13TH AND 14TH C. ITALY

M.F.VAHEY

1300-1400 Proto-RenaissanceThis is a transitional period. In the art of Florence and Siena there is a move away from medieval abstract depictions of space and the human body as artists began to focus on the illusion of mass and space and the expression of human emotion. With hindsight, it is possible to trace elements of Renaissance art back to this period.

This century saw the creation of the beautiful poetry of Dante and Petrarch, but it is also the century that saw the worst outbreak of the Bubonic plague (known then as the Black Death) which wiped out close to half the population of Europe—a terrifying statistic, difficult to imagine today.

This chapter focuses on two Italian city-states—Florence and Siena—both proud republics in the 14th century, and the great painters of those city-states, Giotto and Cimabue in Florence, and Duccio, Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers in Siena.

We have bodies that exist in space, and this has been a fundamental challenge for artists.

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer) or The Canon, c.450bce,

In ancient Greece and Rome, artists embraced the realities of the human body and the way that our bodies move in space (naturalism).

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer) or The Canon, c.450bce,

Berlinghieri. St Francis 1235 Tempera on wood Church of San Francesco, Pescia

• For the next thousand years though, after Europe transitioned from a pagan culture to a Christian one in the middle ages, the physical was largely ignored in favor of the heavenly, spiritual realm.  Medieval human figures were still rendered, but they were elongated, flattened and static, or in other words, they were made to function symbolically.

Berlinghieri. St Francis 1235 Tempera on wood Church of San Francesco, Pescia

• S. Francis and the two flanking angels harken back to the Byzantine style (maniera greca)

• However the vignettes show the beginnings of naturalism

Byzantine icon paintingVirgin and Child, c.550

Note the emphasis on symmetry, extreme frontality, heavy haloes, expressionless faces.

Space

Instead of earthly settings, we often see flat, gold backgrounds. There were some exceptions along the way, but it’s not until the end of the 13th century in Italy that artists began to (re)explore the physical realities of the human figure in space. Here, they begin the long process of figuring out how space can become a rational, measurable environment in which their newly naturalistic figures can sit, stand and move. 

Giotto di Bondone, Lamentation (composition from Byzantine art) new power through intense reading of human emotion.

• Same theme—Giotto removed stylized conventions of drapery and replaced them with the physicality of the body.

• The two seated figures with backs to us are witnesses to the event and present mass in pyramidal shapes.

• Giotto has reconciled spiritual and secular worlds

Nerezi, Lamentation

Florence & SienaIn Italy, there were two city-states where we can see this renewed interest in the human figure and space: Florence and Siena.

The primary artists in Siena were Duccio, the Lorenzetti Brothers, and Simone Martini.

And in Florence, we look to the art of Cimabue and Giotto. 

Whereas medieval artists often preferred a flat, gold background, these artists began to construct earthly environments for their figures to inhabit. We see landscapes and architecture in their paintings, though these are often represented schematically. These Florentine and Sienese artists employed diagonal lines that appear to recede and in this way convey a simple illusion of space, though that space is far from rational to our eyes. When we look closely, we can see that the space would be impossible to move through, and that the scale of the architecture often doesn’t match the size of the figures.

A Word of CautionBe careful here! While it is tempting to think of this movement toward naturalism as “progress” it is important to remember that this art is not less good, nor even less “advanced” than what comes later in the Renaissance (you might think of Leonardo or Michelangelo). Art is always a response to the needs of the moment and for the late 13th and early 14th century, symbols of the spiritual remained potent systems for understanding. 

From Gothic to Renaissance

Cimabue. Madonna and Child Enthroned with Eight Angels and Four Prophets (Maestà). 1280. Tempera on panel. Santa Trinita, Florence

One of the first artists to break away from the Italo-Byzantine style.

He modeled his large image on Byzantine examples Used gold embellishments common to Byzantine art

Inspired by naturalism

Constructed deeper space for the Madonna and surrounding figures

Despite such advances…the altarpiece in a final summary of centuries of Byzantine art before its utter transformation

detail

Giotto and his teacher Cimabue

Giotto Madonna Enthronedca. 1310 Florence 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.

Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni) Padua, Italy, 1305-06

Giotto, Betrayal of Jesus (Kiss of Judas) Arena Chapel, c.1305

detail

Lamentation (intimate, dramatic view)vertical figures—break monotony of long horizontal fig. of Christ

diagonal rock—creates gentle upward movement to a tree (Tree of Life) symbolized by the dead Christ

Giotto, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305  Lamentation, wall painting St. Pantaleimon, Nerezi,

Macedonia, 1164

                                                                                          

                                             

  Giotto, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

  Lamentation, wall painting

St. Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia, 1164

                                                                                          

                                             

  Giotto, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

  Lamentation, wall painting

St. Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia, 1164

                                                                                          

                                             

  Giotto, Lamentation, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

  Lamentation, wall painting

St. Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia, 1164

                                           

                                               

                                             

• Same theme—Giotto removed stylized conventions of drapery and replaced them with the physicality of the body.

• The two seated figures with backs to us are witnesses to the event and present mass in pyramidal shapes.

• Giotto has reconciled spiritual and secular worlds

Nerezi, Lamentation

Giotto. The Epiphany. c.1320. Tempera on panel. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

REPUBLIC OF SIENA

International Style

Love graceful and delicate details

International Style—fusion of North European and Italian traditions.Appealed to aristocratic tastes Characteristics: bright colors, chivalrous elegance, and naturalistic rendering of detail.

Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreaux

from the abbey church of Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis, France, 1339

Duccio altarpiece Maestà (Majesty) is a polyptych.A synthesis of Byzantine and French Gothic sources.

Duccio, Maesta altarpiece, Siena Cathedral, 1306-11Duccio shows relaxed, naturalistic figures modeled in light and dark and painted with considerable sensitivity to color and texture. Drapery falls and curves convincingly.

• Composition’s formality and symmetry—recall Byzantine tradition

• Figures—show relaxed frontality and rigidity• Drapery on end figures—falls and curves loosely

– This is a feature of Northern Gothic works and highlights the artistic dialogue between Italy and the north in the 14rh c..

The Maesta was a public commission.The Virgin became the offical patroness of SiennaIt celebrated a commercial success over their rival FlorenceThe theme is thanksgiving

Verso of Duccio’s Maesta altarpiece

Duccio is moving toward more natural presentation of the physicality of the body. The figures are occupying space more clearly. No longer do they float in space.

Duccio, Betrayal of Jesus (continuous narrative)Judas’s kiss, disciples fleeing, Peter cutting off earGolden background and rock formation—traditionalNOW…Figures have mass, draperies are convincing, posture, gesture and facial expressions display emotions.

Duccio moved toward humanizing religious subject matter.

Let’s compare:Duccio’s modeling of faces and shading of drapery describe the figures’ three-dimensionality.But…note the crisp outlines of shapes created by the clothingDuccio avoids the face-to-face confrontation

Many panels reveal his skill as a narrative painter, showing figures who react to the central event with appropriate physical gestures and expressions of emotion.

Duccio, Maesta detail, Ministry of Christ, Temptation on the Mountain, Frick Museum NYC

Madonna and Child, ca. 1300

Duccio di Buoninsegna

Simone Martini Annunciation 1333 SienaYounger master of Duccio’s school

instrumental in creating the “International Style”

Hallmarks of the Internationalstyle:elegant shapesradiant colorfluttering lineweightless figuresspaceless setting

Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy 1288-1309City fathers wanted the success to be memorialized.

They commissioned Ambrogio Lorenzetti to create a tribute to the city in the town hall.

Good Government in the City, 1338-39

Peaceful Country details what an effective administration can do and how the citizens can also perform their roles. Focuses on—slowly changing perception of Italian society. They begin to see themselves as individuals working within a community.

Blanche of Castille, Louis IX and two monksdedication page (folio 8 recto) of a moralized Bible

from Paris, France

1226-1234ink, tempera and gold leaf on vellum15 x 10 1/2 in.

The royal court in Paris was the arbiter of taste in western Europe since the days of Louis IX.However. The Hundred Years’ War weakened the power of the nobility.French sculptors and painters found new outlets such as personal devotional objects and books for wealthy patrons.

Illuminated Manuscripts…Book of Hours (private prayer books) became popular in France by the late 13th c.

Jean Pucelle, The Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, c.1324 MMAJoys and Sorrows of the VirginJoy…AnnunciationSorrow…betrayal and arrest

Betrayal and arrest of Christ

Note: Gothic s-curve of Jesus (mirrored in the Virgin on the opposite page)Lantern held high to indicate nightChrist heals Malchus (asst. to high priest)Below print scenes of secular amusements sometimes off-color jokes

Annunciation

Gothic s-curveCandle held by cleric who guards the ‘doo’ to Jeanne’s devotional retreatRabbit and other sexually charged symbols of fertility

The Castle of Love and knights jousting jewelry casket, from Paris, France, ca. 1330-1350, ivory and iron, 4 1/2 x 9 3/4 in.This casket is carved with scenes from romances and allegorical literature representing the courtly ideals of love and heroism.

In the center of the lid, knights joust as ladies watch from the balcony; to the left, knights lay siege to the Castle of Love, the subject of an allegorical battle.

The remaining scenes on the casket are drawn from well-known stories about Aristotle and Phyllis, Tristan and Iseult, and tales of the gallant, heroic deeds of Gawain, Galahad, and Lancelot

Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreaux

from the abbey church of Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis, France

1339silver gilt and enamel27 1/2 in. high

Tristan and Iseult at the Fountain; Capture of the Unicorn

The Holy Roman Empire

By the 14th c. the Italian territories has become divided into multiple states with powerful regional associations and princes. The Holy Roman emperors, elected by Germans, concentrated on securing the fortunes of their families.The ordeals of the 14th c.—famines, wars, plagues—helped inspire a nystical religiosity in Germany that emphasized both ecstatic joy and extreme suffering.

Pietà (Vesperbild), ca. 1400BohemianLimestone15 x 15 3/8 x 5 1/2 in. (38.1 x 39.1 x 14 cm)The Cloisters Collection, 2001 (2001.78)

In German, this subject is called a Vesperbild, an image for use during ritual devotions at sundown. More broadly, it's an example of an Andachtsbild, an image intended to stimulate meditation. For this reason, the holy figures are isolated from their narrative context and presented in a pose and a moment that amplify the statue's emotional import.

The Roettgen Pietà (Vesperbild), polychromed wood, 34’, ca. 1360, Landesmuseum, Bonn