5 Renaissance Italy Flashcards
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper,, 1495-98, Tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
Frescoe in a refectory, perspective gives the illusion of a continuity from the real architectural space
Important Eucharistic theme: highlight of the figure of Christ, in the middle of the composition (and vanishing point) - Naturalism, emotion, movement
Frescoe much deteriorated due to a failed experimental technique
Commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (patron of the covent)
One of the most important work of Leonardo
Image spread thanks to printing and reproduction
Giovanni Bellini, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels (often called the San Giobbe Altarpiece), c. 1478-1480 Oil on panel, Originally in Martini chapel, San Giobbe,Venice. Now Venice, Galleria dell’Accademia
Vasari’s Second Age - Early Renaissance - Realism in anatomy, perspective, classical inspiration
Importance of perspective and color > seamless extension of the real space of the church
Raphael, Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels (often called The Sistine Madonna), 1513-14. Oil on canvas, Originally convent of San Sisto, Piacenza. Now Dresden, Gemäldegalerie
Vasari’s Third Age : High Renaissance
Presence of San Sixtus, patron of the convent and of the pope who commissioned it
Curtains > Like a window between our world and the heavenly space - sense of theatricality
What is the renaissance?
Means ‘rebirth’, from 1400 to around 1600 > cultural movement rooted in Italy
Humanism (importance of individuality) + revival of classical antiquity + realism and perspective
Giorgio Vasari, (1511-1574): first art historian
Lives of The Artists ( 1550, expanded edition 1568) : split the Renaissance art in 3 periods – what were they?
1st Age: Late Medieval (1290s - c.1400): gilded background, emotionality, stylised faces, spatiality and corporality > Cimabue, Giotto, Agnolo Gaddi…
2nd age: Early Renaissance (1410s - 1490s): realism, anatomical drawing, linear perspective > Masaccio, Donatello, Botticelli…
3rd age: High Renaissance + Mannerism (16th century): interaction with viewers, visual harmony, curved lines and unrealistic colours > Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo….
What was
The rise of the “Artistic Genius?”
Notion of individuality appears in the Late Middle Ages (before art was Anonymous)
Artists create work of art from the mind, creative powers related to God > the artist Genius provides pure form (and not flesh which is produced by women)
Notion of “Genius” political and ideological
Leonardo da Vinci – who was he?
(1452-1519)
One of the most famous Renaissance artist or “Artistic Genius” > Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man….
Trained in the workshop of Verrochio > Court artist for the duke of Milan, Isabella d’Este… to Francis I of France
Bad reputation: never finished his paintings
Interested in anatomy, geometry, military engineering…
What was On Painting?
Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting, 1435
> First theoretical work about painting
Linear perspective (via works of Brunelleschi and Masaccio
Disegno (drawing/design) and the importance of historia (narrative painting)
Education of the painter, scholar man rather than just craftsman (context of humanism)
What was the deal with Florence during the Renaissance?
Florence as an intellectual and artistic hub, central to the Renaissance.
Revival of classical antiquity
Medici family as central figures to the production and manipulation of art; promoting their own power.
Context of the renaissance?
Run by oligarchy not democracy.
Emphasis on humanism and being improved through study of classical literature.
Closeness between males was a recognised occurrence.
Large number of arrests for sodomy
Black Death halved population in the 14th century
More wealth concentrated in the hands of fewer people.
Families justifying their political and economic prominence by building palaces, chapels and churches
Art used to justify financial fortunes and political prominence
The virtues of this was often discussed by humanists in reference to the Medici family and other wealthy Florentine families.
Donatello, David, bronze, c.1430-145
Depicts David - foot on Goliath’s head
First free standing naked statue since antiquity
Seen as assertion of power (latin inscription about defending and conquering) an example of propaganda.
Controversial because of age and nakedness of David - the body does not conform to normal nudes from antiquity
The wing works its way up to his groin
Could be a comment on the homosocial nature of Florence or on Donatello’s own sexuality (speculation)
What was the significance of using bronze during the renaissance?
Bronze casting was central to Florentine sculpture
Guild niches as an example (7 large and 5 small guilds had bronze niches)
Competition panels on the doors of guilds
Renaissance Domestic Art and Female Identity?
Understanding visual arts through gender analysis
Women as intellectually and physically inferior - women’s body as a transaction
Domestic objects as a vehicle for controlling women’s behaviour (marriage items etc.)
Domestic Objects for Women during the renaissance?
The bedchamber filled with images of Virgin Mary with child
Spalliere - panels with images painted on in the hopes that these would imprint any children born
Deschi da Parto - birth trays used to offer food to the new mother
Botticelli, Primavera, 1482, tempera on panel, Florence
Inspired by Ovid’s Fasti
500 different plants identified - personification of spring
Humanistic meaning (Venus the Huminitas)
Rape as a theme of marital imagery (repeated in other Botticelli works)
Chloris + Zephyr far right from Fasti depicting this theme
Visual culture reflecting and creating social norms - women meant to serve and submit to husbands.
Art, Sexuality and Nakedness in Renaissance Italy
Concentration on the naked body and a return to ancient art forms
Michelangelo and Titan as key figures
Nakedness in a Christian context (sin) - they ways in which people justified the nakedness etc.
Sistine Chapel ceiling?
Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1508 - 12, fresco
Michelangelo
Images of Old Testament stories - creation to the flood - displaying mans need for salvation offered by God
Surrounded by nude male figures (ignudi)
Michelangelo, The Temptation and Expulsion of Adam and Eve, 1509-10The Fall of Man flows from left to right
Snake has a female body at top of tree
Display of the male and female nude form (together)
Male Nude and the Perfect Body
Extensive research into the perfect form
Leonardo Da Vinci, Vitruvian man c.1499
Drawing so much that the model is no longer needed and one can recall each position by memory
Libyan Sibyl, c.1510, Sistine Chapel, fresco - example of female form
Libyan Sibyl foretold the day in which “what is hidden shall be revealed” - Sybil meaning prophetess
Androgyny - Michelangelo commended for fem. males and masc. women
Titan, Venus of Urbino, 1538
Courtesans (cortigua) provided a new role for women in court, trained to sing and dance - ‘perfect female form’
Body given to the court and gradually became more openly accepted in nude art. Men bonded over female bodies.
Botticelli’s Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child (c. 1490)
Canvas painting (unusual for time)
Sleeping Christ could be a reminder of his death - white cloth or shroud?
Thornless rose bush - Mary’s purity
