10th October & 12th Oct

What makes Renaissance Paintings distinct?

 Human forms
 Three-dimensional space
 Natural space
 Either extremely humanized art form/ or extremely ideal

Contrapposto – one body part engaged, the other in motion to make it feel as if it’s a human being that can
walk.

- Donatello 2nd David statue (1435-40) is a homoerotic statue, central to gay culture and identity in
Florence at the time. Even hats, were a sense of gay identity.
- This statue was in the courtyard of the Medici palace, and this courtyard was open. The Medici had
it in their courtyard to show Florentine people that they were good with the gay subculture.
- Gay culture in Florence was so popular that a German slang for sodomy was to ‘FLORENTINE’
someone.

Michelangelo David (1501-04):

- You never see it the way Michelangelo wanted it to be seen. The statue was to be very high up in
the Florence cathedral, but since it was so beautiful, the cathedral wanted the statue to be front
and center. So Michelangelo’s proportions for David was to be perceived from like a 100 feet
below.
- Two classical heroes of Florentine were Hercules and then David.
- Idealized human form, with Contrapposto.

Benvenueto Cellini Perseus (1545-54):

- Bronze casting
- Contrapposto

What makes Renaissance Sculpture distinct?

- Natural human forms
- Materials: marble and bronze
- Viewpoint: Sculpted in Round.

Rome Arch of Constantine (AD. 315):

- Dedicated by the Senate in AD 315, the tenth anniversary (decennalia) of the emperor's reign, the
Arch of Constantine (Arcus Constantini) commemorates the victory of Constantine
over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312 for sole control of the Roman empire in
the west.
- There are columns, medallions, entablature, annex story, with sculptures added to them.
- The Roman military and generals would go through the arch during victory processions.
- Renaissance architects wanted to use this arch style, as seen in the Pienza Cathedral (1459-62), so
it was started and finished in Renaissance times. The architect took the Roman arch and put it
Infront of the church.
- They’re doing hybrid forms of architecture.
- The Pienza cathedral was the only true renaissance church, commissioned by Pope Pius.
- Pius wanted as much as clear light as possible, big windows to make it seem like more light coming
to create a sense of heaven inside the cathedral.

Palladio San Giorgio Maggiore (Venice 1566-1610):

 - Palladio takes one of the most structures from the Pantheon in Rome, and double embosses it on
top of each other in San Giorgio Maggiore.

Brunelleschi’s Dome (1420-1536)

Rome Pantheon (c126CE):

- You can see the engineering structure of the building coz of the brick.

Michelangelo Dome of St. Peters (from 1547):

- Was inspired by Brunelleschi’s dome.
- Could not see it built as he died before it was completed.

Brunelleschi Hospital of the Innocents (1419): was an orphanage that followed the Golden Ratio
(symmetry & mathematical proportion).

The Uffizi (Florence) by Giorgo Vasari (1560-81):

- He took inspiration from Michelangelo’s work; the Uffizi was kind of a homage to Michelangelo
from Vasari.
- He used the image of the Capitoline Hill by Michelangelo to base the Uffizi.

Roman Models:
- Principles: symmetry, proportion, geometry, human scale
- Purpose: palace, villa, monuments
- Forms: arch, temple, loggia – adapted to different uses
- Details: columns, domes, windows, niches, barrel vaults, coffered ceilings

Vitruvius Ten Books on Architecture (c. 30-20 BCE):

- Poggio Bracciolini ‘rediscovers’ it in St Gall (1414).
- Leon Battista Alberti publishes it in his treatise On the Art of Building (De re aedificatoria c. 1450).
- First Latin printed edition in Rome in 1486, and way more translations in Italian, French, English etc.

Oct 12 – Renaissance & Early Modern Politics: City States & Republics
(early 15th to 18th century)

City States & Republics – Systems of Control

- In early 15th century Italy, Venice, Naples, Milan, Florence etc. were fighting
with each other, especially Florence vs Milan at the time.
- Constant fights till the 1420’s and the politically system became very
fragmented.
- The city of Florence were bankrupt because of the wages they had to pay
mercenaries to fight their battles as they didn’t have a standing army.
- The Albizzi and the Strozzi (most rich family in Florence), elections held every
3 months.
- Sortition: a form of voting where people wrote names on slips of papers and
put them in bags. There’s a nominating committee who would figure out who
is eligible based on commission -> open to a lot of corruption, as who fills the
bag is very crucial.
- Till early 15th century, it was the Albizzi and Strocci against the Medici.
Rise of the Medici – Controlling a Republic
- When the Medici family won the election, the family called Cosimo Pater
Patriae Medici and exiled 200 members of the Albizzi and Strocci from
Florence.
- Cosimo regulates the Florence, he always portrayed himself as just an ordinary
guy as he didn’t hold political power, but in reality, he was the most powerful.
- Renaissance palaces always looked fortified.
- Cosimo goes to Brunelleschi and asks him to design him a palace. Brunelleschi
designs a palace so extravagant and Cosimo decides that it is too much for him
and will make him look like the main man. So Cosimo makes his palace more
family-centric and modest (not really lol) and the Medici house (Cosimo’s)
became central.
- Cosimo marries a local Florentine woman, Contessina Bardi, and with the
money he inherits he does welfare acts for the cities of Florence, helping
people pay for weddings, houses, dowries and churches.
- Cosimo gets Brunelleschi to rebuild the St. Lorenzo church and it kind of
becomes the Medici church.
- He works on a monastery and eventually becomes the first free public lending
library.
- He understands the notion of a faction and keeping them up, not himself and
that’s how the Medici established themselves in Florence.
- They rode the waves of discontent. Every decade, there were riots to remove
Cosimo and the Medici. So what he did was say that it would be too much work
to make new bags, so let’s keep using the old bags leading to Medici always
staying in power (corruption, wink, wink).
- Cosimo was succeeded by his son Piero, who could not do much but he died
before he lost his power.
- He was succeeded by Lorenzo II Magnifico who kind of kept his grandfather’s
humble move, but he was just 20 years old. So there comes a generational
conflict between Cosimo’s supporters who were old then, and the young.
- So some people in the old Medici faction move to the opposition side, Lorenzo
failed to keep that uniform faction.
- Lorenzo moves to a more absolutionist kind of power.
- Lorenzo married Clarice Orsini, who was one of the most powerful families in
Rome. He realised that he needed to move his power out of Florence, and the
Florentine, like the Pazzi were not happy.
- The Pazzi conspiracy was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and
others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence. On 26
April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his
brother Giuliano. Lorenzo was wounded but survived; Giuliano was killed.
They were going to kill him in the church during service, they killed Giuliano
first, and Lorenzo ran outside. A kind of faction wise fighting breaks out in
Florence.
- After the Medici won, they exacted revenge. They hung some leaders of the
opposition, including the Pope of Pisa from the palace windows. Lorenzo sends
out assassins to wipe out the Pazzi family, and the ones that were left were
forced to change their names to Medici.
 - Lorenzo had international opponents as well, and his biggest opponent was the
King of Naples, Ferrante. Lorenzo gets on a boat, and travels to the court of
Naples. He was like a pawn in Ferrante’s court for many months, until he was
able to bring the King of Naples to his side -> brilliant move.

Fall of the Medici

- After Lorenzo’s death, his son Piero took over but was weak and had factions
against him.
- Girolamo Savonarola was an ascetic Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and
a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He took control of Florence after
Piero and made Florence into a very religious Christian city. Eventually,
everyone went against him and then he was burnt at the stake.

Return of the Medici – From Republic to Duchy

- In December 1503, Piero de Medici drowned. His son Lorenzo was 12.
Therefore, his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni de Medici, was the head of the family.
The cardinal eventually became Pope Leo X. He uses the power of the Medici
to appoint a cousin of his Pope Clement VII. -> dumb luck from Lorenzo’s
actions of marrying a Roman.
- Leo died in 1521 and Clement was only appointed in 1523, so there was
opposition there again. He suffered in 1527, when the Germans invaded Rome
and held Pope Clement captive.
- After he was freed, Pope Clement was under the heel of those who invaded
Rome. The family is once again out of Florence.
- By 1530, the people whove taken over Florence, they were more extreme than
Savonarola. By this point, Clement is BFF with Charles the Vth, so he gets the
help of the Holy Roman Empire, and they kick out the republic, and thus
again, they are BACK IN POWER.
- Pope Clement is in power with the support of the Holy Roman Emperor in
1530. The Medici family wanted to formally define their power, and thus
Florence became a Duchy.
- The first Medici duke, as well as the first Black Medici duke was Duke
Alessandro (1530-37). He’s assassinated by his cousin in 1537.