Fifteenth-century Art Research Articles

Touching objects: intimate experiences of Italian fifteenth-century art

This groundbreaking book spans the fields of art history, material culture, and gender studies in its examination of a range of objects from Italian Renaissance society. Addressing painted and sculpted portraits, marriage and betrothal gifts, and paxes, Adrian W. B. Randolph uses themes such as family and individual memory, windows, perspectival space, and touch to investigate how these items were experienced at the time, particularly by women. Rather than focusing on the social contexts of the objects, this original study deals with the objects themselves, asking how individuals lived with, looked at, and responded to complex things that at the time hovered between the nascent category of art and the everyday. Accompanied by beautiful and engaging accounts and illustrations of late-14th- and 15th-century Italian art, this compelling and thought-provoking argument makes the case for an alternate account of art and experience that challenges many conceptions about Renaissance art.

Lepotni ideal v upodabljanju Marije v florentinskem slikarstvu druge polovice 15. stoletja

An idealized type of Virgin Mary prevails in Florentine painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. Painters depicted Mary according to Florentine art theory, philosophy, and poetry of the fifteenth century as a woman of physical and spiritual beauty. Ideal female beauty was very precisely defined and it was used not only for images of the Virgin but also for other female figures in art – and, as can be seen from contemporary female portraits, it was also followed by Florentine women (and women from some other Italian regions as well) in the fifteenth century. Treatises on painting by Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci were very important for the development of the idealized human figure in Florentine fifteenth-century art theory. Both authors agreed that nature is the only true source of beauty, but they urged painters to select the most beautiful parts of nature and create a new, ideal whole. They emphasized the significance of shading, and da Vinci considered sfumato a means of beauty. Both authors connected body movements with inner feelings, “movements of the soul;” movements must coincide with inner feelings. They presented the ideal proportions of the human body: Alberti’s figure measures 7.5 head heights and Leonardo’s 8, and both proportional systems can be found in Florentine fifteenth-century painting. Marsilio Ficino, the leading Florentine renaissance Neoplatonist, defined beauty as an idea that dwells in the world of ideas and shows itself in the terrestrial world as beautiful bodies. He connected beauty with good, and considered beauty as a splendor of good. Poetry of the Medici circle presented idealized women with much in common: they had blonde hair with shiny curls, pale skin, dark sparkling eyes, a long neck, round shoulders, a slim waist, long elegant arms and legs, and small feet. The ideal woman was virtuous, intelligent, and pious. She smiled so lovingly that she could open the gates of Heaven. Descriptions of female beauty originate in earlier poetry, such as troubadour lyrics and the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. These descriptions influenced Medicean poets such as Luigi Pulci, Agnolo Poliziano, and Lorenzo de’ Medici. Fra Filippo Lippi represents an important starting point in depicting the idealized Virgin Mary in Florentine painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. His ideal beauty was based on poetics, and the painters of Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop followed it. One of these painters was Sandro Botticelli, who represents the peak of the trend in idealized depictions of Mary. Botticelli connected the beautiful form, grace, and melancholy into an ideal figure of Mary. His paintings of the Virgin can be understood as an allusion to Ficino’s philosophy: the Virgin is complete in form and spiritual beauty; she is an image of the ideal that embodies perfection and rises above terrestrial beauty. This idealizing manner was concluded by Botticelli’s pupil Filippino Lippi with a sweet and gentle Virgin. Leonardo da Vinci initially followed Verrocchio’s ideal beauty of a round face and ornamented hairstyle, but later developed his own ideal beauty of a narrow face, high cheekbones, and a gentle smile. Sfumato is used to depict the soft skin and her ethereal expression. Domenico Ghirlandaio developed his own ideal of female beauty. He concentrated on plastic form, and his Virgin is less melancholy than his contemporaries’. Florentine painters of the second half of the fifteenth century succeeded in connecting the spiritual and physical beauty in Virgin Mary and depicting her as the most beautiful woman that ever lived.

Lepotni ideal v upodabljanju Marije v florentinskem slikarstvu druge polovice 15. stoletja

An idealized type of Virgin Mary prevails in Florentine painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. Painters depicted Mary according to Florentine art theory, philosophy, and poetry of the fifteenth century as a woman of physical and spiritual beauty. Ideal female beauty was very precisely defined and it was used not only for images of the Virgin but also for other female figures in art – and, as can be seen from contemporary female portraits, it was also followed by Florentine women (and women from some other Italian regions as well) in the fifteenth century. Treatises on painting by Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci were very important for the development of the idealized human figure in Florentine fifteenth-century art theory. Both authors agreed that nature is the only true source of beauty, but they urged painters to select the most beautiful parts of nature and create a new, ideal whole. They emphasized the significance of shading, and da Vinci considered sfumato a means of beauty. Both authors connected body movements with inner feelings, “movements of the soul;” movements must coincide with inner feelings. They presented the ideal proportions of the human body: Alberti’s figure measures 7.5 head heights and Leonardo’s 8, and both proportional systems can be found in Florentine fifteenth-century painting. Marsilio Ficino, the leading Florentine renaissance Neoplatonist, defined beauty as an idea that dwells in the world of ideas and shows itself in the terrestrial world as beautiful bodies. He connected beauty with good, and considered beauty as a splendor of good. Poetry of the Medici circle presented idealized women with much in common: they had blonde hair with shiny curls, pale skin, dark sparkling eyes, a long neck, round shoulders, a slim waist, long elegant arms and legs, and small feet. The ideal woman was virtuous, intelligent, and pious. She smiled so lovingly that she could open the gates of Heaven. Descriptions of female beauty originate in earlier poetry, such as troubadour lyrics and the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. These descriptions influenced Medicean poets such as Luigi Pulci, Agnolo Poliziano, and Lorenzo de’ Medici. Fra Filippo Lippi represents an important starting point in depicting the idealized Virgin Mary in Florentine painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. His ideal beauty was based on poetics, and the painters of Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop followed it. One of these painters was Sandro Botticelli, who represents the peak of the trend in idealized depictions of Mary. Botticelli connected the beautiful form, grace, and melancholy into an ideal figure of Mary. His paintings of the Virgin can be understood as an allusion to Ficino’s philosophy: the Virgin is complete in form and spiritual beauty; she is an image of the ideal that embodies perfection and rises above terrestrial beauty. This idealizing manner was concluded by Botticelli’s pupil Filippino Lippi with a sweet and gentle Virgin. Leonardo da Vinci initially followed Verrocchio’s ideal beauty of a round face and ornamented hairstyle, but later developed his own ideal beauty of a narrow face, high cheekbones, and a gentle smile. Sfumato is used to depict the soft skin and her ethereal expression. Domenico Ghirlandaio developed his own ideal of female beauty. He concentrated on plastic form, and his Virgin is less melancholy than his contemporaries’. Florentine painters of the second half of the fifteenth century succeeded in connecting the spiritual and physical beauty in Virgin Mary and depicting her as the most beautiful woman that ever lived.

:The Cambridge Companion to Masaccio

Introduction Diane Cole Ahl 1. Masaccio's Florence in perspective: crisis and discipline in a medieval society Anthony Mohlo 2. Masaccio's city: urbanism, architecture, and sculpture in early fifteenth-century Florence Gary M. Radke 3. Painting Masaccio's Florence Ellen Callmann 4. Collaboration in fifteenth-century art and the case of Masaccio and Masolino Perri Lee Roberts 5. Masaccio: technique in context Roberto Bellucci and Cecilia Frosinini 6. The altarpieces of Masaccio Dillian Gordon 7. Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel Diane Cole Ahl 8. Masaccio's Trinity: theological, social, and civic meanings Timothy Verdon 9. Masaccio and perspective in Italy in the fifteenth century J. V. Field 10. Masaccio's legacy Francis Ames-Lewis.

A layman's eye view of abstract art

Today the layman finds himself in a peculiar position regarding his feelings about art. On the one hand he sees violent adherents to the new expression of the twentieth century, while on the other he is aware of scoffing and derision of decadent modernism. Who is he to believe, and for what is he looking when he is confronted by a contemporary work? Even the term modern has taken on a suspect connotation in regard to art. In my beginning painting classes I am invariably asked by cautious students, their eyes narrowed, You're not going to give us any of that modernistic stuff, are you? This is, of course, symptomatic of the perplexity shared by the majority of laymen as they react to the work of contemporary artists. It is at precisely the moment of my called for answer that I intend to begin this discussion of the abstract qualities of art. Suppose we start by clarifying the meaning of abstraction. I refer to it as the act of withdrawing the essence of experience, epitomizing or summarizing the real-life activity. In this sense, even a photograph is abstract, for it is no longer the actual form but is a summary of the form on a twodimensional plane, greatly reduced in scale, and frequently in black and white rather than full color. Man the artist has chosen to abstract in many ways, and to different degrees in order to best express himself in relation to his time. The degree of abstraction is sometimes greater in twentieth century art than in fifteenth century art, but the underlying principles are the same. Now in particularizing the discussion I shall refer to specific works of artists, and for purposes of clarity it would be greatly beneficial if you could look at the examples pointed out. I shall be careful to choose only those works found in A New World History of Art by Sheldon Cheney, published by the Dryden Press of New York in 1956. The nineteenth century painter, Paul Cezanne, was an artist who wanted to recapture the solidity and abiding strength of the old masters.

Giovannino Battista: A Study in Renaissance Religious Symbolism

THE figure of the Infant St. John became such a commonplace in fifteenth century art that it has rarely been thought to question whether or not there are specific sources for its appearance. Yet the problem acquires particular interest and importance when it is realized that the saint was almost never shown in this form before the Italian Renaissance. At that time the aged hermit of tradition was transformed into a child as young even as the Infant Christ with whom he was so frequently portrayed. Generally it has been believed that the numerous domestic scenes bearing such titles as Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John, or Holy Family with the Infant St. John, were simply manifestations of Renaissance naturalism, and that the reduction in John's age was merely a result of Florentine interest in the graces of childhood.1 However, art historical experience amply demonstrates that Renaissance artists were not in the habit of introducing new representational forms casually and without basis in tradition. Consequently, the hypothesis of naturalism, adequate or not as a definition of the phenomenon's cause, is certainly unsatisfactory as a description of its source. Since this perhaps more than any other single religious subject typifies the period, our ignorance of its real meaning and origin constitutes a major gap in our knowledge of Renaissance iconography.