Or San Michele, Florence (early 14th c.)

1406—dictum to fill niches

1414—K. Ladislaus, Naples threatened Florence

1423—niches filled

Or San Michele

• Each guild was responsible to fill a niche on

the exterior of this guild building.

NANNI DI BANCO.

Nanni di Banco. Four Saints.

Or San Michele, Florence,

c.1410-16

Four martyred sculptors who refused

and order from the Roman emperor

Diocletian to carve a pagan deity.

Early example of Renaissance artists’

attempt to liberate statuary form its

architectural setting.

Patron: Wood and Stone Carvers

Guild

Guild of Stone and Wood Masters

Four Crowned Saints group

1414-1417 by Nanni di Banco

DONATELLO

Assistant to Ghiberti until 1407

Travel to Rome with Brunelleshi

David

1409

Marble, height 191 cm

Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

It may seem odd to find a sculpture as

illustrating the origins of the emerging

Renaissance style in painting, but actually

in the Renaissance, the sculptors were a

half step ahead of the painters in

delineating the new language of forms.

The most influential among them was

Donatello. His David is one of his earliest

works in marble and was made more than

a decade before the painters displayed a

similar respect for the human figure.

Donatello, St Mark, 1411, Marble, 7’9”

As Giotto had succeeded his

master Cimabue, so Ghiberti

produced a student whose

fame exceeded his own:

Donatello.

Donatello was the great master

of the Early Renaissance.

His skills as a sculptor were

unsurpassed until

Michelangelo appeared almost

a century later. He completed

many commissions for the city

of Florence.

His St. Mark was

commissioned by the Linen

Weaver’s Guild.

St Mark

c. 1411

Marble, height 236 cm

Orsanmichele, Florence

Donatello.

S. George. Or San Michele. Florence

c.1417

Guild of Armorers

Continues Gothic tradition (depicting warrior saints

on church facades) but here it plays a civic

role…ready to defend Florence.

Christian soldier, spiritually

akin to the St. Theodore at

Chartres Cathedral and

other figures of chivalry.

Arte dei Corazzai e Spadai

(Guild of Armourers and Swordmakers)

Saint George

1417 by Donatello

Arte dei Corazzai e Spadai

(Guild of Armourers and Swordmakers)

Saint George

1417 by Donatello

Two years later Donatello was commissioned to install this relief…marks a turning

point in Renaissance sculpture…painterly approach…atmospheric effect…a

window onto an infinite vista.

Two years later Donatello was commissioned to install this relief…marks

a turning point in Renaissance sculpture…painterly

approach…atmospheric effect…a window onto an infinite vista.

Donatello.

S. George. Or San Michele. Florence, c.1417

Guild of Armorers’ and Swordmakers’

Continues Gothic tradition (depicting warrior

saints on church facades) but here it plays a

civic role…ready to defend Florence.

Ghiberti, S. Matthew, c.1423

Bankers Guild (one of the

wealthiest guilds)

Bronze…bankers were associated

with precious metals

Ghiberti, S. John the Baptist

1416, Guild of MerchantsGhiberti, S. Matthew, c.1423

Bankers Guild

Guild of Merchants

Christ and Doubting Thomas by Verrocchio

1465 - 1466

BRUNELLESCHI

Pantheon and Brunelleschi's Duomo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUyWruTclY

• 1. Turn your paper horizontal

("landscape" orientation)

•1. Turn your paper horizontal ("landscape" orientation)

• 2. Line the end of your ruler up with the

side of your page.

• Be sure the ruler is straight and flush with

the edge of the page or everything will be

crooked!

• 3. Draw a horizontal line one or two

inches down from top of the page. This

is your horizon line.

•

• 4. Draw a dot in the middle of your

horizon line. This is your vanishing

point.

• 5. Now draw a square or rectangle in

the right or left bottom area of your

page.

• 6. Now connect three corners of your

rectangle or square to the vanishing

point. These are orthogonals.

• 7. Draw a horizontal line between the top

two orthogonals where you want your form

to end.

• 8. Draw a vertical line down from the

horizontal line to complete the side.

• 9. Erase the remaining orthogonals.

10. Add details and experiment!

• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) is widely

considered the first Renaissance architect.

Trained as a goldsmith in his native city of

Florence, Brunelleschi soon turned his

interests to architecture, traveling to Rome

to study ancient buildings. Among his

greatest accomplishments is the engineering

of the dome of Florence Cathedral (Santa

Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo).

He was also the first since antiquity to use

the classical orders Doric, Ionic, and

Corinthian in a consistent and appropriate

manner.

• Although Brunelleschi's structures may

appear simple, they rest on an underlying

system of proportion. Brunelleschi often

began with a unit of measurement whose

repetition throughout the building created a

sense of harmony, as in the Ospedale degli

Innocenti (Florence, 1419). This building is

based on a modular cube, which determines

the height of and distance between the

columns, and the depth of each bay.

Brunesslechi, Hospital of the Innocents, 1421…1st Ren. bldg.

Patron: Silk Merchants Guild and Goldsmiths

The commission enabled him to apply the principles of:

balance, harmony and proportion

he discovered during his study of ancient Roman buildings.

Details:

Loggia—covered walkway

Arcade—series of columns spanned by arches

Pedimented windows—triangular treatment

balance, harmony and proportion

Andrea della Robbia - Glazed terra-cotta reliefs of

swaddled babes (added about 1487)

BRUNELLESCHI…DOME OF FLORENCE CATHEDRAL, 1423-38

The Cathedral of Florence was begun in 1298. Santa Maria del Fiore

(our Lady of the Flower, the lily was a symbol of Florence) was the

third cathedral built on the site.

Brunelleschi submitted the winning plan for the dome in 1420. He combined his

knowledge of Roman engineering principles with innovative building techniques

to construct a 100’ dome w/o any visible means of support.

Brunelleschi, dome of Florence

Cathedral, 1420-36

• Brunelleschi placed

dome over 140’crossing by

designing a thin

double shell that

was ogival (pointed

arch) in section.

• The dome’s weight

is borne by 8

marble ribs that

span the dome

form base to

lantern. These ribs

are supplemented

by 16 concealed

ribs radiating from

the center.

San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy

by Filippo Brunelleschi,, 1421 to 1440.