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
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
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
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
Hinweis der Redaktion
Basically, in this chapter we are on a road to the Renaissance. We have just come from the Romanesque period, a time of great pilgrimage that referenced Classical forms in architecture. We have come from the Gothic period, the age of cathedral building meant to house and meet the needs of greater pilgrimage. The Gothic period also brought about a change in art-making, with a noticeable shift to direct observation and natural emotionalism. These periods lead us to this Proto-Renaissance period—one that is continually leaving behind the Italo-Byzantine styles for an even more natural style and emotionalism. Why? What makes this change occur? Art does not exist in a vacuum. It is a reflection of the worldview in which it arises—like literature, politics, religion, the sciences, its forms and styles, its questions and meanings arise in a specific culture. Also, remember that change is a rebellious act; we have to discover what is being rebelled against. This is NOT necessarily a conscious rebellion. Our job is to see why. Why rebel? What’s going on in the age before the Renaissance?Remember that the ideas that gained momentum in the 14th century—humanism, direct observation, greater concern with the solidity of forms, and the interest in illusion—became prominent in the following centuries, during a period known as the Renaissance.
