History · Art · Culture
~ Introduction to the Italian Renaissance ~
The Italian Renaissance Part II : Florence
Duration
90 minutes
Take-Aways
After this seminar, you'll know all there is to know about : The Early Renaissance, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, the Medici, young Michelangelo, Botticelli, Florentine artists, the Duomo.
Write to us here to request this private seminar :
During this seminar, we will delve into the Early Renaissance in Florence and discover its greatest artists and works of painting, sculpture, and architecture. We'll explore in depth the characteristics of this new style and show how it prepared the ground for the blossoming and explosion of artistic genius in the High Renaissance just a few decades later. We'll also learn how this incredible flux of artistic activity was supported and encouraged through the support of the immensely powerful Medici.
Architecture
During the first part of this seminar, we'll explore Early Renaissance architecture. We'll begin with the work of Lorenzo Ghiberti, who won the famous competition against his rival Filippo Brunelleschi, and would design not one but two sets of bronze doors at the Florence Baptistery, including the East Doors, called the 'Gates of Paradise' by the young Michelangelo. We'll discover the many structures designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, including the Hospital of the Innocents, the church of Santo Spirito, the Pazzi Chapel and, of course, the magnificent dome of the Florence Cathedral. Hear all about the trials and tribulations the City had encountered in designing the dome and discover how Brunelleschi finally solved them by using a complex and intricate system of wooden boning. Follow the development of the Florentine palazzo, exemplified by the Medici's own Palazzo Medici-Riccardi,
Sculpture
Next, we'll explore the remarkable sculptures at the Orsanmichele, a small structure chock full of Renaissance masterpieces by Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and others. Discover Donatello's David, one of his most famous works, commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici for the garden of the Medici palace, and explore some of Michelangelo's early sculptures as a young student and apprentice. In painting, we'll see the incredible range of work done by a myriad of painters including Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli, as well as the development of the portrait by such artists as Pisanello, Piero della Francesca, and Antonio del Pollaiuolo. We'll take a peek at the Sistine Chapel, and see the walls that were painted by Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli at the request of Pope Sixtus IV, two decades before Michelangelo would be called by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling. Also hear about the most significant achievement of the Early Renaissance -- the invention of linear perspective -- and see how it was applied by Masaccio and other painters in their work, giving Renaissance painting a more realistic appearance and reflecting the current trends in artistic theory, in keeping with a new intellectual movement called Humanism.
Painting
Lastly, in painting, we'll see the incredible range of work done by a myriad of painters including Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli, as well as the development of the portrait by such artists as Pisanello, Piero della Francesca, and Antonio del Pollaiuolo. We'll take a peek at the Sistine Chapel, and see the walls that were painted by Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Botticelli at the request of Pope Sixtus IV, two decades before Michelangelo would be called by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling. Also hear about the most significant achievement of the Early Renaissance -- the invention of linear perspective -- and see how it was applied by Masaccio and other painters in their work, giving Renaissance painting a more realistic appearance and reflecting the current trends in artistic theory, in keeping with a new intellectual movement called Humanism.