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Donatello
David
Medici Commission
First nude free
standing statue since
antiquity
• Classical body –
Praxiteles
• Contrapposto and Scurve
• Restrained pose --- not
moving
• Verrochio’s David
• Medici Commission
• David is symbol of
Florence
• He stands with jaunty
pride
• Shows psychology of
young, brash men
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Donatello
Feast of Herod
Bronze relief
Early use of linear
perspective –
vanishing point in
center
• Figures decrease in
size from foreground
to background –
recessional space
• Donatello
• Saint Mark
• Placed in niche in Or
San Michele Church –
Florence
• Revival of classical
contrapposto
• As his body moves,
his drapery moves
• Donatello
• Penitent Mary
Magdalene
• Rare example of wood
sculpture
• Deviates from
Renaissance ideals of
beauty
• Spiritual and intended
for devotion
• Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
• Mythological and based on a Neo-Platonist Poem of
ideal beauty
• First female nude since antiquity, modest Venus pose
• Controversial because of nudity and pagan theme
(Savonarola condemned this type of work)
Botticelli – La Primavera
• Botticelli (Master of
line)
• Portrait of a Youth
• Almost full-face view
(influenced by
northern Europe)
which replaced the
profile view popular in
Florence until the
1470’s
• Reveals psychology of
the sitter
• Pure outline with
shading and graceful
pose (graceful
linearity)
• Donatello’s Equestrian
Statue of Gattamelata
• First life-size equestrian
statue since antiquity
• Gattamelata was a
condotierri (military
leader of a city-state)
• Orb under horse’s foot
– ancient symbol of
power over the earth
• Verrochio’s Equestrian
Statue of Colleoni
• He was a condotierri
(military commander) of
Venice
• Taut muscles, rider has
fierce erect body
• Demonstrates power
• Nanni di Banco
• Four Crowned Saints
• Or San Michele,
Florence
• Note separation from
architecture
• Note how characters
interact with gestures
– will influence
Leonardo
• Influenced by Roman
portrait statues
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Pollaiuolo
Medici commission
Hercules and Antaeus
Mythological Battle
Interested in muscular
male form and
movement
• Stress and strain of
violent action
• Pollaiuolo
• Hercules and Antaeus
(tempera painting)
• Muscular male form
• Violent action
• Ghiberti
• Sacrifice of Isaac
(sample for
competition for bronze
doors of Florence
baptistery)
• Gothic element --Abraham S-curve pose
• Renaissance elements
---- Isaac first
classicizing nude since
antiquity
• Altar resembles
Roman sarcophagi
• Ghiberti
• Eastern doors of
Florence Baptistery
• “Gates of Paradise”
• Ghiberti , Isaac and his sons Bronze relief panel
• Eastern doors of Florence Baptistery (10 panels altogether make up
the doors)
• Medieval/Gothic element – rhythmic line and continuous narrative
style
• Classical poses, motifs and architecture
• Linear perspective, changing relief (higher relief in foreground,
lower in back), new realism in bodies
• Ghirlandaio
• Portrait of Giovanna
Tornabouni
• Sensitive, beautiful,
aristocratic young woman
• *Tells viewers about
Florentine life such as
value of cultivating beauty
in life and art
• Also the breeding of
courtly manners
• Reveals value of classical
literature for humanists
(quote from Roman poet
in background)
Ghirlandaio
Birth of Virgin, Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria
Novella, Florence
Popular technique --- Secular figure shown in a sacred
theme (Tornabuoni woman leading the procession)
Medici commissioned similar works (Adoration of Magi)
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Fra Angelico “Annunciation”
Fresco, San Marco monastery, Florence
Not everyone was a humanist, he was a monk
Simple, serene style from humble monk
Devotional image
• Fra Angelico --- Annunciation scene
• Simple, serene figures --- not fancy in secular
(worldly) sense
• Interest in perspective and pictorial illusionism
• Luca Della Robbia
• Madonna and Child (Or
San Michele, Florence)
• Terracotta reliefs for
people of modest means
• Popular, became family
business “della Robbia
ware”
• Tondo (circular)
• Bright, colorful, Easter
season (white lilies –
Mary’s purity)
• Different from Byzantine
style, people were able
relate with this kind of art
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Lucca della Robbia
Madonna and Child
Glazed terracotta
Popular, less
expensive
• “della Robbia ware”
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Gentile da Fabriano
Adoration of Magi
Altarpiece
International Gothic style
popular from 14th to 15th
Century
Typical sumptuous
costumes and lavishly
decorated
Pomp and ceremony
Some radical naturalism
(foreshortened bodies,
animal bodies shown from
new angles)
Blends some new
naturalistic techniques in a
traditional, conservative
style
• Masaccio
The Expulsion
The Brancacci Chapel,
Florence
1425
• Fresco
• Idealized nudes
• Eve --- pose based on
classical statue of Venus
Massacio
Tribute Money
Fresco
Demonstrates continuous narration, chiaroscuro, linear
perspective, atmospheric/aerial perspective
Figures are balanced and solid
UNSEEN LIGHT SOURCE TO THE
RIGHT…WHAT EFFECT DOES THIS
CREATE?
• CHIAROSCURO
• NOTE HOW THE
LIGHT-DARK
CREATES A
SCULPTURESQUE
FORM
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Massacio
Holy Trinity
Medium is fresco
Geometric composition --uses balance symmetry
Linear Perspective and
recessional space
Donors are the kneeling
figures shown on bottom
Classical Architecture
Influenced by Giotto
Skeleton on bottom is
Adam and death reminder
• Mantegna
• Saint James Led to
Martyrdom 1455
• Fresco (largely
destroyed in WWII)
• Interest in perspective
• Antique Roman attire
on the soldiers (shows
classical interest)
• Antique architecture
(same point)
• Interest in body
proportions
• Mantegna
• Ceiling of Camera
degli Sposi
• Fresco
• Oculus
• Trompe l’oeil
(deceives the eye)
illusionism
• Foreshortened bodies
• Putti (little cupids)
• Influenced Baroque
ceilings
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Mantegna’s Dead
Christ 1501
• Note foreshortening
but not accurate
• Feet are small so they
won’t cover the body
of Christ
• Castagno’s Last Supper 1447
• Monastery --- Sant’ Apollonia, Florence
• Biblical narrative, shows Judas sitting alone
on outside of table
• Interest in perspective but inaccurate (reality-roof and ceiling can’t be seen at same time)
Perugino’s Christ Delivering the
Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter
• Pietro Perugino, in Sistine Chapel (Vatican
City, Rome), demonstrates power of the
popes and the shift of the Renaissance from
Florence to Rome
Piero della Francesca – Portrait Diptych of
Duke and Duchess Montefeltro of Urbino
Piero della
Francesca – Brera
Altarpiece
• Where’s the
Duchess?
• Her patron saint,
John the Baptist (her
name was Battista) is
pointing to her
absence?
• Can you guess why
she’s missing?
Uccello – Battle of San Romano
• Paolo Uccello loved perspective and chose
to take on challenging perspective in his
paintings. As a result, his human figures and
horses are lacking; commissioned by
Medici family. How to tell?
Uccello – The Hunt
• Uccello loved perspective so much that, when he
didn’t want to come to bed when his wife asked
him, she thought he was having an affair with a
woman named Perspectiva! Human figures not
detailed but interesting sense of depth
Fra Savonarola
• Florentine priest during late 15th century
• Objected strongly to Florence’s humanist
tendencies (interest in mythology and inclusion of
nudity in art)
• After Lorenzo de’ Medici died and the Medici's
were driven from Florence, Savonarola became
dictator for a short while.
• He held “bonfires of the vanities,” in which
Florentines would throw worldly possessions,
humanist literature and art into fires.
• Luca Signorelli
• Damned Cast into Hell
• Fresco, San Brizio Chapel,
Orvieto, Italy
• Strong psychic impact
(suffering and torment
after living a sinful life)
• Savonarola would approve
• Influenced Michelangelo
(Last Judgment)
• Lean muscular bodies,
foreshortening, careful
study of nudes
• Similar action to
Pollaiuolo work
Luca Signorelli, Damned Cast into Hell