Giotto di Bondone, usually referred to as Giotto, was a very well known and highly respected Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late 13th to mid 14th centuries. He is remembered not just for his own outstanding work, but for the lasting effects he had on the evolution of painting in Europe. Giotto is considered one of the first of many artists who took part in the foundation the Italian Renaissance in both painting and architecture by breaking away from traditional styles.
Giotto was born at Colle, near Florence in 1266. A late 16th century Italian painter, architect, writer and historian known as Giorgio Vasari, best known for his book “Lives of the Artists,” recounts that Giotto was a bright and intelligent shepherd boy who was admired by all who knew him. Vasari describes a number of stories about Giotto's remarkable skill. He was discovered by the great Florentine mosaic artist and painter known as Cimabue. He was caught drawing pictures of his sheep on a rock and they were so lifelike that Cimabue approached Giotto and invited him to his workshop, where he would soon take the boy in as an apprentice. In another story, Cimabue was away from the workshop and Giotto supposedly painted a fly on a portrait that Cimabue was in the middle of completing. The small fly was so lifelike on the face of the painting, Cimabue tried several times to brush it off before realizing it was painted on. Vasari also recounts when the Pope sent a messenger to Giotto who asked him to to demonstrate his skill by sending in a drawing. As a result Giotto drew a circle in red paint so perfect that it seemed as though he has used a compass to draw it and instructed the messenger to give that to the Pope. These occurrences may not seem im...
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...sent excellent craft and mandatory he pay close attention to detail. As an artist he understood the basic principles and elements of design which also aided in his designing of the campanile. Giotto assisted Arnolfo di Cambio in the designs of Palazzo Vecchio and the Church of Santa Croce in which he gained a better understanding of architecture. His ability to think for himself and to not copy existing styles as a painter can also been recognized in his work architect, as he did follow the Gothic style. The architecture in his frescos, especially in his masterpiece at the Arena Chapel, may have been actual works of architecture that Giotto could have known about or simple elements he designed himself. Either way Giotto had an observation and understanding of architecture and many scholars believe that he might have been as much of an architect as a painter. (Smart)
Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most famous artists during the time of the Renaissance, The Mona Lisa for example, was a painting created between 1503 and 1506, it is the most famous painting ever painted. It is a portrait of the young wife of a Florentine silk merchant. It shows a young woman with her famous smile sitting on a balcony high above a landscape.
Filippo Brunelleschi gained much of his architectural signature from his studies in Rome. He was already making a name for himself in Florence before he started working on a design for the Baptistery doors. “After Lorenzo Ghiberti had won the competition (1401) for the Baptistery doors, the runners-up, Donatello and Brunelleschi, both left for Rome to study sculpture and architecture respectively” (Meek np). It was actually a blessing in disguise that Brunelleschi lost the bid for the doors because it led him to move to Rome for a period of time. This exposed him first hand to the ancient Roman buildings and the specific architecture in their designs. According to PBS, “Brunelleschi spent the next 10-years living rough in Rome with his good friend, the sculptor Donatello, studying the ruins of the great city” (“Filippo Brunelleschi” np). A decade is a long time to absorb a narrow field of architecture. It is inevitable that he picked up on the design elements and incorporated them into his own. Through independent study, Brunelleschi could truly focus on what interested him and thus making it a passion of his. After his time spent in Rome, Brunelleschi moved back to Florence where he was “responsible for initiating the rediscovery of ancient Roman architecture” because he “understood its inherent principles and he employed them in an original manner” (Meek np). As a result it is indisputable that Brunelleschi’s ...
Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli also known as Giampietrino spent the vast majority of his known career developing drawings and paintings of nude women from roman mythology under the leadership of the great Leonardo Da Vinci. Under the influential scope of Leonardo, Giampietrino replicated myriad artworks of leonardo’s displaying the importance of honoring the great artists of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, especially those such as Leonardo who remain a significant figure in the discourse of the canon of art in contemporary art society. Although he developed his own techniques and manipulations to refine his own work and bring forth a change in the development of the renaissance and baroque style of art, Giampietrino closely followed the methods taught in the Lombard school of art and those of his mentor Leonardo Da Vinci. Giampietrino’s similar style of painting to Leonardo can cogently be seen in his painting Lucretia and a plethora of other paintings, which convey the influence of the Lombard school from the incorporated formal elements such as color, form, content, and subjec...
The style employed by the Giordano is clearly naturalistic, as there is a distinct attempt to render the subject in a manner that is faithful to how things look like in the real world (Davies, Denny and Hofrichter 4). While there is some idealized elements, particularly in the pose of Saint Sebastian in the painting, naturalism takes precedent as the dominant style in the painting. This is demonstrated by the anatomical correctness and accuracy in the size and forms of the human figures, true-to-life perspective, the rendering of the interactions of light and shadow and the depiction of the textures and colors in the pai...
A historical artist I found interesting in the world of art is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, commonly known as Caravaggio, an Italian artist in the Baroque Era (Ornate Age). Caravaggio was born on September 29, 1571 to his father Fermo Merisi and mother Luci Aratori in Milan, Lombardy. At the age of 11, he was orphaned due to the death of his parents and found work as an apprentice for a painter named Simone Peterzano for four years. During his years under Peterzano, he was influenced by the outside art works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other Northern arts. In 1592 at the age of 21, he moved to Rome, Italy the center of where artists gathered to work for less skilled painters. During his time in Rome, Cardinal Francesco del
Renaissance art history began as civic history; it was an expression of civic pride. The first such history was Filippo Villani's De origine civitatis Florentiae et eiusdem famosis civibus, written about 1381-82. Florentine artists revived an art that was almost dead, Villani asserts, just as Dante had restored poetry after its decline in the Middle Ages. The revival was begun by Cimabue and completed by Giotto, who equalled the ancient painters in fame and even surpassed them in skill and talent. After Giotto came his followers, Stefano, Taddeo Gaddi, and Maso, uomini illustri all, who, together with notable jurists, poets, musicians, theologians, physicians, orators, and others, made Florence the preeminent city of Italy.
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi better known as, Donatello, was an artist during the Renaissance art movement. He
The early Renaissance art in Florence focused on an elaborate, Gothic style of painting; very formal and traditional, yet there was always something that seemed to be lacking. Perspective and depth were two very important qualities in painting, yet up until the time of young Masaccio, (born Tommaso Guidi), paintings were beautiful, but seemed to just be art that hung on the wall. In Masaccio’s work, “rather than recede in space, the figures seem to come forward” (Cole 120). He may not have known it at the time, but his style of painting would influence many painters well after his death; Donatello, Michelangelo, and so on. Masaccio may have only painted for a total of 8 years, but during those 8 years he revolutionized not only the time of the Renaissance, but also the way painting could be created by the artist, and seen by its viewers. Through the use of linear perspective and astronomical instruments, he was able to create amazing works that defied the limits of the human eye, and allowed a painting to possess realistic depth. Through his skills, Masaccio was able to move away from the Gothic and elaborate style of the time, and his paintings reflect the first use of perspective in order to create a sense of a realistic, three dimensional world.
In Florence, Italy, the famous, Leonardo da Vinci started painting The Mona Lisa one of the most well known paintings in the entire world, in 1503 and finally completed it in 1517. One of the biggest reasons for the popularity of the painting is the artist himself. Leonardo is one of the most recognized artists of all time. The Mona Lisa was painted after Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy merchant Francesco del Giocondo from Tuscany. The painting was created to be a celebration of their home's completion as well as the arrival of their second son. The Mona Lisa is one of the most well know paintings from the time of the Renaissance. This painting as well as Leonardo da Vinci, inspired and affected many of the artists and writers in the Renaissance. It also changed the way people saw and made art. During the Renaissance art was usually just what they saw. They drew people the way they were, with no real sense of freedom to be creative. The Mona Lisa's background was mainly different because of its landscape. The Mona Lisa was one of the first paintings if not the first to have an imaginary background. This means that the background was so unique, because no other artists had decided to create a piece with an Aerial view, creativity, and freedom. It opened up new possibilities for other artists to step of out their comfort zone and not only make what was expected of them.
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Renaissance art was perceived as a "rebirth of ancient traditions", transforming the tradition by the absorption of recent developments in the art of Northern Europe by application of contemporary scientific knowledge. Many famous artists would emerge around this time, including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Raphael de Sanzio. The Renaissance provided and environment for many artists to thrive and succeed. In addition to some artists gaining popularity, others who weren't as well-known still had flourishing careers; one of which was Antonio Da Correggio. Born in a small town near Reggio Emilia, Antonio's passion for art expanded naturally, and bloomed in its native soil. By 1516, Corregio was in Parma, where he generally remained for the rest of his career. In his use of dynamic composition, illusionistic perspective and dramatic foreshortening, Corregio prefigured the Rococo art of the 18th Century. Although he isn't as well-known and appreciated for his contribution to the Renaissance, "Correggio is an enigmatic and eclectic artist, and it is not always possible to identify a stylistic link between his paintings. He appears to have emerged out of no major apprenticeship, and to have had little immediate influence in terms of apprenticed successors, but his works are now considered to have been revolutionary and influential on subsequent artists" (1).
The paintings by Duccio and Giotto firmly set in place a benchmark for where artwork in the years around 1300 began to develop. These artworks show how paintings began to evolve into more symbolic, naturalistic, and dramatic scenes, depicting events in life and religion. The paintings of Duccio and Giotto are similar in the sense that their paintings were then, in the sense of more modern words, “special effects” of their time. They show vivid colors with meaning and symbolism, atmospheric characters that exist in space, and composition that is well thought out. Overall, these two artists become a pinnacle of art that illustrates Italian paintings in the years around 1300.
Dunkerton, Jill, Susan Foister, Dillian Gordon, and Nicholas Penny. Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery. London: Yale UP in Association with National Gallery Pubblications, 1991. Print.
In the Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, there is a cathedral church whose octagonal dome, built without the aid of scaffolding, was considered the greatest engineering feat of the early Renaissance. Dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, Our Lady of the Flower, it is also known as the Duomo, after the Italian word for cathedral. Created by many great Early Modern artists, this piece of architecture is a perfect example the Renaissance style. We can come to a better understanding of why this is so by exploring what the characteristics of the Renaissance “style”. To understand the properties of the Florence Cathedral that fit the Early Modern style, I will begin with a description and its history. The cathedral's architectural style, although greatly influenced by French Gothic elements remained distinctively Florentine, especially the geometric patterns of red, green, and white marble on the building's exterior. Construction of the cathedral began in 1294 on the site of a Christian church founded in the 6th or 7th century and continued until 1436. Several celebrated Italian architects were involved in the project, including Giotto, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Orcagna, and, most notably, Filippo Brunelleschi, who was responsible for designing and building the dome. The cathedral's exterior is ornamented with sculpture and mosaics by Italian artists Donatello, Nanni di Banco, and Domenico Ghirlandaio, among others. The building's stained-glass windows are the work of the Italian architect and artist Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the interior is decorated with sculpture and fresco paintings by several Renaissance masters. Construction of the campanile (bell tower), situated to the right of the entrance to the Duomo, was begun by Giotto and completed according to his plans in 1359, after his death. Nearly 278 ft high, the campanile is embellished with red, green, and white marble panels of relief sculpture by Italian artists Andrea Pisano and Luca della Robbia, and niches with sculpted figures by Donatello and other masters. Facing the cathedral and campanile is a smaller, octagonal structure, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, noted for its gilt-bronze doors, elaborately worked in high relief by Andrea Pisano and Lorenzo Ghiberti. With that background information about the cathedral, one question comes to mind: what is it that makes the Renaissance style distinct? Renaissa...
“The painter will produce pictures of little worth if he takes for his standard the pictures of others… Giotto the Florentine, who was not content with imitating the works of Cimabue, his master… he excelled not only all the masters of his time but all those of many centuries past…” 3