EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Linear perspective is a method of representing three-dimensional objects
and figures on a two-dimensional surface
B. Who discovered linear perspective?
1. Brunelleschi
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After losing the Combattimento to Ghiberti, Brunelleschi left
for Rome
Discovered the rules for linear perspective while studying in
Rome
Brunelleschi became an important architect and designed the
dome of Florence Cathedral
o Considered an impossible feat because gap was too
large to cover. No trees were big enough to create a
scaffolding to support the dome as it was built.
Brunelleschi devised new building methods.
He designed the Foundling Hospital in Florence based on
simple mathematical proportions. Reinforced the horizontal
with entablatures.
Santo Spirito had similar rationality behind it.
2. Michelozzo di Bartolommeo
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Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, begun 1445
o Brunelleschi’s plan for a palace for the Medici returning
from exile was rejected because their political position was
tenuous and the design was too imposing and ostentasious.
The design might incite hostility from the populace.
Brunelleschi destroyed the model.
o Michelozzo’s design owes much to Brunelleschi:
 Rational proportions
 Horizontal emphasis
 Stones go from rusticated to smoother on 2nd and 3rd
floor, making it appear lighter.
 Heavy cornice is a lid on the structure defining the
shape and volume
 Interior arcaded courtyard was a frequently copied
feature in subsequent buildings.
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EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
3. Leon Battista Alberti
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Important architect of the Renaissance and well rounded man
Understood the principles of linear perspective and wrote
about them
Renaissance artists read Alberti’s book and experimented with
it for themselves
In Florence
 Rucellai family made fortune from red dye. Hired Alberti to
design his new palace and façade for his church.
 Alberti previously wrote treatises “On Painting” and “On
Architecture.” “On Architecture” was based on Vitruvius’s
writings (Roman architect) for classical basis (like a good
Renaissance artwork should).
 Palazzo Rucellai
o broken into three equal horizontal entablatures.
o From Roman Colosseum he used Tuscan pilasters for
ground floor, Ionic columns for second floor, and
Corinthian columns on third floor. Why is this like the
Colosseum?
o Round, Roman arches on 2nd and 3rd floor.
 Santa Maria Novella
o Created mathematically proportional, harmonious design
o Divided church façade in three squares
o 2 lower squares frame classical portal (pilasters and round
arch)
o 2nd story has 3rd square that supports a pediment.
o Height = width of façade so it fits exactly in a square.
In Mantua
 Marquis Gonzaga lured Alberti to Mantua to design Sant’
Andrea church
 He wanted Mantua to be a center of Renaissance art and
culture too.
 Façade combined classical temple portico with Roman
triumphal arch.
 No statues or other Gothic features.
 Pilasters go straight up 3 stories to support pediment
 Alberti did not like columns in nave – blocked congregants’
view. Replaced columned arcade in nave with a barrel-vaulted
nave. (Mr. F. thinks arch on top of pediment looks funny).
 Decisive break with Christian building traditions. Christian
temple combined classical forms with Christian uses. Strong
influence on Renaissance and Baroque churches.
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EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
C. How does the human eye work?
1. Distant objects seem smaller than closer ones
2. Parallel lines seem to converge at a distance
D. How does linear perspective work? See Gardner’s page 547, Fig. 21-9
1. Orthogonals – converging diagonal lines
2. Vanishing point – place where orthogonal lines converge
3. Horizon line – drawn across the painting at the vanishing point,
represents the viewer’s eye view and the far distance
II. EXAMPLES
A. Pietro Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter,
Umbrian
1. From Perugia
2. Part of a cycle of paintings on the walls of the (new) Sistine Chapel,
commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV.
3. Theme of the painting supports the power of the popes
4. Arches of Constantine shown in the distance – connection between the
Roman emperor Constantine and Christianity
5. Helped mark the rise of Rome as an artistic center during the
Renaissance
6. Raphael’s teacher. Raphael used similar composition in Marriage of
the Virgin
B. Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano
1. Uccello stayed up late at night trying to perfect perspective and paid
less attention to developing the naturalism of the figures
2. Uccello’s wife overheard Paolo talk about his mistress “perspective”
and thought he was having an affair with a woman named
Perspective!
3. International Style
4. Secular side of Florentine art. Scene of a battle in which the
Florentine army defeated the Sienese in 1432.
5. Hero of the battle: Nicola da Tolentino, a friend of Cosimo de Medici,
who later died because of his affiliation with the Medici family
6. Lorenzo de Medici commissioned Uccello to commemorate the famous
battle and his grandfather’s friend. The painting decorated Lorenzo’s
bedchamber.
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EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
7. What familiar Medici symbol is shown in the painting? Medici
means Doctor: Oranges were ”medicinal apples”.
C. Earlier International Style: Gentile da Fabriani, Adoration of the Magi,
Uffizi, 1423, Tempera on wood.
D. Carlo Crivelli’s, Annunciation with Saint Emidius
1. The painting
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Annunciation - Gabriel to Mary
Standing on a bridge, a town dignitary reads a message stating
that the pope has granted Ascoli limited rights of self
government. The message arrive on the Feast Day of the
Annunciation, and so the angel Gabriel is join by Ascoli’s
patron saint, Emidius, holding a magnificently detailed model
of the town.
Incredible details –
The apple refers to man’s fall from grace and his subsequent
redemption
The gourd is a symbol of Christ’s Resurrection
The peacock is another symbol of Christ’s Resurrection and
eternal life
Marvel at the linear perspective
E. Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth of the Virgin, Fresco, 1485 – 90
a. Complete set of Renaissance techniques, convincing space and 3D
figures.
b. Commissioned for Dominicans. Not austere like Fra Angelico,
Shows donors.
F. Lorenzo Ghiberti: The Meeting of Solomon and Sheba
1. The Frame
2. Linear Perspective
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Orthogonal lines
Vanishing point
3. Use of high relief and low relief to create the illusion of depth
G. Fra Angelico, Annunciation, San Marco, Florence, ca. 1440, Fresco
a. Friar (Fra) less concerned with humanism and more concerned
with serving Roman Catholic Church.
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EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
b. Commissioned by Dominican Order to create frescoes for San
Marco.
c. Dominicans were spare and austere; Fra Angelico painted his
scenes with the same sensibility.
H. Fra Fillipo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Angels, ca. 1455, Tempera
on wood
a. Not suited to monastic life: mistress and son
b. Studied works of Masaccio
c. Very worldly (opposed to holy) interpretation of scene
d. Influenced by youth and beauty.
I. Andrea Del Castagno, Last Supper, refectory of Sant’ Apollonia,
Florence, 1447, Fresco
a. For Benedictine nuns
b. Note various marbles: Remember Pompeii and 1st Style
c. Shows emotion through marble pattern above Judas and Christ.
J. Piero Della Francesca, Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by
Fedrico da Montefeltre (Brera Altarpiece), 1472 – 74, Oil on wood,
Umbrian.
a. Shows one-eyed patron (Federico) in profile in presence of a
sacred conversation.
b. Amazing space
c. Ostrich egg is symbol for Madonna.
d. Missing wife behind Federico symbolizes her recent death.
K. Piero Della Francesca, Flagellation of Christ, 1455 – 65, Oil and tempera
on wood.
a. Enigmatic, flagellation in background with Pilate watching. Who
are those 3 guys? Lots of debate.
b. Incredible mathematical rendering of marble circle and shapes on
floor. Could use as a blueprint.
L. Luca Signorelli, Umbrian, Damned Cast into Hell, Orvieto Cathedral,
1499-1504, Fresco
a. Pope Alexander VI commissioned.
b. Interest in ecorche and foreshortening like Pollioaiuolo (Battle of
10 Nudes)
c. Graphic depiction of horrors of the damned. Compare to
tympanum of Saint-Lazare at Autun (1130)
d. Clearly used models but positioned into complex composition that
is spatially convincing.
M. Andrea Mantegna’s Amazing Oculus
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EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE AND PERSPECTIVE
1.
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Can you find the vanishing point?
There is no coffer in the ceiling; the surface is two dimensional!
Precariously perched tub containing an orange tree – Why?
Peacock
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Note the shimmering specks of color
Symbol of eternal life
From its high perch, the bird watches over the house of
Ludovico Gonzaga
5. Playful putti – associated with classicism, reflect the patron Ludovico
Gonzaga’s interest in a humanism
6. Three Woman – maybe the graces
7. Moorish slave – symbol of wealth
8. Garland of leaves and fruit – signifies abundance and hospitality
9. Guests would walk under the oculus when greeting Ludovico on his
throne; for the guests that Ludovico didn’t really care for, it has been
suggested that he would envision the tub with the orange tree falling
on the guest’s head.
10. Mantegna’s oculus is part of an amazing room of frescoes painted by
Mantegna for Ludovico Gonzaga called the Camera degli Sposi
(Room of the Newlyweds), in the Palazzo Ducale of Mantua
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Ludovico Gonzaga was the powerful duke of Mantua
Scenes depict all aspects of Gonzaga’s court life – his wife,
children, pets, courtiers, and attendants even the dwarf used as
his children’s playmates.
Mantegna also painted the arrival of Cardinal Francesco
Gonzaga – Ludovico’s second son – who became the top
religious leader of the church of Sant Andrea in Mantua
11. Mantegna carried his desire for illusionism past the linear
perspective. He painted the illusion of relief sculpture decorate the
edges of the scenes in GRISAILLE – using grayish tones to simulate
sculpture or architecture.
12. If you were Mantegna, how would you record your presence in the
Camera degli Sposi?
N. Other examples of Mantegna’s interest in perspective and pictorial
illusionism
1. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
2. Feet made smaller than true foreshortening. Why?
3. Harsh colors appropriate for tragic scene.
4. What appears to be Mantegna’s approach to perspective?
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