Introduction to Western Humanities - 7a - Early Renaissance

Lecture 7c

EARLY RENAISSANCE
INTRO TO WESTERN HUMANITIES

So how do we get from
this ...

Michelangelo, Sistine chapel [circa 1500]

The term Renaissance refers to a profound and enduring upheaval and
transformation in culture, politics, art, and society throughout Europe between
the years 1400 and 1600. The word describes both:
• a period in history and
• a more general ideal of cultural renewal.

I used to marvel and at the same time to grieve that so many excellent and
superior arts and sciences from our most vigorous antique past could seem
lacking and wholly lost. … Thus I believed … that Nature had grown old and
tired and no longer produced either geniuses or giants which in her more
youthful and more glorious days she had produced so marvelously and
abundantly.

Since then, I have been brought back here to Florence … I have to
understand that … in you, Filippo Brunelleschi, and in our close friend
Donatello, the sculpture, and in others like Ghiberti … and Massaccio, there
is a genius for every praiseworthy thing.

Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting, 1434

For about 150 years (1375-1525), Italy was the center of trade and commerce
in Europe and thus relatively rich. Florence was the banking centre and its
currency (the florin) was the currency of international trade.

Later Atlantic exploration (1500-1700) shifted trade and wealth to Portugal,
Spain, France, Holland, and England.

Baptistery, Florence.

In 1400 a return of the plague killed about 1/5 of the population. Also,
for most of the year, the city was under siege by the armies of Milan.

In 1401 in celebration of the victory over Milan a competition was held
for the sculptures on the doors of the Baptistery. Each competitor had to
provide a panel showing the Old Testament scene of the sacrifice of Isaac
(God testing Abraham’s faith).

Like the ancient Greeks, the
Florentines of the 15th century
seemed to have a love of
competition …

A Game of Calcio Storico in the Piazza Santa
Maria Novella, Florence, 1555

Florence’s four districts each
had/have a team with players
pulled from prison. It was/is a
combination of rugby and
MMA.

http://vimeo.com/5257343

The game is played with 27 men on each side, two
balls, eight refs, no breaks, no time out and no
substitutions over a period of fifty minutes. Ten men
on each side are allowed to brawl with anyone on
the other team. Ambulances come onto the pitch
without stopping the game. First prize? Steaks.

The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401 -
Competition for Baptistery doors:
entry by Filippo Brunelleschi

The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401 -
Competition for Baptistery doors:
entry by Lorenzo Ghiberti

Prize jointly awarded. Brunelleschi
refused to work with Ghiberti and
left Florence with his friend
Donatello to travel, study, and live
in Rome. (He stays for 13 years).

Saint Mark,
by Donatello,
c. 1413.

Jeremiah
by Donatello,
c. 1413.

Donatello also revived the naturalistic style of
Roman portrait sculpture.

Vasari in his chapter on Donatello says that as he
was carving one of these early sculptures, he began
yelling “Speak, Speak to me, dammit.”

David, by Donatello, c. 1430-1440.

First large-scale nude sculpture since
antiquity (1000+ years).

In 1417, upon his return to Florence, Brunelleschi
painted perhaps the most influential painting in the
history of art (which unfortunately was destroyed around
1494).

In this painting, Brunelleschi painted the Florence
Baptistery in true perspective.

Brunelleschi’s perspective demonstration painting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&

Brunelleschi is thus credited for “discovering”
mathematical perspective (the method of representing
3D objects on a 2D surface that gives a realistic
impression of true position, size, and distance) and its
practical application in drawing.

Soon after, nearly every artist in Florence and in Italy used
geometrical perspective in their paintings. Indeed, until
20th Century modernism, almost every painting for almost
500 years used his perspective technique.

Donatello,
The Feast of Herod,
c. 1425.

Masaccio. Holy Trinity, c. 1425.

Masaccio died when he was only
26, but using Brunelleschi's
innovations, revolutionized
painting.

Masaccio, The Tribute Money [1425-8]

Perhaps the best way to appreciate Masaccio’s impact on
his 15th century contemporaries is to compare his art to
that produced just a few years before by others.

Compare the architectural details, the
modeling of the figures, the naturalism of the
expressions in Massacio’s work

Again notice the naturalism of the
expressions, the realism of the infant, in
Massacio’s work

Perhaps the best analogy, for the
impact that Masaccio had on painting
might be by examining the state of
video game graphics in 1991 and 1992.

And then comparing this to what was
released in 1993…

Masaccio was the Myst of the 1420s.

Brunelleschi’s discovery of perspective and its initial
application by Masaccio inspired all subsequent
Italian painting of the 15th century.

Francesca, The Flagellation of Christ [1460s]

Perspective became a code or shorthand for the
ideal of perfection during this time …

Perugino, Delivery of the Keys, 1481

(top) Francesco Di Giorgio Martini. Architectural Perspective, late 15th century;
(bottom) An Ideal City, mid-15th century.

Filippo Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel, Cloister
of Santa Croce, Florence, ca. 1441-1460.

To understand the innovation in Brunelleschi’s
architecture we have to compare it to the dominant
architectural style of the day for churches, French Gothic.

gothic style cathedral 1200-1500s

York Cathedral [1230-1472] (High Gothic Style)

Cloister, Gloucester Cathedral [High Gothic]

Cloister, Santa Croce [Brunelleschi]

Filippo Brunelleschi. Interior of Santo Spirito,
Florence, planned 1421.

Florence Cathedral (Duomo) [1296-1426]

Dome [1420-6] by Brunelleschi

In 1367, city held competition for dome. The winning
entry called for a dome with a diameter of 173 feet,
larger than any dome in existence, has well as higher
than any existing vault. They didn’t know how to build
it; they put their faith in future progress, that an
architect in the future would figure how to build it.

Pantheon, Rome built during the reign of Emperor
Hadrian around 126 CE.

Almost two thousand years after it was
built, the Pantheon's dome is still the
world's largest unreinforced concrete
dome.

Pantheon [126 CE] Hagia Sophia [537 CE] Gothic cathedrals Duomo
Rome Constantiople [1200-1400 CE] Florence

In 1418, the city held another competition, this time for a
solution to building the dome. One of the key constraints
was that the winning entry was not to use wooden
centering, the standard practice for building arches and
domes since the Romans.

Because of the height and size of the Dome, using
wooden centering would have completely deforested the
land around Florence.

Another complication are the downward and outward
compression pressures of a dome.

In Pantheon, the pressure was absorbed by incredibly
thick concrete walls and a progressively thinner dome.

In Gothic style, those pressures are absorbed by flying
buttresses.

Brunelleschi’s solution was to make the dome hollow, and
use vertical and horizontal ribs made out of iron and
concrete to contain the stresses.

The horizontal ribs acts like a belt containing the outward
pressures.

The outside bricks are in a herringbone pattern and
“stapled” with iron, thus eliminating the need for wooden
centering.

He also designed the two key engineering
inventions of the Renaissance: the hoist
and the crane.

He also invented the first paddle-wheel
boat (for shipping stone).

The architects of the great Gothic cathedrals were
unknown. Brunelleschi changed society’s esteem of
architecture and the architect.

With Brunelleschi, we see the word “genius” applied to a
living individual for the first time since antiquity.

In Brunelleschi’s amazing brilliance (invention of
perspective, invention of Renaissance architecture,
solving the Dome, and his engineering inventions), the
writers of the Renaissance had their proof that
contemporary man was as great, and indeed greater than
those of classical antiquity.

He also “invented” the personality pattern that many
subsequent creative artists would try to emulate: moody,
unsociable, suspicious of others, poor hygiene,
unconcerned with personal riches, convinced of his own
brilliance, creating to achieve future glory, etc.

For the writers and artists of the Renaissance,
Brunelleschi and the other greats that were to follow
him, provided an argument that maybe humans are
only a fingertip’s width away from divinity … An idea
that is very far away indeed from the Medieval
worldview.

Introduction to Western Humanities - 7a - Early Renaissance

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