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The Changing Status of Artists in the Italian Renaissance 1400 – 1500 Part 1: Contracts and Conditions of Trade Public Expectations Gesture
The Italian Renaissance
The Black Death Protestant Reformation The Italian Renaissance - Timeline Tomb of Black Prince 1376 Peasants Revolt1381 Wars of the Roses Tudor Dynasty Mary Rose sinks 1545 Wilton Dyptich 1399 Lorenzetti 1342 Medici Dynasty Sack of Rome 1527 Hampton Court 1514 Sistine Ceiling 1512 Leonardo VM 1488 David 1504 Bodiam Castle 1385 Masaccio 1428 Botticelli 1486 Brunelleschi’s Dome 1436 Kings College Chapel 1460 Agincourt 1415
The Italian Renaissance Italian city states – small, independent, competitive and rich The wealth of the city states is based on commerce, not land-ownership. Several generations of merchant and mercenary princes foster a culture of new learning and intellectual accomplishment - ‘humanism’ The Church retains huge authority and importance in all aspects of public and private life Most art is public, sacred art, made for a mixture of spiritual, political and social reasons The commissioning of artworks demonstrates the power of rulers, civic pride and proclaims the wealth, culture and virtue of the community
The Italian Renaissance “...and never having found any memorial of the masters, and many times not even what date (their works of art) were made. I cannot but marvel at the lack of sophistication and little desire for glory of the men of that age.” Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists, Florence, 1550
Domenico Ghirlandaio The Adoration of the Magi, Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence,1488 Contracts and Conditions of Trade
Antonio Veneziano Virgin and Child, Florence?, c Contracts and Conditions of Trade
Sandro Botticelli The Virgin and Child, Bardi Chapel, S. Spirito, Florence,1485 Contracts and Conditions of Trade
Piero della Francesca Madonna della Misericordia, San Sepulcro, Florence, Contracts and Conditions of Trade
Skill and Difference
Sandro Botticelli, The Punishment of Korah, Sistine Chapel, Rome, c.1483
Skill and Difference Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Calling of Peter and Andrew, Sistine Chapel, Rome, c.1483
Skill and Difference Pietro Perugino, Moses Leaving to Egypt, Sistine Chapel, Rome, c.1483 *
Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi Annunciation with Saints, Siena Cathedral, 1333 Public Expectations
Public Expectations
Fra Filippo Lippi The Annunciation, Florence, c.1460 Public Expectations
Sandro Botticelli The Annunciation, Florence, c.1490 Public Expectations
The Function of Sacred Art Master of the Barbarini Panels The Annunciation, Florence, c.1460
Alesso Balovinetti The Annunciation, Florence, c.1460 Public Expectations
Domenico Veneziano The Annunciation, Florence, c.1445 Public Expectations
The Function of Sacred Art Antonello de Messina Virgin Annunciate, Sicily, c.1473
Carlo Crivelli The Annunciation with St Emidius, SS. Annunziata in Ascoli, c.1486 Public Expectations *
Istorie In 1435 Leon Battista Alberti wrote a hugely influential treatise callled ‘On Painting’ (De Pittura). Alberti argued that artists should be ‘as learned as possible in all the Liberal Arts’. He therefore emphasised the inclusion of mathematical and rhetorical ideas, derived from Roman authors, in painting. Narrative paintings with figures were called Istorie
Ambrogio Lorenzetti Presentation in the Temple, Siena Cathedral, 1343 ‘Istorie’
Antonio Masaccio, Raising of the Son of Theophilus, and St.Peter Enthroned, Branacci Chapel, Florence 1427 ‘Istorie’
Pietro Perugino, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, Convent of Santa Chiara, Florence, 1495
Sarcophagus with the Triumph of Dionysus and the Four Seasons. Roman, Late Imperial, c. C.E ‘Istorie’
Apollo, Athena and the Muses, Imperial Roman sarcophagus, 1st-2nd c. CE. Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire,
Andrea Mantegna, The Family of Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Manuta, Castle of Mantua, c.1470
Pietro Perugino, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, Convent of Santa Chiara, Florence, 1495
Pinturicchio, The Return of Odyssus, 1509
The Language of Gesture
Affirmation: Lift your arm gently...so that the back of the hand faces the beholder Demonstration: A thing one has seen may be noted by opening the palm of the hand in that direction Grief: pressing the breast with the palm of the hand Shame: Covering the eyes with the fingers
Antonio Masaccio, Adam and Eve Expelled from the Garden of Eden, Branacci Chapel, Florence 1427 The Language of Gesture
The Language of Gesture “When thou spekest of a solenpne mater to stande vp ryghte with lytell mevynge of thy body, but poyntnge it with thy fore finger. And when thou spekyst of any cruell mater or yreful cause to bende thy fyst and shake thyn arm. And whan thou spekyst of any heuenly or godly thynges to loke vp and pointe towards the skye with thy finger. And whan thou spekest of any gentilnes, myldeness or humylyte, to ley thy hands upon thy breste. And whan thou spekest of any holy mater or devocyon to holde vp thy hands.” The Mirror of the World, London, 1527
Fra Angelico, The Coronation of the Virgin, Convento di San Marco, Florence, 1445 The Language of Gesture
Pietro Perugino, Christ Giving St. Peter the Keys, Sistine Chapel, Rome, c.1483 The Language of Gesture
Michelangelo, God Creating Adam, Sistine Chapel, Rome, 1512
The Language of Gesture Jacobus de Cessolis, Queen’s Bishop’s Pawn (the Innkeeper), from The Book of the Game of Chess, 1493
The Language of Gesture Pinturicchio, St Anthony Abbot and St Paul the Hernit, Vatican, 1494
The Language of Gesture
Domenico Ghirlandaio The Adoration of the Magi, Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence,1488 The Language of Gesture