bartolomeo (1396-1472)• Medici home• Based on traditional

Florentine architecture– Rustic features (1st floor)– Smoother blocks(2nd floor)– Unbroken blocks (3rd floor)

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, begun 1444. Florence. Fig. 14.12

Florence

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, begun 1444. Florence. Fig. 14.12

Palazzo della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio), begun 1298, Florence. Fig.

12.7

FlorenceExample: • First free-standing bronze

cast in Renaissance• First nude free-standing, life-

size sculpture since antiquity• Bronze cast sculpture• Civic symbol of Florence

(patron saint)• Private patron (Medici)• Sensuous contrapposto for

calm hero Donatello, David, ca. 1440–1460. Bronze, height 62 ¼.” Museo Nazionale del Bargello,

Florence. Fig. 14.13.

Donatello, David, ca. 1440–1460. Bronze, height 62 ¼.” Museo Nazionale del Bargello,

Florence. Fig. 14.13.

Donatello, David, 1408-1409. Marble, 75 13/64” high. Museo Nazionale del

Bargello, Florence.

FlorenceExample: • Break with

traditional representations of David by depicting David nude– Possible reference to

antiquity• Does not coincide with Biblical

story• Hat=Florentine style• Inscription dedicates piece to

Florentine people Donatello, David, ca. 1440–1460. Bronze, height 62 ¼.” Museo Nazionale del Bargello,

Florence. Fig. 14.13.

FlorenceExample: • Master of line• Based on poem by

humanist• Created for Medici• Mythology• Venus inspired by

classical sculpture• Revival of female nude• Savonarola and the “bo

nfire of the vanities” Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, c. 1484–1486. Tempera on panel, 5’ 8 7/8” x 9’ 1 7/8.” Fig.

14.16.

Florence

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, c. 1484–1486. Tempera on panel, 5’ 8 7/8” x 9’ 1 7/8.” Fig.

14.16.

Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, c. 340 BCE. Marble, 6’8.” Musei Vaticani, Rome. Fig.

5.25.

Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera, c. 1477-1482. Tempera on panel, 79 59/64” × 123 5/8.” Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Florence

Example: Botticelli, Sandro (1445-1510)

• Medici villa in Castello, near villa de Petraia

• Private commission, private viewing, development of elite circle of thinkers

• Neo-Platonic Academy

• Influence of powerful family-the Medici

• Family symbolism

PaduaExample: • Public funerary

monument• Bronze equestrian

portrait • Modeled after Marcus

Aurelius• Contemporary

condottiere dressed as Roman general

• Image of strength and power Donatello, Gattamelata, c. 1445–1453.

Bronze, 11’ x 13.’ Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy. Fig. 14.11

Donatello, Gattamelata, c. 1445–1453. Bronze, 11’ x 13.’ Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy.

Fig. 14.11

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, c. 161-180 CE. Bronze, over life-size. Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome. Fig. 7.9.

Florence

Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of the Ten Nudes, 1465. Engraving, 1’ 3 1/8” x 1’ 11 ¼.” British Museum,

London. Fig. 14.14

Example: Antonio Pollaiuolo (1431-1498)• Engraving • Inscription “The work of

Antonio Pollaiulo”• Subject under debate

– Possible ancient text– Possible study of human

form• Exercise in human

musculature

Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Battle of the Ten Nudes, 1465. Engraving, 1’ 3 1/8” x 1’ 11 ¼.” British Museum,

London.

Martin Schongauer, Saint Anthony Tormented by Demon, 1480-1490. Engraving, 11 ½” x 8 5/8.” Metropolitan Museum of

Art, NY.

Borgo San Sepolcro (“Holy Sepulchre”)

Example: Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1492) • Civic commission• Subject= resurrection of Christ• Personal style influenced by math,

ancient culture, and Flemish aesthetic

• Studies under Veneziano• Solidity of form shows knowledge of

Masaccio• Specializes in perspective• Early pioneer of oils in central Italy

Piero della Francesca, Resurrection, c. 1463. Fresco, 7’5” x 6’ 6 ½.” Palazzo Comunale,

Borgo San Sepolcro, Italy. Fig. 14.18

Urbino

Example: • Double portrait (husband and

wife)• Diptych• Rich color• Shadow behind wife (death?)• Bright landscape husband

(power)• Atmospheric perspective• Back surrounded by virtues Piero della Francesca,

Double Portrait of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro

(front), c. 1472. Oil and tempera on panel, 18 1/2” x13.” Gallera degli Uffiizi, Florence. Fig.

14.19

Urbino

Piero della Francesca, Double Portrait of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro (front and back), c. 1472. Oil and tempera on panel, 18 1/2” x13.” Gallera degli Uffiizi, Florence. Fig. 14.19

Mantua

Example: • Gonzaga family• Humanist court• Merge classical architecture

with basilican plan • Based on Basilica of

Constantine with alterations• Focus on nave, departure from

Brunelleschian style• recalls open naves of ancient

Rome

Leon Battista Alberti, Interior of Sant’ Andrea, Mantua, begun 1470.

MantuaExample: Andrea Mantegna(1431-1506)• Patron unknown• Anatomically correct depiction of human

form• Classical architecture (archeological

interest)• Story of St. Sebastian, Christian martyr• Influence of Flemish painting

Andrea Mantegna, St. Sebastian, c. 1450s. Tempera on panel, 26 ¾” x 11 7/8.” Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Fig. 14.21.

MantuaExample: • For princely patron

– Court artist of Gonzaga family

• Propaganda• Images of court life• Family history/lineage• Pictorial illusionism• Trompe l’oeil (“trick of the

eye”• Unified perspectival space

Andrea Mantegna, Camera Picta, 1465–1474. Fresco, Ducal Palace, Fig. 14.22

Andrea Mantegna, Camera Picta, 1465–1474. detail ceiling fresco, Ducal Palace, Mantua.

Mantua

Example: • Oculus painted di sotto in sù

(from below to above)• Mantegna plays with the

viewer as he has putti behaving badly. One looks to drop an apple on the viewer, others stick their heads through the holes in the balcony, some talk, one moons us, and others lean and stare

Andrea Mantegna, Dead Christ, c. 1500. Tempera on canvas; 26 ¾ x 31 7/8”

MantuaExample: • Controversial design• Possible rejection by patron or personal

use• Radical foreshortening• Odd distortion of body (very small feet)

helps draw eye to face• Tilted for viewer

• Real pain and humanity painted• Christ in tomb with 3 figures

VeniceExample: • International port/city• Stable republican government• Unique Venetian style (emphasis on color)• Focus on intersection of light and color• Exposure to Oil paint in Venice, abandon

fresco• Virgin with Peter, Lucy, Catherine, and

Jerome• Venetian mosaics• Simple interior space• Balanced composition

Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Saints, 1505. Oil on panel, 16’ 5 1/8” x 7’9.” San

Zaccaria, Venice. Fig. 14.23.

Vatican City

Example: • Pope Sixtus IV• Symmetrical design• Orthogonal lines (Albertian

perspective)• Symbolic imagery• Individualization of figures• Bodies inspired by

Donatello• Collapsed narrative• Ancient references

Pietro Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys, 1482. Fresco, 11’ 5 ½” x 18’ 8 ½.” Sistine Chapel, Vatican

Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican City, Italy.

Diagram showing the perspective in Pietro Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys. Fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican City, Italy.