15thc. Renaissance Art in Italy Questions Flashcards

1
Q

Describe The Battle of San Romano

A

Paolo Uccello. 1438-40. Tempera on wood panel.

  • Florentine general Niccolo da Tolentino leads his men against the Sienese at the Battle of San Romano.
  • Niccolo holds aloft a baton of command, sign of authority.
  • bold gesture and colors ensure that he dominates scene.
  • one-point (linear) perspective
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2
Q

Describe The Delivery of they Keys to Saint Peter

A

Perugino. Fresco on the right wall of Sistine Chapel.

  • portrayed event that provided biblical support for supremacy of papal authority, Christ’s giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter.
  • banded paving stones provide geometric grid for perspectival recession.
  • composition divided horizontally between lower frieze of massive figures and band of widely spaced buildings.
  • vertically divided by open space at center between Christ and Peter and by summetrical architectural forms on each side of central axis.
  • triumphal arches frame church and focus attention on center of composition.
  • softened by subdued colors, distant idealized landscape and cloudy skies, and varied figures’ positions.
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3
Q

Describe Dome of Florence Cathedral

A

Filippo Brunelleschi. 1417-36.

  • constructed a tall octagonal drum as base.
  • dome is double shell of masonry. octogonal outer shell supported on 8 large and 16 lighter ribs.
  • system in which temporary wooden supports up as building progressed.
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4
Q

Describe Old Sacristy

A

Filippo Brunelleschi. 1421-28.
Church of San Lorenzo, Florence.
-room where ritual attire and vessels are kept
-centralized plan. became ideal derived from the humanist belief that the circle was a symbol of divine perfection and that both the circle inscribed in a square and the cross inscribed in a circle were symbols of the cosmos
-

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5
Q

Describe the Church of San Lorenzo

A

Filippo Brunelleschi. 1421-28.

  • basilican plan with long nave flanked by side aisles that open into shallow lateral chapels.
  • short transept and square crossing lead to square sanctuary flanked by additional chapels opening off the transept.
  • mathematical regularity
  • based plan on square module: basic unit of measure that could be multiplied or divided and applied to every element of the design. result was clear, harmonious spaces.
  • ornamental details, all classical style, were carved in pietra serena, a grayish stone that became synonymous with Brunelleschi’s interiors.
  • arches of nave arcade are carried on tall, slender Corinthian columns made even taller by insertion of impost block between column capital and springing of round arches.
  • square crossing covered by hemispherical dome. nave and transept by flat ceilings.
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6
Q

Describe Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

A
  1. Florence. Attributed to Michelozzo di Bartolomeo
    - exterior was in keeping with republican political climate and Florentine religious attitudes imbued with Franciscan ideals of poverty and charity.
    - sumptuary laws forbade ostentatious displays of wealth, but often ignored.
    - palazzo symbolized family and underscored family’s place in society and linked to seat of government.
    - harmonious proportions and elegant, classically inspired deatils.
    - facade of large, rusticated stone blocks derived from fortifications (typical of Florentine town house exteriors)
    - on facade, stories clearly set off from each other by change in stone surfaces from very rough at ground to almost smooth on third.
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7
Q

Describe Palazzo Rucellai

A

Leon Battista Alberti. Florence. 1455-58.

  • never finished because could never acquire land.
  • designed five-bay facade with central door.
  • simple rectangular front suggesting coherent, cubical three-story building capped with an overhanging cornice.
  • created systematic divisions on surface of lightly rusticated wall with horizontal-vertical pattern of different pilasters and architraves. inspired by Colosseum.
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8
Q

Describe The Four Crowned Matyrs

A

Nanni di Banco. 1409-17. Marble. Osanmichele.

  • martyrs for refusing to make an image of pagan Roman god.
  • resembles Gothic chapel, but Roman-stylized sculptures
  • stand in semicircle with forward feet and drapery protruding beyond floor.
  • panel below niche: figures have solid vigor done by deeply undercutting both figures and objects to cast shadows and enhance illusion of 3D.
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9
Q

Describe Saint George

A

Donatello. 1415-17. Marble.

  • would have been ad for guild.
  • he holds his shield squarely in front of his braces legs.
  • seems alert and ready, but face is tense and worried.
  • base: George is seen slaying a dragon to save the princess, low-relief.
  • contours of foreground figures are slightly undercut to emphasize their mass, while landscape and architecture are progressively lower relief until they are barely incised rather than carved > spatial setting
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10
Q

Describe Gates of Paradise (East Door), Baptistry of San Giovanni

A

Lorenzo Ghiberti. 1425-52. Gilt bronze.

  • set of 10 Old Testament scenes, from Creation to Solomon.
  • organized space with linear perspective.
  • background and foreground clearly marked.
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11
Q

Describe Jacob and Esau, Panel of the Gates of Paradies

A

Lorenzo Ghiberti. 1435. Gilded bronze.

  • unifies composition by paying careful attention to one-point perspective.
  • squares marked out in pavement establish orthogonal lines.
  • story starts in background.
  • In Renaissance, Esau = Jews and Jacob = Christians. explains conflict between two religions and compositionally balances the panel on the opposite door valve.
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12
Q

Describe David

A

Donatello. 1446-60. Bronze.

  • first life-size male nude.
  • classical tradition of heroic nudity, but sensous, adolescent boy.
  • standing on Goliath’s severed head.
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13
Q

Describe Equestrian Monument of Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata)

A

Donatello. 1443-53. Piazza del Santo, Padua. Bronze.

  • sources were two surviving Roman bronze equestrian portraits. (marcus aurelius + lost)
  • demonstrated virtues of bravery, nobility, and authority.
  • horse symbolized passions and man’s physical animal nature.
  • skilled horsemanship showed physical and intellectual control
  • stern but sad expressions suggest old warrior tired from constant need for military vigilance and rapid response
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14
Q

Describe Equestrian Monument of Bartolommeo Colleoni, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice

A

Andrea del Verrocchio. 1486-88. Bronze.

  • commissioned by government to honor this Venetian army general
  • tense form that conveys vitality and brutal energy.
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15
Q

Describe Mary Magdalen

A

Donatello. 1450s. Polychromy and gold on wood.

-emaciated, vacant-eyed hermit clothed by her own hair.

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16
Q

Describe Hercules and Antaeus

A

Antonio del Pollaiuolo. 1475. Bronze.

  • complex interlocking figures with explosive energy
  • Hercules gained immortality by slaving Antaeus in wrestling match.
17
Q

Describe Battle of the Nudes

A

Antonio del Pollaiuolo. 1465-70. Engraving.

  • men fight against each other against tapestry-like background.
  • seems to have been drawn from a single model in variety of poses.
  • depicts muscles reacting to tension.
18
Q

Describe Trinity with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and Donors

A

Masaccio. 1425-27. Church of Santa Maria Novella.

  • meant to give illusion of a stone funerary monument and altar table set below a deep framed niche in the wall.
  • praying donors in front may be members of Lenzi family.
  • unusual trompe l’oeil effect of looking up into barrel-vaulted niche (linear perspective)
  • painted architecture = unusual combination of classical columns.
  • trinity represented by Jesus on cross, dove of Holy spirit, and God the Father standing behind cross on high platform.
  • source of light lies in front of picture.
  • Jesus flanked by Mary and John.
  • open sarcophagus is skeleton that reminds of death and reminds of Adam
19
Q

Describe The Expulsion from Paradise

A

Masaccio. 1427. Brancacci Chapel. Fresco.

  • Adam and Eve as monumental nude figures.
  • focused on mass of bodies formed by underlying bone and muscle structure to create new realism.
  • used generalized light shining from single source.
20
Q

Describe The Tribute Money

A

Masaccio. 1427. Brancacci Chapel. Fresco.

  • 31 days.
  • continuous narrative of three scenes
  • group of people form central clear focus.
  • linear perspective and atmospheric perspective for two vanishing points.
  • modeled foreground figures with strong highlights and cast long shadows on ground toward left, implying light source at far right
  • colors vary in tone according to strength of illumination
  • halo as gold disk
21
Q

Describe Annunciation North Corridor, Monastery of San Marco, Florence

A

Fra Angelico. 1438-45. Fresco.

  • illusion of space created by linear perspective
  • slender, graceful figures wearing flowing draperies assume modest poses
  • light from left casts supernatural radiance over their faces and hands.
  • scene is vision that welcomes monks to most private areas of monastery and prepares them for meditations
22
Q

Describe The Last Supper

A

Andrea del Castagno. 1447. Florence. Fresco.

  • house of marble panels.
  • John sleeps, head on table.
  • Judas sits on other side of the table
  • only lines on ceiling converge.
23
Q

Describe Courtyard, Ducal Palace, Urbino

A

Luciano Laurana. 1467-72. Italy.

  • commissioned by Count Federico da Montefeltro
  • ground level portico has arches supported by columns
  • corner angles bridged with piers having engaged columns
24
Q

Describe Studiolo of Federico da Montefeltro, Ducal Palace, Urbino

A
  1. Intarsia. Woodwork (Giuliano da Maiano)
    -room for private conversation and collection of fine books and art objects
    -scenes made entirely of wood inlaid on flat surfaces with applied linear perspective and foreshortening
    -trompe l’oeil
    squirrel - ideal ruler
25
Q

Describe Recognition and Proving of the True Cross

A

Piero della Francesca. 1450s. Fresco.

  • cross was buried after crucifixion, but Helena (mother of Constantine) discovered and proved authenticity of cross when its touch brought man back to life
  • analytical modeling and perspectival projection
  • reduced figures to cylindrical and ovoid shapes
  • foreshortening of figures and objects
26
Q

Describe Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, Triumph of Federico and Battista

A

Piero della Francesca. 1474. Oil on wood panel.

  • Federico and wife, Battista
  • resemble Flemish painting because detail and luminosity
  • Federico actually has two disfiguring scars, but painting in profile masked it (loss of right eye from sword blow and broken nose)
  • atmospheric perspective
  • reverse side reflects humanist interests
  • engraved are stanzas praising the couple’s virtues. (Federico’s moderation and fame of it, and Battista’s restraint, shining in glory of her husband)
  • White horses pull Federico’s wagon, crowned by winged figure (Victory or Fortune) and accompanied with Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance.
  • Battista’s cart is pulled by winged putto driving a team of unicorns. Virtues standing behind her may be Chastity and Modesty. In front are Faith and Charity, who holds a pelican. (may symbolize recently deceased Battista’s maternal sacrifices)
27
Q

Describe Church of Sant’Andrea

A

Leon Battista Alberti. 1472. Mantua.

  • enlargement
  • believed to house actual blood of Christ
  • proposed to build “Etruscan temple” to house people
  • Latin cross plan, transept intersects nave.
  • barrel vaulted chapels at right angles
  • classical forms: a temple front and triumphal arch with two sets of Corinthian pilasters
28
Q

Describe Camera Picta, Ducal Palace, Mantua

A

Andrea Mantegna. 1465-74. Frescoes.

  • “Painted Room”
  • around walls, family receives its returning cardinal in scenes set in landscape and loggias.
  • paintings create continuous scene with figures and countryside behind fictive arcade.
  • people are all recognizable portraits of family and court
  • domed ceiling, radical perspective (di sotto in su “from below upwards”)
  • appears to be open to cloud-filled sky through large oculus in simulated marble and mosaic covered vault. 3 young women and African man peer into room below
  • 4th young woman in veil looks upward. Peacock and putti play around balustrade.
29
Q

Describe View of the Sassetti Chapel, Church of Santa Trinita

A

Domenico Ghirlandaio. Frescoes of scenes from Legend of Saint Francis.

  • In uppermost tiers, Pope Honorius confirms the Franciscan order.
  • Loggia of the Lancers and Palazzo can be seen.
  • All figures are well-known Florentines
  • middle register, a small boy who has fallen from an upper window is resurrected by Saint Francis and witnessed by Flornentines like members of Sassetti family
  • actual church
30
Q

Describe Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds

A

Domenico Ghirlandaio. Sassetti Chapel Panel. 1485.
-inspired by Portinari altarpiece
-Christ lies on ground, adored by Mary, while shepherds kneel at right
-manger is ancient sarcophagus with inscription that promises resurrection
-classical arch with reference to Roman general Pompey frames road along which Magi travel
-weighty, restrained figures
-foreground, background, middle ground joined by road and aerial perspective
iris = Passion

31
Q

Describe Primavera

A

Sandro Botticelli. 1482. Tempera on wood panel.
-recalls Flemish painting
-highly complex allegory weaving Neoplatonic ideas with references to classical sources
-Venus had two natures: ruled over human, earthly love and over universal divine love. could argue that Venus = Virgin Mary
-theme suggests love and fertility in marriage and provide Venus as model for ideal woman.
-Venus silhouetted and framed by arching view through trees. Flanked by Flora, Roman goddess of flowers, and by the Three Graces. Her son, Cupid, aims arrow at Graces.
-Far right, wind god, Zephyr, in pursuit of nymph Chloris, breath causing her to sprout flowers from her mouth
-Far left, Mercury, messenger, uses caduceus to dispel patch of grey clouds drifting in Venus’s direction. He is sign of May, and he looks out of painting to summer.
-Venus stands in grove of orange trees (Medici symbol) weighted down with fruit (fertility)
Cupid = romantic desire
Flora’s festival had definite sexual overtones

32
Q

Describe Birth of Venus

A

Sandro Botticelli. 1484-86. Tempera and gold on canvas
-represents Neoplatonic idea of divine love and based on antique statue type “modest Venus”
-hair enhances or hides sexuality
-Blown by Zephyr (and Chloris).
-Venus welcomed by a devotee (one of the Hours) who holds garment embroidered with flowers.
birth of venus = birth of idea of beauty

33
Q

Describe Mystic Nativity

A

Sandro Botticelli. 1500. Oil on canvas

  • Nativity takes place in rocky, forested landscape in cave-stable
  • Virgin Mary kneels before Christ Child
  • Joseph crouches and hides his face
  • circle of singing angels holding golden crowns and laurel branches flies above central scene
  • Tiny devils, try to escape from bottom
  • frieze of wrestling figures below Family. Men are ancient classical philosophers, who struggle with angels. Each holds an olive branch (peace) and scroll.
34
Q

Describe Ca D’Oro

A

1421-37. Cortinari Palace.

  • home of Marino Contarini
  • front with 3 superimposed loggias
  • asymmetrical elevation is based on a traditional Byzantine plan
  • wide central hall ran from front to back all the way through the building to small inner courtyard with well and garden.
  • entrance on canal permitted goods to be delivered directly into warehouse
  • principal floor (2nd level) had salon and reception room.
35
Q

Describe Procession of the Relic of the True Cross Before the Church of Saint Mark

A

Gentile Bellini. 1496. Oil on canvas.

  • Saint John the Evangelist carries True Cross in procession through square
  • depicts miraculous recovery of sick child whose father, the man in red kneeling to right, prayed as it passed by
  • cityscape with great accuracy and detail
36
Q

Describe Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Francis, John the Baptists, Job, Dominic, Sebastian, and Louis of Toulouse

A

Giovanni Bellini. 1478. Oil on wood panel.

  • painted for Chapel of the Hospital of San Giobbe (Saint Job)
  • shows dramatic perspectival view up into vaulted apse
  • gold mosaic recalls Byzantine
37
Q

Describe Saint Francis in Ecstasy

A

Giovanni Bellini. 1470s. Oil on wood panel.
-demonstrates intense investigation and recording of nature
-illustrates command of almost Flemish realism
-saint stands in communion with nature, bathed in early morning sunlight
-Francis had moved to cave in barren wilderness in search for communion with God.
tree = burning bush
stream = miraculous spring brought by Moses
grapevine/stigmata = Christ’s sacrifice
crane/donkey = monastic virtue of patience
-detailed realism, luminous colors, and symbolic elements suggest Flemish, but golden light is associated with Venice.