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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE EARLY RENAISSANCE IN FIFTEENTH-
CENTURY ITALY
Closer Look:
Brunelleschi’s Dome
Masaccio, The Tribute Money
Google Earth Coordinates:
Ca’d’Oro, Venice
Florence in the Fifteenth Century
Key Images
Filippo Brunelleschi, The Sacrifice of Issac, p. 508, 15.1
Lorenzo Ghiberti, The Sacrifice of Issac, p. 508, 15.2
Filippo Brunelleschi, Dome of Florence cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), p. 510, 15.3
Filippo Brunelleschi, Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents), p. 511, 15.4
View under arcade of Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence, p. 511, 15.5
Filippo Brunelleschi, Old Sacristy, church of San Lorenzo, p. 512, 15.6
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Andrea del Verrocchio, The Incredulity of Thomas, Or San Michele, p. 524, 15.20
Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, p. 526, 15.21
Gentile da Fabriano, The Nativity, detail of Adoration of the Magi predella, p. 526, 15.22
Masaccio, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John, and Two Donors, p. 527, 15.23
Primary Source: In Praise of the City of Florence (ca. 1403-4) by Leonardo Bruni, p.
507
Lorenzo Ghiberti (ca. 1381-1455), The Commentaries, from Book 2,
First known as the rinascimento ,
Renaissance a rebirth of classical art and architecture.
Competition among artists and patrons resulted in an unprecedented display of art
during the early 15th century.
.
façade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti was a revival of
classical architecture, with the first usage of columns since classical antiquity.
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In 1419,
fourth century Medici family church of San Lorenzo in the classical style.
The Pazzi family commissioned Brunelleschi to build a family chapel adjacent to the
Franciscan church of Santa Croce, although Brunelleschi died before the work could
uncertain, the plan is wholly his.
ebt to Giotto can be seen in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del
and expressive, and full of volume.
Florentine innovations quickly spread throughout Italy as artists from Florence
traveled throughout Tuscany to complete commissions.
Giovanni Rucellai, a wealthy merchant, commissioned Leon Battista Alberti to design
a façade for the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. The patronage of Rucellai
is acknowledged by Alberti with an inscription under the gable and the billowing sail
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Domestic Life: Palaces, Furnishings, and Paintings in Medicean Florence
Key Images
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, p. 533, 15.31
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Courtyard of Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, p. 534, 15.32
Donatello, David, p. 535, 15.33
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, p. 535, 15.34
Primary Source: Domenico Veneziano Solicits Work, p. 534
Giovanni Dominici Urges Parents to Put Religious Images in Their
Homes, p. 539
Alberti designed the exterior of the Rucellai family home the Palazzo Rucellai. In
the Palazzo Rucellai, Alberti designed a classical exterior with the heavier Doric
In his David, commissioned by the Medicis, Donatello created the first free-standing
bronze nude since classical antiquity. The unusual portrayal of David as a nude
Florentine youth and the implied sexuality of the work, underscores the risks that the
artist was willing to take.
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Renaissance Art throughout Italy, 1450-1500
Key Images
Piero della Francesca, Resurrection, p. 544, 15.43
Piero della Francesca, Double Portrait of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, p.
545, 15.44
Artists outside of Florence began to emulate Florentine artists and styles, adapting the
naturalism and classicism of the Renaissance to the interests of each artist and region.
in antiquity, and the work of Masaccio.
Key Terms/Places/Names
Renaissance
humanism
scientific perspective
contrapposto
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Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the significance of naturalism and the classical aesthetic in the formation
of Italian Early Renaissance art and architecture. How can these elements be seen in
Mary Magdalene (15.15)?
5. How is the idea of continuous narration illustrated in The Tribute Money (15.26)
of Masaccio?
6. Why was perspective rediscovered in the early 1400s, and how did it affect art,
architecture, and ideas? What were the conditions that came together at that time
which precipitated the need for perspective? Why was the rediscovery of perspective
so significant?
Resources
Books
Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting. Tr. John R. Spencer. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1956.
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Borsi, Franco. Leon Battista Alberti: The Complete Works. New York: Electa/Rizzoli,
1989.
Casazza, Ornella. Masaccio and the Brancacci Chapel. Siena: Scala, 1990.
Krautheimer, Richard. Ghiberti’s Bronze Doors. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1971.
Lightbrown, Ronald. Piero della Francesca. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992.
DVDs
Donatello: The First Modern Sculptor. (1985). Image Entertainment. 85 min.
Empires: The Medici. Godfathers of the Renaissance. (2004). PBS Home Video. 240
min.