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Reading
Adams- Art Across Time- Chapter 13- The Early Renaissance-
Summary and Study Guide
Chronology
1468
Rossellino: Matteo Palmieri
1470
Alberti: Church of San Andrea, Mantua
c. 1475
Pollaiuolo: Herakles and Antaios
1478
Botticelli: Primavera
c. 1480
Botticelli: The Birth of Venus
c.1483-1488
Verrocchio: Equestrian Monument of Colleoni, Venice
The Early Renaissance
When you hear the word “RENAISSANCE” what comes to mind?
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Italy as a nation-state does NOT exist Instead the area was divided into a number of AUTONOMOUS (self-governing) regions. By 1350,
northern Italy was a highly urban region. Three cities (Genoa, Venice, Florence) had populations of about 100,000 people, a huge cities for the
time. These were COSMOPOLITAN (worldly, sophisticated, urbane) centers of trade and commerce. Fertile places for new ideas.
Rise of Wealthy Merchant Families: As trade grew, a new class of merchants and bankers rapidly arose and had a powerful impact upon the
Renaissance providing, For the first time in centuries, new patrons of the arts. The Church is still very important
The Renaissance was noticed in Italy first. However, major artistic developments began to occur simultaneously in Northern Europe. We will
study the Northern Renaissance after our investigation of the Italian Renaissance.
The Early Renaissance was a time of experimentation; it was during this time that artists discovered the mathematical formulas necessary for
representing perspective and space accurately on a two-dimensional surface. There was innovation not only in architecture and painting, but
also in sculpture, where the movement toward an art of realism based upon observation was at the same time interpreted in a Classical mode.
Humanism
Humanism was the basic concept of the Italian Renaissance. It is the term used to define
that philosophical movement in Italy at the end of the 14th century and during the 15th and
16th centuries which asserted the right of the individual to the use of his own reason and
belief, and stressed the importance and potential of man as an individual.
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Humanism means the rediscovery of the art and literature of ancient Greece and
Rome
Humanists were scholars, writers, and artists who rediscovered and then studied
the cultural heritage of Greece and Rome.
This concept can be identified with a belief in the power of learning and science to
produce "the complete man". This rational and scientific conception of the world is
the basis of our modern civilization. Modern Humanism originated in the
Renaissance when scholars, writers, poets, artists, philosophers and scientists
sought regeneration in the freer intellectual spirit of Classical times.
The Humanists saw no conflict between the New Learning--the newly rediscovered
wisdom of the ancient world--and the authority of the Church. They felt that the
study of the ancient great writers of Greece and Rome was a tool for the
understanding of true Christian doctrine, and that Platonic philosophy (the belief
in the ideal of physical beauty as the manifestation of God, the One Supreme
Being) could only illuminate, never undermine, theology.
“Man is the Measure of all Thingss”
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This rediscovery of the Greco-Roman heritage sparked a renewed interest in HUMANS including
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Human form
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Human emotions and personalities
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Human potential
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Human achievements – especially heroic deeds.While religion had been the focus of much of medieval thought, the Italians of the
fifteenth century were very much interested in humanity. For the Italians, the person literally became the "measure of all things."
Interest in nature was combined with a passion for mathematics, for structure, and with a great belief in man's capacity to reason.
Art was much more closely linked to science and mathematics in Florence than it was in the North. The interest in man and
mathematics in fifteenth century Italy can be symbolized by the image known as "Vitruvian Man," which combines the figure of man
with a combination of the circle and the square. These two basic geometric figures were thought to reflect the perfect harmony in
the universe.
Natural world
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Curiosity about the natural world
Detailed observation of nature
Accurate representation of nature – will lead to important breakthroughs in art
Individualism
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What is the reward for heroic achievement?
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Fame
Wealth
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Artists have names from now on
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Portraits
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Of patrons
Of themselves – self-portraits
Autobiographies
A Historically Self-Conscious Age
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Classical Civilization
Middle Ages sometimes called the “Dark Ages”
The Renaissance or “rebirth”
The Fifteenth Century in Florence(1400s) The Quattrocento
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Masaccio
Donatello
Botticelli
Ghiberti
Brunelleschi
Alberti
Many historians consider Florence to have been the source of the Renaissance, which commenced at the beginning of the fifteenth cen¬tury.
Florence was then governed by wealthy families from the merchant class, including the Albizzi, Capponi, Medici, Pazzi, and Strozzi. By the 1430s,
however, it was the Medici family that ruled the city, though not by title. The Medici were also great patrons of the arts and literature.
More detailed observation of man himself and of nature followed in the 15th century with
the growth of interest in anatomy, perspective, details of nature, landscape backgrounds,
and form and color in light.
Paintings of the 15th century also reflect the growing curiosity about man's achievement in
Italy's past--that is, the Classic past.
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It is this preoccupation with and study of Classic culture and art that gave the
Renaissance in Italy its particular character.
Classic culture also brought with it mythology and the ideal of beauty.
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Ideas and Concepts: Humanism, Neoplatonism, and Aristotelianism
The art of a period is a reflection of the psychological, religious, and political forces at work
during that period.
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Classical Humanism and the Renaissance
Many Renaissance artists and thinkers believed that their own period represented a rebirth
of the great classical age. The term "Renaissance" literally means Rebirth." In the medieval
view of history the period of the classical Greek and Roman civilizations had been an age of
darkness. With the birth of Christ light had entered the world and progress had continued
since that time. The great fourteenth century writer, Dante, considered classical antiquity to
be equal to Christian times. He couldn't condemn the great Greek philosophers to
damnation but, instead, in his Divine Comedy, placed them in limbo with the unbaptized
babies.
His compatriot, Petrarch, took the definitive step when he presented the position that it was
the Christian period, not the classical one, that represented the Dark Ages. He longed for a
return to the shining age of classical antiquity. This spirit grew among fifteenth century
Italian artists and scholars, and these men came to believe that they were truly living in a
new age, in a revival of the glorified past. The painter Mantegna made a pilgrimage on the
birthday of the Roman writer Virgil.
Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of Florence in the second half of the fifteenth century,
established an academy of scholars who devoted themselves to the revival of classical
philosophy, literature, and art. These scholars felt their major task was to harmonize the
tenets of classical humanism as represented in the works of the great pagan philosophers
with the beliefs of the Christian church.
Classical forms slowly found their way into Christian art. At first Greek and Roman forms
were adapted to Christian representations, as we saw in the great pulpit that Nicola Pisano
created for the baptistry of Pisa Cathedral about 1260 (Figure 15 1). The interest in the
forms of classical antiquity became almost a passion with many fifteenth century Florentine
artists. The architect Brunelleschi and the sculptor Donatello made a trip to Rome, where
they carefully observed and measured all the ancient Roman buildings and statues they
could find there. Donatello's mounted equestrian portrait (Figure 16 13) is a clear reflection
of the Roman statue of Marcus Aurelius he saw in Rome (Figure 6 77). Apparently Donatello
was fascinated also by the classical nude figures he saw, their idealized forms representing
man at his most glorious. Donatello's bronze David (Figure 16 12) clearly reflects this
interest, even though it represents a Biblical subject. It is the first freestanding nude figure
since classical times. The figure illustrates Donatello's rediscovery of the classical device of
"contrapposto,~ or Weight shifts in which the weight is thrown on one foot, with the
consequence that one side of the body is shown relaxed while the other has a contrasting
tension. This pose had been discovered by the ancient Greeks in the fifth century and had
been used by them and by the Romans (Figure 5 68).
The greatest reconciliation of classical and late medieval form in painting is seen in the work
of Sandro Botticelli (Figure 16 60). Many of Botticelli's paintings are firmly anchored in the
philosophic speculations of the members of Lorenzo de' Medici's Platonic Academy.
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Humanists like Poliziano and Marsilio Ficino attempted to reconcile the concepts of pagan
philosophy with the principles of Christianity, just as Botticelli synthesized the visual styles.
The careful detailing, the flattened space, and the decorative linear forms all refer to the
International Gothic style, and the painting seems to be closely related to the amine fleur"
tapestries. Although the nude Venus is based on a classical prototype (Figure 5 63), she does
not stand solidly on her feet. Classical figures always had a firm sense of body solidity, but
Botticelli's Venus seems to float. She is a very beautiful figure, and for the Neo Platonic
philosopher, Beauty was synonymous with Truth. The composition illustrates the
progression of Beauty and guides the soul upward from the material world to the realm of
pure truth, to union with God.
Earthly, natural beauty can lead us to contemplation of celestial beauty. This hierarchy of
beauty is clearer if you understand Plato's definition of reality. Plato believed that truth
resides in the pure ideas in the mind of the Boned In the Republic, Plato used the illustration
of a group of people chained in a cave in such a way that they could only look in one
direction. Behind them a great fire blazed and it threw shadows on the wall that could be
seen by the chained beings. The shadows they saw were cast by figures moving and dancing
behind them, but since the shadows were the only thing they could see, they mistook them
for reality. A philosopher escaped from the chains and saw the real objects that were casting
the shadows. Plato explained that the things we saw around us were like the shadow, mere
reflections of the true and perfect forms that exist on a higher plane.
For the Neo Platonic philosophers everything in the world emanates from the God head, but
each thing is more or less perfect according to the degree of nearness or remoteness from
the source. Next to the original none," reason is most perfect. It contains in itself the Ideal
World and the whole of true and changeless being. From reason emanates the World soul
that actualized the ideal forms in sensible matter. Matter is undetermined and has no being
in itself. The visible world is a transcription of the World soul. In a sense the World soul is
like a computer program, containing the true essence of the reality that will be realized
when the program has been implemented. As the World soul links reason and matter, so the
individual souls partake of both reason and sense. Souls come down from the rational or
light world, which is their real home and they retain a recollection of it and a longing to
return. The strongest incentive for the return of the soul to its original home is the love of
Beauty. The contemplation of earthly Beauty can lead us to an understanding of pure
Beauty, and since Beauty and Truth are synonymous for the Neo Platonist we are carried
through Beauty and Truth into the realm of pure being and so merge with God, the source of
all being.
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Ideas and Concepts:
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Humanism
Neoplatonism
Aristotelianism
Neo-Platonism
Neo-Platonism in the Renaissance was the philosophy based on the teachings and doctrines
of a group of thinkers of the early Christian era who endeavored to reconcile the teachings
of Plato with
Christian concepts.
The Neo-Platonists, being at the same time both lovers of the pagan past with its
Platonic ideals of physical beauty, and being Christians, wanted to fuse this pagan idealism
with Christian doctrine. The art and taste during the Renaissance for complicated
mythological fantasies intermingled with allegories and symbolisms tried to achieve this
fusion of the Platonic idealism with Christian doctrine. The allegorical value of the art lies in
this union of the Classical antique and the Christian.
The Neo-Platonists conceived of the Christian religion as an eternal doctrine existing
even before the advent of historical Christianity. The main object of the Neo-Platonic
Academy in Florence in the 15th century was the reconciliation of the spirit of antiquity with
that of Christianity.
The meaning of God to the Neo-Platonists was thus:
God was Beauty and the source of Beauty.
God's image is Man.
Therefore, the ideally beautiful Man is the closest approximation of
God on this earth.
Michelangelo was the greatest Neo-Platonic artist who believed that the spirit of Classical
art inspired and guided the formation of the concetto (concept) of beauty in the mind.
Aristotelianism
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In the Renaissance, another school of classical learning was coterminous and was
finally reconciled with Neo-Platonism, called
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Aristotelianism. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) first formulated this concept of art
based on the writings of Aristotle via Vitruvius (early 1st century A.D. classical
author). It is the Aristotelian conception of the visible world as ultimate reality.
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Alberti's concept of beauty in a work of art is the harmony between all the parts so
that nothing can be added to it or taken from it without impairing the whole. The
work of art is synthesized by adding together the most beautiful observable
examples of the component parts. Leonardo da Vinci, always the scientist, even
when a painter, was the chief exponent of the Aristotelian concept.
Relief Sculpture: The Baptistery Doors Competition
Representative of the new artistic era of Florence was a competition held in 1401 for the design of the north doors of the Baptistery of Florence,
which was built in the eleventh century. The south doors of the Baptistery, cast in bronze, had been designed by Andrea Pisano and were Gothic in
style. Six artists were selected from those who entered the competition, and they were given one year to design and produce a panel cast in bronze
depicting the Old Testament story of the sacrifice of Isaac. At the end of the year, the works of the artists were judged, and the field was narrowed
down to the work of two young artists: Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1381-1455). As it happened, their entries to the
competition also were the least conservative and traditional of the works submitted.
Brunelleschi's Entry
Brunelleschi's entry depicted the exact instant Abraham's thrust of the knife toward his son Isaac's throat was stopped by an angel of the Lord.
Brunelleschi's placement of the figures within the panel seemed to be in response to the four-lobed (quatrefoil) form of the panel itself, with the
angel on the left, Abraham on the right, and Isaac in the middle-a fairly symmetrical composition. The stances of the figures as well as the sweeping
drapery that enveloped them appeared to reflect the shape of the panel.
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Ghiberti's Entry
The panel that Ghiberti submitted-and for which he won the prize-portrayed Abraham and Isaac at a moment in time when Abraham was about to
thrust the knife into his son's throat. His placement of the figures within the panel was asymmetrical, with the focus of attention upon Abraham in
the middle and Isaac on the right. Ghiberti's treatment of the figure of Isaac reveals, in part, the direction the Renaissance was to flow. His Isaac
was obviously based upon earlier Classical works, as reflected in the figure's musculature and well¬proportioned form; the panel reflects both a
sense of realism and the quality of idealized beauty. Ghiberti's design for the doors followed the format established by Pisano on the south doors,
with the space divided up into twenty-eight quatrefoils, each representing a figure or a biblical scene. As in his prize-winning panel, Ghiberti's style
as seen in his treatment of the figures and his use of space represented a shift from Gothic idealism to naturalism.
Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
Soon after Ghiberti's doors were completed and installed, he was offered the opportunity to create yet another set of doors, this time for the
eastern side of the baptistery facing the cathedral. These doors took twenty-five years to complete and were finally set in place in 1452. His design
for these doors changed somewhat from the earlier ones, as seen, for example, in the manner in which he reduced the number of panels from
twenty-eight to ten and used the same figural proportion throughout, so that the foreground figures were all the same size. His treatment of space,
perspective, and the figure suggests his continued study of nature. These doors so impressed the artist Michelangelo that he referred to them as
the Gates of Paradise, a title still in use today.
Jacopo della Quercia
Another artist who submitted a panel for consideration in the baptistery competition of 1401 was Jacopo della Quercia (c. 1374¬1438). His relief
panel, The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (1430), part of a series he created for the Church of San Petronio in Bologna, consisted of wellmuscled figures that reflected the Classical period. Though sculpted in relief, the forms seem nearly powerful enough to stand on their own.
Nanni di Banco
The Quattro Santi Coronati (1410-1414), found in an outside niche of the Church of Or San Michele in Florence, do stand on their own. The life-size
figures commemorate the martyrdom of four Christian sculptors who refused the Roman emperor Diocletian his request for pagan images.
Sculpted by Nanni di Banco (c. 1384-1421), they reflect a partial resolution to the problem of integrating sculpture and architec-ture. Though the
niche is part of the architecture, the treatment of its space conveys a sense of separation. The figures relate to one another, not only because they
are installed in a semicircular pattern, but also because they are gesturing toward and looking at each other; while one "speaks," the others
"listen."
Sculpture Donatello
The movement toward an art of realism based upon observation of the world, yet at the same time interpreted in a Classical mode, comes together
with the work of the sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi (1386-1466). Better known as Donatello, he is considered to be the progenitor of
modern sculpture. As a youth, Donatello was one of a number of assistants who worked with Ghiberti on the first set of the bronze doors for the
Baptistery of Florence.
An early work, St. Mark (1411-1413), commissioned for the Or San Michele in Florence, reflects Donatello's awareness of Classical Greek and
Roman sculpture, his familiarity with the Bible, and his desire to imbue his works with a sense of animation. The pose of St. Mark and the manner
in which the figure's weight is distributed are distinctly Greek, and it is here that we first see the use of contrapposto since the Classical period. At
the same time, Donatello has imbued the figure with a personality, perhaps the result of his readings of the Gospel. Though the figure was placed
within a niche, in a sense removing it from the immediate environment of the viewer, it is free¬standing and self-sustaining, and its impact upon
the viewer owes little to the environment within which it exists. The figure of St. Mark is very lifelike, and the enveloping drapery is not
independent of the body beneath, but seems to move with it.
In 1415, Donatello was commissioned by the armorers' guild to do a sculpture of St. George (1415-1417) for the Or San Michele in Florence. This
work is considered by many to be of special significance because, they feel, more than appealing to the viewer schematically on a purely symbolic
level, it also reaches out psychologically. Donatello achieved this psychological effect by imbuing the figure with per¬sonality. The character and
inner strength of St. George are apparent; the niche within which he stands is shallow, and he appears to share the space of the viewer more than
that of the architecture. Here we see another change occurring in the Renaissance, the shift from saint as symbol to man as hero.
During the next twenty years, among other works, Donatello sculpted five statues for the campanile of the Cathedral of Florence. One of the most
interesting, reflecting Donatello's attention to personality and the inner psyche, is the figure of a prophet (1423-1425) that has come to be known
as Zuccone, or "pumpkin head." Zuccone is bald, and his features, figure, and costume are realistically sculpted in the manner of portrait sculpture
from Roman times. The somewhat disheveled appearance of the drapery that envelops Zuccone belies the power and intensity of his stare. Close
scrutiny is required to grasp the subtlety of the craftsmanship.
Donatello's David (c. 1425-1430) is honored as being the first free-standing nude statue to be presented in the round since antiquity. Classical in
nature, the nude David is portrayed as neither an athlete nor a god but as a self-conscious, introspective figure, albeit a sensuous one, reflecting
Donatello's ability to combine naturalism and idealization and to infuse a figure with a sense of both action and inaction. As a milestone in
Renaissance art, David represents the achievement of high-quality bronze casting, the acceptance of free-standing sculpture, and the use of the
nude as a subject, which had been considered generally inappropriate during the Middle Ages.
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From between 1445 to 1450, Donatello worked on a commission in Padua. The work was an equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni, also known as
Gattamelata, who was a captain-general of the Venetian army. Like the equestrian statues of Rome, Donatello's equestrian statue of Erasmo da
Narni conveyed a sense of restrained power of both beast and man. Though dressed in Roman armor, da Narni's costume reflects the style of the
period. Also interesting to note is the manner in which Donatello modeled the features of the figure's face so that it would most effectively be
perceived from ground level rather than at eye level.
The Portrait Bust
Throughout the latter half of the fifteenth century, Donatello's successors continued to develop his innovations in sculpture. During this age of
humanism, the portrait bust again became popular. Antonio Rossellino's portrait bust of Matteo Palmieri (1468) is realistic and lifelike in its sense
of individuality but does not possess the death mask quality that is typical of many of the earlier Roman portrait busts.
The growth of portraiture reflected the Renaissance concern with individualism and is another reflection of man as the measure of all things. In
fifteenth century Italy humanity was significant for itself, not merely as part of a religious hierarchy. Earlier portraits had most often been done in
connection with devotional foundations, and they were often imaginary representations, for example the thirteenth century representations of
Ekkehard and Uta in Naumburg Cathedral that represented earlier benefactors of the cathedral (Figure 10 54).
In fifteenth century Italy monuments and portraits praising the worldly accomplishments of individuals became increasingly popular. One popular
type showed a condottiere, or military leader, on horseback. One of the most important of these monuments (Figure 16 13), done by the sculptor
Donatello about 1445 to 1450, is a portrait of Erasmo da Narni, known as the "Gattamelata." This portrait of a famous mercenary leader was
erected in the city square of Padua by a thankful populace. This is one of the first times since the Roman period that monumental sculpture was
removed from a religious context; its sole purpose was to praise an individual. The form itself was freed from the medieval attachment to
architecture, as had been the case with Donatello's earlier figures of St. Mark (Figure 16¬5) and St. George (Figure 16 6). Medieval statues were
attached to the church, subordinate to it. Literally as well as symbolically, humanity and sculptured representations freed themselves from the
church as the Renaissance progressed. The military leaders in Italy were important in the shift from exclusive concern with salvation to the concept
of worldly glory. Andrea del Castagno painted another popular commander, Piippo Spano (Figure 16 31), and Verrocchio created an even more
imposing evocation of worldly power in his monument to Colleoni (Figure 16 53), which was erected in Venice in the 1480s.
We see a full range of fifteenth century Italians in portraits like the apostolic legate and author, Matteo Palmieri by Rossellino (Figure 16 49),
Ghirlandaio's magnificently dressed young woman (Figure 16 58), the unknown young man painted by Botticelli (Figure 16 59), or the delightful
child carved by Desiderio (Figure 16 50). The entire family of the Duke of Mantua was painted by Mantegna in the famous frescoes of the Camera
degli Sposi in the Ducal palace in Mantua (Figure 16 64). Ghirlandaio gave us a marvelous glimpse of upper middle class Florentine life disguised as
a painting of the Birth of the Virgin (Figure 16 57).
Suggested Images: Figures 10 28,10 48,10 54,16 5,16 6,16 13, 16 20, 16 21, 16 22, 16 31, 16 49, 16 50, 16 57, 16 58, 16 59, 16 60, 1644
Andrea del Verrocchio
Probably the most significant sculptor of the latter half of the fifteenth century was Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), whose stu¬dents included,
among others, Leonardo da Vinci. Like Donatello, Verrocchio also made a bronze David (1465). Verrocchio's David possesses the physicality, stance,
and attitude of a young man who has just achieved a great victory. Whereas Donatello's David was relaxed, Verrocchio's possesses the tension of
the fight.
Another comparison may be made between the work of the two master sculptors by way of Donatello's equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni
(1445-1450) and Verrocchio's equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni (c. 1483-1488). Given the challenge of representing the con¬dottiere,
Verrocchio created a work of great power and energy. Bartolommeo Colleoni's horse does not walk, it prances; its powerful neck twists to one side,
muscles rippling with excitement as it is reined in by its rider. The condottiere himself is portrayed as a powerful figure, with the stirrups bearing his
weight as he seems to lift himself from the saddle while turning to address his troops.
Antonio del Pollaiuolo
Though much of the figure sculpture made during this time por¬trayed individuals at rest or at intervals of motion, the bronze sculpture Herakles
and Antaios (c. 1475) by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1431-1498) is worthy of notice because it depicts two individuals in motion as combatants and
because it represents a return to Classicism for subject matter as well as style.
Painting
At the same time that Donatello was struggling with naturalism and animation in his sculpture, the early Renaissance painters were grap¬pling with
these same concepts as they applied to the flat, two-dimen-sional surfaces upon which they worked.
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Tommaso Guidi Masaccio
One painter whose work was highly influential was Tommaso Guidi Masaccio (1401-1428). Masaccio combined contemporary ad¬vances in
perspective and the naturalistic style with the style of Giotto to arrive at a new way of representing space on a flat surface. His best-known work,
The Tribute Money (c. 1427), reflects his mastery of composition in the manner in which he depicts three episodes of the story in the same
painting. The focal point of the painting is the group of Apostles with Christ in the middle, placed just off-center in the composition. Here, Christ is
telling Peter to pay the tax collector with a coin he will find in a fish's mouth. To the left Peter is depicted at the water's edge removing the coin
from the fish's mouth. This episode is not apparently that significant to Masaccio, for it is placed at the very edge of the composition. Attention is
then called to the conclusion of the story, where, on the right, Peter pays the tax collector. Masaccio's use of architecture as background effectively
separates the two figures from the rest of the composition.
Like Donatello, Masaccio's use of contrapposto imbues his figures with substance and weight. The drapery that envelops them reflects the
structure of the forms and the flesh underneath and allows the viewer to believe that the figures are capable of movement. Masaccio's use of light
and shadow imparts a dramatic sense of modeling to the figures and the illusion of depth within the picture plane. A sense of real space is created
by arranging the group of Apostles in a circle around Jesus; as the space within the painting recedes, forms and colors become less distinct as they
do in the visual world we live in.
Perspective and Representation of the Human Figure
Other Renaissance painters would continue to focus their efforts toward perfecting the application of perspective and the representation of the
human form structurally. The painting Battle of San Romano (c. 1455), by Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), reflects the artist's passion for depicting
perspective and his lesser interest in convincingly repre¬senting the human form. Andrea del Castagno (1423-1457), in his Last Supper (c. 14451450), employs perspective in so rigid a manner that it limits the perceived potential for movement on the part of the characters he portrays.
A contemporary of Castagno, Domenico Veneziano (1410-1461) also strove to master the phenomena of perspective and naturalistic figure
depiction. His St. Lucy Altarpiece (1445), an early genre example of the sacra conversazione, in which figures appear to be in conversa¬tion with the
viewer or one another, reflects his level of craftsmanship.
The work of Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1492), a student of Domenico and a great admirer of Masaccio, incorporated the rules of geometry and
mathematics as a basis for pictorial composition. In his fresco painting The Resurrection (c. 1460), Piero has arranged his figures in such a way as to
form a triangle, with the sleeping soldiers at the base and Christ's head at the apex, his body forming the vertical axis of the painting. By arranging
Christ in a pose that has his left leg raised and bent and his right arm lifted while holding a staff and banner, Piero has softened the symmetrical
arrangement of the composition. Though there is a definite structure that contributes to the strength of the composition, the figures themselves
are fluid and natural in their poses.
The Depiction of Realism in the Human Figure
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, mentioned earlier as a sculptor, was also an engraver and a painter. His engraving Battle of Ten Naked Men (c. 1465-1470)
reflects his interest in pursuing the depiction of realism in the human figure [see illustration 5]. By creating a scene of battle, he has provided
himself with the opportunity to portray the human figure in action in a variety of poses and from many different angles. Though Pollaiuolo was
familiar with human anatomy, his figures appear to be somewhat stiff due to the fact that he has depicted his combatants with all their muscles
contracted, not realizing that in reality, while some muscles are contracting others are relaxed. The power of this image reflects Pollaiuolo's use of
outline rather than modeling to indicate action. His treatment of the figures' faces reflects the strain portrayed in their poses, linking physical
action and emotional level.
Sandro Botticelli
A major painter of this era was Sandro Botticelli (c. 1444-1510) who, like Raphael and Michelangelo, had the good fortune to receive the patronage
of the Medici family. Botticelli's paintings Primavera (1478) and The Birth of Venus (c. 1480) are two large works that the Medici family
commissioned for their villa. Both works reflect the artist's interest in Greek and Roman myths as sources for his paintings, as well as his interest in
the portrayal of the feminine form. His women are sensuously modeled and seem nearly weightless; it is obvious that his attention is focused upon
them rather than upon the space of the composition, which is rather flat and shallow. In both paintings, Venus is the main subject, reflecting a shift
away from the traditional female subjects of Eve and Mary. Botticelli's Birth of Venus is especially significant because his nude Venus is the first
portrayal of a large female nude since the Classical period.
2.
Linear Perspective
Perhaps the most important manifestation of "man as the measure of all things" was the establishment of what we call linear perspective in
Florence in the 1420s. Credit for the invention or discovery is generally given to Brunelleschi, the architect of the Pazzi Chapel. Brunelleschi is said
to have cut a hole in a panel, then looked through the hole at a cityscape and painted exactly what he saw. One important aspect of this exercise
was that it limited the spectator to a single position in space and then related the painted composition to the exact position of the spectator's eye.
The basic principles of perspective can be seen in Masaccio's Trinity fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (Figure 16 28). In linear
single point perspective all the orthogonals, that is those lines that are perpendicular to the picture plane, meet at a single point on the horizon.
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We call this the vanishing point. The orthogonals of the ceiling are above our eye level. If each were extended they converge at a single point at the
base, which would correspond to our eye level. Conversely, any orthogonals that are below our eye level seem to converge upward as we see in
Piero della Francesca's Flagellation of Christ (Figure 16 33). Notice how the lines that are above the figures seem to converge downward to the
vanishing point while those that are below converge upward. It is easy to construct a perspective drawing once one has located the vanishing point.
All lines perpendicular to the picture plane must converge on that point, whether they are above the horizon line or below it. Notice the squares of
the floor are below the eye level. The extension of these lines converge on the same vanishing point as do extensions of the lines at the ceiling
overhead. The level of the horizon line depends on the position of the spectator. A very high viewpoint will create a very high horizon line. We call
this a Wrd's eye view. In the opposite situation, called a worm's eye view, the spectator is placed very low and the horizon line is also very low.
Depicting a scene from below is also referred to by the Italian term di sotto in su.
In 1435 the theoretician and architect Albert wrote down the rules of perspective:
Rule 1. There is no distortion of straight lines.
Rule 2. There is no distortion of objects parallel to the picture plane.
Rule 3. Orthogonals converge in a single vanishing point depending on the position of the observer's eye.
Rule 4. Size diminishes relative to distance.
For the Medieval western and Byzantine artist, size had been a function of the importance of the subject. In the Romanesque fresco of Figure 9 37,
for example, the Virgin and Child are much larger than the Magi or the Apostles. When Domenico Veneziano shows the Virgin and Child
surrounded by sainb (Figure 16 32), they all must obey the laws of Renaissance space. Castagno's setting for the Last Supper (Figure 16 30) follows
all the rules of perspective. Look at the converging orthogonals of the benches, the walls, and particularly the ceiling. The ceiling, with its
alternating black and white squares, might have been done by an Op artist of the 1960s.
Perspective techniques were applied to relief sculpture, as well as to painting, as you can see from the panels from Ghiberti's cast doors of the
Florence Baptistry (Figure 16 11). Notice the complex architectural setting of the meeting of Isaac and his Sons. There are many figures and a
multitude of architectural details, yet the composition is very clear and uncluttered, the figures move easily and gracefully in this rational, logically
constructed space.
In his Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter (Figure 16 62), Perugino painted one of the favorite perspective exercises of fifteenth¬century Italian
artists, a city square or piazza. The piazzas, which were often paved with marble squares, were so popular with artists because the structure of
converging orthogonals was already laid out for them. The moldings on the surrounding buildings added other ready made elements for the
perspective structure. By placing the centralized church right in the center of the composition, Perugino avoided one of the problems that often
arose from a strict application of the laws of perspective, which was that the lines converging in a single point tended to create a visual hole in the
center of the canvas. The squares of the piazza serve to give the correct relationships between the sizes of the figures that are placed at varying
distances from the spectator. One becomes more intrigued with Perugino's solution to formal problems than with the theme of the painting itself.
As you can see, the unification of vision with theory, of art with science, was a tremendous challenge for fifteenth century Italian artists.
The science of perspective became an absolute passion for the Florentine painter, Paolo Uccello. His biographer, Vasari, relates the problems
Uccello's wife had in getting him to leave his work and come to bed when he was involved in a problem of perspective. He turned his commission
to do four battle scenes for the Medici into just such a problem. One solution is shown in Figure 16 29. It seems strange to Wnk about a battle in
terms of geometry, but that is how Uccello saw it. Notice how he has used the broken lances on the ground to create his perspective grid work.
Even the dead knight is carefully foreshortened and is laid out precisely on a receding orthogonal.
The Florentine passion for perspective was exported in the second half of the century to other parts of Italy. We already examined a work by one of
the most accomplished masters of the new art, Piero della Francesca (Figure 16 33). Study the other example of his work in Figure 16 34. Andrea
Mantegna, who worked in Mantua, set himself elaborate perspective problems such as the worm's eye view in the painting of St. James led to
martyrdom (Figure 16 63). Even more astounding is the sharply foreshortened view of the dead Christ (Figure 16 66). You might want to give the
definition of the term foreshortening which is "the apparent visual contraction of an object viewed as extended in a plane that is not perpendicular
to the line of sight." One of the most beautiful fifteenth century rooms was painted by Mantegna for the Gonzaga family in the Palace at Mantua.
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Mantegna decorated all the walls (Figure 16 64) and the ceiling (Figure 16 65) of the Camera degli Sposi about 1474 with a series of frescoes
showing all of the members of the Gonzaga household welcoming home a son who had joined the papal court in Rome. All the wal}s and the ceiling
are painted to relate to a spectator standing in the center of the room. Most startling of all are the figures painted on the ceiling (Figure 1645), for
they are strongly foreshortened and are the first example of an illusionistic painting style that became extremely popular in the Baroque period.
This technique is sometimes referred to as na worm's eye viewn but is more commonly known by its Italian name di sotto en su perspective.
Architecture
Filippo Brunelleschi as Architect
Though Filippo Brunelleschi's entry to the competition for the bronze doors of the Baptistery of Florence was not selected for the commission in
1401, he continued to work as a sculptor and goldsmith for several years before turning toward architecture as an avocation. In his travels to
Rome, he became familiar with Roman architecture and building techniques and, through his drawings of various buildings and monuments,
contributed much to the growing body of knowledge having to do with linear perspective.
In 1420 an architectural competition was held, the prize being the honor of designing the dome (1420-1436) of the Cathedral of Florence. Again, as
in the competition of 1401, both Brunelleschi and Ghiberti entered. This time, Brunelleschi received the commission. Though construction of the
cathedral had begun in 1297, the dome was never finished because the technology had not then existed to cover a space that was 140 feet in
width. The traditional system of buttressing would not work in this case, given the octagonal drum already in place. Brunelleschi's solution was to
construct the dome out of three shells around a framework of ribs, with the two innermost shells connected by ribs and bearing most of the
weight. Brunelleschi was responsible for the design of many buildings in Florence, including the Ospedale degli Innocenti, the Church of San
Lorenzo, the Church of Santo Spirito, and the Pazzi Chapel.
The plan of Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel combines the favorite Renaissance forms—the square and the circle (Figure 16 21). The Chapel is an
excellent illustration of an architecture scaled to the person. The scale of medieval churches was intended to overwhelm people, to make them feel
small in the presence of God, while the scale of Brunelleschi's chapel was intended to make people feel as though they were the masters (Figure 16
20). The chapel was attached to a medieval cathedral; notice the height of the wall of the medieval building compared to the smaller scale of the
chapel. Compare the Gothic tower of the Sainte Chapelle spiraling upward toward God (Figure 10 28) with the low rounded dome of Brunelleschi's
chapel. The contrast is even stronger when we compare the interior of the Pazzi Chapel (Figure 16 22) with the interior of Cologne cathedral (Figure
10¬48). Use the benches as a human scale and imagine yourself kneeling in each of the buildings. How would you feel about your own sense of
worth in each case?
4.
Classical Influence on Fifteenth Century Architecture
Fifteenth century architects combined passion for geometry with ideas adapted from classical buildings. As noted above, Brunelleschi and
Donatello had made a trip to Rome where they carefully measured all the ancient Roman buildings they could find. The dome of the Pazzi Chapel
(Figure 16 20) may be an echo of the Pantheon (Figure 6 56), as may be its centralized structure and its porch with architrave and elegant classical
columns. Brunelleschi used classical pilasters in the interior as well as on the facade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Figure 16 17) where he also
added windows topped by classical pediments. While he did not slavishly copy classical prototypes, the logic and clarity of his designs is much
closer to classical models than to the architecture of the Middle Ages.
Brunelleschi used the column arch combination that was found in late Roman (Figure 6 82) and Early Christian (Figure 7 5) buildings, a combination
that Alberti did not believe was sufficiently pure. Alberti had studied the writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius and wrote a book of his own on
architecture, De re aedificatoria, which was to have a profound influence on later architects. Alberti himself adopted many Roman elements in his
buildings: converting the columned articulation of the Colosseum (Figure 6 48) to the flat facade of the Rucellai Palace (Figure 16 38), and attaching
columns and the triple arches of a Roman triumphal arch (Figure 6 95) as a shell around the medieval structure of San Francesco, Rimini (Figure
1641). He used the triumphal arch with attached pilasters as the basis for his design of the facade of Sant' Andrea, Mantua (Figure 1642) and
decorated its barrel vaults (Figure 1644) with classical Roman coffering (Figure 6 91).
Alberti added a small, beautifully proportioned classical temple at the top of the west facade of Santa Maria Novella (Figure 16 39). This small
temple is related to the lower parts of the facade through simple numerical ratios. In his writings Alberti stressed the importance of harmonic
ratios, of measure, of mathematics as the basis for beauty. These harmonic ratios were related to the old Greek concept of the harmony of the
spheres and thus tied the macrocosm to the microcosm. He used the basic and perfect geometric forms of square and circle in his facade, forms
that united heaven and earth. For the Humanists the perfect circle that had no end was the symbol of the unity, the infinite essence and the
uniformity of God. The square symbolized earth, and bringing the two together created a symbolic unity between heaven and earth.
Alberti believed that the centralized church was the ideal type. Alberti tried, but never succeeded, in building one. Brunelleschi had approximated it
with the Pazzi Chapel (Figure 16 21), and he tried to develop it more fully in Santa Maria degli Angeli (Figure 16 23), which was never finished.
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Guliano da Sangallo came close with Santa Maria delle Carcere (Figures 1645 and 1646). The full realization of the ideal had to wait until the High
Renaissance when Bramante built the Tempietto in Rome (Figure 17 6).
Leone Battista Alberti
Like Brunelleschi, the architect Leone Battista Alberti (1404¬1472) began his career as an artist. His Palazzo Rucellai (1446-145 1) in Florence
consists of three stories with a somewhat classical facade. The design of the facade was likely based upon that of the Roman Colosseum, but the
columns are nearly flush with the exterior wall, reflecting Alberti's desire to integrate Classical motif with non-Classi¬cal architecture.
In 1450, Alberti received a commission to renovate the exterior of the Gothic Church of San Francesco in Rimini. His solution was to literally build
an outer structure around the older building. The facade of the building consists of three large arched niches, the middle one encasing the entrance
being the largest. On either side of the niches are columns sitting on blocks, similar to those found on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Whereas
the columns of the Palazzo Rucellai are nearly flush with the exterior wall, allowing for a horizontal orientation to the structure, the columns of the
Church of San Francesco contribute to the facade's strong vertical orientation, as they do in earlier basilica.
Alberti resolved the problem of integrating the Classical motif with non-Classical architecture in his design for the Church of San Andrea in Mantua
in 1470. His solution can be seen in its facade. Here, in the center, Alberti placed a deep, arched niche. He again used flat columns, so as to not
draw attention away from the surface of the facade, but these columns are not as flush as those of the Palazzo Rucellai and thus serve as an accent.
The two outer pairs of columns stand the full three stories of the structure, while the columns that support the arch are only two stories tall and
are etched with vertical lines.
Art Works
know these works by sight, title, date, medium, scale, and location (original location also if moved) and be able to explain and analyze these in
relation to any concept, term, element, or principle
Art of the Florentine Republic at the beginning of the 15th century
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FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402. Gilded bronze, 1’ 9” x
1’ 5”.
LORENZO GHIBERTI, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402. Gilded bronze relief, 1’ 9”
x 1’ 5”.
LORENZO GHIBERTI, east doors (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze, 17’ high. Modern copy, ca.
1980.
LORENZO GHIBERTI, Isaac and His Sons (detail of FIG. 21-10), (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze, 2’
7 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”.
Lorenzo Ghiberti, North Doors (set #2), Baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence, 1403-1424, bronze
NANNI DI BANCO, Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1410–1416Marble, figures 6’high.
DONATELLO, Saint Mark, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, 1411–1413. Marble, 7’ 9” high.
DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1423–1427. Gilded bronze , 1’ 11 1/2 ” x 1’ 11
1/2”.
DONATELLO, Prophet (Zuccone), from the Florence Campanile, 1423-1425, marble
Later works in Donatello’s career
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DONATELLO, Gattamelata (equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni), Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy, ca. 1445–1450. Bronze, 12’ 2” high.
DONATELLO, Equestrian Monument to Gattamelata, Padua, Italy, 1447-1453, bronze
Painting in Florence at the beginning of the 15th century
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SLIDE: ***GENTILE DA FABRIANO, Adoration of the Magi, altarpiece from Strozzi Chapel, Santa Trinità, Florence, Italy, 1423. Tempera on
wood, approx. 9’ 11” x 9’ 3”.
SLIDE: ***MASACCIO, Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427. Fresco, 8’ 4 1/8” x 19’ 7 1/8”.
SLIDE: ***MASACCIO, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427.
Fresco, 7’ x 2’ 11”.
SLIDE: ***MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427. Fresco, 21’ 10’ 5/8” x 10’ 4 3/4”.
Architecture in the first half of the 15th century
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FILIPPO BRUNELLLESCHI, cutaway view of the dome of Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1420-1436 ( after Piero Sanpaolesi).
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, facade of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun ca. 1440.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, plan of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy designed ca. 1423, begun 1442.
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, interior of the Pazzi Chapel (looking northeast), Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, designed ca.1423, begun 1442, with
glazed terracotta roundels by Luca della Robbia.
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The Medici as patrons around the middle of the 15th century
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PAOLO UCCELLO, Battle of San Romano, ca. 1455 (?). Tempera on wood, approx. 6’ x 10’ 5”.
DONATELLO, David, late 1440–1460. Bronze, 5’ 2 1/4” high.
ANTONIO DEL POLLAIUOLO, Hercules and Antaeus, ca. 1470–1475. Bronze, 1' 6” high with base.
Other artworks in Florence and Italy around the middle of the 15th century
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ANTONIO DEL POLLAIUOLO, Battle of the Ten Nudes, ca. 1465. Engraving. 1 3 1/8” x 1’ 11 1/4” .
FRA ANGELICO, Annunciation, San Marco, Florence, Italy, ca. 1438–1447. Fresco, 7’ 1” x 10’ 6”.
ANDREA MANTEGNA, Camera Picta (Painted Chamber), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1465–1474. Fresco, 8’ 9” in diameter.
ANDREA MANTEGNA, Foreshortened Christ, ca. 1500. Tempera on canvas, 2’ 2 3/4” x 2’ 7 7/8”. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
Painting in Florence in the later half of the 15th century
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Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giovanna Tornabuoni(?), 1488. Oil and tempera on wood, 2’ 6” x 1’ 8”.
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’ 9” x 9’ 2”.
Art at the Sistine Chapel in Rome
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PERUGINO, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, Italy, 1481–1483. Fresco, 11’ 5 1/2” x
18’ 8 1/2”.
Architecture of the later half of the 15th century
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LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Sant’Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472.
An Umbrian admonition...
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LUCA SIGNORELLI, Damned Cast into Hell, San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy, 1499–1504. Fresco, 23’ wide.