The Proto-Renaissance in Italy from 1200-1400 saw a transition away from the Italo-Byzantine style. Artists like Cimabue and Duccio incorporated more realistic elements like realistic perspective and proportions in their works. Giotto is considered a pioneer of the Renaissance for works like the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes which used techniques like foreshortening and chiaroscuro modeling to depict religious scenes in a naturalistic style. Simone Martini's Annunciation and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Effects of Good and Bad Government frescoes further advanced realistic painting techniques.

1. The Proto-Renaissance
in Italy 1200-1400

2. Barkley Hendricks, Lawdy Mama, 1969. Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996.

3. Andy Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe, 1962.
Gustav Klimt, Choir of Heavenly Angels
from the Beethoven Frieze, 1902, casein
paint, gold paint, chalk, graphite on
plaster with various materials.

4. Key Terms:
altarpiece- a panel that is
painted or sculpted
representing a religious
subject that is placed above
and behind an altar in a
church
2 panels= diptych
3 panels= triptych
multiple panels =
polyptych
Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.

5. Late Medieval Christian Art
in Italy
Italo-Byzantine Style (the
maniera greca)- The use of the
Byzantine style in Italy,
especially prevalent after the
fall of Constantinople in 1204,
which led to the migration of
Byzantine artists to Italy.
Bonaventura Berlinghieri, Saint
Francis Altarpiece, tempera on wood
with gold leaf 5’ x 3’ x 6’, ca. 1235.

6. Late Medieval Christian Art in Italy- the Italo-Byzantine Style (the maniera greca)
Similarities: gold, indistinct background; lack of modeling and depth in favor of
stylization of forms and flatness; floating figures with elongated bodies, small heads
and almond shaped eyes.
Italo-Byzantine Style
Bonaventura Berlinghieri
Saint Francis Altarpiece, ca. 1235.
Byzantine
Mosaic of Justinian
San Vitale, Ravenna, ca. 547.

7. Earlier Byzantine Mosaic
Crucifixion , Church of the Dormition,
Daphni, Greece, ca 1090-1100.

8. Medieval Christian Art in Italy-
The Italo-Byzantine Style
Key Terms:
-tempera paint- a paint made of
pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue or
casein.
-gilding- Very thin bounded gold leaf
applied with glue to a surface. In this
case to emphasize the spiritual and
heavenly subject matter.
Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child, tempera on wood, gold ground
31 5/8 x 21 1/8 in, c. 1228-30, [Met Museum].

9. The Proto-Renaissance:
the transition away
from the Italo-Byzantine
Style

10. Map of Medieval Italy
1000-1400
Florence and Siena
(Tuscany):
the heart of the Proto-
Renaissance

11. Key Term:
maesta- the scene of the Virgin Mary
(Madonna) seated on a throne holding
the infant Jesus in her lap, often
flanked by angels, saints or prophets.
Literally meaning “majesty.”
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets
tempera and gold leaf on wood, 12’ 7” x 7’ 4”, ca.1280-90.

12. Proto-Renaissance, Italy
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with
Angels and Prophets, tempera on wood
12’ 7” x 7’ 4”, ca. 1280-90.
Italo-Byzantine Style, Italy
Bonaventura Berlinghieri
Saint Francis Altarpiece
tempera on wood, 5’ x 3’ x 6’, ca.
1235.

13. Duccio, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints
(principle panel of the Maestà Altarpiece from the Siena Cathedral)
tempera and gold leaf on wood, 7 ‘ x 13’, ca. 1308-1311.

14. Duccio, Reconstruction of the Maestà Altarpiece
from the Siena Cathedral
(front and back)
tempera and gold leaf on wood
ca. 1308-1311.

15. Duccio, The Raising of Lazarus, panel from the back of the,Maestà Altarpiece
ca. 1308-1311, tempera and gold on panel, 17 1/8” x 18 ¼”.

16. Giotto di Bondone-
The First Renaissance Painter?
Madonna Enthroned, from the Church of Ognissanti, Florence, Italy
tempera and gold leaf on wood, 10’ 8” x 6’ 8”, ca. 1305-10.

17. Giotto, detail, Madonna Enthroned.

18. Giotto, details, Madonna Enthroned.

19. Giotto, Madonna Enthroned,
10’ 8” x 6’ 8”, ca. 1310.
Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and
Prophets, 12’ 7” x 7’ 4”, ca. 1280-90.

20. Exterior of the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua, Italy.

21. Giotto di Bondone, The First Renaissance Painter?
Interior frescoes of the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua, Italy, ca. 1305-6.

22. Left: detail from the Last Judgment
fresco from the Scrovegni (Arena)
Chapel showing Enrico Scrovegni
giving a symbolic model of the Arena
Chapel to the Virgin Mary, the Virgin
of Charity, and the Virgin
Annunciate.

23. Giotto, north wall of the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Marriage at Cana, Raising of
Lazarus, Lamentation and Resurrection, Noli Me Tangere , fresco, ca. 1305-6, each
scene approx. 6’5” x 6’.

24. Giotto, Lamentation from the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel,
fresco, ca. 1305-6, 6’ 6 ¾” x 6’ ¾” .
Key Term:
fresco- Italian for
“fresh.” A mural-painting
technique involving the
application of permanent
limeproof pigments,
diluted in water, on
freshly laid lime plaster.

25. Giotto, Lamentation from the
Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, fresco,
ca. 1305-6, 6’ 6 ¾” x 6’ ¾”.
Key Terms:
fresco- Italian for “fresh.” A mural-painting
technique involving the
application of permanent
limeproof pigments, diluted in
water, on freshly laid lime
plaster.
chiaroscuro- literally meaning light
and dark. The use of light and
dark to produce three-dimensional
modeling.
foreshortening- the use of
perspective to show the
extension of an object back into
space.
giornata (pl. giornate)- meaning
“day” in Italian, the section of
plaster that a fresco painter
expects to complete in one
session, to keep the plaster from
drying before pigment can be

26. Giotto, Kiss of Judas,South wall of the Scrovegni (Arena)
Chapel, ca. 1305,fresco,6’ 6 ¾” x 6 7/8”.

27. Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation, Siena Cathedral, 1333,
tempera and gold leaf on wood, center panel 10’1” x 1’ 8 ¾”.

28. Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, detail, Annunciation, Siena Cathedral, 1333,
tempera and gold leaf on wood, center panel 10’1” x 1’ 8 ¾”.

29. Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Effects of Good Government in
the City and in the Country,
Sala della Pace, Palazzo
Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339,
fresco.

30. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, detail of Justice in the Allegory of Good Government,
from the Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country frescoes, 1338-9.

31. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Bad Government,
from the Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country frescoes, 1338-
9.

32. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City,
from the Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country frescoes, 1338-
9.

33. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful Country,
from the Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country frescoes, 1338-
9.