The 14 th Century Cataclysm
Events of the 14 th Century The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age Beginning of the Ottoman Empire, early expansion into the early Balkans : Osman I, 1st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire The Avignon papacy transfers the seat of the Popes from Italy to France The Great Famine of kills millions of people in Europe The death of the Ilkhan Abu Said in 1335, causing the disintegration of the Mongol rule in Persia. The Hundred Years' War begins when Edward III of England lays claim to the French throne in Joan of Arc at the Siege of Orléans 1431 Black Death kills around a third of the population of Europe. (1347–1351).
Black Death: Bubonic Plague One of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and Started in Central Asia, it reached the Crimea by 1346 From there, it spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe -- probably from black rats on merchant ships, Estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population World population fell from about 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. The plague returned at various times, resulting in a larger number of deaths, until it left Europe in the 19th century.
Pieter Breughel, The Triumph of Death
The Dance of Death
Boccaccios Decameron Collection of 100 novelle with a frame tale Frame tale realistically details the Black Death in Italy Novelle: short tales based set in realistic settings with a variety of characters from all social classes
Ten young people leave Florence during the Plague to find respite in the countryside. They decide to pass the time by telling stories to each other: Ten stories for Ten days: The Decameron
Geoffrey Chaucer First great English poet Early works reflect courtly concerns and ideals Influenced by French and Italian models
The Canterbury Tales Chaucers masterpiece Frame: Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury Brilliant portraits of English characters Tales include many genres: romance, sermon, fabilaux, lai, etc.
From Christine de Pisan, 'Works'. Copyright ©, The British Library Christine de Pisan 1364-ca First European professional female author Prominent in the Debate about Women Works include courtesy books, military treatises, dream visions and The Book of the City of Ladies
The end of Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368) The heresy of Lollardy rises in England The Great Schism of the West begins in 1378, eventually leading to 3 simultaneous popes. Peasants' Revolt in England in The Mali Empire expands westward and conquers Tekrur (West Africa). The poet Petrarch coins the term Dark Ages to describe the preceding 900 years in Europe, beginning with the fall of Rome in 476 through to the renewal embodied in the Renaissance. Beginning of the Renaissance in Italy More Events of the 14 th Century
The Renaissance
Aspects of Renaissance Art
chiaroscuro modeling figures by means of gradations of light and shade
Cimabue c Giotto c.1310 Madonna Enthroned
Giotto A shepherd boy who became the painter Cimabues apprentice Based his figures on observation rather than painterly or iconic traditions Employed chiaroscuoro to create dimensional figures Figures display intense emotions Narrative fresco series Herald of the Renaissance
Giotto The Raising of Lazarus c Fresco cycle in Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua.
devotional realism detailed pictorial emphasis on the human nature and suffering of Christ with details drawn from everyday life and nature
Giotto St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds San Francesco, Upper Church, Assisi, Italy
Fra Filippo Lippi Madonna and Child 1459
Giotto Lamentation c Fresco cycle in Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua.
Michelangelo, Pietas
narrative painting painting that tells a story
Massacio The Tribute Money 1420s Brancacci Chapel 24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25. He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. Matthew 17:24–27
urbanity interest in the life and governance of cities
Lorenzetti, The Effects of Good Government in the City, 1338
Lorenzetti, The Allegory of Bad Government in the City, 1338 Avarice Pride Vanity Tyrant
classical humanism recovery and study of Greek and Latin texts, art and architecture with an emphasis on the role of the individual
Botticelli, Primavera, c Mercury Three Graces Venus Flora Chloris Zephyrus
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1486
Raphael, The School of Athens,
Raphael, The Parnassus,
linear perspective the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface
linear perspective System originated in Florence, Italy in the early 1400s. The artist and architect Brunelleschi demonstrated its principles but The architect and writer, Leon Battista Alberti was first to write down its rules An artist must first imagine the picture surface as an "open window" through which to see the painted world. Straight lines are then drawn on the canvas to represent the horizon and "visual rays" connecting the viewer's eye to a point in the distance
linear perspective The horizon line runs across the canvas at the eye level of the viewer. The horizon line is where the sky appears to meet the ground. The vanishing point should be located near the center of the horizon line. The vanishing point is where all parallel lines (orthogonals) that run towards the horizon line appear to come together like train tracks in the distance. Orthogonal lines are "visual rays" helping the viewer's eye to connect points around the edges of the canvas to the vanishing point. An artist uses them to align the edges of walls and paving stones.
Massacio The Tribute Money 1420s Brancacci Chapel Widely believed to be the first painting, since the fall of Rome (ca. 476 A.D.), to use Scientific Linear One Point Perspective, or, all the orthogonals point to one vanishing point, in this case, Christ. Also, it is one of the first paintings that does away with the use of a head-cluster. If you were to walk into the painting, you could walk around Jesus Christ, in the semicircle created, and back out the painting again with ease. horizon line vanishing point orthogonal lines
aerial perspective the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance
aerial perspective As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases. The colors of the object become less saturated and shift towards the background color. Leonardo da Vinci. He called it the perspective of disappearance.
Leonardo da Vinci The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (c. 1510) Louvre Museum aerial perspective
sfumato Leonardo da Vinci described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or beyond the focus plane."
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa or La Gioconda (1503–1505/1507) Louvre, Paris, France sfumato
Leonardo da Vinci Virgin of the Rocks Louvre,
anatomy scientific observation and study of the human body
Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvian Man 1487
Davids Donatello, 1432 Michelangelo, 1504
tondo a circular painting or sculpture
Michelangelo, The Taddei Tondo (The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John) Botticelli, Madonna of the Pomegranate 1487
fresco mural painting on walls or ceilings
fresco Fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the Latin word for "fresh Buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster A secco painting is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian). The pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall
Michelangelo, The Sistine Chapel,
The Creation of Adam
Adam and Eve
The Flood
portraits and self-portraits hallmarks of a new self-consciousness coupled with the desire for fame and immortality
1: Zeno of Citium – 2: Epicurus – 3: unknown (believed to be Raphael or Federico II of Mantua?) – 4: Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles? – 5: Averroes – 6: Pythagoras – 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? – 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon? – 9: Hypatia, or Raphael, or Fornarina as a personification of Love [ or Francesco Maria della Rovere? – 10: Aeschines or Xenophon? – 11: Parmenides? (Leonardo da Vinci) – 12: Socrates – 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) – 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci) – 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) – 16: Diogenes of Sinope – 17: Plotinus (Donatello?) – 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) – 19: Strabo or Zoroaster? (Baldassare Castiglione) – 20: Ptolemy? – R: Apelles (Raphael) – 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti) proposed identities and models in Raphaels The School of Athens
donor portraits Andrea Mantegna, Madonna Della Vittoria Commissioned by Francesco II Gonzaga to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Fornova
family portraits Andrea Mantegna The Court of Mantua (the Gonzaga family) c. 1474
Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434 reflection of the artist
Hans Holbein the Younger Self-Portrait 1542
The Tudors by Hans Holbein Princess Mary Princess Elizabeth Prince Edward Henry VIII
Hans Holbein the Younger Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam with Renaissance Pilaster, 1523
Albrecht Dürer, Self-Portrait, 1500
Albrecht Dürer, Erasmus 1526
Sofonisba Anguisola, Self-Portrait, c. 1554
Sofonisba Anguisola, Portrait of Queen Anne of Austria, 1570
Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait, 1577
Lavinia Fontana, Newborn Baby in a Crib, 1583
Artemesia Gentileschi, Pittura, 1630
Artemesia Gentileschi, Portrait of a Condottiere
Judith Leyster Self-Portrait, 1635