Donatello was an Italian Renaissance sculptor; he was the most
influential artist of the fifteenth century in Italy. The sculptor studied
classical sculpture which he used in developing a complete Renaissance
technique in sculpture.
The
Early Life of Donatello - Training and Early Career
Donatello was born in 1386 in Florence and was educated in Martelli
family's home. He received his early training in art in a goldsmith's workshop,
then worked for a short period in Lorenzo Ghiberti's studio. While he was in
Rome undertaking excavations and study with the founding father of Renaissance
architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello worked in goldsmiths' shops.
For the whole development of Italian art during the fifteenth century,
their Roman sojourn was very decisive; during this period, Filippo undertook
the measurements of the dome at Pantheon and also of other buildings in Rome.
Donatello's sculpture and Filippo's building are both regarded as greatest
expressions of this era spirit in sculpture and architecture. They also
exercised a strong influence on the artists of this age.
Greatest
Work - Donatello's David Sculpture (1440-43)
Donatello nurtured a close, lucrative relationship with the
"Father of the Fatherland" Cosimo de’ Medici in the city of Florence.
The renowned art patron commissioned him to make a statue of David in bronze,
which is probably the most famous work executed by Donatello. This sculpture is
completely independent from all architectural surroundings that can support it.
The sculpture stands approximately 5ft tall and David depicts an allegory of
civic power triumphing over irrationality and brutality.
Final
Years - A Master of Bronze and Marble
By 1455, the sculptor had gone back to Florence and finished working
on Magdalene Penitent, a wooden sculpture of Magdalene. The work was
commissioned by Florence Baptistery, and it was probably designed to provide
inspiration and comfort to the repentant harlots at the convent. He continued
his work by taking on commissions from rich patrons of the arts. Donatello
lifelong relationship with the affluent Medici family earned the sculptor a
retirement allowance that he could live on until his death.
Donatello died on 13 December 1466 in Florence. The cause of his death was unknown. He was buried in one of the city's largest churches (Basilica of St Lawrence), next to the Italian banker and politician Cosimo de' Medici. Bertoldo di Giovanni, his student, completed his unfinished work.
Dante was an Italian poet as well as a moral philosopher during the
late Medieval Period. His Divine Comedy, which was originally known as Comedìa
and later renamed Divina by the Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio, is regarded as
the most important poem written during the medieval period and also the
greatest literary work written in Italian.
Early
Years - La Vita Nuova and Early Career
Dante was born in 1265 in Florence under the Gemini sign (between 21st
May and 20th June). He remained devoted to Florence his entire life. Most of
what people know about the life of Dante he told himself in his poems.
Dante described how he used to fight against the Ghibellines as a
cavalryman. Ghibellines was a faction supporting Holy Roman Emperor and Pope.
Also, he speaks of his Brunetto Latini, who was his teacher, and Guido
Cavalcanti, who was his gifted friend, of his culture in poetry in which Dante
made his initial artistic ventures. Additionally, he speaks of the origins of
his beloved family in Cacciaguid (his great-great-grandfather), his poetic
indebtedness to the Italian poet Guido Guinizelli. Going back even further,
Dante speaks of how proud he was knowing that his distant relatives were
descendants of some of the Roman soldiers who had lived along the banks of
river Arno.
Dante had little to talk about his close family. He never mentioned
his mother or father, sister or brother in the Divine Comedy. There is sister
referred to in Dante's text La Vita Nuova, and Dante's father is subject of
scornfully abusing sonnets exchanged in a joke between Dante and Forese Donati,
one of his friends.
Exile
and Death - Chief Italian Poet
While Dante was on the mission to Rome to organise a truce between 2
parties, he was charged with graft, hostility against the Pope and intrigue
against the city's peace. He didn't report to the Council as ordered to answer
charges and as a result, a penalty was imposed. He was exiled from Florence
never to return.
Dante died on 13 September 1321 in Ravena. During the intervening years, his native city tried several times unsuccessfully to get Dante's remains returned to Florence. Dante clearly stated his opinion about Florence citizens in the title of one of his greatest work.
Masaccio was born on December 21, 1401, just outside Florence.
Throughout his life, he was called Tommaso Cassai. He is considered the first
great painter from Italy of the Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari, who coined
the name Masaccio, regards him as the best painter of his period because of
Masaccio skill at imitating nature and recreating lifelike figures plus
movements and also a great sense of three-dimensionality.
Masaccio
Life - Early Childhood and Education
Masaccio was born to Jacopa di Martinozzo and Giovanni di Simone
Cassai. His mother was the daughter of Barberino di Mugello's innkeeper and his
father a notary. In 1406, his father died when he was just 5 years old.
There's no evidence for his artistic education; however, painters of
the Renaissance traditionally started an apprenticeship with a master who is
established when they were about 12 years old. It is likely that Masaccio had
to relocate to Florence city to receive his training. However, he wasn't
documented in Florence until on 7 January 1422, when Masaccio joined the
painters guild as an independent master.
Masaccio's
Work - People Who Influenced His Work
Masaccio transformed the direction of painting from Italy; he moved
away from the elaborate Gothic ornamentations still present in Madonna with
Saint Anne, which is his earliest known work currently at the Florence-based
Uffizi Galleries.
The exceptionally individual nature of his style owed very little to
other painters of his period, except possibly the great fourteenth-century
master Giotto. Masaccio was more greatly influenced by the sculptor Donatello,
the architect Brunelleschi and his Florentine contemporaries.
He derived his classical art knowledge from Donatello, and from
Brunelleschi, Masaccio acquired knowledge of mathematical proportion, which was
crucial to the painter's revival of scientific perspective. Masaccio, together
with Donatello and Donatello, was the founder of the Renaissance.
Masaccio's
Death - The Old Master Who Tragically Died Young
Masaccio died in 1428 in Rome. An unconfirmed report talks of death by
poisoning and others think that his painting career was most likely cut short
by a plague.
He influenced many artists while he was still alive and posthumously. Masaccio's influence is especially notable in the great works of minor masters from Florence, like Giovanni dal Ponte, Andrea di Giusto and others who tried replicating his glowing, lifelike forms.
The della Robbia family is most famous for its terracotta sculptures.
Their name became synonymous with this new technique of glazing earthenware and
took it to new heights. The surname, Robbia, means Madder when translated into
English. It is actually a herb used to naturally produce the colour red and was
used for dying long before synthetic dyes were invented.
Luca
della Robbia
Luca was born in Florence and is thought to have first trained as a
goldsmith. He also dabbled in building sculptures, using stone and wood. He is,
however, most famous for his terracotta sculptures that were created using a
tin glaze. Many of his earlier works were fashioned using marble, however, this
was a very expensive material to use. He was able to expand the family business
when he invented terracotta.
He produced a number of decorative reliefs and altarpieces, almost
until the day he died. One of the finest examples of his work was created in
1466. It is the enamelled terracotta ceiling that can be seen in the Chapel of
the Cardinal of Portugal, San Miniato, Florence. There are also examples of his
work in the National Gallery of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Andrea
della Robbia
Andrea, Luca’s nephew, was also born in Florence. When he was old
enough he became Luca’s pupil. Not only did he learn all about terracotta
sculpture from his uncle, he also took his skills much further. He produced
enamelled reliefs bigger than had been created before and extended its use to
include friezes, and the construction of receptacles for washing hands,
fountains and large structures that are placed behind or above altars or
communion tables. His compositions were also more complex and used polychrome
glazing rather than the blue and white his uncle preferred to use.
A series of medallions he created, that is made up of reliefs of the
Infant Jesus against a blue background, can be seen outside the front of the
foundling hospital in Florence. This is considered one of his most remarkable
works. He created some spectacular terracotta sculptures that can be seen in
many of Florence’s cultural buildings. For example, a relief over a door at
Prato cathedral, another over a door in the Opera del Duomo and a bust over a
door of Volterra Cathedral.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was an early renaissance sculptor known for his
creation of the Baptistery of Florence. He lived between 1378 and 1455. His
father was a goldsmith who lived in Pelago, Florence, Italy. Lorenzo was a
student of humanism, which he incorporated in much of his work.
His Early Life
The young Ghiberti got much of his training from his father, who was a
respected goldsmith. He was admitted as an apprentice at the Silk and Gold in
1392. By 1398, he passed the examination and became a master goldsmith at the
guild. He left his town for Rimini to escape the plague scourge where he
received training from painters. This skill was used to complete the frescoes
wall at the Castle of Carlo I Malatesta.
Lorenzo’s First Commission
In 1401, Arte di Calimala (known as the Cloth Importers Guild)
commissioned the creation of two bronze doors to be used in the Baptistery of
Florence. He won a competition where other big-name artists such as Jacopo
Della Quercia and Filippo Brunelleschi had applied. Lorenzo used a trial relief
he had created depicting the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. The guild wanted
the bronze doors to depict various scenes in the Old Testament, but the plan
was shelved in favour of the New Testament reliefs. This led him to be
commissioned to work on the second set of bronze doors and the first given to
another artist by the name Andrea Pisano.
His bonze door art had 14 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ,
several evangelists and the fathers of the church. He mixed the gothic style
with Renaissance style of art, which resulted in a greater illusion of depth.
He completed the doors by 1424. His work was so good that the guild hired him
to work on one more set of doors.
Lorenzo’s Greatest Work: The Gates of Paradise
The next set of doors incorporated the style used in the earlier set.
Each of the doors had five scenes from the Old Testament and a painter’s point
of view, which helped heighten an illusion of depth. The figures closer to the
viewer were extended outwards with background images accented with a few raised
lines that made them look flatter.
Lorenzo took part in other works that included the commissioning of the larger-than-life-size sculpture of John the Baptist and two bronze reliefs for the baptismal of Siena Cathedral. He was also a classical collector. Ghiberti died on 1st December 1455 at age 77 in his hometown of Florence.
Leonardo Da Vinci was a polymath of the Renaissance from Italy. His area of interest included cartography, history, writing, botany, astronomy, geology, anatomy, literature, engineering, mathematics, music, science, architecture, sculpting, painting, drawing and invention. Leonardo has been variously referred to as the father of architecture, ichnology and palaeontology and is widely regarded as one of the best painters of all time.
Leonardo's
Early Life
Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452 in the Tuscan, Vinci hill town, in
the lower valley of the 241-kilometre Arno river, which is in the Medici-ruled
Florence Florentine territory. Leonardo was born out-of-wedlock, and his father
was a wealthy Florentine legal notary. Leonardo didn't have a surname —"da
Vinci" means of Vinci, his father's name.
Leonardo spent his early 5 years in the Anchiano hamlet, in his
mother's home. From 1457, he lived in the home of his uncle, grandparents and
father in the town of Vinci. He received an informal education, specifically in
mathematics, geometry and Latin. With a keen intellect and a curious mind,
Leonardo studied the laws of nature and science, which informed his work.
Leonardo's
Paintings - Artistic Abilities
Despite the recent awareness plus the admiration of Da Vinci as an inventor and scientist, for the most part of 400 years, his fame mainly rested on what he achieved as a painter. Few works by Leonardo that are attributed or authenticated to him have been considered as among the greatest masterpieces. The most famous works by Leonardo include the “Mona Lisa”, “The Last Supper” and the “Vitruvian Man”. They are famous for various qualities that have been copied by many students and also connoisseurs and critics have discussed them at great length. By the 1490s, Da Vinci had already been named the “Divine” painter.
Painting
Techniques - Sfumato and Chiaroscuro
Leonardo is popular for his pioneering use of 2 painting techniques:
Sfumato, which is a technique whereby subtle gradations, instead of strict
borders, infuse pictures with a softer and smoky aura. The other technique is
Chiaroscuro, which is a contrast between light and dark that gave Leonardo
figures 3D. Leonardo's “Virgin of the Rocks”, which he started executing in
1483, is a perfect example of these two techniques.
Final
Years - The Most Versatile Legend
Leonardo died on 2 May 1519. In his last days, Da Vinci sent for a priest so that he could make his confession and receive the Holy Sacrament. Sixty beggars followed Da Vinci's casket in accordance with his will. Leonardo's body of work and ideas have influenced many artists and made him a prominent and influential artist of the Italian Renaissance.
