Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

troops at their disposal played a major role in the ongoing struggle for

power. Princely courts, such as those in Urbino and Mantua, emerged

as cultural and artistic centers alongside the great art centers of the

14th century, especially the Republic of Florence. The association of

humanism with education and culture appealed to accomplished in-

dividuals of high status, and humanism had its greatest impact among

the elite and powerful, whether in the republics or the princely courts.

These individuals were in the best position to commission art. As a

result, humanist ideas permeate Italian Renaissance art. The inter-

section of art with humanist doctrines during the Renaissance is evi-

dent in the popularity of subjects selected from classical history or

mythology; the increased concern with developing perspectival sys-

tems and depicting anatomy accurately; the revival of portraiture and

other self-aggrandizing forms of patronage; and citizens’ extensive

participation in civic and religious art commissions.

Florence

Because high-level patronage required significant accumulated wealth,
the individuals and families who had managed to prosper economi-
cally, whether princes or merchants, came to the fore in artistic circles.
The best-known Italian Renaissance art patrons were the Medici of
the Republic of Florence (MAP21-1). Early in the 15th century, the
banker Giovanni de’ Medici (ca. 1360–1429) had established the fam-
ily fortune. His son Cosimo (1389–1464) expanded his family’s domi-
nance in financial circles, which led to considerable political power as
well. This consolidation of power in a city that prided itself on its re-
publicanism did not go unchallenged. In the early 1430s, a power
struggle with other elite families led to the family’s expulsion from
Florence. In 1434 the Medici returned and used their tremendous
wealth to commission art and architecture on a scale rarely seen.

The Medici were avid humanists. Cosimo began the first public

library since the ancient world, and historians estimate that in some

30 years he and his descendants expended the equivalent of more

than $20 million for manuscripts and books. Scarcely a great archi-

tect, painter, sculptor, philosopher, or humanist scholar escaped the

family’s notice. Cosimo was the very model of the cultivated human-

ist. His grandson Lorenzo (1449–1492), called “the Magnificent,” was

a talented poet himself and gathered about him a galaxy of artists and

gifted men in all fields, extending the library Cosimo had begun and

revitalizing his academy for instructing artists. Lorenzo also partici-

pated in what some have called the Platonic Academy of Philosophy

(most likely an informal reading group), and lavished funds (often

the city’s own) on splendid buildings, festivals, and pageants. The

Medici were such grand patrons of art and learning that, to this day, a

generous benefactor of the fine arts is often called “a Medici.”

Sculpture

The earliest important artistic commission in 15th-century Florence

was not, however, a Medici project, but a guild-sponsored competi-

tion in 1401 for a design for the east doors of the city’s baptistery

(FIG. 17-26). Artists and public alike considered this commission

particularly prestigious because of the intended placement of the

doors on the building’s east side, facing Florence Cathedral (FIG.

19-18). Several traits associated with mature Renaissance art already

characterized the baptistery competition: patronage as both a civic

imperative and a form of self-promotion, the esteem accorded to in-

dividual artists, and the development of a new pictorial illusionism.

SACRIFICE OF ISAAC Andrea Pisano (ca. 1290–1348), unre-

lated to the two 13th-century Pisan sculptors Nicola and Giovanni

discussed in Chapter 19, had designed the south doors of Florence’s

542 Chapter 21 ITALY,1400 TO 1500

MAP21-1

Renaissance Florence.

Arno River

Semplici

Gardens

Gherardesca

Gardens

Boboli

Gardens

Torrigiani

Gardens

Piazza della

Indipendenza

Piazza

Massimo

d’Azeglio

Piazza della

Signoria

Piazza

dei Pitti

Piazza della Repubblica

Sant’

Apollonia San

Marco

Ospedale degli

Innocenti

Palazzo

Medici-Riccardi

Fortezza

da Basso

Santa Maria

Novella

Palazzo

Rucellai

San Lorenzo

Baptistery FlorenceCathedral

Campanile

Or San Michele

Santa Trinità

Santa Felicità

Santa Maria del Carmine Santo Spirito

Santa Croce

Pazzi Chapel

Palazzo Vecchio

Medici

Chapel

VIA DELLA SCA

LA

VIA FAENZA

VIA GUELFA

VIA DE’FOSSI

VIA CAMILLO

CAVOUR

VIA GINO CAPPONI

BORGO PINTI

PONTE

VECCHI

O

VIA D

E SERRAGLI

VIA DE’SERVI

0 0.25 0.50 mile

0 0.25 0.50 kilometer

Extent of

Renaissance Florence