U N I T 31 RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE In this Unit you will learn about art from the beginning of the Renaissance to the 15th century and to the spread of Baroque during the 17th century. There will be a presentation of the main artists within this period, analysed through their life and masterpieces. Most of the Unit is concerned with Italian art, but you will also find an overview of the development of Renaissance in other European countries. A. FLORENCE AND HUMANISM After the artistic innovations made by Giotto, there was a rebirth of interest for the classical world and artists began to follow the principles of harmonious proportion, natural postures and expressions. In all fields of knowledge such as art, science, literature, architecture and music it spread the belief that man could be wiser and more open-minded through the study of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Even though religion was still important in the Renaissance, intellectuals and artists focused on the earthly aspects of human life more and more; man (body and mind) was put at the core of the Universe, as represented in the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci. In this period artists achieved recognition and rose above the status of craftsman and artisan: great personalities emerged and competed with one another, and this competition encouraged further innovations. The term Renaissance , referring to the rebirth of the classical period, was already used in the 15th century and Florence was the centre of this new culture. Three of the most significant artists of the Early Renaissance trained in Florence, where they produced their main works, were: Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio. FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI (1377-1446) Filippo Brunelleschi was an architect, engineer and sculptor. He was close to both Donatello, with whom he spent three years in Rome studying ancient artefacts, and Masaccio, who introduced perspective calculations in some of his paintings. When he was young, Brunelleschi joined the silk merchants Guild, which commissioned him to create his first important building, the Ospedale degli Innocenti. In 1401, he produced a bronze panel, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac, for the competition to design a new set of bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence. Brunelleschi showed a very innovative style, especially in the organization of the scene, but in the end, the winner was Lorenzo Ghiberti, because his panel showed a superior technical skill. However, less than twenty years later, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were again competitors for the project of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence, and this time, Brunelleschi was the winner. The dome is a major example of Brunelleschi s technical and mathematical genius, and is considered as one of the most grandiose buildings of the Renaissance. DONATELLO (1386-1466) Donatello was the first sculptor to move away from Gothic representations of the human form by combining realism with classical lines. He was trained in the Gothic style but, thanks to his deep knowledge of ancient sculpture, developed during the period he spent in Rome with Brunelleschi, he succeeded in creating statues that appeared to have both life and personality. The statue of David, in particular, represents a link between Filippo Brunelleschi, The Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, 1420-1461, Florence. 48