Early Renaissance Italy 1400-1450

1. Early Renaissance Italy 1400-1450 “The Artist as Idea-maker”

2. Early Renaissance:Italy Sculpture Three to Remember BrunelleschiGhilberti Donatello

4. Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghilberti, east doors baptistery of Florence Cathedral, Italy 1425-52

5. Details from The Gates of Paradise, Ghilberti inserted more than one episode in each panel. Used daring perspective High relief for foreground and low relief for background. David

6. St. Mark Donatello 1411-13, Marble, 7.7’ Or San Michele, Florence, Italy

7. Attitude of the human body is much like classical antiquity • Donatello- greatest sculptor of his time (1386-1466) • Spent early years working on Cathedral commissions • Brought back Contrapposto! • In same architectural niche like Banco, but different feeling • Elastic limbs, lifelike, ready for battle (right hand originally held a sword) • Renaissance version of the brave Christian soldier but now redefined as the defender of the “new Athens” Donatello, St. George Tabernacle, 1415-17

8. Donatello learned bronze sculpture from Ghiberti • He ended up with a more expressive quality than his teacher. • Acts as a window of reality • Earliest example of linear perspective (invented by Brunelleschi)!! • Linear perspective made art empirical- a reason to include as a liberal art Donatello, Feast of Herod, 1425

9. David is based on Classical proportions and is symbolic of the struggle between Florence and Milan (David v. Goliath) • Note Greek-like wreath on his helmet • Not based on the Greek athletic type Donatello, David 1425-30

10. Donatello has shown his ability to understand the human body. He portrays Mary Magdalen as a guant older woman who is fading away due to fasting. St Mary Magdalen c. 1457 Wood, height: 188 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

11. Early Renaissance: Italy Architecture: The Headliners: Brunelleschi Michelozzo Alberti

12. Brunelleschi created the early Renaissance, Architecturally • First to study the exact measurements of ancient monuments • Invented linear perspective • Won the building of the Florence Cathedral Dome- created a new way of distributing weight and a new hoisting machine for construction Brunelleschi, S. Lorenzo 1421-69 Commissioned by the Medici to add on to the Romanesque building and then to redo the entire thing Interior- order rather than Passion. Precise and mathematical

13. New emphasis on the regular and symmetrical • Whole design based on square units • Ushered in the Renaissance’s search for order and uniformity • Helped to organize the disorder of the Middle Ages- in art as well as language Plan, S. Lorenzo • Drawn to classical architecture because of its inflexibility • Everything had to be the correct proportions- and completely integrated

14. Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel, 1430-33 • Completely unrelated to any Gothic structure that came before • Central arch that links two classical colonnades is an innovation

15. Surfaces are decorated • First example of roundels- sculpture is not really needed like Gothic sculpture- its added on, but architecture now stands on its own. Interior, Pazzi Chapel

16. Brunelleschi was rejected by his patrons because of his very innovative ideas- this commission was given to a lesser-known architect • Very fortress-like • Stone is in a graded sequence (smooth, rusticated, and rough) Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici 1444

17. Inner Courtyard of the Medici Palazzo

18. Death of Brunelleschi allowed for the rise of Alberti • 1400-1472 • didn’t start designing until he was OLD (40)- wrote a lot about Renaissance art • This is a critique of the Medici Palace- more of a strict design • Reminiscent of the Colloseum • Dealt with how to put a classical scheme on a non-classical building Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai, 1146-51

19. Alberti was able to meld classical and contemporary • Triumphal arch from Rome • Classical temple front • Pilasters instead of columns • Complete continuity in the interior of the church- the façade is a preview of the order of the entire interior No clerestory, designed as one long nave w/o transcept- reminiscent of Roman basilicas Alberti, S. Andrea, 1470

20. Santa Maria Novella, Alberti, west façade 1458-70

21. Early Renaissance: Italy Painting The Big Three and their friends Masaccio Fra Filippo Lippi Botticelli Piero Della Francesca MantegnaFra Angelico Perugino

22. New style was single-handedly launched by Masaccio (died at the age of 27) • Renaissance style already established in sculpture and painting • Inscription reads “What you are, I once was; what I am, you will become.” • Realm of monumental grandeur, not everyday life • Drapery is real- figures are “clothed nudes” • Shows linear perspective • Deliberately painted to be seen from the viewer’s perspective Masaccio, The Holy Trinity 1425

23. Fresco from the Brancacci Chapel, showing continuous narration • Figures merge the weight and volume of Giotto with new precision of the Renaissance • Most figures are very static and sculptural Masaccio, The Tribute Money c. 1427

24. Paolo Uccello, 1455 The Battle of San Ramona, series Niccolo da Tolentino Leads the Florentine Troops Ordered space in a very disordered painting

25. Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1480 • 1444-1510- Florentine-favorite of the Medici from the Masaccio style-stable and monumental • Lack of concern for deep space, ornamental • Does not follow precise anatomy- bodies are deflated looking, never touching the ground • Why was mythological subjects allowed in a very religious society?

26. Primavera, Sandro Botticelli

27. Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, 1440-50

28. Duccio, Annunciation (of the Death of the Virgin) 1311 Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, 1440-50

29. Castagno, The Last Supper, 1445-50 • Depicts an alcove of real space- reminiscent of Masaccio • Almost too ordered- imprisons and silences figures- uses medieval pose of Judas seperated

30. Fra Filippo Lippi Madonna and Child with Angels 1455 Tempera on wood 3’x2’1”

31. Fra Filippo Lippi, Annunciation 1458

32. Piero Della Francesca, Flagellation, 1470, mixed technique on panel

33. Piero Della Francesca, Montelfeltro

34. Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child

35. Piero Della Francesca, Finding the True Cross and Proving the of the True Cross, 1455 Fresco, San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy

36. Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys, 1482 • Roman- a fresco from the Sistine Chapel-story of Peter being named the first Pope • Very symmetrical design, vast expanse of the background • Mathematically exact perspective • Became Raphael’s teacher

37. From the city of Padua (near Venice) 1431-1506 • 2nd most important painter of the early Renaissance • Fresco destroyed in 1944 • Worms-eye view perspective based on viewer’s eye-level • Devotion to classical remains-desire for accuracy (soldier’s costumes) • Great emotional content (fight breaking out on the right) Mantegna, St.James Led to his Execution, 1455

38. Mantegtna, interior dome of Camera degli Sposi (room of the newlyweds) Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, italy 1474, Fresco

39. Andrea Mantegna, Dead Christ, 1501, tempera on canvas 2’.75” x 2’.85”