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Chapter 21 15th c. Italy – The Renaissance in Quattrocento Italy FLORENCE Key Ideas y The revitalization of classical iddleals in literature, history, and philosophy had its impact on the fine arts y Renaissance courts were influenced by the spirit of humanism, which stressed the secular alidlongside the reliliigious. y Artists created realistic three-dimensional paintings based on the newly rationalized theories on linear perspective. y Italian Renaissance sculpture is marked by a greater understandi ng of human anatomy; there is a revival of large-scale nude works. y Architecture emphasizes open light spaces in a balanced and symmetrical environment. Italian Princely Courts & Artistic Patronage y No singypygle rule in Italy; independent city-states bred pgypower hungry elites – “princes” y Princely court – power relationship between prince and inhabitants of their territories: employment, favors, protection, prestige, and leadership. y Princes commissioned numerous artworks and buildings. They selected “court artists” for their individual style as well as their ability to work collaboratively. Princely courts gradually turned away from religious subjects to more secular concerns, in a spirit today defined as humanism. y Court artists’ benefits: guaranteed salary, living quarters in palace, liberation for guild, sometimes status in prince’s inner circle or even knighthood. y Until 16th century artists had limited status – same class a small shopkeepers and petty merchants. At court dinners, they usually sat with the salaried household – tailors, cobblers, barbers, and upholsterers. y Artists also desig ne d tapestries, seat covers, costumes, masks, decorations for festivities, and expensive gifts for visiting nobles. Renaissance Florence y Most great Quattrocento artists and scholars had Medici patronage. Early in the 15th century the banker Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (ca. 1360 – 1429) established the family fortune. His son, Cosimo (1389 – 1464) a great patron of art and learning, donated the equivalent of $20,000,000 to establish the 1st public library since antiquity. Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo (1449 – 1492), called “the Magnificent,” was a member of the Platonic Academyypyg of Philosophy and gathered artists and gifted men in all fields around him. y By 1464 there was a printing press near Rome and by 1469 Venice established one. Dante’s vernacular epic, Divine Comedy, was one of the first books to be published and had widespread popularity. y Humanists “Renaissance men,” also avidly acquired information on botanyyg, geology , op tics, medicine, and eng ineering . y Medieval people believed divine will determined events. Renaissance people were more secular. They thought that they could achieve and excel througgph hard work which was a moral imperative. A number of factors made the RiRenaissance possible: y Increased political stability in the Italian peninsula y A desire by the papacy to rebuild Rome to its former glory (resulting in the excavation and discovery of many ruins and works of art) y The opening up of the Byzantine world and the arrival in Italy of many Greek scholars with knowledge of ancient texts y The collection of antiquities by rich and powerful patrons that acted as acknowledged standards of excellence for artists Important Artistic Elements to Observe y Attention to the human form and depicting anatomy correctly, including the return of classical nudity and contrapposto – influence of classical Roman statues y Subjects selected from classical history or mythology y The revival of portraiture and other self-aggrandizing forms of patronage y Discoveryypp and codification of linear perspective to create the illusion of three- dimensional space, usage of aerial perspective – these values were important to classical painting y Use of chiaroscuro to model forms, use of single light source – greater realism y Paintings that have balanced, symmetrical compositions, often using pyramidal composition y Classical forms are incorpp(p,orated more into architecture (triumphal arches, domes, coffers, harmonious geometric relationships) y Citizens’ extensive participation in civic and religious art commissions ORDER = HARMONY +PROPORTION +SYMMETRY = BEAUTY Man is the measure of all things Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man FORESHORTENING From the side, we From the front, the arms & Finger length is see the full length of legs are foreshortened – the determined by the arms & legs. hand is larger in proportion to point of view. L the face. The right arm is hand is full view. R nonexistent. The left arm is hands are shorter than realityyg. No legs foreshortened – can be seen. look at size of pinkie finger. Earliest important artistic commission sponsored by Florence’s wool merchant guild for east of portal of the Baptistery of San Giovanni that faced the Ca the dra l of San ta Mar ia de l Fiore. Key Renaissance elements: guild patronage as civic imperative and self-promotion, esteem to artists, new pictorial illusionism. 7 semifinalists, but only 2 survived. Entrants submitted relief panels depicting sacrifice of Isaac in similar French Gothic quatrefoil frame as Pisano’s doors (1330 – 1335). Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac prefigures (prophetic forerunner) Jesus’ crucifixion. Both refer to covenants btbetween GdGod and humans similar to a baptism. •One dense group, great drama between the masses •Figures of weight and substance; dramatic tension FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, Sacrifice and rigor of Isaac, competition panel for •Immediacy of the action; angel makes it just in bappytistery, Florence, Ital y, 1401–1402. time Gilded bronze, 1’ 9” x 1’ 5” •Figures spill out over the borders of the quatrefoil Brunelleschi’s image – violent movement and high emotion Ghiberti’s –Isaac regarded as 1st classical nude since antiquity. Interest in how muscular system and skeletal structure moves body. Altar with acanthus scrolls. Classical references reflect influence of humanism. Ghiberti’s panel is cast in 2 pieces (reducing amount of bronze needed) •Ghiberti’s is the winninggp panel design •God asks Abraham to prove his love by sacrificing his son; Abraham is about to comply when an angel reveals this is only a test and a ram should be sacrifice d ins tea d •Gothic quatrefoil pattern; matches panels of another set of Gothic doors already on Florence Bappytistery LORENZO GHIBERTI, •Influence of the International Gothic style in the SfSacrifice of Isaac, gracefulness of gestures and the Gothic say to the competition panel for body of baptistery, Florence, Italy, •Figures separated, greater clarity of vision 1401–1402. Gilded bronze relief, 1’’ 9” x 1’’ 5” Foreshortening Sacrifice of Isaac Sacrifice of Isaac Brunelleschi Ghiberti New east doors cathedral officials commissioned Ghiberti to make in 1425. His 1st doors were moved to the north entrance. Michelangelo declared these doors were “so beautif iflul that they would do well for the gates of Paradise.” Now square, the number of panels was reduced from 28 to 10 and depicts episodes from Old Te s t a m e n t . LORENZO GHIBERTI, east doors (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 14251425––1452.1452. Gilded bronze, 17’ hig h. Mod ern copy, ca. 1980. Ori gi nal panels in Museo dell’ Opera del DuomoDuomo,, Florence. 12 Lorenzo Ghiberti, One Point perspective Cue Card Gates of Paradise Atmospheric perspective Continuous narrative Isaac and His Sons •Commission awarded to Ghiberti after the success of the second set of Baptistery doors •Spatially more sophisticated than panels of his previous et of doors; figures have a more convincing volume •Lean, elegant, elongated bodies, Delicate lines, Linear perspective used throughout Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele •Built for the guild of wood and stone carvers , of which Nanni was a member •Depicts four Christian sculptors who refused to carve a statue of a pagan god for the Roman Emperor Diocletian and were martyred •Saints wear Roman togas; heads are influenced by portraits of Roman Emperors •Saints seem to be discussing their fate; feet placed outside of arch, stepping into our space •Pedestal carved in an arch following the positioning of the saints •Figures are independent of the niche in which they stand •Bottom scene contains a view of scultlptors a t wor k on thitheir cra ft Cue Card Compare to Reims statuary Compare to Roman Imperial portraiture Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele First free-standing nude statue since Cue Card antiquity. Exaggerated contrapposto of the body Androgynous figure Nudity used to portray a Biblical hero – David, slayer of Goliath (who was the symbol for the Florentine Republic) the victory over Goliath- Goliath’s head at David’s feet; David’s head is lowered to suggest humility Laurel on hat indicates David was a poet; hat a foppish Renaissance design In Middle Ages, clergy regarded nude statues as indecent – nudity appeared rarely in art, only in biblical or moralizing contexts, i.e. Adam and Eve or depictions of sinners in hell. CdCreated for the MMdiiedici palace courtyard in Florence - not for public viewing. Selecting David as subject suggests the Medici saw themselves as responsible for Florence’s prosperity and DONATELLO, David, late freedom. 14401440––1460.1460. Bronze, 5’ 2” high. As a type for Christ, David has defeated Goliath-as-a-type-for-Satan. As a symbol of the republican spirit of Florence, he defeats tyrants who threaten the city. As one of Plato’s “beautiful boys,” he, like the figure in the bust of a youth, is under the protection of Eros. The latter meaning of the
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