Late Medieval Italy CHAPTER 14

DUECENTO: 13th Century Diversity of style characterizes the art of 13th century Italy, with some artists working in the maniera greca, or Italo-Byzantine style, some in the mode of Gothic France, and other in the newly revived classical naturalistic tradition. Late Medieval Italy lays the foundation for what will be the Renaissance, which is an incredibly influential development in human culture. We will examine how the artistic developments in Late Medieval Italy indicate these changing thoughts in society at large. Visually we will see a mixture of elements that come from Byzantine traditions, newer Gothic influences, and the return of influences from ancient Greco-Roman classical traditions.

In the 14th century, Italy consisted of many independent city-states, each corresponding to a geographic region centered on a major city. Most city-states were republics: constitutional oligarchies governed by executive bodies or special commissions. Other powerful city-states include the Papal States, the Kingdom of Naples, and various duchies. All states shared in a general prosperity throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, until the outbreak of the Black Death.

DUECENTO: 13th Century: Sculpture Trained in southern Italy in the court style of Frederick II (r. 1197- 1250), Nicola Pisano was a master sculptor who settled in Pisa and carved pupils incorporating marble panels that, both stylistically and in individual motifs, derive from ancient Roman sculptures. Nicola’s son, Giovanni Pisano, whose career extended into the 14th century, was also a sculptor of church pulpits, but his work more closely reflects French Gothic sculpture.

The Pisa baptistery pulpit by Nicola Pisano retains many medieval features, such as the trefoil arches and the lions supporting some of the columns. However, many of the figures derive from ancient Roman relief sculpture. The columns’ capitals are also a variation of the classical Corinthian capitals. Nicola Pisano, pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260. Marble, 15’ high.

Classical sculptures inspired the faces, beards, hairstyles, and draperies, as well as the bulk and weight of Nicola’s figures. The Nativity Madonna resembles lid figures on Roman and Etruscan sarcophagi. Nicola Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260. Marble, 2’10” x 3’9”.

The French Gothic style had a greater influence on Giovanni Pisano, Nicola’s son. Giovanni arranged his figures loosely and dynamically. They display a nervous agitation, as if moved by spiritual passion. Giovanni Pisano, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the pulpit of the cathedral, Pisa, Italy, 1302-1310. Marble, 2’ 10 3/8” x 3’ 7”.

The Great Schism and Mendicant Orders In 1305 a French pope, Clement V (r. 1305-1314) was elected, and he settled in Avignon, France, instead of Rome. Later French popes continued to stay in France, despite their announcements to return to Rome. Italians resented this move, and a conflict developed, until in 1378 two popes were elected – Clement VII (in France) and Urban VI, who remained in Rome. This is known as the Great Schism. This lasted for 40 years, until Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund resolved the crisis by electing a new Roman pope, Martin V, who was acceptable to all.

The Great Schism and Mendicant Orders The pope’s absence in Italy during much of the 14th century contributed to an increase in the prominence of monastic orders. The Augustinians, Carmelites, and Servites became very active, ensuring a constant religious presence in the daily life of Italians. The largest and most influential monastic order were the mendicants (begging friars) – the Franciscans, founded by Francis of Assisi, and the Dominicans, founded by Dominic de Guzman. The mendicant friars renounced all worldly goods and committed themselves to spreading God’s word, performing good deeds, and ministering to the sick and the dying.

DUECENTO: 13th Century: Painting The leading painters working in the Italo-Byzantine style were Bonaventura Berlinghieri and Cimabue, whose most famous pupil was Giotto di Bondone. Both drew inspiration from Byzantine icons and illuminated manuscripts. Berlinghieri’s Saint Francis Altarpiece is the earliest dated portrayal of Saint Francis of Assisi, who died in 1226. At the end of the 13th century, in Rome and Assisi, Pietro Cavallini and other fresco painters created mural programs foreshadowing the revolutionary art of Giotto di Bondone.

Berlinghieri painted this altarpiece in the maniera greca for the mendicant (begging) order of the Franciscans. It is the earliest securely dated portrayal of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis is shown wearing the costume later adopted by all Franciscan monks. He is shown with the stigmata – marks resembling Christ’s wounds – that miraculously appeared on his hands and feet. Bonaventura Berlinghieri, Saint Francis Altarpiece, San Francesco, Pescia, Italy, 1235. Tempera on wood, 5’ x 3’.

Cimabue was one of the first artists to break away from the maniera greca. Although he relied on Byzantine models, Cimabue depicted the Madonna’s massive throne as receding into space. He did use gold embellishments common to Byzantine art for the folds of her robe, but they are not just decorative patterns – they enhance the 3-dimentionality of the drapery. Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, from Santa Trinità, Florence, ca. 1280-1290. Tempura and gold leaf on wood, 12’ 7” x 7’ 4”.

A pioneer in the representation of fully modeled figures seen in perspective with light illuminating their faces and garments, Pietro Cavallini of Rome may have influenced Giotto di Bondone. Christ appears in the center with the Virgin Mary on the left, John the Baptist on the right, and six enthroned apostles on each side. Pietro Cavallini, Last Judgment, fresco on the west wall of the nave of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, Italy, ca. 1290-1295.

A pioneer in the representation of fully modeled figures seen in perspective with light illuminating their faces and garments, Pietro Cavallini of Rome may have influenced Giotto di Bondone. Pietro Cavallini, Last Judgment, fresco on the west wall of the nave of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, Italy, ca. 1290-1295.

Black Death – the Bubonic Plague The outbreak of the Black Death in the late 1340s threatened the region’s prosperity. Originating in China, the Black Death swept through Europe. The most devastating natural disaster in European history, the Black Death eliminated between 25 and 50 percent of the Continent’s population in about 5 years. The Black death also had a significant effect on art. It stimulated religious bequests and encouraged the commissioning of devotional images.

Renaissance Humanism The development of easily accessible literature was one important sign that the essentially religious view that had dominated the Europe in the Middle Ages was about the change. Although religion continued to occupy a primary position in the lives of Europeans, a growing concern with the natural world, the individual, and humanity’s worldly existence characterized the Renaissance period – the 14th to 16th centuries. Fundamental to the development of the Italian Renaissance was humanism, which was more a code of civil conduct, a theory of education, and a scholarly discipline rather than a philosophical system.

TRECENTO: 14th Century During the 14th century, Italy suffered the most devastating natural disaster in European history – the Black Death – but it was also the time when Renaissance humanism took root. Although religion continued to occupy a primary position in Italian life, scholars and artists became increasingly concerned with the natural world. Art historians from Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century to today regard Giotto di Bondone of Florence as the first Renaissance painter. His masterpiece is the extensive series of frescoes adorning the interior of the Arena Chapel in Padua, where he established himself as a pioneer in pursuing a naturalistic approach to representation, which was at the core of the classical tradition in art. The Renaissance marked the rebirth of classical values in art and society.

Giotto displaced the Byzantine style in Italian painting and revived classical naturalism. His figures have substance, dimensionality, and bulk, and create the illusion that they could throw shadows. Giotto di Bondone, Madonna Enthroned, from the All Saint’s Church, Florence, ca. 1310. Tempura and gold leaf on wood, 10’ 8” x 6’ 8”.

Giotto painted Lamentation in several sections, each corresponding to one painting session, or giornata. Artists employed the buon fresco technique must complete each section before the plaster dries. Giotto Di Bondone, Betrayal of Jesus, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6 ¾” x 6’ 6 ¾”.

Giotto was a pioneer in pursuing a naturalistic approach to representing figures in space. In Lamentation, set in a landscape, he revived the classical tradition of depicting some figures from the rear. Giotto Di Bondone, Lamentation, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6 ¾” x 6’ 6 ¾”.

TRECENTO: 14th Century: Painting The greatest master of the Sienese school of painting was Duccio di Buoninsegna, whose Maestà retains many elements of the maniera greca. However, Duccio relaxed the frontality and rigidity of his figures, and in the Maestà’s narrative scenes took a decisive step toward humanizing religious subject matter by depicting actors displaying individual emotions. Secular themes also came to the fore in 14th century Italy, most notably in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescoes for Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico. His representations of the city and its surrounding countryside are among the first landscapes in Western art since antiquity.

Duccio derived the formality and symmetry of his composition from Byzantine painting, but relaxed the rigidity and frontality of the figures, softened the drapery, and individualized the faces. Duccio Di Buoninsegna, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, principal panel of the front of the Maestà altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311. Tempura and gold leaf on wood, 7’ x 13’.

On the back of the Maestà altarpiece, Duccio painted Jesus’s passion in 24 scenes on 14 panels, beginning with Entry into Jerusalem, at the lower left, through Noli me tangere, at the top right. This showcased his skills as a narrative painter. Duccio Di Buoninsegna, Life of Jesus, 14 panels from the back of the Maestà altarpiece, from Siena.

In the Hall of Peace of Siena’s city hall, Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted an illusionistic panorama of a bustling 14th century city. The fresco is an allegory of good government in the Sienese republic. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, east wall of the Sala della Pace in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. Fresco.

This sweeping view of the countryside is one of the first instances of pure landscape painting in Western art since antiquity. The winged figure of Security promises safety to all who live under Sienese law. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful Country, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, east wall of the Sala della Pace in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. Fresco.

TRECENTO: 14th Century: Architecture The 14th century architecture of Italy underscores the regional character of late medieval art. Orvieto Cathedral’s façade, for example, incorporates many elements of the French Gothic vocabulary, but it is a screen masking a timber-roofed structure in the Early Christian tradition with round arches in the nave arcade. The prosperity of the 14th century led to many major building campaigns, both religious and secular, including new cathedrals in Florence, Siena, and Orvieto, and new administrative palaces in Florence, Siena, and Venice.

The pointed gables over the doorways, the rose window, and the large pinnacles derive from French Gothic architecture, but the façade of Orvieto Cathedral masks a traditional timber-roofed basilica. Lorenzo Maitani, Orvieto Cathedral (looking northeast), Orvieto, Italy, begun 1310.

The Flroentine Duomo’s marble revetment carries on the Tuscan Romanesque architectural tradition, linking this basilican church more closely to Early Christian Italy than to Gothic France. Arnolfo Di Cambio and others, aerial view of Santa Maria del Fiore (and the Baptistery of San Giovanni; looking northeast), Florence, Italy, begun 1296. Campanile designed by Giotto Di Bondone, 1334.

Andrea Pisano’s bronze doors have 28 panels with figural reliefs in French Gothic quatrefoil frames. The lower eight depict Christian virtues. The rest represent the life of John the Baptist. Andrea Pisano, south doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1330-1336. Gilded bronze, doors 16’ x 9’ 2”’ individual panels 1’ 7 ¼” x 1’ 5”.

Siena’s Palazzzo Pubblico has a concave façade and a gigantic tower visible for miles around. The tower served both as a defensive lookout over the countryside and a symbol of the city-state’s power. Palazzo Pubblico (looking east), Siena, Italy, 1288-1309.

The delicate patterning in cream-and-rose-colored marbles, the pointed and ogee arches, and the quatrefoil medallions of the Doge’s Palace constitute a Venetian variation of northern Gothic architecture. Doge’s Palace (looking north), Venice, Italy, begun ca. 1340-1345; expanded and remodeled, 1424-1438.