Art in the

Renaissance
1400 1600

Overview

Italian/Early 1400-1490 Italian/High 1500-1600

Northern/Late 1500-1600
one can argue about dates: 1300 1520 1400 1600

map

Renaissance
1st period to name itself and say nasty things about earlier times: Gothic & Dark Ages Term means Rebirth Looking back to Classical culture Ancient Greece and Rome Names! Artists known by name 1st contemporary art historian (1550); Individuality celebrated in this era

Renaissance
Church is still the biggest power structure Beginning of banking Private fortunes & power Starts in Italy specifically Florence

The Return of Humanism

Man loves himself once again

from Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) . . . I feel that I have come to some understanding of why man is the most fortunate of living things and, consequently, deserving of all admiration; of what may be the condition in the hierarchy of beings assigned to him, which draws upon him the envy, not of the brutes alone, but of the astral beings and of the very intelligences which dwell beyond the confines of the world.

Donatello, David, 1432

Donatello, David, 1432 Tuscan hat

Style of helmet & art symbolic reference to other Italian city-states

Donatello,David, 1432 Goliaths head detail

Love of texture

Donatello, David, 1432

1st free-standing, life size nude sculpture since antiquity! contrapposto; but not just an imitation of past models for private collection David = underdog = Florence Goliath = giant = Milan & other central Italian cities in league against Florence

Donatello, David, 1432

Inscription:

The victor is whoever defends the fatherland. God crushes the wrath of an enormous foe. Behold - a boy overcame a great tyrant! Conquer, O citizens! Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues. Behold the neck of pride, severed by the hand of humility.

An earlier Donatello David (c.1410)

CONFIDENCE REDISCOVERED!

Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi dome

Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi dome inside view

Tower designed by Giotto, 1334

View of Duomo from Pitti Palace (across the river)

Uffizzi

Pitti Palace

View from the Duomo

Pazzi Chapel

Post & lintel returns;

GEOMETRY

Pazzi Chapel

Pitti Palace

By the numbers: 2:1 3:1 4:1

Alberti (faade architect), Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1470

1st use of linear perspective

Masaccio

Trinity

1427-28 Fresco 21' 10 1/2" x 10' 4 Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Masaccio, Tribute Money, c. 1427

Tribute Money, detail Note use of chiaroscuro (light and dark shading) to create volume in the clothes.

Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

The Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

The Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

The Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti, Lorenzo 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

The Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti, Lorenzo Detail from the

Gates of Paradise

The story of Joseph 1425-52 Bronze with gilding 80 x 80 cm Baptistery, Florence

BOTTICELLI, Sandro

The birth of Venus

c. 1485, Tempera on canvas (67 7/8 x 109 5/8 in.)

NOT IN TEXT

BOTTICELLI, Sandro Primavera c. 1482. Tempera on wood 203 x 314 cm

p. 199

BOTTICELLI, Sandro Primavera c. 1482. Tempera on wood 203 x 314 cm

BOTTICELLI, Sandro

Venus and Mars

NOT BIBLICAL!
not in text

c. 1485. Egg tempera and oil on poplar 69 x 173.5 cm

KEY IMAGE
PERIOD: PLACE: ARTIST: TITLE: DATE:
Early Renaissance

Florence
Donatello

David
1432

KEY IMAGE

PERIOD:

Renaissance
Botticelli

ARTIST:

TITLE: La Primavera (Birth of Spring)

KEY IMAGE

Pazzi Chapel

Summary Italian Renaissance

POLITICS Italian city-states; power from money EARLY RENAISSANCE Florence HIGH RENAISSANCE ART Classical ideals revived IDEAS Humanism returns MUSIC