Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici: * see Endnote<A>

For Spengler the Renaissance a movement wholly originating in, emanating from, Florence.  The Golden Age of Florence (1469-98) was the apogee of the city & coincides with the life & rule of Lorenzo de Medici.  Lorenzo, 1449-92, the Magnificent, son of Piero de’ Medici, grandson of Cosimo the Elder, was a magnate, diplomat, politician & patron.  He ruled Florence with his younger brother Giuliano 1469-78; after the latter’s assassination, was sole ruler from 1478-92.  He was a famous patron & sponsored artists such as Botticelli & Michelangelo. 

 

Rome of Leo the Tenth:* see Endnote<B>

In 1418 the Council of Constance settled the Western Schism; Rome enjoyed a century of internal peace.  The popes of this century devoted their energy to the greatness & beauty of the Eternal City. During those years, the Renaissance, born in 15th century Florence, gradually migrated to Rome.  Of all the Renaissance popes following the Council of Constance, it is Leo who personifies this Roman Renaissance.  Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 1475-1521 (2nd son of Lorenzo), pope 1513-21, cardinal 1489.  He oversaw the closing sessions of the 5th Lateran Council but struggled to implement  reforms.  In 1517 he led a war to secure his nephew as Duke of Urbino massively cutting papal finances.  He granted indulgences to raise finances to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica.  When Luther challenged this he refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the demands; in Exsurge Domine (1521) he condemned Luther, prefiguring the Reformation.  On a more positive note he granted establishment to the Oratory of Divine Love.  A significant patron of the arts he borrowed & spent money without circumspection, he progressed the rebuilding of St. Peter's; artists such as Raphael decorated the Vatican rooms.  He reorganised the Roman University & promoted the study of literature, poetry & antiquities.  Rome again became the cultural centre of the Western world. 

 

Gothic glass-painting: * see Endnote<C>

Stained glass windows were a prominent feature of Gothic churches.  Craftsmen made glass by combining sand & potash (wood ash) & melting the mix at very high temperatures.  Powdered minerals were added; specific substances created specific colours: copper oxides - greens, cobalt - deep blues, gold - reds, manganese - violet, and lead - pale yellow.  The result is translucent glass in brilliant colours that glows when light passes through.  This was described by the German monk Theophilus Presbyter (1070–1125) in On Diverse Art.  Advances in building techniques in the Middle Ages enabled ceilings to grow higher without support from exterior walls.   The walls were replaced by large sections of windows.  Another advance promoting stained glass windows was tracery, a series of structural stone supports between sections of glass.  It helped support the weight of the wall while allowing windows to take up increasing amounts of space.   Some windows were long & narrow, others were large & circular. The latter were called rose or wheel windows because their design radiated out from the centre, resembling flower petals or wheel spokes.  Gothic stained glass windows conveyed Bible stories in a colourful visual form when most were illiterate; they were an important media in spreading religious ideas.

 

Byzantine gold-ground mosaic: * see endnote<D>

"Gold-ground" paintings use a background done all in gold leaf; it was introduced in mosaics in later Early Christian art, & used in icons & Western panel paintings until the late Middle Ages.  The great age of Christian mosaics unfolded last half of the 6th century AD. Outstanding examples of this Byzantine art are the late mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale & Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna Italy.

 

Verrocchio (goldsmith):* see endnote<E>

Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni was an Italian painter, sculptor & goldsmith, master of an important workshop in Florence.  He became known as “Verrocchio” after the surname of his master, a goldsmith. 

 

Pollaiuolo (goldsmith): * see Endnote<F>

His greatest success was in sculptor & metal-worker.  The 15th-century addition of the infant twins Romulus & Remus to an antique bronze sculpture of the Roman she-wolf is attributed to him.

see above page 236

 

Botticelli (goldsmith):

Giorgio Vasari 1511-74, Italian painter, architect, writer & historian, famous for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (published 1550), the foundation of art-historical writing.  Here he informs us that Botticelli was initially trained as a goldsmith.  His brother & father were both gold leaf beaters.

 

Giotto (fresco):

see chapter VI, pages 192, 212 and above pages 221, 235

 

Masaccio (fresco-art):

see below

 

static space:

Spengler posits that Piero della Francesca handles space in a unique Tuscan manner: static space.  Fields of space are attempted & painted, but not unbound or striving into the depths, rather space defined by the senses, with mass, stacked in planes, with sharp outlines & surface definition.

 

Piero della Francesca (static space): * see Endnote<G>

1415-92, Italian painter, mathematician & geometer, born in Tuscany; his work characterized by its serene humanism, geometric forms & perspective. He was famous for the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross (church of San Francesco, Arezzo, Tuscany).  

 

Florence...Athens: * see Endnote<H>

Spengler contrasts the Renaissance concept of space (which he calls Florence) with Apollonian (which he calls Athens). 

 

Masaccio (frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel): * see Endnote<I>

1425-27, chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, famous  hte Masaccio painting cycle.  Construction for the chapel started in 1386.  The patron of the decorative elements was Felice Brancacci who on return from Cairo as ambassador, commissioned Masolino da Panicale to paint his chapel.  Masolino had a younger assistant Masaccio;when Masolino left for Hungary, Masaccio took over.  Masaccio was called to Rome before finishing the chapel.  As he died young (age 27) parts of the chapel were completed later by Filippino Lippi. 

 

Raphael (the Vatican Stanze): * see endnote<J>

Late 1508, Raphael was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II.  Julius immediately commissioned him to fresco the library at the Vatican Palace (the Room of the Signatura).  It was the largest & most important commission Repeal had received.  Julius loathed his predecessor Alexander VI and commissioned artist to efface that pope’s art work from the palace.  This first of the famous "Stanze" rooms made a huge impact on Roman art, & is considered Raphael’s greatest masterpieces: The School of Athens, The Parnassus and the Disputa.  Moving on from these he received further commissions & rooms, displacing other artists (eg Perugino & Signorelli).  He completed 3 rooms, each with paintings on each wall & ceilings; much of the work was left to his large & skilled workshop team (who had detailed drawings).  The death of Julius in 1513 saw the Medici Pope Leo X succeed, with whom Raphael formed a close relationship & who continued to commission him.

Among other on-going projects, he commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

 

Leonardo( sfumato): * see endnote<K>

sfumato is painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane.  Leonardo was the most prominent practitioner of sfumato, based on his research in optics & human vision, and his experimentation with the camera obscura.  He used it in many works, including the Virgin of the Rocks and in his famous painting of the Mona Lisa.  The technique is a fine shading to produce a soft transition between colours & tones to achieve a more believable image.  It is most often used by making subtle gradations that do not include lines or borders, from areas of light to areas of dark. The technique was used to give an elusive & illusionistic rendering of the human face but also to create rich atmospheric effects. Leonardo described the technique as blending colours, without the use of lines or borders "in the manner of smoke".