1. Proto Renaissance

2. Questions. What is the goal of the Renaissance?
How did Medieval, Romanesque, and Gothic art differ from that of classical art?
Questions.

3. The Renaissance NOTE: Timeline and Movements of the Renaissance
Proto and Early Renaissance (ca to 1400 mostly Northern Italy)
The High Renaissance (1495 to 1527)
The Venetian Renaissance (1450 to 1600)
The Late Renaissance and Mannerism (1527 to 1600)
The Northern Renaissance (1325 to 1600)
Three factors to be considered?
1. Where did this take place?
2. Why were people thinking differently?
3. How did the art change?
What does “renaissance” mean and why did it get this name?
NOTE:
NOTHING IN THIS PRESENTATION IS ACTUALY RENAISSANCE ART.

4. Major Cities of the Renaissance
Rome
Naples
Venice
Sicily
Siena
Florence
Pisa is where we begin…

5. Proto Renaissance Italy - Pisa
Nicola Pisano (active 1258 to 1278)

6. Proto Renaissance Italy - Pisa
Nicola Pisano
Pulpit of the Pisa Cathedral Baptistery
(1259 to 1260)

7. Madonna Enthroned
Madonna Enthroned

8. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Ciambue (1240 to 1302)
“The Italo-Byzantine style, or maniera greca (Greek Style or Greek Manner), still characterizes the art of Cenni di Pepo, better known by his nickname, Ciambue.”
Giorgio Vasari would write: “Cimabue… was to shed the first light on the art of painting.”
Precursor to the precursor

9. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Ciambue – Madonna Enthroned w. Angels & Prophets (1280 to 1290)
Byzantine heritage is apparent (FFFG) Depth is created, but multiple viewpoints Elongated figures still present
Four Old Testament Prophets:
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

10. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Giotto di Bondone (1266 to 1337)
“Renowned in his own day, his reputation has never faltered. Regardless of the other influences on his artistic style, his true teacher was nature – the world of visible things… [he] recognized that the visual world must be observed before it can be analyzed and understood.”
#1 precursor to the Renaissance
NEW TERM!
Chiaroscuro – how artists create 3D figures

11. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Giotto – Madonna Enthroned (1310)
“Sculptural” solidity and substance
Anatomical detail
Figures are in their own world
Composition
No linear perspective (yet), but the viewer
is not looking at this image straight on.
Where are the Old Testament Prophets?

12. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Giotto – The Arena Chapel (1305 to 1306)

13. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Giotto – The Arena Chapel (1305 to 1306)
Challenge?
Projecting on a flat surface the illusion of solid bodies moving through space.
Why?
To construct the illusion of a body, one must create the illusion of space well enough to contain that body.
Inside the Chapel?
The cycle of Christian Redemption in 38 framed scenes depicted on three levels:
Top Level: Scenes from the lives of the Virgin and her parents (Joachim and Anna)
Middle Level: The life and mission of Christ
Bottom Level: Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ
What scene would you see as you left the chapel?
The Last Judgment

14. Proto Renaissance Italy - Florence
Giotto – The Arena Chapel (1305 to 1306)
Enrico Scrovegni
What are the two types of fresco we have discussed?
Why was the Chapel built?

15. What do you notice in this building that looks back to the classical age?
How is the story told in the Arena Chapel?

16. Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
John the Evangelist
Virgin Mary
Mary Magdalene
Lamentation scene from the Arena Chapel by Giotto (1305)

17. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Duccio – Maestá or the Virgin Enthroned in Majesty (1308 to 1311)
Background the Maestá:
The republics of Siena and Florence were two of the leading city states of the 14th century Italy. The Sienese were particularly proud of their victory over the Florentines at the battle of Monteperti in 1260, and believed the Virgin Mary had sponsored their triumph.
This belief reinforced Sienese devotion to the Virgin, which was paramount in the religious life of the city. Sienese citizens could boast of Siena’s dedication to the Queen of Heaved… and to honor the Virgin, the Sienese commissioned Duccio to paint an immense altarpiece for the Cathedral of Siena.

18. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Duccio – Maestá or the Virgin Enthroned in Majesty (1308 to 1311)
Front - Mary
Back - Christ
Polyptych?

19. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Duccio – Maestá or the Virgin Enthroned in Majesty (1308 to 1311)
Death and ascent of Mary
Front
Back
Early life of Mary
“Holy Mother of God, be the cause of peace to Siena and to the life of Duccio, because he painted thee, thus.”

20. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Duccio – Maestá or the Virgin Enthroned in Majesty (1308 to 1311)
Follows Byzantine tradition, but lacks frontality
Four local saints have individualized faces
Altarpiece for the Siena Cathedral prevents experimentation

21. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – Frescoes in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico
How does the location change what it will depict?
Parts:
1. Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government in the City and the Country
2. Good Government and the Effects of Good Government in the City and the Country
Palazzo Pubblico - Siena

22. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – Frescoes in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico
Good Government in the City

23. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – Frescoes in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico
Good Government in the Countryside

24. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – Frescoes in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico
Bad Government in the City

25. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Ambrogio Lorenzetti – Frescoes in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico
Bad Government in the City

26. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Simone Martini
What did Martini do?
He would be instrumental in the formation of the International Style.
- Brilliant Colors
- Ornamentation, decoration
- Themes involving processions

27. Proto Renaissance Italy - Siena
Simone Martini – Annunciation Altarpiece (1333)
Movement shown in Gabriel’s cloth and wings Transalpine influence (Gothic frame) Lippo Memmi?