Chapter 14: Late Medieval Italy

Preview: This chapter surveys art and architecture in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries, a period that witnessed great changes in modes of representation in sculpture and painting. Artists in the 13th century such as Cimabue work in the Italo-Byzantine style, characterized by a flattening of representational space and less naturalistic, more schematic renderings of figures. In the 14th century, Giotto is recognized for painting scenes and figures based on observations of the natural world. His naturalism is seen as a return to the classical manner, which had been nearly abandoned in the Middle Ages. Giotto is recognized as the first Renaissance artist, his work signaling the rebirth of Greco-Roman naturalism, the emphasis on empirical knowledge, and the development of humanism that are the hallmarks of the Italian art and culture in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Key Figures: Giotto de Bondone, Leon Battista Alberti, St. Francis Key Cultural & Religious Terms: Great Schism, monastic orders, mendicants, confraternities, city-states, humanism, stigmata, Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Shepherds, Lamentation, Renaissance, humanism, guild, commission, florin, Black Death Key Art Terms: pulpit, trefoil arches, ogival, sarcophagus, Italo-Byzantine style, maniera greca, tempera, altarpiece, gold leaf, mural, fresco painting: buon fresco & fresco secco, arriccio, sinopia, cartoon, grisaille, perspective, foreshortening, mystery plays, sacre rappresentazioni, pinnacle, predella, punchwork, International style, terracotta, tracery, triptych Key Architectural Terms: cathedral, façade, rose window, pinnacle, bay, basilica, nave, elevation, arcade, clerestory, chancel arch, apse, campanile, battlement, parapet, machicolated gallery, corbel, Duomo, revetment, pointed arches, ogee arches

Lecture Notes:

Introductory Notes:

13 th Century:

Sculpture:  Nicola Pisano, pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  Nicola Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the baptistery pulpit, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  Giovanni Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the pulpit of Sant-Andrea, Pistoia, Italy, 1297-1301 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  San Francesco, Assisi, 1228-1253 o Description & significance:  St. Francis Master, Preaching to the Birds, ca. 1290-1300 o Description & significance:  Bonaventura Berlinghieri, Saint Francis Altarpiece, San Francesco, Pescia, Italy, 1235 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  Santa Maria Novella, Florence, begun ca. 1246 o Description & significance:  Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, from Santa Trinitá, Florence, ca. 1280-1290 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:

14 th Century:

Giotto:  Cavallini, Last Judgment, ca. 1290-1295 o Description & significance:  Giotto de Bondone, Madonna Enthroned, from the Church of Ognissanti, Florence, ca. 1310 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  Giotto de Bondone, interior of the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy, 1305-1306 o Description: o Architectural features: o Arrangement & location of murals:  Giotto de Bondone, Lamentation, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305 o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subject: o Significance:  Giotto de Bondone, paintings in the Arena Chapel (Cappela Scrovegni): details (Entry into Jerusalem; Betrayal of Jesus) o Description: o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Subjects: o Significance:

Siena:  Duccio di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, principal panel of the Maestá altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Function & significance:  Duccio di Buoninsegna, Life of Jesus, 14 panels from the back of the Maestá altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Duccio de Buoninsegna, Betrayal of Jesus, panel on the back of the Maestá altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Duccio, Entry into Jerusalem, 1308-11 o Description & significance:  Siena Cathedral, begun ca. 1226 o Description & significance:  Lorenzo Maitani, Orvieto Cathedral (looking northeast), Orvieto, Italy, begun 1310 o Description: o Architectural features: o Significance:  Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunctiation altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral, 1333 (frame reconstructed in the 19th century) o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin, from the altar of Saint Savinus, Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1342 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Aerial view of the Campo with the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1288-1309 o Description: o Architectural features: o Significance:  Sala della Pace, Siena, 1338-1339 o Description & significance:  Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, east wall, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful Country, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, east wall, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance:

Florence:  Arnolfo di Cambio and others, aerial view of Santa Maria del Fiore (and the Baptistery of San Giovanni), Florence, Italy, begun 1296. Campanile designed by Giotto di Bondone, 1334. o Description: o Architectural features: o Significance:  Nave, Florence Cathedral, begun 1296 o Description & significance:  Palazzo della Signoria, Florence, 1299-1310 o Description & significance:  Andrea Pisano, south doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1330-1336 o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subjects: o Stylistic features: o Significance:  Andrea Orcagna, Or San Michele tabernacle, 1355-1359 o Description & significance: Pisa:  Francesco Traini or Buonamico Buffalmacco, two details of Triumph of Death, 1330s o Medium/materials: o Size/scale: o Description & subject: o Stylistic features: o Significance: Venice:  Doge’s Palace, Venice, Italy, begun ca. 1340-1345; expanded and remodeled, 1424-1438 o Description: o Architectural features: o Function & significance:

Concluding notes:

Exercises for Study:

1. Describe features of the Italo-Byzantine style, and give one example of a work in that style.

2. Describe features of the International style, and give one example of a work in that style.

3. Describe characteristic features of Giotto’s style evident in the Lamentation in the Arena Chapel (Fig. 14-8). 4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a guide.

A. Nicola Pisano, relief panel on the baptistery pulpit, Pisa (Fig. 14-3); Giovanni Pisano, relief panel on the pupit of Sant’Andrea, Pistoia (Fig. 14-4)

 Relationship of artists:

 Subjects:

 Composition:

 Stylistic features:

 Influence of other styles (classical and French Gothic styles):

B. Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, from Santa Trinitá, Florence (Fig. 14-6); Giotto di Bondone, Madonna Enthroned, from the Church of Ognissanti, Florence (Fig. 14-7)

 Dates:

 Subjects:

 Renderings of figures & space:

 Styles:

C. Orvieto Cathedral (Fig. 14-12); Florence Cathedral (Fig. 14-18)

 Dates & locations:

 Architectural features:

 Influence of French Gothic style: