Italian Renaissance

Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" began in Florence, Italy. It happened after people returned from the Crusades. This was a revolution not an evolution. During this time, classical forms were refined and adapted for new uses. Local quarries offered an endless supply of beautiful marble. The interiors were furnished with Gothic and Romanesque styles. The renaissance took place in Florence, Rome, Venice, and other cities. The renaissance was a shift from a religious to a secular emphasis on humanity. The Roman-Catholic church had become very powerful and corruption and misconduct frequently occurred. Martin Luther is credited with the reform inside the church. During this time life and the arts of ancient Rome were popular. For example, arts, literature, architecture, and theatre were popular and this time is coined with the invention of the printing press.
During this time there was a movement towards humanism, as seen through the writings of Dante.

• Lorenzo de'Medici: Was a member of a prominent family. He was a business man, a banker, and a patron of the arts.
• Everyone in Italy was interested in the arts, regardless of whether they were rich or poor.
• Residential design becomes popular during this time.
• Comfort, convenience, and beauty became important, as opposed to safety, strength, and protection.

When looking at client relationships it is important to understand that the architects, painters, furniture designers, and sculptors were hired on a long-term basis. They also copied designs from excavations and emphasized the horizontal and symmetry.
The ancient Roman style and details were added to building that were medieval in concept. There was an early emphasis on the interior architecture, not the furniture. The "Renaissance man" was well rounded in education. The Italian Renaissance palace, called a palazzo, was one of the finest achievements of the Italian Renaissance and was a product of the power and influence of prominent families, like the Medici family.

•  The Florence Cathedral:
• Brunelleschi: architect, sculptor, and mechanical engineer
• Started the addition of Florence Cathedral (1420-1436)
• First acknowledged Renaissance architect
• This was the main church in Florence
• Brunelleschi was inspired by the Pantheon
• Palazzo:
• Renaissance palazzo facade: the term refers to the general shape, proportion, and a cluster of characteristics, rather than a specific design
• Emphasis on: symmetry, compound repeated window, and heavy project cornice 
• Palazzo Interior:
• Central courtyard like Roman domus
• No hallways
• Residence on the 2nd and 3rd floors
• Walls pierces with niches
• Living space over a store (similar to the Roman "insula") 
• Palazzo Ground Floor Plan:
• Business shop
• Repair shop
• Summer apartments, kitchen, bathrooms, storage
• Grand staircase to the piano nobile (main living area on the second floor)
• Palazzo Davanzati:
• Located in Florence, Italy
• Transition from Gothic to Early Renaissance 
• Interiors contained:
• Frescos
• Tapiestries
• Fireplaces
• All centered around an interior courtyard
• Palazzo Farnese:
• Located in Rome, Italy
• Originally for Cardinal Farnese
• Completed by Michaelangelo
• Rectangular block - massive
• Interior Courtyard
• Currently home to the French Embassy 
• Exterior
• Ground floor - tabernacle windows
• 2nd story alternating arched and triangular pediments
• 3rd story all arched with triangular pediments
• large cornice
• Palazzo Medici - Riccardi:
• located in Florence, Italy
• Michelozzo di Bartolommeo: architect of Medici family hiome
• floor plans included three guiding principles:
• symmetry: including a central entrance with a vestibule leading to the courtyard, identical array of rooms on each side
• public rooms immediately accessible from main entrance - private rooms deeper into the house
• dividing the Palazzo into smaller apartments - continuous rooms belonging to a single person 
• Villa Rotonda by Andrea Palladio:
• most influential architect in all of the Renaissance
• wrote: "The Four Books on Architecture"
• inspired by Indigo Jones of England and Thomas Jefferson of America
• designed this as "perfect" 
• "The place is nicely situated and one of the loveliest and most charming that one could hope to find. The loveliest hills are arranged around it, which afford a view into an immense theatre... because one takes pleasure in the beautiful view on all four sides, loggias were built on all four facades." - A. Palladio\
• each side has a classical temple front facing including: stairs, 6 columns, entablature, and pediment 
• roman portico
• rooms arranged symmetrically around the dome
• Palazzo Ducale:
• located in Gubbio, Italy
• intarsia: creating decorative patterns with thin pieces of wood or veneer (trompe l'oeil) 
• Architectural Influence
• Andrea Palladio recommended architectural proportions based on the models from the classical world
• Fillipo Burnelleschi clarified the laws or linear perspective. He invented the one-point perspective.
• Leon Battista Alberti was an architect and architectural theorist. He wrote the Ten Books of Architecture, which were based on the ancient roman Virtruvius' urban planning. 
• Michaelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer from 1475-1564. The David was the one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance. He also created the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
• Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. He was the most diversely gifted person of all time.
• Furniture and Interiors:
• contrasting light and shadow by 3D moldings
• paneling of furniture and surfaces
• fresco to paint perspectives giving an expansion of space
• elaborate turnings for structural support and ornamentation 
• Interiors:
• decorative moldings
• doors and door frames
• elaborate coffered ceilings 
• painted wall and ceiling decorations
• elaborate fireplace mantels
• pilasters were flat decorated columns
• floors were brick, terra-cotta tile, or marble in geometric patterns 
• Furniture:
• furniture was portable and sparse
• had inlays of ivory, lapis, marble, onyx, and other stones
• gilding on furniture
• walnut for finest furniture 
• Chairs:
• Sedia: straight box-like armchair
• straight rectangular legs attached to floor stretchers
• turned baluster or vase-like forms support the front of the arms
• back and seat upholstered in velvet, tapestry, or ornamented leather
• used nailhead and fringe
• Sgabello (stool with a back)
• small octagonal or rectangular seat supported by 3 legs
• dining and all-purpose chair style
• X-chair or Dante Chair:
• X in the front and back separated by floor stretchers and arms
• if folded the back and seat are made of leather
• loose fringed and tasseled cushion
• Savonarola chair:
• several x's
• usually lighter and more delicate in appearance
• The Chest (cassone):
• inlaid panels
• classical orders and moldings
• pedestal, column, entablature
• pairs
• trousseau of a bride
• coat of arms of the bride and groom
• Cassapanca:
• arms
• back
• lid covered with a soft cushion
• appears to be integral with he wall
• first start of the sofa
• Beds:
• textiles were significant
• one massive and box-like with paneled head and footboards
• Tables:
• Trestle Table (most common):
• large rectangle supported on two heavy and elaborately carved pedestals and connected by a carved stretcher
• Florentine Table:
• wood or stone tops
• edged with ornamental moldings (Roman models)
• later copied in the French empire and English Regency
• Other Renaissance:
• french military campaigns in Italy
• Italian Renaissance influenced Spanish and French
• craftsmen from Italy were in great demand

Past Examples:

Current Examples:

Extra Credit:

This is a video on the Villa Rotonda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvq1cYDqd0U

This is a documentary on Michelangelo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUvjCYEbdjs

Peer Review:

Angie: You did a great job summarizing the material in a clear and concise way. I also really like your current applications of this period.

Holli: I really appreciate that you put the material into your own words. It is helpful to hear it in a different way when trying to understand and study this material.