Learning objectives
* To consider the different forms of art being created in different cities in the latter half of
the 15th century, including Venice, Florence, Nuremburg and Rome
* To consider the importance of drawing and printmaking to the spread of ideas and
reputations during the period
We are going to explore some of the different forms of painting and sculpture that
were being produced in the second half of the fifteenth century. We shall look at the contrast
between artists working in
the Florentine tradition – which was particularly focused on drawing,
‘line’ and the realistic depiction of the human body – and
the Venetian tradition, where colour
and its emotional impact was much more important.
- de Gonzaga’s in Mantua,
- de D’Estes in Ferrara
- de’ Medici in Florence.
- de Montefeltre in Urbino
We’ll see how an artist like Andrea
Mantegna, living and working in the north of Italy and closely associated with Venetian painters,
would combine a fascination with the antique alongside elements of Florentine style to create a
highly personal form of painting.
We will look at the use of drawings in preparation for paintings and see how printmaking
begins to spread information about works of art far beyond the cities and towns where pieces
were made. We’ll consider the ways in which the careful study of the human body gave rise to
new images of the body in action, with dramatic pictures of fighting men and complex
compositions of twisted and writhing human forms becoming more popular.
With the Papacy resurgent in Rome the city began to grow and develop as a state capital. Strong
Popes began to encourage the Roman aristocracy (possibly ‘demand’ would be a better word) to
help to beautify the city, building new palaces and widening roads. Unlike dynastic rulers in
other states, a Pope had only a few years to make his mark on the city (and help his family to do
likewise) before the next incumbent of the throne of St Peter would want to do the same, in
their own way. Artists from across Italy were summoned to create decorations on the walls of
the Sistine Chapel and in the private apartments of the Vatican, bringing new styles of painting
right into the heart of the Papal States. In a similar way, the prestige of commissioning and
collecting both modern and classical art gave patrons in smaller states an opportunity to use
their passion for art and humanist learning to strengthen the prestige of their less powerful
territories.
As the young Albrecht Dürer brings the traditions of Southern Germany into prominence, we
will also meet Tilman Riemenschneider, a sculptor who translated religious imagery into
stunning works carved out of limewood, with the same concern for drama and emotional
intensity as contemporary painters. His altarpieces are filled with the rich swirl of drapery and
balletic movement, making carved wood seem as fragile and delicate as lace, but able to depict
subtle emotions, towering strength and exquisite feeling.
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| 1. Hartmann Schedel, A View of Rome, 1493. From the Liber Chronicarum or Nuremburg Chronicle |
2. Views of the Pantheon and the Palazzo Cancelleria, Rome
3. The Gaddi Torso (possibly once owned by Ghiberti), 1st century BC. The Uffizi Gallery, Florence and The Belvedere
Torso, 1st century BC. The Vatican Museums, Rome
← ←
5. View of the Chapel of Nicholas Vth, Vatican Palace, Rome
6. Fra Angelico, detail from St Lawrence receives the treasures of the Church, 1447–
1450. Chapel of Nicholas Vth, Vatican Palace, Rome
7. Donatello and Michelozzo, The Niche of the Parte Guelfa, 1423-25. Or San Michele,
Florence
8. Benozzo Gozzoli, The Horse Tamer, 1447–49. British Museum, London → →
8a. The Dioscuri, 3rd c. AD, Piazza del’Quirinale, Rome
9. Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo, The Martyrdom of St Sebastian, 1475. National Gallery, London
← ←
The muscular archers around Sebastian seem to be frozen in motion. They are arranged in pairs and have three basic poses, and are pivoted so that we see them from different angles;
Antonio, who was a sculptor, might have made statuettes to use as models. He was, like Andrea Mantegna, intensely interested in anatomical exactness and in showing the human figure in dramatic, dynamic poses.
10. Melozzo da Forli, Pope Sixtus IV endows the Vatican Library, 1477. Vatican
Museums, Rome
11. Sandro Botticelli, The Temptations of Christ, 1481–82. The Sistine Chapel, Rome
12. Pietro Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys to Peter, 1480–82. The Sistine Chapel, Rome
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| 13. Pietro Perugino, Polyptych of the Certosa of Pavia, 1496–1500. National Gallery, London De engelachtige figuren lijken sprekend op elkaar. Let ook op de vreemde houding van de nek. De engelen in de lucht zijn waarschijnlijk een latere toevoeging, zij passen niet goed in de compositie. |
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| 14. Pinturicchio, The Resurrection, 1494. Borgia Apartments, Vatican Palace, Rome |
15. Pinturicchio, The Disputation of St Catherine of Alexandria, 1494. Borgia
Apartments, Vatican Palace, Rome
|
De Bellini schildersfamilie |
16. Mantegna; Camera degli Sposi, Mantua
17. Andrea Mantegna, The Martyrdom of St Sebastian, c.1480. Musée du Louvre, Paris
18. Andrea Mantegna, Virgin and Child with Two Saints, 1490–1505. National Gallery,
London
19. Andrea Mantegna, The Madonna della Vittoria, 1496. Musée du Louvre, Paris
20. Giovanni Bellini, The Agony in the Garden, 1458–60. National Gallery, London
21. Andrea Mantegna, The Agony in the Garden, 1455–56. National Gallery, London
22. Jacopo Bellini, St John the Baptist Preaching, 1440–50. Musée du Louvre, Paris
23. Jacopo Bellini, The Flagellation of Christ, c.1450. Musée du Louvre, Paris
24. Gentile Bellini, A Procession in St Mark’s Square, 1496. Galleria dell’ Accademia,
Venice
25. Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1488. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei
Frari, Venice
Detail → → →
Detail → → →
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| 26. Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child with Two Saints, c.1490. Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice |
27. Pisanello, The Vision of St Eustace, 1440. National Gallery, London
28. Pisanello, Drawings of a Horse and a European Bee-eater from the Codex Vallardi,
mid-15th century. Musée du Louvre, Paris
29. Pisanello, Four Studies of a Female Nude, an Annunciation and Two Women
Swimming, c.1425. Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
30. Raphael, Red Chalk studies for the Alba Madonna, c.1510. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille
31. Unknown Master, The Buxheim St Christopher, 1423. John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
← ←
One of the earliest dated examples
of German wood-block printing
of German wood-block printing
32. Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Battle of Ten Nude Men, 1470–75. National Museum,
Budapest
33. Andrea Mantegna, The Descent of Christ into Limbo, 1492. Barbara Piasecka
Johnson Foundation, Princeton
34. Andrea Mantegna, The Triumphs of Caesar – Bearers of Trophies and Bullion, 1484–
late 1490s. The Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace, London
35. After Andrea Mantegna, Engraving of The Triumphs of Caesar, 1599. Art Institute of
Chicago, Illinois
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| 37. (l) Martin Schongauer, The Nativity, (engraving), 1470. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 36.(r) Martin Schongauer, The Nativity, 1480. Staatliche Museen, Berlin |
38. Martin Schongauer, The Virgin Annunciate, 1485–90. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
39. Veit Stoss, The Virgin and Child, 1495. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
40. Albrecht Durer, St Jerome in a Landscape, 1496. National Gallery, London
41. Albrecht Durer, St Jerome in a Landscape, (engraving) 1496. Art Gallery of New
South Wales, Sydney
42. Michael Pacher, Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, 1483. Alte Pinakothek, Munich
43. Michael Pacher, The St Wolfgang’s Altarpiece, 1479–81. Paris Church, St Wolfgang,
Austria
44. Tilman Riemenschneider, The Heilige-Blut Altar, 1501–02. St Jakobskirche,
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
45. Tilman Riemenschneider, Two Mourning Women, c.1508. Landesmuseum,
Wurttemburg, Stuttgart
→ →
46. Donatello, St Mary Magdalene, c.1457. Museo del Opera del Duomo, Florence
