LECTURE chapter 21 early italian renaissance 1400 1480 back to proto renaissance cast shadows linear perspective time the bubonic plague black death of 1348 set europe to renaissance from proto renaissance the black death brings back harsh art turns to themes of judgement and torment competition florence birthplace of the early italian renaissance 1400 1480 epicenter of the renaissance is the florence baptistry door competition BRUNELLESCHI goes to rome for some 14 years because he didn t win the GHIBERTI wins the competition and works on the first doors for 23 years commission was so happy they reward with him another set of doors took 27 years gates of paradise MICHAELANGELO finds these very worthy DONATELLO started in ghiberti s workshop with doors broke out and became greatest sculpture of 1400s st mark is a major milestone in sculpture is not made for the linen weaver s guild public commission an advertisement for the guild milestone because he is in a believable stance ex gothic virgin of paris first statue since antiquity to show the principle of contrapposto drapery clings to him in a more natural manner face is also more realistic idealistic linen weavers did not like it in the studio didn t fix it just put it in niche they loved it looking up david 1400s on large scale goliath toe weird adjusted proportions for final context long torso head on regular from is a life size figure cast in bronze using the lost wax process one of the first life size cast bronze nude figures 1st time since rome antiquity that someone is taking the initiative nude nudity shows that he was protected by god has a feminine quality very soft which underscores that he defeated goliath has a sort of smile and david is playing with his beard with his multivalence multiple layers of meaning meant in this sculpture cosimo de medici business man politician hugely powerful and rich banker also patron of arts put in palazzo medici david patron of ancient greek learning humanist scholar wanted to revive latin and the sort plato equestrian monument of erasmo da marni gattamelata 1445 50 condottiere people who won territory for the independent cities gattamelata is the first life size question bronze since antiquity shows how he is reviving things everything is a lot bigger on his sculpture than the one on marcus aurelius ready for battle mary magdalene 1454 55 companion of christ companion who oiled his feet in gospels medieval legend she was a prostitute met christ and was good then devoted life to earth after his death portrayed as old woman in sculpture sunken eyes jutting jaw no teeth christ s feet feast of herod 1425 cloak is meant to suggest hair she wore her hair oil from hair oiled milestone in baptistry in siena john the baptist is in jail herod killed brother to marry herodius salamae attracted herod herod killed john the baptist to see salamae dance what she asked for kids are trying to flee from scene shows interest in space earliest surviving image to demonstrate one point linear perspective all orthogonals converge to a singular vanishing point but donatello did not invent linear perspective brunelleschi developed it painting of the baptistry was the first demonstration of this while in rome GHIBERTI paradise north doors BRUNELLESCHI couldn t fin 1415 good gates of paradise east doors panels are much bigger square frame that fills whole panel uses perspective on isaac and his sons jacob and esau from gates of funny because this was created by brunelleschi larger amount of doors gothic like frame quatrefoil dug for years in rome to try and understand their buildings interested in pantheon and its done florence cathedral was being under construction and created a structure so big dome is only two feet shorter than that of the pantheon state they were in 1416 create a competition florence cathedral dome competition brunellesche and ghiberti both won so they had to work side by side not took from 1420 1436 had to build dome on prebuilt foundation dome they lived in the reversible gear pulleys place santo spirito had to be as light weight as possible ogival arch profile to dome verticality pushes weight to walls 2nd solution not a solid dome double shell one inside the other while in production workers didn t have to come down because dome with functioning kitchens bathrooms and herringbone pattern in brickwork achieves stability and unable to slip out of place series of horizontal and vertical ribs solid stone lantern is the heaviest part because it locks eight sections in florentines are still so proud of born in the shadow of the dome began in 1430s interior is his design worked in a gothic context lower ceiling than the westminster abbey in london eyes drawn to altar may to mean that god is here with us rather than up much simpler and not overwhelming and could see what was going on in the westminster its very complex and detailed in space DISCUSSION linear perspective one point two point three point perspective ex feast of herod how our eyes actually see distance horizon line where land or sea meets the sky vanishing point a point on the horizon line where all orthogonal lines meet BRUNELLESCHI developed the linear perspective a finalist of the florence baptistery door competition of 1401 1402 this is exactly where renaissance begins door competition in the proto renaissance 1300s we saw a gradual move toward increase NATURALISM due to a rising interest in the humanism of the ancient greeks romans end of the proto renaissance converting to renaissance the bubonic plague aka the black death in 1348 florence lost 70 of its population siena lost 75 in one summer saw plague as a judgement GIOTTO S openness is taken away and viewers not invited anymore florence baptistry is the smaller gray topped building had to go into the baptistry to be baptized before going into the cathedral 100 thousand lbs of bronze to cover the doors this door competition was a declaration that they were able to pick up and move on from plague preserved both finalist panels because they knew it was a changing point what is being depicted god tells abraham to build altar to sacrifice isaac test of faith angel appears and tells him to sacrifice ram instead giangaleazzo visconti was the duke of milan visconti tried to take over the italian peninsula to make it one florence was surrounded and trapped by the milanese when the door competition began he was blocking the food supply from getting into florence coluccio salutati