Why does the Renaissance Occur?
• Rediscovery of Classical Greece and Rome
• Dante’s publication of the Divine Comedy in the Italian vulgate
• Guttenberg’s invention of the printing press

• Development of artistic formulas
• Study of optics-single point perspective, threedimensional techniques
• Emphasis on human anatomy and proportion
• Commemoration of the individual
• Greater exploration of those capabilitiesengineering

Agnolo
Bronzino,
Portrait of
Eleanor of
Toledo and her
Son, Giovanni de Medici,
Florence,
1544-45

Filippo Brunelleschi, Florence Cathedral Dome, 1420-
36

• Lantern
• Cupola
• Drum

Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-02
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-02

Lorenzo Ghiberti,
Sacrifice of Isaac,
1401-02
• use of the Classical nude as a model-1st since antiquity
• Interest in depth-fore, middle, and background
• Foreshortening of figures
• Very emotionally charged representation of the story
• Contest shows a new concept of religious art commissions

Andrea Pisano,
Life of John the Baptist,
South Doors,
Baptistery of San
Giovanni, Florence,
1330-36

Ghiberti,
Gates of Paradise,
1424-52
• Gilded panels of Old
Testament scenes
• Flat grounds and backdrops are abandoned in favor of spatial illusion

Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise Detail, 1424-52
• Increasing interest in
Linear perspective and spatial arrangement of objects
• Single-point perspective, orthogonal converge toward a vanishing point
• Developing study of optics
• Classical setting

• Commissioned and owned by the
Medici family for their courtyard
• symbol of Florence-represents their history as the smaller victor over larger city-states
• first freestanding male nude bronze since antiquity
• Highly idealized state of nudityyouthful and androgynous

Polykleitos,
Doryphoros,
450 BC
Greece

Massaccio,
Holy Trinity, 1428
• Monumental use of one-point perspective: coffered barrel vault
• Structures composition in triangular form
• Focus on mortality and salvation
• “I was once what you are, and what I am you will become”

• Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine
• Gesture suggests emotion
• Illusion of depth: one point perspective, color saturation, chiaroscuro

Aphrodite of Knidos, 350 BCE Aphrodite of Melos, 150 BCE

Bernardo Rossellino,
Tomb of Leonardo Bruni,
1445-50
•Leonardo Bruni, Humanist scholar and chancellor of Florence from 1427-
44
•Iconography places the figure in classical Rome-
•One single Christian element-Virgin and Child in the tondo
•Glorification of an individual-was given a state funeral in the ancient
Roman customs
•Revives the Roman virtues of honoring human achievement

Leon Battista Alberti,
Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, Italy, 1470
•Commissioned by the Marquis of Mantua
•Housed a relic of the Blood of Christ
•Regulations: 1. must accommodate masses of pilgrims 2. must allow visitors to see the altar at mass 3. Must be cost effective
•Set up on a system of proportions-the module-basic unit of measurement

•Incorporates two elements from antiquity: triumphal arch and temple pediment
•Coffered, barrel-vaulted arch on facade

Andrea Mantegna, Ceiling of the Camera degli Sposi,
1474
•“Trempe l’oeil” painting: “fools the eye”
•Reminiscent of
Classical Roman interiors
•Image is perceived “di sotto in su”-seen from beneath
•Foreshortened putti in oculus

Second style wall painting,
Roman, 2nd-
3rd century ad

Perugino, Christ delivering the Keys of the Kingdom
to St. Peter, 1481-83

Piero della Francesca, Portraits of
Battista Sforza and Federico da
Montefeltro, Florence, ca. 1474

The 15 th century in Northern Europe

Paintings of Several Parts!
Triptych Polyptych

Jan
(and Hubert)
Van Eyck,
Ghent
Altarpiece
Flanders, 1432

Jodocus Byd and Isabel Borluut

Atmospheric Perspective
• Atmospheric interference with visual perception causes loss of contrast, detail and sharp focus. It tends to make objects seem to take on a blue-gray color as they move farther away.

Jan van Eyck,
Man in a Red
Turban,
Flemish, 1433
Oil vs. Tempera

Robert Campin, The Merode Altarpiece, Flanders,
1425-28

Jan van Eyck,
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride,
Flanders,
1434

Claus Sluter, Well of
Moses, Dijon,
France, 1395-1406

Jean Fouquet, Étienne Chevalier and Saint Stephen,
Melun Altarpiece, France, ca. 1450

Limbourg Brothers, Les
Tres Riches Heures du
Jean, Duc de Berry,
France, 1411-16
The Very Rich Hours of John, the Duke of
Berry
February

Apr.
May

Oct.
Nov.

Martin Schongauer,
St. Anthony
Tormented by
Demons, Germany,
1480-90
• Engraving
• Printmaking

Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Battle of the
Ten Nudes, Florence, 1465

• The design is cut into a wood block leaving the raised surfaces to be inked and print.

• Lines are cut into a copper plate with a burin.
Ink is forced down into the grooves and the surface is wiped clean. It is then run through a press.