03 Early Renaissance in Italy

ART 102 Gardners - Chapter 21
Jean Thobaben
Instructor
HUMANISM AND THE ALLURE
OF ANTIQUITY
15TH CENTURY ITALIAN ART
THE EARLY RENAISSANCE IN ITALY
EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Firenzia
Mantua
THE EARLY RENAISSANCE IN ITALY
Roma
Venezia

2
• A new artistic culture emerged and expanded
in Italy in the 15th century.
• Humanism also fostered a belief in individual potential and
encouraged individual achievement.
• Humanism also encouraged citizens to participate in the social,
political, and economic life of their communities.
• Shifting power relations among the numerous Italian city-states
fostered the rise of princely courts and control of cities by despots.
• Princely courts emerged as cultural and artistic centers.
• Their patronage contributed to the formation and character of
Renaissance art.

3
Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance is divided into three phases for study:
• The Early Renaissance in the early and mid 1400s.
• The High Renaissance in the late 1400s-early 1500s.
• And Mannerism in the mid to late 1500s.

4
The Early Renaissance in Italy

5
Florence
• Renaissance means rebirth.
• Artistic leaders lived in Florence which was dominated
by the Medici – a powerful family who were great
patrons of the arts.
• Florentine artists, fueled by a renewed interest in
ancient Greece and Rome as well as science and math,
created a “New Athens”.

6
• This imposing object,
a commemorative birth tray
(desco da parto), was
commissioned to
celebrate the birth of
Lorenzo de' Medici,
known to posterity as
Lorenzo the Magnificent
(1449–1492).
• Lorenzo was the most
celebrated ruler of his day
as well as an important
poet patron of the arts;
his name is synonymous
with the Renaissance.
The Triumph of Fame - Impresa of the Medici
Family and Arms of the Medici and Tornabuoni Families
Giovanni di ser Giovanni, ca. 1449, Tempera, silver, and gold on wood Dimensions: Overall, with
engaged frame, diameter 36 1/2 in. (92.7 cm); recto, painted surface, diameter 24 5/8 in. (62.5 cm);
verso, painted surface, diameter 29 5/8 in. (75.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art

7
• The tradition of
commissioning circular
trays to commemorate a
birth derived from the
custom of presenting
sweet-meats to the new
mother.
• Painted by the younger
brother of Masaccio,
this is an object of
unique historical
importance.
• It was kept by Lorenzo
in his private quarters in
the Medici palace in
Florence.
The Triumph of Fame; (reverse) Impresa of the Medici Family and Arms of the Medici and
Tornabuoni Families, Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi (called Scheggia),
Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.

9
Sculpture and Civic Pride
in the Early Renaissance
• The republic of Florence cultivated civic pride and responsibility
resulting in competitions to embellish the
city's buildings.
• The competitive nature of these projects, which were usually
sponsored by civic or lay-religious organizations, promoted
innovation and signaled official approval of the new, classically
inspired style.
• The emulation of antique models, however, was also
supplemented by a growing interest in the anatomical structure
of the human body and the desire to show a naturalistic illusion
of space.

10
The “Gates of Paradise”
• One such competition was to create the doors to the baptistry
at the Cathedral of Florence.
• Artists submitted brass relief panels on the subject – the
“Sacrifice of Isaac”.
• The following panels were submitted for the competition.

11
Filippo
Brunelleschi's
competition panel
shows a sturdy and
vigorous
interpretation of the
Sacrifice of Isaac.
Brunelleschi
1401-1402. Gilded bronze
relief, 21" x 17".
Museo Nazionale
del Bargello, Florence.

12
Lorenzo Ghiberti's
competition panel
emphasizes grace
and smoothness.
Ghiberti
1401-1402.
Gilded bronze relief
21" x 17”
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Florence.

13
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
(1381-1455)
won the competition.
• His "Gates of
Paradise" are
comprised of ten gilded
bronze relief panels
depicting scenes from
the Old Testament.
View of the completed doors
on the Baptistry, in Florence

14
• In Isaac and His Sons, Ghiberti creates the illusion of space using
perspective and sculptural means.
• Ghiberti also persists in using the medieval narrative method of
presenting several episodes within a single frame.

15
Detail: Isaac and His Sons, 1425-1452. Gilded bronze relief, approx. 31 1/2" x 31 1/2”.

16
Creation of Adam (detail of a
panel from the eastern door)
1425-52
Bronze, Baptistry, Florence

17
Killing of Abel (detail of a panel
from the eastern door)
1425-52, Bronze
Baptistry, Florence

18
Donatello (1386-1466)
• Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, universally known as Donatello,
was born in Florence around 1386 and died there in 1466.
• The powerful expressive qualities of his work made him the greatest
sculptor of the early Renaissance.
• Donatello's early works, still partly Gothic in style, are the impressive
seated marble figure of St John the Evangelist for the cathedral
façade and a wooden crucifix in the church of Santa Croce. The
latter, according to an unproved anecdote, was made in friendly
competition with Brunelleschi, a sculptor and an architect.

19
• The wooden Crucifix in
the Church of Santa Croce
is attributed to Donatello,
although this attribution is
not shared by all art
historians.
• The dating of this work is
also controversial. Some
scholars consider it as one
of the first sculptures by
Donatello while others think
it was made around 1425.
• The study of the
iconography suggests the
date 1412-13.
• Brunelleschi hated the
intensely life-like face of the
dead Christ and accused
Donatello of having, in
Vasari's words, “crucified a
peasant”
• The work reflects Donatello's
creative force, his search for
new forms of expression and
liberation from established
rules.
Crucifix, 1412-13
Wood, 168 x 173 cm
Church of Santa Croce, Florence

20
• Donatello’s St John
which, together with
the other Evangelists
by Nanni di Banco,
Niccolo Lamberti and
Bernardo Ciuffagni,
were to be placed on
the facade of Santa
Maria del Fiore in the
tabernacle at the side
of the central door.
• This statue, of St. John, which was
commissioned by the Opera del
Duomo but executed much later - the
payments go from 1413 to 1415 -
almost seems to anticipate the works
of Michelangelo.
• Particularly remarkable are the saint's
acute and penetrating expression, and
the realistic treatment of his open
hand on the book.
St John the Evangelist,1410-11
Marble, height: 210 cm,
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Florence

21
• The full power of Donatello
first appeared in two marble
statues, St Mark and St
George (both completed c.
1415), for niches on the
exterior of Or San Michele,
the church of Florentine
guilds.
• The niches on the exterior of
were each assigned to a
specific guild for decoration
with a sculpture of its patron
saint.
• The armored
Saint
George by
Donatello was
the patron of
the guild of
armorers and
sword makers.
View of the niches on
Or San Michele

22
• The figure stands with bold
firmness.
• The carved relief sculpture at
the base of the niche depicts
St. George slaying the dragon.
Donatello, Saint George, from Or San Michele,
Florence, Italy, 1415-1417. Marble
(replaced in niche by a bronze copy),
approx. 6' 10" high.
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

23
• Nanni di Banco's (1380-1421)
group, the Quattro Santi
Coronati, shows an early
attempt to solve the problem of
integrating figures and
space on a monumental scale.
• Nanni created a unified spatial
composition.
– The figures also exhibit a
psychological unity.
– Their heads were inspired by
Roman portrait busts.
Quattro Santi Coronati, Or San Michele,
Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-1414.

24
• A sense of motion is conveyed in
Donatello's Saint Mark by the
weight-shifted stance of
the figure.
• The saint's drapery also falls naturally
and implies a body underneath.
Donatello, Saint Mark
Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, 1411-1413. Marble,
approx. 7' 9" high.

25
• The same qualities came increasingly to the fore in a series of
five prophet statues that Donatello did beginning in 1416 for
the niches of the campanile, the bell tower of the cathedral.
• The statues were of a beardless and a bearded prophet, as well
as a group of Abraham and Isaac (1416-21) for the
eastern niches;
• the so-called Zuccone ("pumpkin," because of its bald head);
and Jeremiah for the western niches.

26
• Donatello's unconventional statue of Zuccone
is powerfully and realistically characterized.
• His face is individualized and discloses a fierce
personality.
Prophet figure Zuccone,
from the campanile of the
Florence Cathedral, Italy,
1423-1425. Marble, approx.
6' 5" high. Museo
dell'Opera del Duomo,
Florence.

27
• During his partnership with the architect, Michelozzo, Donatello
carried out independent commissions of pure sculpture.
• the bronze David, well-proportioned and superbly poised, was
conceived independently of any architectural setting.
• Its harmonious calm makes it the most classical of Donatello's
works.

28
• Donatello's bronze statue David
is the first freestanding nude bronze since
ancient times.
• The biblical David was a symbol of the
independent Florentine republic.
• The figure stands in a relaxed classical
contrapposto position.
David, ca. 1428–1432.
Bronze,
5' 21/4" high.

30
Let’s take another look.
Now let’s take a look at
another interpretation by
a contemporary of
Donatello’s.

31
• Compare Donatello’s David to this
version by Andrea del Verocchio.
• Verrocchio's bronze David is given a
strong narrative realism.
• The jaunty, adolescent figure stands
with relaxed ease.
Verrocchio, David, ca. 1465–1470.
Bronze, approx. 4' 1 1/2" high.
Andrea del Verocchio
(1435-1488)

32
• In 1443, Donatello was lured
to Padua by a commission for
a bronze equestrian statue of
a famous Venetian condottiere,
Erasmo da Narmi, popularly called
Gattamelata
(The Honeyed Cat), who
had died shortly before.
• Such a project was unprecedented -
indeed, scandalous - for since the
days of the Roman Empire bronze
equestrian monuments had been the
sole prerogative of rulers.
• It portrays
Gattamelata in
pseudo-classical armor
calmly astride his mount,
the baton of command in
his raised right hand.
• The head is an idealized
portrait with intellectual
power and Roman
nobility.
• This statue was the
ancestor of all the
equestrian monuments
erected since.

34
• The two Pulpits with eleven panels in the Basilica of San
Lorenzo are Donatello's last works.
• The pulpits are obviously the result of collaboration
between Donatello and his pupils Bertoldo and Bellano.
• While in the Deposition from the Cross and the
Entombment this collaboration is apparent - in the
extremely elongated figures and the unusually high degree
of finish of the reliefs - the Agony in the Garden is
considered to be the part where Donatello was working
alone and where his ties to his youthful style are clearly
visible.
Pulpit (on the right), 1465, Marble and bronze, 123 x 292 cm,
Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

35
Pulpit (on the left), 1465, Marble and bronze, 137 x 280 cm, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence

36
• This is one of
the panels of
the pulpit on
the left side of
the church of
San Lorenzo.
• The
collaboration of
Donatello' s
pupils is
apparent.

37
• This is the
Agony in
the Garden.
• This panel is
considered to
be the part
where
Donatello was
working alone
and where his
ties to his
youthful style
are clearly
visible.

38
Robbia, name of an Italian family of Renaissance artists, known
especially for their sculpture and ceramics, which flourished in
Florence for nearly 150 years.
• Luca Della Robbia (1400?-82), originated glazed terra-cotta bas-
reliefs, usually with white figures on a blue ground. He was born in
Florence and lived all his life there. His delicate reliefs were mostly
of religious subjects; those of the Madonna are especially notable
• Andrea Della Robbia (1437-1528), Luca's nephew, the most
important of his successors. Trained by his uncle in both marble
and ceramics, Andrea specialized in the creation of narrative
sculpture.
• Andrea's two sons, Giovanni (1469?-1529?) and Girolamo (1488-
1566), also became skilled terra-cotta sculptors; however, their
work was inferior to that of their father and uncle.

39
• Luca Della Robbia's
many images of the
Virgin Mary
represent a fascinating
world, a world of intimacy
and motherly tenderness
portrayed under milky
skies filled with
luminous matter.
• Especially popular in
religious circles, they were
also appreciated for their
qualities of brilliance and
whiteness, alluding to
purity and spiritual light.

40
This glazed terracotta
tondo relief of the
Madonna and
Child introduces
high-key color into
sculpture.
The figures have a
worldly quality.
Luca Della Robbia, Madonna and
Child, Florence, Italy, 1455–1460.
Terracotta with polychrome glaze,
diameter appx. 6'.

41
• During the late 15th century
Andrea della Robbia continued
his uncle's business in glazed
terracotta sculpture.
• He shared the same furnace up
to Luca's death in 1482 but was
working autonomously by 1455.
• The influence of painting can be
seen in his characteristically puffy
clouds, raised in relief. Andrea's
sky appears in his first dated
work, the Madonna of the
Stonemasons,
commissioned by the Guild to
replace an earlier work.
• The relief was executed in three
pieces and the frame in nine.
• The recessed border of seraph
heads situates the figures in
heaven, while the white roses of
the frame symbolize the
Madonna's purity and contribute
to the work's decorative nature.
• The four medallions inscribe
emblems of the guild.
Madonna of the Stonemasons, 1475-80
Glazed terracotta, 134 x 96 cm,
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

42
Della Robbia in Situ - Hospital of the Innocents, Florence
The city orphanage was Brunelleschi's first completed Classical design.

43
• Antonio Rossellino
was among the most
gifted Florentine
sculptors of his
generation, and his
reliefs of the
Virgin and Child
are justly celebrated.
• The Virgin sits on an
elaborate throne, with
scrolled armrests
projecting in high relief.
• Both she and the Christ
Child in her arms seem
strangely subdued,
perhaps contemplating
Christ's future
suffering.
Madonna and Child with Angels,
Relief, (ca. 1455–60),
Antonio Rossellino,
Marble, gilding; 28 3/4 x 20 1/4 in.

Andrea del Verocchio (1435-1488)
• The Florentine sculptor and painter, who is ranked second only
to Donatello among the Italian sculptors of the early
Renaissance.
• His equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, erected in
Venice in 1496, is particularly important.
44

45
• Compared to Gattamelata,
the most obvious difference
between the images of brute
power resides in the torsion of
Verrocchio's, Donatello's
being confined to a plane.
• Colleoni stands erect in his
stirrups to regard his enemy in
violent contrapposto, while
his horse turns and raises one
hoof without support.
– Verrocchio's is technically more
advanced.
Equestrian Statue of Colleoni, 1480s
Gilded bronze, height: 395 cm
(without base)
Campo di Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

46
Equestrian Statue of Colleoni, 1480s,
Gilded bronze, height: 395 cm
(without base), Campo
di Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

47
• Like most Florentine artists
of the time, Verocchio was
comissioned by the Medici.
• He’s left us this outstanding
portrait bust of
Lorenzo the
Magnificent.
Lorenzo de Medici,1480
Painted terracotta
National Gallery of Art, Washington

48
• A penetrating realism
distinguishes this terra-
cotta bust of Giuliano
de' Medici from the
idealization of the
individual that
characterizes his
marble bust known as
Lady with Primroses.
(next slide)
Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Giuliano de' Medici, ca. 1475/1478
Terracotta, 61 x 66 x 28.3 cm (24 x 26 x 11 1/8 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington

49
• A penetrating
realism
distinguishes
his terra-cotta
bust of
Giuliano
de' Medici
from the
idealization of
the individual
that
characterizes
his marble bust
known as Lady
with
• The latter work created a
new type of Renaissance
bust, in which the arms of
the sitter are included in the
manner of ancient Roman
models.
• This compositional device
allows the hands, as well as
the face, to express the
character and mood of the
sitter.

50
• The International Style persisted but became increasingly
suffused with a variety of naturalistic detail.
Italian Painting in
the Early Renaissance

51
Gentile da Fabriano's
(ca. 1370-1427)
Adoration
of the Magi
is an example of the
International Style.

52
It includes numerous naturalistic details.

53
• The painter Masaccio (1401-1428), however, introduced
a new monumental style that revolutionized Italian painting.
• Masaccio's manipulation of light and shade (chiaroscuro) give
an almost tangible sense of three-dimensional substance to his
figures and
• his application of the new linear perspective to create the
illusion of spatial depth or distance provided models of innovation
and direction for future generations of painters.

54
Plate of Nativity (Berlin Tondo), 1427-28
Tempera on wood, diameter 56 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
This round plate with a Nativity on
the front and a putto and small dog on
the back has been defined by
experts as the first
Renaissance tondo.

55
Note the important innovations and the
correct architectural perspective
reflecting an affirmation of the
classicism of Brunelleschi.
Florentine style is
evident in the color
sequences of the
geometrical patterns
on the walls of the
building and in the court.
This is in perfect harmony,
and was to appear again in
the stories of Fra Angelico
and the architecture of
Michelozzo in San Marco.

56
• Masaccio’s fresco series for the Brancacci Chapel in
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence (about 1427)
illustrates another of his great innovations, the use of light
to define the human body and its draperies.
• In these frescoes, rather than bathing his scenes in flat
uniform light, he painted them as if they were illuminated
from a single source of light (the actual chapel window),
thus creating a play of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) that
gave them a natural, realistic quality unknown in the art of
his day.
• Of these six fresco scenes, Tribute Money and the
Expulsion from Paradise are considered his
masterpieces.
View of the , Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427

57
Masaccio's fresco of the Tribute Money in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa
Maria del Carmine in Florence shows psychologically and physically credible
figures illuminated by a light coming from a specific source outside the
picture.
Masaccio, Tribute Money, ca. 1427
Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, Fresco, 8' 1" x 19' 7".

58
• The light models the
figures to produce an
illusion of deep
sculptural relief.
• The main group of
figures stand solidly in
a semi-circle in the
foreground of a
spacious landscape.
• Masaccio employs
both linear
perspective and
illusionistic
perspective to
enhance the sense of
space and distance.
Detail: Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del
Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427. Fresco, 8' 1" x 19' 7".

59
• Masaccio's starkly simple fresco of the
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from
Eden employs sharply slanted light from an
outside source to create deep relief.
• The figures appear to have substantial bodily
weight and move convincingly over the ground.
Masaccio,
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden,
Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del
Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1425. Fresco, 7' x 2' 11".

61
• Masaccio's Holy Trinity fresco
in Santa Maria Novella embodies
two principal Renaissance
interests:
– realism based on observation,
– and perspective.
Masaccio, Holy Trinity,
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence, Italy, ca. 1428. Fresco, 21' x 10' 5".

63
Fra Angelico (Guido di Pietro) (1400-55)
• A Dominican friar, “Brother Angel” was in fact a highly
professional artist, who was in touch with the most advanced
developments in contemporary Florentine art.
• He probably began his career as a manuscript illuminator, and his
early paintings are strongly influenced by International Gothic.
• His most famous works were painted at the
Monastery of San Marco in Florence.
• He and his assistants painted about fifty frescos.

64
Fra Angelico's fresco of the Annunciation is simple and serene.
Fra Angelico, Annunciation, San Marco, Florence, 1440–1445. Fresco, 7' 1" x 10' 6".

65
• Many of the frescos are in
the friars' cells and were
intended as aids to devotion;
– with their immaculate
coloring,
– their economy in drawing
and composition, and
– their freedom from the
accidents of time and
place, they attain a sense
of blissful serenity.
Presentation in the Temple
1440-41, Fresco, 158 x 136 cm;
Cell 10, San Marco, Florence.

66
• The brilliance of the early
morning is real enough, but
the irradiating light, the
floating rather than walking
figure of Christ, the wealth of
natural detail in the garden,
are for devotional reasons
and intended to stimulate the
meditation of the monk who
lived in the cell.
Noli Me Tangere,1440-41
Fresco, 180 x 146 cm
Convento di San Marco, Florence

67
• Angelico would repeat
his success with the
frescoes at San Marcos
with commissions for
altarpieces that made
their way to churches
around the world.
• In this altarpanel
which was sold to
Spain we see his
Annunciation
recreated in egg
tempera on a
wooden panel
with the
Expulsion
from the
Garden scene
in the
background.

68
The Annunciation (detail),
1430-32, Tempera on wood,
154 x 194 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

69
• In the next slide, following the three kings
a splendid procession, symbolizing all
the races of mankind, waits to pay
homage to the new-born Christ..
• The peacock is a symbol of
Resurrection.
• Some scholars believe that Fra Angelico
laid out the composition and painted the
Virgin and Child and at least some of the
figures at the upper right; then his
associate and fellow monk Fra Filippo
Lippi completed the work. Fra Angelico with Fra Filippo Lippi
The Adoration of the Magi. c.1445
Tempera on panel.
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC,
Documents indicate the this
tondo may have originally
belonged to Lorenzo
de' Medici, ruler of
Florence and patron
of Renaissance
artists.

70
• Fra Filippo Lippi
(1406-1469)
another painter/ Friar;
• Madonna and Child
with Angels shows
Lippi’s skill in
manipulating line.
• The subject has been
humanized and
interpreted in a worldly
manner.
Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child
with Angels, ca. 1455. Tempera on
wood, approx. 36" x 25".
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

71
• This is an example
how Lippi used
the architectural
elements to
emphasize the
three-dimensional
space.
• There is a
remarkable
harmony between
the figures and the
columns of the
architecture.
Annunciation,c.1443,Wood,
203 x 185,3 cm,
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

72
• Perugino's fresco of Christ Delivering the Keys of the
Kingdom to Saint Peter in the Sistine Chapel shows the
figures occupying the foreground of a great piazza that extends
perspectively back in space.
• The orthogonal lines of the perspective grid converge at a
vanishing point located in the doorway of a centrally placed
central-plan temple.
Perugino, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, Sistine Chapel, Vatican,
Rome, Italy, 1481–1483. Fresco, 11' 5 1/2" x 18' 8 1/2".

73
• The next fresco is from the cycle of the life of Christ in
the Sistine Chapel.
• It was painted by Perugino and Pinturicchio, the latter
being probably responsible for the landscape and minor
scenes.
• The paintings were to be read in pairs, one from the left
and one from the right.
• Thus the Baptism of Christ faces the Circumcision of
Moses' son by Perugino and Pinturicchio.
Baptism of Christ,c. 1482,Fresco, 335 x 540 cm,Cappella Sistina,Vatican

74
Baptism of Christ (detail)
c. 1482, Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican

75
• The next fresco depicts the story of Moses' journey to Egypt
after exile in the land of Midian, when the angel tells him to
circumcise his second son.
• A comparison of the pairs of scenes shows clearly that the
principal concern was to show how the new religion of Christ
was deeper and more spiritual than the Jewish religion.
• Thus the pair of frescoes showing the Baptism and the
Circumcision emphasize how baptism - prefigured, according
to Augustine and many of the Fathers of Church, by
circumcision - represents a "spiritual circumcision."
Moses's Journey into Egypt, c. 1482, Fresco, Cappella Sistina, Vatican

76
• Castagno's Last Supper in the refectory of
Sant'Apollonia in Florence shows both a commitment
to the biblical narrative and an interest in perspective.
Andrea Del Castagno, Last Supper, the Refectory, Monastery of Sant'Apollonia,
Florence, Italy, 1447. Fresco, approx. 15' x 32'.
Andrea del Castagno (ca.1419-1457)

77
• Castagno’s The
Youthful David is
unique in Renaissance art.
• It is the only example of a
painted shield that can be
attributed to a great master,
and it is decorated with a
narrative scene instead of
the typical coat of arms.
• Rather than for protection in
battle, it was intended for
display in ceremonial
parades.
For this interpretation of David,
Castagno chose a young athlete,
whose pose shows the painter's
awareness of classical prototypes.
He demonstrates his knowledge of of
anatomy by modeling the figure in
chiaroscuro (light and shadow),
articulating the muscles and veins
of the arms and legs, and giving motion
to David's pose and windblown garments.
The Youthful David, c. 1450
tempera on leather on wood, width at top:
45 1/2 x 30 1/8 in.,width at bottom: 45 1/2 x 16 in.

80
Portrait of a Man,
c. 1450, tempera on panel,
21 5/16 x 15 7/8 in.
National Gallery, DC.

82
• Street preachers gave vivid
accounts of the Annunciation,
and audiences would also
have seen the event reenacted
on its feast day.
• Events in the drama took place
in sequence. Mary was first
startled at the angel's sudden
appearance; she reflected on
his message and queried
Gabriel about her fitness;
finally, kneeling, she submitted
to God's will.
• Here in Masolino’s
interpretation of the
scene, Mary's downcast
eyes and musing
gesture -- hand resting
tentatively on her breast
-- suggest the second,
and most often depicted,
of these stages:
reflection.
Masolino da Panicale
The Annunciation,
1425/1430, National Gallery, DC.

84
• The identity remains uncertain
of the painter of the next panel
but his style, which draws on
older artists, also shows
evidence of newer trends,
especially in his treatment of
distant space.
• Follow the lines of the
architecture: the regular
rhythm of arcades and arches
recedes into the background.
The grid formed by the
courtyard measures the
distance for our eye.
• These converging
perspective lines lead to a
door beyond which we
glimpse a lush garden. This
is not a random choice of
landscape.
• In reference to her virginity,
Mary was often called the
hortus conclusus (enclosed
garden) and the porta
clausa (closed door).
• Many Annunciations
translate these themes with
visual images of locked
doors and walled gardens.
Here instead, the perspective
takes us through an open
door into the heavenly garden
of Paradise.
The Annunciation,
because it is the beginning of
Christ's human existence,
also heralds the redemption
of humankind.
The open door underscores
the promise of salvation as
well as Mary's role in the
Incarnation and as intercessor
for the prayers of men and
women.

85
• The princely court of Urbino under the patronage of
Federico da Montefeltro was also a center of Renaissance
art and culture.
• The painter and geometrician:
Piero della Francesca(1420-1492) produced lucid
images of almost geometrical clarity and purity.
• Though little is known about him and many of his works are
lost forever, he was an important artist of the Italian
Renaissance – he clearly formulated the geometrical
rules for building perspective and made wonderful
empirical discoveries in the use of color and light.

86
Piero's fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco in Arezzo
includes the Finding of the True Cross and Proving of
the True Cross, which carefully delineates the forms and
shapes of the architecture in the background to organize and
control the grouping of the solemn figures in the foreground.

87
In his fresco of the
Resurrection
in the chapel of
the town hall of
Borgo San
Sepolcro, Piero
used a triangle of
figures to
organize and
stabilize the
composition.
Resurrection. 1450-1463.
Fresco. 225 x 200
cm. Pinacoteca
Comunale,
Sansepolcro, Italy

88
Piero's Enthroned
Madonna and
Saints Adored by
Federico da
Montefeltro shows
the figures under an
illusionistically painted,
coffered barrel vault.
Piero Della Francesca, Enthroned
Madonna and Saints Adored by
Federico da Montefeltro (Brera
Altarpiece), ca. 1472-1474.
Oil on panel, 8' 2" x 5' 7".
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

89
Paolo Uccello
(1397 - 1475)
Developing an intense
interest in perspective
under the influence of
Masaccio’s and
Donatello’s works, Ucello
became engrossed with
developing the new
science of perspective in
painting.
Paolo Uccello. Equestrian Portrait
of Sir John Hawkwood. 1436.
Fresco, tranferred to canvas.
Duomo Cathedral, Florence, Italy

90
• Proof of Uccello’s
obsession with
perspective are his
drawings in the Uffizzi
of objects which he
made look transparent
in order to be able to
show them in their
stereometric
complexity.

91
• The three paintings of the Battle of San Romano are
universally attributed to Paolo Uccello.
• In all three the battle scene is interpreted in terms of a
chaotic melee of horsemen, lances and horses in a
desperate struggle, portrayed through an endless series
of superimposed and intersecting perspective planes.
Niccolò da Tolentino Leads the Florentine Troops, 1450s
Tempera on wood, 182 x 320 cm, National Gallery, London

92
Niccolò da Tolentino
Leads the Florentine
Troops (detail), 1450s
Tempera on wood,
182 x 320 cm
National Gallery,London

93
• This is the central panel of the three paintings representing
the battle won by Florence against Siena allied with
Visconti, the ruling family of Milan.
• Ucello's obsession with displaying his mastery of
perspective (such as the long white and red lances or the
exceptional horses that have rolled over on the ground) and
the dramatic nature of the clash between the knights
combine with his almost magical story telling.
• This is underpinned by the use of unreal colors and light as
if describing some fabulous tale of chivalrous adventure.
Bernardino della Ciarda Thrown Off His Horse, 1450s,
Tempera on wood, 182 x 220 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

94
• Particularly lovely are the
background landscapes,
especially in the
Florence panel, with
scenes of grape
harvesting and hunting
rediscovered after the
1954 cleaning.
Bernardino della Ciarda Thrown Off
His Horse (detail),1450s
Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

95
• In the Louvre panel there is a formal subtext created by
strong decorative elements, such as the tights of
contrasting colors worn by the soldiers on the left, or the
arrangement of the lances, which form a series of
patterns and movements that echo the horses and their
riders.
• As could be expected, foreshortening and perspective
are devices favored by the artist.
• The landscape has been sacrificed to the figural action.
Micheletto da Cotignola Engages in Battle, 1450s,
Tempera on wood, 180 x 316 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

96
Alessandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510)
• After Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli comes as the next great
painter of the Florentine tradition.
• The new, sharply contoured, slender form and rippling
sinuous line is synonymous with Botticelli .
• Nothing is more gracious, in lyrical beauty, than Botticelli's
mythological paintings Primavera and The Birth of
Venus, where the pagan story is taken with reverent
seriousness and Venus is the Virgin Mary in another form.
• He often used mythology and allegory as metaphors
for Christianity.

97
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, ca. 1482. Tempera on canvas,
approx. 5' 8" x 9' 1". Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus is a lyrical and courtly
image. The nude figure of Venus was derived from ancient
Venus statues of Roman times.

98
Botticelli's Venus is so
beautiful that we don’t notice
the unnatural length of her
neck, the steep fall of her
shoulders and the queer way
her left arm is hinged to the
body.
Botticelli took liberties with
nature in order to achieve a
graceful outline and add to the
beauty and harmony of the
design because they enhance
the impression of an infinitely
delicate being, wafted to our
shores as a gift from Heaven.

100
• In Primavera (Spring). Venus is standing in the center
of the picture, above her Cupid is aiming one of his arrows
of love at the three dancing Graces.
• The Garden of the goddess of love is guarded by Mercury
(he is wearing winged shoes) on the left.
• From the right, Zephyr, the god of the winds, is pursuing a
nymph.
• Next to her walks Flora, the goddess of spring, who is
scattering flowers.
Botticelli. Primavera. c.1482. Tempera on panel. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy.

101
La Primavera, "Allegory of
Spring" (detail)
1477-78
Tempera on panel

102
La Primavera, "Allegory of
Spring" (detail)
1477-78
Tempera on panel

103
The next painting has been subject to many different
interpretations. Venus, calm and self-assured, watches the
sleeping Mars, while little fauns playfully rush about the scene.
This can all be connected with Humanist themes: Venus as the
personification of love conquering Mars, who symbolizes discord.
Venus and Mars, 1480s, Tempera on wood, 69 x 173,5 cm, National Gallery, London
Despite the playful element of the fauns, the dominant mood of
the painting is not serene: the sleeping god is fatigued and his
body is almost too relaxed; Venus's expression is quite restless.

104
This painting marks the
end of Botticelli's
‘Medici” period, from
this point onwards the
subject-matter of his
paintings changes and
becomes increasingly
religious.
Pallas and the Centaur, 1482,
Tempera on canvas, 207 x 148 cm,
Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence.

105
Alessandro Botticelli. Portrait of
Giuliano de' Medici. c.1476-1477.
Tempera on panel. National
Gallery of Art, Washington, DC..
Perhaps the most authentic
portrait of Giuliano
assumed that to be painted
in the lifetime of Giuliano.
However, the death
symbols (the dove sitting
on the dead branch and
the half-open door) on the
picture contradict this
assumption.

106
• Many of Botticelli's paintings are undated, but this
Adoration of the Magi has been dated by
modern scholarship to c. 1475.
• This is important because it provides evidence of
Botticelli having already secured the patronage of
the Medici whose portraits appear in the picture.
Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, Tempera on panel, 27 ½ x 41”, Uffizi, Florence

107
Here we see Cosimo, the
elder Medici
Kneeling below, is his
son Piero di Medici.
To his right Lorenzo the
Magnificent
And to the edge of the
painting Botticelli has
given us a self portrait.

108
Mantua
• Besides in Florence, the princely courts of Naples, Urbino,
Milan, Ferrara, and Mantua, rulers nurtured the arts.
• Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga was determined to transform
Mantua into a spectacular city.
• In the Camera degli Sposi in the Ducal Palace in Mantua,
Andrea Mantegna produced the first consistent
illusionistic decoration applied to an entire room.

109
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)
Together with
Giovanni
Bellini,
Andrea
Mantegna
was largely
responsible
for spreading
the ideas of
the Early
Renaissance
in northern
Italy.
Interior of the Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1474.

110
Mantegna
employed
perspective and
foreshortening to
produce images
seen di sotto in sù
(from below
upwards).
Ceiling of the Camera
degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale,
Mantua, Italy, 1474. Fresco, 8'
9" in diameter.

111
Mantegna's harrowing image of the
Dead Christ is a strikingly realistic study in
foreshortening but one which has been also
modified artistically.
Andrea Mantegna, Dead Christ, ca. 1501. Tempera on canvas,
26 3/4" x 31 7/8". Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

112
• Mantegna's profound and impassioned study of ancient
art is evident from this Bacchanal which recalls ancient
relief sculpture in its frieze-like composition and stony
three-dimensionality.
• Some of the figural motifs were adapted from two
sarcophagi then in Rome, probably known to Mantegna
through the intermediary of drawing books such as the
one that passed through his hands in the mid-1470s.
• The heroic nude who receives a crown in this engraving,
his only attribute a cornucopia filled with grapes, is
usually identified as Bacchus.
Bacchanal with a Wine Vat, ca. 1470s, Andrea Mantegna, Engraving; 11 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.

113
Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516)
• In Venice, Giovanni Bellini was the pre-eminent
teacher of his generation, with a sizeable workshop
staffed by pupils and assistants, among whom were
Giorgione and Titian.
• With the arrival of oil painting in Italy, Bellini developed
a richness of color and depth of color unequaled in Italy
at the time.
• Bellini portrayed the elected ruler of Venice, the Doge
Leonardo Loredan.

114
The Doge is exquisitely
portrayed in his
ceremonial robes, made in
an old-fashioned style but
from a newly imported
material - damask - which
has gold thread running
through it.
Instead of gold leaf, Bellini
painted the surface
roughly so as to catch the
light and give a metallic
finish - a revolutionary
technique at the time.
The Doge Leonardo Loredan
1501-05, Oil, probably with some
egg tempera, on poplar,
61.5 x 45 cm, National
Gallery, London.

115
• Bellini’s Pietà is rightly considered one of the most
moving paintings in the history of art.
• A passionate feeling that is not so much religious as
human and psychological pervades the actors in the
drama.
• The rendering of grief has here its most universal
expression.
Dead Christ Supported by the Madonna and St John (Pietà),1460,Tempera on panel,
86 x 107 cm,Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

116
Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, c. 1468. Oil on canvas.
85x115 cm. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy.

117
• In a similar painting
done a few years later,
Bellini has grown in
technique but retains
the medieval gold
background separating
the Virgin from the
Italian landscape.
• This highly balanced picture
incorporates a system of
double lighting that
characterizes a small group
of similar compositions.
• The curtain behind the Virgin
captures the light coming
from in front of her in such a
way that the shadow of her
figure is projected onto the
fabric. In the landscape
background beyond, on the
other hand, the light expands
totally independently in an
even, diffused luminosity.
Madonna degli Alberetti, 1487
Oil on panel, 74 x 58 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

118
• This beautiful picture,
probably painted in the
late 1480s, is a work
of Bellini's maturity.
• Unusually, the cloth of
honor behind the
figures is off center,
revealing a distant
landscape that in its
light and atmosphere
anticipates the works
of Giorgione and
Titian.
Madonna and Child, probably
late 1480s
Oil on wood; 35 x 28 in.

120
• Saint Jerome is often
depicted on small devotional
panels such as this one.
• During the Renaissance, the
saint was favored by
humanists because he had
translated the Bible into
Latin.
• The saint is often placed in
the wilderness, where he
had retreated as a hermit.
• In Bellini's painting the
saint and his lion occupy
only a small area.
• The rocky strata seem
equally alive, animated by
a radiant light that
suggests the divine.
• Many of the plants and
animals have symbolic
meanings -- rabbits, for
example, serve as
reminders of lust -- but
Bellini treats them with
the attention of a
naturalist.
Perhaps, it was because
Venice was so intensely
urban that its artists
developed into great
landscape painters.
Their approach, was more
intuitive than scientific: they
responsed to nature more
than they accurately
recorded it.
Here, Bellini shifted the
perspective three times --
we seem to look down on
the saint and foreground, up
at the looming rock face,
and straight ahead
into the distance.

122
Early 15th century Architecture
• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) adopted a
classically inspired rational approach to architecture that
employed both classical architectural forms (e.g., round
arches, columns) and a system of design based on
carefully proportioned shapes (e.g., the square, circle) or
units fitted together in strict but simple ratios.
• Brunelleschi studied the ancient monuments in Rome.

123
Brunelleschi's double-shelled dome for the Florence Cathedral is
original in section and designed around a skeleton of twenty-four
ribs, of which eight are visible on the exterior.
The structure is anchored at the top with a heavy lantern.

126
Brunelleschi's modular-
based design for Santo
Spirito has aisles,
subdivided into small
squares covered by
shallow saucer-shaped
vaults, which run all the
way around the flat-roofed
central space.
The scale of each
architectural element in the
interior is based on a unit
that served as the building
block for the dimensions of
every aspect of building.

127
Brunelleschi's plan for
the Pazzi Chapel is
one of the first
independent
Renaissance buildings
conceived as a central-
plan structure where
emphasis is placed on
the central dome-covered
space.
He used a basic unit to
construct a balanced,
harmonious, and
regularly proportioned
space.

128
Plan of Pazzi Chapel,
Santa Croce,
Florence, Italy.

129
Interior of Pazzi Chapel
(view facing northeast),
Santa Croce, Florence,
Italy, begun ca. 1440.

130
• Next we see the Brunelleschi’s beautiful porch with
Arcade for the Foundling hospital in Florence
(c.1419-24).
• Note the della Robbia medallions on the walls between
the spandrels.

131
• The Hospital of the
Innocents is one of the first
buildings produced by
Brunelleschi and erected by
him between 1421 and 1424.
• The hospital was constructed
as a refuge for orphans and
abandoned children.
• Its nine harmonious arches are
decorated with terracotta
tondoes by Andrea della
Robbia, which depict babies
symbolically seeking the
charity of Florence's rich.

132
Michelozzo
Di Bartolomo’s
(1396-1472)
design for the
Palazzo Medici-
Riccardi has
heavy rustication
on the ground floor,
dressed stone on
the upper levels,
and a heavy cornice
at the top.

133
• Michelozzo became
increasingly engrossed in
a large architectural
practice, especially for
Cosimo de' Medici.
• The Medici Palace
was seen by
contemporaries, despite
its traditional features, as
'comparable to the works
of the Roman Emperors'
(Flavio Biondo).

134
• The open interior
court has a round-
arched colonnade.
Interior court of the Palazzo
Medici-Riccardi, Florence,
Italy, begun 1444.

135
• In the courtyard at the manastery of San
Marco Michelozzo employs a basically
Brunelleschian vocabulary without
Brunelleshi's strict proportions, modular
elements, or novel vaulting types.
• By contrast, Michelozzo's references to
antiquity are often more varied and direct.
Courtyard
1430s
Convent of San
Marco, Florence

136Library, 1437-51, Convent of San Marco, Florence

137
• The architect
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-
1472) designed a façade for
the Church of
Sant'Andrea that linked
together a Roman temple
front and a triumphal arch.
• The façade's vertical and
horizontal dimensions are
proportionally related.

138
Plan of Sant'Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed ca. 1470.

139
Interior of Sant'Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed ca. 1470
The vaults in the interior may have been inspired by the
Basilica Nova of Constantine in Rome.

140
• A profound understanding of ancient Roman
architecture
was achieved by Alberti, who advocated (in his own
treatise on architecture) a system of ideal proportions
expressed in simple numerical ratios.
• He also proposed a more rigorous and correct application of
Roman architectural principles.
• Alberti's design for the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence
includes classical elements such as flat pilasters, a classical
cornice, and rustication.
• The flat façade is modeled on the Colosseum and uses
different capitals for each story: Tuscan for the ground floor,
Composite for the second story, and Corinthian for the third
floor.

141
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI,
Palazzo Rucellai, Florence,
Italy, ca. 1452–1470.

142
• Alberti's design for the façade of Santa Maria
Novella in Florence follows a Romanesque model but
organizes the elements according to a system of
proportions that can be expressed in simple numerical
ratios.
Diagrams of west façade, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.

143
• The design also includes the use of scrolls to unite the
broad lower part and the narrow upper part of the
façade, and to screen the sloping roofs over the aisles.
Alberti,, west façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1458–1470.

145
The Magnificent Medici:
• The Medici family, who had acquired a huge fortune from
banking, were lavish patrons of art and learning.
• Many of the artworks commissioned by members of the
Medici family reveal their interest in humanist ideas and
learning and also a concern with the family's public image.
• In sculpture, painting, and engraving is seen a particular
interest in showing figures in anatomically correct physical
movement based on direct observation and empirical
study.

146
Turmoil at the end of the century:
• The radical Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola
assumed absolute control of Florence after the Medici
fled the city following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici in
1492.
• Savonarola denounced humanism and encouraged
"bonfires of the vanities," in which citizens were
exhorted to burn classical texts, scientific treatises, and
philosophical writings.

147
Luca Signorelli (ca. 1445-1523)
• Outside of Florence the passion of Savonarola’s
sermons found its pictorial equal in the work of the
Umbrian painter Luca Signorelli .
• He was interested in depicting muscular bodies in
violent action in a variety of poses and foreshortening.
Signorelli, Damned Cast into Hell, San Brizio Chapel, Cathedral, |
Orvieto, Italy, 1499–1504. Fresco, approx. 23' wide.

149
It’s clear that
Signorelli
influenced
Michelangelo
who, would
focus on the
human nude
in the next
century.

150
Review: Early Renaissance
• The spread of humanism and the growing interest in
classical antiquity contributed significantly to the growth and
expansion of artistic culture in 15th-century Italy.
• Also important were political and economic changes that
contributed to the rise of a new class of wealthy patrons
such as the Florentine Medici who fostered art and learning
on a lavish scale.
• As part of Civic pride, artistic competitions become popular.
Lorenzo Ghiberti wins the competition to design the “Gates
of Paradise”
• Humanism's emphasis on individual achievement and
recognition gave new impetus to portraiture, both private
and commemorative.

151
• In architecture, an understanding of ancient Roman
architecture was achieved as well as systems of ideal
proportions expressed in simple numerical ratios. In
another competition Filippo Brunelleschi wins the
commission to build the dome to the Cathedral of
Florence.
• The use of new humanist-inspired ideas and features
contributed to a growing secularization of traditional
religious subject matter. Donatello creates his David,
the first freestanding nude since antiquity.
• Masaccio's fresco of the Tribute Money
psychologically and physically credible figures illuminated
by a light coming from a specific source outside the
picture.

152
• Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus is a lyrical and
courtly image.
• Fra Angelico brings a human touch to his religious
scenes in the Monastery of San Marcos.
• Besides in Florence, the princely courts of Naples,
Urbino, Milan, Ferrara, and Mantua, rulers nurtured the
arts.
• in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, Andrea Mantegna
produced the first consistent illusionistic decoration
applied to an entire room.
• In his fresco of the Resurrection Piero della
Francesca used a triangle of figures to organize and
stabilize the composition.

153
LINKS:
• 15th-Century Art in Italy: The Early Renaissance
• Gates of Paradise (Web gallery of Art)
• Frescoes in the Convento di San Marco (Angelico)
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Allegorical paintings by Botticelli
• Quattrocento (lesser known paintings)
• Renaissance (AICT)
• Overview of Italian Painters from 1200 to 1750

03 Early Renaissance in Italy

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to 03 Early Renaissance in Italy

Similar to 03 Early Renaissance in Italy (20)

More from Montgomery County Community College

More from Montgomery County Community College (10)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

03 Early Renaissance in Italy