ARH II Module 3

Arte de la Calimala

(Wool merchant's guild) has panel competition for East doors later moved to North of baptistery.

the gates of paradise (the competition)

A competition was held by the city's guild of wool merchants to find an artist for the east portal of the Baptistry of San Giovanni for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The event highlights the importance of the individual artist, the rise of patronage as civic responsibility and promotional tool, and advancements in perspective all the while commemorating the spirit of competition in the Renaissance.

linear perspective

A method of presenting an illusion of the three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional surface. In linear perspective, the most common type, all parallel lines or surface edges converge on one, two, or three vanishing points located with reference to the eye level of the viewer (the horizon line of the picture), and associated objects are rendered smaller the farther from the viewer they are intended to seem.

quatrefoil

A shape or plan in which the parts assume the form of a cloverleaf.

niche

An ornamental recess in a wall or the like, usually semicircular in plan and arched, as for a statue or other decorative object.

atmospheric perspective

Atmospheric, or aerial, perspective creates the illusion of distance by the greater diminution of color intensity, the shift in color toward an almost neutral blue, and the blurring of contours as the intended distance between eye and object increases.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus

Boticelli, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484-1486, tempera on canvas, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Patron: Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici./ she stands naked in a renaissance painting, not in a christian context here/ venu, the ancient goddess of love/ he based venus on an ancient roman sculpture of venus which was a copy of an even earlier ancient greek sculpture which is known as the modest venus/ it is thought that this painting was for the medici court/ venus stands in the middle, born of the sea and seems to be being pushed by the winds, the zephyrs that are personified on the leftshe stands on a seashell and when she gets to the shore she will be received by an attendant thats ready to wrap her nude body/ no naturalism, people think boticelli was inspired by ancient greek vases where people usually float/ all figures are pushed forward/ they are isolated/ painting is very linear

Donatello's David

Donatello, David, late 1420s - late 1450s, bronze, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Patron: Piero de' Medici./ This work is the first full sized nude figure since antiquity. The Donatello, David, late 1420s - late 1450s, bronze, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Patron: Piero de' Medici./ subject of David is important because the Old Testament hero that defeated Goliath was seen as a symbol of the Florentine Republic. The work does not have a secure patron nor date but is believed to have been made for the wedding of Piero de' Medici. Its' complicated iconography has been long debated by art historians. The introspective figure is shown in a contrapposto stance wearing a petasus (shepherd's hat), and greaves while carrying a sword and a rock/ Bargello, Florence/ one of the most important early renaissance sculptures because it was the first free standing nude sculpture since classical antiquity/ contrapostto, sense of movement/ sense of autonomy/ bronze, largely copper, little bit of tin for strength/ hollow, created with the lost-wax casting technique which ancient romans and greeks before had employed/ david is young, standing on head of golliath, holding golliaths sword used to kill him, / the sculpture was seen in the courtyard of the Medici Palace/ goliath takes the place of milan whch was stronger than florence (florence being david) which was a mercantile culture as oppossed to a military power/ david became a symbol of the Florentine republic/ when medici would leave town, th scupture would be taken to the signoria (town hall)/

Brunelleschi, Dome of the Cathedral of Florence

Filippo Brunelleschi, dome of Florence Cathedral (view from the south), Florence, Italy, 1420-1436, architecture. Patron: Opera del Duomo./ until st. peter's, this was the highest dome that had ever been raised/ it was as wide as the pantheon/ the duomo itself had been planned in the 14th century/ bruneleschi made an amazing engineering achievement/ he wanted to build a dome very high without wooden centering/ when building an archway, there needs to be a wooden framework, to support the dome util it can be locked in place by the keystone/ the problem was that since this was so big, they couldnt get enough lumber that was strong enough/ a dome exerts pressure down and out/ so one of the biggest challenges was how to raise the dome and deal with that downward and outward pressure/ bruneleschi mad ethe decision to make the dome as light as possible, so its hollow, its a shell and inside is a stairwell that snakes around and allows one to go to the top/ he also created ribs, which do a lot of the weight bearing, and in between the big ribs which are visible from the outside, there are two locked in place by horizontals/ self-sustaining/ he created chains inside the dome made out of stone and wood locked together with iron, to hold the dome in and to counter the downward and outward thrust/ the dome is not hemospherical, like in the pantheon, its tall and pointed, so in a way a gothic shape.

Renaissance

French, "rebirth." The term used to describe the history, culture, and art of 14th through the 16th century Western Europe during which artists consciously revived the classical style.

the gates of paradise (the gates)

In the "Gates of Paradise" the quatrefoil form is abandoned in favor of the square that allows for the better use of perspective. The door has ten panels with subjects from the Old Testament. The panels are read from left to right, top to bottom, and demonstrate linear perspective with in each panel and overall as seen from a standing position in front of the doors. The doors also include a portrait of Ghiberti who was proud of his accomplishment.

Humanism

In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty.

Ghiberti sacrifice of isaac

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, baptistery, Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1425-1452, gilded bronze relief. Patron: Wool worker's guild.

Linear Perspective: (Masaccio and Brunelleschi)

Masaccio and Brunelleschi are seen as innovators in their respective fields of a painting and architecture. Their works reached new heights with the fine tuning and exploration of linear perspective. Filippo Brunelleschi, who lost the competition for the baptistery doors against Lorenzo Ghiberti, is credited with the invention of linear perspective./ Masaccio's innovations in fresco painting include linear and atmospheric perspective as well as improvements in the lifelike quality of figures and their modeling with the use of shadows. This can be seen in the Brancacci Chapel and Holy Trinity frescoes. Brunelleschi was able to span the 140 foot opening of the Florence Cathedral by constructing a double shelled dome with 8 exterior ribs.

Masaccio, Holy Trinity

Masaccio, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1428, fresco. Patron: Lenzi family./ Holy trinity in santa maria novella/ earliest known example of true scientific one-point linear perspective discovered by Brunelleschi a few years earlier/ realistic illusion of space/ fresco/ down the center we see the holy trinity (three part nature of god), at top is the father, below is a dove which represents the holy spirit, and christ on the cross/ it creates a sympathy to see the hollow of the abdomen and christ's bleeding, his pain feels real and emotional/ other figures: mary (dark cloak), she points up to christ showing us he is the path to salvation/ on the opposite side is saint john, who besides mary we almost always see in images of the cricifixion/ this isnt a narrative, but a devotional image that is an aid to prayer/ the figures kneeling, looking in and witnessing are the donors/ below the steps is a representation of a tomb is opened, a skeleton inside, and an inscription in latin that means that death is inevitable (memento mori=reminder of the imminence of our death/ in 15th century the meaning of the sarcophagus was a reminder of death/ masaccio created a deep space, as we look up we see a barrel vault (classical ceiling)/ masaccio's architecture is based the architecture of ancint greece and rome/ he embrased humanism/ linear perspece happened in the 15th century florence because there was a cuture of trade, where there is mathematics that underlies the economy of the city, people are trained to buy and sell, this is a very analytic and rational culture and art had to respond to that/ Corinthian pilasters, thatched columns wit ionic capitals, coffered vaulting, round arch, this architecture would have looked modern.

Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints

Nanni Di Banco, Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1408-1414, marble. Patron: Sculpture guild./ used to be in one of the exterior niches of the orsanmichele/ 4 ancient roman sculptors who were asked by the roman emperor Diocletian, to create a sculpture of a pagan god but as christians they refused and were put to death/ the moment depicted is when their coming to the realization that this will be their fate/ commissioned by the stone masons skilled/ each guild had a niche on the outside of the orsanmichele and chose a sculptor to represent their patron saints/ this is unsual that we have 4 figures instead of a single figure in the niche/ interaction between them/ looks ancient roman, wearing roman togas, contrapostto, sense of their body

continuous narrative

Narrative that presents different events in time within the same work of art.

Other Patrons:

Palla Strozzi, The Medici, Lenzi

the gates of paradise (the winner)

The competition panels that you will be comparing and contrasting show the predetermined subject of the sacrifice of Isaac in a quatrefoil form. The two panels from the finalists, Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, survive out of a total seven semifinalists that were considered. Ghiberti won the competition and his completed doors where moved to the north portal of the baptistery. His second set of doors are known as the "Gates of Paradise" because among many legends they face an area known as Paradise between the baptistery and the cathedral.

contrapposto

The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counter positioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called "weight shift" because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.

predella

The narrow ledge on which an altarpiece rests on an altar.

the gates of paradise (the subject)

The subject of the competition panel was the Sacrifice of Isaac, an Old Testament subject from the Book of Genesis in which Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. An angel intervenes to stop him just as he is about plunge the knife into Isaac's throat. This theme of self- sacrifice has been connected to Giangaleazzo Visconti's attempted invasion of Florence in which city officials called upon the people to defend themselves from Milanese forces.

Orsanmichele

This building illustrates clearly the connection between patronage and the work of art. It also serves as a good visual summary of the major sculptors working during the quattrocento. Or San Michele was multi-functional building, it housed a miracle working image of the Madonna created by Orcanga, it was a granary, and meeting place for the guilds. As a meeting place for the guilds it also allowed for the exterior display of sculptures in niches that functioned much like a modern-day billboard. These images advertised the guilds, their patron saints, and the products they produced./ its a grainary/ there was an image of the Madonna that was located here that was believed to have miraculous powers but it burned and another virgin was made also with powers, the one that survives is the third virgin made/ its surrounded by an altar which is by Orcania who is thought of as a painter/ this place was once open/ here the first renaissance sculptures were created/ a large open space upstairs, filled with sculptures that stood on the outside of orsanmichele in the niches/ now outside there are casts of the originals.

Brunelleschi & Ghiberti, the Sacrifice of Isaac (gates of paradise)

competition panels in Bargello, Florence/ seen as the beginning of the renaissance/ in 1401, the cloth guild of florence decided to commission a second set of doors for the baptistry in florence/ there are 3 doorways: 1st done by andrea pisano in 14th century, 2nd giant bronze doors/ the baptistery is historically the most important building in Florence and in an effort to find the best sculptor the cloth guild held a competition/ the only 2 that survive of the 7 entries are by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti/ the cloth guild were very specific about what they wanted, the most imp. is that all the panels had to be contained in a quatrefoil (gothic shape)/ Ghibertis angel is separated, Brunelleschi's angel grasps Abraham, Ghiberti presents a full nude, Brunelleschi's nude is more distorted/ the physical relationship between father and son in both panels: Ghiberti we have a gentle arching, a rocky mountain that unifies the scene, Brunelleschi we have a diagonal which is more energized and violent and scarier/ Ghiberti used less bronze than Brunelleschi, which is very expensive/ Ghiberti wins to do the second door and is commissione to do a third door/ Brunelleschi went to Rome, but came back triumphing with the dome.

Giangaleazzo Visconti of Milan

in 1401 surrounded Florence with his troops and died mysteriously in 1402. This relates to the commission of Ghiberti's first set of doors.

Patrons Pietro & Felice Brancacci

payed for the Brancacci Chapel. The subject is found in the Gospel of Matthew and relates to the tax collection in Caperneum. There was also a local tax, catasto, or perhaps a church taxation during the Renaissance that can relate to the rare art historical subject.

schiacciato

squashed relief, very low relief practiced by Donatello.

Donatello's saint mark (orsanmichele)

the guilds of florence were responsible for completing a figure for a niche on the outside of orsanmichele and the guilds each commissioned a sculptor/ commissioned by the linen drapers guild/ donatello gives us a classical figure/ contrapostto (which hasnt been seen in approx 1000 years) is noticeable even under heavy cloth/ sense of movement.

King Ladislaus of Naples

threatened to overrun Florence around 1409 and dies in 1414. In 1406 there is a dictum set in place for the completion of the sculptures of Or San Michele.