AGE OF EXPLORATION TO POSTMODERNITY

CTXT 122 – VISUAL CULTURE IN CONTEXT:

CLASS THREE

 EARLY RENAISSANCE ART IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY, PART I

CHAPTER 21

Important Points

  • Explore the development and use of one-point linear perspective

  • Examine how sculptors were instrumental in the development of the Renaissance by increasing the lifelike qualities of human figures

  • Assess the role of wealthy merchants and condottieri in the development of the Renaissance

  • Consider the importance of competition

  • Evaluate the importance of the Classical past

Other important points

  • The Medici family was the most important patrons/commissioners of the early Renaissance

VOCABULARY

Humanism - A philosophy based on the potential of the individual for great achievements. The inherent goodness of mankind. The idea that the proportions applied to the architecture can be applied to the human body.

Palazzo - it’s a palace. Important building.

Guild - Organization based on a trade or profession. They manage a trade.

Orsanmichele - was an early 14th-century building in Florence that served multiple functions, including a church, granary, and headquarters for the city's guilds. It became the site of a major sculptural project in the early 1400s, where city officials mandated guilds to place statues of their patron saints in exterior niches. This project, viewed as a civic duty and a means for guilds to promote their importance, spurred significant artistic innovation by leading Florentine sculptors like Nanni di Banco and Donatello.

Contrapposto - Italian word for ‘set against’. A composition developed by the Greeks to represent movement in a figure. The asymmetric placement of limbs around a central axis.

One-Point (Linear) Perspective - “Invented” by Brunelleschi. A mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface. On the horizon is placed the vanishing point. Diagonal lines, known as orthogonals, lead to that point, creating the appearance of depth and space. See p. 589 - “Linear Perspective”

Continuous Narrative/Narration - where characters are repeated several times in the same space (instead of in sequence) to tell the story

Condottierri - An individual paid by the city/state (Republican government) for protection.

Coffers - Take off weight on the ceiling

Modular plan - the use of a module - a system of measurements

Cosimo Medici - Member of the republican government

Sumptuary tax - something you would have to pay if your home looked to wealthy and extravagant

Sumptuous - wealthy/extravagant

niches - indentions to hold sculpture

Bargello - sculptural museum in Florence

ARTISTS AND WORKS OF ART:

Filippo Brunelleschi (discovered 1-point linear perspective)

  • Dome of the Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore)

  • Interior, Church of San Lorenzo

  • Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital)

  • Sacrifice of Isaac

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo 

  • Palazzo Medici

Lorenzo Ghiberti

  • Sacrifice of Isaac

  • Jacob and Esau Panel from the Gates of Paradise (East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence)

Nanni di Banco

  • The Four Crowned Saints

Donatello

  • St. Mark

  • St. George

  • David

  • Mary Magdalen

  • Equestrian Statue of Erasmo da Narni (or Gattamelata)

Antonio del Pollaiuolo

  • The Battle of the Nudes

  • Hercules and Antaeus

Andrea del Verrocchio

  • Lady with a Bunch of Flowers

  • Bartolommeo Colleoni