Notes

2.1 Late Medieval or Proto-Renaissance?
2.2 The Renaissance and Italy
Introduction
If you recall your past lectures, most of the period styles, as historians would often agree, had a clear beginning or at the very least, a clear design origin. This is especially true for the styles that emerged during the Middle Ages. The Byzantine style had the Hagia Sophia, the Romanesque style had the monasteries of northern Europe such as the Abbey of Cluny, and the Gothic style had the ambulatory of the Abbey of St. Denis. This is however not as clear-cut once we discuss the origins of the Renaissance style. Where did it begin? When exactly did it begin? and what is it really all about?


Fig. 2.1.1 (Left to Right): The interiors of the Hagia Sophia; The Abbey of Cluny; The severies of the ambulatory of the Abbey of St. Denis.

The Late Medieval Age and Rise of Humanism
The Late Medieval Age generally corresponds to the 13th to the 15th century in the west. This period was marked by a string of unfortunate events, most notably the Black Death which swept in from central Asia and killed a third of Europe's population. Sociopolitical uncertainties and upheavals led to civil wars and religious controversies plaguing (no pun intended) the Catholic church eventually brought about its splitting known as The Great Schism. The east was not faring any better with the decline of the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople eventually falling into the hands of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453.


Fig. 2.1.2 (Left to Right): Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken by Josse Lieferinxe; Hundred Years War between France and England 1339-1453, Siege of Ribodane with cannon and Longbow from Chronicles of England by Jean de Wavrin, 14-1500; a 14th-century illuminated miniature of the Schism of 1130; The last siege of Constantinople (1453), French miniature by Jean Le Tavernier after 1455.

The 14th century was, however, a time of great progress in the arts and sciences. The weakening of the established institutions, particularly of the Catholic church, as well as the promotion of scientific discoveries that debunked many of the church's explanations of natural phenomena brought about a renewed focus on rational thought. A group known as the "Humanists" was organized with the purpose of investigating and eliminating some of the superstitions and mysticism that were current and protested against the authority of the church in matters of secular importance. This intellectual revolution revived interest in classical philosophy and non-religious pursuits and gave importance to observation, critical analysis, and creativity. This was later termed Humanism, from studia humanitatis which was first coined by Cicero. It referred to studies that, rather than concentrating on scholastic religious matters, focus instead on what it is to be human, giving importance to the individual. It developed the idea that each human being had the potentialities to learn, discover, and achieve to become virtuous individuals and how may that individual fully participate in public life.

The Birth of the "Renaissance"
The "Renaissance" describes a cluster of developments between the 1400s and 1600s, spurred by rising of Humanism, that gradually pushed medieval ways of thinking aside and made way for changes in human experience as great as those that came with the founding of the first recorded civilizations around 5000 BCE. Although the concept of the Renaissance applies to a wide range of fields, it is best known for its contributions to the development of the arts.


Fig. 2.1.3 The School of Athens (1509–1511), Raphael

The term derives from the French translation of Rinascimento, pertaining to the rebirth (rinascita, first mentioned by Giorgio Vasari) and progress of 15th-century European culture which heavily predicated itself on classical ideals, ie. from Greece and Rome, which was believed to have been lost through the centuries. Contemporaries of the time actually saw this as the ushering of a "modern" age, ending the backward and "dark" nature of the times before. In art and architecture, this is seen as a conscious revival and development of certain elements of classical forms, designs, and even material culture, especially in Italy, particularly Florence in the 1500s where the Renaissance is traditionally thought to have started. This popular notion, unfortunately, erroneously supports the assumption that prior to the 1500s, the classical tradition was either lost or forgotten.

Redefining the Renaissance
As mentioned before, the entire idea of western culture is hinged on the Renaissance and the idea of its recovery of the classical ideologies of the greatest European civilizations, or at least in terms of western art, its visual culture. The visual culture of antiquity was however never completely lost. Although the fall of the Roman Empire saw the influx of non-Roman, barbarian traditions, these visual forms amalgamated with classical styles through the Christianization of these new-formed empires and nations. Careful inspection of Middle Age artifacts would prove that classical elements did survive, and even flourish, as seen in the amazing decorations of the Gothic period, albeit liberties were taken in its interpretation and implementation. Late medieval Italy was no exception as seen from the naturalism depicted in the carved works done by the brothers Pisano, as well as the painted works of Giotto, Duccio, and Simone Martini. Unpopular opinion can then argue that the Renaissance... "Rather than a period with definitive beginnings and endings and consistent content in between, the Renaissance can be (and occasionally has been) seen as a movement of practices and ideas to which specific groups and identifiable persons variously responded in different times and places." - Randolph Starn, Historian.


Fig. 2.1.4 (From left to right) The pulpit of the Pisa cathedral by Giovanni Pisano; the pulpit of the Sian cathedral by Nicola Pisano; The tomb of St. Peter Martyr by Giovanni di Balduccio; The south gate of the Baptistery of the Florence cathedral by Andrea Pisano.


Fig. 2.1.5 Frescos of Scrovegni Chapel in Padua by Giotto de Bondone


Fig. 2.1.6 Detail of the Maesta by Duccio di Buoninsegna.


Fig. 2.1.7 The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus by Simone Martin
2.2 The Renaissance and Italy
2.1 Late Medieval or Proto-Renaissance?
2.3 Italian Renaissance Architecture
Introduction
Known as the fathers of Renaissance Humanism, the works of Italian scholars Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, significantly influenced the new wave of rational thinking sweeping 14th century Europe at the time. Having carefully studied the philosophies of antiquity, their works helped drive a revival of interest in the classics in Italy. This was further aided by the fact that Italy was blessed with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. Examples of Roman architecture were found in almost every town and city, and Roman sculpture, including copies of lost sculptures from ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The fall of the Eastern Roman Empire to the Ottoman Turks also saw a great migration of Greek scholars and craftsmen to the west, bringing with them vast amounts of classical knowledge.

The Renaissance and Florence
Despite the many catastrophes that plagued Europe during the Middle Ages, trade routes with the east remained open and active. Italian states such as Florence and Venice flourished, as well as other cities in northern Europe. The republic of Florence, in particular, by the 15th century had an idyllically stable government, great wealth through its success in trade and banking, which created a kind of communal sense of optimism and power. This prosperity and a further desire for progress, fueled by the concepts of humanism, led to the curiosity of pre-medieval civilizations, as well as a general desire to explore all aspects of nature and the world. This great wealth also provided the financial support for a growing number of commissions of large public and private art projects, as ascetic attitudes prevalent during the Middle Ages began to loosen (or were even completely disregarded). The trade routes upon which Florence's wealth was based served to spread these "Renaissance" ideas and thus contributed to the growth of the movement across the continent. The spreading of ideas was further hastened by the invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg.


Fig. 2.2.1 (Left) The map of the city-states of Italy during the Middle Ages; (Right) Present-day Florence, showing the great dome of the Duomo by Filippo Brunelleschi.

Characteristics of the Italian Renaissance in Art
The re-establishment of western art according to the principles of classical Greek and Roman art, especially in sculpture and painting, provided much of the basis for the Grand Tour. From the early 14th century, in their search for a new set of artistic values and a response to the courtly International Gothic style, Italian artists and thinkers became inspired by the ideas and forms of ancient Greece and Rome. This was perfectly in tune with their desire to create a universal, even noble, form of art that could express the new and more confident mood of the times.


Fig. 2.2.2 Attributed to Agensander, Athenodoros, & Polydorus of Rhodes - Laocoön and His Sons (Between 27 BCE-68 CE), The Vatican Museum

Renaissance art was driven by the new notion of "Humanism," a philosophy that had been the foundation for many of the achievements (eg. democracy) of pagan ancient Greece. Humanism downplayed religious and secular dogma and instead attached the greatest importance to the dignity and worth of the individual. It emphasizes the value of human beings, both individually and collectively, and generally favors critical thinking (rationalism) over traditional doctrine or faith (scholasticism or religious dogma). Supporters of Renaissance humanism typically had great respect for the thinkers of classical antiquity, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Vitruvius. Humanists in Florence aimed to educate the Florentine citizenry through the study of the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy.

In the visual arts, humanism stood for:

The emergence of the individual figure in place of stereotyped or symbolic figures.
Greater realism and consequent attention to detail, as reflected in the development of linear perspective and the increasing realism of human faces and bodies; this new approach helps to explain why the classical sculptures were so revered, and why Byzantine art fell out of fashion.
An emphasis on and promotion of virtuous action: an approach echoed by the leading art theorist of the Renaissance Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72). The promotion of virtuous action reflected the growing idea that man, not fate or God, controlled human destiny, and was a key reason why history painting became regarded as the highest form of painting.



Fig. 2.2.3 The Creation of Adam (c. 1512) by Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Sistine Chapel

Subdivisions of Italian Renaissance
Quattrocento
Quattrocento is an abbreviation for "millequattrocento" (Italian for 'fourteen hundred'), meaning the 15th century. It, therefore, embraces cultural and artistic activities in painting, sculpture, and architecture during the period 1400-1500. The term is often used as a synonym for Early Renaissance art in general, but particularly in Florence, during the transitional period between Gothic and classical styles. The Florentine Renaissance flourished mainly due to their enlightened patrons, and none were more influential than the Medici Family. The family fortune derived from banking, Cosimo, and eventually, his grandson, Lorenzo (Lorenzo the Magnificent), with their passion for knowledge and the arts, brought artists, philosophers, and scientists to Florence and created a golden age in the history of art to rival even that of ancient Athens.

Cinquecento
Cinquecento (Italian for 'five hundred') is an abbreviation for "millecinquecento" (Italian for 'fifteen hundred') and is used in the history of art as a description of the 16th century in Italy. Traditionally it encompasses cultural activities in the fields of Italian architecture, painting, and sculpture during the period 1500-1600. The Cinquecento witnessed the full flowering of High Renaissance art - in Rome, Venice, and to a lesser extent Florence - as well as the related Mannerism movement which followed. Thus it may be said to represent the late Italian Renaissance.

Mannerism
Mannerism (derived from the Italian word 'maniera' meaning style or stylishness) refers to a style of painting, sculpture, and (to a lesser extent) architecture, that emerged in Rome and Florence between 1510 and 1520, during the later years of the High Renaissance. Mannerism acts as a bridge between the idealized style of Renaissance art and the dramatic theatricality of the Baroque.
2.3 Italian Renaissance Architecture
2.2 The Renaissance and Italy
2.4 Examples of Italian Renaissance Architecture
Introduction
The Early Renaissance style of architecture was inspired and shaped by the rediscovery of classical architectural theories (inc. canons of proportion), such as by the 1st-century Roman architect Vitruvius, which was discovered in Rome. The architects of the Italian Renaissance sought their main inspiration from Greek and Roman architecture - combining classicism with the new principles of humanism upon which so much of Renaissance art was based. Above all, they sought to establish the ideal proportions for a building, based on those of the idealized human body.


Fig. 2.3.1 Temple Types: in Antis and Prostyle (Vitruvius, Book 3, Chapter 2, nos. 2, 3). Attributed to a member of the Sangallo family,1530–45. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although ecclesiastical structures will become the primary examples of the style, especially as later popes would sponsor major building campaigns to recapture their waning influence, it was the many luxurious urban palaces and suburban villas constructed by the wealthy merchant and ruling families that fully showcased this shift towards more classically inspired design. Domestic construction became an expression of the changing mindset towards comfort, convenience, and beauty, no longer of medieval concerns about safety, strength, and protection. This also marked the beginnings of the modern art of interior design.


Fig. 2.3.2 (Left) The Palazzo Medici Riccardi and (Right) the Villa Medici di Careggi by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo.

Characteristics of Italian Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance buildings have square and symmetrical plans whose proportions are usually based on a module. Within a church, the module is often the width of an aisle.
Façades are symmetrical around their vertical axis. Church façades are generally surmounted by a pediment and organized by a system of pilasters, arches, and entablatures. Domestic buildings are often surmounted by a cornice. There is a regular repetition of openings on each floor, and the centrally placed door is marked by a feature such as a balcony, or rusticated surround.
Structures feature planar classicism, such that Roman and Greek motifs intrude minimally on the two-dimensional appearance of the walls, the Renaissance building serving only as flat canvases for a classical veneer.



Fig. 2.3.3 (Left) The Renaissance humanist and architect Francesco di Giorgio(1439–1502) placed the human figure within a grid of squares, which he then developed as a plan for an ideal church, with nave, transepts, choir, and chapels; (Middle and Right) The plan and facade of Sant' Andrea in Mantua by Leon Battista Alberti.

Arches are semi-circular or segmental. Vaults do not have ribs and are either semi-circular or segmental on a square plan.
The dome is used as large structural features, and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where they are only visible internally.
Roofs are fitted with flat, beamed, or coffered ceilings. They are frequently painted or decorated.
Doors usually have square lintels. They may be set within an arch or surmounted by a triangular or segmental pediment. Openings that do not have doors are usually arched and frequently have a large or decorative keystone.
Windows may be paired and set within a semicircular arch, called bifora windows. They may have square lintels and triangular or segmental pediments, which are often used alternately.
External walls are generally constructed of brick, rendered, or faced with stone in highly finished ashlar masonry, laid in straight courses. The corners of buildings are often emphasized by rusticated quoins. Basements and ground floors were often rusticated. Internal walls are smoothly plastered and surfaced with lime wash. For more formal spaces, internal surfaces are decorated with frescoes.
Courses, moldings, and all decorative details are carved with great precision. In some cases, friezes were inscribed with commemorative quotations, carved in antique Roman lettering.
The emergence of the Florentine Arch - an arch with a semicircular intrados but whose extrados is not concentric. The keystone was often emphasized as it was larger than other voussoirs.



Fig. 2.3.4 (Left) The Palazzo Rucellai by Leon Battista Alberti with its levels of bifora windows framed by pilasters; (Middle top) Quoins decorate building corners; (Middle bottom) the section of the baptistery of Florence; (Right) The Kneeling windows of the Palazzo Medici Ricardi.