Transcript Chapter Twelve The Early Renaissance

The Renaissance, Part I
The resurgence of classical
culture and the rise of a new
humanism
Florence, Italy
Where the Renaissance begins…
Why was Florence important in the
14th century?
• Florentine “representative” government
– Arti, senior guilds
• Center of wool trade
• Banking, banking families
– Stable monetary system
– For a century, the Medici family is a patron of
the arts, supporting such luminaries as
Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and
Michelangelo
• Revolutionary Florentine art
– Renaissance
The Medici Era:
Cosimo de’ Medici (1434-1464)
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Collected ancient manuscripts
Patron of arts to atone for usury
Fostered study of Greek language, philosophy
Founded a new Platonic Academy
– Search for truth and beauty
• Sponsored the priest Marsilio Ficino, who fused
Platonism and Christianity
– Platonic Love, Christian Platonism
• Known as Pater Patriae
– Patron of the arts
– Grandson Lorenzo funded rebuilding University of
Pisa, from which Greek texts were exported to the
rest of Europe
Medieval Art
10th Century Russian Icon (left) and 14th Century Florentine Passion (right)
Medieval Art
in the
International
Style
Note the bright
colors, crowded
composition,
and rounded
figures
No single-point
perspective
Masaccio’s
Holy Trinity
1.
2.
3.
a concern with, and technical
ability to handle, space and
volume in a believable way
studious approach to model
art from that of ancient Rome
departure from more
ethereal mode of medieval
otherworldliness to a greater
concern for human realism
This is achieved through:
1. clarity of line
2. mathematically precise
perspective
3. close observation of real
people
4. concern for psychological
states
5. uncluttered arrangements—
artist doesn’t fill up all
available space
Florence Cathedral
combines Gothic buttressing with Roman dome
Brunelleschi’s Foundling Hospital,
How is this different from Gothic style?
Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel; note the
similarities to Rome’s domed pantheon
Brunelleschi’s Renaissance
Pazzi Chapel
Ancient Rome’s Pantheon
Botticelli’s Springtime; heavily infused with pagan symbolism
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus; note the idealism of the central figure
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus; modeled on Greek and Roman statues
Leonardo da Vinci
The first “Renaissance Man”
1. He was a master
painter
2. He was a keen
scientist, mastering
fields of geology,
botany, and anatomy
3. He was a master
engineer, designing
airplanes and
helicopters
4. He was a master
mathematician
Leonardo’s Notebooks
From left to right:
An underwater breathing
machine; detailed
studies of human
anatomy; an artificial
wing for human flight
(just strap it on and jump
off a cliff! [don’t try this at
home])
Leonardo’s “The Last Supper”
note the mathematical precision
Popes and Patronage
• Vatican as center of wealth, stability
• Pope Sixtus IV
– Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino
• Pope Julius II
– Beginnings of High Renaissance (1503)
– “il papa terribile”
– Raphael, Michelangelo
Raphael, Pope
Julius II’s favorite
artist
“Madonna of the
Meadow”
Pyramidal configuration
Rationally ordered
Modeling of human forms
Human quality of the divine
Quite a departure from
medieval representations
of Jesus
Late Medieval Virgin and Child in a more International Style
Michelangelo
Neo-Platonist sculptor
Moses
Michelangelesque
•Masculine
anatomy,
musculature
•Physical bulk,
linear grace,
emotionality
The Sistine Chapel
•“Michelangelo, Sculptor”
•Architectural and thematic
motifs
•Interpretation
•Neo-Platonism
•Old Testament and
pagan prophets
•Complex tree
symbolism
•Human wisdom +
God’s revelation