13th Century Italy – High Middle Ages Chapter 14 Late Medieval Italy

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13th Century Italy timeline 1204 - 4th Crusade results in Venetians sacking Constantinople 1226 – Death of St. Francis of Assisi 1260 – Nicola Pisano creates the Pisa pulpit 1296 – Work on the Florence Cathedral begins 1305-1378 – The Popes move and live in Avignon, France 1306 – Giotto completes the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua 1307-1321 – Dante composes the Divine Comedy (first work in Italian) 1311 – Duccio’s Maesta completed in Siena 1341 – Petrarch is made Poet Laureate in Rome 1347-1348 – The Black Plague ravages Europe 1365-68 – The Way of Salvation painted in the Guidalotti Chapel in Florence 1395 – Giangaleazzo Visconti becomes Duke of Milan

13th century Italy Background Developing urban economies and independent states in Florence, Pisa, Siena, Padua, and Milan become important centers for artistic patronage Growing wealth and prosperity in Florence and Siena attributable to banking and the cloth business Important private and ducal patrons emerge in the north of Italy, like Enrico Scrovegni in Padua and Giangaleazzo Visconti in Milan   Important to the development of late medieval spirituality, urban development, and artistic patronage are the Franciscan and Dominican orders The Franciscans are formed by St. Francis of Assisi The Dominicans are formed by St. Dominic The ideal proportions of classical sculpture The numeric harmonies found in the ruins surrounding them.

13th Century Italy Background Important sources of patronage are local governments that are developing a sense of how to rule these late medieval communes and duchies and how to represent that rule in the visual arts. The Florentines build the Palazzo della Signoria The Sienese commission Ambrogio Lorenzetti to paint frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico representing good and bad government   Major disturbances affect the patronage and production of art. Constant warfare led scores of banks and merchants into bankruptcy; internal upheavals shook governments. Repeated crop failure and famine make life bleak and difficult. The arrival of the plague, or Black Death, in 1377-1348 devastates Europe.

Goals Understand the influence of the Byzantine and classical worlds on the art and architecture. Understand the rejection of medieval artistic elements and the growing interest in the natural world. Examine the revival of classical values, in particular, the growth of humanism. Examine elements of the patronage system that developed at that time, and the patronage rivalries among the developing city states. Examine the architecture and art as responsive to the growing European power structures at that time.

14.1 Rejection of Medieval Artistic Values Understand the influence of the Byzantine and classical worlds on the art and architecture. Understand the rejection of medieval artistic elements and the growing interest in the natural world.     Examine the artistic interest in illusionism, pictorial solidity, spatial depth, and emotional display in the human figure.

Figure 14-2 NICOLA PISANO, pulpit of the baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259–1260. Marble, 15’ high.

Figure 14-3 NICOLA PISANO, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the baptistery pulpit, Pisa, Italy, 1259–1260. Marble, 2’ 10” x 3’ 9”.

Figure 14-4 GIOVANNI PISANO, Annunciation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Shepherds, relief panel on the pulpit of Sant’Andrea, Pistoia, Italy, 1297–1301. Marble 2’ 10” x 3’ 4”.

Figure 14-5 BONAVENTURA BERLINGHIERI, panel from the Saint Francis Altarpiece, San Francesco, Pescia, Italy, 1235. Tempera on wood, 5’ x 3’ x 6”.

14-5A Nave (looking west) of the upper church, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy, 1228–1253.

14-5B GIOTTO, Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds, upper church, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy, ca. 1290–1300. Fresco, ?’ ?” high.

The Altered Byzantine Style Examine the Byzantine styles and classical style that is seen in the religious panel painting. Understand growing interest in the natural world and the presentation of more physically solid human figures.

Figure 14-6 CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, from Santa Trinità, Florence, Italy, ca. 1280–1290. Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 12’ 7” x 7’ 4”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Figure 14-7 GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, from the Church of Ognissanti, Florence, Italy, ca. 1310. Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 10’ 8” x 6’ 8”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

14-6B PIETRO CAVALLINI, enthroned apostles, detail of Last Judgment, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, Italy, ca. 1290–1295. Fresco.

Figure 14-1 Giotto di Bondone, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni; interior looking west), Padua, Italy, 1305–1306.

Interest in the Natural World Understand the growing interest in the natural world and the interest in real space. View how artists began to depict human emotion in their work (influence of humanism) Explore how these elements are depicted in the art.

Interior of the Arena Chapel Giotto di Bondone Interior of the Arena Chapel Padua, Italy 1305-1306 fresco FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.

Figure 14-8 GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6 3/4” x 6’ 3/4”.

Late Middle Ages

14-8A GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Entry into Jerusalem, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6 3/4" X 6’ 3/4".

14-8B GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Betrayal of Jesus, Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6’ 6 3/4" X 6’ 3/4".