Early Renaissance in Italy

early renaissance setting

florence

Pope Julius II

most important patron to fund the arts

humanists emerge

• if there is no afterlife, people should pursue happiness

• drew out human potential

intellectual developments

• christianity and philosophy merge

• more education

• artists are viewed as intellects

hierarchy of the arts

1. Painting

2. Architecture

3. Sculpture (seen as dirty work, until Michelangelo)

the church and patrons were important for art because they

funded them

northern art characteristics

surface texture focused (textiles)

italian art focus

• capturing body mass, form, and perspective

• human subjects (man was the greatest gift from God)

• psychologically sophisticated (captured emotions)

Massacio painting

• fresco

• storytelling painting (roman style) of Peter finding coin in fish mouth to pay tax

• used architecture of where the painting is to its advantage, painted shadows are in alignment with window irl

battle of the nudes

tool to study human anatomy and muscles

Botticelli’s Venus

• commissioned by the Medici family

• inspired by northern textile style

the Medici family

• rich and basically royal family of Florence

• symbolized by oranges

• helped fund a lot of art

Camera Picta by Mantegna

• pov looking up to angels

• using architecture to accentuate paintings and perspective

Trompe L’oeil

“fool the eye”

using perspective as optical illusion

french

di sotto in su

from below upwards

italian

looking up at ceiling for illusion

crossing in architecture

long center aisle with cross in middle to be in shape of a cross

italian architecture

• did not want to resemble northern architecture (especially flying buttresses)

• complete round dome

octogonal dome

completely rounded dome without supports (no flying buttresses!)

• created by goldsmith Brunelleschi

• combined italian and northern architecture

• has supports within instead of outside

arcades

columns in a square of a courtyard

david by donatello

• young boy who killed goliath

• first full figure nude since the roman times

• disliked due to sexual undertones (hat) especially when gays were prevalent (including donatello)

penitent magdalene

• depicted mary in a raw way

  • symbolized she did not need beauty but focused on God alone