1. Art in the
Renaissance
1400 – 1600

2. Overview Italian/Early 1400-1490 Italian/High 1500-1600
Northern/Late
one can argue about dates: – – 1600

3. map

4. Renaissance
1st period to name itself and say nasty things about earlier times: “Gothic” & “Dark Ages”
Term means “Rebirth”
Looking back to Classical culture – Ancient Greece and Rome
Names! Artists known by name – 1st contemporary art historian (1550); Individuality celebrated in this era

5. Renaissance Church is still the biggest power structure
Beginning of banking
Private fortunes & power
Starts in Italy – specifically Florence

6. Man loves himself once again
The Return of Humanism
Man loves himself once again

7. from Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)
. . . I feel that I have come to some understanding of why man is the most fortunate of living things and, consequently, deserving of all admiration; of what may be the condition in the hierarchy of beings assigned to him, which draws upon him the envy, not of the brutes alone, but of the astral beings and of the very intelligences which dwell beyond the confines of the world.
see also p. 190

8. Donatello, David, 1432
p. 203

9. Donatello, David, 1432
Tuscan hat
p. 203

10. Donatello,David, 1432 Goliath’s head detail
Style of helmet & art symbolic reference to other Italian city-states
Love of texture

11. 1st free-standing, life size nude sculpture since antiquity!
Donatello, David, 1432
1st free-standing, life size nude sculpture since antiquity!
contrapposto; but not just an imitation of past models
for private collection
David = underdog = Florence
Goliath = giant = Milan & other central Italian cities in league against Florence
Inscription:
“The victor is whoever defends the fatherland. God crushes the wrath of an enormous foe. Behold - a boy overcame a great tyrant! Conquer, O citizens! Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues. Behold the neck of pride, severed by the hand of humility

12. Donatello, David, 1432 p. 203 Inscription:
“The victor is whoever defends the fatherland. God crushes the wrath of an enormous foe. Behold - a boy overcame a great tyrant! Conquer, O citizens! Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues. Behold the neck of pride, severed by the hand of humility.”
Inscription:
“The victor is whoever defends the fatherland. God crushes the wrath of an enormous foe. Behold - a boy overcame a great tyrant! Conquer, O citizens! Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues. Behold the neck of pride, severed by the hand of humility
p. 203

13. An earlier Donatello David (c.1410)

14. Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi dome
CONFIDENCE REDISCOVERED!
Jürgen Reichmann p
Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi dome

15. Florence Cathedral Brunelleschi dome inside view

16. Tower designed by Giotto,
1334

17. View of Duomo from Pitti Palace (across the river)

18. Pitti Palace
Uffizzi
View from the Duomo

19. Pazzi Chapel
Post & lintel returns;
GEOMETRY

20. Pazzi Chapel
p. 198

21. Pitti Palace

23. Alberti (façade architect), Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1470
By the numbers:
2:1
3:1
4:1
Alberti's design has various geometrical relationships; for example, the height to the top of the pediment is equal to the width and the upper temple with its pediment is one-fourth the size of the main square.
Alberti (façade architect), Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1470
not in text

24. p. 202

25. 1st use of linear perspective
Masaccio Trinity Fresco 21' 10 1/2" x 10' 4 Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Masaccio Trinity Fresco 21' 10 1/2" x 10' 4 7/8" (6.67 x 3.17 m) Santa Maria Novella, Florence
not in text

26. Masaccio, Tribute Money, c. 1427
p. 199
Masaccio, Tribute Money, c. 1427

27. Tribute Money, detail Note use of chiaroscuro (light and dark shading) to create volume in the clothes.

28. Ghiberti, Lorenzo The Gates of Paradise 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

29. Ghiberti, Lorenzo The Gates of Paradise 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

30. Ghiberti, Lorenzo The Gates of Paradise 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

31. Ghiberti, Lorenzo The Gates of Paradise 1425-52 Bronze with gilding

32. Ghiberti, Lorenzo Detail from the Gates of Paradise The story of Joseph Bronze with gilding 80 x 80 cm Baptistery, Florence
not in text

33. In the second half of the fifteenth century, much of the solidity of form favored in the figurative style of earlier Renaissance painters had given way to a preference for a more linear style. Figures in painted compositions gave an illusion of depth more like relief sculpture than that of solid figures in the round. This can be observed in the work of Botticelli. A sense of movement is conveyed by Botticelli's mythological figures in his Birth of Venus (c. 1480) (Jones, p.126). According to Classical myth, Venus was born when the severed genitals of Uranus were cast into the sea. Botticelli's Venus floats ashore on a scallop shell, gently blown by a male wind god and a female breeze. On the right, a woman, perhaps a personification of spring, rushes to cover Venus with a pink floral cloak. As a goddess of love and fertility Venus is appropriately surrounded by flowers (Adams, p.260). Modeling in lights and darks is de-emphasized and the figures' forms are defined more through contour line (Jones, p.126). Botticelli's Venus is somewhat elongated, elegant, even languid -- as if just waking up. Her flowing hair, echoing the elegant drapery curves and translucent waves, conveys a linear quality characteristic of Botticelli's distinctive style (Adams, p.260).
The mythological theme was an important issue at this time, reflecting a new philosophy called Neoplatonism (which was strongly affecting humanist circles in Florence). According to this philosophy, all human thought, Christian or pagan, was regarded as divinely inspired. This permitted Botticelli to paint the subject of a life-size nude Venus, although the theme derived from Roman mythology and was therefore pagan. Another interpretation of the theme is as an allusion to Christian equivalent subject matter. For example, Venus might be seen as the pagan equivalent of the Virgin. Prior to Botticelli's time, themes outside of straightforward Christian subject matter would have been unthinkable. Even in Botticelli's day pagan themes were still controversial outside of humanist circles (Jones, p.126).
BOTTICELLI, Sandro The birth of Venus c. 1485, Tempera on canvas (67 7/8 x 109 5/8 in.)
NOT IN TEXT

34. BOTTICELLI, Sandro Primavera c. 1482. Tempera on wood 203 x 314 cm
Reads right to left
BOTTICELLI, Sandro Primavera c Tempera on wood 203 x 314 cm
p. 199

35. BOTTICELLI, Sandro Primavera c. 1482. Tempera on wood 203 x 314 cm
Reads right to left

36. BOTTICELLI, Sandro Venus and Mars c. 1485
BOTTICELLI, Sandro Venus and Mars c Egg tempera and oil on poplar 69 x cm
NOT BIBLICAL!
not in text

37. KEY IMAGE PERIOD: PLACE: ARTIST: TITLE: DATE: p. 203 Early Renaissance
Florence
Donatello
David
1432
p. 203

38. La Primavera (Birth of Spring)
KEY IMAGE
PERIOD:
ARTIST:
TITLE:
Renaissance
Botticelli
p. 199
La Primavera (Birth of Spring)

39. KEY IMAGE
Pazzi Chapel
p. 198

40. Summary – Italian Renaissance
POLITICS – Italian city-states; power from money
EARLY RENAISSANCE – Florence
HIGH RENAISSANCE –
ART – Classical ideals revived
IDEAS – Humanism returns
MUSIC –