From Gothic to Renaissance: 14th-Century Italian Art
	The City-States: Politics and Economics :: Disruption and Change :: Letters and Learning :: The Movement Away From Medievalism in Art		Images courtesy of Saskia Ltd.
	THE MOVEMENT AWAY FROM MEDIEVALISM IN ART Maniera Greca: Bonaventura Berlinghieri's altarpiece of Saint Francis is painted in the Italo-Byzantine style, which is characterized by a strict formality, a linear flatness, a shallow space, and an emphasis on the spiritual. 14-1: BONAVENTURA BERLINGHIERI, panel from the Saint Francis Altarpiece, San Francesco, Pescia, Italy, 1235. Tempera on wood, approx. 5' x 3' x 6". Painting Painting Painting Painting The influence of classical art: Nicola Pisano incorporated classical elements into the marble reliefs he carved for the otherwise medieval-type pulpit in the baptistery of Pisa Cathedral.
	14-2: NICOLA PISANO, pulpit of Pisa Cathedral baptistery, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260. Marble, approx. 15' high. Pulpits Pulpit Detail Pulpit Pulpit 14-3: NICOLA PISANO, The Annunciation and the Nativity, detail of Pisa baptistery pulpit, Pisa, Italy, 1259-1260. Marble relief, approx. 2' 10" x 3' 9". Relief Relief Relief Relief A son's sculptural response: In the reliefs panels carved for the pulpit in Sant'Andrea at Pistoia, Nicola Pisano's son Giovanni Pisano carved more naturalistic figures whose supple and slender bodies, clothed in sinuous draperies, twist and bend with greater animation and emotional expression. 14-4: GIOVANNI PISANO, The Annunciation and the Nativity, detail of the pulpit of Sant'Andrea, Pistoia, Italy, 1297-1301. Marble relief, approx. 2' 10" x 3' 4". detail pulpit pulpit pulpit Sculptural form in painting: In his fresco of the Last Judgment in the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome, Pietro Cavallini abandons Byzantine conventions and paints more sculpturally solid figures. 14-5: PIETRO CAVALLINI, Seated Apostles, detail of the Last Judgment, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, Italy, ca. 1291. Fresco. Detail Detail A summary of Byzantine style: In his altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, Cimabue moves beyond the strict conventions of the Italo-Byzantine style towards an increased naturalism in the treatment of space and in the solid three-dimensionality of the Virgin's throne.
	14-6: CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, ca. 1280-1290. Tempera on wood, 12' 7" x 7' 4". Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Detail painting painting painting painting An empirical art: The Italo-Byzantine style was abandoned altogether by Giotto di Bondone, who adopted a more naturalistic approach based on the observation of nature. In his Madonna Enthroned, forms are foreshortened and modeled in light and shade to create figures that have sculptural solidity and weight.
	14-7: GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, ca. 1310. Tempera on wood, 10' 8" x 6' 8". Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. painting painting Painting Chronicling the lives of the Virgin and Christ: Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua include 38 framed pictures peopled with sculpturesque, weighty, emotionally expressive, quietly dramatic figures arranged in convincing spatial depth on a shallow stage. 14-8: Interior of the Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni), Padua, Italy, 1305-1306. interior interior interior Interior 14-9: GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy, ca. 1305. Fresco, 6' 6 3/4" x 6' 3/4". fresco fresco fresco fresco The Republic of Siena Mary in majesty: In the rival city of Siena, examples of painting also exhibit humanized figures in more naturalistic settings. Increasing attention is paid to textures and to the modeling and placement of forms within the pictorial space of the picture. Under the influence of French Gothic art and refined aristocratic taste, the Siennese painter Simone Martini developed an elegant and intricately ornamented manner which, because of its similarity to other examples elsewhere in Europe, is called the "International Style". Other painters, meanwhile, sought to enhance pictorial realism through the depiction of convincing spatial illusions. Duccio di Buoninsegna's altarpiece of the Maestà is a polyptych in which the main panel on the front side represents the Virgin enthroned in majesty (maestà) as Queen of Heaven. Duccio shows relaxed, naturalistic figures modeled in light and dark and painted with considerable sensitivity to color and texture. Drapery falls and curves convincingly. In other panels, Duccio reveals his skills as a narrative painter, showing figures who react to the central event with appropriate physical gestures and expressions of emotion.
	14-10: DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, principal panel of the Maestà altarpiece, from the Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1308-1311. Tempera on wood, panel 7' x 13'. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena. Maestà - front Madonna Maestà - front Maestà - front 14-11: DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Betrayal of Jesus, detail from the back of the Maestà altarpiece, from the Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1309-1311. Tempera on wood, detail approx. 1' 10 1/2" x 3' 4". Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena. Maestà - back Maestà - back Betrayal Betrayal An "International style": Simone Martini adapted the luxuriant patterns of the French Gothic manner to Sienese art and helped form the so-called International Style. Martini's Annunciation altarpiece is characterized by elegant shapes, radiant color, flowing and fluttering line, and weightless figures placed in a spaceless setting. The painting is enhanced by the intricate tracery of the richly tooled Late Gothic frame.
	14-12: SIMONE MARTINI AND LIPPO MEMMI(?), Annunciation, 1333 (frame reconstructed in the nineteenth century). Tempera and gold leaf on wood, approx. 10' 1" x 8' 8 3/4". Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Annunciation Annunciation detail detail detail detail Concern for spatial illusion: Pietro Lorenzetti's The Birth of the Virgin shows pictorial realism and convincing spatial illusions. 14-13: PIETRO LORENZETTI, The Birth of the Virgin, from Altar of Saint Savinus, Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1342. Tempera on wood, approx. 6' 1" x 5' 11". Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena. painting painting painting painting A bastion of power: The Palazzo Pubblico of Siena is a symmetrical design abutted by a lofty tower with machicolated galleries built out on corbels.
	14-14: Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1288-1309. exterior exterior exterior exterior exterior Depicting governmental effects: In the frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted carefully observed and particularized views of contemporary life in and around Siena.
	14-15: AMBROGIO LORENZETTI, Peaceful City, detail from the fresco Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. Fresco Fresco Fresco Fresco
	14-16: AMBROGIO LORENZETTI, Peaceful Country, detail from the fresco Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338-1339. fresco detail detail detail detail The Republic of Florence The "most beautiful" Tuscan church: At the forefront of artistic change was the republic of Florence. Through the construction and embellishment of magnificent churches, the government and citizens of Florence sought both to honor God and to make apparent the economic and cultural superiority of the city. Two large churches built in Florence in the 14th century exhibit Gothic features (pointed arches and rib vaults) but are otherwise unlike Gothic buildings in northern Europe in both design and decoration. The cathedral of Florence, begun by Arnolfo di Cambio, has an exterior surface ornamented in the Tuscan fashion with marble-encrusted geometric designs. Emphasis is placed on the design's horizontal elements, and the building rests firmly and massively on the ground. In contrast, the dome, built later in the 15h century, rises magnificently as a crisp, closed, ogival silhouette against the sky behind it.
	14-17: ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO and others, Florence Cathedral (view from the south), Florence, Italy, begun 1296. Cathedral Exterior Exterior Exterior A tower of building blocks: The Florence campanile (bell tower), designed by Giotto, stands apart from the cathedral in the Italian tradition. It is subdivided into cubic sections. The spacious nave of Florence Cathedral is divided into bays separated from the shallow aisles by wide arcades. The Cathedral's façade was not completed until the 19th century.
	14-18: Nave of Florence Cathedral (view facing east), Florence, Italy, begun 1296. Nave Nave Nave Nave Nave Accommodating the faithful: The Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novella was designed to hold large congregations. Simple compound piers support the rib-vaults of the nave and aisles. The ribs, ogival arches, and the small oculi (round openings) that pierce the nave wall are striped. 14-19: Nave of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy, ca. 1246-1470. Nave Nave interior A memorial to the Black Death: The gentle curvilinear shapes and Gothic sentiment of Bernardo Daddi's painting of the Madonna and Child are offset by the sparkling patterns of geometric decoration that ornament Orcagna's pinnacled façade-like design for the architectural frame of the tabernacle in Florence's Or San Michele. 14-20: ORCAGNA, tabernacle, Or San Michele, Florence, Italy, begun 1349. Mosaic, gold, marble, lapis lazuli. BERNARDO DADDI, Madonna and Child with saints, painted panel insert, 1346-1347. Tabernacle Tabernacle Tabernacle Tabernacle Tabernacle Pisa Italy's port cities - Genoa, Pisa, and Venice - controlled the ever busier and more extended avenues of maritime commerce that connected the West with the lands of Islam, with Byzantium and Russian, and overland with China. Pisa developed as a major shipping power, but was not immune from the disruption that the Black Death wreaked across all of Italy and Europe. Dealing with death: Painted on the wall of the Camposanto ("holyfield"), the enclosed burial ground adjacent to the Pisa Cathedral, the fresco, The Triumph of Death, captures the horrors of death and forces viewers to confront their mortality. 14-21: FRANCESCO TRAINI (?) or BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO (?), Triumph of Death, 1330s. Fresco, 18' 6" x 49' 2". Camposanto, Pisa. Fresco Fresco Fresco Fresco
	The City-States: Politics and Economics :: Disruption and Change :: Letters and Learning :: The Movement Away From Medievalism in Art