europe, 1400 - 1500

Madonna and Child with

Angels, Fra Filippo Lippi

1455, tempera on wood

fig. 8-26

Europe, 1400 - 1500• Arguably the birth of the modern world and in many

ways, informed the world we live in today• Became more urban, more literary, cosmopolitan• Economic growth led to thriving middle class - bankers

and merchants• This wealth acquired not only by inheritance, as in the

hereditary aristocracy that existed in the middle ages, but by personal achievement—the idea of “self-made man” was born

• With their money, these patrons supported scholarship and the arts resulting in an explosion of learning and creativity now called the “Renaissance”

Patron: the person or entity that pays an artist to produce individual artworks or employs an artist on a continuing basis (Gardner)

“These things give me the greatest contentment and the greatest pleasure because they serve the glory of God, the honour of the city, and the commemoration of myself”

- Giovanni Rucellai, a Florentine merchant and major patron of the arts during the Italian Renaissance

Palazzo Rucellai by Alberti, c.1450

Jay Pritzker Pavilion by Frank Gehry, Millennium Park, Chicago $200 million of park budget given by private patrons

Humanism – In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty (Gardner).

Renaissance = rebirth

Naturalism – the style of painted or sculptured representation based on close observation of the natural world that was at the core of the classical tradition (Gardner).

Cimabue, c.1280

Mantegna, c.1455

Raphael, c.1514

Painting Materials

Tempera – a technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue or casein; dries quickly so applied sparingly; usu. on wood panel

Oil painting – a painting technique using oil-based pigments (popularized in early 15th century Flanders, then Italy); dries slowly; usu on wood

Fresco – painting on lime plaster, either dry or wet(in the latter, pigments are mixed with water and becomebound to plaster); most pop. in Italy in mural form

Materials for Sculpture and Architecture

Bronze - Any of various alloys of copper and tin in various proportions, sometimes with traces of other metals

Marble - metamorphic rock formed by alteration of limestone or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities

Limestone - a common sedimentaryrock consisting mostly of calcium Carbonate used as a building stone and in the manufacture of limecarbon dioxide and cement.

France, the duchy of Burgundy, and the Holy Roman EmpireBruges is capital of Flanders and economic center of Burgundy

Northern EuropeDates and Places: • 1400 to 1500• Burgundy, Flanders, France and the

Holy Roman Empire• Bruges – thriving port city (active in

wool trade, fine fabrics, banking)

People:• Artists flocked to Bruges to seek

commissions• Nobles and merchants• Pious and prosperous• Intense interest in visible and

natural worldCLAUS SLUTER, Well of Moses,

1395–1406. Fig. 8-2.

Northern EuropeThemes:• Life of the Virgin Mary, Christ • Secular images, portraits• Disguised religious

symbolism (iconography)

Forms:• Detailed renderings of

surfaces and textures • Naturalistic figures and

spaces• Oil paint for rich color, detail

and luminosity

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin,

ca. 1435–1440. Fig. 8-7.

Flanders

ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, ca. 1425–1428. Fig. 8-3.

Flanders

• Religious event (Annunciation) in contemporary Flemish home

• Disguised symbolism (book,extinguished candle, lilies, copperbasin, closed garden refer to Mary’s purityand divine mission)

• Donor portraits on left (surname Inghelbrecht = “angel bringer”)

• Private commission for household prayer

• Triptych (3-panels) in oil• Titled floor, table, bench

ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, ca. 1425–1428.

Fig. 8-3.

Flanders

JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride,

1434. Fig. 8-1.

Flanders• Secular portrait

communicated religious values

• Italian merchant home in Bruges; in Flemish bedchamber

• Disguised symbolism (dog = fidelity, st.margaret finial = childbirth, oranges = fertility, candle = God)

• Description of surfaces and reflections of light

• Artist as witness (signature and reflection in convex mirror)

• Conventional gender rolesJAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini

and His Bride, 1434. Fig. 8-1.

Flanders

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, ca. 1435, 7’x8’ Fig. 8-6.

Flanders• Rogier asst. to Campin• Dynamic composition

with action and drama• Cohesive composition

through movement • Commission for guild

(see crossbow symbol in tracery)

• Known for emotional expressiveness, sorrow

• Descriptive naturalism• Compressed space;

resembles relief carving or tableau vivant

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, ca. 1435. Fig. 8-6.

France

Jean Fouquet, Melun Diptych (right panel), c.1450, oil on wood, fig. 8-10

• French dukes significant art patrons

•Private devotional images also popular in France

•Patrons often depicted, but outside of central sacred scene (in left panel, not shown)

•Oil on wood for luminous color

Model for Mary was the late mistressof Charles VII

France• Illumination for Book of Hours

(collection of prayers and calendar) for private patron

• Illusionistic treatment of space (some Gothic conventions remain)

• Luxury item (blue and gold pigments expensive)

• Scenes of daily life among nobility and peasantry;

reaffirms beneficence and sophistication of the patron, the duke of Berry LIMBOURG BROTHERS, Les Très

Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Fig. 8-9.

Just happily toiling away for my lord

Holy Roman Empire

MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint Anthony Tormented

by Demons, ca. 1480–1490. Fig. 8-12.

• Germany is center

• Wood/printmaking/artists’ books popular media

• Gothic conventions and subject matter linger

• Gutenberg invents movabletype around 1450 and printingpress begins

Italy & the Birth of the “Renaissance Man”Dates and Places: • 1400-1500• Independent city-states

on the Italian peninsula • Frequent wars, bloody

coups and power struggles• Thriving economy (bankers,

merchants) & trade with Flanders, e.g.

Function of Art: • To reflect humanism & the

revival of classical learning• To show refined taste of

patron• As political propaganda – to

foster civic pride

The Medici – “Godfathers of the Renaissance”

Lorenzo de’ Medici by Vasarica. 1520

• Powerful banking familyin Florence (double-entry bookkeeping)

• Most famous art patronsin Italy

• Established humanist academy for artists, architects, scientists and philosophers

• Produced three Popes

Italy – “The Rationalization of Sight” Themes:• Life of Christ and Virgin• Secular life • Classical and Christian• Portraiture

Forms:• Linear and aerial

perspective• Classical forms• Optical naturalism • Window onto the world • Narrative clarity

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Flagellation of Christ, ca.

1455–1465. Fig. 8-35.

Italy• Many competitions forcivic art commissions

• Most famous held in1401 – wool merchants guild invites artists tosubmit relief panelsdepicting “Sacrifice of Isaac”

• Subject as allegory

• Winner would design east doors of baptisteryfacing Florence Cathedral

Filipppo Brunelleschi’s Sacrifice Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Sacrifice

Two Finalists (both in early 20s)

Group Activity

• Who won the competition and why? Discuss both formal design and use of materials.

• What does the competition and its outcome teach us about popular taste in the 15th century and Renaissance aesthetics?

• Which panel do you prefer? Who should have won?

Filipppo Brunelleschi’s Sacrifice Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Sacrifice

• Gothic drama and heightened emotion• Caught in mid-action• Crowded quatrefoil frame• Several cast bronze pieces (disjointed)

• Emotionally restrained, graceful movement• Classical male nude (Isaac) on Roman- inspired altar (acanthus frieze) • Interest in spatial illusion (rocky landscape)• Two cast bronze pieces (cohesive)

Renaissance Perspectival Systems

One-point linear perspective

Brunelleschi’s Experiment, 1413

Brunelleschi credited with rediscovery of principles of perspective drawing!

Theorist Alberti codified Brun.’sideas in his seminal texts On Painting, On Architecture and On Sculpture, which influenced a generation of Italian artistsand architects!

Mathematical Truth andFormal Beautyin Italian Ren.Art

MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, ca. 1424–1427. Fig. 8-23.

Masaccio = “Ugly Tom”!(1401-28)

Italy - Florence• Fresco in church, donor portraits • Applies linear perspective based on

location of viewer’s eye (overall unity & harmony)

• Illusionistic extension of viewer’s space (trompe l’oeil)

• Classical architectural vocabulary (coffered barrel vault, corinthian capitals, pilasters)

• Numerical symbolism created by implied shapes (triangle = Holy Trinity)

MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, ca. 1424–1427. Fig. 8-23.

5

ft

http://www.artbabble.org/video/ngadc/empire-eye-magic-illusion-trinity-masaccio-part-2

“I was once what you are and what I

am you will become”

Italy & The Return of the Nude

Battle of the Ten Nudes by Pollaiuolo, 1465, engraving, fig. 8-28

Italy - Florence• Donatello (along with

Brunelleschi) studied classical art and architecture recently excavated in Rome

• First nude sculpture since antiquity

• Classical principles applied to Christian subject

• Civic symbol of Florentine strength and independence

• Private patron (Medici)• Sensuous contrapposto for calm

hero• Delight in youthful and eroticized

male beauty DONATELLO, David, ca. 1440–1460.

bronze, Fig. 8-19.

Sally Mann, Popsicle Drips, 1985

Italy - Florence

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Fig. 8-27.

Italy• Like Donatello,

Botticelli celebratedsensuous beauty in artrevival of female nude

• Master of line – interested more in linear details and surface decoration than rational spatial ordering

• Lyrical and courtly style• Based on poem by humanist

inspired by Greek myth• Fully embraced pagan

subject at risk of censure• Created for Medici (Lorenzo)• Tempera on canvas (matte)

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Fig. 8-27.

Medici Venusinspired by Praxiteles1st century BCEGreek

Zephyrus &Chloris

Pomona on Cyprus

V

Italian Renaissance Architecture Florence Cathedral Dome

Brunelleschi, 1420-1436

PantheonRome2nd century CE

375’ high

Double shell

140’ crossing

Italy

LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–1470. Fig. 8-33.

pediment

scroll

pilasters

arcade

Italy - Florence• Art and architectural

theorist (On Painting, On Sculpture and On the Artof Building)

• Studied ancient Roman arch. treatise of Vitruvius

• His treatise presents rules of Renaissance arch.

• Façade applies classical elements to Gothic building

• Temple frontal, scrolls• Proportional relationships

(1:1, 1:2, e.g.) to achieve beauty and harmony

LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–1470.

Fig. 8-33.

• Gonzaga family ruled princely court in Mantua

• Ceiling fresco for the Camera degli Sposi (Room of the Newlyweds) in the Duke’s palace

•Entire “painted room” took nearly 9 yrs.

•Depicts activities of courtly life

•Use of Trompe l’oeil(to fool the eye) and di sotto in su(from below upward)

Italy - Mantua

Andrea Mantegna, ceiling, Camera Picta, 1465-74

An attribute ofJuno who overseeslawful marriages

Extreme foreshortening