Graphic Art in Germany: the Development of Printmaking

MICHEL WOLGEMUT (German), "Tarvisium," page from the so-called Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Woodcut, approx. 1’2” x 9”

Woodcut - relief printmaking process

MARTIN SCHONGAUER (German ca. 1430-1491), Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1480–1490. Engraving, approx. 1’ 1" x 11". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Engraving hatching & cross-hatching technique probably invented by Schongauer

Intaglio printing is what is used for U.S. currency. The process begins with an engraving, both of the portrait and of the fine line detail surrounding the

bill. This is painstakingly produced by a master engraver on steel plates. These plates are the actual plates used during the printing process. Ink is applied to the plates. The plates are then wiped clean, leaving only ink in the grooves.

Paper is pressed to the plate with enormous pressure by a printing press, transferring the ink to the paper. The pressure causes the paper to be embossed with the ink, giving the ink a raised feel that other printing

techniques cannot duplicate.

Albrecht Durer, Adam and Eve,engraving, 1504, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in

Humanism and the Allure of Antiquity:

15th Century Italian Art

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

French GothicQuatrefoil frame

LORENZO GHIBERTI (Italian 1378-1455), Sacrifice of Isaac, winning competition panel for east doors, baptistery of Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1401–1402. Gilded bronze relief, 1’ 9” x 1’ 5”. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Compare Ghiberti’s Sacrifice of Isaac ( left) with Brunelleschi’s (right). Which one won the competition? Which one is more active and naturalistic?

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

Ghiberti’s self portraitOn the “Gates of Paradise”

LORENZO GHIBERTI, Isaac and His Sons, east doors (“Gates of Paradise”), baptistery, Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1425–1452. Gilded bronze relief, approx. 2’ 7 1/2” x 2’ 7 1/2”. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

DONATELLO (Italian ca.1386-1466), Feast of Herod, from the baptismal font of Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, ca. 1425. Gilded bronze relief, approx. 1’ 11” x 1’ 11”. The picture as a window on the world - Perspectival illusionism, the “rationalization of sight.” “Mathematical truth and formal beauty conjoined in the minds of Renaissance artists.”

NANNI DI BANCO (1380-1421), Four Crowned Saints, San Michele, Florence, Italy, ca. 1408–1414. Marble, figures approx. life-size. Modern copy in exterior niche. Original sculpture in museum on second floor of San Michele.

Roman portrait of Emperor Macrinus. 3rd C C.E.

San Michele, Florence Italy, street view showing Renaissance sculptures of patron saints of Florentine guilds

Compare (left) 13th century statues from the façade of Reims (Gothic) Cathedral in France, with (right) Nanni di Banco’s early 15th century Renaissance architectural sculpture, San Michele, Florence. Does the Nanni show more interaction among the figures?

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

POLYKLEITOS Doryphoros, Greek, ca.450-40 B.C., marble, life size, source of contrapposto (weight shift)

DONATELLO, Prophet Habbakuk (Zuccone), from the campanile of Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, 1423–1425. Marble, approx. 6’ 5” high. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.

Detail: note expressionism of face and body

Compare the expressive realism of (left) Donatello’s Prophet Habbakuk with (right) ancient Roman portrait sculpture of Cato the Elder

MASACCIO (1401-1428, 27 years), Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1427. Fresco, 8’ 1” x 19’ 7”. What “tricks” of illusion are evident in this fresco?

Detail of Betrayal of Christ, fresco by Giotto, c. 1305–06; in the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy

Detail from Masaccio’s Tribute Money, 1427

Compare Masaccio and Giotto

Tourists studying Masaccio’s frescos in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

(right) MASACCIO, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1425. Fresco, 7’ x 2’ 11”.

Compare Adam & Eve from 1432 Ghent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck in oil paint with fresco by Masaccio

Masaccio’s Expulsion of Adam and Eve (1425-6) before and after restoration in the 1980s

MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1428. Fresco, 21’ x 10’ 5”.

“The works made before his [Masaccio’s] day can be said to be painted, while his are living, real, and natural.”

- Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, 1550

Perspectival scheme

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, dome of Florence Cathedral (view from the south), Florence, Italy, 1420–1436.

Brunelleschi’s (losing) competition panelfor the doors of cathedral Baptistery, 1401-2

Compare the Pantheon, Rome (left and center) begun in 27 BCE, completely rebuilt c.118–128 CE, with (right) the Florence Cathedral with Brunelleschi’s dome, 1420-1436

Interior of Florence Cathedral showing imposing (140 ft) width beneath the dome, and (right) cutaway view of dome by Brunelleschi

Cutaway view of dome of Florence Cathedral

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, facade of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun ca. 1440. Compare with Pantheon, Roman architectural source, above

Images of ancient Roman Pantheon in cross section

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, plan of the Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.

FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, interior of the Pazzi Chapel (view facing northeast), Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, begun ca. 1440.

Glazed terracotta medallions represent the Four Evangelists and 12 Apostles.

MICHELOZZO DI BARTOLOMMEO, facade of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Italy, begun 1445.

Compare heavy ancient Roman Cornices that were Michelozzo’s model

MICHELOZZO DI BARTOLOMMEO, interior court of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Italy, begun 1445.

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

Perspective study by Uccello

DONATELLO, David, late 1420s – late 1450s. Bronze, 5’ 2 1/4” high. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, the Palazzo Medici courtyard. First freestanding nude since antiquity. David was the symbol of the Florentine Republic. Contrapposto. Compare Praxiteles and Donatello

Praxiteles, Hermes and Infant Dionysus, Marble, Greek4th century

SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1444-1510), Birth of Venus, ca. 1482. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’ 8” x 9’ 1”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Portrait of a Youth, early 1480s. Tempera on panel, 1’ 4” x 1’. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Andrew W. Mellon Collection).

FRA ANGELICO (c.1400-1455), Annunciation, San Marco, Florence, Italy, ca. 1440–1445. Fresco, 7’ 1” x 10’ 6”. Inscription reads: “As you venerate, while passing before it, this figure of the intact Virgin, beware lest you omit to say a Hail Mary.”

Compare frescos:

(top), GHIRLANDAIO Birth of the Virgin, 1485–1490.

(below) FRA ANGELICO, Annunciation, 1440-45

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI, Madonna and Child with Angels, ca. 1455. Tempera on wood, approx. 3’ x 2’ 1”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

FRA FILIPPO LIPPI, Madonna and Child with Angels, ca. 1455. Tempera on wood, approx. 3’ x 2’ 1”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, ca. 1310. Tempera on wood, 10’ 8” x 6’ 8”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Compare the degree of humanization of the Madonna since Giotto,the “father of Western painting.” What caused the difference?

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”.

Know meaning & spelling of terms: “linear perspective,” “atmospheric perspective”

Arch of Constantine, Rome, stone, c. 84' w x 24' d x 69' h, late Empire period, 312-315 A.D.

Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, built by the first Christian emperor, Constantine, over the Roman Circus of Nero, begun in 324 CE. Building of the “new” Saint Peter’s began in the mid-15th century and wascompleted in 1615

Leon Batista Alberti, west facade of Sant’ Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed ca. 1470. combined Roman triumphal arch and temple front. Facade disregards the dimensions of the church behind it. Primary value was purely visual proportion and relationship with the small square in front.

Geometric symmetry

Leon Battista Alberti, Interior hall of Sant’ Andrea, Mantua, Italy, designed without the traditional side aisles of the traditional Christian basilica plan. This break with tradition was extremely influential in late Renaissance and Baroque church design.

Andrea Mantegna, interior of the Camera degli Sposi (Room of the Newlyweds), Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy, 1474. Fresco. Commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga

Comparison for Mantegna’s Camera degli Sposi: Roman frescos from Pompeii, Italy, 1st century CE, preserved because of the eruption of nearby Vesuvius volcano in 79 CE

Andrea Mantegna, ceiling of the Camera degli Sposi (Room of the Newlyweds), Palazzo Ducale,Mantua, Italy, 1474. Fresco, 8’ 9” in diameter. The first to create a view from below.

Trompe l’oeil (deceives the eye)

ANDREA MANTEGNA, Saint James Led to Martyrdom, Ovetari Chapel, Church of the Eremitani (largely destroyed, l944), Padua, Italy, ca. 1455. Fresco, 10’ 9” wide.

ANDREA MANTEGNA, Dead Christ, ca. 1501. Tempera on canvas, 2’ 2 3/4” x 2’ 7 7/8”. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. “engraver’s line”

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Finding of the True Cross and Proving of the True Cross, San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy, ca. 1455. Fresco, 11’ 8 3/8” x 6’ 4”.

Girolamo Savonarola, portrait painted by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1498, wood, 47 x 31 cm, Florence, Museo di San Marco. Italian Dominican priest-dictator of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. Denounced humanism and encouraged the “bonfire of the vanities” for citizens to burn their classical texts, scientific treatises, and philosophical publications.

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