Chapter 20: Renaissance Art in Fifteenth-Century Italy
**Linear Perspective
-Pg. 595 . -Parallel lines that recede into the distance and appear to get closer together or converge. -Developed first by Filippo Brunelleschi and used on the Florence Cathedral.
Condottieri
-Pg. 596. -Commanders of mercenary armies that were contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance. -"Condottiero," in Renaissance Italian meant "contractor." -Since the Italian Renaissance was dominated by wealthy families, mercenary armies began to be established.
**Humanism
-Pg. 596. -Intellectual movement that began in Italy and spread to Western Europe in the 1300s, 1400s, and 1500s. -Humanists believed that the Greek and Latin classics both contained all the lessons one needed to lead a moral and effective life. -Humanists sought to create a citizenry able to spea and write with eloquence and clarity and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities.
**Florence Cathedral
-Pg. 597. -Construction began in the late 1200s and continued intermittently during the 1300s. -The builders envisioned a large dome but were unable to engineer such a large structure. -In 1407, Filippo Brunelleschi proposed a dome and it was built from 1420-1436
Filippo Brunelleschi
-Pg. 599. -1377 - 1446. -Solved the problem of the dome at the Florence Cathedral. -Originally trained as a goldsmith. -Built the dome at Florence Cathedral from 1420 to 1436. -Brunelleschi devised a system of wooden supports that were used to build the dome. -For each section of the dome, the supports were moved to a new location. -The first to demonstrate linear perspective in 1420 using panels.
*Foundling Hospital (Ospedale Degli Innocenti)
-Pg. 600,601. -Commissioned in 1419. -Brunelleschi supervised 1421 - 1427. -Completed in 1444. -Commissioned by the gild of silk manufacturers and goldsmiths (Arte della Seta) in Florence. -Established as a large public orphanage. -Built buy Filippo Brunelleschi.
*Rusticated
-Pg. 602. -An architectural feature in which the outer faces of stone blocks are left rough.
*Plazzo
-Pg. 602. -An impressive building. -"Plazzo" in Italian means "palace."
Medici Palace (Palazzo Medici-Riccardi)
-Pg. 602. -Located in Florence, Italy. -The palace was designed by Michoelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo de' Medici, head of the Medici banking family. -Built between 1444 and 1484. -It is well known for its stone masonry that includes rustication. -Bottom 2 levels were used for business while the top was designated as a private residence because of Florence Sumptuary Laws
**The Competition Reliefs
-Pg. 603. -Wool merchants' guild funds the creation of a new set of bronze doors for the Florence Cathedral. -A competition is announced for the commission. -The award of creating the doors would be given to the man with the best bronze relief representing Abraham's sacrifice of Issac. -In the scene Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Issac, but an angel appears and tells him to slaughter a ram instead. -Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti were both of the two finalists. -Ghiberti won the competition and was choosen to design the doors. -Brunelleshi claimed that it was a tie, but Ghiberti was chosen as the winner. -The doors were installed in 1424.
Sgraffito
-Pg. 604. -A technique produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colors to a moistened surface. -Decoration produced by scratching through a darker layer of plaster or glaze.
**Donatello - David
-Pg. 606. -Type: Bronze Sculpture, -Created: 1440s. -The first life-size, free-standing nude since antiquity (Time of Romans). -The statue draws from the Classical tradition of heroic nudity.
Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Mone Cassai (A.K.A. Masaccio)
-Pg. 609. -1401 - 1428/9 -Changed the direction of Florentine painting. -He integrated monumental and consistently scaled figures into rational architectural and natural settings using linear perspective.
Aedicula
-Pg. 609. -Framed niche.
**Masaccio - Holy Trinity
-Pg. 609. -Fresco. -Painted c. 1425. -Santa Maria Novella Florence, Italy. -One Point Perspective is used to crate the illusion of depth: the vanishing point is located at the foot of the cross. -The holy ghost in the form of a dove appears between Christ and God to complete the trinity. -Mary and Saint John the Evangelist flank the figure of Christ. -Patrons kneel outside the arch. -Placed below a deep aedicula in the wall. -Skeleton is Adam from Adam and Eve.
Alessandro di Marino di Vanni Filipepi (Sandro Botticelli)
-Pg. 626. -1445 - 1510. -Painted sculptural figures that were modeled by light from a consistent source and placed in a setting rendered illusionistic by linear perspective.
*Sandro Botticelli - Primavera
-Pg. 626. -Also known as Allegory of Spring. -Panel Painting. -Created: 1477 - 1482. -Group of mythological figures in a garden, believed to be allegory for the lush growth of Spring. -Possibly illustrates the ideal of Neoplatonic love. -Commissioned by a member of the Medici family. -Symbols: Cupid - Desire. Orange Tree- family symbol of Medici's. Flora - Springtime and Fertility.
**Botticelli - Birth of Venus
-Pg. 626. -Created: 1482 - 1485. -Commissioned by a member of the Medici family. -Depics the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as an adult woman, arriving at the shore. -Symbols: Venus - love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity, and desire.
*Cassoni
-Pg. ?. -A large chest used by rich merchants and aristocrats in Italian culture. -It was given to the bride and placed in the bridal suite.
*Vanishing Point
-Pg. ?. -A point of disappearance.
Florence Sumptuary Laws
-Pg. ?. -A private home may have no more than 12 rooms.
**Oculus
-Pg. ?. -A round or eye-like opening or design. -Usually a circular window or the central boss of a vault. -Used in the center of the dome in the Florence Cathedral.
*Allegory
-Pg. ?. -A symbolic representation.
**Atmospheric Perspective
-Pg. ?. -A technique of rendering depth or distance in painting by modifying the tone or hue and distinctness of objects perceived as receding from the picture plane, especially by reducing distinctive local colors and contrasts of light and ark to a uniform light bluish-gray color.
*Aerial Perspective
-Pg. ?. -A technique of rendering depth or distance in painting by modifying the tone or hue and distinctness of objects perceived as receding from the picture plane, especially by reducing distinctive local colors and contrasts of light and ark to a uniform light bluish-gray color.
*Trompe l'oeil
-Pg. ?. -An art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. -Was used as far back as painting itself but was greatly mastered during the Early Renaissance in Italy.
*Doge
-Pg. ?. -An elected ruler of the republic in many of the Italian city-states during the medieval and renaissance periods.
Square Module
-Pg. ?. -Basic unit of measure that could be multiplied and divided.
Ca D'oro (House of Gold)
-Pg. ?. -Created: 1427 - 1437. -Location: Venice, ITaly. -Home of nobleman Marino Contarini and his place of business.
Fra Angelico - Annunciation
-Pg. ?. -Created: 1437 - 1446. -Type: Fresco. -Location: Monastery of San Marco, Florence, Italy. -Shows the scene of the Annunciation. -"Fra Angelico" means "Angelic Brother." -Uses linear perspective.
Andrea del Castagno - Last Supper
-Pg. ?. -Created: 1445 - 1450. -Type: Fresco. -Location: Church of Sant'Apollonia, Florence, Italy. -Lots of detail in the different textures in the wall panels.
Andrea Mantegna - Camera Picta
-Pg. ?. -Created: 1465 - 1474. -Type: Fresco. -Location: Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy. Commisioned by Ludovico III Gonzaga. -Uses Trompe l'eoil. -Uses linear perspective. -The center has a false oculus with a painted sky and angels.
Giovanni Bellini - St. Francis in Ecstasy
-Pg. ?. -Created: 1475 - 1480. -Type: Oil and tempera on wood. -St. Francis is the patron saint of animals. -Symbols: Tree - Burning Bush. Stream - Spring brought forth by Moses. Grapevine - Christ's Sacrifice. Stigmata - Jesus's sacrifice (holes from being nailed to the cross). -A golden light shines inside of the painting, this is typical of Venetian artworks.
*Brunelleschi, Alberti, & Renaissance Perspective
-Pg. ?. -Developed perspective during the Renaissance.
Lorenzo Ghiberti - Gates of Paradise (East Doors)
-Pg. ?. -Location: Baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy. -Created: 1425 - 1425. -10 scenes of Old Testament ranging from the Creation to the reign of Solomon. -Used perspective, low and high relief.
Brunelleschi & Bartolomeo - Nave, Church of San Lorenzo
-Pg. ?. -Location: Florence, Italy. -Created: 1421 - 1434. -Designed and started by Brunelleschi and finished by Bartolomeo. -Based on the square module. -Created for the Medici family.
**Last Supper
-Pg. ?. -Scene during which Jesus is with his 12 Apostles and gives them his body and blood.
True Cross
-Pg. ?. -The cross upon which Jesus was crucified.
Donatello - Penitent Mary Magdalene
-Pg. ?. -Type: Wooden Sculpture. -Created: 1453 - 1455. -Commissioned for the Baptistery of Florence.
*Benllini - Procession of the Relic of the True Cross
-Pg. ?. -c. 1496. -Commissioner for the Grand Hall of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. -The commission included another 9 large canvases. -Show an event that took place about 50 years earlier in 1444. -The members of the Scuola were processing a fragment of the True Cross through the Piazza an Marco.