ART-SEE Journal of Undergraduate Research in Art History Published by undergraduate students of the department of Art History Indiana University of Pennsylvania Volume 2 May 2014 2 ART-SEE Volume 2 Editor in Chief: Nicole Gencarelli Editors: Melissa Crouch, Kelsey B Faculty Advisor: Dr. Irene Kabala ARTSEE is an annual online journal published by the undergraduate students of the Art History department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. ARTSEE promotes the original research by undergraduate students in the various fields of Art History. Each volume is edited by a dedicated group of students and is overviewed by the Assistant Chair of the Art Department and established art historian Irene Kabala. The papers presented here are selected for their strong contribution to existing scholarship and show the best work of IUP’s undergraduate students. The papers currently published focus in various Western Art fields including Ancient and Medieval Art, Italian and Northern Renaissance, and Baroque. 3 ART-SEE Volume 2 Articles Brunelleschi: Exploring the Influence and Innovation behind Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel Hannah E. Vought George de La Tour’s Mary Magdalene as Melancholy Nicole Gencarelli Lavinia Fontana: The Woman who Conquered the Patriarchy of the Italian Renaissance Lindsay Woodbury Politics, Prejudice and Pastel: The Allegories of Rosalba Carriera Kelsey Bryner Symbols of Power at the Villa Farnese in Viterbo, Italy Melissa Crouch 4 Brunelleschi: Exploring the Influence and Innovation behind Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel Hannah E. Vought Nestled within the first cloister of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, the Pazzi Chapel is simple and restrained, with the subtle sophistication that defines Italian Renaissance architecture. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi as a chapter house, the chapel was located behind the altar for the burial of Pazzi family members. The primary purpose of the chapel was to display the power and wealth of the Pazzi Family, a rival of the Medici Family. Andrea Pazzi gave the commission for the chapel to Brunelleschi in 1429. Construction began in 1441 and was not completed until 1460 (Saalman, Brunelleschi: The Buildings 229) by dedicated followers after Brunelleschi’s death in 1446 (Barolsky, 228). The brilliant marriage of classical inspiration and modern innovation makes the Pazzi Chapel a perfect example of early Italian Renaissance architecture. The inspiration for Brunelleschi chapel lies in the ideals of the past. Brunelleschi created a “clean, unornamented fusion of Classical, Gothic, and Romanesque architecture” (Clinton, 58). His study of the classical architecture of Rome combined with his own innovation produced a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance architecture. This article will explore the Pazzi Chapel, what inspired Brunelleschi’s design, what classical elements he incorporated, and how he used these elements to create something completely new. To begin to understand the brilliance of Brunelleschi’s design, one must explore his early life, when he first fell in love with classic ideals. Filippo Brunelleschi began his education in his father’s footsteps in a guild of notaries and judges, but his real passion and talent flourished in design Scott, (5-7). His growing design talent led to a change in his education. He enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the silk guild of Florence) in December of 1398 and chose to graduate among the goldsmiths, a division of the guild (Scott, 5-7). Here Brunelleschi was exposed to a full spectrum of artistic training from modelers, metal workers, and painters and excelled in an array of techniques. Brunelleschi’s biographer, Manetti, is stated that “he became in a short time a perfect master… he succeeded in everything he touched” (Scott, 8). Brunelleschi also spent time studying the sciences, including mathematics, which led to his mastery of proportions as well as his development of perspective (Scott, 8). Following his education, Brunelleschi traveled to Rome to study classical ruins. It was here that Brunelleschi found his inspiration. He would spend days inspecting and drawing plans of ruins, measuring 5 walls, calculating proportions, studying masonry, all the time writing notes and calculations (Scott, 26). As he continued to study, he differentiated between the three classical orders and made notes and drawings of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian capitals, which he later incorporated into his designs. Most importantly, Brunelleschi studied how the Roman’s built their domes by spending hours staring at the dome of the Pantheon and studying its construction (Scott, 28). The years spent in Rome had a profound effect on Brunelleschi and he returned to Florence with new ideas and inspiration. Brunelleschi, was so enthralled by what he saw and learned in Rome, was determined to “restore a more pure and simple grandeur to the art” of architecture (Scott, 26). The two or three years Brunelleschi spent in Rome had a profound effect on his future work. This influence is clear in the Pazzi Chapel. These influences range from obvious to subtle. Brunelleschi revived many classical architectural elements: the prostyle plan, columns and capitals based on the classical orders, façade details, the use of roundels, oculus and clerestory windows, the rounded arch, and coffered ceilings. Using these elements with a few new ideas, Brunelleschi created a space that a modern viewer can understand and appreciate. Brunelleschi used architectural elements and materials to clearly emphasize important elements and visually explain the significance and proportion of space to viewers. Humanism and the emphasis on universal understanding were essential to Brunelleschi’s innovation and the entire Renaissance movement. Brunelleschi combined Classical elements and his own modern innovation to design the Pazzi Chapel, a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance architecture. The first Roman influence seen in the Pazzi chapel is its plan. Based on the plan of a prostyle Roman temple, the chapel has a basic, rectangular plan with single row of columns on the front of the building creating a portico. Brunelleschi would have seen examples of prostyle buildings, such as the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, while traveling in Rome (West, 16). This simple plan works wonderfully for the Pazzi Chapel, as the portico connects the chapel with the cloister of Santa Croce to create a seamless walkway around the courtyard. The square plan may have also been influenced by more modern ideas. Medieval architecture often used the square plan topped with a circular dome. This plan dominated religious architecture of the middle and late Byzantine period, seen in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Cattolica di Stilo in southern Italy (West, 46). The simple geometric forms of the circle and square were powerful religious symbols in the Middle Ages. The perfectly circular dome symbolizing heaven rests above 6 the solid, structural square representing earth (Stemp, 137). This use of the circle and square can also be seen on the façade of the building and the interior elevations. The façade features many small roundels within the entablature. Above the entablature, square-shaped moldings frame the semicircular archivolt above the entry door. The façade features a roundel above the door. The interior elevations also make use of the circle and square. The square walls merge into semicircular vaults then into the hemispherical dome. The circle is repeated throughout the chapel in the form of roundels featuring important Biblical characters. Brunelleschi’s use of modern symbolism and classical form unite past and present to create a space that can be understood by many and represents the study of both classical and modern architecture. Brunelleschi clearly found inspiration for the chapel in his studies of the classical architecture of Rome, specifically the Pantheon. The Pantheon, a massive pagan temple dedicated to all gods, seems to be a strange source of inspiration for a relatively modest, Christian chapel (MacDonald, 25). This is perhaps a Dome of the Pazzi Chapel with roundels representation, like so many other Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org Christian churches reflecting pagan architecture, to demonstrate the conquering of Christianity over the pagan gods. Looking at the Pantheon, there is a clear play with the circle and square, in the plan, the elevations, and even the flooring of the building. Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel incorporates many elements from the Pantheon, especially in the building’s elevation. Looking at the façade of the Brunelleschi’s chapel, the resemblance to the Pantheon is striking. The square façade of columns supporting an entablature with a hemispherical dome rising behind it is clearly inspired by the much larger Pantheon (MacDonald, 111). The somewhat blunt transition between the façade and the dome is seen in both structures (Jones, 201). Both structures feature a front portico of columns with an interior wall with the central entrance flanked by rounded arches. 7 The Pantheon’s façade is set with niches in the shape of rounded arches while the façade of the Pazzi Chapel features windows repeating the shape. The various columns used throughout the chapel are also inspired by those of the Pantheon. The Pantheon features smooth columns on the exterior and fluted columns and pilasters on the interior, both crowned with compound capitals, combining Ionic and Corinthian orders (MacDonald, 64). Brunelleschi’s use of Exterior View of the Pazzi Chapel columns and pilasters will be discussed in Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org greater detail later in this article. The use of a central hemispherical dome in both structures is a clear representation of heaven. The rounded archivolt that interrupts the entablature on the interior of the Pantheon is repeated on the façade and interior wall of the Pazzi Chapel above the entrance. Brunelleschi spent much of his time in Rome studying the coffered ceiling and dome of the Pantheon (Scott, 28). Those elements are both seen in the design of the chapel, although they are not used in conjunction as they are in the Pantheon. The parallels between Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel and the Roman Pantheon are striking and deliberate.