Humanism and the Allure of Antiquity

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Renaissance Florence

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COMPETITION!

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FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402. Gilded bronze, 1’ 9” x 1’ 5”. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

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LORENZO GHIBERTI, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402. Gilded bronze relief, 1’ 9” x 1’ 5”. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

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LORENZO GHIBERTI, east doors (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze, 17’ high. Modern copy, ca. 1980. Original panels in Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

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LORENZO GHIBERTI, Isaac and His Sons (detail of FIG. 21-10), (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

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DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1423–1427. Gilded bronze , 1’ 11 1/2 ” x 1’ 11 1/2”.

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PAOLO UCCELLO, Battle of San Romano, ca. 1455 (?). Tempera on wood, approx. 6’ x 10’ 5”. National Gallery, London.

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LORENZO GHIBERTI, Isaac and His Sons (detail of FIG. 21-10), (Gates of Paradise), baptistery, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

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DONATELLO, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1423–1427. Gilded bronze , 1’ 11 1/2 ” x 1’ 11 1/2”.

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Brunelleschi

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NANNI DI BANCO, Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1410–1416Marble, figures 6’high. Modern copy in exterior niche. Original sculpture in museum on second floor of Or San Michele.

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DONATELLO, Saint Mark, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, 1411–1413. Marble, 7’ 9” high. Modern copy in exterior niche. Original sculpture in museum on second floor of Or San Michele, Florence.

Masaccio

Used perspective to construct an illusion of figures in three-dimensional space.

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Brancacci Chapel, Florence

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MASACCIO, Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427. Fresco, 8’ 4 1/8” x 19’ 7 1/8”.

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MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427. Fresco, 21’ 10’ 5/8” x 10’ 4 3/4”.

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LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, interior of Sant’Andrea (looking northeast), Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472.

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I once was what you are and what I am you also will be.

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Memento Mori

• A visual reminder of human mortality.

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Importance of Masaccio to Early Renaissance

• Tribute Money – brings together innovations in 15th century painting --- trailblazer whose work influenced other artists– Linear perspective – Aerial perspective– Classical body types (blend of realism with idealizing

the human form)– Chiaroscuro to create a more realistic picture, single

light source from the right, modeling the human anatomy to give figures weight

– Balanced, symmetrical composition

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MASACCIO, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427. Fresco, 7’ x 2’ 11”.

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DONATELLO, David, late 1440–1460. Bronze, 5’ 2 1/4” high. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

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DONATELLO, Penitent Mary Magdalene, ca. 1455. Painted and gilded wood, 6’ 2” high. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

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ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO, David, ca. 1465–1470. Bronze, 4’ 1 1/2” high. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Neoplatonism• A compilation of Platonic, Aristotelian and Stoic

ideas that experienced a strong revival during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Central to the philosophy is the notion that spiritual things are real and that material things are not. The freeing of the spiritual element, the soul, from the material element, the body, should be the ultimate goal of all of mankind and could be achieved through knowledge and contemplation.

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Marsilio FicinoTranslated Plato into Latin (from Greek)

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Syncretism

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Santeria

NeoplatonismEmbraced by the powerful Medici family.

All sources of inspiration, whether Biblical or Classical (Pagan)

mythology, represent a means of ascending earthly existence to a

mystical union with “the One”.

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The Medici Dynasty

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ALEXANDROS OF ANTIOCH-ON-THE-MEANDER, Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), from Melos, Greece, ca. 150–125 BCE. Marble, 6’ 7” high. Louvre, Paris.

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SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484–1486. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’ 9” x 9’ 2”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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Botticelli

Byzantine influence shown in lyrical use of line.Decorative and flat space, little illusion of depth.Strong focus on Classical Mythology.

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Simonetta Vespucci

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, ca. 1482. Tempera on wood, 6’ 8” X 10’ 4”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. 110

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Individualism vs. “Original Sin”

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DONATELLO, Gattamelata (equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni), Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy, ca. 1445–1450. Bronze, 12’ 2” high.

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ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO, Bartolommeo Colleoni (equestrian statue), Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Italy, ca. 1481–1496. Bronze, 13’ high.

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DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO, Giovanna Tornabuoni(?), 1488. Oil and tempera on wood, 2’ 6” x 1’ 8”. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid.

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FRA FILIPPO LIPPI, Madonna and Child with Angels, ca. 1455. Tempera on wood, 2’ 11 1/2”. x 2’ 1”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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PERUGINO, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, Italy, 1481–1483. Fresco, 11’ 5 1/2” x 18’ 8 1/2”.

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LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, interior of Sant’Andrea (looking northeast), Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472.

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ANDREA MANTEGNA, interior of the Camera Picta (Painted Chamber), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1465–1474. Fresco.

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ANDREA MANTEGNA, Camera Picta (Painted Chamber), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1465–1474. Fresco, 8’ 9” in diameter.

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ANDREA MANTEGNA, Foreshortened Christ, ca. 1500. Tempera on canvas, 2’ 2 3/4” x 2’ 7 7/8”. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

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ANDREA MANTEGNA, Saint James Led to Martyrdom, Ovetari Chapel, Church of the Eremitani, Padua, Italy, 1454–1457. Fresco, approx. 14’ X 11’ (destroyed 1944).

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Girolamo Savonarola145

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LUCA SIGNORELLI, Damned Cast into Hell, San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy, 1499–1504. Fresco, 23’ wide.

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