Masaccio also created The Expulsion from Paradise which displays motion within the human body The figures within the painting are in anguish in contrast to Gentile da Fabriano s painting which demonstrates a more beautiful reality Florentine Painters and the Medici Family For the past four generations the Medici family which was a prominent a banking family became the most powerful family in Florence They also held power in the pro papal party because they managed the pope s finances During this time artists were influenced by the many achievements from Donatello Masaccio and Brunelleschi Commissioned by Cosimo de Medici Fra Brother Angelico created altarpieces books and frescos for the Dominican friars in Florence Few convents of women in Florence were allowed to decorate their establishments This led to the commission of Andrea del Castagno to create images for convents One of his most famous frescos The Last Summer was created for the Benedictine convent of Sant Apollonia Fra Angelico inspired a shift in the display of religious altar panels in the 1440s Earlier altarpieces were often adorned by elaborate frames but the altarpieces of the later generation were less ornate and more geometrical An example of the new altarpiece is the venetian artist Domenico Veneziano s Madonna and Child with Saints When a central Madonna is surrounded by saints and angels it is referred to as sacra conversazione sacred conversation One important note of this piece is the warm and harmonious palette Furnishing and Sculpture with the Medici Family Aristocratic patrons also commissioned artists to create pieces for their homes as well as their churches One of the most argued about pieces that stood in the courtyard of the Medici palace is Donatello s David Since antiquity Donatello s David is thought to be one of the first free standing bronze sculptures created in the Renaissance using the lost wax process The Medici family has often used Florentine imagery in their palace Around 1475 the Medici family commissioned Antonio del Pollaiuolo to create the table statue Hercules and Antaeus The tondo was a Florentine specialty that was featured in homes The banker Lioanardo Bartolini Salimbeni was believed to have commissioned Fra Filippo Lippi to create the Madonna and Child with the Birth of the Virgin It was believed that the Medici family commissioned the Florentine artist Paolo Uccello to paint the Battle of San Romano This panel is part of three paintings depicting the battle of Florence and Luca in 1432 which led to Cosimo de Medici s rise to power One of the most favoured painters of the Medici circle was Botticelli His most famous image that s compared to his earlier work Primavera is The Birth of Venus which resides in the Medici villa Both paintings feature a Venus in the center of the composition however the space behind the Venus in The Birth of Venus can be seen clearly while the space behind the Venus in Primavera is blocked by trees Portraiture Portraiture was also favored in secular art Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio created many fresco portraits for patrons however he also did paintings His most intimate three dimensional pieces is An Old Man and a Young Boy The Medici family was also a patron of three dimensional paintings The Renaissance during 1450 1500 Throughout the second half of the 15th century artists in Italy were inspired by the innovations and developments of art in Florence Mantua Andrea del Mantegna became a court painter to the Gonzaga due to the artistic currents in Venice Florence and rome The knowledge Mantegna has a painter humanist and archaeologist can be seen in the panel painting St Sebastian Venice Venetian painters were exploring with oil panting during the late 15th century Giovanni Bellini s uses a combination of Flemish oil painting and Florentine perspective with the Venetian technique light and color in his piece titled St Francis in the Desert One of its kind this piece is wholly original with its use of a variety of elements Rome and the Papal States Since the division of the papacy in the early 14th century Rome had regained itself as the artistic center in the late 15th century The reigning pope Sixtus IV della Rovere commissioned several projects during the 15th century One of the projects included the construction of the Vatican building the Sistine Chapel Sixtus IV commissioned influential painters such as Botticelli Ghirlandaio and Pietro Vanucci referred to as Perugino to create frescos for the Sistine Chapel Perugino created a fresco titled The Delivery of the Keys for the Sistine Chapel The symmetry of the piece represents the importance of the subject The Delivery of the Keys depicts St Peter and his followers He is shown receiving the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven from Christ as bystanders witness the event take place The symmetry and space of the image represents the rule of Sixtus IV in spiritual and temporal terms Sixtus IV was succeeded by Alexander VI who commissioned Luca Signorelli to create a series of frescos for the chapel of San Brizio The theme for these frescos represents the end of the world which is predicted in the Book of Revelation One of his most remembered pieces is The Damned Cast in Hell Inspired by Pollaiuolo Signorelli uses the nudity of the figures as an expressive feature within the composition
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