Chapter 21: The Renaissance in Quattrocento Italy

Preview: The “Renaissance” is the term historians use to describe the flowering of art and the rediscovery of classical culture that occurred in the 15th century in Italy. The center of the Italian Renaissance was Florence, where the powerful Medici family patronized artists who were brilliantly innovative in their interpretations of classical forms and themes. Artists such as Donatello, Ghiberti, and Masaccio were inspired by antiquity in works that upheld Catholic faith and celebrated secular figures. Humanist classical themes inform the work of the painter Sandro Botticelli, while architects also adapted classical forms in such buildings as Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti. Works such as Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter manifest the use of linear perspective, a system codified in the 15th century. The inventor of linear perspective was Filippo Brunelleschi, though the theory was also expressed in written form by Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca. The artistic developments in 15th century Italy laid the groundwork for the artists of the High Renaissance and Mannerism in Cinquecento Italy, the subject of Chapter 22.

Key Figures: Medici family, Dante, Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo Bruni, Cennino Cennini, Girolamo Savonarola

Key Cultural & Religious Terms: Neo-Platonism,condittieri,prefiguration, covenants, Signoria, princely court

Key Art Terms: linear perspective, atmospheric/aerial perspective, horizon line, vanishing point, orthogonals, putti, ponderation, contrapposto, International Style, écorché, di sotto in sú, trompe l’oeil, foreshortening, bottega

Key Architectural Terms: transept, triumphal arch, portico, cloister, refectory, pediment, module, braccia, pietra serena, cruciform, crossing square, central plan, barrel-vault, tondi, pendentives, ogival, rustication, stringcourse, cornice, Tuscan order, engaged columns, Romanesque

Lecture Notes:

Introductory Notes:

RENAISSANCE IN QUATTROCENTO ITALY

Florence:

Sculpture:

  • Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1401-1402
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1410-1416
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Donatello, Saint Mark, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1411-1413
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Donatello, Saint George, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1410-1415
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Donatello, Saint George and the Dragon, relief below the statue of Saint George, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1417
  • Description:
  • Stylistic features & significance:
  • Donatello, Feast of Herod, panel on the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1423-1427
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Lorenzo Ghiberti, east doors (Gates of Paradise), Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1425-1452
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Lorenzo Ghiberti, Isaac and His Sons, detail of east doors (Gates of Paradise), Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, 1425-1452; and perspective diagram
  • Description:
  • Notes on perspective:
  • Donatello, David, ca. 1440-1460
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Donatello, Penitent Mary Magdalene, ca. 1455
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea del Verrocchio, David, ca. 1465-1470
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, ca. 1470-1475
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Bernardo Rossellino, tomb of Leonardo Bruni, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, ca. 1444-1450
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Donatello, Gattamelata (equestrian statue of Erasmo da Narni), Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy, ca. 1445-1453
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea del Verrocchio, Bartolommeo Colleoni (equestrian statue), Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Italy, ca. 1481-1496
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Painting:

  • Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, altarpiece from the Strozzi chapel, Santa Trinitá, Florence, Italy, 1423
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Masaccio, Tribute Money, Brancacci chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424-1427
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424-1427
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Masaccio, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424-1427
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Fra Angelico, Annunciation, Can Marco, Florence, Italy, ca. 1438-1447
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea del Castagno, Last Supper, refectory of the monastery of Sant’Apollonia, Florence, Italy, 1447
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Angels, ca. 1460-1465
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Piero della Francesca, Resurrection, Palazzo Communale, Borgo San Sepolcro, Italy, ca. 1463-1465
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Piero della Francesca, Legend of the True Cross, ca. 1450-1455
  • Description & significance:
  • Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth of the Virgin, Cappella Maggiore, Santa maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1485-1490
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giovanna Tornabuoni(?), 1488
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano, ca. 1435 or ca. 1455
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, ca. 1482
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, ca. 1484-1486
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Sandro Botticelli, Young Man Holding a Medal, ca. 1474-1475
  • Description & significance:
  • Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Battle of Ten Nudes, ca. 1465
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Architecture:

  • Filippo Brunelleschi, Florence Cathedral Dome, 1420-1436
  • Description:
  • Construction technique:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, Loggia of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital), Florence, Italy, begun 1419
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, San Lorenzo, ca. 1421-1469
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, interior of Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy, designed 1434-1436; begun 1446
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, early plan and plan as constructed of Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy, designed 1434-1436; begun 1446
  • Description:
  • Notes on comparison:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, facade of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun 1433
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, plan of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun 1433
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Filippo Brunelleschi, interior of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun 1433
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Luca della Robbia, Madonna and Child, ca. 1455-1460
  • Materials/medium:
  • Description & significance:
  • Michelozzo de Bartolommeo, east façade of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Italy, begun 1445
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Ca d’Oro, Venice, 1421-1437
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Notes on comparison to Palazzo Medici-Riccardi:
  • Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, interior court of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Italy, begun 1445
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, Italy, ca. 1452-1470
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Leon Battista Alberti, west façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, 1456-1470
  • Description & architectural features:

The Princely Courts:

Rome and the Papal States:

  • Perugino, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, Italy, 1481-1483
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Melozza da Forlí, Sixtus IV Confirming Platina, ca. 1477-1481
  • Description & significance:
  • Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell, San Brizio chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy, 1499-1504
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Urbino:

  • Piero della Francesca, Brera Altarpiece, ca. 1472-1474
  • Description & significance:
  • Piero della Francesca, Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, ca. 1472-1474
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subjects:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Piero della Francesca, Flagellation, ca. 1455-1465
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Mantua:

  • Leon Battista Alberti, west façade of Sant’Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Leon Battista Alberti, plan of Sant’Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Leon Battista Alberti, interior of Sant’Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed 1470, begun 1472
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Andrea Mantegna, interior of the Camera Picta (Painted Chamber), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1465-1474
  • Medium/materials:
  • Subjects:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea Mantegna, ceiling of the Camera Picta (Painted Chamber), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1465-1474
  • Medium/materials:
  • Subjects:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea Mantegna, Foreshortened Christ (Lamentation over the Dead Christ), ca. 1500
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Andrea Mantegna, Saint James Led to Martyrdom, 1454-1457
  • Medium/materials:
  • Subjects:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Concluding notes:

Exercises for Study:

1. Who is credited with the invention of linear perspective? Select an artwork from this chapter and describe its employment of linear perspective.

2. Describe the Roman architectural elements that Alberti employed in the façade of Sant’Andrea in Mantua.

3. Select artworks that exhibit the following features, and describe their employment in the works:

foreshortening

di sotto in su

trompe l’oeil

4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a guide.

A. Donatello, David (Fig. 21-12); Andrea del Verrocchio, David (Fig. 21-13):

  • Treatment of subject:
  • Revival of classical statuary style:

B. Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi (Fig. 21-18); Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth of the Virgin (Fig. 21-26)

  • Medium/materials:
  • Treatment of subject:
  • Style:
  • Spatial illusionism:
  • Function of paintings:

C. Filippo Brunelleschi, façade of the Pazzi Chapel (Fig. 21-34); Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, Palazzo Rucellai (Fig. 21-39):

  • Function of buildings:
  • Employment of classical architectural vocabulary: