Early Italian Renaissance
I. Background:
1. Roman painting on polished plaster interior walls of atrium homes(best preserved sites are those
buried by volcanoes in Herculaneum and Pompeii) Style shows a "progression from flat to spatial wall
decoration" which is divided into 4 styles:
a. First style (incrustration) : "divides the wall into bright, polychrome panels of solid colors with
occasional...textural contrasts." (G 206) Imitates multi-colored marble paneling.
b. Second style (architectural): "The space of the room is made to look as if it extends beyond the room
itself by the representation of architectural forms in a visually convincing...perspective." (G 207) Linear
perspective attempted but not systematically, so that there is no one vanishing point on the horizon.
Still, pretty convincing illusion of depth. Second style also includes non-architectural landscapes whose
illusionism is even more persuasive Demonstrates virtually all of the devices of depth illusionism
used by Ren. painters except mathematical (linear) perspective and a unified light source.
Appearance in these scenes of still lifes.
c. Third style (ornate): "the wall ceased to serve as a framed view into nature and became a support for
smaller, framed views....The flat nature of the wall is here reaffirmed, and illusionism is confined to the
pictures set into and emphasized by the decoratively patterned framework...of vertical and horizontal
bands filled with vine scrolls or other decorative designs." (G 209)
d. Fourth style (intricate): "a kind of resume of its predecessors" (G 210) "combines imitation marble
paneling, conspicuously framed mythological scenes intended to give the effect of panel pictures set into
the wall, and fantastic architectural vistas seen through make-believe windows, creating the effect of a
somewhat disjointed compilation of motifs from various sources." (J 204)
END OF ROMAN ERA AND RISE OF CHRISTIAN ART BRING DENATURING, THE
ABANDONMENT OF PAGAN IDEALS OF BEAUTY, ILLUSIONISM, AND PERCEPTUAL
ART IN FAVOR OF 'OTHERWORLDLY' CONCEPTUAL ART EMPHASIZING
SYMBOLISM.
2. Manuscript illuminations: Most impt form of European painting for 1000 years.
a. Impt from immediately after legalization of Xity, when Constantine makes Constantinople a center
for copying of both classical and sacred texts. Form used was the codex, a bound book of separate
pages made of vellum (calfskin) or parchment (lambskin) which replaced the earlier, much more fragile
scrolls made of papyrus. "Everything necessary to bare narrative is present, and nothing else...In the
fashion of continuous narrative,...two or more scenes of a story are represented within a single frame;
this will become the common form of narrative in Medieval art." (G, 265-6) ==>continuous narrative
b. Manuscript illuminations become impt art form in Irish monasteries, who made many copies of the
Bible and other Christian books in order to aid them in spreading Christianity. Irish monks combine
barbarian motifs of animals and interlacing with Christian symbolism.
 Cross Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c 700. 13" x 10" "It is as if the world of paganism,
embodied in these biting and clawing monsters, had suddenly been subdued by the superior authority of
the Cross." (J 286)
 Chi-Rho Monogram Page from the Book of Kells, c. 800 Same curvilinear sense of movement.
c. Carolingian and Ottonian periods (central Europe/Holy Roman Empire, from about 800-1000)
1. Carolingian: Illuminations still done in monasteries, and pictures were always based on ones in
still earlier manuscripts. "...the style of Medieval images...was the result of copying from sources
thought to have sacred authority, not from natural models. Thus, one learned what was true from
authorities who declared the truth--the Scriptures and the fathers of the Church--and one painted 'true'
Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
pictures...from authoritative images. To question authority on one's own, to investigate 'nature' on one's
own, would be to question God's truth as revealed and interpreted." (G 329)
Source: FIG 387 IN J 295 "PORTRAIT OF MENANDER" 70 AD==>
Results: FIG 386 IN J 296 ST MATTHEW, FIG 388 ST MARK
2. Carolingian + Byzantine = Ottonian: Gospel Book of Otto III, c 1000. J 304, 305, The
Annunciation to the Shepherds, Lectionary of Henry II, 1002
3. Bayeux Tapestry: 20" high, 230' long, continuous needleworked piece of cloth/frieze recording the
victory of William of Normandy over England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. "Despite
the...simplification of form, the...flatness without cast shadows, and an entirely neutral background, the
tapestry conveys a surprisingly exact description of arms and armor, as well as a convincing
representation of action, pose, and gesture." (G 372) Upper border shows birds/animals in decorative
form (heraldic poses); lower border full of dead horses and warriors (part of frieze has animals/birds
both above and below); narrative in largest middle strip. Impt both artistically and historically in its
recording of a historical event soon after it took place. (1073-1083) This made during the Romanesque
period; shows the stylization of figures seen in church portal sculpture.
OTHER TRENDS TO REMEMBER IN CONSIDERING EARLY REN. PAINTING:
4. Movement toward more realism, naturalism, depth in church sculpture as Romanesque yields to early
Gothic to High Gothic. ITALIAN GOTHIC SEES A STRONG RE-EMERGENCE OF
CLASSICISM.
 Nicolo Pisano: Pulpit in the Baptisery in Pisa, 1259-60. 15' 'New' ideas: Classical
columns/capitals, idealized figures, realistic drapery. Still Gothic, though, with old ideas: columns on
backs of lions, trifoil arches, hexagonal platform on capitals, figures standing on capitals, "the quality of
human feeling in the reliefs of narrative scenes such as the Nativity." (J 360)==> Gothic: synoptic
sequence, hieratic perspective, horror vaqui; Classical: Mary's reclining pose, style of drapery, generic
calm faces, lack of obvious emotion.
 Giovanni Pisano (Nicola's son): Pulpit in Pisa Cathedral, 1302-10 Mary not as large, more facial
emotion, more deeply carved, more space around figures but still crowded. Feeling of swirling motion.
Faces more individualized. "If Nicola's Nativity strikes us as essentially a sequence of bulging, rounded
masses, Giovanni's appears to be made up mainly of cavities
and shadows." (J 361) AND
Madonna, 1315, 27" Prototype is The Virgin of Paris (J, 355) but Giovanni's is firmer, heavier: "The
three-dimensional firmness of the modeling is further emphasized by the strong turn of the head and the
thrust-out left hip." (J 362) This pose shows the Gothic S-curve stance, the 'Gothic sway," the early
form of contrapposto stance which won't truly re-emerge until Donatello.
5. Second Golden Age of Byzantine art spreads across Europe, brings mural painting (which still has
occasional traces of Roman illusionism), depictions of the Enthroned Madonna to the West.
SO: 3 MAIN INFLUENCES ON EARLY RENAISSANCE ART:
1. BYZANTINE: SYMMETRICAL, FRONTAL, LINEAR, FLOATING, GOLD, ICONIC
IMAGERY, FLAT, LITTLE MODELING, DOWN-POINTED FEET, ISOCEPHALIC
ARRANGEMENT OF FIGURES
2. GOTHIC: MORE REALISTIC, MORE NATURAL EMOTIONS THAN BYZANTINE OR
CLASSICAL, S-FIGURE TYPE
3. CLASSICAL: IDEALIZED FIGURES, CALM FACES, RATIONAL, MORE STEREOTYPICAL
GENERIC FIGURES
LATE GOTHIC/PROTO-RENAISSANCE (14TH CENTURY)
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
In Italy, whose climate is quite hot and humid, stained glass windows never gained the popularity they
did in northern Europe, so interior church decoration included murals painted on the walls and ceilings
and painted wooden altarpieces.
Starting point:
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, 1280-1290, 12'7" tall altarpiece. Shows obvious Byzantine influence
(frontal, central, flat, symmetrical, linear, hieratic perspective, gold disc halo, much gold, highlights of
garment painted with fine gold lines) though much larger. Gabled shape also non-B. Looks pretty
conservative.
Duccio, Madonna Enthroned, center of the Maesta Altar, 1308-11. 6'10" tall. Shows Mary as Queen of
Heaven surrounded by angels and saints. At 1st looks much like Cimabue's, but "In Duccio's hands, the
Greek manner has become unfrozen. The rigid, angular draperies have given way to an undulating
softness...The bodies, faces, and hands are beginning to swell with a subtle 3-dimensional life." (J 370)
The predella (base of the altarpiece) has several panels showing scenes from Mary's and Jesus's lives.
Duccio, Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin, from Maesta Altar, 1308-11. Duccio is addressing
problem of how to show a human figure in an interior architectural space, which has never been done
prior to this time! Not quite right--lines of perspective don't match; placement of figures a bit
ambiguous; figures too big, so if Mary stood up, she'd bump her head--but we have in painting here for
the first time the 'niche and sculptured figure' we saw on High Gothic churches. Linear perspective
won't be completely worked out for another 100 years.
Duccio, Christ Entering Jerusalem from the Maesta Altar, 1308-11
Again, the architecture "demonstrates its capacity to contain and enclose" (J 371) as it is the buildings
which create the sense of diagonal movement through space. Proportions and perspective are still not
correct, but his exploration of figures within architectural space make him impt in art history.
GIOTTO: Contemporary with Duccio,though about a dozen years younger. Said to have studied with
Cimabue. Giotto "far bolder and more dramatic" than Duccio (J 371)
Whereas Duccio worked
with wood, Giotto worked with fresco, which required completing a surface while the plaster was still
wet, so he didn't have time to include lots of details. "Only the most essentials could be included. As a
result, Giotto's frescoe paintings were simple but powerful." (Mittler 351) What sets him apart is his
concern for realism in the depiction of physical mass and human emotions. This enables him to
break free from Byzantine conventions in depicting religious subjects as central, frontal,
symmetrical and hierarchically proportioned.
Giotto, Madonna Enthroned, 1310. 10'8" x 6'8". Based on Cimabue's, Duccio's, and earlier Byzantine
models, but figures here have form, mass, weight. The Virgin sits, she has breasts and knees. Drapery
falls across body realistically. Virgin sits within throne, an actual 3-dimensional architectural space, and
the angels, who don't all look alike, seem to occupy a real space. Colored marble on the base suggests
Giotto may have seen 1200 year old Roman wall paintings (first style/incrustation)
Giotto, Lamentation, fresco from the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. 1305-6. Action appears very close
to the "front" of the picture and the space occupied by the observer, making us closer to and more
emotionally involved in the action. Suggests that Giotto was the 1st artist with an "awareness of a
relationship in space between the beholder and the picture." (J 373) Eschews almost all Byzantine
conventions. Not central nor frontal nor symmetrical; diagonal brings attention to focal point: heads of
Mary and Jesus. Massive body on bottom left acts as a brake to keep the eye on Jesus and Mary, and its
facing same direction as us brings us into the picture space in a radical way. In a landscape. Indiv'd
mourners, genuine human emotions. No hieratic perspective. Viewers at time would have recognized
the dead tree as "the Tree of Knowledge, which the sin of Adam and Eve had caused to wither and
which was to be restored to life through the sacrificial death of Christ." (J 375)
What emerges after Duccio and Giotto is a style, especially in the latter 14th century, was a merging
of Italian and Northern traditions known as the International Style, which mostly discards the
innovations of Giotto, in favor of:
 a very ornamental, decorative style using
3 of 13
Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History

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much gold
thin more 2D figures with subtle modeling
highly decorated costumes with fine detail
very colorful
aristocratic style--shows richly dressed people, often in processions
Simone Martini, The Annunciation, 1333. 10' x 8'9" An example of the not-yet-fully-developed Int. Style.
Panels at sides done by students, central figure done by Martini. Sculpting of gold leaf, almost flat thin
figures.
At this time, France had invaded Italy and taken the Pope back with them to Avignon, France. The Pope
brought Simone Martini with him, and when he arrived in the north, he absorbed the small, fine, detailed
features of manuscript illumination into his own style. Result is more typical of International Style:
Simone Martini, The Road to Calvary (aka Christ Carrying the Cross), 1340. ~10" x 6" Compared with
The Annunciation, this is very tiny, again showing his fascination with working in miniature detail seen
in northern manuscript illuminations. This shows almost all the features of the Int Style. A student of
Duccio's, which shows in his attempt at rendering people emerging from within an architectural space.
Figures do still show some modeling, as well as emotional intensity, revealing Giotto's influence.
Variety of figure types, facial expressions, costumes, fine detail, bright jewel-like colors. Well-dressed
people in procession.
The Limbourg Brothers: "Book illumination remained the leading form of painting in Northern Europe at
the time of the Int Style, despite the growing importance of panel painting. Thus the International Style
reached its most advanced phase in the luxurious book of hours known as Les Tres Riches Heures du
Duc de Berry" (J 384), especially the calendar within, which show 12 scenes of human life within
nature. Some show the aristocracy, others the peasantry.
The Limbourg Brothers, May from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413-16. ~8" x 5"!!! This
one shows rich people wearing fancy clothes on horseback. Amazing brilliance of colors and wealth of
detail.
February: peasant life, again showing minute details in a remarkably realistic way (called realism of
particulars): sheep huddled against the cold, maids and cat warming themselves in front of the fire
(typically, one side of the building is unpainted so we can see inside) as the one outside breathes on her
hands and hurries toward the warmth of the cottage, birds scratching in the dirt for food.
October: "shows the sowing of winter grain. It is a bright sunny day, and the figures--for the first time
since classical antiquity--cast visible shadows on the ground" (J 385) Detail!
January: The Duke of Berry is shown at a banquet among a throng of brightly colored, well-dressed
people who seem to stretch into the distance in some kind of procession.
Gentile da Fabriano: "the greatest painter of the International Style" (J 385) The Adoration of the Magi,
1423. Oil on panel, ~10' x 9' "The Holy Family on the left almost seems in danger of being
overwhelmed by the festive pageant pouring down upon it from the hills in the far distance." (J 385)
Leopards, camels, monkeys. Greater sense of weight and mass in the figures reveal the Italian
background of Gentile. Rich colors, rich patterning, procession, high horizon, big crowds make this an
OLD-looking piece by 1423. A few new features: foreshortening of horse, more individualized faces.
Big piece, but Gentile was also able to work in miniature like the northern Int Style painters, shown in
the tiny panels in the predella.
THE CITY WHICH TAKES THE LEAD IN ARTISTIC INNOVATIONS IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY AND WHICH IS MOST ASSOCIATED WITH THE RENAISSANCE IS
FLORENCE.
II. SCULPTURE: FIRST HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
At the beginning of the century, large-scale sculpture was still not completely independent from
architecture, and this will be accomplished by early Renaissance Italian sculptors.
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
In 1402, a competition was held for the commission to do the bronze-paneled cathedral doors in Florence;
required that sculptors do a quatrefoil panel of the Old Testament story of Abraham and Isaac. Two
most important entries by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti.
[EXERCISE: STUDENTS COMPARE ENTRIES AND FIGURE WHICH WON THE CONTEST
AND THE COMMISSION.]
Nanni di Banco, Four Saints (Quattro Coronati), 1410-14, marble, about lifesize. Placed in a niche built
into the wall of a church in Florence, this is a small step in detaching sculpture in the round from
architecture. By having the four figures facing one another, the sculptor creates a psychological
relationship between them; they seem to be interacting, moving closer to independence from the
building behind them. Still, however, backs are very close to the wall, as if not quite ready for physical
independence.
Donatello: Most impt innovator in early Renaissance sculpture. Career reflects stylistic changes, unusual
for the time. Phase One: Realism; Phase Two: Idealism; Phase Three: Expressionism.
Donatello: St. Mark, 1411-13, marble, 7'9". IMPT PIECE: "the 1st statue since antiquity capable of
standing by itself...the 1st statue to recapture the full meaning of the classical contrapposto....Nanni's
figures cannot be divorced from the architectural setting and still seem attached....The St. Mark,
however, no longer needs such shelter. Perfectly balanced and self-sustaining, he would lose nothing of
his immense authority if he were deprived of his present enclosure." (J 436) Drapery is treated as
separate from the body, whose shape and movements determine its appearance. (Realistic Pd)
Donatello: St. George, 1415-17. Saint who slew the dragon, but here, he is shown before the fight. Nice
detail of anatomy; weight on the balls of his feet. (still Realistic)
Donatello: Zuccone, 1423-25. An identified prophet portrayed like a completely crazed, almost dangerous
wildman, "a voice crying in the wilderness." (still Realistic)
Donatello: David, 1428-32. 1st large, free-standing nude since Classical times. Sensual quality; suggests
classical references in the calm face and contrapposto stance but not in the use of the adolescent
model/lack of musculature. Gives it an androgynous feel. Nudity would have been questionable at the
time--only acceptable at all because it is still a religious and not a pagan subject--but was the only freestanding nude for quite some time. Strong diagonals. From Donatello's middle period: idealized. The
work sums up the Renaissance philosophically, since David's gaze seems to fall on himself after his act
of heroism. This self-awareness reflects humanism. David is also seen as a metaphor for the city of
Florence, under attack from the larger Milan, rep'd by Goliath and his curious anachronistic helmet.
Donatello: Mary Magdelene, 1445-40. Last period of D's career, very expressionistic. Shows Mary
Magdelene as an aged prostitute dressed in rags. Purposely distorted to emphasize expressive qualities.
Jaggedness of her rags = her ruined state. Elongated body. D presents her as having an inner beauty
resulting from religious experience, rather than outer beauty. Her hands, though, are still smooth and
elegant.
III. ARCHITECTURE: FIRST HALF OF THE 15th CENTURY
Defined by the move from Gothic's dramatic, mysterious, soaring verticality to a simple, calm, dignified,
clearly-recognizable balance between vertical and horizontal. Accomplished by using as sources the
vocabulary of classical Roman architecture: arch, vault, groined vault, dome.
BRUNELLESCHI: Greatest architect of the 15th c.; lived and worked in Florence. In studying and
sketching ruins of the Roman forum, discovered the system of linear perspective, which made art and
geometry equally scientific and intellectually respectable. With Brunelleschi, the interdependence
between architecture and sculpture ends: "Donatello had liberated the statue from its setting, and
Brunelleschi's conception of architecture as the visual counterpart of musical harmonies did not permit
sculpture to play a...prominent role." (J 446) ==> exteriors are MUCH less decorated than in Gothic
churches.
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
Brunelleschi: Dome of the Florence Cathedral, 1420-36. B was given the task of erecting a dome over a
building which had been built 50 years earlier. The dome was to be the same size as the one on the
Pantheon, but it must be put atop a pre-existing structure without the Pantheon's massive exterior
buttressing. The existing structure would have to suffice as the dome's support system. Brilliantly
innovative result is a dome based on 1) ogival section w/ 4 pointed arches meeting at the top and
stabilized by a lantern, and 2) 2 separate shells linked to each other within, instead of one much heavier
solid mass. Sits on top of a drum, whose 8 windows provide much light.
Brunelleschi: S. Lorenzo, Florence. 1421-69. AND
Pazzi Chapel, Florence. 1430-33.
Both are based on B's belief that architecture should reflect the 'right' proportions--"proportional ratios
expressed in simple whole numbers." (J 446) Measured Classical ruins to arrive at these proportions.
Besides focus on proportions, the structures demonstrate B's desire for "symmetry and regularity." (J
445) Revived Classical vocabulary: round arches, classical colonnades, tunnel vaults, groin
vaults, arch within columns/architrave like a Roman triumphal arch.
Secular architecture:
Background:
Palazzo Vecchio, begun 1298, Gothic Italian town hall in Florence. Fortress-like and imposing, to
a)withstand armed assault and b)symbolize the power of the city. Same type of building built by ruling
families in the competing Italian city-states. No windows at ground level. Tower above proclaims the
importance of Florence and serves practical purpose as a lookout tower.
MICHELOZZO: younger, less-talented contemporary of Brunelleschi whose plans for a palazzo were
chosen by the Medici over B's because B's were too imposing, ostentatious, and might have angered
Florentine citizens whom they ruled.
Michelozzo: Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, begun 1444. "Still recalls the fortresslike Florentine
palaces of old,...but the type has been transformed by Brunelleschian principles. The three stories are in
a graded sequence, each complete in itself." (J 448) Bottom made of rusticated stone (like the Palazzo
Vecchio); middle has smooth stones with indented joints; top is completely smooth. Crowned by a roof
with a strongly projecting cornice, like an old Roman temple.
IV. PAINTING: FIRST HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Innovations/Focus:
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humanism==>goodness & beauty of humans, secular subjects
illusion of depth
linear perspective
atmospheric perspective
unified light source
contrapposto stance
heavy modeling
foreshortening
realistic arrangement of figures in space
geometry
MASSACCIO: carefree artist who cared about little besides painting, including his personal appearance
or collecting money he was owed unless he really needed it. His name means "Clumsy Thomas." Most
important Italian painter of the first half of the 15th century. Like Giotto a century earlier, he
focused on the still-popular fresco painting, so his works are mainly found in Florentine churches. Like
Giotto, his use of fresco requires that he reduce unnecessary decorative detail, the trademark of the
International Style, and he also preferred plain clothes to the fancy ones the earlier style delighted in.
He was influenced by Giotto's frescoes and his emphasis on the illusion of depth. Also much influenced
by Brunelleschi, so he was the first painter to systematically apply linear perspective. He also is the first
painter to portray Brunelleschi's architectural style in his frescoes. "Masaccio's major achievement,
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
however, was to revitalize the human figure with the robustness it had had in the frescoes of Giotto and
to create an illusion of tangibility by means of chiaroscuro, the manipulation of light and shade." (H &
F, 393) Died at the age of only 27, after establishing as common practice several innovations whose aim
is a more convincing illusion of depth/deep space. "No other painter in history is known to have
contributed so much to the development of a new style in so short a time as Masaccio." (G 599)
Masaccio, The Holy Trinity, 1425, fresco, 22' x 9' in S. Maria Novella in Florence. (M is 21 when he paints
this.) Painting starts at the floor, goes up; painted to look like an adjoining chapel extending
perpendicularly, and linear perspective is so carefully applied (primarily by the use of the lines of the
ceiling coffers in the barrel vault) that it is possible to draw plans for the chapel. Architectural forms
(round arch springing from Ionic columns surrounded by fluted Corinthian pilasters and an architrave)
show Masaccio's familiarity with Brunelleschi. Below main panel is painting of a crypt with a skeleton
on the top, along with the words, "I once was what you are, and what I am, you will become."
Perspective makes it appear that the crypt sticks out from the wall. Donors portrayed at lower left and
right outside the chapel, not smaller as they would have been in earlier paintings on panels, but larger, to
give the illusion of depth. Just within the chapel the figures of Mary and St. John balance the central,
frontal image of the crucified Christ, held up by God the Father standing on a ledge at the rear of the
chapel. Figures within this work form a figural pyramid, extending further back in space as the shape
rises. (Will be developed to perfection by Leonardo and used by Raphael and others.)
Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1427, fresco, 8' x 20'. One of a series of frescoes decorating the walls of the
Brancacci Chapel in Florence. A continuous narrative (remember—NOT a new technique, but one
used in medieval book illuminatons!) telling the story of a Roman tax collector demanding payment
from Jesus, who tells Peter he will find the coin with which to pay in the mouth of a fish. Contains all
of the innovations which make him famous and influential
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a unified light source with cast shadows falling the same direction
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chiaroscuro--heavy modeling which gives a strong sense of physical mass
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linear perspective applied systematically and scientifically (discovered by Brunelleschi)
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atmospheric perspective (not seen since Roman landscape wall paintings)
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figures ordered realistically in space in a natural-looking arrangement, and now, the figures all
stand relaxed in the contrapposto stance
EXERCISE: HOW WOULD YOU IDENTIFY THE EXPULSION FROM PARADISE AS A PIECE
BY MASSACIO?
Masaccio's younger contemporaries tended to focus on one or the other of the two branches of pictorial
science that M founded: either perspective or figure treatment.
PAOLO UCCELLO became obsessed with perspective. "Uccello had an irrational passion for arranging
the forms of solid geometry in space, and it is perhaps not surprising that he became one of the favorite
masters of the Cubists of the early 20th c." (G 602)
Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano, 1455. 6' x 10'. Reminiscent of Int'l Style in which he was
trained, w/ richly-decorated people, but working with new ideas. "constructed of immobilized, solid
forms; broken spears and a fallen soldier are foreshortened and carefully placed along the converging
orthogonals of the perspective to create a base plane like a checkerboard." (G 601) "In the hands of
Uccello, perspective produces strangely disquieting, fantastic effects. What unites his picture is not its
spatial construction but its surface pattern, decoratively reinforced by spots of brilliant color and the
lavish use of gold." (J 458)
ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO, The Last Supper, 1445-50. (AP '94) Shows interest in both perspective and
figure treatment. Frontal, almost completely isocephalic, colorful, intricate design. Figures are painted
as "static, sculptural solids." (G 602) Perspective convincing except that it seems to be a very shallow
space. (Leonardo fixes this by having windows extend the space into the landscape background.) Judas,
placed on "this" side of the table (trad'l) adds to 3D illusion. Still oddly flat despite modeling and linear
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
perspective. Geometrically ordered work; geometry overwhelms the religious subject matter and seems
to stiffen the figures. Back wall looks like Roman 1st style (incrustation) wall painting.
DOMENICO VENEZIANO, The St. Lucy Altarpiece, 1445. Tempera on wood, 6'7" x 7'. One of the
earliest examples of an impt type of painting that becomes very popular: a sacre conversazione, in
which saints from different times are placed together and seem to be having a conversation. Retains
some Int'l Style traits: brilliant colors, fine detail, especially in the robe of St. Zenobius, and the pattern
of the rug. Again, shows arch'l forms of Brunelleschi. Figures here are St. Francis, John the Baptist, St.
Zenobius, and St. Lucy arranged in a semicircle at whose head is the Madonna and Child. Haloes have
become gold ring floating over their heads. Orthogonals (perspective lines) converge at Mary's head.
This space an outdoor loggia, so light from outside reflects off the walls, lightens the shadows and
modeling, and results in an overall blonde tonality of color.
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Resurrection, 1463. Fresco. An assistant to Domenico. Christ rising,
holding the flag of the Church, central, symmetrical, frontal to emphasize the stability of the Church.
Figure of Christ is very calm, typical of della Francesca with emphasis on Classicism--rational, not
emotional. Figural pyramid. "This triangular massing of volumes around a picture's central axis gives
a painting great compositional stability and is one of the keys to the symmetry and self-sufficiency that
Renaissance artists strove for in their work. Piero was at home with realism and could paint exact and
unflattering likenesses of human subjects, quite unlike the generalized heads and features of his
customary type. His work summarizes most of the stylistic and scientific developments in painting
during the first half of the 15th century: realism, descriptive landscape, the structural human figure,
monumental composition, perspective, proportionality, and light and color." (G 606)
Two other artists of the time are notable, though their style remains pretty conservative, more linear in form
than others of the time. Both are monks.
FRA ANGELICO, Annunciation, 1440-45. Looks like an earlier work. Tall, thin, flat-chested Virgin.
Angel's wings are decorative patterned like Int'l Style, as is the lawn , trees in background, and picket
fence. Byzantine-style gold disk haloes. Refuses to use Masaccio's heavy modeling, which would have
darkened his palette. Does show some innovations: drapery falls realistically, architecture (a
Brunelleschian loggia) is current, uses perspective. Again, the vault is too low for the figures to stand
in, but Fra Angelico was concerned with stressing "the religious content of his paintings....The
simplicity of the statement recalls Giotto....All these elements have been combined with lyrical feeling
and a great sense for decorative effect [with a] naive and tender charm...." (G 607)
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI: 5 years younger than Masaccio, but knew and had contact with him. Botticelli's
teacher. Also a monk, but hardly fits the type. Raised in a monastery after he was orphaned, joined the
order, but was a wildman who got into trouble like forgery and embezzlement and ran off with a pretty
nun named Lucretia with whom he had a baby.
Fra Filippo Lippi: Madonna and Child, 1440-45. His work is also more linear and detailed than other
Florentine painters of the time, but compared with Fra Angelico it looks more real. Transparent haloes.
Bodies have more substance and modeling than FA's, as well as realistic flesh tone. Very linear style,
with lines everywhere--would have made a nice drawing. Different from Int'l St because there isn't
intentional patterning. An almost sensual view of the Madonna, who is young and pretty, reflecting a
more humanistic treatment of her. Lucretia may have been his model for her.
SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
With the mastery of concerns like the illusion of depth (resulting in linear perspective, atmospheric
perspective, unified light source, shading/modeling, diminution, sense of the mass of the human figure,
etc.), artists in the second half of the 15th century shifted their attention to mastery of motion, emotion,
and more sophisticated ways to show continuous space.
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
V. SCULPTURE IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 15TH CENTURY
Bernardo Rossellini, Tomb of Leonardo Bruni, c. 1450. One of the last of the publicly sponsored
sculptures of the century. Man whose tomb it is wrote The History of Florence and was considered a
great statesman, so his tomb sums up the humanist spirit of the age. Rossellini uses the ancient
custom of the wall tomb, which had been used throughout the medieval period, but de-emphasizes the
religious content (only reference is in the tympanum above with the Madonna and Child) and
emphasizes the greatness of the man himself by using Classical references: bier supported by Roman
eagles, laurel wreath on this head, idealized figure, inscription below not like Medieval, which would
have recorded his name, rank, age, and date of death, but instead "refers only to his timeless
accomplishments; 'At Leonardo's passing, history grieves, eloquence is mute, and it is said that the
Muses, Greek and Latin alike, cannot hold back their tears.'" (J 464) Other Classical influence in the
architectural frame: round arch, fluted Corinthian pilasters. Based on the doorway to the Pantheon.
At mid-century, the city of Florence ended a civic campaign to support art production, so artists became
dependent on private commissions. The great costs of doing large-scale sculpture required them to
begin doing smaller, less-expensive pieces, especially bronze statuettes. This supported the ancient
practice by the wealthy of collecting sculpture, which had ceased during the Medieval period, but which
was resumed now as part of the 'revival of antiquity.' Sculptors focused on small bronzes or portrait
busts such as were done in ancient Rome. Naturally these reflect the Classical style.
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, 1475. Bronze, 18". Excellent example of this kind of
piece. Free-standing group of two figures engaged in violent struggle. Shows the desire to master the
human body in motion, such as we saw in the Hellenistic period. "Pollaiuolo has endowed his
composition with a centrifugal impulse. Limbs seem to radiate in every direction from a common
center....Despite its strenuous action, the group is in perfect balance. To stress the central axis, P in
effect grafted the upper part of Antaeus onto the lower part of his adversary. There is no precedent for
this design among earlier statuary groups of any size, ancient or Renaissance. (J 466-7) Facial
expressions show great strain and emotion. Antaeus was a giant who was a son of Mother Earth, and
if he touched the ground he would be revived, so Hercules had to kill him while holding him off the
ground. Pollaiuolo was also a painter and engraver (see following) but his figures in motion are most
convincing when sculpted.
Niccolo Dell'Arca, The Lamentation, 1485-90. Terracotta, lifesize. (less expensive to do terracotta than
either marbles or bronzes.) Powerful piece which combines motion and emotion. "The facial
expression itself is not unprecedented, but when it is coupled with the vehement forward rush, the entire
figure overpowers us just as the Nike of Samothrace does." (J 466)
Andrea del Verrocchio, David, 1476. Bronze, 47" (Cf w/ Donatello's) This makes for interesting
contrasts w/ Donatello, even though it depicts the same moment in the story, with Goliath's severed head
at David's feet. This is NOT a nude. More emphasis on musculature here (see protruding veins, tendons
in neck) though it still has an adolescent quality. Different mood: Donatello's more self-reflective, this
cockier, more swaggering. "David, a sturdy, wiry young apprentice..., stands with a jaunty pride....He
poses like any sportsman who has just won a game, or a hunter with his kill. The balance of the weight,
the lithe, still thinly adolescent musculature...show how closely Verrocchio read the text and how clearly
he knew the psychology of brash and confident young men." (G 5th ed 436-7)
VI. PAINTING IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 15TH CENTURY
ANDREA MANTEGNA: "Next to Masaccio, Mantegna was the most important painter of the Early
Renaissance." (J 473)
Andrea Mantegna, St. Sebastian, 1455-60. Tempera on panel, 27" x 12" Shows "Mantegna's devotion to
the visible remains of antiquity." (J 474) St. Sebastian was a Roman soldier who converted to
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
Christianity before it was legalized, and he is executed by being tied up and shot to death with arrows.
Very detailed Classical remains, with the saint tied to the column in a triumphal arch. Roman
architecture in far background. Saint looks more like a statue than a dying man. Landscape very
detailed: "beyond we see a wonderfully atmospheric landscape and a deep blue sky dotted with the
softest of white clouds. The entire scene is bathed in the warm radiance of late afternoon sunlight,
which creates a gently melancholy mood, making the pathos of the dying saint doubly poignant." (J
474-5) Note the convincing foreshortening of the saint's feet, the texture of the marble column above his
head.
Andrea Mantegna, The Dead Christ, 1466. Radical foreshortening; doesn't quite work because it makes
Christ look like a midget. Still a very powerful work, largely because of the realism of the corpse,
which elicited Hemingway's allusion, "the bitter nail holes in Mantegna's Christ." We feel as if we are
standing at his feet.
Andrea Mantegna, Camera degli sposi, 1474. Fresco painted on the ceiling of the bridal chamber in the
Ducal Palace in Mantua. Illusionism at its best! "Utilizing actual architectural elements, he paints away
the walls of the room in a manner that forecasts later Baroque decoration....[His] daring experimentalism
leads him to complete the room's decoration with the first di sotto in su [down/up] perspective of a
ceiling....We look directly up at figures looking down at us....This tour de force of illusionism climaxes
almost a century of experiment in perspective." (G 5th ed 446) Remember, this is the room where the
newlyweds are--strongly foreshortened chubby little Cupids stand on the painted ledge as smiling
observers gaze down.
Antonio Pollaiuolo, The Battle of Naked Men, c 1475. Engraving. ~16" x 23" Prints becoming very
popular both in northern Europe (Durer) and Italy: cheaper, can make multiple copies, available to the
less-elite middle class audience, small, travel well, spreads the influence of an artist. (same advantages
today) Engraving technique, requiring lines, developed in Germany. P's emphasis here is on showing
the human form in motion and combining motion with emotion. Contrapposto not observed : all the
muscles are tense, which isn't how the body really works--to contract muscle groups, others must relax.
Result is unnatural and stiff. Nude bodies are totally idealized. Uses parallel hatching (lines) while in
the north they use contour hatching which follows the contours. Not much concerned with deep
space; the emphasis on outline produces the effect of bas relief instead of solid, 3D shapes.
Antonio Pollaiuolo, The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, 1475. Same centrifugal impulse we saw in Hercules
and Antaeus, same emphasis on the body in motion and the face showing emotion.
DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO: primarily a portraitist, but breaks the style of portraiture which had reemerged after the Medieval period, when portraits weren't done because they would have been thought
idolatrous. When they do begin to re-emerge, they are done in profile, as portraits of Roman emperors
had been done on coins. (hence the style of our coins today) (look at portraits of donors on the
Masaccio The Holy Trinity), but Ghirlandaio's portraits break away from the formal profile
portrait.
Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, 1475. Departs from the profile portrait and uses the 3/4
pose instead which gives much more information about the person's personality.
Domenico Ghirlandaio, An Old Man and His Grandson, 1480. Again, a 3/4 pose, and here a portrait done
in a larger context which reveals much about the personality of the old man and "reveals the tender
relationship between the little boy and his grandfather." (J 471)
SANDRO BOTTICELLI: "In Florence, the trend forecast by Castagno's David substitutes energetic,
graceful movement and agitated linear contours for the stable monumentality of Massacio's style. Its
climax comes in the final quarter of the century, in the art of Sandro Botticelli." (J 469) Teacher was
Fra Filippo Lippi (the wildman monk) whose work tended to be more linear than other early 15th c.
painters. Botticelli also influenced by the linear style of Pollaiuolo. Favorite painter of the Medicis.
Paints a wide variety of subjects: portraits, mythological subjects, religious subjects.
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Youth, 1483-84. 16" x 13" tempera on panel. Botticelli here has gone
beyond even the 3/4 pose to give us an almost full face portrait of a young aristocrat. "Botticelli's young
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
man is highly expressive psychologically.... [revealed through] the delicacy of the pose, the graceful tilt
of the head, the sidelong glance, and the elegant gesture of the hand...." (G 622-23) B learned from Fra
Filippo Lippi "the method of 'drawing' firm, pure outline with light shading within the contours. The
effect clearly is apparent in the explicit and sharply elegant form of the portrait....[Botticelli] is known in
world art as one of the great masters of line." (G 623)
Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera (Spring), 1478. Botticelli's use of classical mythology as the subject for
his work is not as 'pagan' as it seems at first, but shows he embraced the philosophy called NeoPlatonism, which attempted to reconcile Platonic ideals with Christianity. In that context, Venus can be
viewed as an allegory for the Virgin Mary. "Venus is shown holding court in a flower-strewn meadow
beneath the shade of an orange grove. The goddess of love, center, dominates the scene, while Cupid
hovers, ready to shoot his arrows of love." (Ventura 42) "In a group to our right the god Zephyr, painted
in chilly blues and grays, urges his wife, the nymph Chloris, toward fulfilling her transformation into
Flora, goddess of Spring. She looks back toward him as if reluctant, but flowers are already issuing
from her mouth. The third figure shows her fully transformed and scattering flowers, as Flora."
(Canaday 162) "Left, the three Graces dance, symbols of Poetry, Art and Music, while Mercury, the
curer, holds up the symbol of medicine. Love triumphs when passion is tempered by art and science, or
in other words, by civilization." (Ventura 42) Linear, patterned, no sense of deep space, tip-toeing
figures (remin of Byz downpointing feet) seem to float rather than stand on solid ground. Gauzy
draperies reveal smooth human forms beneath. "It is the interplay of strength and delicacy that
differentiates Botticelli's line from that of his imitators, which turn flaccid in comparison." (Canaday,
159)
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1485. Shows how Botticelli is almost the antithesis of the other trends
current in Italian painting: bodies lack a feeling of solidity and weight; modeling is very light; bodies
are not realistic but are idealized and voluptuous; little illusion of depth as everything is happening at
the front of the painting with the patterned trees acting as a screen behind the figures and the waves and
falling flowers being stylized and patterned; no atmospheric perspective; no linear perspective.
Emphasis on surface patterning with extremely linear style. The shell Venus floats up on is
reminiscent of the scalloped half-dome in the apse-like niches we saw in Domenico Veneziano's sacre
conversaziones with the Madonna and Child.
Sandro Botticelli, Calumny, 1494. tempera on wood, ht 24" Later in his life, Botticelli seems to have
resorted to moralizing in painted allegories. "[E]xtreme complications of line are an exaggeration of his
earlier style, which we have already seen at its happiest in his Primavera. In the center of the
composition we see an innovent victim dragged by the hair to judgment by Calumny, who carries a
totch, false symbol of her love of truth. Two other female figures flank her and twine roses in her hair.
These are Calumny's attendants, Fraud and Deception. The standing male figure in this central group,
dressed in rags, is Envy, who makes his false accusations to the Judge. Although the Judge wears a
crown and carries a scepter, he also has ass's ears. Ignorance whispers into one ear, Suspicion into the
other, and he listens....The figure of Truth stands naked at the extreme left, ignored and all but crowded
out by the glance of one who turns and regards her with prophetic questioning. She is Remorse, an
ancient crone in black rags." (Canaday, 292-3) Much different mood from earlier works, where line is
used to show grace and joy. Here, "we can see how tortured confusion replaces the rhythmic linear
harmony of Primavera." (292)
In the 1490's the radical religious reformer friar named Savanarola gained a large following in Florence,
attacking the "'cult of paganism' in the city's ruling circle." (J 471) He became so popular for a while
that the Medici actually fled the city and he took over control. His followers gathered pieces of 'pagan'
art and burned them in public bonfires (~ to book burnings by Hitler and American groups who burn
records, etc). Botticelli seems to have been deeply influenced by Savanarola and to have burned many
of his own works referring to Classical mythology. After Savanarola's trial and death by burning at the
stake in 1498, Botticelli painted only traditional religious scenes and apparently stopped painting at all
after 1500.
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
Piero di Cosimo, The Discovery of Honey, 1499. Like Botticelli, Piero depicts classical mythology, but not
in the Neo-Platonic way of 'spiritualizing' the pagan deities. Instead, he "brings them down to earth as
beings of flesh and blood....The brilliant sunshine, the rich colors, and the far-ranging landscape make
the scene a still more plausible extension of everyday reality" (J 471) Again shows latter 15th c.
emphasis on motion/emotion with broad range of figural positions, actions, and expressions.
Pietro Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys, 1482. Fresco in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which was
emerging as a center of art patronage near the end of the century. (Papacy has returned from France to
Rome, and the Pope is once again in political control of the region around Rome.) This painting
underscores the authority of the Pope since it shows Christ giving the keys (of the kingdom of God) to
Peter, who establishes the Church in Rome and ordains the first Roman bishop, the 'ancestor' of the
Pope. Sums up 15th c Italian painting, with his mathematically exact perspective, aided by the grid, his
use of atmospheric perspective, his unified light source, his individualized figures in a variety of poses
and with a variety of facial expressions (many of these are actual people alive in Rome when Perugino
was painting) occupying realistic amounts of space, and his depictions of 15th c. architecture (arches on
both sides recall the triple Arch of Constantine, with forms revived by Brunelleschi, and in the middle
what Alberti calls the ideal form of church--a domed central plan). BUT Perugino accomplishes a more
sophisticated way of depicting deep space--by placing figures in the middle ground.
Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell, 1499-50. Fresco in a chapel of the Orvieto Cathedral. Same
ideas as Pollaiuolo--very muscular bodies in motion merged with extremes of emotion. Much
foreshortening, especially among the human bodies falling into hell and being tortured by demons in
the 'pit.' "What strikes us most is not Signorelli's use of the nude body as an expressive instrument, even
though he far surpasses his predecessors in this respect, but the deep sense of tragedy that pervades the
scene." (J 472)This is a very influential work on High Renaissance painters, esp. Michelangelo, who
will further develop the twisting body, the muscular figure, large groups occupying space, and even the
theme of this when he does The Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall in the Sistine Chapel near the end
of his life.
Antonello da Messina, The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, 1475-77. 5'8" x 3'. Rich, luminous colors
impossible to see in the photocopy, because it is done in oil colors. One of the first Italian painters to
use oil, which had been in use by northern European artists for several decades. This "has none of
Mantegna's brittle, sometimes harsh linearity...[with Piero] bathing his painting in an atmospheric
luminosity...." (G 631) Antonello comes from Naples, where he had contact with Flemish painters, to
Venice for a two-year period. His style--using warm oil colors to create form rather than Mantegna's
'hard,' linear style--will have an enormous influence on Bellini and the other 16th century painters in the
Venetian Style. This resembles the works of Piero della Francesco in "the crisp clarity of the spatial
composition, the subdued emotion, and the solemn calm with which the saint suffers his martyrdom." (G
631) Like Perugino, he places figures in the middleground. Architecture looks like a combination of
early Renaissance architecture a la Brunelleschi--round arches, round columns with Corinthian capitals-and the Italian Gothic secular fortress-like palazzos, such as the Palazzo Vecchio.
VII. ARCHITECTURE IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 15TH CENT.
ALBERTI: Most prominent 15th c Italian architect after the death of Brunelleschi. Like the older master,
he went to Rome, measured and made diagrams of the Roman ruins, but then he wrote a famous treatise
of architecture which was very influential.
Advocated "a system of ideal proportions [for example, the nave of a church should be twice as high as
the width of the aisles], a central-type plan as the ideal Christian church, and the avoidance of the
column-arch combination [said that since an arch is a wall-opening, it should be supported only by a
section of wall, like a pier, not by a column. This disposes of the Medieval arcade for hundreds of
years.]
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Pernie Fallon
Liberty High School, Frisco, TX
Introduction to Early Italian Renaissance Art
AP Art History
Secular: Palazzo Rucellai, 1446-51, in Florence. His answer to the earlier Palazzo Medici-Ricardi by
Michelozzo, with a more intentionally Classical outcome. Like it, the Palazzo Rucellai is 3 stories with
a heavy cornice, but this incorporates the Classical orders into a Renaissance secular building by putting
them as flattened pilasters in ascending order like the Colosseum: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. The
Classical decoration is flat, does not project out from the wall, thus Alberti "acknowledges the primacy
of the wall, reducing the classical system to a network of incised lines." (J 460) Like Brunelleschi,
Alberti places round arches within columns (pilasters, rather) and architraves, such as what is seen in
Roman triumphal arches.
Sacred: Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 1458-70. The Rucellai family commissioned Alberti also to
add to facade to a pre-existing Gothic Church. This facade is based on the Italian Romanesque Tuscanstyle church, San Mineato al Monte, visible in the pattern of colored marble. BUT the facade is ordered
very carefully: its height is the same as its width; the upper structure is one-fourth the size of the entire
facade, etc. "In his treatise, Alberti...propound[s] the necessity of such harmonic relationships for the
design of beautiful buildings...a belief in the eternal and universal validity of numerical ratios as beautyproducing agents...distinguishes the work of [Alberti and Brunelleschi] from their predecessors." (G
610) IMPT: Also introduces the scrolls that create a transition between the wide lower level and the
narrow upper level. "With variations, such spirals will appear in literally hundreds of church facades"
for the next 200 years. (G 610)
San Andrea in Mantua, designed 1470. Since Alberti believed the central-plan church was the ideal
form for Christianity, he simply attached an elongated nave (sell-out?) to a central plan church. Uses the
triumphal arch motif inside and out, with flattened pilasters, round arches, barrel vault==>
proportional harmony and balance in unifying diverse architectural forms. The facade combines the
Roman temple front (columns/capitals/cornice/pediment) with the triumphal arch. Alberti also
makes use here of colossal orders, pilasters which extend through two or more stories.
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