Early Renaissance Painting

A few words before we begin Fresco: mural painting on wet plaster Trompe l’oeil: “trickery of the eye,” illusion.

Painters covered Masaccio – short career >decade Fra Angelico – Dominican monk meets painter Andrea del Castagno: from Venice to Florence Andrea Mantegna: influenced by Donatello Perugino: from Umbria to Florence Botticelli: commissioned by Medici family

Masaccio Painter’s guild in 1422 Rome in 1427 Understood Brunelleschi’s theory of ______?

Masaccio Painter’s guild in 1422 Rome in 1427 Understood Brunelleschi’s theory of Perspective. magic-illusion-trinity-masaccio-part-2

Trinity by Masaccio Painted fresco in Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence Italy, 1428 Donors red garb suggests member of Florentine council. Trompe l’oeil with barrel vault in linear perspective Demonstrates Masaccio’s knowledge of Brunelleschi’s perspective What different columns do you recognize?

Interior of Brancacci Chapel in the Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, fresco Private Family Chapel Differs from Flemish Painters, how? Created a new realism with focus on mass of bodies. Cast Shadows

Expulsion from Paradise Fresco from Brancacci Chapel, 1425 Instead of focusing on anatomy, focused energy to depicting the sheer mourning and emotion.

Tribute Money – Masaccio, Brancacci Chapel in the Santa Maria del Carmine, 1427

Continuous Narrative Jesus and Peter in middle, Peter on left with coin and fish (shown here), and Peter paying on right. Tribute Money (detail) - Masaccio

CONTINUOUS NARRATIVE!! Tribute Money is known for it’s integration of figures, landscape, and architecture Linear perspective + intuitive perspective Look again at Tribute Money, and can you tell what parts show linear perspective and what parts show intuitive?

Tribute Money

Fra Angelico Annunciation,

Annunciation, Fresco in Monastery of San Marco Building style used by Brunelleschi during that exact time of painting. Inspire meditation for monks Monk – Friar, Pragmatic and Austere (no life of embellishment) Located at top of stairs in Monastery, where monks pause before heading to their individual cells. PRISTINE CLARITY (HUMBLE CHARACTER’S – SIMPLE) Fra Angelico

Jan van Eyck

Linear perspective opens the room Slender figures assume modest poses Natural light Fra Angelico finished last few painting years painting the Pope’s private chapel in Vatican.

Andrea del Castagno Last Supper Fresco, 1447, refectory (dining hall) of Convent of Sant’ Apollonia The convent for nuns

Andrea Mantegna Mantegna, Frescoes in the Camera Picta (“Painted Room”) Located inside the Ducale Palace in Mantua, Italy Entered painters’ guild at 15, highly influenced by Donatello Painted mostly entirely for Ludovico Gonzaga, ruler of Mantua Excelled in perspective, integrating the figures into the setting, and naturalistic detail. influenced by Donatello

Putti, or winged baby angels, play around the balustrade. This is a dome in the chapel. Tromp l’oeil (“deceives the eye”) For-shortened perspective 1 st di sotto in su (“from below upwards”)

Dead Christ

Perugino Resolution of Great Schism 1417 Rome was chosen for Papal residency Pope Sixtus IV summoned a group of artists to come paint the new Sistine Chapel Perugino came to Rome to paint in Sistine Chapel Painted Christ Delivering Keys to St. Peter – CHIAROSCURO – contrasting light and shadow….also seen in the Tribute Money painting by Masaccio Teacher of Raphael

Delivery of the Keys to Saint Peter Fresco right wall of Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Fresco, Grid-like composition: vertical and horizontal, Perspectival recession, Atmospheric perspective, Triangular form with Architecture Scene supports authority of the Popes over Roman Catholic Church Figures in foreground (“stage”) vs. Figures in middle ground The architecture in the background of this painting references ancient Rome. WHO? Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter

Botticelli Studied in studio of Verrocchio (Equestrian Statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni) Painted for Sistine Chapel Also painted for Medici family (bankers) Used tempera, not oil

Botticelli, La Primavera (Spring), 1478 Flora Three Graces Cupid Mercury Zephyr Chloris Medici Wedding

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca Tempera on canvas, approx. 5' 8" x 9' 1". Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence PAINTING KNOWN FOR IT’S GRACEFUL LINEARITY! COMMISSIONED BY THE MEDICI FAMILY Aphrodite of Knidos, Praxiteles, Late Classical

F____ A_______ painted The A_________ where St. G______ tells Mary she will be pregnant. This painting is a f______. B_______ painted B____ of V_____ for the M______ family (think banking). This painting, known for it’s graceful linearity, depicts V_____ in a c__________ stance from classical antiquity. Teacher of Raphael, P______ painted C_____ D________ the K_____ to St. P______. The architecture in the background of this painting references ancient R______. This f______ is located in the S______ C_____, which is in the V________ (where the pope lives) Fra Angelico Annunciation Gabriel fresco BotticelliBirth Venus Medici Venus contrapposto Perugino Christ Delivering Keys Peter Romefresco SistineChapelVatican