Renaissance Late 13-14c Proto-Renaissance – transformational period 15-16c Early and Late Renaissance Power of cities and city state outway feudalistic lords and barons Rise of wealth in the merchant and middle class (wealthy families powerful) Protestant Reformation – religious instability – north Protestant, Italy Catholic Mathematic and scientific discoveries Classic philosophies renewed – rationality and idealism Intellectualism – masters of art, great thinkers Humanism concern with natural world and human life
Renaissance Characteristics Real world ( not the past) Use of symbolism Compositional line (to lead eye around painting) Humanism (humanizing and secularizing religious scenes through environment, body language and facial expression) Guilds – N guilds support middle class I wealthy patrons and church Relationship of viewer to the painting Linear and atmospheric perspective Secular spaces – N middle class I classic Painting dominant art form – N oil I fresco
Proto-Renaissance and Italo-Byzantine First ½ of the 13c. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II Classic revival in Sicily and southern Italy (Compare to Charlemagne’s revival E. 9c. Carolingian) Greater interest in classic form and humanism Combination of Medieval Gothic and Roman influence New artistic movement spreads to the Tuscan cities of: Lucca, Florence, Pisa and Siena In painting: Italo-Byzantine Style ( Maniera Greco) – Byzantine influence from the Middle Ages combined with the a new pictorial manner.
Baptistery Pulpit of Pisa Cathedral Proto-Renaissance Nicola
St. Francis Altarpiece Proto-Renaissance (Italo-Byzantine) Berlinghieri
Maesta Altarpiece Cathedral of Siena Duccio front back
Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, Maesta Altarpiece Proto-Renaissance (Italo-Byzantine) Duccio
Betrayal of Jesus, Maesta Altarpiece Proto-Renaissance (Italo-Byzantine) Duccio
Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets Proto-Renaissance (Italo-Byzantine) Cimabue
Madonna Enthroned Proto-Renaissance Giotto
Cimabue Giotto
Arena Chapel (Scrovegni Chapel) Padua, Italy
east west
Lamentation Proto-Renaissance Giotto
Anunciation International Gothic Martini
Birth of the Virgin International Gothic Lorenzetti
The Books of Hours were the prayer books used by laypeople in medieval times. Commissioned by royal family members, the nobility and wealthy patrons, they became status symbols, the jewels in the collections of book collectors. The basic components of the Book of Hours are: 1. Calendar 2. Extracts from the Gospels 3. The prayer Obsecro 4. The Prayer O intemerata 5. Hours of the Virgin 6. Hours of the Cross 7. Hours of the Holy Spirit 8. Penitential Psalms 9. Litany 10. Office of the Dead 11. Prayers to Various Saints
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