Late Medieval Italy

Overview

1200-1300 Duecento

● Bonaventura Berlingheri and Cimabue are the leading painters working in the Italo-Byzantine style or Maniera greca

● Pietro Cavallini’s fresco cycles in Rome and those in San Francesco at Assisi foreshadow the revolutionary art of Giotto

1300-1400 Trecento

● In Florence, Giotto, considered the first Renaissance artist, pioneers a naturalistic approach to painting

● In Siena, Duccio softens the maniera greca and humanizes religious subject matter

● Secular themes merge as important subjects in civic commissions, as in the frescoes of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico

● Florence, Siena, and Orvieto build new cathedrals that are stylistically closer to Early Christian basilicas than to French Gothic cathedrals

Duecento (13th Century)

● A push was made to condemn the art of france as “Gothic” with the comparison of the contemporaneous art of Italy, which consciously revived the classical art of antiquity.

● Classical art’s admiration surfaced in the Court of Frederick II, King of Sicily and the Holy Roman Empire (1187-1250)

● A nostalgia for Rome’s past grandeur spurred a revival of classical sculpture in Sicily and southern Italy in the 1200’s (Duecento).

Duecento (13th Century)

● Nicola Pisano, pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260, Marble 15’ height

● Nicola recieved training in southern italy during Frederick’s rule, traveling northward and settling in Pisa

● Pisa at the time was at its height of political and economic power with artists coming in to seek lucrative commisions

● Nicola specialized in carving Marble relief sculptures/possibly inventing a new king of church furniture-a monumental stone pulpit.

Duecento (13th Century)

● Nicola Pisano, pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260, Marble 15’ height

● Pulpit(Raised platform from which priest delivered sermons

● Some elements carried on from medieval traditions, like the trefoil arches (Triple curved) and lions supporting some of the columns

● Nicola incorporated classical elements, columns are a gothic variation of corinthian columns, the arches are round, the large rectangular relief panels are reminiscent of a Roman sarcophagus

Duecento (13th Century)

Nicola Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds, Relief panel on the pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa Italy 159-1260

● 6 reliefs line the top row of the pulpit

● Derived from the compositions found on Roman Sarcophagi

● Scenes surrounding Christ and Mary’s life

● Reclining figures of Mary with drapery are reminiscent of etruscan and roman sarcophagi

● Scholars have been able to find the roman era sculptures he was using as models for these works

Duecento (13th Century)

Giovanni Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the pulpit of the cathedral, Pisa Italy 1302-1310

● Giovanni was Nicola’s son who became a sought after sculptor of church pulpits.

● Father and son had differing approaches, the father rendered with a classical tradition, while the son worked in a style derived from french gothic.

Duecento (13th Century)

Bonaventura Berlinghieri, Saint Francis Altarpiece, San Francesco, Pescia, Italy,1235

● One of the leading painters working in the Italo-Byzantine style or Maniera Greca (Greek Style)

● Tempera on wood panel● Shows the importance of

religious orders in late medieval italy

● https://youtu.be/Ya_BL8nqkUk●

Duecento (13th Century)

Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, Santa Trinita, FLorence, 1280-1290

● Cimabue challenged some of the major conventions of late medieval art in pursuit of a closer approximation of the appearance of the natural world

● Gold background halos, show the artist reliance of byzantine models,

● Golde leaf used traditionally in byzantine art, is used here in a traditional manner, but an unconventional, the drapery folds lines of gold leaf make the folds more pronounced, 3-dimensional

Pietro Cavallini, Last Judgement, fresco on west wall of Santa Cecilia, Rome 1290-1295.

● One of the artists who began the break of byzantine stylization to pursue the optical representation like the examples of antiquity

● Christ appears center with the virgin mary to his right, John the baptist left. And six enthroned apostles.Below Christ are the the instruments of his martyrdom cross, nails, etc

● More optical, folds of clothing pronounced, modeling of skin.

● Cavallini was a pioneer of the Italian Renaissance style

Trecento (14th C) 1300’sGiotto di Bondone, Madonna Enthroned Florence, ca 1310 Tempera and gold leaf on wood.10’-8”x6’-8”

● https://youtu.be/DKnFvXmUlOI● Giotto is widely celebrated as

the first Renaissance painter, ● It was noted that Cimabue was

Giotto’s teacher, later eclipsing his master by totally disregarding the Maniera Greca

● Madonna sits on her gothic throne with the unshakable stavility of an ancient marble goddess

● Giotto’s virgin is not lost, she is sculptural, with the fabric making her bulky and stone like. This painting marks the end of medieval painting in italy and the beginning of naturalism

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Giotto di Bondone, Lamentation, Arena CHapel, Padua Italy 1305

● Giotto strove to reconcile two large issues with the illusion of 3 dimensional representation on a 2 dimensional plane

● The illusion of space, with the illusion of things and people in and moving in that space.

● Boldly foreshortened angels at the top,

● Giotto frames a shallow stage for the foreground figures, bounded by a diagonal rock cropping

● Scale of objects, the tree in the background, the angels are smaller in scale than the foreground

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Giotto, Entry into Jerusalem 1305

● Giotto creates stagelike settings, are made possible by innovations in perspective and lighing suited to the dramatic narrative that the franciscans emphasized then as a principal method for educating the faithful in their religion. Mystery plays

●

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Giotto, Betrayal of Jesus 1305

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Duccio Di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child enthroned 1308-1311

● Duccio was from Sienna, a power center of the 14th century

● Virgin and child enthroned was his most lucrative and largest work

● 7’x13’● https://youtu.be/2fijnNzktDI

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Duccio Di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child enthroned 1308-1311

● Duccio was from Sienna, a power center of the 14th century

● Virgin and child enthroned was his most lucrative and largest work

● 7’x13’● https://youtu.be/2fijnNzktDI

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Duccio Di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child enthroned 1308-1311

● Duccio was from Sienna, a power center of the 14th century

● Virgin and child enthroned was his most lucrative and largest work

● 7’x13’● https://youtu.be/2fijnNzktDI

●

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Lorenzo Maitani, Orvieto Cathedral 1310

● Characteristically a french gothic style, pointed gables above the west portal, a rose window front central

● And statues in niches in jambs trumeau.

● Differing is the front of the building is hiding a marble revetted basilican plan church

● Tuscan Romanesque Tradition● https://youtu.be/LntYoDVji3k●

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciaiton Sienna 1333

● https://youtu.be/0zfBltgsGVA● A successor of Duccio, Simone

Martini was a student and assistant to duccio

●

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin, from the altar of Saint Savinus, Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1342

● Another student of Duccio, Pietro Lorenzetti surpassed his master in terms of spatial representation.

● A triptych (a three panel painting) was a common convention for altarpiece paintings

● Themes of roman antiquity, Mary’s mother reclining theme of etruscan and roman sarcophagi

● https://youtu.be/Z29bpAW1AUM

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Palazzo Pubblico, Sienna, Italy, 1288-1309

● Palazzo pubblico was a city hall. Siena was a proud commercial and political rival of FLorence. A figure of civic pride of Sienna.

● The tower was seen from miles around the city center

● The tower incorporated machicolated galleries, holes in the floor of the tower so defenders could dump stones or hot oil on attackers.

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City

https://youtu.be/jk3wNadYA7k

● Ambrogio Lorenzetti was responsible for the frescos in the Palazzo Pubblico

●

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Arnolfo Di Cambio, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence Italy, Begun 1296

● Its capacity of 30000 was less than the city’s 100000 inhabitants, famous renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti commented that it seemed to cover all of tuscany in its shade.

● The building is clad in old tuscan fashion with marble geometric designs, matching the revetment to the facing 11th century Romanesque baptistry of

San Giovanni

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Andrea Pisano, south doors of the baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence 1330-1336

● 1330’s florentines decided to beautify their baptistry build during romanesque times

● A set of bronze doors, the sponsors were the members of FLorence’s guild of wool importers, who competed for business and prestige with the wool manufacturers’ association, and important sponsor of the cathedral building campaign.

● 8 panels represented various christian values

● 20 panels told the life of John the Baptist

Trecento (14th C) 1300’s

Doge’s Palace, Venice, Italy, Begun 1340-1345

https://youtu.be/H6_u3js2DSM

● Venice was a wealthy trading republic, dominating trade with a skill of navigating the mediterranean

● Another example of itallian gothic architecture

● Pointed arches, ogee arches