Art in the
Renaissance
1400 – 1600
Overview
• Italian/Early 1400-1490
• Italian/High 1500-1600
• Northern/Late 1500-1600
• one can argue about dates:
1300 – 1520
1400 – 1600
map
Renaissance
• 1st period to name itself and say nasty things
about earlier times:
“Gothic” & “Dark Ages”
• Term means “Rebirth”
• Looking back to Classical culture – Ancient
Greece and Rome
• Names! Artists known by name – 1st
contemporary art historian (1550);
Individuality celebrated in this era
Renaissance
• Church is still the biggest power
structure
• Beginning of banking
• Private fortunes & power
• Starts in Italy – specifically Florence
The Return of
Humanism
Man loves himself
once again
from Pico della Mirandola's
Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)
. . . I feel that I have come to some
understanding of why man is the most
fortunate of living things and, consequently,
deserving of all admiration; of what may be
the condition in the hierarchy of beings
assigned to him, which draws upon him the
envy, not of the brutes alone, but of the astral
beings and of the very intelligences which
dwell beyond the confines of the world.
see also p. 190
Donatello, David, 1432
p.
203
Donatello, David, 1432
Tuscan hat
p.
203
Style of helmet & art symbolic reference to other
Italian city-states
Donatello,David,
1432
Goliath’s head
detail
Love of texture
Donatello, David, 1432
1st free-standing, life
size nude sculpture
since antiquity!
• contrapposto; but not
just an imitation of past
models
• for private collection
• David = underdog =
Florence
• Goliath = giant = Milan
& other central Italian
cities in league against
Florence
Donatello, David, 1432
Inscription:
“The victor is whoever defends
the fatherland. God crushes
the wrath of an enormous foe.
Behold - a boy overcame a
great tyrant! Conquer, O
citizens! Kingdoms fall through
luxury, cities rise through
virtues. Behold the neck of
pride, severed by the hand of
humility.”
p.
203
An earlier Donatello David
(c.1410)
CONFIDENCE
REDISCOVERED!
p. 193-197
Florence Cathedral
Brunelleschi dome
Florence Cathedral
Brunelleschi dome
inside view
Tower
designed by
Giotto,
1334
View of Duomo from Pitti Palace (across the river)
Uffizzi
View from the Duomo
Pitti Palace
Pazzi Chapel
Post & lintel
returns;
GEOMETRY
Pazzi Chapel
p. 198
Pitti Palace
By the
numbers:
2:1
3:1
4:1
Alberti (façade architect), Santa Maria Novella,
Florence, 1470
not in text
p. 202
1st use of
linear
perspective
Masaccio
Trinity
1427-28
Fresco
21' 10 1/2" x 10' 4
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence
not in text
p. 199
Masaccio, Tribute Money, c. 1427
Tribute Money,
detail
Note use of
chiaroscuro
(light and dark
shading) to
create volume in
the clothes.
p. 195-196
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
The Gates of Paradise
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
p. 195196
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
The Gates of Paradise
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
The Gates of Paradise
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
The Gates of Paradise
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
Detail from the
Gates of Paradise
The story of Joseph
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
80 x 80 cm
Baptistery, Florence
not in text
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
The birth of Venus
c. 1485, Tempera on canvas
(67 7/8 x 109 5/8 in.)
NOT IN TEXT
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
Primavera
c. 1482. Tempera on wood
203 x 314 cm
p. 199
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
Primavera
c. 1482. Tempera on wood
203 x 314 cm
BOTTICELLI, Sandro
Venus and Mars
NOT BIBLICAL!
c. 1485. Egg tempera and oil on poplar
69 x 173.5 cm
not in text
KEY IMAGE
PERIOD:
PLACE:
Early Renaissance
Florence
ARTIST:
Donatello
TITLE:
David
DATE:
1432
p. 203
KEY IMAGE
p. 199
PERIOD:
ARTIST:
Renaissance
Botticelli
TITLE: La Primavera (Birth of Spring)
KEY IMAGE
Pazzi Chapel
p. 198
Summary – Italian Renaissance
• POLITICS – Italian city-states; power
from money
• EARLY RENAISSANCE – Florence
• HIGH RENAISSANCE –
• ART – Classical ideals revived
• IDEAS – Humanism returns
• MUSIC –