Early Renaissance- A New Era14th – 16th Centuries

Classical Art and Literature-

Looking back to look forward. People and scholars began to look at the ancient ruins of Rome and Greece. They began to read the great classical

myths and stories and also the philosophy

Humanism- valued man’s achievements as God’s

creations

• Neo- Platonism

Patronage

• The Catholic Church• Private Patrons- wealthy bankers

and merchants ie The Medici family • Civic Commissions- Local

governments and princely states.

Heightened social status of artists• In the middle ages sculptors, painters and architects were

considered skilled tradesmen.• During the Renaissance they were valued as learned scholars

with a great knowledge of art, literature, science and philosophy.

• Portrait painting• Narrative paintings- these told a story either from the Bible or

from mythology or history. They could teach morals• Landscape paintings – instead of being treated as a decorative

surround for the figures in the painting they were now painted in a naturalistic way using the rules of perspective to add depth and realism

The Trecentro- 1300s

• This is the period just before the Renaissance in Italy . It marks the end of the Gothic period and the start of Renaissance style thinking.

• Giotto is considered a pre- Renaissance artist of the Trecentro

The Quattrocento(1400s), the early Renaissance

• Renaissance churches were planned along geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles, and the size and proportions of a church were determined by the width of its aisle.

• Church facades usually square in shape were decorated bt pilasters, entablatures and arches.

• Above the façade was a pediment and domes were incorporated into the roof that was over the altar

The Great Cities of the Early Renaissance-Florence

• Florence Cathedral – building began in it at the start of the 14th century.

• The city guilds instigated a series of competitions for its construction and decoration that became one of the main driving forces of artistic development in the city.

• The doors of the Baptistery of St John(San Giovanni) attached to Florence cathedral. The Baptistery is octagonal shaped.

The Doors of the Baptistery• Andrea Pisano was commissioned to make

bronze doors for the south face of the Baptistery.

• He sculpted 28 panels represented scenes from the life of St John the Baptist.

• Each scene was enclosed by a quatrofoil which consisted of 4 arcs placed together

Relief Carving and Sculpture

• Ancient Roman sculptors were inspired by ancient Greek art. • They liked realistic art and studied the movements and stance

of the human figure • They looked at how shifting weight onto one leg and twisting

the body affected the position of the limbs creating the first sculptures to exhibit contrapposto.

• In relief sculpture the sculpture is attached to a background• In free-standing sculpture , the sculpture is surrounded by

free space all around.• Bronze casting was a technique used in both Roman and

Renaissance time. . The ‘lost wax casting ‘ technique alllowedobjects to be produced in either solid or hollow form. The latter was cheaper to produce and easier to transport.

Competition for the 2nd Baptistery doors (1400)

• 15th century- quattrocentro the wool and cloth makers guild set up a competition for new bronze doors to match Pisano’s.

• Amongst the finalists were FilippoBrunelleschi and 20 yr old Lorenzo Ghiberti. Brunelleschi lost the competition and he left for Rome in disgust.

• Ghiberti made a doorway of 28 panels based on the life of Christ with the bottom eight of these being the four Evangelists and the Church Fathers

North Doorway by Ghiberti with the theme of the Life of Christ, the evangelists and the Church Fathers

Chasing the Merchants from the Temple

• Dispute with the Doctors(Christ as a child preaching to the elders)

The artist casts a low relief background and the high relief figures together.

East Baptistery Doors

• Michelangelo describes these as the ‘doors to Paradise’

• Ghiberti was given free reign to design them how he liked.

• They consisted of 10 rectangular panels depicting scenes from the Old Testament. They were larger panels than the previous door giving the sculptor more scope to create detail.

• They didn’t have the quatrefoil shape

The Story of Noah- showing different aspects of his life

including his drunkeness, the ark and animals and praising God

The Story of Joseph who was sold to the Egyptian Pharoah by his brothers because he was their father’s favourite

Competition for the Dome

• 1418 a competition was announced for designs and models for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral)

• The Cathedral was nearly completed in construction only the dome remained to be constructed over the massive drum

• A self supporting dome (cupola) hadn’ t being built to this size since Roman times. The engineering knowledge had been lost over the years

Pantheon Rome

Brunelleschi

• Brunelleschi came from Florence and trained in a goldsmith’s workshop.

• He was very interested in art and design and he infact become an architect, sculptor , painter and scholar.

• He made the link between theory and practice to come up with the rules of mathematical perspective.

• Having left Florence in disgust after the competition on the design of the Baptistery doors Brunelleschi went to Rome and studied the construction of the ancient Roman sites.

Solving the problem of the dome

Brunelleschi designed…

• A double shell cupola which included a walkway and steps between the walls

• Stone ribs hold the inner and outer walls together.

• Stone chains buried in masonry stiffened the eight faces of the dome.

• A brickwork herringbone pattern ensured that the great vault would be self supporting as the ring work of bricks were arranged to support the one below.

Herringbone deign brickwork

Lantern Tower

• Brunelleschi designed the tower on top of the dome.

• It’s design is influenced by ancient classical architecture in proportion and order.

• The classical order refers to the layout of typical buildings from Greek to Roman times. This is a basic block shape surrounded on 4 sides by columned porticos which are topped with capitals on columns. There are 3 types of column designs; Doric, Ionic or Corinthian.

The Greek classical Order