ITALY,
1400-1500
GARDNER CHAPTER 21-1
PP. 541-548
ITALY, 1400-1500

The blossoming of humanism

Emphasis on education and expanding
knowledge

Individual potential

Desire to excel

Commitment to civic responsibility and
moral duty

Artistic genius + spread of humanism +
economic prosperity = the Renaissance
FLORENCE

Giovanni de Medici est. family
fortune in early 15th century

Cosimo, his son, expands family
dominance in finance and led to
political power

Medici were avid humanists

Lorenzo the Magnificent (14491492) gathered about him a
galaxy of artists and gifted men in
all fields
THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE
BAPTISTERY

Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac,
competition panel fro east doors of the
baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402,
gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½ “

Competition in 1401 to design the east
doors of the Baptistery
1.
Patronage as both civic imperative and
a form of self-promotion
2.
The esteem accorded to individual artists
3.
Development of a new pictorial realism

Brunelleschi’s entry -> one dense group,
great drama -> emotional, lunging
Abraham -> frantic angel makes it just in
time -> figures spill out over the borders of
the quatrefoil
BRUNELLESCHI
AND GHIBERTI

The two finalists were Brunelleschi and
Ghiberti -> used the same frames and
same scene

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac,
competition panel for east doors of the
baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402,
gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½”

Ghiberti emphasized grace and
smoothness -> nude figure of Isaac ->
acanthus scrolls on the altar he kneels on
-> classical references

Spatial illusion

Technical superiority -> cast in only 2
pieces -> lighter and more cost effective
 OR SAN
MICHELE,
Florence
OR SAN MICHELLE/
NANI DI BANCO

NANNI DI BANCO, Four Crowned Saints, Or
San Michele, Florence, Italy, marble, figures
6’ high

Built for the guild of wood and stone carvers,
of which Nanni was a member

Depicts four matyred patron saints of the
guild

Wearing togas, heads influenced by portraits
of Roman emperors

Saints seem to be discussing their fate; feet
placed outside of arch, stepping into our
space

Figures are independent of the niche in
which they stand
DONATELLO –
SAINT MARK

DONATELLO, Saint Mark, Or San
Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 14111413, marble, 7’9” high

Commissioned for the guild of linen
drapers

Contrapposto -> as the body moves,
his garment moves with it -> the
garment does not conceal, it
accentuates movement

Stirring limbs, shifting, weight, mobile
drapery -> suggests impending
movement out of the niche
DONATELLO –
SAINT GEORGE

DONATELLO, Saint George, Or San
Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 14101415, marble, 6’10” high

Made for the Or San Michele
niche of the armorers’ and
swordmakers’ guild

The warrior saint stands defiantly,
ready to spring from his niche to
defend Florence -> face filled
w/nervous energy
DONATELLO –
FEAST OF HEROD

DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel
on the baptismal font of Sienna
Cathedral, Sienna, Italy, 1423-1427,
gilded bronze, 1’11 x 1’11”

New Testament scene -> kneeling
executioner offers the head of
John the Baptist to King Herod

The advent of rationalized
perspective space -> two arched
courtyards of diminishing size open
the space of the action well into
the distance
RENAISSANCE
PERSPECTIVE
SYSTEMS

Renaissance fascination with
perspective -> constructing a
convincing illusion of space in twodimensional imagery

Linear perspective allows artists to
determine mathematically the
relative size of rendered objects to
correlate them with the visual
recession into space

Linear perspective can be either
one-point or two-point