Chapter 7 - Making Renaissance Art - Week 7 - Making histories, publishing theories

Introduction
Kim Woods introduces us to the proliferation of literature on art, painting, architecture etc. that came about during the years of the Renaissance. She highlights the most famous, Vasari's Lives, but points out that in both North and South Europe there were many other writings and treatises. There seems to be a question as to how much influence these actually had on workshop training

during this time, which is one of the issues to be discussed in this chapter.

Catherine King writes: were the texts to be considered initiated by patrons and scholars or by artists themselves? Did they actually change the practice and appearance of art? or 'the way that artists saw themselves and were seen in professional, social and intellectual terms' (Bk1, p.251)

1. The partnership between writing histories and composing treatises

Education and communication of ideas

Generally artists were not educated to a level that enabled them to understand Latin but there were exceptions. Some had collections of books and some had none.

Communicating orally, in visual images and in writing

Ideas and developments in art had always been passed on orally, handed down from generation to generation and shared particularly when artists travelled to different places. Equally the copying and studying of other art works had shared and developed ideas. But some, particularly the 'secrets' of perspective and proportion had been available only to those within the guilds, who were the gate-keepers of this knowledge. The advent of the printed book however broke the hold and artistic practice became available to all.

Printed and published information and texts were often plaigerised and re-published, thus increasing the spread of ideas and information.

The liberal and practical arts

Writings on art during this time were at the heart of a contest over whether or not painting, sculpture and architecture were crafts or whether they should be seen as one of the liberal arts, which traditionally had been the preserve of the upper classes.

Histories and ingenium, treatises and scientia

This section pursues the earlier mentioned contest to promote painting, sculpture and architecture to a liberal art. Two landmarks are 1) the publication by Fillipo Villani (1325-1405) De origine civitatis Florentiae et de eisudem famosis civibus or On the Origins of the City of Florence and its Famous Men around 1380 of famous Florentines which included painters amongst those who would be judged as belonging to the higher social status of liberal artists, and 2) Cennino Cennini in his 1390's book Il libro dell'arte, in which he argues that painting is comparable to poetry in its dealings with the imagination and fantasy.

2. Commemorating artists

A preamble to this section talks of the way in which texts commemorating artists whether thumbnail sketches or full autobiographies grew in number between 1420 and 1520. Often this period is regarded only through the writings of Vasari and his pre-eminence given to Michelangelo, but there were many other outstanding artists and records of them.

Florence c.1380-1480

This is a lengthy section which lists numerous writings and publications from Florence during this period. In common they all seem to concur on a history of sculpture and painting that regards the ancients as a pinnacle and commencing with Giotto the artists in their own city had recaptured the realism and glory of the ancients and had brought honour on both themselves, the culture and the status of their city.

Wider views of the prowess of Italian and Netherlandish artists c.1450-1506

This section covers writings from across the Italian penninsular which replicate many of the ideas that Giotto and artists of the time had 'called back painting from the infernal regions' (p.263) Those writers cover artists from across Italy the Netherlands and even Greece.

French views 1503-1521: Mechelen and Toul

A review of French writings from the period. Once again honouring either directly or indirectly (included in works dedicated to various rulers) artists from across Europe including Leonardo, Michelangelo, Durer, Van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck.

Views from German speakers 1505-1532

All the writings considered are from German scholars written in Latin. By far and away the most important artist written of is Durer, who is compared time and again to the ancient artists and compared to Giotto in bringing back the ancient skills. The earliest lengthy personal tribute to have been printed in the Western European tradition was that by Camerarius of Albrecht Durer, who sees Durer not only as an artist, but as a theorist who established universal rules for proportion etc. In this way he saw him as more than passing on his learning, but rather as disseminating his ideas very widely. Mention is also made in this section of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

Italian views 1510-1530

This section reports on a number of developments. The guide books of Francesco Albertini of Florence and Rome, which as well as, telling of the ancient wonders also included contemporary and more recent works of art. In this period Giovio sought to establish a museum displaying portraits and information on artists and his early writings led him to encourage Vasari to produce the Lives. Two means of reviewing contemporary and modern artists emerged, one in which the writer sought to identify artists as the best and then working down, but others that recognized many artists as having different abilities. Giovio also wrote exclusively of Leonardo praising his ideas and his inventiveness over his work both finished and unfinished.

3. Treatises (writings on theory and practices)

An overview which tells us that treatises were produced both 'top down' from the intellectual elite and 'bottom up' from aspiring artists. Their value to patrons and collectors and to artists depended upon their language as this could give them either a wide audience or a very select one.

Treatises in one language

This section reviews a number of treatises two of which were not printed and widely distributed. Ghiberti's manuscript called Commentaries part three of which deals with the sciences of perspective, anatomy and proportion, and Leonardo's drafts for his treatises.

More widely available were works by Cennino and importantly Alberti who as well as being a painter, sculptor and architect, was a scholar. His important work included commentary on and a modernisation of Vitruvius' De Architectura.

Latin and vernacular treatises - manuscripts

A review of a number of manuscripts by writers such as Baptista Alberti, Filarete, Piero della Francesco and how copies were made and dedicated to specific men or rulers, sometimes in the hope that ideas would be supported by them. This section deals almost exclusively with Italian artists.

Latin and vernacular treatises - printed treatises

Against the almost exclusive audience of manuscripts, the printed treatises of the likes of Albrecht Durer had a wide circulation and became text books for teaching perspective and proportion. These were also translated and reproduced in different languages. Durer also acknowledged the aesthetic of diversity stating that beauty came in different ways for different people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Catherine King poses the questions as to who valued treatises and what influence did they have upon patrons, scholars and artists. She suggests that they had some influence and did effect some changes, but that it is difficult to fully evalute these.