Sunday, August 9, 2015
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Convent of San Marco
The present convent stands on a site occupied since the 12th century by a Vallombrosan monastery which later passed to the Silvestrines; they were driven out of San Marco in 1418, and in 1438 the convent was given to the Dominican Observants. In 1437 Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici decided to rebuild the entire complex. The work was entrusted to Michelozzo, and the decoration of the walls was carried out between 1439 and 1444 by Giovanni of Fiesole, known as Fra Angelico, and his assistants. Fra Angelico decorated the cells on the first floor, and other spaces in the convent, with frescoes charged with profound spiritual and ascetical meaning; he began with the lunettes above the doorways in the Cloister of St. Antoninus, which Michelozzo had built before 1440. These were not public works of art, they were painted in the private rooms of the monks who lived at the convent. Allowing them to pray and meditate solemnly over the events of Christ's life each day, in privacy. The difference between intimate objects of contemplation and public works of propaganda can be seen in the bold Annalena Altarpiece and the Descent from the Cross, also on display in the museum. Museo del Convento di San Marco
Many of the great figures of 15th-century culture and spirituality lived and worked in the convent: Cosimo de’ Medici, who had his own cell here, where he loved to pray and meditate; Fra Angelico, who painted the frecoes; and, from 1489, Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who in his sermons fulminated against the immorality of the age, and who was hanged and burnt in Piazza della Signoria (1498).
Sienese Painting
Together with Florence, Siena was the chief economic, political, and cultural center of Tuscany in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Although only in 1559 did Siena become part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under the rule of the Medici, its heyday was unquestionably two centuries earlier, between 1287 and 1355, when the independent commune was ruled by nine magistrates (referred to as the nove) drawn from a restricted oligarchy. During this time of peace and prosperity—interrupted by the devastating plague of 1348 that reduced the population by more than half—the city allied itself with the papal party of the Guelphs and had contacts with the Angevin dynasty in France and Naples. These political ties help explain the pronouncedly Gothic character of so much Sienese architecture and the fluent elegance of its paintings.
No other city outside Florence produced a comparably great school of painting, culminating in the figures of Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278), Simone Martini (active by 1315, and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320–44, 1319–47). Duccio may be considered the father of Sienese painting and is, together with Giotto, one of the founders of Western art. His paintings introduce a lyrical note and a refined sense of color into European painting, and he was an unsurpassed story teller, or narrative artist. Although his early work shows a profound debt to Byzantine precedent, after about 1295 or 1300. His paintings show an increasing interest in space and an exploration of human emotions. The enormous altarpiece he painted for the cathedral of Siena—the Maestà—is one of the landmarks of European painting. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art
No other city outside Florence produced a comparably great school of painting, culminating in the figures of Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278), Simone Martini (active by 1315, and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320–44, 1319–47). Duccio may be considered the father of Sienese painting and is, together with Giotto, one of the founders of Western art. His paintings introduce a lyrical note and a refined sense of color into European painting, and he was an unsurpassed story teller, or narrative artist. Although his early work shows a profound debt to Byzantine precedent, after about 1295 or 1300. His paintings show an increasing interest in space and an exploration of human emotions. The enormous altarpiece he painted for the cathedral of Siena—the Maestà—is one of the landmarks of European painting. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pietro Lorenzetti
Pietro Lorenzetti (c. 1280 – 1348) was an Italian painter, active between c.1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother Ambrogio, he introduced naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimensional and spatial arrangements, the brothers foreshadowed the art of the Renaissance. Perhaps Lorenzetti's most ambitious work is the Passion fresco cycle in the left transept of the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. These seventeen well-preserved frescoes – the highpoint of his early career – show "the influence of Giotto's monumentality, the impulse of Pisano, thirteenth century Expressionism...and the teachings of Duccio.”
Cimabue
Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from the Italo-Byzantine style, although he still relied on Byzantine models. The art of this period comprised scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized. Cimabue was a pioneer in the move towards naturalism; his figures were depicted with more lifelike proportions and shading. Even though he was a pioneer in that move, his Maestà paintings evidence Medieval techniques and characteristics. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was the teacher of Giotto, the first great artist of the Italian Proto-Renaissance.
Simone Martini
Simone Martini, (born c. 1284, Siena, Republic of Siena [Italy]—died 1344, Avignon, Provence, France), important exponent of Gothic painting who did more than any other artist to spread the influence of Sienese painting.
Simone was very possibly a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, from whom he probably inherited his love of harmonious, pure colours and most of his early figure types. To these he added a gracefulness of line and delicacy of interpretation that were inspired by French Gothic works that the young artist studied in Italy. He carried to perfection the decorative line of the Gothic style and subordinated volume to the rhythm of this line.
Simone was very possibly a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, from whom he probably inherited his love of harmonious, pure colours and most of his early figure types. To these he added a gracefulness of line and delicacy of interpretation that were inspired by French Gothic works that the young artist studied in Italy. He carried to perfection the decorative line of the Gothic style and subordinated volume to the rhythm of this line.
Andrea Mantegna
Mantegna was an Italian Renaissance painter of well regarded influence, who was known for his visual experiments in perspective and spatial illusion. His work is known to have some influence on great painters of the time, including the German artist Albrecht DÜrer and Italian painters Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci.
Duccio di Buoninsegna
Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1260 - c. 1318-1319) was one of the most influential Italian artists of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries he painted religious subject matters. He has influenced Simone Martini and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, among others.
Fra Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi was born around 1457 in the Republic of Florence. He studied under his father, Fra Filippo Lippi, and Botticelli. His apprenticeship ended in 1473. He worked with other painters on the frescoes at Lorenzo de' Medici's villa. Around 1483 he worked on frescoes at the Brancacci Chapel. His most famous work is the altarpiece “The Vision of St. Bernard.” He died in 1504.
Fra Filippo Lippi
As an orphan Filippo was sent to the Carmelite friary in Florence. But he was not temperamentally suited to be a friar. His life is a tale of lawsuits, complaints, broken promises and scandal. Fra Filippo's fame as a painter spread beyond his native Florence and he spent long periods painting fresco cycles in Prato and Spoleto, where he died. In 1456 he abducted a nun, Lucrezia Buti, from the convent in Prato where he was chaplain. He was finally permitted to marry her. Their son Filippino was later taught in Lippi's workshop, as was Botticelli.
Fra Angelico
The artist and Dominican friar posthumously called Fra Angelico was known for most of his life as Fra Giovanni, the name he chose when he joined the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. Not long after his death in 1455, he was praised as "the Angelic Painter," elevating him to the status of the great Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas, called the "Angelic Doctor." His life and work have been celebrated for centuries, yet only recently has Fra Angelico's fundamental importance in the development of European painting been fully appreciated. Paralleling the achievements of the slightly younger Masaccio (1401–ca. 1428), Fra Angelico pioneered many of the stylistic trends that distinguish the early Renaissance, including the rational treatment of pictorial space and the volumetric modeling of forms with light and shadow. At every stage of his career, in fact, Fra Angelico remained at the forefront of artistic innovation in Florence.
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