Masters of Pen and Bronze

            Giorgio Vasari: master biographer.  Lorenzo Ghiberti: master of sculpture.  The two men have both contributed a vast wealth of long lasting culture to the world - a wealth that has not diminished with time and has only added to our understanding of the history of mankind and his accomplishments. 

Gates of Paradise, photo
courtesy of Wikipedia CC

            Vasari recounts in his biography of Ghiberti (1378-1455) the exact point at which his talent was eclipsed into country-wide fame – at his creation of the great bronze panel for a competition in 1401.  Vasari's biographic tale casts a light of perspective onto Ghiberti's prized work.  Without background, the Bronze Gates of Paradise are awe striking, but the depth of this accomplishment is not fully understood.  In his description of Ghiberti and his competitors, Vasari recounts that Ghiberti allowed artists and townspeople alike to view and critique his panel, while his competitors guarded them with secrecy.  It was perhaps because of this that his panel so far surpassed the others.  With great care and consideration, Ghiberti worked and reworked his panel in wax, finally casting it in Bronze.  Vasari allows the humanity behind Ghiberti’s masterpiece to surface with his tale, relating the care and affection both Ghiberti and his father, Bartoluccio, gave to the panel which depicts the Old Testament story.  

Though the doors do not stand in their original spot at the baptistery, residing only some hundreds of feet away in the museum of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, they are as wondrous now as they were during the Renaissance.  Though the relief does not reach more than two inches, some figures stand in almost full relief, while the architecture and backgrounds protrude less than a centimeter and still seem to recede with perspective.  The figures themselves seem to sway with movement.  Wholly, his mastery with sculpture adds a dimension of reality to the panels that is not present in the panel of his competitor, Filippo Brunelleschi.

What is most important about Vasari's biography is its reminder that these Gates of Paradise are not mythical objects, but were created in a specific time, at a specific place.  If one stands in front of the doors to the baptistry, one stands where centuries ago, Michelangelo supposedly gave these doors their infamous name.

Moving Towards Modernization

Triumph of the Church, photo courtesy
of Wikipedia Creative Commons

The Proto-Renaissance, a most pertinent period in history, became the fundamental base for modernizing art.  Once masters like Cimabue, Giotto and Duccio brought artists out of the middle ages, painters and sculptors alike began to find the techniques for true realism in their arts.

Andrea da Firenze (1343-1377) was one of these men, working in style a similar to the masters before him.  A Florentine fresco painter, his best known works still exist today in the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella.  A prime example of his frescos there, Triumph of the Church, (1366-68) displays the artist’s keen eye for observation.  The fresco, commissioned by Buonamico Giudalotti, depicts a scene in which Jesus looks down upon the city of Florence, along with the Church Triumphant.  Those residing on earth, or the Church Militant, talk or kneel in prayer, while dogs (a symbol of the Dominican monks) dutifully stand guard. 

Although Andrea took influence from Giotto, his composition still resembles those from the Byzantine era.  Though there is a slight sense of depth, the fresco is very much based in hierarchy of scale, and has a frontality to it that does not allow for true realism. 

Close up of Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, photo
courtesy of Wikipedia Creative Commons, cropped

However, what is most impressive about this fresco is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.  Although Brunelleschi’s dome for the cathedral had not yet been completed, Andrea’s depiction of the dome is decently accurate; and the detailing, architecture, shading and perspective is impressive.  The cathedral is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Triumph of the Church.

Altogether, Andrea’s fresco demonstrates the forward movement of the time.  Though artists were still only moving out of the Byzantine style, modernization was quickly spreading as more artists took influence from the masters.

Cimabue: Jump Starting the Proto Renaissance

Giorgio Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists begins with the biography of Cimabue, who was raised in Florence and lived from 1240-1302.  Vasari describes the artist as the first since antiquity to improve upon the traditional style of art today known as Greco Byzantine.  Vasari praises Cimabue for this forward movement, noting the tonal humanity presented in Cimabue’s works throughout the Tuscan region.

Wooden Cross (1265), Cimabue, Photo courtesy
of Wikipedia Creative Commons

A particular work exemplifying his style is the Wooden Cross (1265), which can be seen in the Basilica of Santa Croce.  Cimabue’s Christ hangs from the cross with more lifelike features – his legs and torso dangle limply to one side, while his arms and head droop in death.  Most notably is the expression of anguish and sorrow on Christ’s face.  When closely observed, it is found that the lines of his face sag in pain.  His mouth and eyes slope downward, giving him a dimension of humanity unseen works by previous artists. 

Although Cimabue was only the precursor of what was to come – quickly surpassed in fame by his successor, Giotto di Bondone – Vasari notes that without his spark of ingenuity, it may have been many more years before art began to transform.  Perhaps (and Vasari notes this as well) Cimabue was in the right place at the right time, a mixture of painting master and creative mind, much unlike his predecessors.

The Key to Modernizing Byzantine Art: Influence and Improvement

            During the early trecento in Italy, painters took influence from masters such as Cimabue and Giotto – though Giotto far surpassed the former in style and color – in order to improve upon and modernize the field of art. 

Lorenzetti, Presentaion of Jeus in the 

Temple (1348), Photo courtesy of 

Google Art Project

One such artist by the name of Ambrogio Lorenzetti came from the Sienese School of painters, living from 1290-1348.  His Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, painted in 1348, demonstrates both his influence from Giotto and his impelling need to further the realistic and humanistic style of painting becoming ever more popular in the Italian Proto Renaissance. 

Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is characterized by great attention to depth and three dimensionality, as seen in the folded draperies of the figures, as well as the remarkable architecture which recedes into the background; which also exemplifies Lorenzetti’s conscious observation of the world around him.  Though the traditional use of linear perspective would not come to existence for another two hundred years, Lorenzetti clearly recognized that in order to create three dimensionality on a two dimensional space, the world must gradually become smaller as it recedes into the background.  Lorenzetti’s traditional Byzantine influence is clear in the long faces of his figures, as well as the gold trimming and common subject of his 

Close up of Presentaion of Jesus, Photo courtesy
of Google Art Project

        painting; but like Giotto he adds a tone of humanity to the faces – the men talk to one another with somewhat more animated expressions and the women look placidly upon the baby Jesus, who more resembles a human baby than in Byzantine portrayals. 

All together, the altar piece is a remarkable example of the painter’s ability to further expand the style of painting during his time, through both the setting he paints his figures within and the figures themselves.  Lorenzetti was one of the first     artists to truly create a three dimensional space on a flat surface.

Giorgio Vasari: Art and Genius

            Giorgio Vasari is known today as the father of art history, many believing that he created the discipline, due to the fact that none other before his time chronicled the lives or work of artists in extensive biographies.  Vasari’s love of Roman art and architecture provides insight into his love of art as a whole – though a devout Catholic himself, he recognized the value of the art of the “pagan” peoples, describing in detail the tragedy of its destruction.  Vasari states that the destruction of Roman art actually set humanity back in time, and that the advanced styles and techniques were, though not in accordance with the Catholic Church, valid and beautiful.  He believed that artists of the time should be remembered for the ages, and lamented that there existed many artists and creations that will be forever lost to the world because of this purging of pagan gods. 

            However, Vasari seems to have great faith in humanity, going so far as to say that humans may even be similar to God in our intellect.  He states in his preface to The Lives of Artists that God made us out of imperfection, molding human beings into what He believed to be perfect beauty, and that out of that likeness we look to nature to create perfect beauty and harmony.

            Though his biographies of artists are wrought with both small and large factual errors, Vasari’s Lives of the Artists is still the only extensive biography written contemporary with artists such as Michelangelo; so in this way it provides invaluable insight which can not be found any where else in history. 

            

Giotto and the Renaissance

         The painting style of the Renaissance differed drastically from Byzantine art of the Roman Empire.  Focus shifted from the purely ethereal to the human (though subjects remained mainly religious); and painters desired to create a sense of depth and life to their figures.  

       

       The forerunner of this new style, Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337), became widely known for his realism, which he achieved through multiple techniques.  One of these was to create the illusion of mass in his figures through the folded drapery of their clothes.  He also often worked with a specific light source, giving his figures a realistic setting that at the same time added to the illusion of depth.  

Giotto's Madonna Enthroned with
Angels and Saints, photo courtesy
of flckr creative commons

      

        Giotto’s panel Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and Saints is a perfect example of the stray from the Byzantine style.  As compared with Cimabue’s panel of the same subject, Giotto’s has a great amount of life to it.  Painted from 1306-1310, the tempera on wood panel stands at an alarming 128 x 80 inches.  In person, Giotto’s work with light, drapery, and architecture all work together to create depth and space.  Giotto also used perspective to create depth, seen in the throne (an architecturally painted masterpiece), as well as in the angels, who over lap one another as they recede into the background.  

      

          Giotto's style paved the way for a new era, focusing on the realism of humanity and emotion.  His attention to light, perspective, and depth does not seem new or extraordinary today, but in the 14th century it was an advanced technique, new to all.

Giorgio Vasari: Artistic Genius or Eradicator

Giorgio Vasari, self portrait.  Photo
by lhwilkenson, courtesy of flikr
creative commons.

From the height of the cinquecento to present day, the art biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) has been fundamental to historians for Renaissance art and its budding artists.  His biography The Lives of Artists was, and is still, integral for studying the Renaissance style (how it came to be and why).

However, as the years have passed, art historians have actually found many of Vasari’s facts to be false – bits and pieces of information have been either misleading or completely off target.

Another poignant part of Vasari’s life, after the creation of the Council of Trent

(1545-1563), seems to contradict his vehement recordings of the Renaissance.  He, along with infamous artists such as Sandro Boticelli, took part in the massive destruction and recreation of paintings, murals, frescos and sculptures straying from the strict ideals of the Catholic Counter Reformation.

            Interestingly enough, today Vasari is still thought of as the most iconic art biographer in historic times; and though there are gaps in truth, The Lives of Artists does provide direct and invaluable insight into the Renaissance.  

Early Beginnings and The Power of "Denaro"

Il Duomo (designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi
in 1436) photo by McPig, courtesy of Flickr
creative commons.

We begin in the early 15^th century, when Italy existed not as one unified country, but as divided city-states governed independently of one another.  Around this time the city-state of Florence began to flourish through the production of cloth, and forwent the traditional bartering of goods and services for a currency of silver coins, called "Denaro".  The creation of a currency in Florence made it possible to grow in wealth and status for the first time in history, a radical but economical idea; and Florence swiftly transformed into a prosperous city-state crowded by bankers and merchants.

Equestrian statue of Ferdinando dei Medici (constructed

by Pietro Tacca 1602-1608), photo by Simone Ramella, 

courtesy of Flickr creative commons.

Most of the wealthiest families residing in the city desired to showcase their affluence – and the best way to do so was to commission an art piece.  Families such as the Medici paved the roads for countless others with commissioned paintings and sculptures for private and religious use. 

As Florence grew in wealth during the Baroque and Renaissance periods, so too did its artistic community.  Commissioned art became a fundamental source of income for painters and sculptors; but while many commissioners were wealthy bankers, the subjects and ideals remained mainly religious.

Entering the Baroque period, the Catholic Counter Reformation reared its omnipotent head by commissioning cathedrals, sculptures, altar-pieces and more.  These were to be seen by the public in order to advise them to reform to the ways of the Catholic Church in piety and humility. 

Ultimately the commissioning of art by wealthy families allowed for an abundance of artists, all exploring new concepts and styles while painting and sculpting for the richest of Florence’s citizens.