1. 15TH CENTURY ART IN
EUROPE
The Early Renaissance
1400—1499 CE

2. Geography of Focus
City-States
are growing
more stable
and more in
contact with
international
cultures, i.e.
Arabic culture
Republican
States (led by
the ―people‖)
are forming—
Venice,
Florence

3. Florence, The Center of the
Renaissance
A focus for
trade as you
have to
intersect it to
get W-E and
N-S

4. Guiding Events and Figures
These may be political, scientific, literary, philosophical, religious
 Johan Gutenberg invents the printing
press in 1455
 Between 1456 and 1500, more books
published than had been copied in the
previous thousand years
 ca. 1495, Savonarola takes control of
Florence

5. Reflections of the Age
LITERATURE PHILOSOPHY
 Petrarchan Sonnet  Niccolo Machiavelli’s
 14lines of sestet and  The Prince
octet based on  Emphasizes the need
mathematical to be feared rather
proportion and than loved, if one
harmony cannot be both
 Reducibleratios of
4:4 and 3:3 (each 1:1)

6. Guiding Question…
What makes man great?
Power (the Medici)
Humanism
Imitation (the Guilds and Apprentices)
Reason and Mathematical Harmony
Religious Piety through Portraiture
How people answer this question depends on their social status,
profession, political position, and philosophical point of view.

7. Political Power
What makes  Civic Duty
man great?
 One’s responsibility is to give back
to the community
 From everyone who has been given
much, much will be required –New
American Standard Bible 1995
 Much of what is commissioned is
propogandic—serves the agenda of
the patron first and foremost

8. Guilds or Arti
Secular corporations that controlled city trade
Arte di Calimala (wool)
Arte del Cambio (banking)
Arte della Seta (silk and bronze)
Social networks that provided public services
Ospedale Degli Innocenti
Political engines that run civic government

9. Or San Michele, Florence, Italy
Many artists of the early Renaissance will be responsible for
filling the niches with commissioned works of art.

10. The Medici
Family
Portraits of Cosimo and Lorenzo by Bronzino
and Vasari, respectively

11. The Medici
De facto rulers of Florence (they are not
elected or royal)
Bankers to the Papacy
Commission architecture, paintings, and
sculpture to present an identity of an educated,
powerful, and religiously pious family

12. Father of Humanism
Petrarch, 1304—72

13. Humanism
What makes  Emphasis on Reason
man great?
 Emphasis on his ability to observe
the natural world as a manifestation
That he is an
individual.
of the DIVINE
 Emphasis on individual
achievements (rather than on the
collective)
 Education key to righteousness
 Classical Education
 Greco-Roman arts and texts

14. Donatello’s David
 First male nude since
ancient history
 Based on proportion
 Heroic, idealized
figure
 Biblical character
used to personify
individual triumph
 Stance is the
contropposto
 Balanced
 Natural stance

15. Greco-Roman Influence
DONATELLO,
David,
EARLY RENAISSANCE
POLYKLEITOS,
Canon,
CLASSICAL GREEK

16. Brunelleschi’s Florentine Duomo, ca. 1400
Influenced by Brunelleschi’s travels to Rome with his friend Donatello
Inspired by the Pantheon
Based on mathematical formulae

17. Roman Influence
Duomo, Florence, Italy Pantheon, Rome, Italy

18. Mathematically Reasoned
Based on
the ratios
6:4:2:3
Compare to
Guillaume
Dufay’s
musical
composition,
Nuper
Rosarum
Flores

19. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
 Secular image of
Roman
mythological
figures
 Venus, the Greek
Aphrodite
 Venus, the
Goddess of Love
and Beauty
 Reference to
Venus Pudica

20. Venus Pudica,
Massimo, Italy
A Type
A Modest
Venus
Goddess
acting
humanly—
the divine
made
material

21. Alberti’s, Sant’Andrea,
Mantua, Italy
 Façade informed by
Greek and Roman
Temples
 Fluted Columns
 Corinthian Capitals
 Pediment
 Rounded arc h
 Triumphal Arch

22.  Interior based on the
Roman Forum
where legal
proceedings
occurred
 Barrel Vault of the
Romans
 Coffered Ceilings of
the Pantheon
 Rejects the aisled
basilica plan of the

23. Imitation
What makes  Guilds and apprenticeship
man great?
 What the master teaches, the
apprentice should imitate exactly
 One’s talent lies in how well one
masters the technique
 Little to no self-expression
 What is observed in nature should
be represented in art

24. Masaccio’s Trinity,
at Santa Maria Novella
 Faithfully represents a 3D chapel on a 2D
surface
 Rules of Linear Perspective codified now
 Allows the donors to present a pious identity to
the community

25. In subsequent work, you will learn
more about:
 The often ruthless politics of the Medici, who
very much follow Machiavelli’s rules of power
 The Medici as Humanists
 Pious Identities of Women in Art
This work will prepare you to incorporate the
information in the assignments and assessments
for the week