ITALY, 1400-1500
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Transcript of ITALY, 1400-1500
ITALY,1400-1500
GARDNER CHAPTER 21-4PP. 565-572
PALAZZO MEDICI
MICHELOZZO, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, 1444, Florence Simple, massive structure -> rusticated ground floor; second
floor strongly articulated blocks; third floor smooth surface -> building seems to get lighter as it goes up
Roman arches at bottom used as entries to shops and businesses
Strong cornice placed on top
PALAZZO MEDICI-RICCARDI
Interior courtyard allows light and air into the interior rooms of the palace
Palazzo built to express the civic pride and political power of the Medici family -> rusticated ground floor exterior expressed the fortitude of the Medicis
Symmetrical plan
LEON BATISTA ALBERTI
The first Renaissance architect to understand classical architecture in depth
The first to study seriously the ancient Roman architectural treatise of VITRUVIUS
Author of On the Art of Building -> advocated a system of ideal proportions -> believed that the central plan was the ideal form for a Christian church
PALAZZO RUCELLAI LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Palazzo
Ruccelai, Florence, Italy, ca. 1452-1470
Exterior is much more severe than the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi
Three horizontal floors separated by a strongly articulated stringcourse
Pilasters rise vertically and divide the spaces into squarish shapes
Not rusticated
First floor pilasters are Tuscan/derived from Doric, second floor composite derived from Ionic, third floor are Corinthian -> inspired by the Colosseum
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, west façade of Santa
Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, 1456-1470
The Rucellai family commissioned Alberti to design the façade of the 13th century Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella
Small, pseudo-classical pediment capped temple on the upper part
Lower part -> pilaster framed arcade that incorporated the six tombs and three doorways of the Gothic building
Believed in the eternal and universal validity of numerical ratios as the source of beauty -> goes back to the true spirit of the High Classical age of ancient Greece = POLYKLEITOS
New feature -> the scrolls the united the upper and lower levels and screen the sloping roofs over the aisles inside
GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA 1490’s -> Florence experiences a
political, cultural, and religious upheaval
French armies are threatening Florence and all of Italy
Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola takes absolute control over the city -> denounces the paganism of the Medici and their artists -> denounced humanism -> exhorted people to repent their sins -> banishment of wealthy families -> destroy classical and worldly possessions
THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
THE PRINCELY COURTS
Florentine artists and architects led the way in creating the Renaissance
The papacy in Rome and the princely courts in other city-states nurture Renaissance art
The princely courts consisted of the prince (his title varied from city to city), his consort and children, courtiers, household staff, and administrators = little emperors -> wealth -> artistic patronage
Art for the princes had several purposes:
1. Showed princely sophistication and culture
2. Form of prestige and commemoration
3. Public education and propaganda4. Demonstration of wealth5. Visual pleasure
PERUGINO
PERUGINO, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, 1482, fresco, Sistine Chapel, Rome
Christ delivers the keys of his earthly kingdom to Saint Peter -> a theme treasured by the popes, who saw themselves as descendants of Saint Peter
Left background -> tribute money
Right background -> stoning of Jesus
Models of the Arch of Constantine in the background; central basilica reflects the ideas of Brunelleschi and Alberti on architecture
One-point perspective, vast piazza
Open space provides dramatic emphasis on keys
Figures stand in contrapposto
Many contemporary faces in the scene
LUCA SIGNORELLI
LUCA SIGNORELLI, Damned Cast into Hell, 1499-1504, fresco, Orvieto Cathedral, Italy
Further develops Pallaiullo’s interest in depiction of muscular bodies in violent action
One of a colossal series of frescoes depicting the end of the world
Saint Michael and the hosts of Heaven hurl the damned into hell
Demons vigorously torture the dense writhing mass of the damned
The fiends are depicted in bizarre and lurid coloration -> evil and putrefaction
DAMNED CAST INTO HELL - detail
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by Federico da Montefeltro, ca. 1472-1474, oil on wood, 8’2” x 5’7”
One of the greatest artistic patrons of the 15th century was the Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino
Federico clad in armor kneels at the feet of the Virgin -> behind him stands his patron saint, Saint John the Evangelist
Missing figure opposite Federico would have been his wife Battista Sforza -> she died
Figures appear in an illusionistically painted, coffered barrel vault
ENTHRONED MADONNA AND SAINTS ADORED BY FREDERICO DA MONTEFELTRO - detail
FLAGELLATION PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA,
Flagellation of Christ, ca. 1455-1465, oil and tempera on wood, 1’11” x 2’8”
Setting is the portico of Pontius Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem
Focus of the composition is not Christ but the three figures in the foreground -> scholars still debate who they are
The reveals a mind cultivated by mathematics -> the clarity and purity of geometric shapes