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FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN SCULPTURE

Summer of 1348
The plague arrives in Italy
- Massive redistribution of wealth
- More commissions for art works
- Fewer artistic innovations
Milan began conquering territory. 1450 Florence was close to being taken over.
Decided to decorate the Cathedral and Baptistery
- Baptistery was ancient temple dedicated to Mars, the god of war
- Trying to make people believe that Florence is worth fighting for
Bronze door consists of 24 bronze sculptures
 Quatrefoils framed scenes from Old Testament

Bronze Casting Technique (cire perdue = lost wax)

1. Make a clay core in the basic shape of the object
2. Cover the clay core with a layer of wax and mold the details of the object
in the wax.
3. Drive core pins through wax and into the clay core
4. Paint the wax model with a layer of clay to pick up the details, then cover
the object with coarser clay. Slowly bake the model until the wax melts
out, and then fire the mold to make it hard.
5. Fill the space left by the wax with molten bronze. Allow the bronze to
cool, then break open the mold and remove the bronze object.
6. Chasing: the final polishing and corrections done on cold bronze after it is
taken out of the mold.

Artists and Works:

Contest for the Florence Baptistery doors comes down to FilippoAlright .
Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Filippo Brunelleschi:
Sacrifice of Isaac, bronze competition panel for Florence Baptistery, 1401-02

 Disappears from Florence after loosing


Lorenzo Ghilberti:
Sacrifice of Isaac, bronze competition panel for Florence Baptistery, 1401-02

 Has Giotto’s style of not showing the face and ornament of Duccio’s style
 Chosen to be the sculpture of the door
 Changed idea to New Testament scenes on the North doors
 Won the compeition!
Donatello:
St. Mark, for Orsanmichele (garden of St. Michael), Florence, 1411-13

 The Orsanmichele started as a small church, then the government took it

over and made it into a grain market.
 A miracle-working Madonna image was in it giving it an economic and
religious meaning.
 Finally turned into a guild palace which gave it a civic meaning
o Professions
 1406: guilds given 10 years to fill niches with statues of their patron
saints
 Donatello was asked by the Linen Drapers and Peddlers Guild to make St.
Mark
 Contrapposto: particular position that indicates the ability of movement
 Eyes have irises and pupils unlike other Renaissance sculptures
 Standing on a cushion
Private (vs. Public Commission of Donatello
 Medici family ruled Florence
 Cosimo de’ Medici: ruled from 1434
 Bronze statue of David made by Donetello was put in the Medici palace
David, bronze statue for Medici family, 1440s

David, marble, public for Cathedral 1408

- The public sculpture is more straight forward
- Don’t want to debate the attitude of David in public
Lorenzo Ghiberti:
East Doors of Florence Baptistery (Gates of Paradise), 1425-52
-- Isaac and his Sons

 Middle left panel: Isaac and his Sons Jacob & Esau)
 Uses linear perspective
o Horizon line is even with the heads
o Vanishing point: point on the horizon line that corresponds to the
position of the ideal viewer in front of the painting
o Orthonogals: lines from bottom to vanishing point
 o Transversals: intervals between which get gradually smaller
according to calculations f the distance of the viewer from the
picture
 Linear perspective gives:
o An illusionistic space that is geometrically constructed, and this
can be “read” and measured
o A view of the world that is “believable” because it accords with
how we see recession into space when we remain still and view
the world before us from a fixed point
o A world as it is seen from a single point of view: i.e., it replicates
subjectivity – the world is shown as it is seen by someone, not as it
independently exists.

Terms: bronze casting; chasing, linear perspective (orthogonals, vanishing point)

Names: Giangaleazzo Visconti; Spinario