Study Tour to Italy
Presentation #1
A Focus on Florence & Michelangelo
We will be sightseeing in Florence all day Saturday June 25
We will spend four nights in Florence
(taking day trips on the other days)
1
Florence
Heart of the Early Renaissance
cathedral begun 1296
completed 1436 with dome by Brunelleschi
2
Italy after 1000 city-states
free themselves from
nobility
Establish as free republics
or communes
New rich middle class
Tuscany—region in central
Italy
Where Renaissance began
to emerge
3
BRUNELLESCHI, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery
of Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402.
Florence Bapistery
Has three sets of Bronze doors
from the early Renaissance
4
Ghiberti (winner)
BRUNELLESCHI
5
LORENZO GHIBERTI, east doors (“Gates of Paradise”), baptistery, Florence Cathedral,
Florence, Italy, 1425–1452.
6
After loosing the competition, Brunelleschi went to Rome with
Donatello to study classical art & architecture
Became famous architect—put the dome on the Florence Cathedral
Said to have invented the system of linear perspective
Brunelleschi’s “peepshow”
7
ANCIENT ROME
Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 – 125 CE
Marcus Aurelius, Rome, Italy, ca. 175 CE
8
all’ antica
Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel, c. 1440
The Pantheon, Rome
9
ALL’ ANTICA
Marcus Aurelius
DONATELLO, Gattamelata , Padua, ca. 1445–1450
10
1450s-60s—for the
Medici Family
Both in the Bargello
Museum (we probably
won’t see)
1408-09---For the Cathedral/City:
“To those who fight bravely for the fatherland the
gods lend aid even against the most terrible foes”
11
Donatello’s David originally stood in the courtyard of the Medici Palace
in Florence
The Medici were not noble, but wealthy bankers
Their wealth began with the textile industry & the wool guild
MICHELOZZO DI BARTOLOMMEO, Palazzo Medici-
13
The Medici would rise to great power, eventually becoming
royalty through marriage alliances
In 1547 the family became hereditary Dukes of Florence
two Medici Queens of France:
Catherine de’ Medici (regent, 1547-1559)
Marie de’ Medici (regent, 1600-1610)
the Medici “coat of arms”
Four popes: Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV, Leo XI
the first three were patrons of Michelangelo (Leo XI after his death)
Under the leadership of Cosimo de’Medici beginning in 1434,
the Medici became the unofficial governors
of the Republic of Florence
Cosimo the Elder, Patron
of Art
* built the Medici palace
* patron of Fra Angelico& Fra Filippo Lippi
* patron of Donatello
* patron of Brunelleschi & the completion
of the Duomo
Cosimo’s son Piero “the Gouty”
only stayed in power for five years
and had little interest in art
…but Cosimo’s grandson Lorenzo
“the Magnificent” was one of the
greatest patrons of the
Renaissance
Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-92)
•Continued to rule
Florence unofficially
•Maintained a fragile
peace among Italian city
states
• Great patron of the arts
Painted terracotta, probably after a model by Andrea del Verrocchio
Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482
probably for the marriage of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici
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KEY WORK!
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1482. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’ 8” x
9’ 1”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
19
20
(L) Hellenistic Period, Venus de Medici, 4th century BCE
(R) Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1484-86
IN 1492 the teenage Michelangelo
joined the Medici Household
Portrait of a much older
Michelangelo—he wore
a turban while sculpting
to protect his hair
Giuliano Bugiardini (?), Portrait of Michelangelo, 16th century
IN 1492 the teenage Michelangelo joined the Medici Household
Lorenzo de’Medici supposedly first noticed Michelangelo when he was carving the
head of a faun in the Medici sculpture garden.
He subsequently invited M to live in the Medici Palace, where he was treated “like
a son.”
Giovanni Mannozzi, Lorenzo de' Medici surrounded by artists, admiring
Michelangelo's 'Faun,' 17th century fresco
Michelangelo born March 6, 1475
The Buonarroti family were part of the patrician upper class of Florence.
Born in “the Shadow of the Dome”--in Caprese (90 miles east of Florence)
his father Lodovico Buonarroti was the resident governor (6 month
appointment).
Family then returned to its home in Settignano, just outside Florence
relatively poor town –many stone carvers
Buonorroti house still survives—it was the second largest property in the
town
wetnurse—family of stone-carvers story
The family also purchased a home in the city
now the Casa Buonaroti, a museum
Michelangelo’s mother died in 1481 when he was six years old
With each large payment for his art, Michelangelo would
purchase additional pieces of property in and around
Florence. A safe and lucrative investment.
c. 1485 age 10--attends grammar school of the humanist Francesco di
Urbino. Father remarries.
Studia humanitatis: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, moral
philosophy (Latin & Greek)
Michelangelo had only two years of such education at the most.
By 1487 Michelangelo is documented in workshop of
Domenico Ghirlandaio. Remains there until c. 1490.
Age 12-15
How did
Michelangelo get
such a great job?
Family
connections to
Medici?
Supposed self-portrait of Ghirlandaio, from Adoration of the Magi, 1488
Domenico Ghirlandaio
leading Florentine painter noted
for fresco
Michelangelo seems to have not
been an ordinary apprentice
The Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita,
Florence, c. 1480
Stories of St. Francis
Michelangelo’s first known
painting
c. 1487-1488
purchased in 2008 for 2 million as
“Workshop of Ghirlandaio”
Cleaned & reattributed to
Michelangelo at Metropolitan
Museum of Art in 2009 &
purchased by the Kimbell Art
Museum for 6 million
1490 -1492
Two of the happiest years of his life
member of the Medici household under Lorenzo de’ Medici
age 15-17 years
Courtyard, Palazzo Medici,
Florence
The humanist philosophers of Lorenzo’s court
provided Michelangelo access to the greatest minds of his age
Domenico Ghirlandaio,
Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landino, Angelo Poliziano, Gentile de’ Becchi, 1485-90
Michelangelo was educated alongside two Medici princes
One was the future Pope Leo X and one was the future Clement VII
the Medici provided Michelangelo with over 50 years of patronage
Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X and Two Cardinals, 1518
On left: Guilio de’ Medici (Clement VII)
Lorenzo de’ Medici died in 1492
Michelangelo returned to his father’s house
Began working on a life-size Hercules (lost)
Death mask of Lorenzo de’ Medici
1490s Florence in upheaval
Dominican friar Savonarola
Denounced humanism & the Medici (fled 1494)
repent sins--“bonfire of the vanities”
35
Botticelli became a follower of Savonarola
almost completely stopped painting
Botticelli, Mystical Nativity, c. 1500
36
In late autumn of 1494 King Charles VIII crossed the Alps with an army of
25,000, throwing Italy into political chaos.
Beginning of Italian War 1494-98
Out of fear, the Florentines expelled the Medici and established a republic
Savonarola
welcomed the
“purification”
of the French—
this
contributed to
his downfall to
come
French army enters Florence, 1494
In 1496 Michelangelo journeyed to Rome for the first time
A neglected, derelict city
Much of Rome dishabitato
In contrast Florence wealthy, thriving
Walls of Leo
IV, c. 1000
still
surrounding
St. Peters
Map of Rome, 1472
Jacopo Galli secures a major commission for Michelangelo
French Cardinal & ambassador for Charles VIII
Jean de Bilheres
monument for his tomb in Santa Petronilla (Chapel of the French kings)
an ancient rotunda attached to Old Saint Peter’s (now destroyed)
Pieta
traditionally a northern
subject
(Cardinal from France)
Virgin with the Dead
Christ, from Germany,
ca. 1300–1325.
40
In August 1498 the block of marble arrived in Rome—contract then signed
Jacopo Galli promised that the work would be
“the most beautiful marble statue in Rome, one no living artist
could better”
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Pieta, 1498-99
Beautiful & idealized
Christ appears sleeping, not dead
Mary appears young
timeless
highly polished and finished
Execution of Savonarola, Florence, 1498
43
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, David, 1501–
1504. Marble, 13’ 5” high. Florence.
“David with his sling and I with
my bow” – Michelangelo.”
44
“It is necessary to keep
one's compass in
one's eyes and not in
the hand, for the
hands execute, but
the eye judges.”
45
“I saw the angel in the marble
and carved until I set him free.”
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Bound Slave, 1513–
1516. Marble, approx. 6’ 10 1/2” high. Louvre, Paris.
46
Raphael, Portrait of Julius II, 1511-12
“the Warrior Pope” r. 1503-13
most important patron of the High Renaissance
Demolishes old St
Peter’s—begins
rebuilding
Michelangelo to design
his tomb
Michelangelo to fresco
Sistine ceiling
47
48
Michelangelo, ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel,
fresco, Vatican,
Rome, 1508-1512
Last Judgment,
1537-41
49
50
Next meeting:
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS ON SISTINE CHAPEL
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•
•
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•
15th century frescos (not by Michelangelo)
Ancestors of Christ
Prophets & Sibyls
Ignudi
Central Scenes from Genesis (three sets of
three)
• Last Judgment
51