1.
The Resurrection (Piero della Francesca)
–
The Resurrection is a fresco painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, painted in the 1460s in the Palazzo della Residenza in the town of Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy. The secular and spiritual meanings of the painting were always intimately intertwined, pieros Christ is also present on the towns Coat of Arms. His stern, impassive figure, depicted in an iconic and abstract fixity, rises over four sleeping soldiers and his figure in the communes council hall both protects the judge and purifies the judged according to Marilyn Aronberg Lavin. Andrew Graham-Dixon notes that apart from the wound, Christs body is as perfectly sculpted, but there are touches of intense humanity about him too, the unidealised, almost coarse-featured face, and those three folds of skin that wrinkle at his belly as he raises his left leg. Piero emphasises his twofold nature, as man and God. The guard holding the lance is depicted sitting in an impossible pose. Piero probably left them out not to break the balance of the composition, according to tradition and by comparison with the woodcut illustrating Vasaris Lives of the Painters, the sleeping soldier in brown armor on Christs right is a self-portrait of Piero. The contact between the head and the pole of the banner carried by Christ is supposed to represent his contact with the divinity. The composition is unusual in that it contains two vanishing points, one is in the center of the sarcophagus, because the faces of the guards are seen from below, and the other is in Jesuss face. The top of the forms a boundary between the two points of view, and the steepness of the hills prevents the transition between the two points of view from being too jarring. Sansepolcro was spared damage during World War 2 when British artillery officer Tony Clarke defied orders. Clarke had read Huxleys 1925 essay describing the Resurrection, which states, It stands there before us in entire and actual splendour and it was later ascertained that the Germans had already retreated from the area — the bombardment had not been necessary. The town, along with its famous painting, survived, when the events of the episode eventually became clear, Clarke was lauded as a local hero and to this day a street in Sansepolcro bears his name. Il Cristo Risorto di Piero immagini rare e desuete, amintore Fanfani e Giulio Gambassi, Il Cristo Risorto di Piero della Francesca, Una battaglia per l’arte. Firenze, Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
The Resurrection (Piero della Francesca)
–
Resurrection
The Resurrection (Piero della Francesca)
–
Note the impossible pose of the guard holding a spear: to achieve a more harmonious composition, Piero left the soldier without legs.
2.
Sansepolcro
–
Sansepolcro, formerly Borgo Santo Sepolcro, is a town and comune in Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo. Situated on the reaches of the Tiber river, the town is the birthplace of the painters Piero della Francesca, Raffaellino del Colle, Santi di Tito. It was also the birthplace of the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, and of Matteo Cioni, today, the economy is based on agriculture, industrial manufacturing, food processing and pharmaceuticals. It is the home of Buitoni pasta, founded by Giulia Buitoni in 1827, according to tradition, the town was founded around 1000 AD by two pilgrims, Arcanus and Aegidius, who brought a stone from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with them from the Holy Land. They founded an oratory dedicated to Saint Leonard, on the site of the current Cathedral, the first historical mentions of Sansepolcro are slightly later, referring to the Benedictine Abbey, the Badia, around which the walled commune clustered. During the conflicts between Guelfs and Ghibellines, the factions were headed by prominent local families, including the Pichi, Bercordati, Graziani. The main church is the Cathedral, built in Gothic-Romanesque style in 1012–49, other churches of note are San Francesco and San Lorenzo. The latter church has a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino, the English writer Aldous Huxley described the Resurrection by Piero della Francesca, which is in the Museo Civico, as the greatest painting in the world. The museum collection includes three works by Piero della Francesca and many other treasures including paintings by Santi di Tito, Raffaellino del Colle. Diocese of Sansepolcro Eduino Francini St. Quentin Teatro Dante Sansepolcro is twinned with, Neuchâtel, Switzerland Neuves-Maisons, France Sinj, Croatia
Sansepolcro
–
Aerial view of Sansepolcro.
3.
Republic of Florence
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The Republic of Florence, also known as the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda, the Florentines formed a commune in her successors place. The republic was ruled by a council, known as the signoria, the signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere, who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members. The republic had a history of coups and counter-coups against various factions. The Medici faction gained governance of the city in 1434, upon Cosimo de Medicis counter-coup against the faction that had sent him into exile the previous year, the Medici kept control of Florence until 1494. Giovanni de Medici re-conquered the republic in 1512, Florence repudiated Medici authority for a second time in 1527, during the War of the League of Cognac. The Medici re-assumed their rule in 1531, after an 11-month siege of the city, the republican government was disestablished in 1532, when Pope Clement VII appointed Alessandro de Medici Duke of the Florentine Republic, making the republic a hereditary monarchy. The city of Florence was established in 59 B. C. by Julius Caesar, the city had been part of the Marquisate of Tuscany before the death of Margravine Matilda in 1115. The city did not submit readily to her successor, Rabodo, the first official mention of the republic was in 1138 when several cities around Tuscany formed a league against Henry X of Bavaria. The country was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Florence prospered in the 12th century, trading extensively with foreign countries and this, in turn, provided a platform for demographic growth of the city. The growth of Florences population mirrored the rate of construction, many churches and this prosperity was shattered when Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa invaded the Italian peninsula in 1185. The Margraves of Tuscany re-acquired Florence and its townlands, the Florentines re-asserted their independence when Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI died in 1197. Florences population continued to grow into the 13th century, reaching 30,000 inhabitants, as has been said, the extra inhabitants supported the citys trade and vice versa. Several new bridges and churches were built, most prominently the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the buildings from the era serve as Florences best example of Gothic Architecture. Politically, Florence was barely able to maintain peace between factions, the precarious peace that existed at the beginning of the century was destroyed in 1216 when two factions known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines began to war. The Ghibellines were the rulers of Florence. The Ghibellines, who under Frederick of Antioch had ruled the city since 1244, were deposed in 1250 by the Guelphs, the Guelphs led Florence to prosper further
Republic of Florence
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Front and back of a Florentine florin
Republic of Florence
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Flag
Republic of Florence
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Cosimo de' Medici, founder of the
House of Medici
Republic of Florence
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Lorenzo de' Medici
4.
Italians
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
Italians
–
Amerigo Vespucci, the notable geographer and traveller from whose name the word
America is derived.
Italians
Italians
–
Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the
New World.
Italians
–
Laura Bassi, the first chairwoman of a university in a scientific field of studies.
5.
Painting
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Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture, composition, narration, or abstraction, among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive, Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, emotive, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by motifs and ideas. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action, the term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders. What enables painting is the perception and representation of intensity, every point in space has different intensity, which can be represented in painting by black and white and all the gray shades between. In practice, painters can articulate shapes by juxtaposing surfaces of different intensity, thus, the basic means of painting are distinct from ideological means, such as geometrical figures, various points of view and organization, and symbols. In technical drawing, thickness of line is ideal, demarcating ideal outlines of an object within a perceptual frame different from the one used by painters. Color and tone are the essence of painting as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music, color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a color equivalent, the word red, for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic, painters deal practically with pigments, so blue for a painter can be any of the blues, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music is analogous to light in painting, shades to dynamics and these elements do not necessarily form a melody of themselves, rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer, there is a growing community of artists who use computers to paint color onto a digital canvas using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required, rhythm is important in painting as it is in music
Painting
–
The
Mona Lisa, by
Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world.
Painting
–
Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), Leaf album painting (
Ming Dynasty)
Painting
–
Circus Sideshow (
French: Parade de cirque),
Georges Seurat, 1887–88
Painting
–
Cave painting of aurochs, (
French: Bos primigenius primigenius),
Lascaux,
France,
prehistoric art
6.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
Fresco
–
Fresco in the church Mariä Verkündigung in Fuchstal,
Bavaria, Germany from Thomas Springer
Fresco
–
Fresco
Sistine Chapel in the
Vatican, Rome, Italy.
Fresco
–
Etruscan fresco of Velia Velcha from the
Tomb of Orcus,
Tarquinia.
Fresco
–
Fresco of "
Sappho " from
Pompeii, c. 50 CE.
7.
The Baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
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The Baptism of Christ is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, finished around 1448–50. It is housed in the National Gallery, London, the panel was commissioned presumably some time about 1440 by the Camaldolese Monastery of Sansepolcro in Tuscany, originally part of a triptych. Its dating to Piero della Francescas early career is evidenced by the relationship with the light painting of his master. It portrays Christ being baptised by John, his head surmounted by a representing the Holy Spirit. Christ, Johns hand, the bird and the form an axis which divides the painting in two symmetrical parts. A second division is created by the tree on the left, behind John, a man in white briefs, his feet already in the water, is struggling to get out of his undershirt. The three angels on the left wear different clothes and, in a break from traditional iconography, are not supporting Christs garments and this could be an allusion to the contemporary Council of Florence, whose goal was the unification of the Western and Eastern Churches. The Camaldolese monk and theologian, Saint Ambrose Traversari, who had been Prior General of the Camaladolese congregation, had been a supporter of the union. Such symbolism is also suggested by the presence, behind the neophyte on the right, of figures dressed in an oriental fashion. Piero della Francesca was renowned in his times as an authority on perspective and geometry, his attention to the theme is shown by Johns arm and leg, milan, Mondadori Arte. more reading at Great Works of Western Art Page at artonline. it
The Baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
The Baptism of Christ
8.
Flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
The Flagellation of Christ is a painting by Piero della Francesca in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, Italy. Called by one writer an enigmatic little painting, the composition is complex and unusual, kenneth Clark placed The Flagellation in his personal list of the best ten paintings, calling it the greatest small painting in the world. The theme of the picture is the Flagellation of Christ by the Romans during his Passion, the biblical event takes place in an open gallery in the middle distance, while three figures in the foreground on the right-hand side apparently pay no attention to the event unfolding behind them. The painting is signed under the seated emperor OPVS PETRI DE BVRGO SCI SEPVLCRI – the work of Piero of Borgo Santo Sepolcro, the portrait of the bearded man at the front is considered unusually intense for Pieros time. Much of the debate surrounding the work concerns the identities or significance of the three men at the front. Depending on the interpretation of the subject of the painting, they may represent contemporary figures or people related to the passion of Christ, or they may even have multiple identities. The latter is suggested with respect to the sitting man on the left, who is in one sense certainly Pontius Pilate. Originally the painting had a frame on which the Latin phrase Convenerunt in Unum, taken from Psalm 2 and this text is cited in Book of Acts 4,26 and related to Pilate, Herod and the Jews. Both advisers were held responsible for Oddantonios death due to their unpopular government, Oddantonios death would be compared, in its innocence, to that of Christ. The painting would then have been commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro, moreover, Oddantonios corpse was buried in an unnamed grave. A painting dedicated to the memory of Duke Oddantonio and to his rehabilitation would thus have been a case of betrayal to the citizens of Urbino, another traditional view considers the picture a dynastic celebration commissioned by Duke Federico da Montefeltro, Oddantonios successor and half-brother. The three men would simply be his predecessors, however, since Duke Guidobaldo was a son of Federico born in 1472, this information has to be erroneous. Instead, the rightmost figure may represent Oddantonios and Federicos father Guidantonio, according to this other old-fashioned view, the figure in the middle would represent an angel, flanked by the Latin and the Greek Churches, whose division created strife in the whole of Christendom. The young man would be Bonconte II da Montefeltro, who died of plague in 1458, in this way, the sufferings of Christ are paired both to those of the Byzantines and of Bonconte. The figure on the left watching would be sultan Murad II, the three men on the right are identified as, from left, Cardinal Bessarion, Thomas Palaiologos and Niccolò III dEste, host of the council of Mantua after its move to his lordship of Ferrara. Piero della Francesca painted the Flagellation some 20 years after the fall of Constantinople, again, the man in the far left would be the Byzantine Emperor. Another explanation of the painting is offered by Marilyn Aronberg Lavin in Piero della Francesca, the interior scene represents Pontius Pilate showing Herod with his back turned, because the scene closely resembles numerous other depictions of the flagellation that Piero would have known. Ottavio is dressed in the garb of an astrologer, even down to his forked beard
Flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
Flagellation of Christ
Flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
Medal of the Emperor John VIII Palaiologos during his visit to Florence, by
Pisanello (1438). The seated man on left of the painting wears a very similar hat.
9.
Brera Madonna
–
The Brera Madonna is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, executed in 1472-1474. It is housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera of Milan, where it was deposited by Napoleon, the work, of a type known as a sacra conversazione, was commissioned by Federico III da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, to celebrate the birth of Federicos son, Guidobaldo. According to other sources, it would celebrate his conquest of several castles in the Maremma, some sources suggest that the work was commissioned to celebrate the birth of Federicos son, Guidobaldo, who was born in 1472. The work represents a sacred conversation, with the Virgin enthroned, on the right low corner, kneeling and wearing his armor, the patron of arts, duke and condottiero Federico da Montefeltro. At the center, hanging by a thread from the shell is an egg, emblem alike of Marys fecundity. The Child wears a necklace of deep red coral beads, a color which alludes to blood, a symbol of life and death, coral was also used for teething, and often worn by babies. The saints at the left of the Madonna are generally identified as John the Baptist, Bernardino of Siena and Jerome, on the right would be Francis, Peter Martyr and Andrew. In the last figure, the Italian historian Ricci has identified a portrait of Luca Pacioli, the presence of John the Baptist would be explained as he was the patron saint of Federicos wife, while St. Jerome was the protector of Humanists. Francis, finally, would be present as the painting was thought for the Franciscan church of San Donato degli Osservanti. The apse ends with a shell semi-dome from which an egg is hanging. The shell was a symbol of the new Venus, Mary, according to another hypothesis, the egg would be a pearl, and the shell would refer to the miracle of the virginal conception. The egg is considered a symbol of the Creation and, in particular, to Guidobaldos birth. According to Italian art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, the work has been cut down on both sides, as shown by the portions of entablatures barely visible in the upper corners
Brera Madonna
–
The Brera Madonna
10.
Italian Renaissance
–
The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt. The French word renaissance means Rebirth, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages. Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600. This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, the European Renaissance began in Tuscany, and centred in the city of Florence. It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, the Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new allantico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, the Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements. Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch and his friend, famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Ludovico Ariosto. 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek, the same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peters Basilica in Rome, yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy. By the Late Middle Ages, Latium, the heartland of the Roman Empire. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. The Papacy was affronted when the Avignon Papacy was created in southern France as a consequence of pressure from King Philip the Fair of France, in the south, Sicily had for some time been under foreign domination, by the Arabs and then the Normans. Sicily had prospered for 150 years during the Emirate of Sicily, in contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous, and it has been calculated that the region was among the richest of Europe. The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Levant, the main trade routes from the east passed through the Byzantine Empire or the Arab lands and onwards to the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, moreover, the inland city-states profited from the rich agricultural land of the Po valley. From France, Germany, and the Low Countries, through the medium of the Champagne fairs, land and river trade routes brought goods such as wool, wheat, and precious metals into the region. The extensive trade that stretched from Egypt to the Baltic generated substantial surpluses that allowed significant investment in mining, thus, while northern Italy was not richer in resources than many other parts of Europe, the level of development, stimulated by trade, allowed it to prosper
Italian Renaissance
–
Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
–
Pandolfo Malatesta (1417–1468), lord of
Rimini, by
Piero della Francesca. Malatesta was a capable
condottiere, following the tradition of his family. He was hired by the
Venetians to fight against the
Turks (unsuccessfully) in 1465, and was patron of
Leone Battista Alberti, whose
Tempio Malatestiano at Rimini is one of the first entirely classical buildings of the Renaissance.
Italian Renaissance
–
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian
Renaissance Man
Italian Renaissance
–
Giulio Clovio,
Adoration of the Magi and
Solomon Adored by the
Queen of Sheba from the Farnese Hours, 1546.
11.
Giorgio Vasari
–
Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany. Recommended at an age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia. He was befriended by Michelangelo whose painting style would influence his own, in 1529, he visited Rome where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. Vasaris own Mannerist paintings were admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547 he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni and he was consistently employed by members of the Medici family in Florence and Rome, and worked in Naples, Arezzo and other places. He also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio, aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was also successful as an architect. In Florence, Vasari also built the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, the enclosed corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the Ponte Vecchio and winds around the exterior of several buildings. He also renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, at both he removed the original rood screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-choirs in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he was responsible for the painting of The Adoration of the Magi which was commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and it was recently restored, before being put on exhibition in 2011 in Rome and in Naples. Eventually it is planned to return it to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, in 1562 Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in Pistoia, an important example of high Renaissance architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammanati at Pope Julius IIIs Villa Giulia, the Lives also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was rewritten and enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists. The work has a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines, and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, Venetian art in particular, is systematically ignored in the first edition. Between the first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the edition gave more attention to Venetian art. Vasaris biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip, with a few exceptions, however, Vasaris aesthetic judgement was acute and unbiased. He did not research archives for exact dates, as art historians do, and naturally his biographies are most dependable for the painters of his own generation. Modern criticism – with new materials opened up by research – has corrected many of his traditional dates and attributions. Vasari includes a sketch of his own biography at the end of the Lives, according to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term competition in its economic sense
Giorgio Vasari
–
Vasari's self-portrait
Giorgio Vasari
–
Giorgio Vasari, Italian humanists, Tuscan Poets: Dante, Petrarch, Guido Cavalcanti, Boccaccio, Cino da Pistoia and Guittone d'Arezzo
Giorgio Vasari
–
Giorgio Vasari, The Garden of Gethsemane
Giorgio Vasari
–
The Uffizi Loggia.
12.
Humanism
–
The term was coined in 1808 by the early nineteenth century German educational reformer and theologian Friedrich Niethammer and gradually adopted into English. Niethammer had wished to introduce into German education the humane values of ancient Greece, the word Humanism is ultimately derived from the Latin concept humanitas, and, like most other words ending in -ism, entered English in the nineteenth century. Those who earnestly desire and seek after these are most highly humanized. For the desire to pursue of that kind of knowledge, and the training given by it, has granted to humanity alone of all the animals. Gellius says that in his day humanitas is commonly used as a synonym for philanthropy – or kindness and he himself was involved in public affairs. By assigning pride of place to Paideia in his comment on the etymology of humanitas, gelliuss writings fell into obscurity during the middle ages, but during the Italian Renaissance, Gellius became a favorite author. Teachers and scholars of Greek and Latin grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, during the French Revolution, and soon after, in Germany, humanism began to refer to an ethical philosophy centered on humankind, without attention to the transcendent or supernatural. The designation Religious Humanism refers to organized groups that sprang up during the late-nineteenth and it is similar to Protestantism, although centered on human needs, interests, and abilities rather than the supernatural. The first Humanist Manifesto was issued by a conference held at the University of Chicago in 1933, signatories included the philosopher John Dewey, but the majority were ministers and theologians. But in the century, during the French Enlightenment, a more ideological use of the term had come into use. In 1765, the author of an article in a French Enlightenment periodical spoke of The general love of humanity. A virtue hitherto quite nameless among us, and which we will venture to call humanism, for the time has come to create a word for such a beautiful and necessary thing. The latter part of the 18th and the early 19th centuries saw the creation of numerous philanthropic and benevolent societies dedicated to human betterment. Humanism began to acquire a negative sense, the Oxford English Dictionary records the use of the word humanism by an English clergyman in 1812 to indicate those who believe in the mere humanity of Christ, i. e. Unitarians and Deists. Human-centered philosophy that rejected the supernatural may also be found circa 1500 BCE in the Lokayata system of Indian philosophy, nasadiya Sukta, a passage in the Rig Veda, contains one of the first recorded assertions of agnosticism. Another instance of ancient humanism as a system of thought is found in the Gathas of Zarathustra. Zarathustras philosophy in the Gathas lays out a conception of humankind as thinking beings, dignified with choice, in China, Yellow Emperor is regarded as the humanistic primogenitor. Sage kings such as Yao and Shun are humanistic figures as recorded, king Wu of Zhou has the famous saying, Humanity is the Ling of the world
Humanism
–
An ideal society as conceived by Renaissance humanist Saint
Thomas More in his book
Utopia.
Humanism
Humanism
–
Portrait of
Petrarch painted in 1376
Humanism
–
Coluccio Salutati, Chancellor of Florence and disciple of Petrarch (1331–1406).
13.
Perspective (graphical)
–
Perspective in the graphic arts is an approximate representation, on a flat surface, of an image as it is seen by the eye. If viewed from the spot as the windowpane was painted. Each painted object in the scene is thus a flat, scaled down version of the object on the side of the window. All perspective drawings assume the viewer is a distance away from the drawing. Objects are scaled relative to that viewer, an object is often not scaled evenly, a circle often appears as an ellipse and a square can appear as a trapezoid. This distortion is referred to as foreshortening, Perspective drawings have a horizon line, which is often implied. This line, directly opposite the viewers eye, represents objects infinitely far away and they have shrunk, in the distance, to the infinitesimal thickness of a line. It is analogous to the Earths horizon, any perspective representation of a scene that includes parallel lines has one or more vanishing points in a perspective drawing. A one-point perspective drawing means that the drawing has a vanishing point, usually directly opposite the viewers eye. All lines parallel with the line of sight recede to the horizon towards this vanishing point. This is the standard receding railroad tracks phenomenon, a two-point drawing would have lines parallel to two different angles. Any number of vanishing points are possible in a drawing, one for each set of lines that are at an angle relative to the plane of the drawing. Perspectives consisting of parallel lines are observed most often when drawing architecture. In contrast, natural scenes often do not have any sets of parallel lines, the only method to indicate the relative position of elements in the composition was by overlapping, of which much use is made in works like the Parthenon Marbles. Chinese artists made use of perspective from the first or second century until the 18th century. It is not certain how they came to use the technique, some authorities suggest that the Chinese acquired the technique from India, oblique projection is also seen in Japanese art, such as in the Ukiyo-e paintings of Torii Kiyonaga. This was detailed within Aristotles Poetics as skenographia, using flat panels on a stage to give the illusion of depth, the philosophers Anaxagoras and Democritus worked out geometric theories of perspective for use with skenographia. Alcibiades had paintings in his house designed using skenographia, so this art was not confined merely to the stage, Euclids Optics introduced a mathematical theory of perspective, but there is some debate over the extent to which Euclids perspective coincides with the modern mathematical definition
Perspective (graphical)
–
Staircase in two-point perspective.
Perspective (graphical)
–
15th century illustration from the
Old French translation of
William of Tyre 's Histoire d'Outremer.
Perspective (graphical)
–
Geometrically incorrect attempt at perspective in a 1614 painting of
Old St Paul's Cathedral. (
Society of Antiquaries)
Perspective (graphical)
–
Codex Amiatinus (7th century). Portrait, of Ezra, from folio 5r at the start of
Old Testament
14.
The History of the True Cross
–
The History of the True Cross or The Legend of the True Cross is a sequence of frescoes painted by Piero della Francesca in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo. It is his largest work, and generally considered one of his finest, and this work demonstrates Piero’s advanced knowledge of perspective and colour, his geometric orderliness and skill in pictorial construction. The main episodes depicted are, Death of Adam, the Queen of Sheba in Adoration of the Wood and The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. According to the legend, the Queen of Sheba worshiped the beams made from the tree, and informed Solomon that the Saviour would hang from that tree and this caused Solomon to hew it down and bury it, until it was found by the Romans. Constantines Dream Emperor Constantine the Great, before the battle of Milvian Bridge, is awakened by an angel who shows him the cross in heaven, with the cross on his shield, he slew the enemy, and later converted to Christianity. Discovery and Proof of the True Cross, helena, Constantines mother, finds the cross in Jerusalem. It was not easy to get information and when the queen had called them and demanded them the place where our Lord Jesus Christ had been crucified, then commanded she to burn them all or cast them into a dry pit for seven days and there torment them with hunger. The Jew is shown in one fresco being pulled from the pit by a rope, whereupon he confessed that Jesus was his lord, the proof of the cross was that it was used to resurrect a dead man. The cross played a role in battles during the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire, the cycle ends with a depiction of the Annunciation, not strictly part of the Legend of the True Cross but probably included by Piero for its universal meaning. Dating of the frescoes is uncertain, but they are believed to date from after 1447 and it would have been finished around 1466. Most of the choir was painted in the early- to mid-1450s, although the design of the frescoes is evidently Pieros, he seems to have delegated parts of the painting to assistants, as was usual. The hand of Giovanni da Piamonte, in particular, can be recognised in some of the frescoes, the Dictionary of Art, Grove Belton, R. & Kersten, B. Vision and Visions in Piero della Francesca’s Legend of the True Cross, translated into English prose by Lucius Hudson Holt. All images in series and interactive model Institute for Advanced Studies web site, the Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle on YouTube, here and here. Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle at art-threads
The History of the True Cross
–
The Dream of Constantine, one of the earliest nocturnal scenes in Western art (pre-restoration image).
The History of the True Cross
–
Detail of Battle between Heraclius and Khosrau.
15.
Arezzo
–
Arezzo is a city and comune in Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 kilometres southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 metres above sea level, in 2013 the population was about 99,000. Described by Livy as one of the Capitae Etruriae, Arezzo is believed to have one of the twelve most important Etruscan cities—the so-called Dodecapolis. Etruscan remains establish that the acropolis of San Cornelio, a hill next to that of San Donatus, was occupied and fortified in the Etruscan period. Increasing trade connections with Greece also brought some elite goods to the Etruscan nobles of Arezzo, conquered by the Romans in 311 BC, Arretium became a military station on the via Cassia, the road to expansion by republican Rome into the basin of the Po. Arretium sided with Marius in the Roman Civil War, and the victorious Sulla planted a colony of his veterans in the half-demolished city, as Arretium Fidens. The old Etruscan aristocracy was not extinguished, Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, around 26-261 AD the town council of Arezzo dedicated an inscription to its patron L. Petronius Taurus Volusianus. See that article for discussion of the possible significance of Volusianuss association with the city. The commune of Arezzo threw off the control of its bishop in 1098 and was an independent city-state until 1384, generally Ghibelline in tendency, it opposed Guelph Florence. In 1252 the city founded its university, the Studium, during this period Piero della Francesca worked in the church of San Francesco di Arezzo producing the splendid frescoes, recently restored, which are Arezzos most famous works. Afterwards the city began an economical and cultural decay, which ensured that its medieval centre was preserved. In the 18th century the neighbouring marshes of the Val di Chiana, south of Arezzo, were drained, in 1860 Arezzo became part of the Kingdom of Italy. The Commonwealth War Graves Commissions Arezzo War Cemetery, where 1,266 men are buried, is located to the North West of the city, Pope Benedict XVI visited Arezzo and two other Italian municipalities on Sunday, May 13,2012. Arezzo is set on a hill rising from the floodplain of the River Arno. In the upper part of the town are the cathedral, the town hall, the upper part of the town maintains its medieval appearance despite the addition of later structures. Notable earthquakes are still a rare phenomenon in the province. Under the Köppen climate classification Arezzo is either a humid climate or an oceanic climate. It has uncharacteristically hot summer days for a climate, with the lows moderating the average temps
Arezzo
–
Piazza Grande; from left - S. Maria della Pieve, the old Tribunal Palace and the Lay Fraternity.
Arezzo
–
Roman pottery shred from Arezzo,
Latium, found at
Arikamedu in
India (1st century AD), an evidence of the role of the city in
Roman trade with India through
Persia during the Augustan period.
Musée Guimet.
Arezzo
–
Piazza Grande.
Arezzo
–
Aerial view.
16.
Tuscany
–
Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
Tuscany
–
Hilly landscape in
Val d'Orcia
Tuscany
–
Tuscany Toscana
Tuscany
–
Tuscan landscape near
Siena
Tuscany
–
Cinerary urns of the
Villanovan culture
17.
Baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
The Baptism of Christ is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, finished around 1448–50. It is housed in the National Gallery, London, the panel was commissioned presumably some time about 1440 by the Camaldolese Monastery of Sansepolcro in Tuscany, originally part of a triptych. Its dating to Piero della Francescas early career is evidenced by the relationship with the light painting of his master. It portrays Christ being baptised by John, his head surmounted by a representing the Holy Spirit. Christ, Johns hand, the bird and the form an axis which divides the painting in two symmetrical parts. A second division is created by the tree on the left, behind John, a man in white briefs, his feet already in the water, is struggling to get out of his undershirt. The three angels on the left wear different clothes and, in a break from traditional iconography, are not supporting Christs garments and this could be an allusion to the contemporary Council of Florence, whose goal was the unification of the Western and Eastern Churches. The Camaldolese monk and theologian, Saint Ambrose Traversari, who had been Prior General of the Camaladolese congregation, had been a supporter of the union. Such symbolism is also suggested by the presence, behind the neophyte on the right, of figures dressed in an oriental fashion. Piero della Francesca was renowned in his times as an authority on perspective and geometry, his attention to the theme is shown by Johns arm and leg, milan, Mondadori Arte. more reading at Great Works of Western Art Page at artonline. it
Baptism of Christ (Piero della Francesca)
–
The Baptism of Christ
18.
National Gallery
–
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the century to 1900. The Gallery is a charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, after that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two-thirds of the collection. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, the present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, wilkinss building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space, the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi, the current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi. The late 18th century saw the nationalisation of royal or princely art collections across mainland Europe, great Britain, however, did not emulate the continental model, and the British Royal Collection remains in the sovereigns possession today. In 1777 the British government had the opportunity to buy an art collection of international stature, the MP John Wilkes argued for the government to buy this invaluable treasure and suggested that it be housed in a noble gallery. The twenty-five paintings from that now in the Gallery, including NG1, have arrived by a variety of routes. This offer was declined and Bourgeois bequeathed the collection to his old school, Dulwich College, the collection opened in Britains first purpose-built public gallery, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, in 1814. The British Institution, founded in 1805 by a group of aristocratic connoisseurs, the members lent works to exhibitions that changed annually, while an art school was held in the summer months. However, as the paintings that were lent were often mediocre, some resented the Institution. One of the Institutions founding members, Sir George Beaumont, Bt, in 1823 another major art collection came on the market, which had been assembled by the recently deceased John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein was a Russian-born émigré banker based in London, his collection numbered 38 paintings, including works by Raphael, on 1 July 1823 George Agar Ellis, a Whig politician, proposed to the House of Commons that it purchase the collection. The appeal was given added impetus by Beaumonts offer, which came with two conditions, that the government buy Angersteins collection, and that a building was to be found
National Gallery
National Gallery
–
The Raising of Lazarus by
Sebastiano del Piombo, from the collection of
John Julius Angerstein. This became the founding collection of the National Gallery in 1824. The painting has the
accession number NG1, making it officially the first painting to enter the Gallery.
National Gallery
–
100
Pall Mall, the home of the National Gallery from 1824 to 1834.
National Gallery
–
The Baptism of Christ by
Piero della Francesca, one of Eastlake's purchases.
19.
Siena
–
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena, the historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nations most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008, Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans when it was inhabited by a called the Saina. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus, the first document mentioning it dates from AD70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Senones, according to local legend, Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus and thus nephews of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Supposedly after their fathers murder by Romulus, they fled Rome, taking them the statue of the she-wolf suckling the infants. Additionally they rode white and black horses, giving rise to the Balzana, some claim the name Siena derives from Senius. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name Saina, Siena did not prosper under Roman rule. It was not sited near any major roads and lacked opportunities for trade and its insular status meant that Christianity did not penetrate until the 4th century AD, and it was not until the Lombards invaded Siena and the surrounding territory that it knew prosperity. Siena prospered as a trading post, and the constant streams of pilgrims passing to, the oldest aristocratic families in Siena date their line to the Lombards surrender in 774 to Charlemagne. This ultimately resulted in the creation of the Republic of Siena, the Republic existed for over four hundred years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555. During the golden age of Siena before the Black Death in 1348, in the Italian War of 1551–59, the republic was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown. After 18 months of resistance, Siena surrendered to Spain on 17 April 1555, the new Spanish King Felipe II, owing huge sums to the Medici, ceded it to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A Republican government of 700 Sienese families in Montalcino resisted until 1559, the picturesque city remains an important cultural centre, especially for humanist disciplines. The city lies at 322 m above sea level, the Siena Cathedral, begun in the 12th century, is a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380, the original plan called for an ambitiously massive basilica, the largest then in the world, with, as was customary, an east-west nave. However, the scarcity of funds, in due to war and plague, truncated the project
Siena
–
View of downtown Piazza del Campo (Campo Square), with the Mangia Tower (Torre del Mangia) and Santa Maria Church
Siena
–
Piazza del Campo.
Siena
–
Capitoline Wolf at
Siena Duomo. According to a legend Siena was founded by
Senius and Aschius, two sons of Remus. When they fled
Rome, they took the statue of She-wolf to Siena, which became a symbol of the town.
Siena
–
Siena Cathedral
20.
Sassetta
–
While working within the Sienese tradition, he innovated the style by introducing elements derived from the decorative Gothic style and the realism of contemporary Florentine innovators as Masaccio. The name Sassetta has been associated with him, mistakenly, only since the 18th century but is now used for this artist. The date and birthplace of Sassetta are not known, some say he was born in Siena although there is also an hypothesis that he was born in Cortona. His father, Giovanni, is called da Cartona which possibly means that Cortona was the artists birthplace, the meaning of his nickname Sassetta is obscure and is not cited in documents of his time but appears in sources from the eighteenth century. Sassetta was probably trained alongside artists like Benedetto di Bindo and Gregorio di Cecco and he achieved a high level of technical refinement and was aware of artistic innovations of talented painters in Florence such as Gentile da Fabriano and Masolino. His work differs from the late Gothic style of many of his Sienese contemporaries and his first certain work, which originally had his signature is the Arte della Lana altarpiece, fragments of which are now divided among various private and public collections. The Madonna of the Snow altarpiece for the Siena Cathedral was a commission for Sassetta. Not only does he excel at infusing his figures with a light that convincingly molds their shape, he also has an amazing handle on spatial relationships. From this point on, under Gothic influence, Sassetta’s style increases its decorative nature, the polyptych done by Sassetta in San Domenico at Cortona shows scenes from the legend of St. Anthony the Abbot. He shows great skill in narration through his painting as well as combining a sophisticated color palette, Francesco di Giorgio e di Lorenzo, better known as Vecchietta, is said to have been his apprentice. He died by pneumonia contracted while decorating the Assumption fresco in the Porta Romana of Siena, the work was finished by his pupil Sano di Pietro. Many consider Sassettas fusing of traditional and contemporary elements as integral to the move from the Gothic to the Renaissance style of painting in Siena, Sassetta was a fiercely pious man. The painting is about the marriage of righteousness and violence and the consequences of sinfulness, the perils of feigning faith, the figure in black in the painting is an unbeliever, who has been found out in the process of receiving Communion. The officiating priest offers him the host on a plate, which is pictured miraculously spurting blood, the unbeliever has been struck dead instantly, and the creature above his face is a tiny black devil which has swooped down to snatch away his soul to the depths of Hell. The other men pictured are Carmelite monks, caught in expressions of shock, amazement, the painting is a carefully staged, meticulously created illusion which commemorates the Miracle of Bolsena which is said to have taken place in 1263. Sassettas Altarpiece of the Eucharist was later divided between three museums, the Vatican, and a private collection, the altarpiece was originally painted in Siena, and transported to Sansepolcro for placement in the church of San Francesco. In October 1900 the Berenson family purchased three panels created by Stefano di Giovanni and it is generally accepted by the art historical community that Sassetta’s San Francesco altarpiece was one of the largest and most expensive of the Quattrocento. The fact that it was produced by a Sienese artist in Siena, bernard Berenson bequeathed many of Sassettas painting from his Florence Villa to Harvard University, in what became the Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence
Sassetta
–
Detail of il Sassetta's Ecstasy of St Francis
Sassetta
–
Sassetta
Sassetta
–
Miracle of the Eucharist
Sassetta
–
Saint Francis Abandons His Father.
21.
Domenico Veneziano
–
Domenico Veneziano was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany. Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved to Florence in 1422–23 as a boy, to become a pupil of Gentile da Fabriano and he is said to have worked with Pisanello in Rome around 1423–1430. His work was influenced by the style of Benozzo Gozzoli and he was a contemporary with Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, since those two artists and himself are known to have valued the frescoes of Buonfigli at Perugia. Between 1439 and 1441 he painted a masterpiece of the Adoration of the Magi, another masterpiece is considered to be the Santa Lucia de Magnoli Altarpiece, originally in Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, Florence and now in the Uffizi. Painted in tempera on panel, the altarpiece displays such a palette for this period that Vasari wrote that it had been painted in oil. Domenico is also known for a panel of the Adoration of the Magi which was probably commissioned for the palace of the wealthy Medici family. Other important works are the Madonna del Roseto in the National Museum of Art of Romania, Vasari alleged that Domenico was murdered by Andrea del Castagno. He worked at the decorations of the Portinari chapel in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence from 1439–1445, and had as his assistants Piero della Francesca and Bicci di Lorenzo. It is certain that whilst employed there he used linseed oil as his medium and his latter days were spent in Florence, where he died on 15 May 1461. Walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves, ed, dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. York St. #4, Covent Garden, London, Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18,2007, George Bell, media related to Domenico Veneziano at Wikimedia Commons
Domenico Veneziano
–
Santa Lucia de' Magnoli Altarpiece, c. 1445–47, tempera on panel, 198 × 207 cm,
Uffizi,
Florence.
22.
Fra Angelico
–
Fra Angelico was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having a rare and perfect talent. He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole and Fra Giovanni Angelico, in modern Italian he is called il Beato Angelico, the common English name Fra Angelico means the Angelic friar. In 1982 Pope John Paul II proclaimed his beatification in recognition of the holiness of his life and he is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Beatus Ioannes Faesulanus, cognomento Angelicus—Blessed Giovanni of Fiesole, surnamed the Angelic. Fra Angelico was born Guido di Pietro at Rupecanina in the Tuscan area of Mugello near Fiesole towards the end of the 14th century, nothing is known of his parents. He was baptized Guido or Guidolino, the earliest recorded document concerning Fra Angelico dates from October 17,1417 when he joined a religious confraternity or guild at the Carmine Church, still under the name of Guido di Pietro. The first record of Angelico as a friar dates from 1423, Fra, a contraction of frater, is a conventional title for a mendicant friar. According to Vasari, Fra Angelico initially received training as an illuminator, possibly working with his older brother Benedetto who was also a Dominican and an illuminator. The former Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, now a state museum, the painter Lorenzo Monaco may have contributed to his art training, and the influence of the Sienese school is discernible in his work. He had several important charges in the convents he lived in, but this did not limit his art, according to Vasari, the first paintings of this artist were an altarpiece and a painted screen for the Charterhouse of Florence, none such exist there now. Between 1418 and 1436 he was at the convent of Fiesole, where he executed a number of frescoes for the church and the Altarpiece. A predella of the Altarpiece remains intact and is conserved in the National Gallery, London and it shows Christ in Glory surrounded by more than 250 figures, including beatified Dominicans. In 1436, Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from Fiesole who moved to the newly built convent or friary of San Marco in Florence, in 1439 Fra Angelico completed one of his most famous works, the San Marco Altarpiece at Florence. The result was unusual for its time, but in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory. Paintings such as this, known as Sacred Conversations, were to become the major commissions of Giovanni Bellini, Perugino and Raphael. In 1445 Pope Eugene IV summoned him to Rome to paint the frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peters, later demolished by Pope Paul III. Vasari claims that at this time Fra Angelico was offered the Archbishopric of Florence by Pope Nicholas V, the story seems possible and even likely. However, if Vasaris date is correct, then the pope must have been Eugene IV and not Nicholas, moreover, the Archbishop in 1446–1459 was the Dominican Antoninus of Florence, canonized by Pope Adrian VI in 1523. In 1447 Fra Angelico was in Orvieto with his pupil, Benozzo Gozzoli, among his other pupils were Zanobi Strozzi
Fra Angelico
–
Detail from Deeds of the Antichrist by
Luca Signorelli (c. 1501) in
Orvieto Cathedral,
Italy
Fra Angelico
–
The Virgin of the Annunciation
Fra Angelico
–
San Marco Altarpiece.
Fra Angelico
–
The Crucified Christ
23.
Luca della Robbia
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Luca della Robbia was an Italian sculptor from Florence. Della Robbia is noted for his colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary, though a leading sculptor in stone, he worked primarily in terracotta after developing his technique in the early 1440s. His large workshop produced both cheaper works cast from molds in multiple versions, and more expensive one-off individually modeled pieces, the vibrant, polychrome glazes made his creations both more durable and expressive. His work is noted for its charm rather than the drama of the work of some of his contemporaries, two of his famous works are The Nativity, c.1460 and Madonna and Child, c. In stone his most famous work is also his first major commission, Vasari, Gaurico, and several other early writers give contradictory accounts of Luca della Robbias youth, training, and early works. He was born in Florence, the son of a member of the Arte de Lana or wool-workers guild and he may have trained as a goldsmith under Leonardo di Ser Giovanni according to Vasari, before working with Ghiberti on the famous doors of the Florence Baptistry. He was heavily influenced by Donatello, and in the 1420s was used by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi for sculpture on his buildings and his important commission for the Cantoria of Florence Cathedral came before he joined the sculptors guild in 1432. According to Vasari, the Medici family were responsible for securing him the commission and his first documented commission, the Cantoria for the organ loft of Cathedral of Florence. During the seven years it took della Robbia to carve the reliefs under the supervision of Brunelleschi, while the earliest carved panels are fairly symmetric and lack movement, in later panels the movement of the singers becomes much more evident and dynamic. The Singing Gallery shows children singing, dancing, and making music to praise the Lord in the words of Psalm 150 and their figures are at once lively, finely observed, and gracefully combined in groups designed to fit the ten panels of the gallery. The advanced nature of the work has seen to establish Luca della Robbias skill in stone as well as secure his place as a major Florentine artist. Maria in Peretola, bronze angels to enrich the Singing Gallery, and, in collaboration with Michelozzo, in 1898 it was again removed to the church of Santa Trinita in Florence. An effigy of the bishop in a restful pose lies on a sarcophagus sculptured with graceful reliefs of angels holding a wreath which contains the inscription, above are three-quarter length figures of Christ between St John and the Virgin, of conventional type. The whole is surrounded by a frame formed of painted tiles. On each tile is painted, with pigments, a bunch of flowers. Della Robbias earliest surviving freestanding sculpture is the white tin-glazed terracotta Visitation in the church of San Giovanni Fuoricivitas of Pistoia, working with assistants, including members of his own family, della Robbia produced a number of decorative reliefs and altarpieces until the end of his life. One of the arguably finest examples is the enameled terra-cotta ceiling of the Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal in San Miniato and this medallion was set up on the facade of the Pazzi Palace to commemorate Renés visit to Florence in 1442. His works were popular in his time, and many were sent outside Florence
Luca della Robbia
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Roundel by Luca and
Andrea della Robbia
Luca della Robbia
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Cantoria (singing loft) by Luca della Robbia, 1431-38, his first known commission -
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
Luca della Robbia
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Another panel of the Cantoria
Luca della Robbia
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Nativity,
National Gallery of Art
24.
Donatello
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Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance sculptor from Florence. He worked with stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco and wax, and had several assistants, with four perhaps being a typical number. Though his best-known works were mostly statues in the round, he developed a new, very shallow, type of bas-relief for small works, and a good deal of his output was larger architectural reliefs. Donatello was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, who was a member of the Florentine Arte della Lana, Donatello was educated in the house of the Martelli family. He apparently received his artistic training in a goldsmiths workshop. While undertaking study and excavations with Filippo Brunelleschi in Rome, work that gained the two men the reputation of treasure seekers, Donatello made a living by working at goldsmiths shops. In 1409–1411 he executed the colossal seated figure of Saint John the Evangelist, which until 1588 occupied a niche of the old cathedral façade and this work marks a decisive step forward from late Gothic Mannerism in the search for naturalism and the rendering of human feelings. The face, the shoulders and the bust are still idealized, while the hands, in 1411–13, Donatello worked on a statue of St. Mark for the guild church of Orsanmichele. In 1417 he completed the Saint George for the Confraternity of the Cuirass-makers, the elegant St. George and the Dragon relief on the statues base, executed in schiacciato is one of the first examples of central-point perspective in sculpture. From 1423 is the Saint Louis of Toulouse for the Orsanmichele, Donatello had also sculpted the classical frame for this work, which remains, while the statue was moved in 1460 and replaced by Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Verrocchio. Between 1415 and 1426, Donatello created five statues for the campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, also known as the Duomo. These works are the Beardless Prophet, Bearded Prophet, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Habbakuk, and Jeremiah, from the late teens is the Pazzi Madonna relief in Berlin. In 1425, he executed the notable Crucifix for Santa Croce, this work portrays Christ in a moment of the agony, eyes and mouth partially opened, the body contracted in an ungraceful posture. From 1425 to 1427, Donatello collaborated with Michelozzo on the monument of the Antipope John XXIII for the Battistero in Florence. Donatello made the recumbent bronze figure of the deceased, under a shell, in 1427, he completed in Pisa a marble relief for the funerary monument of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci at the church of SantAngelo a Nilo in Naples. In the same period, he executed the relief of the Feast of Herod, the relief is mostly in stiacciato, with the foreground figures are done in bas-relief. Around 1430, Cosimo de Medici, the foremost art patron of his era and this is now Donatellos most famous work, and the first known free-standing nude statue produced since antiquity. Also from this period is the disquietingly small Love-Atys, housed in the Bargello, some have perceived the David as having homo-erotic qualities, and have argued that this reflected the artists own orientation
Donatello
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16th-century portrait
Donatello
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Statue of St. John the Baptist in the Duomo di Siena
Donatello
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In 1409–1411 he executed the colossal seated figure of Saint John the Evangelist.
Donatello
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Donatello David head and shoulders front right
25.
Filippo Brunelleschi
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Filippo Brunelleschi was an Italian designer and a key figure in architecture, recognised to be the first modern engineer, planner and sole construction supervisor. He was one of the fathers of the Renaissance. He is generally known for developing a technique for linear perspective in art. Heavily depending on mirrors and geometry, to reinforce Christian spiritual reality and it also had the most profound – and quite unanticipated – influence on the rise of modern science. His accomplishments also include other works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering. His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy, unfortunately, his two original linear perspective panels have been lost. Brunelleschi was born in Florence, Italy, little is known about his early life, the only sources being Antonio Manetti and Giorgio Vasari. According to these sources, Filippos father was Brunellesco di Lippo, a notary, Filippo was the middle of their three children. The young Filippo was given a literary and mathematical education intended to enable him to follow in the footsteps of his father, a civil servant. Being artistically inclined, however, Filippo enrolled in the Arte della Seta, the silk merchants Guild, which also included goldsmiths, metalworkers and he became a master goldsmith in 1398. It was thus not a coincidence that his first important building commission, in 1401, Brunelleschi entered a competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery. Seven competitors each produced a bronze panel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. Brunelleschis entry, which, with that of Lorenzo Ghiberti, is one of two to have survived, made reference to the Greco-Roman Boy with Thorn. Brunelleschis panel consists of several pieces bolted to the back plate, Brunelleschi is considered a seminal figure of the Renaissance. Around 1400, there emerged a cultural interest in humanitas, or humanism, however, this interest was restricted to a few scholars, writers, and philosophers before it began to influence the visual arts. It was in period that Brunelleschi and his friend Donatello visited Rome to study its ancient ruins. Donatello, like Brunelleschi, was trained as a goldsmith, though he worked in the studio of contemporarily well-known painter Ghiberti. Although the glories of Ancient Rome were a matter of popular discourse at the time, it seems no one had studied the physical fabric of its ruins in any detail until Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi
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Presumed depiction in Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus,
Masaccio
Filippo Brunelleschi
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The
Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in
Florence possesses the largest brick dome in the world, and is considered a masterpiece of European architecture.
Filippo Brunelleschi
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Nave of the Santo Spirito, Florence, 1441–1481
Filippo Brunelleschi
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Chapel of the Pazzi family, one of his last works
26.
Masaccio
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Masaccio, born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio died at twenty-six and little is known about the circumstances of his death. The name Masaccio is a version of Maso, meaning clumsy or messy Tom. The name may have created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator, also called Maso. Despite his brief career, he had a influence on other artists. He was one of the first to use linear perspective in his painting, employing techniques such as vanishing point in art for the first time, Masaccio was born to Giovanni di Simone Cassai and Jacopa di Martinozzo in Castel San Giovanni di Altura, now San Giovanni Valdarno. His father was a notary and his mother the daughter of an innkeeper of Barberino di Mugello and his family name, Cassai, comes from the trade of his paternal grandfather Simone and granduncle Lorenzo, who were carpenters/cabinet makers. Masaccios father died in 1406, when he was five, later that same year a brother was born. He also was to become a painter, with the nickname of lo Scheggia meaning the splinter, there is no evidence for Masaccios artistic education, however Renaissance painters traditionally began an apprenticeship with an established master around the age of 12. Johannis Simonis pictor populi S. Nicholae de Florentia, the first works attributed to Masaccio are the San Giovenale Triptych, now in the Museum of Cascia di Reggello near Florence, and the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne at the Uffizi. The San Giovenale altarpiece was discovered in 1961 in the church of San Giovenale at Cascia di Reggello and it depicts the Virgin and Child with angels in the central panel, Sts. Bartholomew and Blaise on the panel, and Sts. Juvenal and Anthony Abbot in the right panel, the painting has lost much of its original framing, and its surface is badly abraded. The second work was perhaps Masaccios first collaboration with the older and already-renowned artist, Masolino is believed to have painted the figure of St. Anne and the angels that hold the cloth of honor behind her, while Masaccio painted the more important Virgin and Child on their throne. Masolinos figures are delicate, graceful and somewhat flat, while Masaccios are solid, in Florence, Masaccio could study the works of Giotto and become friends with Brunelleschi and Donatello. It was destroyed when the cloister was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century. With the two artists probably working simultaneously, the painting began around 1425, but for reasons the chapel was left unfinished. As a whole the frescoes represent human sin and its redemption through the actions of Peter, the style of Masaccios scenes shows the influence of Giotto especially
Masaccio
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Detail of St. Peter Raising the Son of Theophilus and St. Peter Enthroned as First Bishop of Antioch, Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine, Florence
Masaccio
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San Giovenale Triptych (1422)
Masaccio
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Masolino & Masaccio,
Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (c. 1424), Uffizi
Masaccio
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The Tribute Money, fresco in the
Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
27.
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
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Santa Maria del Carmine is a church of the Carmelite Order, in the Oltrarno district of Florence, in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous as the location of the Brancacci Chapel housing outstanding Renaissance frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale, the church, dedicated to the Beatæ Virginis Mariæ de monte Carmelo, was built from 1268 as part of Carmelite convent, which is still existing today. Of the original edifice only some Romanesque-Gothic remains can be seen on the sides, the complex was enlarged a first time in 1328 and again in 1464, when the capitular hall and the refectory added, though the church maintained the Latin Cross, one nave plan. Renovated in the Baroque style in the 16th–17th centuries, it was damaged by a fire in 1771, the façade, like in many Florentine churches, remained unfinished. The fire did not touch the sacristy, therefore have survived the Stories of St. Cecilia attributed to Lippo dAndrea, the vault of the nave has a trompe-loeil, quadratura fresco by Domenico Stagi. Also the Brancacci Chapel survived the fire, and was saved by the subsequent restoration by the intervention of a Florentine noblewoman who was opposed to the covering of the frescoes. The Chapel is home to the frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino. Masaccios master Masolino, commissioned by a merchant, Felice Brancacci, began work on the chapel in 1425 and was soon joined in the project by his pupil. The scenes by Masolino are St Peter Healing a Lame Man and Raising Tabitha from the Dead, St Peter Preaching, and Adam and Eve. Those by mostly Masaccio are The Tribute Money, St Peter Healing with his Shadow, The Crucifixion of St Peter, The Baptism of the Neophytes and their treatment of figures in believable space made the frescoes among the most important to have come out of the Early Renaissance. The cycle was finished by Filippino Lippi, the elaborated Italian Rococo ceiling is from one of the most important 18th century artists in the city, Giovanni Domenico Ferretti. The architect Pier Francesco Silvani choose for it the Baroque style then popular in Rome, the altar has a marble bas-relief depicting the Glory of St Andrea Corsini, sculpted by Foggini, and above a God the Father sculpted by Carlo Marcellini. The small dome was frescoed by Giordano in 1682, the frescoes suffered in the great church fire, and were restored by Stefano Fabbrini. The convent suffered in its history from numerous disasters, from the 1771 fire to the 1966 River Arno flood, the second refectory is decorated with the Supper in Simon the Pharisees house by Giovanni Battista Vanni, it also houses fragments of frescoes by Lippo dAndrea. Neri Corsini Holy Places in Tuscany Media related to Santa Maria del Carmine at Wikimedia Commons
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
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The unfinished façade.
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
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The interior.
Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
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The Corsini Chapel.
28.
Altarpiece of the church of the Misericordia
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The Polyptych of the Misericordia is a painting conserved in the Museo Civico di Sansepolcro in the town of Sansepolcro, region of Tuscany, Italy. The painting is one of the earliest works of the Italian Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca, the central panel is of the common motif of the Virgin of Mercy or Madonna della Misericordia. In 1445, the Compagnia della Misericordia, a confraternity of Borgo San Sepolcro, commissioned Piero, according to the taste of the time, the polyptych was to be painted with precious colours and have a gilded background. Piero did not respect the time limit set in the contract—he was busy working on many other projects. The polyptych was only finished seventeen years later, in 1462, the oldest two panels, to the left of the main panel, depict St Sebastian and St John the Baptist. St Sebastians panel shows a connection with Masaccios nudes, which Piero would have seen in an early visit to Florence. Piero painted the panels of the tympanum later, including the Crucifixion at the top centre, St Benedict, the Angel, the Madonna of the Annunciation. Towards 1450 he finished the figures of St. Andrew and St. Bernardino, the predellas, with five scenes of Jesuss life, were mostly executed by assistants. The last part of the polyptych to be painted was the central panel showing the Madonna della Misericordia. The panel portrays the mercifully protective gesture of the Madonna enfolding her followers in her mantle, notably, the Madonna is still portrayed larger in size than the human figures, a tradition in medieval painting. However, the fully three-dimensional rendering of the figure, inspired by Masaccio, consecration and entrustment to Mary Montenegro, Riccardo
Altarpiece of the church of the Misericordia
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Madonna della Misericordia
Altarpiece of the church of the Misericordia
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The larger setting
listen (help·info); c. 1415[1] – 12 October 1492) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art, his painting is characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.
