In 15th century Italy, Florence emerged as an intellectual, financial, and artistic center under the patronage of the Medici family. Humanism flourished during this period, emphasizing secular ideals and the study of classical Greek and Latin texts. Important early Renaissance artists included Filippo Brunelleschi, who pioneered the use of linear perspective in painting and constructed the dome of Florence Cathedral, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose Gates of Paradise on the Florence Baptistery made use of classical influences and set new standards for realism in sculpture. Masaccio's frescoes in Florence further advanced the use of linear perspective and naturalism in figure painting.

1. Sandrine Le Bail AP Art History
The Early Renaissance in Italy
15th century

2. Italy in the 15th century

3. Florence
• City-states
• Intellectual center
• Financial center
• Artistic center
• “Republic” dominated by the Medici family
• Medici = great Patrons

4. Petrarch, 1304-1374

5. Humanism (1300-1600)
• Revived the ideals embodied in the ancient Greek
maxim: “Man is the measure of all things”.
• Study of original Latin and Greek texts
• Education not linked anymore only with
Christianity
• Impact on the Arts
• Stressed the secular over the
religious

6. Humanism (1300-1600)
• Use of Latin script (and not gothic script)
• Creation of library
• Study of Classical literature

7. The competition for the Florence
Baptistery Doors (1401)
- Patrons: the Wool refiner
Guild
- Scene: The Sacrifice of
Isaac

8. Filippo Brunelleschi Lorenzo Ghiberti
Quatrefoil = Medieval shape imposed by the Wool Guild

9. Filippo Brunelleschi
1401-1402

10. Filippo Brunelleschi
1401-1402
Thorn Puller 1st century BCE

11. Lorenzo
Ghiberti,
1401-1402
Lost wax method

12. Lorenzo Ghiberti,
North Door,
Baptistery
Florence, 1402-
1403

13. Filippo Brunelleschi, 1377-1446
- Lived in Rome for 10 years
and studied monuments
from Antiquity
- Great Engineer (largest
dome of the world)
- Theoretician (formulated
the first methods for
creating linear perspective)

14. Brunelleschi, the Dome of Florence
Cathedral, begin 1410
42,06 meters

15. Vertical ribs.
8 primary ribs
16 secondary ribs
Larger masonry dome in the
world.
1st octagonal dome to be
built without wooden frame

16. 2 thin shells instead of
a thicker one.
The heavier interior
dome supports the
lighter exterior dome.
A lantern was
positioned atop the
building to anchor the
two domes in place.

17. Brunelleschi, Hospital of the Innocent,
begun 1419
Financed by Giovanni di Bicci de Medici

18. Brunelleschi, Hospital of the Innocent,
begun 1419
Loggia Bay
Financed by Giovanni di Bicci de Medici
Traverse arches
Corbel
Pediments

19. Brunelleschi, Santo Spirito, Florence,
planned 1434.
- Simplicity
- Proportion
- Symmetry
- Light
Pietra Serena

20. Importance of proportion and ratio:
Crossing = ½ bay
1 Bay = ½ side aisle
Arches and column = 2/3 of the height of the nave

21. Notre Dame de Chartres
Santo Spirito,
Florence
- Wooden ceiling
- Pietra serena

22. Linear Perspective
Before Brunelleschi:
Empirical linear perspective
Duccio
Giotto

23. Linear Perspective
• Invented by Brunelleschi
• Theorized by Leon Battista Alberti’s De Pictura
• Based on the observation that distant objects
seem smaller than closer ones.

24. Linear Perspective

27. Leonardo da Vinci, Perspective study
for the background of the Adoration of
the Magi, c.1481

28. Piero della Francesca, Flagellation of
Christ, 1455-1460

31. Paolo Uccello,
Perspective
drawing of a
chalice, c.1430-
1440

35. Lorenzo Ghiberti

36. Lorenzo Ghiberti,
The Gates of Paradise, 1424-1452

37. Lorenzo
Ghiberti,
The Gates of
Paradise,
Florence
Baptistery,
1424-1452

38. Meeting of Salomon and Sheba

39. Meeting of Salomon and Sheba

43. Masaccio (1401-1428)
Tomasso di Ser
Giovanni di Mone

44. Masaccio, the Holy
Trinity, 1425.
Santa Maria Novella,
Florence
Fresco technic
1st painting done using
Brunelleschi’s method for
creating realistic space
Memento Mori: “I was what you are.
And I am what you will be”.

45. Holy Trinity: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit
Mary and Saint John
Donors : Lenzi Family

46. Pyramidal
composition

50. The Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del
Carmine, Florence
Masaccio’s fresco cycle
: life of Saint Peter.
Frescoes completed by
Filippo Lippi in the
1480’s

51. Masaccio, Tribute Money, Santa Maria
del Carmine, Florence, 1425

52. Masaccio, Tribute Money, Santa Maria
del Carmine, Florence, 1425
Chiaroscuro : model forms and create the illusion of mass and volume

53. Masaccio, Tribute Money, Santa Maria
del Carmine, Florence, 1425
Linear and Atmospheric perspective

54. Masaccio, Expulsion
from Eden, Brancacci
chapel, Florence,
1425
Medici Venus, 1st century CE

55. Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the
Magi, 1423

56. Altarpiece of the Palla
Strozzi’s family chapel
International
Gothic
Predella

58. Gentile di Fabriano, the adoration of
the Magi, 1423
Masaccio, the Tribute of Money, 1425

59. Donatello (1386-1466)
Visited Rome

60. Church of Or san
Michele

61. Donatello,
Saint Mark,
1411-1415
For th linen weavers' guild
For the linen weavers' guild (pillow)

62. Donatello, David,
1430-1440
1st large, naturalistic nude
sculpture known since
Antiquity.
For the Medici Family
Goliath’s head
Lost wax

64. Donatello, Gattamelata, 1445-1450
Commemorative
monument for
Erasmo di Narni
Condottiere
In front of the Church of Saint Anthony in Padua

66. Equestrian Portrait
Marcus Aurelius,
164-166 CE
Carolingian King,
9th century
Gattamelata, 1445-1250

67. Donatello, Mary
Magdalen, c.1455
Wood

68. c.1455
1430-1440

69. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)
Treatise De pictura
On Painting (1435)
Summed up the
contributions of
Brunelleschi, Masaccio,
Ghiberti and Donatello to
the visual arts
De re aedifictoria (On
architecture) based on
Vitruvius

70. Leon Battista Alberti, Ruccelai Palace,
Florence, c.1446-1450
Symmetry
Composed of Classical details
Harmonious surface design
Three horizontal floors
separated by a strongly
articulated stringcourse

72. Characteristics of Florentine palaces
• Austere façades
• 3 stories from street level
• 1st Floor: public area
(business)
• 1st floor heavily rusticated
• 2nd Floor: private quarter of
the family
• 2nd and 3rd floor lighter and
less articulated
• Strong stringcourses marking
the celling of one story and
the floor of the other
• Strong cornice on top
Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi,
Florence, 1444.

73. Leon Battista Alberti, Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, 1470-1493
Commissioned by
Lodovico Gonzaga
Symmetry and Harmony
Organization of the
façade matches the
interior nave and side
chapel

74. Pediment
Columns /
Pilasters with
capitals
Combination of a
Roman triumphal arch
and an ancient temple
façade
Tripartite Division
Barrel Vault

75. Leon Battista Alberti, Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, 1470-1493

76. Leon Battista Alberti, Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, 1470-1493
Barrel Vault
Coffered ceiling (fake
in the nave, real on
the side chapels)

77. Leon Battista Alberti, Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, 1470-1493
Basilica of Maxentius and
Constantine, Roman Forum ;
Rome, 4th Century CE

78. Piero della Francesca (c.1412 – 1492)
• From Sansepolcro
(Umbria)
• Worked for the Duke of
Montefeltro (Urbino)

79. Piero della Francesca, Battista Sforza
and Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of
Urbino, after 1475.

80. Oil and tempera
on wood panels
Inspired by
imperial Roman
portrait (coin)
Strict profile
Relationship with
the landscape

81. Piero della Francesca, Resurrection,
c.1463

82. Piero della Francesca, Resurrection,
c.1463
Geometrical Shapes
Moralized landscape
Location in the city hall

84. Andrea Mantegna
Leader painter in the
Northern Italy
Worked for Lodovico de
Gonzaga (Mantova)

85. Andrea Mantegna, Camera Picta,
Ducal Palace, Mantua, finished 1474
Audience chamber of the Ducal Palace

87. • New perspective
techniques to
create an
illusionistic
environment
• Members of the
Gonzaga family
• Landscape
• Illusion using
painting and
architecture

88. Fictive oculus of the Camera Picta

89. Mantegna, Parnassus, c.1497
For the
studiolo of
Isabella
d’Este
Mantegna
worked for
Isabella for
10 years.
Tempera on
Canvas

90. Isabella d’Este (1472-1539)
• Marchesa of Mantua
• Patron of Art
• Raised in Ferrara
• Received an Humanist
education
• She married Francesco II
Gonzaga (Lodovico’s
grandson)
• Governed the state in the
absence of her husband

91. Mantegna, Parnassus, c.1497
.

92. Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)

93. Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus,
c.1480

95. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, ca. 1482

96. Characteristics of 15th century
Italian architecture
• Order
• Clarity
• Light (wide window spaces)
• Geometric design (expression of the humanistic
ideals)
• Classical elements
• Ideals proportions
• Coffered ceiling
• Strong articulation

97. Main architects
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Michelozzo
• Leon Battista Alberti

98. Characteristics of 15th century
Italian Painting
• Use of linear perspective (thanks to Brunelleschi)
• Development of trompe l’oeil technique
• Tempera and frescoes technique
• Importance of religious theme
• Proliferation of mythological scenes,
reflecting humanism ideals and aspirations

99. Main Painters of the 15th century
in Italy
• Gentile da Fabriano
• Masaccio
• Paolo Uccello
• Fra Angelico
• Andrea del Castagno
• Piero della Francesca
• Andrea Mantegna
• Piero Perugino
• Sandro Botticelli
• Domenico Ghirlandaio
• Luca Signorelli

100. Characteristics of 15th century Italian
Sculpture
• Interest in authentic Greek and Roman
sculpture
• Sense of depth in relief carving
(linear perspective)
• Revival of nudity in life size sculpture
• Increased study of human anatomy

101. Main Sculptors of the 15th century
in Italy
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Nanni di Banco
• Donatello
• Luca della Robbia
• Antonio del Pollaiuolo
• Andrea del Verrochio

102. Other Important works

103. Nanni di Banco,
Four Crowned
Saints, Or San
Michele, 1409-
1416

104. Fra Angelico, Annunciation, 1440-1445

105. Paolo Uccello, Battle of Saint Romano,
1440-1450

106. Andrea del Castagno, Famous men and
Women, 1450

107. Andrea del Castagno, The Last Supper,
1445-1450

108. Filippo Lippi, Madonna and child with
scene from the Life of Saint Anne,
1450.

109. Andrea del Castagno, Niccolò da
Tolentino, 1455-56

110. Lucca della Robbia, Madonna and
Child, Or San Michele, 1455-140

111. Andrea del
Verrocchio,
David, early
1470’s

112. Antonio del
Pollaiuolo,
Hercules and
Antaeus, c.1475

113. Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Battle of the
naked Men, 1465-1470

114. Andrea del
Verrocchio,
Colleone,
c.1481-1496

115. Pietro Perugino, Christ Delivering the
Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter,
1482.

116. Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth of the
Virgin, Santa Maria Novella, Florence,
1485-1490

117. Luca Signorelli, Damned Cast to Hell,
Orvieto Cathedral, 1499-1504