Chapter 19
Italy 1200-1400
Gothic
Pisa, Florence, Siena
Key Ideas
• Late Gothic art in Italy forms a bridge between
Medieval and Renaissance art
• The artist becomes an important historical
personality whose life story can be traced and
recorded
• Aspects of ancient sculpture are revitalized
under the artistic leadership of the Pisani family
• The Sienese and Florentine schools of painting
dominate trecentro art.
Historical background
• The art movement that we today call the
Renaissance began in the city-states of
Italy in the Late Gothic period at the very
end of the Middle Ages. Art was only one
component of an ever-evolving world in
which the urge to explore, to investigate,
and to discover motivated people as never
before.
Background
• Economic changes throughout Europe,
centering on banking and commercial
interests in Italy, began to emerge as
powerful forces in the shipment and
circulation of goods throughout the region.
The European taste for exploring new
markets and reaching beyond the
continent for the exotic eventually led
ships to sail first around Africa, and then to
the New World.
History
• The exploration of the globe was a facet of
the universal urge to uncover and survey
seemingly everything. Humanists began
investigating the classical past as never
before, restoring life to literary and artistic
wonders of antiquity and adapting them to
a modern audience.
History
• With Cimabue and Nicola Pisano, the first
traceable and coherent artistic careers
begin to emerge. Artists’ signatures
indicate their rising status- a radical break
from the general anonymity in which
earlier medieval artists had roiled and a
need to imprint their accomplishments on
works they felt particularly proud of.
Italian Gothic Architecture
• Stress width as well as height
• Horizontal emphasis is so strong that the height
seems restrained
• Interiors feature one story of arches and a
second of windows.
• Wide naves focus attention on Apses backlit by
tall windows
• Rib vaults open up the clerestory to admit
volumes of light filtered by thin masses of pastel
colored stained glass windows.
Arnolfo Cambio and others,
Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria
del Fiore), 1296 CE, Giotto
designed the campanile.
•Wide, open expansive interior
•Broad heavy piers allow side aisle
spaces to flow into nave: very
widely spaced arches
•Dark interiors of French Gothic are
replaced by a lighter interior
•Campanile: crisply divided
horizontal sections stack floors one
above the other; variously colored
marbles inspired by Italian
Romanesque buildings; patterns of
rectangular blocks of marble cover
the surface.
•Façade finished in 19th century
Florentine Painting
• The trend in Gothic sculpture is to liberate works from
the wall, allowing them to occupy space independent of
their architectural framework. Italian painting of the late
Gothic period is characterized by large scale panels that
stand on their own.
• Wall paintings (frescoes and mosaics) emphasized the
flatness of the wall surface, encouraging artists to
produce compositions that were frontal and linear. Late
Gothic artists preferred fresco and tempera, which
enabled them to shade figures convincingly and reach
for a three dimensional reality.
Painting
• Cimabue accepted Byzantine formulas ,
maniera greca.
• Giotto and his followers substantiated
masses and anchored figures to ground
lines.
• Expressive faces and meaningful
gestures, emotions become more dynamic
• Compositional arrangements move away
from the center of the painting.
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, 12801290, tempera on panel, Uffizi, Florence
•Maniera greca: figures rise in a hieratic
Byzantine manner
•Emphasis on flatness of forms: angels
hover around throne
•Long thin elegant fingers; strong verticality
•Flecks of gold define drapery folds
•Virgin as the Throne of Wisdom points the
way to Christ as the way to salvation
•Mary with Byzantine shaped face and
stylized features
•Not Byzantine in size; Byzantine icons are
portable
Giotto, Madonna Enthroned, 1310,
tempera on panel, Uffizi, Florence
•Weight, size, solidity, threedimensionality, bulk
•Mary’s breast and knees revealed
beneath drapery
•Angels stand more naturally around the
Gothic throne
•Perspective indicated in the positioning
of the arms of the throne and the
shadowing of the steps
•Some faces turn away from the picture
plane
•Mary as the mother of Christ, but also
becomes more human
Giotto, Lamentation, from the
Arena Chapel, 1305-1306, fresco,
Padua, Italy
•Arena Chapel built by Enrico Scrovegni
to expiate the sin of usury through which
his father had amassed his fortune;
some narrative scenes chosen for the
chapel illustrate Biblical episodes of illgotten gains
•Shallow stage, figures occupy a space
pushed forward toward the picture plane
•Diagonal cliff formation points to main
action daringly placed in lower left-hand
corner.
•Modeling indicates direction of light,
light falls from above right
•Range of emotions: heavy sadness,
quiet resignation, flaming outbursts,
despair
•Figures seen from the back seem to
isolate the main action
•Sadness of scene emphasized by
grieving angels, barrenness of tree
The Sienese Altarpiece by Andrea Vanni
pinnacles
Crowning panels
Main panels
Predella
The forms parallel
elements of
A Gothic
cathedral: the
main panel acts as
the nave, the side
panels as side
aisles, the
pinacles as the
roof and the
predella as the
crypt
Sienese Painting
• Sienese painters used a decorative style
of painting, more like Northern European
art.
• Figures are thinner, elegant and courtly
• Colors are decorative, drapery is less
defined by mass than by thin fluttering of
the drapery and zigzagging of complex
linear patterns
Sienese Painting
• Drapery is more likely to curve artistically
in flouncing series of ripples
• Use of imitation marble patterning on
thrones or pavements.
• Hierarchy of scale remains, figures are in
proportion to one another, figures
dominate architectural settings.
Sienese Painting
• Sienese painters explore three
dimensionality, carved deeply into picture
plane to create interiors
• Motif: opening of a door frame or room
wall, revealing what lies beyond, as a
theatrical stage
• Simon Martini, International Gothic style
he spread to Europe
Duccio, Maesta’, main panel: 1308-11
•For the main altar of Siena Cathedal, the centerpeice of a cluster of Marian works
•Only signed and documented work of Dudcco to have survived
•Richest and most complex altarpiece of its time
•
Hieratic arrangement of figures in three horizontal registers, Mary and Jesus in the
center, saints kneeling below and standing on either side, and angels looming
between saints’ halos in top row
•Fluttering, light drapery lines fall in zigzag patterns
•Decoratively patterned throne folds outward to reveal Mary and Jesus enthroned
Simon Martini, Annunciation,
1333, tempera on panel,
Uffizi Florence
•Grain of marble floor retreats in
perspective
•Elegant figures, drapery,
ornament
•Use of gold dominant
•Angel: white brocade is
beautifully and subtly modeled
•Mary: shrinks back in modesty,
picture of courtly medieval
woman
•Vase of white lilies symbolizes
Mary’s purity
•Traditional gold wall
background in effect
becomes the rear wall
•Gestures are courtly and
aristocratic
•International Gothic style
Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the
Virgin, 1342, tempera on
panel
•Part of the Marian cycle of
paintings in Siena Cathedral
•Pioneering attempt a building
an interior space, with three
parts of the triptych suggesting a
single common viewpoint
•St. Anne gives birth inside a
Sienese home; everyday items
depicted
•St. Joachim, Mary’s father, is in
an antechamber hearing the
news of the birth of his daughter
Windows open up
to reveal further
arches and walled
spaces beyond,
expressing depth:
innovative use of
pier that
establishes picture
plane and does not
separate the space
of the center and
right-hand panels
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the City,
1338-1340, Public Palace, Siena
•Located in the Public Palace in Siena where judges met to adjudicate issues of
Sienese law
•Highly literate society for its time; inscriptions were in Latin and Italian; Ambrogio
Lorenzetti’s signature is prominently displayed
City: cityscape scene from high viewpoint, prosperous town run by
efficient laws; dancing in the streets symbolizes the success of good
government, crafts and trades flourish; schools are open; new
buildings under construction; emphasis placed on food being
brought into the city
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the
Country, 1338-40, Public Palace, Siena, Italy
•Country: peaceful villas set
in landscape again viewed
from above, filled with
vineyards, orchard, and
bountiful harvests; distant
port for the shipment of
goods; figure of Security
holding a gallows insures
fair justice for all; aristocrats
leave town to go falconing;
farmers bring livestock and
grain to market.
•Broadly lit painting to
signify daytime, with a blueblack sky to offset the colors
Italian Gothic Sculpture
• Italian Gothic sculpture was influenced by
classical models. Although classic never passed
from the Italian art, Nicola Pisano built figures of
solid mass and firm, realistically arranged
drapery. There was a tendency to create
compositions that were crowded with various
episodes of horror vacui(fear of empty spaces),
stacked on top of one another. The main scene
dominates because of its size, but subsidiary
scenes compete for attention in available blank
space
Nicola Pisano, The Pisa Pulpit, 12591260, Pisa Baptistery, Pisa, Italy
Pulpit: five panels circle around
the elevated pulpit; Gothic
Corinthian capitals closer in
design to ancient capitals than
contemporary French; round
arches cusp in French Gothic
style; antique lions at the
base; nude heroic figure of
Hercules symbolizing Christian
bravery and strength
Annunciation and Nativity: very crowded composition of
figures on top of one another; drapery forms logically around
bodies that are stocky and solidly conceived; as in Italian
painting, facial expressions and gestures enliven figures that
communicate with each other.
Giovanni Pisano, Pisa Pulpit, 1302-1310,
marble, Pisa Cathedral
•Figures are widely spaced and scenes
separated
•Dynamic movement of figures, they are
not a static as Nicola Pisano’s
•Deeply cut sculpture creating shadows
•Inspired by French Gothic models more
than classical Roman ones.
Vocabulary Words
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Allegory
Altarpiece
International Gothic Style
Maesta’
Maniera greca
Predella
Tempera
Trecentro
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following painters is
closest to the spirit of maniera greca?
A. Cimabue
B. Giotto
C. Duccio
D. Simone Martini
2. This painting an
example of
International Gothic
because
A. It has a predella
B. It is a religious scene
C. It is dedicated to
Mary
D. The costumes are
lavish
3. This painting is
from the Sienese
Gothic School
because
A. There is no
exploration of depth
B. The altarpiece has
large gables
C. The drapery falls in
elegant, complex
patterns
D. There are saints in
the side panels.
4. The artist of this
work is
A. Giotto
B. Simone Martini
C. Duccio
D. Pietro Lorenzetti
5. Unlike earlier
medieval works this
large painting
A. Is done in mosaic
B. Stands independently
C. Contains symbolism
D. Is an allegory
6. Paintings, even major altarpieces, are
grouped around a theme. The ones
executed for Siena Cathedral were
centered on
A. The life of Jesus
B. The Annunciation and Nativity
C. The life of Mary
D. A peaceful city
7. Paintings are often done for a particular location. This work is a fresco
painted for
A.
B.
C.
D.
Siena Cathedral
The Public Palace in Siena
Florence Cathedral
Pisa Cathedral Baptistery
8. The significance of the location of this work lies in its message that
A.
B.
C.
D.
Faithful people go to heaven
Happy people live lives of charity and love
Good government leads to a happy citizenry
The morally correct will prosper no matter what the city government does
9. The artist who signed this work is
A.
B.
C.
D.
Duccio
Simone Martini
Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Nicola Pisano
10. When artists left their apprenticeships,
their careers were directed by
A. Patrons
B. The church
C. Guilds
D. Master artists
Essay, 10 minutes
This work was done in Late Gothic Italy in
either the Florentine or the Sienese
tradition. In which tradition would you
place this painting and why?