ITALY, 1400-1500GARDNER CHAPTER 21-1PP. 541-548

ITALY, 1400-1500 The blossoming of humanism

Emphasis on education and expanding knowledge

Individual potential

Desire to excel

Commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty

Artistic genius + spread of humanism + economic prosperity = the Renaissance

FLORENCE

Giovanni de Medici est. family fortune in early 15th century

Cosimo, his son, expands family dominance in finance and led to political power

Medici were avid humanists

Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492) gathered about him a galaxy of artists and gifted men in all fields

THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE BAPTISTERY

Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel fro east doors of the baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402, gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½ “

Competition in 1401 to design the east doors of the Baptistery

1. Patronage as both civic imperative and a form of self-promotion

2. The esteem accorded to individual artists3. Development of a new pictorial realism

Brunelleschi’s entry -> one dense group, great drama -> emotional, lunging Abraham -> frantic angel makes it just in time -> figures spill out over the borders of the quatrefoil

BRUNELLESCHI AND GHIBERTI

The two finalists were Brunelleschi and Ghiberti -> used the same frames and same scene

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors of the baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402, gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½”

Ghiberti emphasized grace and smoothness -> nude figure of Isaac -> acanthus scrolls on the altar he kneels on -> classical references

Spatial illusion

Technical superiority -> cast in only 2 pieces -> lighter and more cost effective

OR SAN MICHELE, Florence

OR SAN MICHELLE/NANI DI BANCO NANNI DI BANCO, Four Crowned Saints, Or San

Michele, Florence, Italy, marble, figures 6’ high

Built for the guild of wood and stone carvers, of which Nanni was a member

Depicts four matyred patron saints of the guild

Wearing togas, heads influenced by portraits of Roman emperors

Saints seem to be discussing their fate; feet placed outside of arch, stepping into our space

Figures are independent of the niche in which they stand

DONATELLO – SAINT MARK

DONATELLO, Saint Mark, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1411-1413, marble, 7’9” high

Commissioned for the guild of linen drapers

Contrapposto -> as the body moves, his garment moves with it -> the garment does not conceal, it accentuates movement

Stirring limbs, shifting, weight, mobile drapery -> suggests impending movement out of the niche

DONATELLO – SAINT GEORGE

DONATELLO, Saint George, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1410-1415, marble, 6’10” high

Made for the Or San Michele niche of the armorers’ and swordmakers’ guild

The warrior saint stands defiantly, ready to spring from his niche to defend Florence -> face filled w/nervous energy

DONATELLO – FEAST OF HEROD

DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Sienna Cathedral, Sienna, Italy, 1423-1427, gilded bronze, 1’11 x 1’11”

New Testament scene -> kneeling executioner offers the head of John the Baptist to King Herod

The advent of rationalized perspective space -> two arched courtyards of diminishing size open the space of the action well into the distance

RENAISSANCE PERSPECTIVE SYSTEMS

Renaissance fascination with perspective -> constructing a convincing illusion of space in two-dimensional imagery

Linear perspective allows artists to determine mathematically the relative size of rendered objects to correlate them with the visual recession into space

Linear perspective can be either one-point or two-point