ITALY, GARDNER CHAPTER 21-1 PP

ITALY,  The blossoming of humanism  Emphasis on education and expanding knowledge  Individual potential  Desire to excel  Commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty  Artistic genius + spread of humanism + economic prosperity = the Renaissance

FLORENCE  Giovanni de Medici est. family fortune in early 15 th century  Cosimo, his son, expands family dominance in finance and led to political power  Medici were avid humanists  Lorenzo the Magnificent ( ) gathered about him a galaxy of artists and gifted men in all fields

THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE BAPTISTERY  Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel fro east doors of the baptistery, Florence, Italy, , gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½ “  Competition in 1401 to design the east doors of the Baptistery 1. Patronage as both civic imperative and a form of self-promotion 2. The esteem accorded to individual artists 3. Development of a new pictorial realism  Brunelleschi’s entry -> one dense group, great drama -> emotional, lunging Abraham -> frantic angel makes it just in time -> figures spill out over the borders of the quatrefoil

BRUNELLESCHI AND GHIBERTI  The two finalists were Brunelleschi and Ghiberti -> used the same frames and same scene  Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors of the baptistery, Florence, Italy, , gilded bronze, 1’9” x 1’5 ½”  Ghiberti emphasized grace and smoothness -> nude figure of Isaac -> acanthus scrolls on the altar he kneels on -> classical references  Spatial illusion  Technical superiority -> cast in only 2 pieces -> lighter and more cost effective

 OR SAN MICHELE, Florence

OR SAN MICHELLE/ NANI DI BANCO  NANNI DI BANCO, Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, marble, figures 6’ high  Built for the guild of wood and stone carvers, of which Nanni was a member  Depicts four matyred patron saints of the guild  Wearing togas, heads influenced by portraits of Roman emperors  Saints seem to be discussing their fate; feet placed outside of arch, stepping into our space  Figures are independent of the niche in which they stand

DONATELLO – SAINT MARK  DONATELLO, Saint Mark, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca , marble, 7’9” high  Commissioned for the guild of linen drapers  Contrapposto -> as the body moves, his garment moves with it -> the garment does not conceal, it accentuates movement  Stirring limbs, shifting, weight, mobile drapery -> suggests impending movement out of the niche

DONATELLO – SAINT GEORGE  DONATELLO, Saint George, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca , marble, 6’10” high  Made for the Or San Michele niche of the armorers’ and swordmakers’ guild  The warrior saint stands defiantly, ready to spring from his niche to defend Florence -> face filled w/nervous energy

DONATELLO – FEAST OF HEROD  DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Sienna Cathedral, Sienna, Italy, , gilded bronze, 1’11 x 1’11”  New Testament scene -> kneeling executioner offers the head of John the Baptist to King Herod  The advent of rationalized perspective space -> two arched courtyards of diminishing size open the space of the action well into the distance

RENAISSANCE PERSPECTIVE SYSTEMS  Renaissance fascination with perspective -> constructing a convincing illusion of space in two- dimensional imagery  Linear perspective allows artists to determine mathematically the relative size of rendered objects to correlate them with the visual recession into space  Linear perspective can be either one-point or two-point