15thc. Renaissance Art in Italy Questions Flashcards
Describe The Battle of San Romano
Paolo Uccello. 1438-40. Tempera on wood panel.
- Florentine general Niccolo da Tolentino leads his men against the Sienese at the Battle of San Romano.
- Niccolo holds aloft a baton of command, sign of authority.
- bold gesture and colors ensure that he dominates scene.
- one-point (linear) perspective
Describe The Delivery of they Keys to Saint Peter
Perugino. Fresco on the right wall of Sistine Chapel.
- portrayed event that provided biblical support for supremacy of papal authority, Christ’s giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter.
- banded paving stones provide geometric grid for perspectival recession.
- composition divided horizontally between lower frieze of massive figures and band of widely spaced buildings.
- vertically divided by open space at center between Christ and Peter and by summetrical architectural forms on each side of central axis.
- triumphal arches frame church and focus attention on center of composition.
- softened by subdued colors, distant idealized landscape and cloudy skies, and varied figures’ positions.
Describe Dome of Florence Cathedral
Filippo Brunelleschi. 1417-36.
- constructed a tall octagonal drum as base.
- dome is double shell of masonry. octogonal outer shell supported on 8 large and 16 lighter ribs.
- system in which temporary wooden supports up as building progressed.
Describe Old Sacristy
Filippo Brunelleschi. 1421-28.
Church of San Lorenzo, Florence.
-room where ritual attire and vessels are kept
-centralized plan. became ideal derived from the humanist belief that the circle was a symbol of divine perfection and that both the circle inscribed in a square and the cross inscribed in a circle were symbols of the cosmos
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Describe the Church of San Lorenzo
Filippo Brunelleschi. 1421-28.
- basilican plan with long nave flanked by side aisles that open into shallow lateral chapels.
- short transept and square crossing lead to square sanctuary flanked by additional chapels opening off the transept.
- mathematical regularity
- based plan on square module: basic unit of measure that could be multiplied or divided and applied to every element of the design. result was clear, harmonious spaces.
- ornamental details, all classical style, were carved in pietra serena, a grayish stone that became synonymous with Brunelleschi’s interiors.
- arches of nave arcade are carried on tall, slender Corinthian columns made even taller by insertion of impost block between column capital and springing of round arches.
- square crossing covered by hemispherical dome. nave and transept by flat ceilings.
Describe Palazzo Medici-Riccardi
- Florence. Attributed to Michelozzo di Bartolomeo
- exterior was in keeping with republican political climate and Florentine religious attitudes imbued with Franciscan ideals of poverty and charity.
- sumptuary laws forbade ostentatious displays of wealth, but often ignored.
- palazzo symbolized family and underscored family’s place in society and linked to seat of government.
- harmonious proportions and elegant, classically inspired deatils.
- facade of large, rusticated stone blocks derived from fortifications (typical of Florentine town house exteriors)
- on facade, stories clearly set off from each other by change in stone surfaces from very rough at ground to almost smooth on third.
Describe Palazzo Rucellai
Leon Battista Alberti. Florence. 1455-58.
- never finished because could never acquire land.
- designed five-bay facade with central door.
- simple rectangular front suggesting coherent, cubical three-story building capped with an overhanging cornice.
- created systematic divisions on surface of lightly rusticated wall with horizontal-vertical pattern of different pilasters and architraves. inspired by Colosseum.
Describe The Four Crowned Matyrs
Nanni di Banco. 1409-17. Marble. Osanmichele.
- martyrs for refusing to make an image of pagan Roman god.
- resembles Gothic chapel, but Roman-stylized sculptures
- stand in semicircle with forward feet and drapery protruding beyond floor.
- panel below niche: figures have solid vigor done by deeply undercutting both figures and objects to cast shadows and enhance illusion of 3D.
Describe Saint George
Donatello. 1415-17. Marble.
- would have been ad for guild.
- he holds his shield squarely in front of his braces legs.
- seems alert and ready, but face is tense and worried.
- base: George is seen slaying a dragon to save the princess, low-relief.
- contours of foreground figures are slightly undercut to emphasize their mass, while landscape and architecture are progressively lower relief until they are barely incised rather than carved > spatial setting
Describe Gates of Paradise (East Door), Baptistry of San Giovanni
Lorenzo Ghiberti. 1425-52. Gilt bronze.
- set of 10 Old Testament scenes, from Creation to Solomon.
- organized space with linear perspective.
- background and foreground clearly marked.
Describe Jacob and Esau, Panel of the Gates of Paradies
Lorenzo Ghiberti. 1435. Gilded bronze.
- unifies composition by paying careful attention to one-point perspective.
- squares marked out in pavement establish orthogonal lines.
- story starts in background.
- In Renaissance, Esau = Jews and Jacob = Christians. explains conflict between two religions and compositionally balances the panel on the opposite door valve.
Describe David
Donatello. 1446-60. Bronze.
- first life-size male nude.
- classical tradition of heroic nudity, but sensous, adolescent boy.
- standing on Goliath’s severed head.
Describe Equestrian Monument of Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata)
Donatello. 1443-53. Piazza del Santo, Padua. Bronze.
- sources were two surviving Roman bronze equestrian portraits. (marcus aurelius + lost)
- demonstrated virtues of bravery, nobility, and authority.
- horse symbolized passions and man’s physical animal nature.
- skilled horsemanship showed physical and intellectual control
- stern but sad expressions suggest old warrior tired from constant need for military vigilance and rapid response
Describe Equestrian Monument of Bartolommeo Colleoni, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
Andrea del Verrocchio. 1486-88. Bronze.
- commissioned by government to honor this Venetian army general
- tense form that conveys vitality and brutal energy.
Describe Mary Magdalen
Donatello. 1450s. Polychromy and gold on wood.
-emaciated, vacant-eyed hermit clothed by her own hair.
