The Early Renaissance
Italy during the Renaissance
Europe during the Renaissance
Chapter 12: The Early Renaissance
OUTLINE
Toward the Renaissance
The First Phase:
Masaccio, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi
The Medici Era
Cosimo de' Medici
Piero de' Medici
Lorenzo the Magnificent
The Character of Renaissance Humanism
Pico della Mirandola
Printing Technology and the
Spread of Humanism
Women and the Renaissance
Two Styles of Humanism
Machiavelli
Erasmus
Music in the Fifteenth Century
Guillaume Dufay
Music in Medici Florence
Outline Chapter 12
Timeline Chapter 12
Timeline Chapter 12: The Early Renaissance
1401
1420
1434
1435
1456
1469
1478-1482
1486
1486-1487
1489
1495-1498
1501-1504
1509
1513
Ghiberti wins Florence Baptistry competition
Brunelleschi begins Florence Cathedral Dome
van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride
Alberti, Della Pictura (On Painting)
Gutenberg prints Bible with movable type
Lorenzo de' Medici rules Florence (1469-1492)
Botticelli , Spring , (c.1478), The Birth of Venus (1482)
Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man(Renaissance
Humanism )
Cereta's humanist letters
Savonarola preaches against Florentine immorality (d. 1498)
Leonardo, Last Supper, Mona Lisa
Michelangelo, David
Erasmus, The Praise of Folly
Machiavelli, The Prince
Focus on Florence
The main focus of this chapter is on the city of Florence in the
fifteenth century. There are two basic reasons for this attention,
one rooted in politics and economics and the other based
in the complex and varied human resources of the city.
The Political and Economic Significance of Florence
Florence was not a feudal city governed by a hereditary prince; it had
a species of limited participatory government that was in the hands
of its landed and monied peoples. It was the center of European
banking in the fifteenth century and the hub of international wool and
cloth trade. The vast monies in Florentine hands combined with a great
sense of civic pride to give the city unparalleled opportunities for
expansion and public works. The results can be seen in the explosion
of building, art, sculpture, and learning that stretched throughout the
century. The great banking families of Florence built and supported
art to enhance their reputations, that of their cities, and, partly, as a
form of expiation for the sin of taking interest on money, a practice
forbidden by the church. We tend to see Florence today from the
perspective of their generosity.
The Social Fabric of Florence
Other forces besides politics and economics in 15th century Florence
were, of course, at work. The urban workers were exploited; they had
rioted during the end of the fourteenth century and were ready for
further protest. An undercurrent of medieval religiosity in the city
manifested itself most conspicuously in the rise of Savonarola, who not
only appealed to the common people but who had a reputation for
sanctity that could touch the lives of an educated man like Pico della
Mirandola and a powerful one like Lorenzo the Magnificent. Every
Florentine could visit the Duomo or see the art in the city's churches,
but not everyone was equally touched by the great renaissance in ideas
and art that bubbled up in Florence.
The Wealth of Artistic Talent in 15th Century Florence
Most puzzling about Florence in this period is the sheer enormity
of artistic talent it produced. Florence was not a huge city; it often
portrayed itself as a David in comparison to a Roman or Milanese
Goliath. Yet this relatively small city produced a tradition of art that
spanned the century: In sculpture Donatello and Michelangelo bridged
the generations, as did Masaccio and Botticelli in painting. Part of the
explanation, of course, was native talent, but part of it also lies in the
character of a city that supported the arts, nurtured artists, and
enhanced civic life with beauty and learning.
Masaccio
Masaccio (1401-1427?), was the first great painter of the Italian
Renaissance, whose innovations in the use of scientific perspective
inaugurated the modern era in painting.
Masaccio.
Trinity with the Virgin,
Saint John the Evangelist,
and Donors,
fresco in the Church of
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence. 1425-28(?)
…used full perspective
for the first time in Western art.
Madonna and Child
with St. Anne
c. 1424
Tempera on panel
Ghiberti
GHIBERTI, Lorenzo
(b. 1378, d. 1455)
North Doors
(Life of Christ)
1403-24
Gilded bronze,
457 x 251 cm
Baptistry,
Florence
Last Supper
1403-24
Gilded bronze,
39 x 39 cm
Baptistry, Florence
Brunelleschi
Dome of the Cathedral
1420-36
-Duomo, Florence
Interior of the church
begun 1436
-Santo Spirito, Florence
The Medici Era
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cosimo de’ Medici - Patron
Donatello
Fra Angelico
Piero de’Medici - Patron
Boticelli
Lorenzo the Magnificent - Patron
Boticelli
Leonardo
Michelangelo
Lorenzo
by Andrea
del Verocchio, 1480
The patronage of the Medici family gave sustenance to many of the most important
Artists of the early Renaissance in Florence.
The artists above are grouped according to their respective Medici patrons.
(See the Notes section for each patron and artist for biographical information on this
slide and the slides that follow.)
Donatello
St Mary Magdalen
c. 1457
Wood, height: 188 cm
Florence
David
c. 1430
Bronze, height: 185 cm
Florence
Fra Angelico
The Naming of St. John the Baptist
1434-35
Tempera on panel, 26 x 24 cm
Museo di San Marco, Florence
Annunciation 1450
Tempera on wood, 38,5 x 37 cm
Museo di San Marco, Florence
Botticelli
Primavera
c. 1482
Tempera on panel
Adoration of the Magi
c. 1475
Tempera on panel, 111 x 134 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
St Sebastian
1474
Tempera on panel,
195 x 75 cm
The Birth of Venus
c. 1485
Tempera on canvas
Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper, 1498
Mixed technique, 460 x 880 cm
Virgin of the Rocks
1483-86
Oil on panel
Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)
c. 1503-5
Oil on panel, 77 x 53 cm
Michelangelo (early work)
David
1504
Marble,
434 cm
Florence
Bacchus
1497
Marble, 203 cm
Florence
Christ
Carrying
the Cross
(detail)
1521
Marble
Rome
The Character of Renaissance
Humanism
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•
•
•
•
•
Renaissance = rebirth
Rebirth of classical aesthetics and human (secular) values
Democratization
Quest for worldly fame
Emphasis on learning and science
Pico della Mirandola – synthesis of learning yeilding elemental
truth
• Printing technology – spread of learning and human values
• Role of Women – ideal of beauty and “nature” – education of
women
Two Styles of Humanism
Machiavelli – “The Prince” - principles of
political action – amoral pragmatism
Erasmus – Christian humanism – synthesis
of learning and “internalized” Christian
morality – “Praise of Folly” - social critique
of corruption in society and the church
Music in the 15th Century
See text, Pages 307, 308 and discussion of musical selections in class )