1. 1. QUESTION

   ART-100: A WORLD OF ART

    

   Module 4—The Early Renaissance

    

    

   OVERVIEW

   In these next lectures (15 to 18) Soltes takes us to the beginning of the Renaissance, where Humanism collides with the Medieval/Byzantine world and we see again the tension between continuity and transformation. The early Renaissance is a period spanning approximately 250 years; once again, nothing happens quickly! During this time city states emerge due to wealth from trade; they battle each other and eventually settle into an uneasy truce competing for more trade, better artists, and bigger cathedrals. A plague known as the Black Death devastates Europe. Cities such as Siena lose 50 to 60 percent of their populations. The plague takes the old and the young and does so indiscriminately. People’s faith in themselves and their God is weakened. Art declines, becoming gloomy and pessimistic. The plague abates, after sweeping back and forth across Europe but Europe’s population takes another 150 years to return to its pre-plague numbers.

    

   The Black Death marked the beginning of the end of feudalism. Peasants were in short supply and thus there was a shortage of people to work the farms. Feudal lords started to hire itinerant works to tend their flocks and fields. They persuaded their peasants to stay by giving them land tenure, and land ownership started to become the norm as compared to the exception. With private land ownership came two economic revolutions. The first was in the technology of production, as machines were invented to replace the missing peasant class. These machines resulted in more food for less work. The second occurred as trade continued to grow in importance. Italy, ideally suited for both trade and agriculture, became wealthier. With this wealth came a desire to create, own and display art. The Church expanded its patronage and went on a building spree. The union between church and state was often cemented by cathedrals decorated with elaborate sculptures and monumental frescos. Wealthy lords and traders built palaces and private churches and chapels, hiring artisans to decorate them. Fresco and statuary art abounded.

    

   The art of this period, as noted in previous lectures, had elements of its original Greek/Roman forefathers, a mixing of medieval sensibilities and a Byzantine flourish combining both Jewish and Islamic cultures. Petrarch, riding this wave of creativity, saw what surrounded him and knew that it was a rebirth. He argued strongly for an emulation of Roman culture, an emulation that didn’t copy antiquity but rather looked to antiquity for inspiration and looked inward to humanity for hope, reason, and progress. This idea of looking inward and gaining inspiration from classical antiquity is called Humanism. The early Renaissance was a time of an emerging profanus. Jesus’ and Mary’s appearances started to change: they started to look like ordinary people, albeit ordinary people that shared and communicated with the sacer.

    

   Soltes introduces us to the great fresco artists of the early Renaissance and we see in their work the gradual change, as over several hundred years, Christian deities are transformed from ethereal apparitions with halos into ordinary-looking (though special) people. Beyond Italy to the north this early Renaissance was also taking hold; just as thought, commerce, and art were all being transformed by Humanism. Campin and van Eyck are typical of the northern Renaissance artists. Oil painting started to dominate and van Eyck became the father of this technique, raising it quickly into the favored art form. Both lay and religious patrons emerged and commissioned these northern artists. It was reported in the late 1400s and early 1500s that Amsterdam had more artists than bakers. Portraits became a mainstay of northern Renaissance painters. With easier travel and with increased trade, “what happened in France did not stay in France.” And so artists travelled: every self-respecting European artist had studied in Rome, bringing home ideas and inspiration. Italian artists also travelled and learned from beyond their borders.

    

   Fresco and tempera painting played an important role in the early Renaissance, but sculpture is truly where the early Renaissance adopted and transformed classical art. At the end of this period Donatello created sculpture as no one before him had. His wooden Mary Magdalene looks as if she could have been carved yesterday by our most contemporary and talented artist: it is a work of pure pathos. His is a transformational work, one that heralded the High Renaissance. It arguably could be the first work of the High Renaissance. Mary Magdalene is where we temporarily leave Western art, on the verge of an explosion of creativity and wonder never to be equaled: the High Renaissance.

    

    

   TOPICS

   Module 4 covers the following topics:

    

   • Renaissance art
   • Humanism

    

    

   OBJECTIVES

   After successfully completing Module 4, you should be able to:

    

   	4.1	Discuss the ways that humanism is reflected in the art of the early Renaissance, in contrast to the medieval sensibility. [CO2, 3]
   	4.2	Compare and contrast works of art from the early Renaissance. [CO1, 7]

    

    

   STUDY MATERIALS

   Video Lectures

   Please watch the following lectures presented by Dr. Ori Z. Soltes, Goldman Professorial Lecturer in Theology and Fine Arts at Georgetown University. You can view the video programs in the Video Playlist (see top section of the course site).

    

   • Lecture 15: Early Renaissance Painting in Central Italy
   • Lecture 16: Fifteenth-century Italian Renaissance Painting
   • Lecture 17: Renaissance Painting beyond the Alps
   • Lecture 18: Renaissance Sculpture—Toward Florence

    

   Each lecture is approximately 30 minutes long.

    

    

   ACTIVITIES

   Module 4 has two activities. Please consult the Course Calendar for the due dates.

    

   Discussion Forum 4: Donatello and Humanism

   In Discussion Forum 4, post your response to the following discussion assignment. Reply to at least two classmates’ responses by the date indicated in the Course Calendar. 

    

   • Donatello’s sculptures of David and Mary Magdalene are full expressions and examples of Humanism. With these two works Donatello raises the bar of excellence of Classical sculpture, emulating but not imitating antiquity; with his work we enter the world of modern statuary. Discuss, expand, explain, agree or disagree.
   • Once you have completed your posting, choose at least one other posting from another student and review and respond to his or her answer. Look first for postings that do not have any responses to them, and give first priority to those postings. In your review/response consider how your classmate has used the concepts of transformation and continuity, as well as other ideas and language that Soltes puts forth.
   • After that, reply briefly and politely to any classmate who has reviewed and responded to your initial posting.After that, reply briefly and politely to any classmate who has reviewed and responded to your initial posting.

    

   (Objectives 4.1, 4.2)

    

   Written Assignment 4

   In an essay of approximately 500 words (with a typical font and spacing, this will be approximately 2 pages), respond to the following question.

    

   The path from Medieval/Byzantine art to the Renaissance can be illustrated in the changing renditions/transformation of the Virgin and Child. Chose the Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne from lecture 15 and show the changes that occurred and lead to Fra Filippo Lippi’s Madonna with Child (Tarquinia Madonna) of 1437 as described in lecture 16. How does the art of this time echo human experience?

    

   In your answer include Cimabue’s Madonna of the Holy Trinity, Duccio’s Maestà, and Giotto’s Virgin and Child as transformations of a pervasive and powerful theme (a continuity) in Western art.

    

   Do this using ONLY the examples that Soltes discusses and explains in his lectures. Do not use Internet sources for inspiration nor as help.

    

   Please read the following information on College-Level Writing before you begin your assignment.

    

   (Objectives 4.1, 4.2)

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