Download early italian renaissance

EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
NORTHERN
Realism through excessive details
Comparing the styles…
ITALIAN
Realism through mathematics and
linear perspective
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
NORTHERN
Comparing the styles…
ITALIAN
Realism through excessive details
Realism through mathematics and
linear perspective
Intentional references to Gothic
Architecture
Intentional references to Classical
Architecture and figure studies
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
NORTHERN
Comparing the styles…
ITALIAN
Realism through excessive details
Realism through mathematics and
linear perspective
Intentional references to Gothic
Architecture
Intentional references to Classical
Architecture and figure studies
Intuitive Perspective
Linear Perspective
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
NORTHERN
Comparing the styles…
ITALIAN
Realism through excessive details
Realism through mathematics and
linear perspective
Intentional references to Gothic
Architecture
Intentional references to Classical
Architecture and figure studies
Intuitive Perspective
Linear Perspective
Great art in the form of Oil Paints,
Altarpieces and smaller paintings
Great art in the form of Frescoes
and larger Temperas
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
NORTHERN
Comparing the styles…
ITALIAN
Realism through excessive details
Realism through mathematics and
linear perspective
Intentional references to Gothic
Architecture
Intentional references to Classical
Architecture and figure studies
Intuitive Perspective
Linear Perspective
Great art in the form of Oil Paints,
Altarpieces and smaller paintings
Great art in the form of Frescoes
and larger Temperas
Van Der Goes, Van Eyck, Van Der
Weyden, Campin
Masaccio, Donatello, Ghiberti,
Brunelleschi, Botticelli
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Brancacci Chapel, Florence
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Brancacci Chapel, Florence
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Masaccio, Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427.
Masaccio presented this narrative in three episodes within the fresco. In the center, Christ, surrounded by his disciples,
tells Saint Peter to retrieve the coin from the fish, while the tax collector stands in the foreground, his back to spectators and
hand extended, awaiting payment. At the left, in the middle distance, Saint Peter extracts the coin from the fish’s mouth, and
at the right, he thrusts the coin into the tax collector’s hand.
Masaccio realized most of the figures not through generalized modeling with a flat neutral light lacking an identifiable source
but by a light coming from a specific source outside the picture.
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Masaccio
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden,
Brancacci Chapel, Florence, Italy, ca 1425
This was painted in an awkwardly narrow space at the entrance to the
Brancacci Chapel. It displays the representational innovations of
Tribute Money. For example, the sharply slanted light from an outside
source creates deep relief, with lights placed alongside darks, and acts
as a strong unifying agent.
Masaccio also presented the figures moving with structural accuracy
and with substantial bodily weight. Further, the hazy, atmospheric
background specifies no locale but suggests a space around and
beyond the figures. Adam’s feet, clearly in contact with the ground,
mark the human presence on earth, and the cry issuing from Eve’s
mouth voices her anguish.
The angel does not force them physically from Eden, rather, they
stumble on blindly, driven by the angel’s will and their own despair.
The composition is starkly simple, its message incomparably eloquent.
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Masaccio, Holy Trinity
Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy
ca 1428
Masaccio’s fresco embodies two principal Renaissance interests-realism based on observation and the application of mathematics
in the new science of perspective. The composition is painted on
two levels of unequal height.
In the coffered barrel-vaulted chapel reminiscent of a Roman
triumphal arch, the Virgin Mary and St. John appear on either side
of the crucified Christ. God the Father emerges from behind
Christ, supporting the arms of the cross. The Dove of the Holy
Spirit hovers between God and Christ.
Also included are portraits of the donors of the painting, who kneel
in front of the pilasters.
Below the altar-- a masonry insert in the depicted composition--the
artist painted a tomb containing a skeleton. An Italian inscription
above the skeleton reminds spectators that “I was once what you
are, and what I am you will become.”
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Baptistry of San Giovanni,
Florence, Italy, ca 1059
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Brunelleschi’s
Sacrifice of Isaac
Ghiberti’s
Sacrifice of Isaac
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Lorenzo Ghiberti
”Gates of Paradise”,
baptistery, Florence Cathedral
1425-1452
Ghiberti, who demonstrated his interest in
perspective in his Sacrifice of Isaac,
embraced Donatello’s innovations.
Ghiberti’s enthusiasm for a unified system
for representing space is particularly
evident in his famous east doors.
Michelangelo later declared these as “so
beautiful that they would do well for the
gates of Paradise.”
Each of the panels contains a relief set in
plain moldings and depicts a scene from
the Old Testament. The complete gilding of
the reliefs creates an effect of great
splendor and elegance.
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Lorenzo Ghiberti
Isaac and his sons
(”Gates of Paradise”), baptistery,
Florence Cathedral, Florence
1425-1452
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Filippo Brunelleschi
dome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy
1420-1436
Brunelleschi’s broad knowledge of Roman
construction principles and his analytical and
inventive mind permitted him to solve an
engineering problem that no other 15th-century
architect could have solved. The challenge was
the design and construction of a dome for the
huge crossing of the unfinished Florence
Cathedral.
The space to be spanned was much too wide to
permit construction with the aid of traditional
wooden centering. Nor was it possible [because
of the crossing plan] to support the dome with
buttressed walls.
In 1420, officials overseeing cathedral projects
awarded Brunelleschi and Ghiberti a joint
commission. Ghiberti later abandoned the project
and left it to his associates.
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Filippo Brunelleschi
dome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy
1420-1436
Brunelleschi not only discarded traditional
building methods and devised new ones, but
he also invented much of the machinery
necessary for the job.
Although he might have preferred the
hemispheric shape of Roman domes,
Brunelleschi raised the center of his dome
which is inherently more stable because it
reduces the outward thrust around the
dome’s base.
To minimize the structure’s weight, he
designed a relatively thin double shell--the
first in history--around a skeleton of 24 ribs.
The eight most important are visible on the
exterior. The structure is anchored at the top
with a heavy lantern, built after his death but
from his design.
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Climbing the stairs inside the Duomo
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Filippo Brunelleschi
dome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy
1420-1436
Note the people on the lantern!
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Filippo Brunelleschi
west facade of the Pazzi Chapel
Florence, Italy begun ca. 1440
The chapel that was the Pazzi family’s gift to
the church of Santa Croce in Florence
presented Brunelleschi with the opportunity to
explore this interest in a structure much better
suited to such a design than a basilican church.
The chapel was not completed until the 1460s,
long after Brunelleschi’s death, and thus the
exterior does not reflect Brunelleschi’s original
design. The narthex
(the entrance hall leading to the nave of a
church.) seems to have been added as an
afterthought, perhaps by the sculptor-architect
Giuliano da Maiano.
It is suggested that the local chapter of
Franciscan monks who held meetings in the
chapel needed the expansion.
Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
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Filippo Brunelleschi
west facade of the Pazzi Chapel
Florence, Italy begun ca. 1440
This chapel was the Pazzi family’s gift to the
church of Santa Croce in Florence. The artist is
Filippo Brunelleschi, who began to design this
chapel in 1440 and it was not completed until
after his death.
The interior trim is in gray stone or pietra serena
(serene stone). Medallions with glazed terracotta
are featured on the inside representing the Four
Evangelista and decorated wall panels represent
the Twelve Apostles.
Brunelleschi used this opportunity to create a
structure more suited to a compact and selfcontained “central floor plan” as seen in the
Pantheon. He used a basic unit that allowed him
to construct a balanced, harmonious, and
regularly proportioned space.
Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
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Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
Plan and section of the Pazzi Chapel, Florence
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The Medici family commissioned Donatello to create
this bronze statue for the Palazzo Medici courtyard.
This was the first freestanding nude statue
created since ancient times.
This statue portrays the biblical David, the young
slayer of Goliath and the symbol of the independent
Florentine republic. David possesses the relaxed
classical contrapposto stance and the proportions
and beauty of Greek Praxitelean gods.
The Medici family chose the subject of David,
perhaps because they had seen Donatello’s
previous statue of David which is located in the
center of political activity in Florence. This shows
that the Medici family identified themselves with
Florence, and the prosperity of the city.
Donatello, David 1428-1432
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Donatello, David 1428-1432
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Sandro Botticelli
Portrait of a Youth, early 1480s
This full face portrait was created by Botticelli
in the last decade of the fifteenth century.
Italian painters adopted the 3/4 and full face
views believing that such poses increased
information available to viewers about the
subject’s appearance.
These poses also permit greater exploration of
the subject’s character. This is evident in this
portrait where he is highly expressive
psychologically. He has a delicate pose, a
graceful head tilt, sidelong glance, and an
elegant hand gesture. The subject seems to
be half-musing, half-insinuating.
Botticelli merged feminine and masculine traits
to make an image of rarefied beauty.
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Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Sandro Botticelli was one
of the best known artists
who produced works for
the Medici. He painted
this tempera on canvas for
the Medici family.
A poem on the theme of
the famous Birth of Venus
by Angelo Poliziano was
what inspired Botticelli to
create this lyrical image.
Zephyrus (the west wind)
blows Venus, born of the
sea foam and carried on a
cockle shell to her sacred
island, Cyprus. The
nymph Pomona runs to
her with a brocaded
mantle.
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Comparing d’Medici’s Venus with Botticelli’s
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Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c 1482. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, c 1475.
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Botticelli painted himself in the picture
as he looks back at the viewer !
Sandro Botticelli,
Adoration of the Magi, c 1475.
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Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, c 1481-82.
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Fra Angelico, Annunciation
San Marco, Florence, Italy 1440-1445 EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Leon Battista Alberti worked as an
architect from the 1450s onward,
principally in Florence, Rimini, and
Mantua. As a trained humanist and true
Renaissance man, Alberti was as
accomplished as an architect as he was a
humanist, musician, and art theorist.
Alberti's many treatises on art include
Della Pittura (On Painting), De Sculptura
(On Sculpture), and De re Aedificatoria
(On Architecture). The first treatise, Della
Pittura, was a fundamental handbook for
artists, explaining the principles behind
linear perspective, which may have been
first developed by Brunelleschi. Alberti
shared Brunelleschi's reverence for
Roman architecture and was inspired by
the example of Vitruvius, the only Roman
architectural theorist whose writings are
still in existence.
Leon Alberti
San Andrea, 1470-76
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Interior and Elevation of San Andrea
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Piero della Francesca, Battista Sforza & Federico da Montefeltro
(Duke & Duchess of Urbino), 1472-1473. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna, Calvary, 1457-60. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna, Camera Degli Sposi, (the Gonzaga family), Mantua, Italy, 1465-74.
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Andrea Mantegna, Fresco.
Camera degli Sposi (Bridal
Chamber), Mantua, Italy.
1465-74.
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Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation Over Dead Christ, c1490. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna
St. Sebastian
c1480.
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Andrea Mantegna, St. Sebastian. c1480.
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Antonio Pollaiolo, Battle of the Nudes, 1470s. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Antonio Pollaiolo, Battle of the Nudes, 1470s. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Antonio del Pollaiolo was
a notable sculptor and
painter, but this engraving
(which was the only
known one he created)
was an exceptional piece
for this century.
Like many Italian works,
this reference to Classical
Greek bodies attempts to
show the tension and
balance that the male
warrior would exhibit from
various poses.
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Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter. Fresco, 1481–2.
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I love Florence. It’s a beautiful city!