By Qurrat-ul-ain

Lecturer, Art &Design,

University of Peshawar,

Pakistan

History of Western Art(Early Renaissance: Giotto,

Masaccio)

In late medieval period, from about 1000 AD, paintings mainly took place in monasteries.

Paintings were done in the manuscripts, monks would use gold leaf in the illumination and a range of stylized imagery was used.

Occasionally, walls were decorated with the scenes from Bible, thus the paintings made at that time was very much religious….

INTRODUCTION(the Italian Renaissance , c 1250-1550)

There were no TRUE PORTRAITS

No TRUE LANDSCAPES either

Consequently no TRUE ARTISTS…

In 13th century Sculptures were produced for Cathedrals of Naumburg and Strasbourg.

These statues were convincing and life-like because of their knowledge of human body.

But same was not the case in paintings.

Paintings were flat and lifeless.

All that changed with the arrival of GIOTTO in FLORENCE…

Giotto not only broke the old traditions of painting….

…But also had a great influence on the generation of artists to come….

And Hence on WESTERN ART…

That’s why GIOTTO is called “Father of Western Pictorial Art”…..

Giotto’s painted figures are no longer stiff, and cardboard cut-outs.

It had solidity and depth.

Both physical and emotional.

Giotto could paint range of human figures with emotions.

His painted religious stories were convincing and compelling.

They were deeply compassionate.

For the first time viewers could empathize the key characters of the stories.

Lamentation over the Christ

By the time Giotto was painting the walls of small chapels of Padua and Assisi in northern Italy at the beginning of 14th century,…the world around him was beginning to change.

Trade routes in northern Europe had opened up new markets.

There was an exchange of goods and ideas.

Authority of church was questions due to the rise of merchant class with their new wealth…

Wealthy patrons brought humanistic philosophy of classical influence on art and architecture.

Masaccio was next artist to take up artistic challenges.

It was time of rapid advancements.

Parallel worlds of science, invention, music, literature and architecture began to converge for the first time.

the idea of one point perspective was discovered.

It was Masaccio’s architect friend Brunelleschi who developed the idea that to give a picture depth, it was necessary its line to converge upon a single vanishing point.

This in turn inspired Masaccio to experiment with one point perspective in his paintings giving his figures a monumental, sculptural quality and helping to create illusion of real space.

Holy Trinity

The Trinity (1425?, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy),

by 15th-century Italian painter Masaccio,

illustrates the early Renaissance fascination with classical architecture,

geometrical composition,

and the projection of space by means of perspective.

Geometric Perspective

the projection of space by means of perspective.

Fascination of classical architecture

Thank you