1. Cimabue (c. 1280) and Giotto (c. 1308) with Madonna’s Enthroned

2. CIMABUE (b. ca. 1240, Firenze, d. ca. 1302, Firenze) Florentine painter. His nickname means 'Ox-head'. He was a contemporary of Dante, who refers to him in The Divine Comedy (Purg. xi. 94-6) as an artist who was 'believed to hold the field in painting' only to be eclipsed by Giotto's fame. Ironically enough this passage, meant to illustrate the vanity of short-lived earthly glory, has become the basis for Cimabue's fame; for, embroidering on this reference, later writers made him into the discoverer and teacher of Giotto and regarded him as the first in the long line of great Italian painters. He was said to have worked in the 'Greek' (i.e. Byzantine) manner, but to have begun the movement towards greater realism which culminated in the Renaissance. Documentary evidence is insufficient to confirm or deny this estimate of Cimabue's art. The only work that can be proved to be by his hand is a St John forming part of a larger mosaic in Pisa Cathedral (1302), but tradition has tended to attribute to Cimabue many works of outstanding quality from the end of the 13th century, such as the Madonna of Santa Trinità (Uffizi, Florence), a cycle of frescos in the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi, and a majestic Crucifix in Santa Croce (badly damaged in the Florence flood of 1966). If these highly plausible attributions are correct, Cimabue was indeed the outstanding master of the generation before Giotto. The movement towards greater naturalism, however, may owe more to contemporary Roman painters and mosaicists (Cavallini,Torriti) than to him; he is documented in Rome in 1272 and could have known their work. http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/c/cimabue/biograph.html

3. Cimabue, detail

4. Cimabue (c. 1280) and Giotto (c. 1308) with Madonna’s Enthroned

7. Giotto diBondone (c. 1267 - 1337). Florentine painter and architect. Outstanding as a painter, sculptor, and architect, Giotto was recognized as the first genius of art in the Italian Renaissance. Giotto lived and worked at a time when people's minds and talents were first being freed from the shackles of medieval restraint. He dealt largely in the traditional religious subjects, but he gave these subjects an earthly, full-blooded life and force. Giotto is regarded as the founder of the central tradition of Western painting because his work broke free from the stylizations of Byzantine art, introducing new ideals of naturalism and creating a convincing sense of pictorial space. His momentous achievement was recognized by his contemporaries (Dante praised him in a famous passage of The Divine Comedy, where he said he had surpassed his master Cimabue), and in about 1400 CenninoCennini wrote `Giotto translated the art of painting from Greek to Latin.‘ In the generation after his death he had an overwhelming influence on Florentine painting; it declined with the growth of International Gothic, but his work was later an inspiration to Masaccio, and even to Michelangelo. These two giants were his true spiritual heirs. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/giotto/

8. Press to link to site with a history of the Arena, or Scrovegni Chapel painted with a series of frescoes by Giotto c. 1305

9. Interior of the Arena Chapel facing the entrance and the Last Judgment fresco

11. Lamentation, fresco panel from the Arena Chapel

12. Lamentation, detail

13. Lamentation, detail

15. Early or Proto-Renaissance

17. Petrarch 1304 - 1374 The father of “Humanism” Big Fan of Cicero and classical antiquity, especially literature Originally from Florence Invented the modern ideal of the “autonomous individual” Sought to define of the Virtuous Life Began the debate on the contemplative vs. the active life Perfected the sonnet Unleashed the obsessive recovery of ancient texts in early Renaissance

18. Early Influences (outside the role of Antiquity) Clement V begins the Avignon papacy in 1308, leading to Great Schism of 1378 and the period of “3 Popes” until 1409 The Black Death; Plague in 1348 The Introduction of Gunpowder and the changing role of the Nobility (from warrior to dilettante) The rise of the Merchant Class and Capitalism Overseas conquests, migration and colonization A growing Interest in the Natural World and the fidelity of depiction as opposed to symbolism

19. Duccio, Maestà(center panel, Madonna with Angels and Saints) 1308-11Tempera on wood,

20. Sienese School of Painting Duccio, Maestà1308-11 Mary as Queen of Heaven surrounded by angels and saints Most opulent and complex altarpiece of its time Mournful gaze characteristic of Duccio Almond eyes and rosebud mouth of the Mary are typical of Byzantine art Throne opens up for all to see Figures arranged in a hierarchy, however formal frontality of figures relaxed a bit

21. Duccio's famous Maestà was commissioned by the Siena Cathedral in 138 and it was completed in 1311. Today most of this elaborate double-sided altarpiece is in the cathedral museum but several of the predella panels are scattered outside Italy in various museums. It is probably the most important panel ever painted in Italy; it is certainly among the most beautiful. Compressed within the compass of an altarpiece is the equivalent of an entire programme for the fresco painting of a church. The whole of the front of the main panel is occupied by a scene of the Virgin and Child in majesty surrounded by angels and saints, and corresponding to this on the back there are twenty-six scenes from Christ's Passion. Originally there were subsidiary scenes from Christ's life above and below the main panel. The whole work is a superb standard of craftsmanship, and the exquisite colouring and supple draughtsmanship create effects of great beauty.

22. Digital reproduction of original, front

23. Digital reproduction of Maesta, back Note the predella (small panel) above

25. Sienese School of Painting Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333 International Style Elegant shapes, swaying figures Radiant color Fluttering drapery Courtly ritual, courtly dress Angel: white and gold brocade with floating plaid-lined mantle Virgin: mantle lined with deep gold lines No recession of space, only relationship of two main figures Vase of white lilies symbolizes Virgin’s purity Dove of Holy Spirit surrounded by Cherubim

27. Sienese School of Painting Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin Birth of Mary, mother of Jesus, at home A midwife holds a fan to cool Saint Anne Everyday items of the Gothic period on display in the home Mary’s father, Joachim, is waiting outside to hear the news of the birth Wooden frame Cutaway cross-section allows viewer to look directly into a typical middle class home Pioneering attempt at building a consistent interior space Single vanishing point suggested Palpable sense of three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface Suggestion of great depth on left Local women bring gifts of bread and wine to symbolize the Eucharist

29. Sienese School of Painting Singing and dancing in the streets of the ideal republic (actually against Sienese law) Crafts, professions, trades are highlighted as thriving Bountiful harvests: a good city feeds its people Aspects of leisure: hunters and falconers leave the city unafraid of their safety Dark blue sky in contrast with well lit scenery Aristocratic elegance of figures Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good Government, 1338 -40 Painting done in the chief council chamber of Siena, the Hall of Peace Panoramic view of the city of Siena with walls and countryside Security in center has a banner that proclaims everyone can walk freely because justice reigns

30. Andrea Pisano, Baptistery Doors “Life of St. John the Baptist” 1330 – 36 – south entrance