The Renaissance, Part I

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The Renaissance, Part I

• The resurgence of classical culture and the rise
  of a new humanism

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Florence, ItalyWhere the Renaissance begins
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Why was Florence important in the 14th century?

• Florentine representative government
• Arti, senior guilds
• Center of wool trade
• Banking, banking families
• Stable monetary system
• For a century, the Medici family is a patron of
  the arts, supporting such luminaries as
  Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and
  Michelangelo
• Revolutionary Florentine art
• Renaissance

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The Medici EraCosimo de Medici (1434-1464)

• Collected ancient manuscripts
• Patron of arts to atone for usury
• Fostered study of Greek language, philosophy
• Founded a new Platonic Academy
• Search for truth and beauty
• Sponsored the priest Marsilio Ficino, who fused
  Platonism and Christianity
• Platonic Love, Christian Platonism
• Known as Pater Patriae
• Patron of the arts
• Grandson Lorenzo funded rebuilding University of
  Pisa, from which Greek texts were exported to the
  rest of Europe

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Medieval Art
10th Century Russian Icon (left) and 14th Century
Florentine Passion (right)
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Medieval Art in the International Style Note the
bright colors, crowded composition, and rounded
figures No single-point perspective
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Masaccios Holy Trinity
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• a concern with, and technical ability to handle,
  space and volume in a believable way
• studious approach to model art from that of
  ancient Rome
• departure from more ethereal mode of medieval
  otherworldliness to a greater concern for human
  realism
• This is achieved through
• clarity of line
• mathematically precise perspective
• close observation of real people
• concern for psychological states
• uncluttered arrangementsartist doesnt fill up
  all available space

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Florence Cathedralcombines Gothic buttressing
with Roman dome
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Brunelleschis Foundling Hospital, How is this
different from Gothic style?
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Brunelleschis Pazzi Chapel note the
similarities to Romes domed pantheon
Brunelleschis Renaissance Pazzi Chapel
Ancient Romes Pantheon
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Botticellis Springtime heavily infused with
pagan symbolism
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Botticellis Birth of Venus note the idealism of
the central figure
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Botticellis Birth of Venus modeled on Greek and
Roman statues
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Leonardo da VinciThe first Renaissance Man

• He was a master painter
• He was a keen scientist, mastering fields of
  geology, botany, and anatomy
• He was a master engineer, designing airplanes and
  helicopters
• He was a master mathematician

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Leonardos Notebooks
From left to right An underwater breathing
machine detailed studies of human anatomy an
artificial wing for human flight (just strap it
on and jump off a cliff! dont try this at home)
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Leonardos The Last Suppernote the
mathematical precision
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Popes and Patronage

• Vatican as center of wealth, stability
• Pope Sixtus IV
• Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Perugino
• Pope Julius II
• Beginnings of High Renaissance (1503)
• il papa terribile
• Raphael, Michelangelo

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Raphael, Pope Julius IIs favorite
artist Madonna of the Meadow Pyramidal
configuration Rationally ordered Modeling of
human forms Human quality of the divine Quite a
departure from medieval representations of Jesus
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Late Medieval Virgin and Child in a more
International Style
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Michelangelo
Neo-Platonist sculptor
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• Moses
• Michelangelesque
• Masculine anatomy, musculature
• Physical bulk, linear grace, emotionality

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• The Sistine Chapel
• Michelangelo, Sculptor
• Architectural and thematic motifs
• Interpretation
• Neo-Platonism
• Old Testament and pagan prophets
• Complex tree symbolism
• Human wisdom Gods revelation

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