Medieval vs. Early Renaissance Art Lecture
Art within manuscript, one manuscript might be the life’s work of a monk
Kiss of Judas, Book of Hours http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/literature/medieval art.html
“B” source unknown
Stained glass was one way to educate the illiterate about the stories of the Bible
Christ Giving the Keys to Peter, ca. 1315, German; Cologne, Potmetal glass and vitreous paint; Christ: 28 x 13 5/8 in. (71 x 34.5 cm),
Peter: 27 3/4 x 13 1/8 in. (70.5 x 33.2 cm)
Church of Saints Peter and Paul, East Harling, c. 1463-80. Virgin contemplates the child (as in Bridget of Sweden’s Revelations); two midwives are in the background.
St. Chappelle Entire walls made of stained glass, covers multiple
Bible stories
Slim, elongated figures attached to the Church wall – medieval sculptors did not know how to create free-standing statues and needed the wall to support their statues. The 12 apostles are a common subject for Cathedral Walls

All figures attached to the walls, very ornate in order to tell as many stories as possible
Mosaic (more of a eastern European tradition) http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/Justinian.jpg
Stiff, Symbolic
Lack of realism (nose, hands, eyes)
Baby looks like a small adult
Icons were not signed, the work was done for the glory of God, (and
God was considered to be the origin of the artist’s talent) not the glory of the individual artist. Modern art historians can only guess at who created many icons.
Rick Steeve describes Medieval Art as the time when “art was a flat as the world”
This is by the Biagello Master (his name is unknown, but many works of art in this region are similar, so art historians had identified him as the “Biagello Master”, Madonna and Child Enthroned, 2 nd quarter of the 13 th century in the Ufizzi Gallery
Baby steps in the march toward 3-D
Crucifix with Stories from the Passion, Ufizzi Gallery
Pisan artist of the late 12 th century
The artist attempted 3-D by painting Christ’s head on a separate piece of wood and tipping it forward http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Bernardo Daddi : Madonna and Child (c. 1335) - 37K , Vatican collections
Coming closer to the Renaissance, the artist is actually identified
Duccio de Buoninsegne, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Six
Angels, 1285 Ufizzi Gallery
No real background, the angels are just stacked on top of one another
Perspective of the throne is off, its ¾ on one side, head on on the other
Mary is like a cardboard cutout hovering just above the throne
In general these medieval madonnas have religious subjects, gold backgrounds, two dimensionality and meticulous detail http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Cimabue – Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels, the Patriarch
Abraham and Prophets Jeremiah, David, and Isiah
Throne creates an illusion of depth
Foot actually hangs out over the edge of the throne
But the angels are still stacked http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Simone Martini, Annunciation with Saints Ansanus and Maxima
Not exactly 3D, more about teaching a Bible story. Lots of symbols –
Lilies symbolize Mary’s purity, the Holy Spirit appears as a Dove
The words read (in Latin) “Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.”
She doesn’t look too happy. http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Medieval artists can’t imagine Mary down on earth, she is floating in a golden heaven
But the canopied throne creates a three dimensional stage, the people actually look like people. The angels are in perspective. The step lead into the painting. Mary is big and monumental (like a
Roman statue) with a real body.
Giotto – Madonna and Child Enthroned Among Angels and Saints,
1310 Ufizi Gallery http://www.wga.hu/framese.html?/html/g/giotto/z_panel/2panel/40maesta.html
Giotto: Painted human figures that looked real and lifelike, with bodies and faces that seemed fully rounded
Created an illusion of depth
People in the painting seemed to interact with each other
Faces showed realistic emotion
Virgin has a long, sad face – she is seeing into the future. Blue pigment has not stood up to the test of time. (Lapis Lazuli was applied with a binding medium over dry plaster since it was so valuable.)
Lots of examples of Giotto
Scrovengi Chapel In Padua, near Venice
Life of Joachim, the Virgin, Christ
Assisi is in between Rome and Florence, about 80 miles from each.
Giotto MAY have created these paintings
Lifelike figures, not much perspective

St. Francis covered by the bishop. His father being restrained. God portrayed by a hand. Again perspective is off
St. Francis hears a voice telling him to repair the church, giving up wealth, pope dreaming of the Church being held up by St. Francis
September 26, 1997 earthquake 4 people killed, frescoes fragmented
Couple more slides
At the National Museum of San Marco – an monastery built by
Cosimo d’Medici
Gentile de Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, Ufizzi Gallery 1423
Incredible details which are realistic
But the picture has both the wise men greeting Jesus and their returning home (in the background)
This is typical of the international Gothic style – overdone ornamentation
Religious subject is just an excuse to paint secular luxuries http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano, Ufizzi Gallery around 1456
Colorful battle scene which is really an exercise in perspective.
Some of the figures are in perspective, but others are way off. The gray horse is done well but the figure on the right is too small. The

hedges add distance in the background, but then the men and rabbits are huge. The artist literally almost drove himself crazy trying to get the perspective right.
Originally hung in the bedroom of Lorenzo the Magnificent http://www.virtualuffizi.com/uffizi1/Uffizi_Pictures.asp?Contatore=
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Pulled together perspective, realism, narrative power and an
effective use of light and dark (chiaroscuro) . McKay calls him the father of modern painting.
Masaccio (b. 1401 to 1428) (b. Frescoes in the Cappella Brancacci in
Florence (right view), 1426-82, Fresco, Santa Maria del Carmine,
Florence
(The Raising of Tabitha on right, Healing of a Cripple on left)
Studied Giotto, friends with Brunelleschi and Donatello. Since
Masaccio died young, the work was finished by other artists.
Perspective point is right about the head of Jesus
Christ telling Peter to pay the tax in the center, Peter getting the coin from a fish on the left, Peter paying the tax on the right.
Painted right at a time when Florence had enacted a new means based test
Two slides
Ideal City c. 1470
Panel, 60 x 200 cm
Galleria Nazionale, Urbino
(1420-1492) McKay says that he pioneered perspective, but actually he wrote treatises on perspective. He was a mathematician who was fascinated by perspective. della Francesca wrote the treatises "De Prospectiva pingendi" and
"De Corporibus regularibus", in which he analysed the theoretical and scientific foundations of his pictorial culture. Thereafter he seems to have devoted himself to mathematics and perspective, writing treatises on both subjects. It is debated whether della

Francesca or a close associate of his painted this painting.
Also a picture of the entire Brancacci Chapel
Utilization of perspective and foreshortening (a method of drawing an object or figure in a picture in depth. The artist records, in varying degrees, the distortion that is seen by the eye when an object or figure is viewed at a distance or at an unusual angle)
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ c. 1490 Tempera on canvas,
68 x 81 cm Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Canvas was a Renaissance innovation.