Can Grande: * see EndNote<A>

1291-1329 Italian nobleman (of the della Scala family who ruled Verona 1308 to 1387); leading patron of Dante, a warrior & autocrat.  Ruled Verona 1311-29, also controlled several neighbouring cities, notably Vicenza, Padua & Treviso; the leader of the Ghibelline faction in northern Italy.

 

Bartolommeo Colleoni:

see Chapter VII, page 238

 

Raphael's portraits (Pope Julius): * see EndNote<B>

oil painting of 1511–12; earlier Papal portraits showed the Pope frontally or kneeling in profile.  Here we find an unusual pose as well as a certain intimacy, both are exceptional.  The subject is shown totally lost, a familiarity unprecedented in Papal portraiture, but which would become the formula followed by most future painters, including del Piombo & Velázquez.  This model would endure for 2 centuries, with its conflation of ceremonial significance & intimacy.  It reflects Raphael’s ability to define the inner structure of things along with their outer texture. 

see Chapter III page 109, chapter IV page 136, Chapter VII pages 237, 245, and above 268

 

Sebastian del Piombo:

1485-1547, Italian painter (High Renaissance & early Mannerist), combined the colouring of the Venetian school with the monumental forms of the Roman school.  In 1531 he became the Keeper of the Seal to the Papacy, a job which reduced his artistic productivity.  He now painted mostly portraits, few works of his survive compared to his great contemporaries.  In Venice he trained with Bellini & Giorgione.  In Rome he worked alongside Raphael & got on well with Michelangelo (who tried to promote his career).  He painted portraits & religious subjects in oils but avoided the time consuming large fresco schemes; he was overshadowed by  Michelangelo, Leonardo & Raphael, though after the death of Raphael in 1520 he became Rome's leading painter.  He had limited involvement with the Mannerists in his later years. 

 

Leonardo (portraits):

In the Renaissance the Florentine & Milanese nobility wanted more realistic representations of themselves.  The challenge of creating convincing full & 3/4 views led to experimentation.  Leonardo, along with other Renaissance artists, expanded techniques, and adding portraiture to traditional religious & classical subjects.  He was one of the first Italian artists to add allegorical symbols to secular portraits.  One of best-known portraits in the Western world is his Mona Lisa, of Lisa del Giocondo, member of the Gherardini family of Florence & Tuscany, wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.  Her smile is an excellent example of applying subtle asymmetry to a face.  Leonardo was a master in using light in portrait painting.  He said grace is added to faces with light & shadow.  If the sitter is shown on the doorway of dark rooms, the face will be obscured by the shadows of the room but the observer will see the lighted part of the face with the greater relief.  His other memorable portraits included those of noblewomen Ginevra de’ Benci and Cecilia Gallerani.

 

Giovanni Bellini ("Doge" - Loredano): * see EndNote<C>

1430-1516, Italian painter & most famous of the Bellini family of Venetian painters (which included father Jacopo Bellini, brother Gentile Bellini & brother-in-law was Mantegna).  Giorgione & Titian were pupils under him.  He revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style, through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, to create deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous colouring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school.  He was essential to the development of the Italian Renaissance for his incorporation of aesthetics from Northern Europe.  He was influenced by Antonello da Messina and adopted the use of oil paint to replace the old tempera method tempera.

 

portrait of the Gothic style:

Most early medieval portraits were donor portraits, initially mostly of popes in Roman mosaics & illuminated manuscripts.  Such portraits were common in religious works, the donor shown kneeling to one side in the foreground of the image.  By the 15th century such portraits of noblemen & wealthy businessmen were becoming common at the same time as the panel portrait also became popular.  A common Netherlandish format from the mid-century was a small diptych with a Madonna and Child, usually on the left wing, and a "donor" on the right, the donor being an owner, as these works were kept in the subject's home.  The sitter may adopt a praying pose or one suitable for a purely secular portrait. The Wilton Diptych (1395-99) of Richard II of England was a forerunner of these.  Secular portraiture was a rarity before 1430.  The format did not exist as a separate genre.  It is found infrequently at the highest end of the market, in betrothal portraits or royal family commissions.  Although profitable, they were considered a lower art form.  Most of the surviving pre-16th-century examples are unattributed.  Large numbers of single devotional panels showing saints & biblical figures but depictions of historical, known individuals did not begin until the early 1430s.  

 

Late Classical portrait (Caesar busts):

see above page 269

 

Michelangelo (4 nudes of the Medici chapel): * see EndNote<D>

The Medici Chapels are 2 structures at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence,  dating from the 16th & 17th centuries, built as extensions to Brunelleschi's 15th-century church, to celebrate the Medici family, patrons of the church and Grand Dukes of Tuscany.  The Sagrestia Nuova ("New Sacristy") was designed by Michelangelo, his first essay in architecture (1519–24); he also designed its monuments dedicated to members of the Medici family, with sculptural figures of the 4 times of day, works destined to influence sculptural figures reclining on architraves for many generations. Though vaulted by 1524, the sculptural programme was not assembled.  Events intervened & in 1534 Michelangelo left Rome permanently.  Though most of the statues were finished, they were not in place, but in disarray; they were later installed by Niccolò Tribolo in 1545.  Finished in 1555 by Vasari & Ammannati.

 

Rossellino (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

1427-79, Italian sculptor, younger brother to sculptor & architect Bernardo Rossellino (who trained Antonio); born in Florence; studied under Donatello and is remarkable for the sharpness and fineness of his bas-relief.

 

Donatello (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

see Chapter VII page 221, 238

 

Benedetto de Maiano (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

1442-97, Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance; born in Tuscany near Florence, started his career as companion of his brother (Giuliano, an architect).  During his early career he specialised in wood-mosaic but seeking more durable material, began using marble. In 1472 he started training under the sculptor Antonio Rossellino, learning to work with marble.  He would eventually became more famous than Rossellino, & is considered an important sculptor of the 15th century. 

 

Mino da Fiesole (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

Italian sculptor from Tuscany, noted for his portrait busts.  He was influenced by his master Desiderio da Settignano & Antonio Rossellino.  Unlike most Florentine sculptors of his age, he passed 2 lengthy sojourns in Rome (1459-64; 1473-80).  His work is characterized by its sharp, angular treatment of drapery and is remarkable for its finish & delicacy of details, as well as for its spirituality and strong devotional feeling.

 

Van Eyck (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

1390-1441, Flemish painter active in Bruges, a founder of Early Netherlandish painting school & significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance.  His style has roots in International Gothic style, but he soon eclipsed it, with greater emphasis on naturalism & realism.  He achieved virtuosity with his developments in the use of oil paint.  Highly influential, his techniques & style were adopted & refined by the Early Netherlandish painters.  Born in Maaseik (present day Belgium), took employment in the Hague around 1422 with John III the Pitiless (ruler of Holland & Hainaut), from 1425 court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy; moved to Bruges in 1429 where he lived until his death.  About 20 surviving paintings are attributed to him, including the Ghent Altarpiece and the illuminated miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours, all dated between 1432 and 1439. He painted both secular & religious subject matter, altarpieces, single-panel religious figures & commissioned portraits.

 

Memlinc (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

see Chapter VII page 236

 

Early Rhenish masters (portraits): * see EndNote <E>

an ambiguous term, referring to a collective of painters in the Rhine region, the many anonymous German painters of the 15th century.  Some were centred around Cologne.  The Garden of Paradise, a work from about 1420, is from Cologne.  It is paralleled by the Ortenberg alter of 1430, similar to the Garden but with greater monumentality.  Swabian painters became prominent as the century waxed: Lucas Moser (1390-1434) - part of the Ulm school, Hans Multscher (1400-67), Conrad Witz (1400-46).  The Upper Rhenish Master was an unknown artist active  1410–20 possibly in Strasbourg. His most famous painting is the Little Garden of Paradise, a mixed technique on oakwood, 26.3 x 33.4 cm.  The painting depicts Mary & baby Jesus in a secluded corner of a castle garden, a peaceful place protected by a wall from the violent outer world.  It was designed to give visual pleasure but also provide spiritual benefits. Every detail is symbolic.  Literacy in the Middle Ages was rare but visual communication was an effective instrument to spread the faith.  The Upper Rhenish Master is profuse in his use of symbols and orchestrates the stage as a playground not only appropriate for holy persons but for the new vision of nature destined to become a cornerstone in the 15th-century.

 

Court of the Palazzo Strozzi: * see EndNote<F>

see Chapter VII page 234

 

Loggia dei Lanzi: * see EndNote<F>

aka Loggia della Signoria, an arcade open to the air on 2 sides, on a corner of the public square Piazza della Signoria, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.  In 1350 it was decided to build a Loggia  "beautiful and impressive" to house public ceremonies & assemblies; work began 1376, finished in 1382.  With its civic function, it had great significance in early 16th century Florence.  To glorify the Republic, in 1504 Michelangelo's David was moved to the Piazza della Signoria, next to the Loggia.  With the fall of the Republic the function of the Loggia abruptly declined.  It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals; built between 1376 and 1382 by Benci di Cione & Simone di Francesco Talenti, following a design by Jacopo di Sione, to house the assemblies of the people and hold public ceremonies.  The vivacious construction of the Loggia is in stark contrast with the severe architecture of the Palazzo Vecchio.  It is effectively an open-air sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art.

 

Perugino: * see EndNote<F>

see Chapter VII page 249

 

Cimabue: * see EndNote<F>

see Chapter VI, page 192

 

Michelangelo (Brutus bust): <G>

1539–1540, marble bust, Brutus as a hero, in keeping with political sentiment against tyranny at the time of its creation.  It belongs to & may have initiated a revival of the classical bust in sculpture.  Carved after the defeat of the Republic of Florence (1531), Michelangelo supported the Republic, he supported tyrannicide as well, hence his sympathetic treatment of Brutus. 

 

Botticelli (Medici portrait): * see EndNote<H>

see above page 271

 

Donatello (Uzzano bust): * see EndNote<I>

see Chapter VII page 221