Chapter 21-The Renaissance Quattrocentro Italy
Works of Art Artist Medium Date Page # 21-1: Primavera Botticelli Painting 1482 558 21-4: The Four Saints Di Banco Sculpture 1410-1416 563 21-9 to 21-11: Gates of Paradise, Isaac and His Sons Ghiberti Sculpture 1425-1452 566 21-12: David Donatello Sculpture 1440-1460 568 21-13: David Verrocchio Sculpture 1465-1470 569 21-16: Gattamelata Donatello Sculpture 1445-1453 571 21-19: Tribute Money Masaccio Painting 1424-1427 574 21-21: Holy Trinity Masaccio Painting 1424-1427 575 21-22: Annunciation Fra Angelico Painting 1438-1447 576 21-24: Madonna and Child Filippo Lippi Painting 1460-1465 577 21-25: Resurrection Della Francesca Painting 1463-1465 578 21-28: Battle of San Romano Uccello Painting 1455 580 21-29: Birth of Venus Botticelli Painting 1484-1486 581 21-30A: Dome of Florence Cathedral, Brunelleschi Architecture 1420-1436 582 21-34-21-36: : Pazzi Chapel Brunelleschi Architecture begun 1433 584 21-41: Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter Perugino Painting 1481-1483 589 21-45 to 21-47: Sant’Andrea, in Mantua Alberti Architecture begun 1472 593 21-48 to 21-49: Ceiling of the Camera Picta Mantegna Painting 1465-1474 594-595 21-50: Lamentation over the Dead Christ Mantegna Painting c. 1500 596
Preview: The “Renaissance” is the term historians use to describe the flowering of art and the rediscovery of classical culture that occurred in the 15 th century in Italy. The center of the Italian Renaissance was Florence, where the powerful Medici family patronized artists who were brilliantly innovative in their interpretations of classical forms and themes. Artists such as Donatello, Ghiberti, and Masaccio were inspired by antiquity in works that upheld Catholic faith and celebrated secular figures. Humanist classical themes inform the work of the painter Sandro Botticelli, while architects also adapted classical forms in such buildings as Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti. Works such as Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter manifest the use of linear perspective, a system codified in the 15 th century. The inventor of linear perspective was Filippo Brunelleschi, though the theory was also expressed in written form by Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca. The artistic developments in 15 th century Italy laid the groundwork for the artists of the High Renaissance and Mannerism in Cinquecento Italy, the subject of Chapter 22.
Context: 1. Cosimo Medici establishes his Neo-platonic Academy: Cosimo “rules” Rep. of Florence by 1434, then Piero then Lorenzo, Medici are exiled in 1494 = advancement of Humanistic and scientific knowledge 2. Expanding wealth of the merchant class and guilds. Florence develops into powerful and wealthy republic with a few merchant families controlling politics of city = merchant and artisan class challenged the entrenched position of nobility 3. International trade and banking and continues growth of cities – wealthy patrons support the arts = unparalleled productivity in the arts 4. Expansion of national states – discovery by navigating the globe = new world view – the individual’s relationship with the world – Humanism 5. The emergence of the artists’ social position sometimes equal in stature to their patrons = artist as hero, as divinely inspired, as genius 6. Intellectual approach to beauty and art, including the rediscovery of linear perspective = mathematic > ratio > module > proportion > (harmony/balance/symmetry) > beauty
History: 1. In Florence, the Ghibellines are loyal to imperial ideal (aristocrats) versus the Guelphs who are loyal to the pope (middle classes) 2. Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turcks in 1453 – final end of the “Eastern Roman Empire” 3. Church in Rome becomes a military and political force prone to abuses of power and wealth 4. Savonarola preaches reform, controls city by 1494 leading to a “Bonfire of the Vanities”
Vocabulary: Renaissance, Scientific Naturalism, Classical Humanism, Renaissance Individualism, Neoplatonic Academy, Allegorical Painting
Chapter 21-The Renaissance Quattrocentro Italy
Terms/Technique: Perspective (one and two point) Optical Reality Ratio Chiaroscuro Rusticated Stone “Site Specific” Paintings Synoptic Organization Atmospheric Perspective Pictorial Relief Quatrefoil
What was the CONTEXT of Renaissance? 1. Advancement of humanistic and scientific knowledge 2. The discovery of the new world by navigating the globe 3. Continued growth of cities 4. Expanding wealth of the merchant class 5. Expansion of national states 6. Unparalleled productivity in the arts 7. Merchant and artisan class challenged the entrenched position of nobility 8. Church became a military and political forve prone to abuses of power and wealth
What is Humanism? 1. Rediscover the beauties of life in the here and now (not there hereafter) 2. Reaffirmation of man : “nothing more wonderful than man” 3. Invention of printing press (Gutenberg press in 1456) 4. Investigation of ancient text sand writers from the Classical Greece and Rome 5. Prompted a revival of interest in the affairs of the everyday world 6. Reasserted the faith of men and women in themselves 7. Reinforce role of the individuals in all spheres
Cosimo Medici Accomplishments 1. Establish the florin as the most stable currency in Europe 2. Wool trade and fabric production with papal funds 3. Lenders of money of capitals of Europe 4. Serious student of Ancient Greek and Roman culture, particularly Plato 5. Commissioned works of art p founded and supported his “ Neoplatonic Academy”
Neoplatonic Academy 1. The eternal absolutes of truth, goodness and beauty existed only in the divine mind 2. Such absolutes are not wholly within human grasp 3. Mortal, by learning, observation and creativity, could catch occasional glimpses of them 4. Truth by pursuing scientific knowledge 5. Goodness through performing and observing good deeds and through the experience of love, first physical then spiritual 6. Beauty through nature and experiencing great works of art
Renaissance Ideas – the rational approach to “beauty” as it connects to “measure” (i.e. Neoplatonic ideas) “… the excellence of beauty of every work of art is due to the observance of measure” -Plato
Explanation “measure” = mathematic > ratio > module > proportion > harmony, balance, symmetry = beauty
Breaking it Down “measure” based in mathematic basis of ratio which forms a module which is the basis of proportion which is the basis of harmony , balance , and symmetry which are essential elements of beauty