Download Chapter Twelve The Early Renaissance

Chapter Twelve:
The Fifteenth Century
Toward the Renaissance
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Renewed interest in Classical texts
New artistic realism
New growth in economics/trade
Florentine banking and commerce
12.2 Jan van Eyck,
Giovanni Arnolfini and
His Bride, 1434,
National Galalery,
London, England
Art in Northern Europe
• Artistic language: International Style
– Reciprocity of style (Italy, Northern Europe)
• Court of the Duke of Burgundy, Dijon
– Claus Sluter’s Well of Moses
– Limbourg brothers, Trés Riches Heures
12.3 Claus Sluter, The
Well of Moses,
1395-1406
12.4 Limbourg
Brothers, “May,”
page from Tres
Riches Heures du
Duc de Berry,
1416
Florence and the Renaissance
• Florentine “representative” government
– Arti, senior guilds
• Wool trade
• Banking, banking families
– Stable monetary system
• Revolutionary Florentine art
– Renaissance
The Medici Era
• Medici rule of Florence: 1434-1492
• Immense banking fortune
– Branch banks throughout Western Europe
• Extensive geographic, sociological
influence
– Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride (1434)
The Medici Era
Cosimo de’ Medici (1434-1464)
• Ancient manuscripts
• Greek language, philosophy
• Platonic Academy
– Search for truth and beauty
• Marsilio Ficino
– Platonic Love, Christian Platonism
• Pater Patriae
– Patron of the arts
The Medici Era:
Lorenzo il Magnifico
• Accomplished vernacular poet
• Sponsored Ficino, Botticelli, Michelangelo
• Laurentian patronage of learning
– University of Pisa
– The Stadium of Florence
– Greek as export from Florence
The Medici Era:
Lorenzo il Magnifico
• Fra Savonarola (1452-1498)
– Dominican preacher, reformer
– Laurentian Florence vs. Medieval Piety
– Inspired many converts
– Defied papal excommunication, died publicly
12.31 The Execution of Savaronola, Italian School, ca. 1498,
Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy
Renaissance Humanism
• When was the Renaissance?
– Jules Michelet
– Jakob Burkhardt
– Charles Homer Haskins
• Renaissance characteristics
– Artist as individual seeking fame
– Humanism as outgrowth of Classical learning
– Advancement of self and society through
intellectual efforts
Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)
• Lorenzo de’ Medici, Marsilio Ficino
• Synthesis of all learning yields truth
– Student of languages and cultures
• Oration on the Dignity of Man
– Man bridges gap between heaven and creation
– Humanity is a great miracle
• Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522)
– Biblical studies in original languages
– Martin Luther
The Export of Humanistic
Learning
• Johann Gutenberg
– Published first printed Bible, 1454
• Aldus Manutius (1449-1525)
– Humanists collated and corrected manuscripts
– Vast scope of Greek, Latin, vernacular texts
• William Caxton
• Print technology and the diffusion of ideas
– 6-9 million books, 13,000 editions before 1500
Women and the Renaissance
• Humanist education
– Aristocratic families
– Families who saw education as priority
– Rise of printing / accessibility of books
• Woman writers
– Upper-class culture
– Convent life
• Women criticized for not following traditional
societal roles
• Laura Cereta
Two Styles of Humanism:
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
• The Prince
– Secular study of political theory
– Inspired by Republican Rome
• Realistic pragmatism
– Success in governing is key to power
– Wisdom and ruthlessness
– Christianity’s role in politics is disastrous
• “The end justifies the means”
Two Styles of Humanism:
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)
• Wandering scholar, author
• Christian Humanism
– Classical learning + Christian living
• The Praise of Folly (1509)
– Attacked religious corruption
– Sweeping social criticism
– Outsold only by the Bible in the 16th century
Renaissance Art in Italy
Sculpture
• Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455)
– Florence Baptistery, North Door
competition
– Sentiment, mathematical perspective
– East Doors = “Gates of Paradise”
• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1466)
– Renaissance architecture
– Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore
– Gothic + Classical Roman influences
• Donatello (1386-1466)
– Saint George, David, Mary Magdalene
12.13 Lorenzo Ghiberti,
East Doors (“Gates
of Paradise”) of the
Baptistry of the
Cathedral of
Florence, 1425-1452
12.15 Donatello, David,
ca 1440-1460, Museo
Nationale del
Bargello, Florence,
Italy
Renaissance Art in Italy
Painting
• Characteristics of artistic change
• Gentile da Fabriano (1370-1427)
– Adoration of the Magi (1423)
– Conservative International Gothic style
• Tommaso Guidi, aka Masaccio (1401-1428)
– The Holy Trinity
– Clarity of line, perspective, realism,
psychology
12.19 Gentile da
Fabriano, Adoration
of the Magi, 1423.
Altarpiece from
Santa Trinita,
Florence, Italy
12.20 Masaccio, The Holy
Trinity, 1428, Santa Maria
Novella, Florence, Italy
Renaissance Art in Italy
Painting
• Masaccio
– Realistic depiction of human beings
• The Tribute Money (c. 1427)
– Profound sense of emotion
• Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden (c.
1425)
– “…brought into existence the modern
style”
12.23 Masaccio,
Expulsion of Adam
and Eve From Eden,
1425, Brancacci
Chapel, Santa Maria
del Carmine,
Florence, Italy
Renaissance Art in Italy
Painting
• Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
– Annunciation fresco
• Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
– Medici Palace paintings
• Botticelli (1444-1510)
– La Primavera (Springtime), The Birth of Venus
– Platonic idealism, Christian mysticism
12.24 Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, 1438-1447.
San Marco, Florence, Italy
12.25 Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano, 1456.
National Gallery, London, England
12.27 Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera (Springtime)
12.28 Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482. Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence, Italy
Art in Renaissance Italy
Architecture
• Filippo Brunelleschi
– Florence Cathedral Dome
– Foundling Hospital
– Pazzi Chapel
– Classical order
– Intricate mathematical proportions
– Serenity
12.32 Filippo Brunelleschi, loggia of the Ospedale degli
Innocenti (“Hospital of the Innocents”) Foundling Hospital
12.33 Filippo Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel
Music in the 15th Century
• Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474)
– Secularization of the motet, Chanson masses
– Synthesis of secular and religious
• Johannes Ockeghem (1430-1495)
– Classical balance of intellect and emotion
• Music in Medici Florence
– No Classical models
– Platonic and Aristotelian significance
– Frittola, canto carnascialesco
Chapter 12: Discussion Questions
• Consider the role of art in Florentine politics. In what ways does artistic
patronage serve as a vehicle for state propaganda? Explain, including
principal discussions of the socio-religious works of Botticelli and
Michelangelo.
• Contrast the medieval worldview with that of the Renaissance. What
was the role of the individual during the Middle Ages? During the
Renaissance? What was the role of the artist in each period? To what
may we attribute the shift in perspective? Explain.
• Citing specific artwork from Chapter Twelve, explore the artistic balance
between Classical and Christian prerogatives. Which of the artists in the
chapter had the most success balancing and/or synthesizing the two
ideologies?
• Compare the two styles of Humanism exemplified by Erasmus and
Machiavelli. What variation on the theme does each provide? Consider
the roles of Classicism and Christianity in their respective approaches.