Unit 5: Early Renaissance in Italy

The Early Renaissance in Italy marks the beginning of a new era in art.  It began in early 15^th century and centred in the city of Florence. Numerous factors resulting in the birth of Renaissance in Florence:

• The accumulation of wealth cause a paradigm shift to enjoyment of life from concerns with the afterlife
• The escape of Florence from foreign invasions from Milan and Naples encouraged the people to appreciate their freedom and liberty
• There is a renewed interest in the human body like in the ancient Greek and Roman art and artists were studying the human anatomy from both outside by observation and the insides by dissection
• The use of scientific methods in art allows the artists to be upgraded in the society to the same level of intellectuals

       In 1401, there was a competition held to create trial reliefs for a new pair of bronze doors for the Florentine Baptistry. Artists were asked to submit bronze reliefs depicting the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac. This competition showed that the Florentine people wanted the best artist to create quality art to decorate their city and the importance they have put on art and artists in their society.

Some of the famous artists in the Early Renaissance:

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)

• rediscovery’ of linear perspective in 1420 
• linear perspective employs the use of horizontal line, vanishing point and orthogonals to show the relationship of objects of different distances to each other
• this allows artists to paint realistic 3-dimensional looking scenes on a 2-dimensional surface
• revival of classical architecture forms
• providing a model for the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral (a problem that went on for 50 years)

Masaccio (1401-1428)

• the first artist to use linear perspective in his frescoes (Holy Trinity (c. 1427), Santa Maria Novella, Florence)
• used chiaroscuro (strong contrast between light and dark) as a method for modeling
•  painted figures with realistic gestures and emotions  

 

The orthogonals from the barrel vault ceiling converged into the vanishing point at the base of the cross (Smarthistory.org)

Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455)

• winner of the Florentine Baptistery bronze door reliefs competition
• made Porta del Paradiso, bronze reliefs door for the Florentine Baptistery
• figures are realistic, more dramatic and composed with linear perspective

  
Donatello (1386-1466)

• sculpted the statue of David [bronze](1428-1432), Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, the first free-standing sculpture since classical antiquity
• studied Greek and Roman art in Rome and applied classical poses in his sculptures (the use of contrapposto in David made the statue appear alive and dynamic)

Donatello's David in contrapposto

Piero della Francesca (1415-1492)

• used and arranged repetition of geometric lines and shapes to compose a painting in a calculated way (the repetition of arches, circles and squares in The Baptism of Christ [tempera on panel] (c. 1450), National Gallery London)
• applied linear perspective in art and wrote mathematical treatise on them
• applied landscape background in religious paintings (learnt from Flemish artists)
• paintings have layers of meaning beyond the visual experience (social, political)

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)

• painted secular mythological scenes (Primavera, c. 1478 and Birth of Venus, c. 1486)
• paintings have allegory pertain to religion and politics
• does not obey linear perspective strictly but figures have graceful and light quality

 

 The Birth of Venus by Botticelli showing graceful, weightless figures

Reflection

The Early Renaissance is a period of rebirth of knowledge. There is a return to classical ideas and improvements on them.  Paintings are done using geometrical and mathematical principles. There is sharing of knowledge which allows this rebirth to continue to the next generations. The ideas that began in Early Renaissance

Bibliography

Botticelli (c. 1485) The Birth of Venus [tempera on canvas] [online image] Place: Galeria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Available from: http://www.bridgemaneducation.com [Accessed on 23 March 2011]

Donatello (c. 1428-1432) David [bronze] [online image] Place: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, Italy. Available from: http://www.bridgemaneducation.com [Accessed on 20 March 2011]

Gold, M (1989) The Early Renaissance. [DVD] United Kingdom: T.V.S. Television Ltd

Honour, H. and Fleming, J. (2009) A world history of art. Revised 7^th ed. London: Laurence King

Smarthistory.org (n. d.) Florence in Early Renaissance [online] Available from: http://smarthistory.org/Florence.html [Accessed on 20 March 2011]

Smarthistory.org (n. d.) Perspective Diagram of Masaccio's Holy Trinity, Santa Maria Novella, Florence [online] Available from: http://smarthistory.org/holy-trinity-santa-maria-novella-florence.html [Accessed on 20 March 2011]

Wright, R. (2010) Renaissance Revolution Episode 3: Piero della Francesca Baptism of Christ. UK: BBC