GOLDEN AGES OF

FLORENCE

• In 15th –century in the Italian city state of Florence, many people believed themselves to be living in a new age. The term "Renaissance," already coined by the 16th century, describes the "rebirth" from the dark ages of intellectual decline that followed the brilliance of ancient civilization.

• The contributions of Brunelleschi in architecture, Donatello in sculpture, Masaccio and Leonardo in painting changed Western art forever. They aimed, like Greeks before them, to create an ideal form of beauty based on nature.

Filippo Brunelleschi

• Brunelleschi measured ancient buildings in Rome to understand the harmony of classical proportions and reintroduced such elements of classical architecture as the columned arcade. He applied engineering genius to design the huge dome for the cathedral of Florence. Which is a major attraction to tourists.

The cathedral of Florence

Santa Maria NovellaThe Sagrestia Vecchia

or Old Sacristy

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi • Donatello, who accompanied Brunelleschi to Rome,

carved some of the first large-scale, freestanding statues since antiquity. Like those ancient figures, his were sometimes nude.

Donatello, Annunciation (detail) c. 1435 Gilded pietra serena Santa Croce, Florence

Donatello, Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

King David

Michelangelo, marble, 1501-1504Donatello, bronze, c-1430,

Both look towards the ancient classical examples found in Greek or Roman sculpture. Donatello's earlier version was created over 70 years earlier and was inspired by the ancient art he saw on his trip to Rome.

Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone

• Masaccio painted a series of innovative frescoes that used light, coming strongly and consistently from a single direction, to model figures with shadow and give them robust three-dimensionality.

The Tribute Money, fresco in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Holy Trinity, in full: "Trinity with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and Donors" (c. 1427) - Fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Virgin Mary with a pseudo-Arabic halo, and baby Jesus, surrounded by four angels

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

• Known as the Renaissance man, Leonardo was a genius in every area but struggled to finish his works because he was fascinated by everything. Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are his masterpieces.

The Last Supper (1498)—Convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy

Mona Lisa or La Gioconda (1503–1505/1507)—Louvre, Paris, France

•Throughout his lifetime, Leonardo not only painted, but also he made multiple ideas for inventions. •He had the idea of a helicopter. •He made many weapons, and in his notebook, he had the idea of a giant crossbow.

Design for a Flying Machine is a 1488 drawing

• In his scientific career, Leonardo studied the shoulder muscles of a human as well as other body parts.

Giant crossbow

Study of arms and shoulders

Why did this happen in Florence ?

• Florence was one of the wealthiest areas in Italy during the Renaissance. It was also a MAJOR trade route because of it's geographic location, and it was a very active commerce center.

• Also, the feudal system began to come to an end, giving people more freedom and independence which also helped them focus on building wealth and patronize the arts.

• The Medici family was also a major force at play here. They were a banking family and based in Florence and huge patrons of the arts so they alone helped to stimulate a lot of the artistic culture there.

• As a result, Florentine society was in a state of flux between the old, stable medieval world and a new dynamic commercial world. There was greater social mobility than before with many opportunities for individuals to go up socially. The new merchants and bankers had money to spend and they were not afraid of showing off their new wealth by building magnificent palaces and filling them with superb works of art.