ITALY, GARDNER CHAPTER 21-4 PP

PALAZZO MEDICI  MICHELOZZO, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, 1444, Florence  Simple, massive structure -> rusticated ground floor; second floor strongly articulated blocks; third floor smooth surface -> building seems to get lighter as it goes up  Roman arches at bottom used as entries to shops and businesses  Strong cornice placed on top

 PALAZZO MEDICI- RICCARDI  Interior courtyard allows light and air into the interior rooms of the palace  Palazzo built to express the civic pride and political power of the Medici family -> rusticated ground floor exterior expressed the fortitude of the Medicis  Symmetrical plan

LEON BATISTA ALBERTI  The first Renaissance architect to understand classical architecture in depth  The first to study seriously the ancient Roman architectural treatise of VITRUVIUS  Author of On the Art of Building -> advocated a system of ideal proportions -> believed that the central plan was the ideal form for a Christian church

PALAZZO RUCELLAI  LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Palazzo Ruccelai, Florence, Italy, ca  Exterior is much more severe than the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi  Three horizontal floors separated by a strongly articulated stringcourse  Pilasters rise vertically and divide the spaces into squarish shapes  Not rusticated  First floor pilasters are Tuscan/derived from Doric, second floor composite derived from Ionic, third floor are Corinthian -> inspired by the Colosseum

SANTA MARIA NOVELLA  LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, west façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy,  The Rucellai family commissioned Alberti to design the façade of the 13 th century Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella  Small, pseudo-classical pediment capped temple on the upper part  Lower part -> pilaster framed arcade that incorporated the six tombs and three doorways of the Gothic building  Believed in the eternal and universal validity of numerical ratios as the source of beauty - > goes back to the true spirit of the High Classical age of ancient Greece = POLYKLEITOS  New feature -> the scrolls the united the upper and lower levels and screen the sloping roofs over the aisles inside

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA  1490’s -> Florence experiences a political, cultural, and religious upheaval  French armies are threatening Florence and all of Italy  Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola takes absolute control over the city -> denounces the paganism of the Medici and their artists -> denounced humanism -> exhorted people to repent their sins - > banishment of wealthy families -> destroy classical and worldly possessions  THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES

THE PRINCELY COURTS  Florentine artists and architects led the way in creating the Renaissance  The papacy in Rome and the princely courts in other city-states nurture Renaissance art  The princely courts consisted of the prince (his title varied from city to city), his consort and children, courtiers, household staff, and administrators = little emperors -> wealth -> artistic patronage  Art for the princes had several purposes: 1. Showed princely sophistication and culture 2. Form of prestige and commemoration 3. Public education and propaganda 4. Demonstration of wealth 5. Visual pleasure

PERUGINO  PERUGINO, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, 1482, fresco, Sistine Chapel, Rome  Christ delivers the keys of his earthly kingdom to Saint Peter -> a theme treasured by the popes, who saw themselves as descendants of Saint Peter  Left background -> tribute money  Right background -> stoning of Jesus  Models of the Arch of Constantine in the background; central basilica reflects the ideas of Brunelleschi and Alberti on architecture  One-point perspective, vast piazza  Open space provides dramatic emphasis on keys  Figures stand in contrapposto  Many contemporary faces in the scene

LUCA SIGNORELLI  LUCA SIGNORELLI, Damned Cast into Hell, , fresco, Orvieto Cathedral, Italy  Further develops Pallaiullo’s interest in depiction of muscular bodies in violent action  One of a colossal series of frescoes depicting the end of the world  Saint Michael and the hosts of Heaven hurl the damned into hell  Demons vigorously torture the dense writhing mass of the damned  The fiends are depicted in bizarre and lurid coloration -> evil and putrefaction

 DAMNED CAST INTO HELL - detail

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA  PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by Federico da Montefeltro, ca , oil on wood, 8’2” x 5’7”  One of the greatest artistic patrons of the 15 th century was the Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino  Federico clad in armor kneels at the feet of the Virgin -> behind him stands his patron saint, Saint John the Evangelist  Missing figure opposite Federico would have been his wife Battista Sforza -> she died  Figures appear in an illusionistically painted, coffered barrel vault

 ENTHRONED MADONNA AND SAINTS ADORED BY FREDERICO DA MONTEFELTRO - detail

FLAGELLATION  PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Flagellation of Christ, ca , oil and tempera on wood, 1’11” x 2’8”  Setting is the portico of Pontius Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem  Focus of the composition is not Christ but the three figures in the foreground -> scholars still debate who they are  The reveals a mind cultivated by mathematics -> the clarity and purity of geometric shapes