1. Art Before the Renaissance

2. The period that preceded the Renaissance is called the Middle Ages, or the Medieval
period

3. The church was the most powerful institution in Europe at this time

4. Artist unknown, Italian (late 12th c. Pisa), Crucifix
(Cross No. 15), 1190s
Museo Nazionale di San Matteo
Image source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unknown
_painter_-_Crucifix_(Cross_No._15)_-
_WGA23864.jpg
Medieval art: abstract

5. Figures were flat and cartoonish, and did not resemble the natural world

6. Procession of the Royal Family, Ara Pacis, Rome, 13-9 CE
Classical Art: art of ancient Greece and Rome

7. Procession of the Royal Family, Ara Pacis, Rome, 13-9 CE
Naturalism/naturalistic: looks like real life

8. Seated woman playing a Kithara, fresco from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor,
Boscoreale, 4-30 CE

9. Seated woman playing a Kithara, fresco from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor,
Boscoreale, 4-30 CE
Modeling with light and shade: gradations of tone create illusion of 3D volume

10. This kind of naturalism disappeared during the Middle Ages because of the Second
Commandment

11. “The illusionary quality of classical art posed a significant problem for
early Christian theologians. When God dictated the ten commandments
to Moses on Mount Sinai, God expressly forbade the Israelites from
making any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth (Exodus 20:4)”
Dr. Nancy Ross, “A New Pictorial Language: The Image in Early Medieval Art,” Khan Academy

12. Medieval art avoided naturalism to avoid the sin of
“idolatry”
Christ as Pantocrator, dome mosaic in the Church of the Dormition, Daphne, Greece, c.
1090-1100

13. Master of Monte Aliveto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1305-35
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Italo-Byzantine style

14. Master of Monte Aliveto, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1305-35
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gold Background
Flat, cartoonish figures
Halos
Hierarchic scale

15. Most of the art created in the Middle Ages was commissioned by the church

16. Sculptures, paintings, and stained glass served as a kind of “bible for the poor” –
pictures that communicate the faith to a largely illiterate population

17. Last Judgment Mosaic, Florentine Baptistry
In Medieval art, Jesus is portrayed as a remote and heavenly figure

18. When humans were depicted, the emphasis was on shame and sin
Expulsion of Adam and Eve, Hunterian Psalter, c. 1170

19. The final day of judgment was often portrayed in vivid detail

20. You’re all going
straight to hell!

21. In the later middle ages attitudes began to change
Florence in a 1493 woodcut from, Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle

22. Cities grew, trade flourished
Florence in a 1493 woodcut from, Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle

23. And a new patron class emerged -- with money to buy art!

24. Art should
teach
people to
fear God!
And it should
remind
people of how
lowly and
sinful they are
Medieval art reflected church doctrine

25. But things began to change when private individuals began commissioning
works of art!

26. “[A]t the start of the 14th century, people became less interested in thinking
about God, heaven and the saints, and more interested in thinking about
themselves, their surroundings and their everyday lives.” Humanism in the Renaissance
There is more to life
than what it says in
the bible!

27. http://study.com/academy/lesson/humanism-in-the-renaissance-
recognizing-the-beauty-of-the-individual.html

28. Medieval Values:
Focus on religion, and the afterlife

29. Medieval art:
Focus on religion:
•Only Saints; ordinary individuals not worthy
•Abstract style = heaven, not earth

30. Andrea del Castagno, Petrarch, 1450
Humanism: re-discovery of Classical learning
•Philosophy
•Literature
•Mathematics
•Science

31. Medieval Values:
Focus on religion, and the afterlife
Humanist Values
Focus on themselves
The natural world
The here and now

32. Causes
Bubonic Plague
Rise of market economy

33. Role of the Individual under Feudalism
Obey rules to maintain order
Role of the Individual under Humanism
Independent
Beautiful
Worthy

34. Humanist
Values
Individualism
Classical
learning
Secularism
The inherent
dignity and
beauty of
human being
Civic virtue
and
patriotism

35. The Proto-Renaissance
Giotto di Bondone

36. In the 14th century, Florence was a prosperous city state and banking capital

37. Soon to become the cradle of the Renaissance, it was the birthplace of Giotto di
Bondone, credited by Giorgio Vasari as one of the originators of the
Renaissance

38. According to Vasari, Giotto was the painter who first abandoned the artificial
formulas of the Middle Ages, and began to base his art on the direct observation
of nature

39. Let’s begin by comparing Cimabue’s Madonna Enthroned, with Giotto’s
Ognissante Madonna, a similarly large altarpiece made for the church of the
Ognissante in Florence

40. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/proto-renaissance.html

45. blocking

46. Repoussoir
figures

47. Giotto traveled from Florence to nearby Padua to work for Enrico Scrovegni

48. Enrico Scrovegni was a wealthy banker and prominent citizen of Padua
Capella Scrovegni (Scrovegni Chapel), Padua
The Arena Chapel was built as a private family chapel, next to his palace

49. Scrovegni was a banker, which means he made his fortune by lending money at
interest

50. In the Middle Ages this was called usury, and it was considered a sin

51. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
Enrico built his chapel as a gift to god to atone for his sins

52. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

53. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305
The Blessed The Damned

54. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

55. Interior, Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305

58. The top level depicts the Life of the Virgin, based on the Golden Legend, ending
with the scene of the Annunciation above the altar

59. The second level depicts the Life of Christ, and the bottom level depicts the
cycle of the Passion of Christ, which includes the Crucifixion, and the
Lamentation

60. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-
americas/medieval-europe-islamic-world/v/giotto-arena-scrovegni-chapel-part-3-of-4

62. Mary + Jesus

64. John the
Evangelist
Mary
Magdalene
Anonymous
mourners
Anonymous
mourners

66. What makes this painting so innovative?

78. Giotto’s break through, then, was to establish the direct observation of
the natural world as the basis for art.

88. Homework:
https://art109wcc.wordpress.com/homework-
2/homework-night-class/homework-1-the-northern-
renaissance/
Study Questions:
https://art109wcc.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/lj1-
proto_renaissance.pdf
Quizlet Study Set
https://quizlet.com/178986677/flashcards