Proto-Renaissance
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The document discusses art before and during the Renaissance period. It notes that during the Middle Ages, the church was very powerful in Europe and art was abstract and served to communicate religious ideas to illiterate populations. It contrasts this with Renaissance art which embraced more naturalistic styles and individualism as humanist thought grew. The document uses Giotto as an example of an early Renaissance artist who moved away from medieval abstraction and began directly observing nature.
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Proto-Renaissance
- 1. Art Before the Renaissance
- 2. The period that preceded the Renaissance is called the Middle Ages, or the Medieval period
- 3. The church was the most powerful institution in Europe at this time
- 4. Artist unknown, Italian (late 12th c. Pisa), Crucifix (Cross No. 15), 1190s Museo Nazionale di San Matteo Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unknown _painter_-_Crucifix_(Cross_No._15)_- _WGA23864.jpg Medieval art: abstract
- 5. Figures were flat and cartoonish, and did not resemble the natural world
- 6. Procession of the Royal Family, Ara Pacis, Rome, 13-9 CE Classical Art: art of ancient Greece and Rome
- 7. Procession of the Royal Family, Ara Pacis, Rome, 13-9 CE Naturalism/naturalistic: looks like real life
- 8. Seated woman playing a Kithara, fresco from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, 4-30 CE
- 9. Seated woman playing a Kithara, fresco from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, 4-30 CE Modeling with light and shade: gradations of tone create illusion of 3D volume
- 10. This kind of naturalism disappeared during the Middle Ages because of the Second Commandment
- 11. “The illusionary quality of classical art posed a significant problem for early Christian theologians. When God dictated the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, God expressly forbade the Israelites from making any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Exodus 20:4)” Dr. Nancy Ross, “A New Pictorial Language: The Image in Early Medieval Art,” Khan Academy
- 12. Medieval art avoided naturalism to avoid the sin of “idolatry” Christ as Pantocrator, dome mosaic in the Church of the Dormition, Daphne, Greece, c. 1090-1100
- 13. Master of Monte Aliveto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1305-35 Metropolitan Museum of Art Italo-Byzantine style
- 14. Master of Monte Aliveto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1305-35 Metropolitan Museum of Art Gold Background Flat, cartoonish figures Halos Hierarchic scale
- 15. Most of the art created in the Middle Ages was commissioned by the church
- 16. Sculptures, paintings, and stained glass served as a kind of “bible for the poor” – pictures that communicate the faith to a largely illiterate population
- 17. Last Judgment Mosaic, Florentine Baptistry In Medieval art, Jesus is portrayed as a remote and heavenly figure
- 18. When humans were depicted, the emphasis was on shame and sin Expulsion of Adam and Eve, Hunterian Psalter, c. 1170
- 19. The final day of judgment was often portrayed in vivid detail
- 20. You’re all going straight to hell!
- 21. In the later middle ages attitudes began to change Florence in a 1493 woodcut from, Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle
- 22. Cities grew, trade flourished Florence in a 1493 woodcut from, Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle
- 23. And a new patron class emerged -- with money to buy art!
- 24. Art should teach people to fear God! And it should remind people of how lowly and sinful they are Medieval art reflected church doctrine
- 25. But things began to change when private individuals began commissioning works of art!
- 26. “[A]t the start of the 14th century, people became less interested in thinking about God, heaven and the saints, and more interested in thinking about themselves, their surroundings and their everyday lives.” Humanism in the Renaissance There is more to life than what it says in the bible!
- 28. Medieval Values: Focus on religion, and the afterlife
- 29. Medieval art: Focus on religion: •Only Saints; ordinary individuals not worthy •Abstract style = heaven, not earth
- 30. Andrea del Castagno, Petrarch, 1450 Humanism: re-discovery of Classical learning •Philosophy •Literature •Mathematics •Science
- 31. Medieval Values: Focus on religion, and the afterlife Humanist Values Focus on themselves The natural world The here and now
- 32. Causes Bubonic Plague Rise of market economy
- 33. Role of the Individual under Feudalism Obey rules to maintain order Role of the Individual under Humanism Independent Beautiful Worthy
- 34. Humanist Values Individualism Classical learning Secularism The inherent dignity and beauty of human being Civic virtue and patriotism
- 35. The Proto-Renaissance Giotto di Bondone
- 36. In the 14th century, Florence was a prosperous city state and banking capital
- 37. Soon to become the cradle of the Renaissance, it was the birthplace of Giotto di Bondone, credited by Giorgio Vasari as one of the originators of the Renaissance
- 38. According to Vasari, Giotto was the painter who first abandoned the artificial formulas of the Middle Ages, and began to base his art on the direct observation of nature
- 39. Let’s begin by comparing Cimabue’s Madonna Enthroned, with Giotto’s Ognissante Madonna, a similarly large altarpiece made for the church of the Ognissante in Florence
- 45. blocking
- 47. Giotto traveled from Florence to nearby Padua to work for Enrico Scrovegni
- 48. Enrico Scrovegni was a wealthy banker and prominent citizen of Padua Capella Scrovegni (Scrovegni Chapel), Padua The Arena Chapel was built as a private family chapel, next to his palace
- 49. Scrovegni was a banker, which means he made his fortune by lending money at interest
- 50. In the Middle Ages this was called usury, and it was considered a sin
- 51. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305 Enrico built his chapel as a gift to god to atone for his sins
- 52. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
- 53. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305 The Blessed The Damned
- 54. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
- 55. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
- 58. The top level depicts the Life of the Virgin, based on the Golden Legend, ending with the scene of the Annunciation above the altar
- 59. The second level depicts the Life of Christ, and the bottom level depicts the cycle of the Passion of Christ, which includes the Crucifixion, and the Lamentation
- 62. Mary + Jesus
- 66. What makes this painting so innovative?
- 78. Giotto’s break through, then, was to establish the direct observation of the natural world as the basis for art.