Summary
In keeping with the spirit of humanism, artists of the early Renaissance
strove to portray lifelike human forms with correct proportions and realistic
clothing and expressions. Artists developed new techniques to give paintings a
more three-dimensional, life-like quality, and commonly studied human and animal
anatomy in efforts to better understand their subjects.
The first important painter of the Renaissance was Giotto di Bondone.
Giotto painted during the turn of the fourteenth century, breaking away from the
Gothic and Byzantine artistic traditions. He deeply studied nature in an effort
to infuse his paintings with reality, an effort most notable in his especially
realistic facial expressions. In 1334, Giotto was appointed chief architect in
Florence, where he remained until his death in 1337. Giotto's innovations made
in the portrayal of perspective were improved upon by a later painter, Tommaso
Guidi, known as Masaccio (Messy Tom) because of his disheveled appearance.
Masaccio is credited with mastering perspective, and was the first Renaissance
artist to paint models in the nude, often using light and shadow to define the
shape of his models rather than clear lines. Masaccio's best known work is a
scene from the Bible called The Tribute Money. Furthering the
accomplishments of his predecessors, Sandro Botticelli emerges as a dominant
artist during the early Renaissance. One of a circle of artists and scholars
sponsored by the Medici in Florence, Botticelli's most famous work, The Birth
of Venus, shows the goddess rising from the sea on a conch shell. During
the late fifteenth century Botticelli became a follower of the Girolamo
Savonarola, and burned many of his paintings with pagan themes.
The Merchants and city officials whose patronage supported the Renaissance
artists were frequently more interested in architecture than they were in
painting. Therefore, as the city-states of Italy began to develop great wealth
during the early fifteenth century, architects and sculptors rose to fame and
power. In 1401, Florence held a competition to choose the artist to design and
sculpt a pair of bronze doors for the Baptistry, a church honoring St. Paul the
Baptist. The winner of the contest, Lorenzo Ghiberti, spent 28 years
completing the doors, which, decorated with scenes from the Bible, remain one of
the greatest treasures of the Renaissance. Ghiberti developed the techniques of
three-dimensional sculpture, and greatly influenced all Italian sculpture of the
Renaissance.
The loser of the contest, Filippo Brunelleschi, traveled to Rome, where he
studied Roman ruins and developed mathematical formulas to be used in
architecture. In 1417 he again competed against Ghiberti for the right to
design the dome of the cathedral of Florence. He won the competition. The dome
he designed, combining the modern trends in architecture and the style of
ancient Rome, still dominates the Florentine skyline, and is considered one of
the great architectural masterpieces of all time. In terms of sculpture, the
acknowledged master of the early Renaissance was Donato di Niccolo di Betto
Bardi, better known as Donatello. Donatello studied under both Ghiberti and
Brunelleschi, and went on to create several masterpieces for Cosimo de
Medici in Florence. His most important work is the David, which
depicts the Hebrew king in the classical style of a Greek god, and was the first
freestanding nude figure sculpted since the Roman era. Donatello went on to
create the first bronze statue of the Renaissance, showing an incredibly
realistic soldier on horseback.
During the Renaissance, artists benefited from the patronage of rich merchants
and rulers, and were well known during their own times, unlike the anonymous
artists who had produced works in guilds during the middle ages. Great fame and
influence was conferred upon the great artists of the day, and they were
celebrated wherever they traveled. This fame convinced many artists that they
deserved special privileges and consideration, which they were often granted.
The artists of the early Renaissance were both liberated by the patronage of the
wealthy and constricted in their choice of subject matter. Despite the changes
wrought by humanism, the Italian population remained, more than anything else,
highly religious. Wealthy patrons most often commissioned works of art that
were in some way related to the Catholic Church, to which the wealthy often
donated grand cathedrals. Altarpieces and religious murals were common among
the works created during the early Renaissance, and artists were often confined
to the Bible in choosing their own subject matter. Nevertheless, artists
experienced great freedom to develop new techniques and work with new materials,
as can be seen by the groundbreaking work of Giotto and Ghiberti.
