An overview and introduction to the early art of the Italian Renaissance.

1. Early Renaissance- A New Era
14th – 16th Centuries
Classical Art and Literature-
Looking back to look forward. People and scholars
began to look at the ancient ruins of Rome and
Greece. They began to read the great classical
myths and stories and also the philosophy

2. Humanism- valued man’s achievements as God’s
creations
• Neo- Platonism

3. Patronage
• The Catholic Church
• Private Patrons- wealthy bankers
and merchants ie The Medici family
• Civic Commissions- Local
governments and princely states.

4. Heightened social status of artists
• In the middle ages sculptors, painters and architects were
considered skilled tradesmen.
• During the Renaissance they were valued as learned scholars
with a great knowledge of art, literature, science and
philosophy.
• Portrait painting
• Narrative paintings- these told a story either from the Bible or
from mythology or history. They could teach morals
• Landscape paintings – instead of being treated as a decorative
surround for the figures in the painting they were now painted
in a naturalistic way using the rules of perspective to add depth
and realism

5. The Trecentro- 1300s
• This is the period just before the Renaissance
in Italy . It marks the end of the Gothic period
and the start of Renaissance style thinking.
• Giotto is considered a pre- Renaissance artist
of the Trecentro

6. The Quattrocento(1400s), the early
Renaissance
• Renaissance churches were planned along
geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles,
and the size and proportions of a church were
determined by the width of its aisle.
• Church facades usually square in shape were
decorated bt pilasters, entablatures and arches.
• Above the façade was a pediment and domes
were incorporated into the roof that was over the
altar

7. The Great Cities of the Early Renaissance-Florence
• Florence Cathedral – building began in it at the start
of the 14th century.
• The city guilds instigated a series of competitions for
its construction and decoration that became one of
the main driving forces of artistic development in the
city.
• The doors of the Baptistery of St John(San Giovanni)
attached to Florence cathedral. The Baptistery is
octagonal shaped.

8. The Doors of the Baptistery
• Andrea Pisano was commissioned to make
bronze doors for the south face of the
Baptistery.
• He sculpted 28 panels represented scenes
from the life of St John the Baptist.
• Each scene was enclosed by a quatrofoil which
consisted of 4 arcs placed together

9. Relief Carving and Sculpture
• Ancient Roman sculptors were inspired by ancient Greek art.
• They liked realistic art and studied the movements and stance
of the human figure
• They looked at how shifting weight onto one leg and twisting
the body affected the position of the limbs creating the first
sculptures to exhibit contrapposto.
• In relief sculpture the sculpture is attached to a background
• In free-standing sculpture , the sculpture is surrounded by
free space all around.
• Bronze casting was a technique used in both Roman and
Renaissance time. . The ‘lost wax casting ‘ technique alllowed
objects to be produced in either solid or hollow form. The
latter was cheaper to produce and easier to transport.

10. Competition for the 2nd Baptistery doors (1400)
• 15th century- quattrocentro the wool and
cloth makers guild set up a competition
for new bronze doors to match Pisano’s.
• Amongst the finalists were Filippo
Brunelleschi and 20 yr old Lorenzo
Ghiberti. Brunelleschi lost the
competition and he left for Rome in
disgust.
• Ghiberti made a doorway of 28 panels
based on the life of Christ with the
bottom eight of these being the four
Evangelists and the Church Fathers

11. North Doorway by Ghiberti with the theme of the Life
of Christ, the evangelists and the Church Fathers
Chasing the Merchants from the
Temple
• Dispute with the Doctors(Christ as a
child preaching to the elders)
The artist casts a low relief
background and the high relief
figures together.

12. East Baptistery Doors
• Michelangelo describes these as
the ‘doors to Paradise’
• Ghiberti was given free reign to
design them how he liked.
• They consisted of 10 rectangular
panels depicting scenes from the
Old Testament. They were larger
panels than the previous door
giving the sculptor more scope to
create detail.
• They didn’t have the quatrefoil
shape

13. The Story of Noah- showing different aspects of his life
including his drunkeness, the ark and animals and praising God

14. The Story of Joseph who was sold to the Egyptian
Pharoah by his brothers because he was their father’s favourite

15. Competition for the Dome
• 1418 a competition was announced for
designs and models for the dome of the
cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
(Florence Cathedral)
• The Cathedral was nearly completed in
construction only the dome remained to
be constructed over the massive drum
• A self supporting dome (cupola) hadn’ t
being built to this size since Roman times.
The engineering knowledge had been lost
over the years
Pantheon Rome

16. Brunelleschi
• Brunelleschi came from Florence and trained in a goldsmith’s workshop.
• He was very interested in art and design and he infact become an
architect, sculptor , painter and scholar.
• He made the link between theory and practice to come up with the rules
of mathematical perspective.
• Having left Florence in disgust after the competition on the design of the
Baptistery doors Brunelleschi went to Rome and studied the construction
of the ancient Roman sites.

17. Solving the problem of the dome

18. Brunelleschi designed…
• A double shell cupola which
included a walkway and steps
between the walls
• Stone ribs hold the inner and outer
walls together.
• Stone chains buried in masonry
stiffened the eight faces of the
dome.
• A brickwork herringbone pattern
ensured that the great vault would
be self supporting as the ring work
of bricks were arranged to support
the one below.

19. Herringbone deign brickwork

20. Lantern Tower
• Brunelleschi designed the tower
on top of the dome.
• It’s design is influenced by
ancient classical architecture in
proportion and order.
• The classical order refers to the
layout of typical buildings from
Greek to Roman times. This is a
basic block shape surrounded on
4 sides by columned porticos
which are topped with capitals
on columns. There are 3 types of
column designs; Doric, Ionic or
Corinthian.

21. The Greek classical Order