The Late Renaissance

Renaissance and Baroque Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

Topics   

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Early Renaissance Filippo Brunelleschi Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Late Renaissance Giulio Romano Michelangelo Andrea Palladio

The Early Renaissance 

Florence, Italy The birthplace of a new artistic movement called the Renaissance  Led by rich merchants and leading trade guilds 

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Not by religious figures as in medieval art

A time of cultural excitement and discovery 

Creative talents of a group of young artists developed into a new artistic style

The Early Renaissance 

Filippo Brunelleschi 

A great friend of Donatello 

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Invented what is now called one- and two-point perspective 

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A famous Italian sculptor

The most realistic drawing technique used in design

Responsible for many Italian Early Renaissance architecture designs

The Early Renaissance 

Brunelleschi 

Cathedral of Florence 

Italian Gothic in style but absent of a flying buttress 

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Used a ribbed structure to build a dome of some 150-ft at the diagonal 

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Absent because local Italians believed this was of German decent and they wanted a pure Italian structure

Larger than the Roman Pantheon, a great achievement for the time

Brunelleschi had observed diagonal bonding in Roman ruins and used it to create the ribbed structure of the dome

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance 

Brunelleschi 

Ospedale degli Innocenti (Founders Hospital) Expressed his empathy with ancient Rome with great detail in this structure  Considered the first building of the Renaissance by many architectural historians  Designed in 1419 and built from 1421 – 1444  Features a continuous arcade, carried on Corinthian columns across its main facade 

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance 

Brunelleschi 

S. Lorenzo and S. Spirito, Florence Two of his larger structures in Florence  Both featured a square bay aisle that defines a module repeated throughout the churches  Both feature Roman elements within their interiors 

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Semicircular arches Corinthian columns

The Early Renaissance

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The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance 

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo A student of Brunelleschi  A capable architect and was awarded several commissions  Palazzo Medici 

One of his most notable designs  Plan consists of a square with a central courtyard to serve as a circulation core for the perimeter rooms 

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance 

Leone Battista Alberti A classical theorist who approached architecture as a way to express his philosophy of design  Revised the De architectura libri decem (Ten Books on Architecture) 

Original manuscript written by the great Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius  Completed his first version by 1452  Was circulated around Florence in 1485, after Alberti’s death 

The Early Renaissance 

Leone Battista Alberti 

S. Maria Novella, Florence 

Alberti designed the façade 

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The first completed design for a church façade of the Renaissance

Attempted to unify the façade by linking lower aisle roofs to the pedimented higher nave with flanking scrolls

The Early Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Early Renaissance

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The Late Renaissance 

The Late Renaissance was not a stylistic period of concerted effort toward a definite goal 

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Was a period of personal artistic expression

Characteristics Disharmony  Discord  Imbalance  Distortion 

The Late Renaissance 

Greatest designers of the period Michelangelo Buinarroti (1475 – 1564)  Giulio Romano (1510 – 1580)  Andrea Palladio (1508 – 1580) 

The Late Renaissance 

Giulio Romano 

Born in Rome 

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Understood antiquity from a personal, intimate perspective rather than through education

Most important structure 

Palazzo del Te

The Late Renaissance 

Palazzo del Te Designed for Federigo II Gonzaga  A honeymoon villa on an island at the edge of Mantua  Originally conceived as an enormous stable complex  Features 

Large, square courtyard enclosed on all four sides by a series of rooms  Entrances centered on the north and east sides 

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance 

Michelangelo 

Widely regarded as one of the most creative geniuses in Western art 

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Made important contributions to the fields of sculpture, painting, and architecture

Important structures Capitoline Hill, Rome  St. Peters, Rome 

The Late Renaissance 

Capitoline Hill Located in Rome  Provided Michelangelo the opportunity to build a monumental civic plaza for a major city  Located on the ancient seat of the Roman government  Michelangelo redesigned most of the buildings in the site and continued working on it until his death 

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance 

St. Peters 

Michelangelo redesigned the church for a modern age Modified the dome to a hemispherical form  Raised the exterior walls of the ambulatories 

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Michelangelo died before much of the reconstruction was completed 

His design was followed until its completion in the 17th century

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance 

Andrea Palladio 

Widely considered to be the most influential architects in western history 

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Has had an impact on architecture in every century since his death (1580)

Notable structures Villa Barbaro, Maser  Teatro Olimpico 

The Late Renaissance 

Villa Barbaro 

Palladio designed this structure for a pair of aristocrats 

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A vacation home

Symmetrical scheme A center living structure balanced by end pavilions connected by flanking arcades  Arcade’s openings provide space for farm equipment and animals 

The Late Renaissance

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The Late Renaissance 

Teatro Olimpico   

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Located in Vicenza Theatre Inspired by Roman theatres Roofed with a ceiling painted to depict the open sky

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

The Late Renaissance

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References   

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Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

Renaissance and Baroque Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp