renaissance early italian - wcs -...
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NORTHERN ITALIAN
Comparing the styles…
Realism through mathematics and linear perspective
Intentional references to Classical Architecture and figure studies
Linear Perspective
Great art in the form of Frescoes and larger Temperas
Masaccio, Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Botticelli
Realism through excessive details
Intentional references to Gothic Architecture
Intuitive Perspective
Great art in the form of Oil Paints, Altarpieces and smaller paintings
Van Der Goes, Van Eyck, Van Der Weyden, Campin
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Masaccio, Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427.
Masaccio presented this narrative in three episodes within the fresco. In the center, Christ, surrounded by his disciples, tells St. Peter to retrieve the coin from the fish, while the tax collector stands in the foreground, his back to spectators and hand extended, awaiting payment. At the left, in the middle distance, St. Peter extracts the coin
from the fish’s mouth, and at the right, he thrusts the coin into the tax collector’s hand.
Masaccio realized most of the figures not through generalized modeling with a flat neutral light lacking an identifiable source but by a light coming from a specific source outside the picture.
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MasaccioExpulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Florence, Italy, ca 1425
This was painted in an awkwardly narrow space at the entrance to the Brancacci Chapel. It displays the representational innovations of Tribute Money. For example, the sharply slanted light from an outside source creates deep relief, with lights placed alongside darks, and acts as a strong unifying agent.
Masaccio also presented the figures moving with structural accuracy and with substantial bodily weight. Further, the hazy, atmospheric background specifies no locale but suggests a space around and beyond the figures. Adam’s feet, clearly in contact with the ground, mark the human presence on earth, and the cry issuing from Eve’s mouth voices her anguish.
The angel does not force them physically from Eden, rather, they stumble on blindly, driven by the angel’s will and their own despair. The composition is starkly simple, its message incomparably eloquent.
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Masaccio, Holy TrinitySanta Maria Novella, Florence, Italy
ca 1428
Masaccio’s fresco embodies two principal Renaissance interests--realism based on observation and the application
of mathematics in the new science of perspective. The composition is painted on two levels of unequal height.
In the coffered barrel-vaulted chapel reminiscent of a Roman triumphal arch, the Virgin Mary and St. John appear
on either side of the crucified Christ. God the Father emerges from behind Christ, supporting the arms of the
cross. The Dove of the Holy Spirit hovers between God and Christ. Also included are portraits of the donors of the
painting, who kneel in front of the pilasters.
Below the altar-- a masonry insert in the depicted composition--the artist painted a tomb containing a skeleton. An Italian inscription above the skeleton reminds spectators
that “I was once what you are, and what I am you will become.”
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Baptistry of San Giovanni,Florence, Italy, ca 1059
This is the building that Brunelleschi and Ghiberti
were asked to design bronze reliefs for. They each illustrated the story of
Abraham and Isaac.
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Brunelleschi’sSacrifice of Isaac
Ghiberti’sSacrifice of Isaac
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Lorenzo Ghiberti”Gates of Paradise”,
baptistery, Florence Cathedral1425-1452
Ghiberti, who demonstrated his interest in perspective in his Sacrifice of Isaac,
embraced Donatello’s innovations. Ghiberti’s enthusiasm for a unified system for
representing space is particularly evident in his famous east doors.
Michelangelo later declared these as “so beautiful that they would do well for the
gates of Paradise.”
Each of the panels contains a relief set in plain moldings and depicts a scene from
the Old Testament. The complete gilding of the reliefs creates an effect of great
splendor and elegance.
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Lorenzo GhibertiIsaac and his sons
(”Gates of Paradise”), baptistery, Florence Cathedral, Florence
1425-1452
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Filippo Brunelleschidome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy1420-1436
Brunelleschi’s broad knowledge of Roman construction principles and his analytical and
inventive mind permitted him to solve an engineering problem that no other 15th-century
architect could have solved. The challenge was the design and construction of a dome for the huge crossing of the unfinished Florence Cathedral.
The space to be spanned was much too wide to permit construction with the aid of traditional
wooden centering. Nor was it possible [because of the crossing plan] to support the dome with
buttressed walls.
In 1420, officials overseeing cathedral projects awarded Brunelleschi and Ghiberti a joint
commission. Ghiberti later abandoned the project and left it to his associates.
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Brunelleschi not only discarded traditional building methods and devised new ones, but he also invented much of the machinery necessary
for the job.
Although he might have preferred the hemispheric shape of Roman domes,
Brunelleschi raised the center of his dome which is inherently more stable because it reduces the
outward thrust around the dome’s base.
To minimize the structure’s weight, he designed a relatively thin double shell--the first in history--around a skeleton of 24 ribs. The eight most
important are visible on the exterior. The structure is anchored at the top with a heavy
lantern, built after his death but from his design.
Filippo Brunelleschidome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy1420-1436
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15th Century Italian Renaissance Climbing the stairs inside the Duomo
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Filippo Brunelleschidome of Florence Cathedral
Florence, Italy1420-1436
Note the people on the lantern!
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Filippo Brunelleschiwest facade of the Pazzi ChapelFlorence, Italy begun ca. 1440
The chapel that was the Pazzi family’s gift to the church of Santa Croce in Florence presented
Brunelleschi with the opportunity to explore this interest in a structure much better suited to such
a design than a basilican church.
The chapel was not completed until the 1460s, long after Brunelleschi’s death, and thus the
exterior does not reflect Brunelleschi’s original design. The narthex
(the entrance hall leading to the nave of a church.) seems to have been added as an
afterthought, perhaps by the sculptor-architect Giuliano da Maiano.
It is suggested that the local chapter of Franciscan monks who held meetings in the
chapel needed the expansion.
Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
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This chapel was the Pazzi family’s gift to the church of Santa Croce in Florence. The artist is
Filippo Brunelleschi, who began to design this chapel in 1440 and it was not completed until
after his death.
The interior trim is in gray stone or pietra serena (serene stone). Medallions with glazed terracotta are featured on the inside representing the Four
Evangelista and decorated wall panels represent the Twelve Apostles.
Brunelleschi used this opportunity to create a structure more suited to a compact and self-contained “central floor plan” as seen in the
Pantheon. He used a basic unit that allowed him to construct a balanced, harmonious, and
regularly proportioned space.
Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
Filippo Brunelleschiwest facade of the Pazzi ChapelFlorence, Italy begun ca. 1440
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Plan and section of the Pazzi Chapel, Florence
Applying Roman Mathematical Logic
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Donatello, David 1428-1432
The Medici family commissioned Donatello to create this bronze statue for the Palazzo Medici courtyard.
This was the first freestanding nude statue created since ancient times.
This statue portrays the biblical David, the young slayer of Goliath and the symbol of the independent
Florentine republic. David possesses the relaxed classical contrapposto stance and the proportions
and beauty of Greek Praxitelean gods.
The Medici family chose the subject of David, perhaps because they had seen Donatello’s previous
statue of David which is located in the center of political activity in Florence. This shows that the
Medici family identified themselves with Florence, and the prosperity of the city.
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Leon Battista AlbertiPalazzo Rucellai, c.1450 CE.
Palazzo Rucellai is a palatial 15th-century townhouse on the Via della Vigna Nuova in
Florence. The Rucellai Palace is believed by most scholars to have been designed by Alberti between 1446 and 1451 and executed, at least in part, by Bernardo Rossellino. Its facade was
one of the first to proclaim the new ideas of Renaissance architecture based on the use of
pilasters and entablatures in proportional relationship to each other.
The ground floor was for business (the Rucellai family were powerful bankers) and was flanked
by benches running along the street facade. The second story was the main formal reception floor
and the third story the private family and sleeping quarters. A fourth "hidden" floor under
the roof was for servants; because it had almost no windows, it was quite dark inside.
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Leon Battista AlbertiPalazzo Rucellai, c.1450 CE.
The overall horizontality of this façade is called “trabeated” architecture, which Alberti thought
was most fitting for the homes of nobility. Each bay also decreases in height from the bottom to
top. On each bay, Alberti used engaged columns, to visually support the entablature. On the first bay, they use the Tuscan order. On the
second and third bays, Alberti used smaller stones to give the feeling of lightness, which is
enhanced by the rounded arches of the windows, a typically Roman feature. Both of
these bays also have pilasters, although on the second bay they are of the Ionic order, and on the third they’re Corinthian. Alberti’s overriding
concern with balance and proportion is evident in his symmetrical treatment of the palace’s facade.
The use of the three classical orders to indicate upward progression was inspired by the
Colosseum at Rome.
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Sandro BotticelliPortrait of a Youth, early 1480s
This full face portrait was created by Botticelli in the last decade of the fifteenth century.
Italian painters adopted the 3/4 and full face views believing that such poses increased information available to viewers about the
subject’s appearance.
These poses also permit greater exploration of the subject’s character. This is evident in
this portrait where he is highly expressive psychologically. He has a delicate pose, a graceful head tilt, sidelong glance, and an
elegant hand gesture. The subject seems to be half-musing, half-insinuating.
Botticelli merged feminine and masculine traits to make an image of rarefied beauty.
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Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Sandro Botticelli was one of the best known artists who produced works for
the Medici. He painted this tempera on canvas for the
Medici family.
A poem on the theme of the famous Birth of Venus
by Angelo Poliziano was what inspired Botticelli to create this lyrical image.
Zephyrus (the west wind) blows Venus, born of the
sea foam and carried on a cockle shell to her sacred
island, Cyprus. The nymph Pomona runs to her with a
brocaded mantle.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1484-86. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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15th Century Italian Renaissance Comparing d’Medici’s Venus with Botticelli’s
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Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, 1482. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, c1475. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Sandro Botticelli,Adoration of the Magi, c 1475.
Botticelli painted himself in the picture as he looks back at the viewer !
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Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1481-82. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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15th Century Italian RenaissanceFra Angelico, Annunciation,
San Marco, Florence, Italy 1440-1445 EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Leon AlbertiSan Andrea, 1470-76
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Leon Battista Alberti worked as an architect from the 1450s onward, principally
in Florence, Rimini, and Mantua. As a trained humanist and true Renaissance
man, Alberti was as accomplished as an architect as he was a humanist, musician,
and art theorist. Alberti's many treatises on art include Della Pittura (On Painting), De
Sculptura (On Sculpture), and De re Aedificatoria (On Architecture). The first
treatise, Della Pittura, was a fundamental handbook for artists, explaining the
principles behind linear perspective, which may have been first developed by
Brunelleschi. Alberti shared Brunelleschi's reverence for Roman architecture and was
inspired by the example of Vitruvius, the only Roman architectural theorist whose
writings are still in existence.
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15th Century Italian Renaissance Interior and Elevation of San Andrea
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Fra Filippo LippiMadonna and Child with Two Angels, c1465 CE. Tempera on woodEARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCEIn this painting of the Madonna and Child with Two Angels—a variation on the Madonna and Child Enthroned (see Giotto or Cimabue) that artists have been painting for hundreds of years—halos virtually disappear.
Mary's hands are clasped in prayer, and both she and the Christ child appear lost in thought, but otherwise the figures have become so human that we almost feel as though we are looking at a portrait. The angels look especially playful, and the one in the foreground seems like he might giggle as he looks out at us!
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Fra Filippo LippiMadonna and Child with Two Angels, c1465 CE. Tempera on woodEARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
The delicate swirls of transparent fabric that move around Mary's face and shoulders are a new decorative element that Lippi brings to Early Renaissance painting—something that will be important to his student, Botticelli. However, the pictorial modeling of Mary's form—from the bulk and solidity of her body to the careful folds of drapery around her lap—reveal Masaccio's influence. The detailed backgrounds of this era are reminiscent of those from the Early Northern Renaissance.
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Compare the smooth skins, linear outlines and flowing hair of Lippi’s painting to that of Botticelli’s Annunciation (below).
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Piero della Francesca, Battista Sforza & Federico da Montefeltro(Duke & Duchess of Urbino), 1472-1473. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna, Calvary, 1457-60. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna, Camera Degli Sposi, (the Gonzaga family), Mantua, Italy, 1465-74.
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Andrea Mantegna, Fresco. Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Chamber), Mantua, Italy. 1465-74.
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Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation Over Dead Christ, c1490. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Andrea Mantegna St. Sebastianc1480.
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15th Century Italian Renaissance Andrea Mantegna, St. Sebastian. c1480.
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Antonio Pollaiolo, Battle of the Nudes, 1470s. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
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Antonio del Pollaiolo was a notable sculptor and painter,
but this engraving (which was the only known one he
created) was an exceptional piece for this century.
Like many Italian works, this reference to Classical Greek bodies attempts to show the tension and balance that the
male warrior would exhibit from various poses.
Antonio Pollaiolo, Battle of the Nudes, 1470s. EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE