Narration Script and Visual References* for

History through Art

The Renaissance: Part One

  1.   (The Birth of Venus, c. 1480, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Italy)
  2. Detail of number 1)
  3. . (Detail of number 1)
  4. (Detail of number 1)
  5. (Detail of number 1)
  6. (Detail of number 1)
  7. (Detail of number 1)
  8. The Birth of Venus heralds an increased interest in man and in the civilization of Ancient Greece and Rome. The painting expresses a re-newed interest in the physical senses, in the human body, and in nature. (Whole of number 1)
  9. Lorenzo Valla, a famous Renaissance philosopher, wrote: "Would that man had fifty senses, since five give such delight...." (Primavera, 1477-1478, Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
  10. In Italy, the Greek and Roman past had never fully disappeared. (Roman Forum, Rome, Italy)
  11.  But the shadows of the Middle Ages dimmed the an and ideas of classical Greece and Rome. (Side aisle, transept of Reims Cathedral, 1225-1299, Reims, France)
  12. By the fifteenth century, the classical past emerged once again to reflect its meanings in the sunlight of a new age. (Roman Forum, Rome, Italy)
  13. During the Middle Ages, man sent his imagination soaring up into the infinite vaults of his cathedrals. His aim was heavenward, into the spiritual world. (Nave, Reims Cathedral, 1225-1299, Reims, France)
  14. Renaissance man did not lose sight of God. But, with Christopher Colum-bus, he had more self-confidence and believed more strongly in the world around him than did his medieval ancestors. (Christopher Columbus, anonymous. Civic Museum, Como, Italy)
  15. He embarked in ships and sailed outward, beyond the horizon. He explored this world, not the next. (Detail of ships from Departure of St. Ursula, 1495, Carpaccio, Academy, Venice, Italy)
  16. The medieval nave was a spiritual ship which transported souls upward, toward Heaven. (Nave, Notre Dame Cathedral, 1163-1200, Paris, France)
  17. The Santa Maria was a real ship which carried an Italian adventurer outward on the search for a new trade route. (The Department of the Merchants, manuscript illumination, anonymous, Riccaroliana Library, Florence, Italy)
  18. With the great increase in commerce and trade, the principle aim of Western man became fame, success, and fortune. (Portrait of Juvenal des Ursins, c. 1455, Jean Fouquet, The Louvre, Paris, France)
  19. Man still prayed before the Bible,... (Detail of hands and Bible from number 18)
  20. ...but now his richly embroidered purse was at his waist. (Detail of purse) from number 18
  21.  (Same as number 18)
  22.   He pursued the good things of this life, like fine music… (Musicians from Marriage at Cana, 1563, Paola Veronese, The Louvre, Paris, France.)
  23. and good food. (Detail of feasters from number 22)
  24. He dressed splendidly, in cloth of red and gold… (Portrait of Pietro Aretino, c. 1525. Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy)
  25. and in rich brocades. (Detail of man holding wine glass from number 22)
  26. The middle class grew in power and importance by accumulating fortune from banking and trade. (Money-Changer and His Wife, c. 1519, Quenti Massys, The Louvre, Paris, France)
  27. Portrait of a Merchant, copy after Jan Gossart, c. 1480-1534, John GJohnson Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  28. (Portrait of Georg Gisze, c. 1532, Hans Holbein the Younger, Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, Germany)
  29. Money became an important foundation for individual power. This is Lorenzo de Medici, a member of one of the most wealthy and powerful families of Renaissance Italy. (.Portrait of Lorenzo de Medici, Bronzino 1503-1572, Medici Museum, Florence, Italy)
  30.   The popes increased their holdings until they were among the richest me in Europe. This is Pope Leo X; his father was Lorenzo de Medici whos portrait you have just seen. (Portrait ofPope Leo X,c. 1518, Raphael, PittiPalace, Florence, Italy)
  31. Renaissance man, full of pride, commissioned artists to preserve his fac for posterity. (Portrait o/Galeasso Maria Sforza, Antonio, c. 1432-149! and Piero, 1443-1496, del Pollaiuolo, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
  32. Such portraits were an expensive display of wealth and power. (Portrait of Francesco Maria della Revere, c. 1504, Raphael, Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy)
  33. For the new, wealthy and powerful classes of the Renaissance, life itself hs become a work of art. (.Portrait of a Princess of the House ofEste, Anton Pisanello, c. 1395-1455, The Louvre, Paris, France)
  34. . With the coming of the Renaissance, art was filled suddenly with portrai of individual people—a subject matter absent since the ancient Roman (Portrait of a Youth, Pietro Perugino, c. 1445-1523, Uffizi Gallei Florence, Italy)
  35. A gallery of unique faces... (.Portrait ofBattista Sforza, 1465, Piero del Francesca, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
  36. . {Portrait of Melantone, 1543, Lucas Cranach and shop, Uffizi Gallei Florence, Italy)
  37.   (Portrait of Contessa Nani, Paola Veronese, c. 1525-1588, The Louve Paris, France)(Portrait of Jodicus Vyd, detail from the Altarpiece of the Mystic Lan finished 1432, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, St. Bavon Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium)
  38. (Portrait of Jodicus Vyd, detail from the Altarpiece of the Mystic Lamb, finished 1432, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, St. Bavon Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium)
  39. Portrait Bust of Pietro Mellini, 1474, Benedetto da Maiano, National Museum, Florence, Italy
  40. (Portrait of Isabella Borluut Vyd, detail from number 38)
  41. (L'Orafo, the Goldsmith, Ridolfb del Ghirlandaio, 1483-1561, Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy)
  42. (Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1435, Rogier van der Weyden, Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, Germany)
  43. A favorite subject for Renaissance artists was the young David, popular because he represented the youthful vitality of the Renaissance. Renaissance artists frequently used as models the people and things familiar to them, even when their subjects, like David, were Biblical. (The Youthful David, c. 1450-1457, Andrea del Castagno, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
  44. Donatello, the sculptor, gave us a David who is actually an Italian shepherd boy. (Detail of torso of David, bronze sculpture, c. 1430-1432, Donatello, National Museum, Florence, Italy)
  45. He is wearing a hat which was common in Florence in the fifteenth century.(Detail of head of number 44)
  46. His body is a study of the soft, youthful awkwardness of early adolescence.
  47. The boy stands with one hip pushed to the side... (Whole of number 44)
  48. As time passed, the growing confidence of Renaissance man was reflected in the changing forms of his an. A generation after the creation of Donatello's David, Verrocchio of Florence also cast a young David. Now there is a swagger and self-assurance in the hard, tough young body. (David, bronze sculpture, 1473-1475, Andrea del Verrocchio, National Museum,  Florence, Italy)
  49. Michelangelo's David, still later, is no longer a boy, but a self-confident man. Towering 18 feet from the floor, his perfectly developed body...  (David, marble sculpture, 1501-1504, Michelangelo, Academy, Florence Italy)
  50.  .. .and piercing, intelligent gaze hold the world within their power. (Detail of head of number 49)
  51. Michelangelo's David represents Renaissance man's high regard for human dignity and worth. By the fifteenth century, man wanted to be more than a soul to be saved or condemned in the afterlife. (Whole of number 49)
  52. Most names of the builders of the medieval cathedrals have been lost to history. (Exterior view from the northwest of Naumberg Cathedral, c. 1200,Naumberg, Germany)
  53. But the Renaissance artist wanted to be more than an anonymous craftsman in the service of God. He was a proud genius who sought fame and recognition, like Titian of Venice, seen in this self-portrait,... (Self-portrait, c. 1565-1570, Titian, Prado, Madrid, Spain)
  54. ...or the haughty Durer... (Self-portrait, 1498, Albrecht Diirer, Prado, Madrid, Spain)
  55. .. .or Lorenzo Ghiberti, the sculptor,... (Self-portrait, bronze sculptor, c.  1435, from the "Gates of Paradise," Lorenzo Ghiberti, Baptistery, Florence, Italy)
  56. .. .or Raphael of Urbino. (Self-portrait, c. 1508, Raphael, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
  57. Surely a self-portrait is a good measure of man's self-esteem. Here is Botticelli... (Detail from the Adoration of the Kings, c. 1475, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
  58. .. .standing at the far right... (Detail from number 57)
  59. (Detail from number 57)
  60. (Detail from number 57)
  61. ... in his painting Adoration of the Kings. (Whole of number 57)
  62. The Biblical kings are actually portraits of Botticelli's employers, the Medici family. (Detail from number 57)
  63. Obviously, man has become more important. He meets God face to face in this classical ruin. (Detail from number 57)
  64. A traditional religious subject has become a portrait of contemporary man. (Whole of number 57)
  65. The Renaissance artist was respectful, but scarcely humble in his relationship to the Holy Virgin. (Detail of St. Luke, from St. Luke Painting a Portrait of the Virgin, 1430s, Rogier van der Weyden; Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany)

66. He did not hesitate to sit in the same room with her and draw her portrait. (Whole of number 65)

67. (St. Luke Painting a Portrait of the Virgin, Master of St. Augustine Altar,

German National Museum, Nuremberg, Germany)

  1. The Renaissance idea of Christ had also changed from that of the Middle Ages. Pictured as a miniature adult in this painting from the Middle Ages... (Madonna Enthroned, c. 1280-1290, Cenni di Peppo, called Cimabue, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Italy
    1. Christ has become a realistic baby in this Renaissance painting. (Madonna of the Pomegranate, c. 1487, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
       , Italy.  
    2. It was a youthful age.  Children assumed a new importance in art. (Detail from a drawing of the Madonna and Child with St. John, Raphael, 1483-1520, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.)
    3. (Detail of the son from Portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro and His ‘Son, Berruguette, c. 1450-1504, Ducal Palace, Urbino, Italy)
    4. (Study for a St. Joyhn, 1523, Andrea del Sarto, British Museum, London, England.)
    5. (Details of Children from Cantoria, marble sculpture, c. 1435, Luca della Robbia, Cathedral Museum, Florence, Italy)
    6. (Head of a putto, Andrea del Sarto, 1486-1537, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
    7. (Detail of children from number 73)
    8. (Study for Child Jesus, Lorenzo de Credi, 1458-1537, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
    9. Babe in swaddling clothes, painted terra cotta, Andrea della Robbia, 1435-1525, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy)
    10. (Detail of Christ child from number 70).
    11. The world of nature held a new-found fascination for the men of the Renaissance.  (Detail from the Procession of the Magi, c. 1459-1463, Benozzo Gozzoli, Medici-Riccardi Palace, Florence, Italy.
    12. St. Francis, a monk of the Middle Ages, had marveled at the world of plants and animals.  For that reason he became an important figure to the Renaissance.  Here is T. Francis preaching to the birds.  (St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, c. 1296-1300, Giotto, Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi, Italy.)
    13. Monks of the Renaissance left their cloisters and preached in the outside world on man and nature. (Detail of landscape from Apollo and Marsyas, Pietro Perugino, c 1445-1523, The Louvre, Paris, France.)
    14. To the medieval imagination, the natural world was make believe or unimportant.  This medieval painting of the Flight into Egypt places the figures in a topy landscape – with tiny stone mountains, rounded trees, and a golden sky. (Flight into Egypt, 1308-1311, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Cathedral Museum, Siena, Italy.)
    15. In this Renaissance painting of the Flight into Egypt, the figures follow a rustic garden path which winds through a landscape of rolling hills spotted with trees. (.Flight into Egypt, c. 1507, Vittore Carpaccio, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
    16. As these Renaissance works show, artists became scientific observers of nature. (.Piece of Lawn, watercolor, 1502, Albrecht Durer, Albertina, Vienna, Austria)
    17. (Detail of birds from Apollo and Marsyas, Pietro Pemgino, c. 1445-1523, The Louvre, Paris, France)
    18. (Detail of flowers from Primavera, 1477-1478, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)
    19. (Detail of rabbits from Parnassus, Andrea Mantegna, c. 1431-1506, TheLouvre, Paris, France)
    20. (Studies of flowers, Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Academy, Venice,Italy)
    21. This painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds includes some of the elements of the Renaissance which we have discussed:... (The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1510, Giorgione, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
    22. . ... individualism,... (Detail of head of shepherd from number 89)
    23. (Detail of head of other shepherd from number 89)
    24. . ... youth,... (Detail of baby from number 89)
    25. . .. .nature.... (Detail of landscape from number 89)
    26. (Detail of landscape from number 89)
    27. The painting is a clear expression of the Renaissance artist's love of life and of his new-found fascination with all aspects of the world around him. (Whole of number 89) 96.

 

The Renaissance:  Part Two

 

1. (Detail of music-making angel, from the Virgin Mary in a Rosegarden, Hans Memling, active 1465-1494, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany)

2. (Detail of boy playing hand organ from the Cantoria, marble sculpture, c.1435, Luca della Robbia, Cathedral Museum, Florence, Italy)

3. (Detail of another music-making angel from number 1)

4. (Detail of angel from Madonna Enthroned with Saints, 1505, Giovanni  Bellini, Church of San Zaccaria, Venice, Italy)

5. Humanism, an important cultural force of the Renaissance, meant a renewed interest in man, his environment, and in the values and forms of classical Greece and Rome. (Detail from the School of Athens, 1510-1511, Raphael, Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy)

6. A famous Renaissance humanist wrote about man: "He is a little world in which we may discern a body mingled... (St. Jerome in his Studio,c. 1502, Vittore Carpaccio, Scuola degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy)

7. ...of earthly elements, and ethereal breath, and the vegetable life of plants,... (Detail of Adam from the Creation of Man, 1508-1512, Michelan-gelo, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy)

8. .. .and the senses of the lower animals,... (Bacchus, marble sculpture, c.1497, Michelangelo, National Museum, Florence, Italy)

9. ...and reason and the intelligence of angels,... (Detail of angel from Madonna Felicini, 1494, Francia, Library, Bologna, Italy)  

10. .. .and a likeness to God." (Detail from number 7)

11. The most concrete expression of an interest in man is the Renaissance artist's rediscovery of anatomy. To appreciate this we must make a comparison. (Study for Disputation of the Sacrament, Raphael, 1483-1520, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)

12. This is an early medieval crucifixion. The torso is emaciated and flat and the arms are mechanically attached. The artist ignored the body to achieve a symbol of the soul. (Deposition, wood, anonymous, 13th century. Church of San Antonio, Peseta, Italy)

13. This Renaissance crucifixion portrays Christ with scientifically detailed anatomy. (Crucifixion, painted wood sculpture, c. 1412, Donatello, Church of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy)

14. These saints from a medieval cathedral seem to have no body beneath their clothing. (Detail of saints from the westportals. Cathedral, stone sculpture, 1145-1170, Chartres, France)

15. By the time of the Renaissance, the nude body had become a prime vehicle for artistic expression. (Hercules andAnteus, bronze, c. 1475, del Pollaiuolo, National Museum, Florence, Italy)

16. Renaissance artists dissected cadavers and carefully recorded their observa-tions in their notebooks. This was the beginning of anatomy as a science. (Detail of page from anatomical studies, Andreas Vesalius, 1514-1564, courtesy of Mrs. L.B. McCandless, Pleasantville, New York)

17. For Renaissance man, as for the men of ancient Greece and Rome, man's body was the symbol of humanism, and of his awareness of and pride in himself. (Battle of the Naked Men, engraving, c. 1465-1470, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academy Collection, Philadel-phia, Pennsylvania)

18. (.Eve, 1507, Albrecht Diirer, Prado, Madrid, Spain)

19. (Hercules, fresco fragment, c. 1460, Piero della Francesca, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts)

 20. (Study of torso and arm, Michelangelo, 1475-1564, Casa Buonarroti, Florence, Italy)

21.  (Detail of Marsyas from Apollo and Marsyas, Pietro Perugino, c. 1445-1523, The Louvre, Paris, France)

22. (Studies for the Libyan Sibyl, red chalk, c. 1510, Michelangelo, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, purchased 1924, Joseph Pulitzer

Bequest)

23. (Libyan Sibyl, 1508-1512, Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy)

24. (The Prophet Jonas, 1508-1512, Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy)

25. (Nude, Raphael, 1483-1520, British Museum, London, England)

26.  (Detail from the Resurrection of the Flesh, 1499-1503, Luca Signorelli, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy)

27. (Nude Man Carrying a Cadaver, Luca Signorelli, c. 1440-1523, The Louvre, Paris, France)

28. (David, marble sculpture, 1525-1526, Michelangelo, National Museum, Florence, Italy)

29. (Study of nude man stretching, Luca Signorelli, c. 1440-1523,The Louvre, Paris, France)

30. The Renaissance artist imposed reason, and order upon his world through the use of perspective. (Sketch ofachalice, perspective study, 1460s, Paolo

Ucello)

31. This is a geometric method of creating the illusion of space upon a Hat surface. Thus, perspective was the conquest of space in art—... (Man drawing a lute, woodcut, 1525, Albrecht Diirer, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

32. .. .in the same way and achieved at the same moment in history when the explorer conquered space as he sailed to unknown shores. (Portuguese

Carracks, c. 1521, Comelis Anthoniszoon, National Maritime Museum,

Greenwich, England) 

33. This is the way the Renaissance artist learned about perspective—by making elaborate drawings, using the tools of perspective. (Drawing of monuments of Ancient Rome, Baldassare Peruzzi, 1481-1536, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)

34. These tools are the vanishing point,... (Overlay of vanishing point, number 33)

35. .. .the horizon line,... (Overlay of horizon line on number 33)

36. .. .and disappearing lines. (Overlay of disappearing lines on number 33)

37. Architectural backgrounds for his subjects were the artist's excuse for creating illusions of space. (Aeneas Silvius Crowned Poet, c. 1503, Pin-turicchio, Piccolomini Library, Cathedral, Siena, Italy)

38. (Perspective of an Ideal City, c. 1475, Luciano daLaurana, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore,