The Closing of a Century - Spread throughout Northern Europe

Florence was almost brought to a halt because of conflicting factions within the City. Many new achievements had taken place such as the invention of the printing press, the founding of the Americas and a thriving art revival. To keep the Florentine masses politically and economically in line, Lorenzo de Medici not only followed his family's traditional strategy of sponsoring impressive civic works but also, much like a roman emporer, tried to keep the citizens minds off their subjection by treating them to lavish events with food and entertainment.
The styles and techniques from Florence spread eventually to the rest of Europe, in the Northern sections especially, it was accepted with open arms. This is to be the beginnings of Flemish styles.

Lorenzo de' Medici - Final Phase of Early Renaissance

By the middle of the Fifteenth century the aim of Florentine artists were changing. The technical aspects of art becoming increasingly important, while the renewed passion for mythology led logically to an increase in the search for pagan subject matter. The social and intellectual position of the artist had changed as well, no longer was artistry considered a trade but now poet and was shown respect as cultivated and imaginative minds deserved.
Sandro Botticelli was the most expressively original Florentine painter of the late Fifteenth century. Born in 1444, it is assumed that he studied with Fra Filippo Lippi. Before he reached thirty, Botticelli was invited into Medici's charmed circle of artists, philosophers and scholars. Primavera could also be called the Garden of Venus, for that is the setting of the painting. In this wonderfully magnificent painting, Botticelli sets up supremely graceful figures in an extremely intricate setting.

Invention of Glazing - Luca della Robbia

Luca della Robbia (c. 1400 - 1482) - referred once again to classical antiquity just like predecessor, Donatello. Work is considered to be less dynamic than Donatello's but did invent the process of glazing terra cotta. From his signed works, Robbia is remembered as a master of harmony and charm.

New Techniques Being put into Use - Masaccio and Fra Angelico

Friar Giovanni da Fiesole, better known as Fra Angelico (c 1400 - 1455), was an artist with a style mixed between Giotto and Masaccio. In the opinion of art historian G. C. Argan, Fra Angelico's construction of space is the most logical result of Mosaccio's discoveries, which weren't so much discoveries as simply genius works of art (the Tribute Money, Expulsion of Adam and Eve, etc). According to Art of the Early Renaissance: "A frankly sweet prettiness tends to make almost all of Fra Angelico's panel figures look like precious painted puppets enacting morality plays or popular scenes from the Bible." Take a look at the Last Judgement.
Now look at Hill Town. Notice the many vanishing points which Angelico carries off with ease and faultless technical skill. "This detail represents an important development in Renaissance landscape painting, a realm of experimental subject matter which, along with nude figures studies and portraiture, was to become one of the period's greatest contributions to the widening range and scope of "modern" western art. "
Masaccio, born Tomaso, Guidi in Valdarno on December 21, 1401 was the type of artist who was overall good but maybe a little too absorbed in his work. The nickname, Msasccio was given to him in light of this (Tom the Slob). Msasccio moved to Florence with his mother, shortly after his father had died and in 1422 joined the guild of painters. Masaccio's Trinita ("Holy Trinity"), is one of the first paintings to employ Brunelleschi's discovery of linear perspective, its classical architecture can also be accredited by Brunelleschi.

"The expulsion of Adam and Eve is a harrowing study in human misery and shame." Masaccio had always been a keen observer of emotion and depth. Humanistic. Genius.

Early Renaissance in Florence - Brunelleschi and Donatello

Referring back to what was mentioned in my Introduction to Renaissance post, a shift had taken place in Italy somewhere in the early fifteenth century. This change started in Florence by three men, one of which was Fillipo Brunelleschi (c. 1377 - 1446). Brunelleschi was considered god-sent, by his fellow Italians, making contributions left and right not only in art but in Architecture, engineering, optics and archeology. His most famous contribution to art was the principle of linear perspective as the principle of rational distribution of architectural element in space, known in italian as the Construzione Legittime("Legitimate Construction").
The aim of linear perspective is to create scientifically the illusion of reality in the sense of depth in space. The use of linear perspective makes it possible to get a three-dimensional appearance to any object, but more importantly the use of perspective creates the illusion that these objects actually occupy space either near or far from the observer. Brunelleschi forumlated this in a rule according to which all parallel lines going in the same direction into space meet at a common point on the horizon known as the vanishing point. Later on, when other artists realized that the use of only one vanishing point tends to give "an oversimplified effect," they began to experiment with two or three vanishing points within the same picture-space, and then even more vanishing points when striving for up or downhill effects. "Incidentally, the term "aerial perspective" does not mean a "bird's eye view" of a scene. It deals with the shades of objects as they recede into the distance; the further away from us an object is stationed, the less detail will be perceived and the more "bluish" and muted the object's color will appear to the naked eye."
Despite his experiment and success with perspective, fame did not show Brunelleschi the same acclaim as it did with Ghiberti. Brunelleschi was twenty-five when he lost the baptistery and soon afterward, himself and Donatello fled to Rome "where together they launched a frenzied study of any and all remnants of antiquity they could lay their hands on." Brunelleschi returned to Florence in 1407 and came back to find true success as an architect. Having studied classical roman architecture Brunelleschi "created a handful of beautiful buildings in Florence, a new style based on the thorough understanding of the principles of classical architecture..." Brunelleschi is considered to be the first to use modern architectural methods, making detailed plans and models for all stages of his buildings.



"The facade of Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents served as a prototype for all similar renaissance structures." It is agreed that it is the first building in actual Renaissance Forms. Commissioned by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, the first millionaire in the extraordinary Medici Family. Brunelleschi had maintained a close relationship with Giovanni and his family until the time of Giovanni's death in 1429, at this point it was now his son, Cosimo's turn to uphold the Medici name.

"Donatello shared with Brunelleschi the same beliefs in the importance of realism and the dignity of man and translated the architect's rules of perspective into his relief sculptures." Donatello, born Donato de' Bardi -donatello means "little donato." The same family that made Brunelleschi famous, Familia di Medici, did the same for Donatello. One of many triumphs in scultping -the David. The David is the first free standing figure since classical times and "the two most tradition-shattering aspects of the David are its interpretation of the king of Israel as a young greek god and its daring nakedness."
Humanism.
A sculted monument in Venice by Donatello, "Gattamelata," it is said to be the first Renaissance equestrian statue to be cast in bronze.

Donatello must have been influenced by the antique statue of Marcus Andrelius, artist unknown, also made in bronze :

Links to the Future- Lorenzo Ghiberti

Let us move now further into the renaissance, specifically the year 1381 -the birth of Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1381 - 1455). Ghiberti experienced much success in his lifetime, at the age of twenty-one he beat every single competitor in an international art commission and was awarded the commission to design and build a double bronze door for the north entrance of the baptistery of Florence. The win didn't come easy as Ghiberti was selected among the final seven (which also included Filippo Brunelleschi, and Jacopo della Quercia) who were given a sum of money and a year in which to complete a sample narrative panel, the subject of which was to be: "Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac." The committee wanted it to be in the same manner that sculptor Andrea Pisano had done on his door on the south side of baptistery a century ago. Pisano's style was considered highly Gothic framework gilded with graceful modeled relief figures and ornaments against a dark bronze background. The decision was to be made in Ghiberti's favor between himself and Brunelleschi. "Ghiberti's relief shows that he was still very much a Gothic artist working in the tradition of the fourteenth century." Fortunately for us, both pieces were kept so you can make the decision for yourself.

Brunelleschi's Piece:


Ghiberti's Piece:


Notice the sense of action in Brunelleschi's piece, it "reveals a new purpose in its dramatic realism and gripping sense of action."

The Scarifice of Isaac, was just one of twenty-eight pieces making up the north door, which required the help of many of Ghiberti's assisstants and took more than twenty years to complete. The door depicts twenty stories from the new testament, the four fathers of the church, the four evangelists and numerous other biblical episodes and figures. The door, once finished, was so greatly recevied by church officials that Ghiberti was commissioned to design the final door in the proposed trio of doors for the bastistery. This time Ghiberti was given the freedom to choose how he wanted the door to turn out. "Accordingly, Ghiberti discarded the restricting quatrefoil frames which he had been compelled to use before, and divided the overall space into ten panels, enabling himself much more freedom of composition. The door was later renamed Porta del Paradiso, or "Gate of Paradise," by Michelangelo, and consecrated in 1452 and showed a marked change in Ghiberti's style. "Instead of the conventional staglike settings of his first door, hw now treated each panel as a single pictorial space," different images were displayed in all of them, but always in the established Gothic Tradition.

Before The Early Renaissance - Duccio

In Siena, the first great name in painting was Duccio di Buoninsegna, who was responsible for the Sinese School. Little is known about Duccio's early life other than he was born in the second half of the thirteenth century. Duccio tended to ignore frescoes in favor of painting panels. Like Giotto, Duccio developed new styles of painting, "but whereas Giotto concentrated on massive volume and depth, Duccio emphasized color and line as a means of conveying mood and dramatic intensity."
Duccio was also the first to have the reputation of the 'nonconforming artist.' Duccio's life was rife with trouble of all kinds, ranging from heavy personal debts to dabbling in sorcery-which turned out not to be a big deal to the city because around the same time Duccio was commissioned to paint the greatest project of his career: The Maesta("the Virgin in Maesta"), "a huge panel painting for the high altar of the cathedral, double-sided which included twenty-six scenes from the Passion on the front panel and episodes from the life of Christ on the reverse side."
This extaordinary piece is hailed as "the very key to the values of the Sinese School; its exquisite drawing and sensitive colors, its fanciful air that masks a foundation of faultless craftsmanship, its harmonious composition..." In other words: the piece is simply magnificent.

Overview of 13th Century Italian Art

Pre-Renaissance Italian artists were gripped by Byzantine techniques and styles, which didn't provide much elbow for for artists to go about as they pleased. Wealthy patrons decided on most of what went on in paintings. Art was more of a trade, one had to be an apprentice, and taught by an elder. And even then little actual creative work was done by the apprentices themselves.

"In painting a formula was devised for each holy image; painters carefully avoided any attempt at illusion in space, usually placing their subject against a simple gold background." It seemed as though Byzantine Artists were afraid to do anything but mimic their predecessor's works. "However, the fact that they did so was to have a profound effect on the West because throughout the Middle Ages they kept alive certain principles of classical art which were to inspire the Italian Renaissance." It is now safe to assume that after a while, Byzantine Art was getting a little bit dull, but before the actual Renaissance took place a number of artists "began to see beyond the conventions of Byzantine Style." These artists include Cimabue (c. 1240 - 1302), Duccio Di Buoninsegna (c. 1255 - 1319), Giotto (c. 1276 - 1337) and two father and son sculptors from Pisa -Nicola Pisano (c. 1220 - 1284) and his son Giovanni (c. 1245 - 1314).

A simple timeline: Cimabue, born Cenni di Peppo in Florence, was the teacher of Giotto, who is generally considered to be the father of Renaissance Painting.
Cimabue was not known to drift away from the strict rules governing the byzantine style of the time, but did have a profound effect in the art world. Cimabue's paintings still included much iconography, which could be defined as the standard symbolic meaning of certain pictorial subject matter. Take a look at the "Crucifix" painted in 1275, Cimabue "brought a much greater degree of physical accuracy to the accepted byzantine formula of representing christ upon the cross."

Giorgio Vasari, sixteenth century painter, architect, and art historian wrote that one day as Cimabue was walking about the Tuscany hillside, he came upon a boy who painted on stones and slate, filled with sketches of his fathers farm animals, this boy was Giotto, the father of renaissance painting.

Looking at the "Ognissanti Madonna", painted sometime between 1310 and 1316, one can see the "weight" of Madonna on her throne, all the figures take up space and come to life. Giotto was said to have looked toward nature for direction and inspiration. Giotto brought to the table a kind of natural inclination towards painting -his figures bursting with life being represented as three dimentional figures, the depth, warmth and calrity of them. No longer were figures dubbed icons but real images which expressed emotions. Giotto set a new standard for painting, not only in Tuscany but the world. "Giotto had singlehandedly broken the constricting tradition of painting as a kind of pictorial writing." Giotto also ushered in the new age of the famous artist. High demand for his work also made him very wealthy. In 1334, Giotto was made chief architect in Florence. Modern artists owe as much to Giotto as astronomers do to Galileo. Later, in his Florentine years Giotto dedicated his time to his very own workshop.

Introduction to Renaissance - Why Renaissance?

Before we begin to talk about the fourteenth and fifteenth century we have to clarify differences in the understanding of the definition of the word "Renaissance." When directly translated from Italian and French, it is 'rebirth'. Then to say that a renaissance of any took place during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there had to have been a period of idleness prior. However, this is not true -the middle ages gave rise to many new discoveries -the byzantine empire, the great crusades, but more so advancements in art which include: the fastidious art of manuscript illumination, and in architecture the rise of the Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe.
In the Fifteenth century a shift was made, instead of art and culture being strictly dominated by the catholic church, man himself was now the focus. Classical Greek and Roman Antiquity served as inspiration for this descent into Humanism.
From a historical standpoint one can argue that Italy was the first regime to go about acquiring things through trade and commerce. "The regal occupation of cultivating a blossoming kingdom was becoming an increasingly expensive business." Soon enough Italy would become "a precious and desirable commodity." Summed up, Italy was up for grabs. "In this way, tremendous fortunes were to be made by merchants, turned bankers and financiers, whose name would ring out in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with an authority previously accorded to princes, kings, or the pope himself." In this sense, the "climate" was just right for a revival in Italy.
This immense argument made by Micheal Batterberry in Art of the Early Renaissance, speaks volumes. Wealthy merchants would soon be able to yield more power through their financial connections than any soldier or knight could have with his sword. Financiers would soon become "more master than citizen." The Catholic Church is still the star player in Italian life to this very day. The church being what really became a acquirable means to an end, very importantly helped artists to break away from Byzantinian and International Gothic tradition in the upcoming centuries and create styles and techniques that would become the 'basics' for artists today. Let me be the first to introduce you to The Italian Renaissance.

Introductory Post

Hello world wide web, this is the very first part of my history of western europe final project.