Week 2 - Making Renaissance Art - Chapter 2 - Constructing space in Renaissance painting

Introduction
In this chapter Carol Richardson will be discussing perspective and arguing that it was not just an Italian Renaissance development, but 'simply one illusionistic pictorial tool among many' (C.B.1 p.61).

Constructing space in Renaissance Painting

Carol Richardson writes as above and argues that an over emphasis has been placed on the development of single point perspective during the 15thC linking it to the cultural identity of the times. She will proceed in asking just how significant this really was and how artists used it as part of the development of naturalism.

1) Depicting spatial relationships without single point perspective.

The example used for this section is Andrea Mantegna's The Agony in the Garden c.1460 (Plate2.2,p.65). In this painting there are no straight lines receding into the depth of the picture plane, but instead the artist depicts the spatial relationship by the size of the people and objects.

2) Brunelleschi's experiment and its impact

This is an important section explaining Brunelleschi's experiment and the impact this had particularly with the artists Donatello (Pl.2.5,p.68 Saint George and the Dragon c.1415-17) and Masaccio (Trinity c.1426 Pl.2.6,p.69). Lines of perspective are explained in diagrams which need to be looked at to fully appreciate the significance. However, the point is made that both Masaccio in displaying God and Piero della Francesca (Resurrection of Christ c.1465 Pl.2.10, p.72) show these main figures full frontal and not occupying the same dimensional space as the other characters, therefore emphasising their divine status.

3) Alberti teaches perspective

This is an important section on perspective, and highlights some of the theories that were held as to how the eye actually saw. There is an exploration of work by Uccello (Miracle of the Desecrated Host (The Selling of the Host) c.1465-9 Pl.2.14 p.76 and Saint George and the Dragon c.1470 Pl.2.15 p.77) Domenico Veneziano (Saint Lucy altarpiece c.1444 Pl.2.16 p.78) and Piero della Francesca (Flagellation of Christ 1450-60 Pl.2.17 p.79) which highlights the use of perspective including tiled floors and architecture.

4) Fresco painting and the problem of multiple viewpoints

This section considers several examples of fresco paintings and how their artists have used perspective, the single vanishing point and the horizon line in an effort to place their figures in a convincing pictorial space, even though their paintings had to fit within difficult situations. For instance many frescos are painted high on the walls, well above the viewpoint of the actual viewer, but which must still be convincing enough to present that scene within a convincing space to that viewer. Often frescos were part of a cycle of pictures, which had to relate convincingly to each other. In a number of instances artists painted the light source in their fresco to match the true light source within the building adding to the pictorial reality and effect. The section features works from the Brancacci Chapel, Florence.

5. Perspective North of the Alps

This section deals mainly with the difference between the Italian use of the single vanishing point to achieve perspective, and the use by Northern artists of light, oil paint and aerial perspecive to create depth within the picture plane. There are several paintings which show the different methods employed as can be seen in works by Dieric Bouts (Pl.2.24 p.89, & Pl.2.25 p.90). Single point perspective does appear in Northern art in the work of Petrus Christus in the 1460's (Pl.2.30 p.96, Pl.2.31 p.97 & Pl.2.32 p.98) but Northern artists tended to give greater importance to picture detail and the effects achieved by oils. Dieric Bouts The Last Supper (Pl. 2.23 p.99.)is shown to be perspecivally correct but is still manipulated to show all the disciples and picture detail which tends to give the painting an odd view.

6. Conculsion

This suggests that the use of perspective was not a strict Renaissance development, but that it was a tool used by artists when applicable to achieve the objectives on their picture. It notes that Piero della Francesca's Flagellation (Pl.2.17 p.79) is really an exception in its subservient adherance to geometry and that within most works artists adapted perspective to suit their requirements.

Week 1 -Making Renaissance Art - Chapter 1 - Drawing & Workshop Practices

Introduction
This chapter is to cover drawings over the 15th and 16th Century. During this period the drawings seem to change from a workman's guide and tool being re-used and discarded to collectible items in their own right.

Drawing and Workshop Practices
Catherine King states she will be considering drawings between 1420 and 1520 divided into two 50 year periods.
In the first 50 years she selects Gentile da Fabriano, Jan van Eyck, Antonio Pisano and Rogier van der Weyden. These are compared with Leonardo and Durer from the next 50 years.

1) Defining drawings and underdrawings
The term 'drawings' covers a range of different media and functions and different styles.
Underdrawings usually applied to panels or walls are the outline that are later painted in. These usually show some evidence of alteration or experimentation as the work has developed.
2) The survival of drawing and changes in their use
Prior to the 1420's fewer drawings have survived, and drawings seem to have been confined to stored pattern books and linked to legal contracts. This cannot be taken as evidence that drawings were not used, but just that they have not survived. It could also be that artists worked more directly from imagination and not from previously prepared sketches. Fewer drawings survive from the earlier of our 50 year periods (1420-1470), and again this could be that they were not produced in retainable form but on reusable items such as wooden panels. With the increased availability of paper and an increased interest in nature, proportion, and perspective more detailed research and preparation appears to be undertaken in the later 50 years (1470-1520).
Archival evidence and the advent of collecting
This section lists a number of bequests proving that drawings were valued items passed on from father to son or master to pupil. These were used as aides or tools in their paintings. These became collectible as signature works by artists and as showing the process of the individual artists thoughts. Vasari collected and bound five albums of drawings linked to his book 'Lives of the Artists'. In 1521 Durer records that he sold drawings as portraits to patrons in Antwerp.
3) Teaching apprentices in working practice
A review of the way particularly Cennini Cennino (1370-1440) recommends the training of apprentices so as to be able to acquire fundamental skills and develop their own style or maneria.He published The Craftsmans Handbook written probably in Padua in the late 1390's.
4) Theoretical advice on drawing for apprentices: continuity and change
This section focuses on the writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) written primarily in note form in the 1490's which were never published, and on the published treatise entitled On Painting by Leon Battista Alberti, published in Italian in 1436 both of which reinforce practices promoted by Cennino but which also emphasize 'the importance of learning the rules of perspective, anatomy and proportion' (C.B.1,p.30).
5) Drawing and workshop practices c.1420-70
Overview using plate references of the ways in which drawings and underdrawings were collected, filed, made, used, reused and adapted within the workshop as both tools and samples.
Jan van Eyck
A study of two works follows showing how drawing was used as observation for the Portrait of Niccolo Albergati c.1435 Plates 1:2 and 1:3 pages 32 and 33, and for design, and Saint Barbara Seated before her Tower 1447 Plate 1:4 page 34. Further use of underdrawings are revealed by the reflectogram Plates 1:5 and 1:6 The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Nicolas Rolin c.1436.
Pisanello
Antonio Pisano (before 1394-1455). Mention is made in this section of Pisanello's works including his commemorative medals which he produced in the antique style and particularly his murals. Several plates show sketches made and collected by the artist that relate directly to his work in both of these mediums. Underdrawings for murals allowed use of both the file drawings and improvisation. Mural painting entailed plastering the wall with a relatively rough layer on which the underdrawings were made. The final painting was made on fresh plaster that had to be used on the day it was applied, hence the term 'fresco'. Once this had dried further painting could take place with colours which were not water soluble. The dried plaster was known as 'secco' surface.
Rogier van der Weyden (c.1399-1464)
This is the last artist considered for the first half of the period. No drawings of his survive although there is evidence that drawings by him were still being used by his grandson Goswijn in 1510. Comparison of work produced however shows repetition that suggests use of blue prints that could possibly also have been used as samples. He portrayed Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin c.1435-40 (Plate 1.13 p.42) using paper and silverpoint which supports knowledge of this working method by the artist. Reflectograms also show detailed underdrawings and evidence of improvisation at this time of painting.
6. Drawing and workshop practices c.1470-1520
Leonardo da Vinci
A detailed review of Leonardo's drawings and techniques, particularly his study and cartoon for Virgin and a Child with Saint Anne, Saint John the Baptist and Christ c.1500-16 (Plate 1.22 p.50 and Plate 1.23 p.51) and Adoration of the Magi 1483 (Pl.1.21,p.49). His body of work 'presents evidence of innovations in media associated with his and his teachers workshop which seemed to be related to interest in new design emphasis: representing drapery as if in three-dimensional relief and in conveying the movements of the human body' (c.b.1,p.50). He also investigates perspective anatomy and proportion.
Albrecht Durer
Like Leonardo, Durer was a prolific draughtsman and produced a large amount of drawings. In common with Leonardo he explored the notion of proportion of the human body (but not the anatomical studies). He produced project sketches, copies of other artists work and there is evidence Plate 1.27,p.54 Self-Portrait of him training and drawing from a young age. By the end of his life Durer was using drawings as means of payment and selling drawings to sitters on the spot.
Conclusion
This chapter has shown evidence of increasing use of drawings throughout the 15th Century as means of training oneself or as treatise for the training of others in workshops or even for the public. Drawings also show increased research and experimentation in perspective, anatomy and proportion. Drawings were also becoming desirable and collectible.

Week 0 Making Renaissance Art

Chapter Outline - Study Guide p.11
Important paragraph that sets the tone that course is not simply about Renaissance artists recovering the excellence of the antique (i.e. Greek and Roman 5th CBE - 2nd CE) nor is it about the notion that the development of naturalistic art simply copied the antique.

Course Book 1 - Making Renaissance Art
1) Vasari and the Italian Renaissance
Vasari wrote Lives of Artists which has dictated the way we view the Renaissance and Florence. Although his claims will be considered, his writings will not set the agenda for the course. Not just Florence but other Italian and European art and artists are discussed.

2) The Revival of the Antique
From the universities that were developing in the new urban centres in Italy there came the humanists, followers of the teachings and thinking of Petrarch, based on ancient manuscripts. Many humanists became holders of influential positions and tutors to the children of the aristocracy, thus spreading Petrarch's ideas.
Drawing on works such as Donatello's David, Van Eyck's Virgin and Child at the Fountain, and Nanni di Banco's Four Crowned Saints, the point is made that their work was not just a copying of the ancient art of Greece and Rome, but that they did incorporate some of its naturalistic styles into the work. Also ancient references could add cachet to their work i.e. Greek and Latin inscriptions.

3) Imitating Nature
Works of art were not exclusively life-like, artists continued to produce work in the Greek style as can be seen in Van Eyck's Virgin and Child at the Fountain.

Conclusion
Sums up introduction by observing that there are many approaches to the 'making' of art that will be covered in this book.

Introduction of Art in Renaissance Italy written by Evelyn Welch.
Renaissance was a description meaning 're-birth' introduced by Jacob Burckhart (1818 - 97) (a northern European historian) which was used to describe what he saw as a 15/16th century episode which formed the crucial moment when ideals such as 'individualism, nationalism, secularism and capitalist entrepreneuralism were born and then transmitted to the rest of the western world' (Welch p.9). This idea tends to focus on the progression of artistic styles particularly within Tuscany. Vasari's work Lives of the Artists certainly contributes to this notion, but it 'transforms the earlier centuries in Italian art into ante-rooms for the 16th Century' (Welch p.11).

In the 1970's British art historian Michael Baxandall 'popularised the concept of the 'period eye' the immediate social and visual context in which pictures were both created and observed'. (Welch p.22)

This introduction reviews the history of the Italian peninsular and its various city states particularly, and also the wider influence that came to bear upon them from other parts of Europe and from the Ottoman rule in Constantinople. It identifies not just the differences and divisions, but also the unifying features that ran across the peninsular e.g. religious belief, moral and patrician traditions. It also covers the development and networking of academics, particularly humanists following the writings of Petrarch. All of this is presented so as to enable the reader to take a more informed view and to be better able to use the 'period eye' when looking at and considering the art of the period and particularly the Renaissance. It suggests that the explanations for Renaissance art are far more diverse than the rather neat and simplistic views that have been traditionally put forward.

The Northern Renaissance - Jeffrey Chips Smith
Introduction.
This introduction sets the scene in historical terms and begins to examine what the term ‘Renaissance’ might signify in northern Europe.

Quattrocento

Wiki link describing quattrocento:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quattrocento

Viewing Renaissance Art - Chapter 6

Art and Death

Introduction

This chapter explores the relationship between art works, artifacts, religious donations and sponsorship, and death during the Renaissance. Widespread belief suggested that the soul spent time in purgatory before going to heaven, and many of the items mentioned are to remind the living to pray for the dead and shorten their time in purgatory. However, the same items also ensure a lasting reputation of the dead amongst the living.

1.Memorials, morals and the macabre.

This section features the tomb at Ewelme, Oxfordshire of Alice de la Pole (1404-76) (Pl.6.3 p.211, Pl 6.4 p.212 and Pl6.5 p.213) and how the effigies and style represent her piety, her patronage so that she will be remembered and prayed for, and her politics.

2. The fine arts of dying well

Ars moriendi

An early printed book The Art of Dying was popular during the 1400's and early 1500's. It consists of prints showing a dying man preparing for death and triumphant over temptation. (Pl.6.7 p.215)

Danse macabre -a series of paintings and verses which appeared in numerous forms such as on the walls of cloisters or as privately owned printed books, which emphasized the equality of all from peasant to king or queen, in the face of death. The purpose was to emphasize that all should be ready and to live a good life. Examples : 30 metre cloth painting (Pl.6.8 and Pl.6.9 p.216) and parchment manuscript (Pl.6.10 p..217) Popular Prints - Portable prints for display within the home or for private use to remind the owner to live a good life. Examples (Pl6.11 p.219) and artistically note-worthy those by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) Knight, Death and the Devil (Pl.6.12 p.220) This is one of the trio of works which included St. Jerome in His Study and Melancholia I

Hospitals - This features two altar-pieces from hospitals in Northern Europe. They carry out a duel role as reminders of mortality and the need to seek salvation for those in the hospital, and as memorials to those who as part of their good works donated to the hospitals. Pl.6.13 p.221 Roger Van Weyden Last Judgement (altar piece closed), Pl.6.14 p.222 (altar piece open). Pl.6.15 p.223 and Pl.6.16 p.224 are of the Isenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald.

3. The Italian triumph over death

Cardinals Monuments - a very tedious section on the tombs of cardinals!

Three exceptional tombs in Rome

Consideration is given to three outstanding tombs and their design and completion. What is notable in all is that they highlight the office held by the dead man as much as the individual themselves, and so commemorate and promote the institutions as well as reminding the viewer of the deceased.

The three tombs are of Pope Julius II which was originally to be a huge scale project but which was eventually reduced to a wall memorial. From the -project the sculptures of Michelangelo's slaves are now in the Louvre. The second tomb is that of Pope Sixtus IV (Pl.6.24 p.234) cast in bronze it is now situated in the sacristy museum of St.Peters. The third tomb (Pl.6.25 p.235) shows the tomb of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza which shows the influence of Portuguese tombs particularly the way in which the effigy is shown as reclining as if asleep rather than dead.

4.Dynastic Monuments

Ferdinand and Isabella

This section discusses the way in which the Spanish royal family chose first of all a Flemish sculptor to produce the tombs of JuanII and Isabella of Portugal (Pl.6.26 p.237) and Italian artists for those of Ferdinand and Isabella (Pl.6.28 p.239 and Pl.6.29 p.240). Royal tombs are very much about political statements emphasizing the lineage, pedigree and alliances of state and church.

Maximillian I - designed his tomb as a huge statement of his lineage and dynastic pedigree, the plan incorporating 100 statues of relatives, ancestors, Roman emperors, saints, and even mythical figures with whom he aligned himself and his family emphasizing the continuity between the living and the dead, as a statement of his own importance. Pl.6.31 p.242 and Pl.6.32 p.243 show the tomb and some of the figures. Pl.6.33 p.244 shows a woodcut -print by a pupil of Albrecht Durer showing the deceased Maximillian being presented to God in heaven by no fewer than six of his patron saints and the Virgin and Child.

Being remembered, prayed for and acknowledged as part of this historical group was important, but this continuity between the living and the dead was soon to lose its importance as some of the fundamental belief structures became dismantled with the rise of Luther against the power of the Church of Rome.

Conclusion - written by Carol M. Richardson (author of this chapter)

Commemorative monuments, manuscripts and paintings reveal some of the complex beliefs and coping strategies adopted by the living to deal with the problem of death. They are among the most vivid examples of the different ways that works of art are used. They make it clear that the preparation of the living for death and the belief in the after-life were an integral part of religious devotion. Through appropriate commemoration of relatives, ensuring the continuation of one's own memory and the demonstration of good deeds displayed in so many works of art, time in purgatory might even be curtailed.

All that quickly changed. Although at first he sought only to reform the concept of purgatory, by 1530 Martin Luther had completely rejected its existence. Intercession for souls in purgatory had taken over from the Mass, which Luther complained was 'held mostly for the dead, although it was given and instituted as a consolation only for living Christians'. Luther instead envisaged death as a sleep, a dream state in which the dead awaited the Last Judgement and where they could not be reached by the living. John Frith in England argued that purgatory was no more than a way for the Church to exact money from the faithful: 'this their painful purgatory was but a vain imagination, and that it hath for a long time but deceived the people, and milked them from their money'. Whereas previously the funeral had served as only the beginning of a long process of prayer for the soul to aid its desperate plight through purgatory, by the middle of the sixteenth century north of the Alps the funeral had become the point at which the end of life was regretted, loss of the individual mourned and the corpse disposed of. It was a point of departure over which the living had no control or means of influence. Monuments commemorated life past;they did not remind the living to keep on remembering the dead. The commemorative arts of Protestant and Catholic Europe were set to follow separate paths.

Viewing Renaissance Art Chapter 2

Introduction - Chapter 2
Refers us to the notion of magnificence as proposed by Aristotle and the way in which wealthy patrons sponsored works not only for their own enjoyment but for the public good. Also how guilds and confraternities even those associated with the lower social classes might raise money to commission work for their own religious purposes and the edification of the general public.

Florentine art and the public good.
Jill Burke introduces the notion of art in Florence and the public good. This chapter will investigate the tradition of Florentine pride in the visual arts that influenced Vasari's collection of artists biographies. Vasari, however, wrote his Lives during the time that Florence was ruled by the Medici's and he writes in a manner that suggests that the patronage of the elite was the main factor and that the art was primarily intended for the elite. This chapter also concentrates on the large amount of art and architecture that was instigated by Guilds, Confraternitites and the Republic to serve their various interests, the common good and promote pride in the city.

1. 'Firenze bella'
This section relates to the way in which Florence was governed for the public good by committees and bodies that were primarily borne out of the various merchant guilds. This ensured that no one family or guild was able to dominate the city and its governance for their own ends, and ensured the principle of commune and republic. The building and development of the city was controlled so as to reinforce the shared pride in the city. This period ran from late 1200's through to the early 1500's.

2. Magnificence and the Medici's

This section covers the rise of the Medici family and once again demonstrates how the idea of 'magnificence' i.e. the spending by an individual or a family on projects for the common good of the city, the populace or the church was a well accepted and encouraged act. Several specific art works are discussed notably Pl.2.15 p.70 Andrea del Verrocchio Christ and Saint Thomas Pl2.8 p.65 Donatello David Pl.2.9 p.65 Donatello Judith and Holofernes and Pl.2.16 p.72 Domenico Ghirlandaio, Annunciation to Zachariah.

3. Magnificence Contested
The Medici family eventually came to establish an hereditary duchy in Florence, but this was often contested and resented as being an erosion of liberty and republican virtues, although it was a period of prosperity for the city. On three occasions the Medici's were exiled. Their opponents contested the idea of 'magnificence', seeing such spending as only benefiting and promoting the interests of themselves and their family. A leading critic Savonarola came to prominence preaching against such extravagances and promoting extreme piety. He was executed for false prophecy in 1498.

4. Communal Patronage in the Service of the Republic
Between Savonarola's execution in 1498 and the return of the Medici's in 1512, there was a resurgence of the republic. Works commissioned during this time included paintings in the Sala dei Cinquecento by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo which were never finished. Pl.2.19 p.77 illustrate copies as the originals were painted over. Above the north doors of the Baptistery, John the Baptist preaching to a Levite and Pharisee (Pl.2.21 p.78)were commissioned and executed by Giovanfrancesco Rustici, which appeared to reflect the earlier works of Donatello (Pl.2.22 and Pl.2.23 p.79) harking back to the pre-magnificence styles. The most outstanding work of this period is Michelangelo's David completed in 1504 and subsequently erected in the Palazzo della Signoriam to evoke the ideals of the republic.

5 Artisans and Workers
This section reports how even the most unskilled and poorest of workers could have and did purchase religious imagery for their own homes, and how even relatively modest craftsmen would purchase tombs or donate artworks in churches. Also is recorded some comparative values between earnings of Florentine workers and those in Britain today.

6. Confraternities and the Visual Arts
Individuals who would have no way of being able to afford or sponsor works of art or events were given the opportunity to participate through membership of confraternities. Groupings either by trade or age or geographical location, such as an area of the city. These confraternities gave a community identity that provided support for their members. Particular reference is made of the carders, the semi-skilled workers who cleaned the wool cloth before it went to be dyed (p.85) and their various activities including regular masses, processions, and religious enacted drama's, all of which were seen as contributing to the cultural and religious life of the city in the same way as the sponsorship of works of art by the much more wealthy guilds or individuals.

7. Corporate Patronage and Empowerment
As well as the confraternities there was one type of organisation that seems to have represented the lower classes the potenze (literally the powers) which staged festivals, processions etc at holiday periods and seems to have represented its group as required throughout the year. Florence was divided into areas or kingdoms, markers of their districts can be seen on page 87 pl.2.28 and 2.29. Particular note is made of a street tabernacle commissioned by the potenze kingdom of Bethlehem (Pl.2.30 p.88) a ceramic portrayal of the Virgin, Jesus and various saints. Erected probably to give thanks for survival of the plague this public work of art would have been paid for by the poorest in society.

8. Conclusion
This chapter suggests that Vasari takes away the social and political reasons for the creation of much of the art and artifacts of the Renaissance, and instead attributes them solely to the creation of the genius artist and the educated benefactor. In reality Michelangelo's David was created as a reminder of Florence's republican position and an inspiration to its citizens to maintain this.