What is the Renaissance?
• Rebirth of classical values, based on the recovery of
ancient texts and a renewed interest in ancient Roman
architecture – cultural revival in Europe
• Renaissance: from Black Death, 14th c.- to16th c
• Middle Ages – salvation of the soul
• Renaissance – intellectual exploration
• Humanist - to understand in precise and scientific
terms the nature of humanity and its relationship to
the world
• The beliefs and values of the medieval world –
transformed in the city states of Florence, Rome, and
Venice
The Renaissance
Florence, Rome, and Venice
Renaissance
• The word “Renaissance,” from the Italian rinascita, “rebirth,”
became widely used in the nineteenth century
• The Renaissance was an age of intellectual exploration, in which
the humanist strove to understand in ever more precise and
scientific terms the nature of humanity and its relationship to the
natural world
• Beliefs and values of the medieval world were transformed in Italy
• Three of the main city-states that became centers of culture
during this period were Florence, Rome, and Venice
Major Italian City-States during the Renaissance
Major Italian City-States
During the Renaissance
Florence
• Medici family –banker to the papacy
• Managed Florence’s affairs from behind the scenes
• Tradition of civic patronage exemplified in the Baptistery Door
competition of 1401
• Site of the Roman temple of Mars, rededicated to Saint John the
Baptist
• Each artist was asked to create a bronze relief panel depicting the
Hebrew bible story of the Sacrifice of Isaac
• Brunelleschi
• Ghiberti
• Valued artistic models of antiquity
• Growing desire to reflect nature as accurately as possible
• Individual craftsperson was replacing the collective effort of the
guild
Florence
• Florence, the preeminent Italian city-state in the fifteenth century,
was home to the powerful Medici family, whose wealth derived
from their considerable banking interests
• Although the Medici never ruled Florence outright, over the course
of 76 years (1418-1494), they molded and manipulated, controlled
and cajoled, persuaded and provoked the citizens of Florence
• No better event exemplifies the nature of the Italian Renaissance
and anticipates the character of Florence than a competition held in
1401 to choose a designer for a pair of bronze doors for the city’s
baptistery, a building standing in front of the cathedral and used for
the Christian rite of baptism
Battistero di San Giovanni
(Baptistery)
• Legend about site is that a Roman temple to Mars had stood at
that location, subsequently rededicated to Saint John the Baptist
• The original doors had fallen into disrepair, so the “Arte della
Lana” (Cloth Merchants Guild) was determined to create a new
set of doors hoping to bring God’s favor on the city that had
been devastated by plague and siege
• Seven artists were charged with creating a bronze relief panel
depicting the Hebrew Bible’s story of the Sacrifice of Isaac (Gen.
22) in a 21  17½-inch quatrefoil (a four-leaf clover shape set on
a diamond)
• All but two designs, both by little-known 24-year-old
goldsmiths—Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti—were
eliminated
The Two Finalists
Brunelleschi’s
Ghiberti’s
Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac
The opposition between Abraham and the Angel, as the Angel grabs
Abraham’s arm to stop him from plunging his knife into his son’s breast is
dramatic and realistic
Jagged movements
Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac
Graceful rhythms
Isaac and Abraham are unified by the bowed curves of their bodies
Angel –technique of foreshortening –forms are receding
Background –deep, real space
The Gates of Paradise
• The judges selected Ghiberti’s design, and for the next 22 years, he
worked on the designs for the north doors, creating 28 panels
illustrating the New Testament
• Upon those doors’ completion in 1424, the Cloth Merchants Guild
commissioned a second set of doors for the east side, these
consisting of ten square panels depicting scenes from the Hebrew
Bible; they would take Ghiberti another 27 years to complete
• The east doors are known as the Gates of Paradise because they
open onto the paradiso, the area between the baptistery and the
entrance to its cathedral
• Ghiberti meant to follow the lead of the ancients in creating realistic
figures in realistic space
Ghiberti, The Story of Adam and Eve, Gates of Paradise
Four episodes from Genesis:
Creation of Adam
Creation of Eve influence of classical antiquity – birth of Venus
Temptation
Expulsion
Portrayal of sequential events in the same frame harkens back to medieval art
The Story of Adam and Eve
East Doors of the Baptistery, ca. 1425-37
• The first panel depicts
four episodes: the
Creation of Adam, the
Creation of Eve, the
Temptation, and the
Expulsion
• The influence of classical
antiquity is clear in the
portrayal of Eve, a Venus
of recognizably Hellenistic
origin
• Adam resembles the
recumbent god from the
east pediment of the
Parthenon
Solomon and Sheba
East Doors of the Baptistery, ca. 1425-37
• The only panel to
represent a single event in
its space
• The reunification of the
eastern Orthodox church
(Sheba) and the western
Catholic church (Solomon)
• Reunification of the two
branches of the church
would have restored
symmetry and balance to a
divided church just as
Ghiberti had achieved
balance and symmetry in
his art
Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, east doors of the baptistery,
Florence. 1445.
Ghiberti included his self-portrait among prophets and other biblical figures
framing the panels as he had earlier on the north doors.
Naturalism
Spirit of individualism
Brunelleschi’s Dome
• Brunelleschi, who had left Florence for Rome following his loss in
the Baptistery doors competitions, produced the winning design
in another competition, this one to create a dome for the
Florence Cathedral
• He based his design on his studies of ancient buildings, including
the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the remains of the Baths of
Caracalla, and the Domus Aurea (Golden Palace)
• Brunelleschi’s design eliminated the need for temporary wooden
scaffolding. Eight large ribs, visible on the outside, alternating
with eight pairs of thinner ribs beneath the roof, all tied together
by only nine sets of horizontal ties, would be able to support the
dome. Additional support could be achieved through the use of
lightweight bricks set in an interlocking herringbone pattern
Florence Cathedral, begun in 1296
200-year long construction project, it was a source of extraordinary civic
pride.
It underscored Florence’s place as the center of European Reanissance
Brunelleschi’s Dome and Lantern
Dome, 1420-36; lantern, after 1446
Brunelleschi, dome of Florence Cathedral
Feat of architectural engineering
Enormous scale, visual simplicity
Principles of Brunelleschi’s
One-Point Perspective
• All parallel lines in a visual field
appear to converge at a single
vanishing point on horizon
• These parallel lines are realized
on the picture plane as diagonal
lines called orthogonals
• Forms diminish in scale as they
approach along these
orthogonals
• The vanishing point is directly
opposite the eye of the beholder,
who stands at the vantage point
Dufay’s Nuper Rosarum Flores
• Songs of Angels – music for church and state
• Florence cathedral rededicated as Santa Maria del
Fiore in 1436
• Decorated with flowers and herbs
• Dufay’s Rose Blossoms
• Motet
• Cantus firmus –fixed melody
• The melody derives from a chant traditionally used fo
the dedication of new churches
• Ideal proportions of the Temple of Solomon in
Jerusalem
What is the scientific perspective?
• Linear perspective – allowed artists to translate
three-dimensional space onto a twodimensional surface, thereby satisfying the age’s
increasing appetite for naturalistic representation
• Brunelleschi –influenced by the study of optics in
Arab science and his surveying of Roman ruins,
became a master of this art
• Alberti, architect – codified Brunelleschi’s findings
in his treatise On Painting
Masaccio, The Tribute Money
Example of naturalism and perspective
Christ responds to the demand of a Roman tax collector for money by telling Saint Peter to catch a fish in the
Sea of Galilee, where he will find, in its mouth, the required amount. Saint Peter finds the money and pays the
tax . -- Function of architecture --Vanishing point behind Christ’s head
Atmospheric naturalism
Masaccio, The Tribute Money
Fresco, 8' 1¼"  19' 7", 1420s
The vanishing point of the painting, which decorates the Brancacci family chapel in the church of
Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, is behind the head of Christ, where the orthogonals of the
architecture on the right converge.
Donatello, David
Bronze, 62¼", 1440s
• Stood in courtyard of the Medici
palace bearing the following
inscription: “The victor is whoever
defends the fatherland. Allpowerful God crushes the angry
enemy. Behold a boy overcame the
great tyrant. Conquer, o citizens”
• Soft, elegant, refined young man in
a feminine contrapposto pose might
represent the virtue of the
Florentine republic as a whole
• First life-sized freestanding male
nude sculpted since antiquity
The Medici Family and Humanism
• Cosimo Medici – control of Florentine politics
• Promoted humanism through his acquisition of books,
manuscripts, and Greek and Roman art
• Ficino – translations of Greek philosophy
• Interpretations of Plato – seeking out the good, the
true, and the beautiful
• Platonic love – the ideal, spiritual, never physical
relationship between two people
• Neoplatonist ideas – recast Platonic thought in
contemporary terms
• Appealed to Cosimo
Lorenzo, the Magnificent
•
•
•
•
•
Surrounded by artists of the day:
Michelangelo
Botticelli
Heinrich Isaac
Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of
Man – humanity finds itself in a middle
position in the great chain of being
Bartolommeo, Palazzo Medici-Ricardi, Florence 1444.
Palazzo –refers to any large urban house
Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, 1446.
Architecture is the highest art
Imitation of the Roman Colosseum
3 classical orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera
Tempera on panel, 6' 8"  10' 4", early 1480s
Primavera captures the spirit of the Medici court—celebrating love, not only in a
Neoplatonic sense, as a spiritual, humanist endeavor, but also in a more direct, physical
way.
Botticelli, Primavera, 1480
Nymph – Venus, goddess of love –allegorical figure – highest moral qualities
Zephyrus- god of the west wind – capture Chloris, the nymph of spring
Flora, goddess of flowers
Three Graces
Mercury – messenger of the gods
Cupid
Castiglione
• Urbino – Duke Federigo de Montefeltro
supported humanist learning and the life of
the warrior
• The Book of the Courtier
• Dialogue to describe the perfect courtier
• Well rounded person –l’uomo universale
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa
Oil on wood, 30¼"  21", 1503-15
• For generations viewers
have asked, Who is this
woman? What is she
thinking about? What is
her relation to the artist?
• Leonardo fuses his subject
with the landscape behind
her by means of light. He
called this technique
sfumato (“smokiness”)
• The painting’s hazy effects
could only be achieved by
building up color with
many layers of oil paint—a
process called glazing
Leonardo da Vinci,
The Last Supper
• This monumental fresco was commissioned by Lodovico Sforza,
duke of Milan, to decorate the north wall of the refectory of the
Dominican monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie. The intent was
that at every meal the monks would contemplate Christ’s last meal
in a wall-sized painting
• What is unique in this painting is the psychological realism—each
apostle reacts in a characteristic way to Christ’s announcement that
one will betray him (Peter grabs knife, Judas turns away, John faints,
Thomas points upward as if questioning)
• Leonardo utilizes perfect one-point perspective—the vanishing
point is directly behind Christ’s head, focusing the viewer’s attention
and establishing Christ as the most important figure in the work
Leonardo, The Last Supper
Fresco, oil, and tempera on plaster, 15' 1-1/8"  28'' 10½"
ca. 1485-98