Читать книгу 1000 Paintings of Genius - Victoria Charles - Страница 5

51. Lorenzo Monaco, c. 1370–1424, International Gothic, Italian, Adoration of the Magi, 1421–22. Tempera on panel, 115 × 170 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Bridging the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries was the Hundred Years War. This war contributed to instability and strife across the entire continent, even though the primary conflicts were between France and England, it also involved Flanders. After Philip the Bold (1342–1404) married the daughter of the count of Flanders, he was able to add these counties from the Netherlands to his realm as the Duke of Burgundy. Philip the Good (1396–1467) ruled next in secession, in what would then become known as the Burgundian Netherlands. Bruges, an important city for trade in Flanders, now lent enormous economic power to the newly acquired territory, making the Burgundian Netherlands a rival of France. Later, in a period of decline towards the end of the fifteenth century after Charles the Bold (1433–1477) had died at the battle of Nantes in 1477, the Burgundian lands were reabsorbed into France and the Netherlands became a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

This is an important time for the development of European capitalism. Big families throughout Europe developed international trade, such as the Medici of Florence. The French word for stock market, bourse, is derived from another big family of international traders, the van der Breuse family, who centred their enterprise in Bruges. Along with the increasing wealth from trade came a new opulence in materials for art. It is at this time that painters turned from using egg-based paint, or tempera, to oil-based paint. Oil had been used for many centuries, but it was not until the fifteenth century that it became widely popular, first in the north and then spreading to the south.

The development of manuscript illumination flourished at this time. The duc of Berry (1340–1416) was one of the greatest art patrons of the time. He had over one hundred lavish manuscripts among his rare jewels and works of art.

While exquisite hand-illuminated books were being created for the very wealthy, in the 1440s Johann Gutenberg (1398–1468) was able to expand on the block printed books of the fourteenth century by creating moveable type and modifying presses used for making wine to develop a more efficient and less expensive system for printing.

Other innovations of the time included Filippo Brunelleschi’s (1377–1446) development of one point perspective for painting. This system allowed for greater illusionism in two-dimensional paintings, creating the impression of three-dimensional space. This was a breakthrough from the flattened, awkward pictures of the Middle-Ages.

This period was also known as the dawn of the Age of Exploration. Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) sailed across the Atlantic for the Americas in 1492 under the flag of Castille. While the Portuguese explorer, Pedro Alvares Cabral (1467–1520), later would claim Brazil for Portugal in 1500.

The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama (1469–1524), also sailed to India in 1498 around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, which had been explored by Bartholomew Diaz in 1487. These sea routes would lead to tremendous expansion of European wealth and power through international trade.

52. Konrad von Soest, active 1394–1422, Northern Renaissance, German, The Wildunger Altarpiece, c. 1403, Oil on panel, 158 × 267cm, Church of Bad Wildungen, Bad Wildungen

53. Frater Francke, 1380-c.1430, International Gothic, German, Pursuit of St Barbe, 1410–15. Tempera on panel, National Museum, Helsinki

54. Limbourg Brothers, International Gothic, Flemish, The Very Rich Hours of the Duc of Berry: January, 1412–1416, Illumination on vellum paper, 22.5 × 13.6 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly

These three Flemish brothers were the most famous illuminators of late Gothic. The Very Rich Hours of the Duc de Berry in January is considered their greatest work and an outstanding example of International Gothic art. The miniatures are by common consent masterpieces of manuscript illumination for their masterful rendering of space and their use of unusual colours.

55. Gentile da Fabriano, 1370–1427, International Gothic, Italian, Adoration of the Magi, 1423. Tempera on panel, 303 × 282 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The large, beautifully gilded Altarpiece for the Strozzi Chapel of The Holy Trinity in Florence presents the Epiphany event. In its three lower panels, with details like that of Dutch miniatures, it also shows three other related events from the New Testament: The Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The elegantly dressed three kings and their large entourages, with horses and a large dog nearly dominate the scene. Gentile’s subjects in subsequent paintings, such as Golden Alms of St. Nicholas (1423), become more natural as if anticipating the masters of Italian Renaissance painting.

Gentile da Fabriano

(1370 Fabriano – 1427 Rome)

Fabriano was a leader of Italian late Gothic. His works were religious, characterized with elegant gold gilding. His masterpiece is the Altarpiece, Adoration of the Magi (1423). Shortly afterwards he showed new insight into perspective with foreshortening of his subjects as in Golden Alms of St. Nicholas (1425).

56. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden, 1425, Fresco, 208 × 88 cm, Brancacci Chapel of

Santa Maria della Carmine, Florence

This scene represents the expulsion of Adam and Eve following the Original Sin. Rays coming from the gate of Paradise represent the Voice of the Creator. The source of light, however, is to the right, as can be seen from the shadows. The Archangel Gabriel with his symbolic sword hovers above. The breakthrough element in the fresco is the depiction of human emotion by way of the body language and facial expressions of the couple. The important comparison to be made here is between this work and that of Michelangelo’s treatment of the same biblical moment in his larger The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The latter was done only seventy-five years after the Masaccio, yet there is a leap ahead towards realistic, albeit monumental, rendering of the human forms of the couple. The figure of the angel in the Michelangelo expresses more depth and aggression. However, a few months before the Michelangelo, Dürer’s Adam and Eve (1509) gives the couple even more realistic shape, yet the infamous fig leaves are used and the poses are rather lifeless, compared even to the Masaccio.

57. Frater Francke, 1380-c.1430, International Gothic, German, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1424. Tempera on panel, 99 × 88.9 cm, Kunsthalle, Hamburg

58. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna and Child with St Anne Metterza, c. 1424. Tempera on panel, 175 × 103 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Masaccio was deeply influenced by Giotto’s work. This work doesn’t show superfluous decoration. Its bare aspect, and the treatment of perspective, prove how Masaccio changed drastically the traditional pictorial expression.

59. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Tribute Money, c. 1428, Fresco, 255 × 598 cm, Brancacci Chapel of

Santa Maria della Carmine, Florence

Before they were written down as gospels, the oral tradition of the early church passed along fascinating stories about the life of Jesus, including miracles, miraculous healings, and other spectacular events. One such miraculous moment in the life of St. Peter, the most dominant of the apostles of Jesus, recalls when The Master told Peter, formerly a fisherman, to pay a tax collector with a coin that Peter would find in the mouth of a fish. This fresco shows Peter on the left catching the fish. On the right he gives the coin to the tax collector. In the middle of the work, Jesus is discussing matters with his apostles and the same tax collector. Jesus is mid-way in the vertical and slightly to the left of the horizontal mid-point. Masaccio shows a great master of perspective in this work. The characters are put in circle (not in the disposition of a frieze) and the grounds are depicted behind each other, terracing each other. The character in the foreground is all in volumes, with a strong modelling of his legs. His back to the viewer, he closes the composition and inserts depth into the painting.

Tommaso Masaccio

(1401 San Giovanni Valdarno – 1427 Rome)

He was the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance, innovating with the use of scientific perspective. Masaccio, originally named Tommaso Cassai, was born in San Giovanni Valdarno, near Florence. He joined the painters’ guild in Florence in 1422.

His influences came from the work of his contemporaries, the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello, from whom he acquired the knowledge of mathematical proportion he used for scientific perspective, and the knowledge of classical art that led him away from the prevailing Gothic style.

He inaugurated a new naturalistic approach to painting that was concerned less with details and ornamentation than with simplicity and unity, less with flat surfaces than with the illusion of three-dimensionality.

Together with Brunelleschi and Donatello, he was a founder of the Renaissance. Masaccio’s work exerted a strong influence on the course of later Florentine art and particularly on the work of Michelangelo.

60. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), c. 1375–1444, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Annunciation: The Merode Altarpiece, 1425–30, Oil on panel, 64.3 × 62.9 (central panel); 64.5 × 27.4 cm (side panels), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Three names have been suggested to identify the master: Jacquest Daret, Rogier van der Weyden and Robert Campin. The work shows his taste for anecdotal details.

61. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Holy Trinity, c. 1428, Fresco, 667 × 317 cm, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

This painting is a great example of Masaccio’s use of space and linear perspective; the first steps in the development of illusionist painting. The forms of architecture are borrowed from antiquity as well as from the Early Renaissance such as the coffered barrel vault.

62. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1387–1455, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Coronation of the Virgin, 1430–1432, Oil on wood, 213 × 211 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Painted for the convent church of San Domenico, Fiesole, the theme of The Coronation of the Virgin is taken from apocryphal texts largely spread during the thirteenth century by Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend.

63. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Adoration of the Lamb (Ghent Altarpiece, central panel), 1432, Oil on panel, 350 × 461 cm (wings open); 350 × 223 cm (wings closed), Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

Jan van Eyck was the first popular oil painter. Being the most famous work of Jan van Eyck, the Ghent Altarpiece brings together twelve panels initially realised for St John’s Church in Ghent. The central panel shows a life-sized Christ and a great deal of attention is given to the depiction of precious brocade (in the tradition of international style) and in the rendering of light. The three central panels show a triple portrait: of Mary-Sophia, of God the Father/Jesus, and of John the Baptist. Mary-Sophia is depicted enthroned, wearing the gem-encrusted golden crown of the divine Queen of Heaven, her dark blue robes adorned with a golden trim. The book she reads bears the symbolism of the Madonna as Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia). The blending of Mary with Sophia, the feminine aspect of God, was still acceptable in art during the early Renaissance, even as the patristic Church began to strongly discourage this line of thinking.

Jan and Hubert van Eyck

f(c. 1390 near Maastrich t– 1441 Bruges)

(c. 1366?–1426 Bruges)

Little is known of these two brothers; even the dates of their births being uncertain. Their most famous work, begun by Hubert and finished by Jan, is the Altarpiece, The Adoration of the Lamb. Jan, as perhaps also Hubert, was for a time in the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He was entered in the household as “varlet and painter”, but acted at the same time as a confidential friend, and for his services received an annual salary of two horses for his use, and a “varlet in livery” to attend on him. The greater part of his life was spent in Bruges.

Their wonderful use of colour is another reason of the fame of the van Eycks. Artists came from Italy to study their pictures, to discover what they themselves must do in order to paint so well, with such brilliance, such full and firm effect, as these two brothers. For the latter had found out the secret of working successfully with oil colours. Before their time, attempts had been made to mix colours in the medium of oil, but the oil was slow in drying, and the varnish added to remedy this had blackened the colours. The van Eycks, however, had hit upon a transparent varnish which dried quickly and without injury to the tints. Though they guarded the secret jealously, it was discovered by the Italian Antonello da Messina, who was working in Bruges, and through him published to the world. The invention made possible the enormous development in the art of painting which ensued.

In these two brothers the grand art of Flanders was born. Like “the sudden flowering of the aloe, after sleeping through a century of suns,” this art, rooted in the native soil, nurtured by the smaller arts of craftsmanship, reached its full ripeness and expanded into blossom. Such further development as it experienced came from Italian influence; but the distinctly Flemish art, born out of local conditions in Flanders, was already fully-grown.

64. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1387–1455, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Annunciation, 1433–34. Tempera on panel, 176 × 185 cm, Museo Diocesano, Cortona

The pious Dominican monk, Fra Angelico, formerly the young painter Guido di Pietro, brings a wealth of oral tradition and Christian doctrine to the picture. As the Old Adam is expelled from Paradise (upper left corner) by an angel, another angel announces good news to the world: the New Adam wishes to come to the world to save it from the Original Sin. Mary is asked to assist in this divine plan and she replies to God through the messenger, “Fiat voluntas tua“ (“Thy will be done“). Dialogue between the Virgin and Archangel Gabriel, the heavenly messenger, are texts in Latin from the Gospel according to Luke. Mary’s reply is painted upside down, as if literally reflecting God’s will. As if the wings and halo weren’t enough, the artist surrounds Gabriel with golden rays of light. Mary’s halo is even more radiant. Various spring flowers, symbols of Mary’s purity, surround the structure. Three groups of details frame the principle subjects, with the little flowers in the lower left, the patterned stars design in the ceiling, and the gold-leaf chair of the Virgin. A relief representing God the Father is in the circle between the archways, while a glowing dove symbolising the Holy Spirit hovers nearby.

Fra Giovanni Angelico

(1387 Vicchio – 1455 Rome)

Secluded within cloister walls, a painter and a monk, and brother of the order of the Dominicans, Angelico devoted his life to religious paintings.

Little is known of his early life except that he was born at Vicchio, in the broad fertile valley of the Mugello, not far from Florence, that his name was Guido de Pietro, and that he passed his youth in Florence, probably in some bottegha, for at twenty he was recognised as a painter. In 1418 he entered in a Dominican convent in Fiesole with his brother. They were welcomed by the monks and, after a year’s novitiate, admitted to the brotherhood, Guido taking the name by which he was known for the rest of his life, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole; for the title of Angelico, the “Angel,” or Il Beato, “The Blessed,” was conferred on him after his death.

Henceforth he became an example of two personalities in one man: he was all in all a painter, but also a devout monk; his subjects were always religious ones and represented in a deeply religious spirit, yet his devotion as a monk was no greater than his absorption as an artist. Consequently, though his life was secluded within the walls of the monastery, he kept in touch with the art movements of his time and continually developed as a painter. His early work shows that he had learned of the illuminators who inherited the Byzantine traditions, and had been affected by the simple religious feeling of Giotto’s work. Also influenced by Lorenzo Monaco and the Sienese School, he painted under the patronage of Cosimo de Medici. Then he began to learn of that brilliant band of sculptors and architects who were enriching Florence by their genius. Ghiberti was executing his pictures in bronze upon the doors of the Baptistery; Donatello, his famous statue of St. George and the dancing children around the organ-gallery in the Cathedral; and Luca della Robbia was at work upon his frieze of children, singing, dancing and playing upon instruments. Moreover, Masaccio had revealed the dignity of form in painting. Through these artists the beauty of the human form and of its life and movement was being manifested to the Florentines and to the other cities. Angelico caught the enthusiasm and gave increasing reality of life and movement to his figures.

65. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), c. 1375–1444, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, A Woman, c. 1435. Tempera on oak, 40.6 × 28.1 cm, National Gallery, London

Campin, long identified as the ‘Master of Flémalle’, painted three-dimensional figures with details of the face made clearly visible. This portrait was a pendant to a Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery), presumably the husband of the woman represented.

66. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Man in Red Turban (Self-Portrait?), 1433, Oil on panel, 26 × 19 cm, National Gallery, London

67. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, Oil on oak panel, 82.2 × 60 cm, National Gallery, London

One of the most discussed of all paintings, van Eyck’s masterpiece of natural symbolism presents objects which have been given special meaning apposite to this couple’s marriage, yet the same objects are appropriate to the scene in themselves. The work is, in effect, a visual in how one can find synchronicity and deeper meaning in everyday circumstances. The lines between the neatly groomed dog and the pairs of discarded shoes create a triangle. The dog (symbolising loyalty) complements the shoes (also symbolising domesticity). The man’s feet are firmly in the middle of the lower triangle, indicating his vow of stability. The faces of the married couple and their clasped hands form the same size-and-shape triangle. The couple stands hand-in-hand as their other hands wear wedding rings, as if their love is authentic and complemented by, rather than caused by, their wedding vows. In the middle of that triangle is a mirror in a circular shape recalling eternity. Ten of the ‘Stations of the Cross’ are symbolised around the frame of the mirror. Prayer beads hang on the wall to the left of the stations-mirror. The reflection of the mirror shows the couple from the mirror’s point of view, as if creating a circle of time and space. A statue of a saint on the bedpost is crushing a dragon (symbolising evil). The elaborate signature of the artist is on the wall below the mirror. The chandelier holds a single, lit candle. A superstition at the time suggested that a single, lit candle near the wedding bed would assure fertility.

68. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Portrait of Jan de Leeuw, 1436, Oil on panel, 25 × 19 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Considered the founder of western portraiture, van Eyck depicts here Jan de Leeuw, member of the Goldsmith Guild in Bruges.

69. Stefano di Giovanni di Console Sassetta, 1392-c. 1450, Early Renaissance, Sienese School, Italian, The Mystic Marriage of Saint Francis with Chastity, 1437–1444. Tempera on panel, 95 × 58 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly

Sassetta’s work shows certain conservatism, especially in the architectural structures of International Gothic design. However, his figures are set in the unity of Renaissance pictorial space.

70. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Deposition, c. 1435, Oil on panel, 220 × 262 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

The life-sized figures and the gold background recall the influence of Campin on van der Weyden as the composition imitates the low-reliefs from Tournai (where the artist came from

71. Antonio Puccio Pisanello, 1395–1455, International Gothic, Italian, Portrait of a Princess of the House of Este, c. 1435–1440, Oil on panel, 43 × 30 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Pisanello is regarded as the preeminent master of the International Gothic style in Italian painting, but most of his major works have perished. This portrait of a young woman (assumed to be Ginevra d’Este) is flat – due to the use of medieval patterns in a ‘modern’ way, and its flowers and butterflies, though drawn from nature, seem like ornamental patterns from French or Flemish tapestries.

72. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1387–1455, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Deposition (Pala di Santa Trinita), 1437–1440. Tempera on panel, 176 × 185 cm, Museo di San Marco, Florence.

This painting was originally an Altarpiece in the sacristy of the church Santa Trinita in Florence. The main panel figures the Deposition and the pilasters on each side represent different saints. Fra Angelico was officially beatified by the Vatican in 1984 but he has long been called Beato Angelico (The Blessed Angelico).

73. Paolo Uccello, 1397–1475, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Battle of San Romano (Full title ‘Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano’), 1438–1440, Egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar, 181.6 × 320 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Paolo Uccello

(1397–1475 Florence)

Paolo di Dono was called ‘Uccello’ because he loved birds and the Italian word for bird is uccello. As well as painting on panel and in fresco, he was also a master of mosaics, especially in Venice, and produced designs for stained glass. We can feel the influence of Donatello especially in a fresco representing the Flood and the Recession, whereas the figures in this work is reminiscent of Masaccio’s frescos of Brancacci chapel. His perspectives studies are very sophisticated, recalling the Renaissance art treatises of Piero della Francesca, da Vinci or Dürer. He was a major proponent of the Renaissance style. However, if his masterwork The Battle of San Romano (1438–40) has Renaissance elements, Uccello’s gold decorations on the surface of his masterpieces are indebted to the Gothic style.

74. Antonio Puccio Pisanello, 1395–1455, International Gothic, Italian, The Vision of Saint Eustace, 1438–1442. Tempera on panel, 54.8 × 65.5 cm, National Gallery, London

Pisanello has carefully studied the animals in this painting, using both drawings from pattern books as well as studies from life.

75. Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1482, Early Renaissance, Sienese School, Italian, Madonna of Humility, c. 1442. Tempera on panel, 62 × 48.8 cm, Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Marie Antoinette Evans Fund, Boston

76. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1378–1445, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Noli Me Tangere, 1440–1441, Fresco, 180 × 146 cm, Convento di

San Marco, Florence

77. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), c. 1375–1444, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, c. 1440. Tempera on oak, 63.4 × 48.5 cm, National Gallery, London

Robert Campin of Tournai is also called the ‘Master of Flémalle’, because three paintings now in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut were wrongly supposed to have come from Flémalle. Together with van Eyck, he may be considered the founder of the Netherlandish painting of the Early Renaissance. The Virgin seems somehow clumsy, almost plebeian. The halo is replaced by the fire screen, which testifies of the homely detail and down-to-earth realism of the artist.

78. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, St Luke Drawing the Virgin, c.1440, Oil on canvas, 138.6 × 111.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

St Luke the Apostle, who is the accredited author of one of the four accepted versions of the New Testament Gospel, is also by tradition the first painter of the Virgin’s portrait. Rogier van der Weyden kept up this tradition in his own picture of St Luke Drawing the Virgin. This meticulously detailed work, typical of the Flemish tradition, shows Mary seated under a canopy as she attempts to nurse her infant, and Luke in front of her, drawing her face. A panoramic view can be seen between the columns in the background. Nursing-Madonna images had been part of the Marian tradition and lore since the Middle Ages. “Mary’s milk“ had, indeed, been a source of veneration in the form of a miracle-working substance regarded as one among many holy relics during medieval times, and reverence for it lasted well into Renaissance times. The origins of such a tradition and symbolism go back several thousands of years into antiquity, when Creator Goddesses like Isis were celebrated as symbolic milk-givers in their roles as compassionate and nurturing Universal Mothers. The milky ribbon of stars called the Milky Way was believed to symbolise the Goddess, and Marian lore inherited that popular tradition.

Rogier van der Weyden

(1399 Tournai, Flanders – 1464 Brussels)

He lived in Brussels where he was the city’s official painter (from 1436), but his influence was felt throughout Europe. One sponsor was Philip the Good, an avid collector. Van der Weyden is the only Fleming who truly carried on van Eyck’s great conception of art. He added to it a pathos of which there is no other example in his country except, though with less power and nobility, that of Hugo van der Goes towards the end of the century. He had a considerable influence on the art of Flanders and Germany. Hans Memling was his most renowned pupil. Van der Weyden was the last inheritor of the Giottesque tradition and the last of the painters whose work is thoroughly religious.

79. Konrad Witz, c. 1400–1445, International Gothic, Swiss, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1444, Oil on panel, 129 × 155 cm, Museum of Art and History, Geneva

80. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, The Baptism of Christ, 1445. Tempera on panel, 167 × 116 cm, National Gallery, London

The suspended dove symbolising the Holy Spirit is at the exact middle point of the circle implied in the upper part of the painting, while the navel of Jesus is the mid-point of the rectangle implied at the bottom portion of the painting. The upper mid-point alludes to the divinity of Jesus, while the lower mid-point relates to his humanity. The God-man is at geometric centre of the scene. The vertical balance is likewise between the heavenly angels on the left and the earthly community on the right. The latter includes a follower of the Baptist who is either getting dressed after his own baptism or preparing to be baptised. The group watching probably represents the sceptics or the undecided. Sansepolero, in northern Italy, was the hometown of the artist and the sponsor of most of the artist’s mature works. In the tradition of such commissions, the sponsor appears in the painting. The town is pictured in the distance between Jesus and the left vertical third of the painting. Young plants in the foreground indicate new life, as the rebirth offered by baptism would symbolise thereafter for Christians. The Hebrew bible had predicted that the ones who prepared the way for the Lord would make the crooked straight, symbolised here as the river and roads in the landscape. All the roads and rivers lead to the feet of The Way, the name the seminal Christian community gave their religion as well as a descriptive title for their Messiah.

81. Domenico Veneziano, 1400–1461, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Madonna with Child and Saints, 1445. Tempera on wood, 209 × 216 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Painted for the high altar of the Uzzano in Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, this is perhaps Veneziano’s greatest achievement. Veneziano, renowned for his use of perspective and colour, depicts the “sacra conversazione” within an harmonious architectural structure rendered more delicate by pastel shades of rose and green.

82. Petrus Christus, c.1410–1473, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Portrait of a Young Girl, after 1446, Oil on panel, 29 × 22.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Berlin

The most popular painting by Christus, this portrait is composed of simple volumes. The painter places the sitter in a defined setting, new to Flemish painting, which was traditionally depicted with a neutral, dark background (such as in van Eyck’s and van der Weyden’s portraits).

83. Andrea del Castagno, 1446–1497, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Last Supper and above Resurrection, Crucifixion and Entombment, c. 1445–50, Fresco, 980 × 1025 cm, Convent of Sant’Apollonia, Florence

84. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Triptych: St. John Altarpiece (right panel), c. 1446–53, Oil on oak panel, 77 × 48 cm (each panel), Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Berlin

Van der Weyden gives a particularly strong effect of depth in the side panels of this Altarpiece, with the succession of rooms in the background.

85. Jean Fouquet, c. 1420–1481, Early Renaissance, French, Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels (right panel of Meulun’s diptych), c. 1450, Oil on panel, 91 × 81 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

The particularity of this painting is due to its geometric composition, set in a convex pentagon often used by Fouquet. The volume given accentuates the sculptural aspect of this Virgin whose face was inspired by Agnes Sorel (the mistress of Charles VII). The diptych assembles the portrait of a Virgin with the one of the patrons in prayer in front of his protector saint.

Jean Fouquet

(1420–1481 Tours)

A painter and illuminator, Jean Fouquet is regarded as the most important French painter of the fifteenth century. Little is known about his life but it is quite sure that he executed, in Italy, the portrait of Pope Eugenius IV. Upon his return to France, he introduced Italian Renaissance elements into French painting. He was the court painter to Louis XI. Whether he worked on miniatures rendering the finest detail, or on larger scale in panel paintings, Fouquet’s art had the same monumental character. His figures are modelled in broad planes defined by lines of magnificent purity.

86. Stephan Lochner, c. 1410–1451, Northern Renaissance, German, Madonna of the Rose Bush, c. 1448, Mixed technique on panel, 51 × 40 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

87. Jean Fouquet, c. 1420–1481, Early Renaissance, French, Portrait of Charles VII of France, c. 1450–1455, Oil on oak panel, 86 × 71 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

The particularity of this painting is due to its squared shape, nearly full-scale, exceptional at the time. The frontal representation is characteristic of the official portraits of monarchs in the West. The two white curtains stand as symbols of majesty. From the years 1420 to 1430 the upper-body intimate portrait was a new fashion spread by Flemish masters. Here Fouquet carries out a synthesis between the traditional full-length representation and the upper-body representation. He enlarges the king’s stature, exploiting the fashion of padded shoulders. This work was painted in a precise political context: at the time, the victories of French royalty were being celebrated. This portrait will have a great influence on Jean Clouet and Holbein, who both travelled through the city of Bourges.

88. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, The Flagellation of Jesus, c. 1450, Oil and tempera on panel, 58.4 × 51.5 cm. Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino

Through the scientific use of perspective in a measured, symmetrical manner and its symbolic contents, The Flagellation contributes to the humanistic rendition of figures in painting and characterizes the painter’s interests in mathematics. The architecture is a predominant part of the scene, which is divided by the column supporting the temple.

Piero della Francesca

(1416–1492, Borgo San Sepulcro)

Forgotten for centuries after his death, Francesca has been regarded, since his rediscovery in the early twentieth century, as one of the supreme artists of the Quattrocento. Born in Borgo San Sepolcro (now Sansepolcro) in Umbria he spent much of his life there. His major work is a series of frescos on the Legend of the True Cross in the choir of San Francesco at Arezzo (c. 1452-c. 1465).

While influenced at the beginning of his life by all the great masters of the generation before, his work represents a synthesis of all the discoveries these artists had made in the previous twenty years. He created a style in which monumental, meditative grandeur and almost mathematical lucidity are combined with limpid beauty of colour and light. He was a slow and thoughtful worker and often applied wet cloths to the plaster at night so that – contrary to normal fresco practice – he could work for more than one day on the same section. Piero’s later career was spent working at the humanist court of Federico da Montefeltro at Urbino. Vasari said Piero was blind when he died, and failing eyesight may have been his reason for giving up painting. He had considerable influence, notably on Signorelli (in the weighty solemnity of his figures) and Perugino (in the spatial clarity of his compositions). Both are said to have been Piero’s pupils.

89. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Adoration of the Holy Wood and the Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, 1450–1465, Fresco, Choir of the Church of San Francesco, Arezzo

The cycle of frescos was commissioned by the richest family in Arrezo, the Bacci. The theme of the cycle is taken from the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine.

90. Petrus Christus, c. 1410–1473, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Lamentation, c. 1455, Oil on panel, 101 × 192 cm, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

91. Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1406–1469, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Virgin with the Child and Scenes from the Life of St Anne, c. 1452. Tempera on wooden panel, Tondo, dia. 135 cm, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Oral tradition, later encouraged by art such as this, names Anna and Joachim as Mary’s parents, but there is no scriptural basis for the notion. In this masterpiece, often called The Bartolini Tondo, three highlights in the life of Anna are presented. The background scenes are dedicated to the Virgin’s mother, St Anne (or Anna), and include the first meeting of Anne and her husband-to-be Joachim, and a scene of the subsequent birth of Mary. In the foreground, is the Madonna with her child. Like Persephone, the Greek goddess of natural cycle, she is holding a pomegranate, a symbol of rebirth, fertility and abundance in nature. The infant Jesus is also holding the fruit, and with his raised right hand, he is bringing its seed toward his mouth.The pensive expression of Mary in many paintings of her with the child Jesus is often interpreted as reflecting her prophetic awareness of the future sufferings that will befall her only son. But in this case the Virgin might be recalling her mother’s life. The surrounding scenes might be intended to show her recollection of her mother. The artist’s mastery of detail as in the transparency of Mary’s veil and her fine features were inspirations for the later masterpieces of his most famous pupil, Botticelli.

Fra Filippo Lippi

(1406 Florence – 1469 Spoleto)

A Carmelite monk, he lived in a monastery in Florence at the same time as Masolino and Masaccio were painting frescos in Florence. He was ordained a priest in Padua in 1434.

His works show the aesthetic interest of his time through sophisticated drawing and his ability to obtain transparent effects on opaque colours. After his death, his workshop members completed his unfinished frescos. Botticelli was one of his students, as was his son Filippino Lippi. The works of the two former Fra Lippi students link the Early and High Renaissance periods. Works include major fresco cycles for Santa Maria Novella in Florence and for Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.

92. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Death of the Virgin, c. 1461, Oil on panel, 54 × 42 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

93. Alesso Baldovinetti, c. 1425–1499, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Annunciation, c. 1447. Tempera on panel, 167 × 137 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

94. Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1406–1469, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Madonna with the Child and Two Angels, 1465. Tempera on wood, 95 × 62 cm. Galleria degi Uffizi, Florence

95. Benozzo Gozzoli, 1420–1497, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Procession of the Magi, Procession of the Youngest King (detail), 1459–63, Fresco, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

96. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Triptych: St. Columba Altarpiece (central panel), c. 1455. Tempera on wood, 138 × 153 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

97. Cosimo di Domenico di Bonaventura Tura, c. 1431–1495, Early Renaissance, Ferrarese School, Italian, The Spring, c. 1455–1460, Oil with egg tempera, 116.2 × 71.1 cm, National Gallery, London

Favoured court artist of the Este family, Tura depicted a series of Muses for the commissioner’s studiolo.

98. Carlo Crivelli, c. 1430/35–1495, Late Gothic Style, Venetian school, Italian, Madonna of the Passion, c. 1460. Tempera on panel, 71 × 48 cm, Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona

All of religious subjects, Crivelli’s compositions remain within the late Gothic style and the constant use of a golden background is part of the painter’s archaism. However, the depth given to the characters is a sign of modernity.

99. Alesso Baldovinetti, c. 1425–1499, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna and Child, c. 1460. Tempera on panel, 104 × 76 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Alesso Baldovinetti was a Florentine painter as well as a mosaic- and stained-glass-maker. His paintings show the influence of Domenico Veneziano and Fra Angelico.

100. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Madonna of Senigallia, 1460–75, Oil on panel, 61 × 53 cm, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino

101. Giovanni Bellini, c. 1430–1516, Early Renaissance, Venetian School, Italian, Dead Christ Supported by the Madonna and St John (Pietà), c. 1460, Oil on panel, 60 × 107 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Bellini knows the Florentine pictorial researches (a lot of Florentine artists travelled to Venice at the time) and he introduced oil painting in Venice. Traditionally, the Virgin was holding the dead Christ on her knees. In this painting Bellini proposes a new iconography and a new-size landscape format. In the foreground, a stone pedestal evokes the tomb of Christ. The search for volume and geometry is characteristic of the artist’s work.

102. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Resurrection, 1463, Mural in fresco and tempera, 225 × 200 cm, Museo Civico, Sansepolcro

103. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Agony in the Garden, c. 1460, Egg tempera on wood, 62.9 × 80 cm, National Gallery, London

Mantegna took his inspiration from the drawing of his brother-in-law, Jacopo Bellini, in this painting.

Andrea Mantegna

(1431 Isola di Carturo – 1506 Mantova)

Mantegna; humanist, geometrist, archaeologist, of great scholastic and imaginative intelligence, dominated the whole of northern Italy by virtue of his imperious personality. Aiming at optical illusion, he mastered perspective. He trained in painting at the Padua School where Donatello and Paolo Uccello had previously attended. Even at a young age commissions for Andrea’s work flooded in, for example the frescos of the Ovetari Chapel of Padua.

In a short space of time Mantegna found his niche as a modernist due to his highly original ideas and the use of perspective in his works. His marriage with Nicolosia Bellini, the sister of Giovanni, paved the way for his entree into Venice.

Mantegna reached an artistic maturity with his Pala San Zeno. He remained in Mantova and became the artist for one of the most prestigious courts in Italy – the Court of Gonzaga. Classical art was born.

Despite his links with Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna refused to adopt their innovative use of colour or leave behind his own technique of engraving.

104. Enguerrand Quarton, active 1444–1466, Early Renaissance, Provence School, French, Pietà of Villeneuve-les-Avignon, c. 1460, Oil on panel, 160 × 218 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Masterpiece of the art from Provence, this painting, with its gilded background, still betrays the influence of Byzantine art. On the left, the donor is portrayed. He is represented as an intercessor between the divine group and the viewer.

105. Domenico Veneziano, 1410–1461, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1465, Oil on panel, 51 × 35 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Berlin

106. Dirk Bouts, c. 1410–1475, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Last Supper, c. 1467, Oil on panel, Altarpiece, 180 × 150 cm, Collégiale Saint-Pierre, Louvain

A major work by Bouts, The Last Supper was commissioned by the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament in Louvain. The painter received the mission to conform to the advice of two theologians in the depiction of the scene. This is the first time that the consecration of bread is the moment chosen in the Last Supper’s representation, rather than the prediction of the betrayal.

107. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Portrait of Carlo de Medici, 1467, Oil on panel, 40.6 × 29.5 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

108. Hans Pleydenwurff, 1420–1472, Northern Renaissance, German, Crucifixion of the Hof Altarpiece, c. 1465, Mixed technique on pine panel, 177 × 112 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

In the Crucifixion Hans Pleydenwurff used motifs from a Deposition from Rogier van der Weyden’s circle (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Flemish painting also influenced the painter in the use of warm and rich colours.

109. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Camera Picta, Ducal Palace, 1465–1474, Fresco, Palazzo Ducale, Mantova

Mantegna’s originality comes to the foremost obviously in the central part of the ceiling, which breaks from the seriousness and formality of the rest of the room. It is perhaps Mantegna’s most delightful and creative invention: the centre of the vault seems to open up, the first painting of the Renaissance to apply the notion of illusionism not just to an easel picture or wall but to a ceiling as well. This view upwards completes the trompe-l’œilvision Mantegna created in the Camera Picta, which is the first illusionistic room of the Renaissance; the ideal of the flat picture space as an extension of the real world is here given a spectacular expression, as a viewer in the middle of the room can see clouds overhead, fictive curtained walls, and classical architectural framework.

110. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Nativity, 1470–75, Oil on panel, 124.4 × 122.6 cm, National Gallery, London

111. Dirk Bouts, c. 1415–1475, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Ordeal by Fire, 1470–1475, Oil on panel, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Characteristic of the revival of a Gothic tendency in the fifteenth-century bourgeoisie, this painting, belonging to the genre of justice scenes, emphasises the figures’ verticality and their lack of volume.

112. Francesco Botticini, c. 1446–1498, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Tobias and the Three Archangels, c. 1470. Tempera on panel, 135 × 154 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

113. Francesco del Cossa, 1436–1477, Early Renaissance, Ferrarese School, Italian, The Triumph of Minerva: March, from the Room of the Months, 1467–70, Fresco, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara

114. Michael Pacher, c. 1430–1498, Northern Renaissance, Austrian, St Wolfgang Altarpiece: Resurrection of Lazarus, 1471–1481. Tempera on wood, 175 × 130 cm, Parish Church, St. Wolfgang

115. Andrea del Verrocchio, c. 1435–1488, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Baptism of Christ, c. 1470, Oil on panel, 177 × 151 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

116. Hugo van der Goes, c. 1440–1482, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Diptych: The Fall of Man and the Lamentation (left panel), c. 1470–1475. Tempera on wood, 32.3 × 21.9 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Contemporary of Piero della Francesca, van der Goes is resolute to depict reality while using refined colours. His painting is more and more illusionist here and betrays the artist’s like for details and depiction of light.

117. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Adoration of the Kings, c. 1470–1475. Tempera on poplar, Tondo, dia. 130.8 cm, National Gallery, London

This painting, in which the artist also depicted himself, shows the Magi but in reality it is the Medici family, his patrons and rulers of Florence. The Magi kneeling in front of Jesus Christ represents Cosimo the Elder, the founder of the dynasty. Cosimo’s son Piero can be seen from the back in red in the centre and Lorenzo the Magnificent is the young man on his right, wearing a black and red mantle.

118. Hans Memling, 1433–1494, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Last Judgment Triptych, 1467–1471, Oil on oak panel, 222 × 160 cm, Muzeum Pomorskie, Danzig

This triptych takes its inspiration from van der Weyden’s Beaune Altarpiece. A semi-circular line of bodies runs through the three panels, figuring on one side the ‘Reception of the Righteous into Heaven’ and the ‘Casting of the Damned into Hell’ on the opposite side.

Hans Memling

(1433 Seligenstadt, Germany – 1494 Bruges)

Little is known of Memling’s life. It is surmised that he was a German by descent but the definite fact of his life is that he painted at Bruges, sharing with the van Eycks, who had also worked in that city, the honour of being the leading artists of the so-called ‘School of Bruges’. He carried on their method of painting, and added to it a quality of gentle sentiment. In his case, as in theirs, Flemish art, founded upon local conditions and embodying purely local ideals, reached its fullest expression.

119. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Diptych: Portrait of Duke Federico da Montefello and Battista Sforza (left panel), c. 1465, Oil and tempera on panel, 47 × 33 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

120. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, Diptych: Portrait of Duke Federico da Montefello and Battista Sforza (right panel), c. 1465, Oil and tempera on panel, 47 × 33 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

As it was painted from the funeral mask of the chief warrior Montefeltro, the face of the sitter remains hieratic. The profile portrait takes its inspiration from the ancient medals and testifies to a certain will to preserve conventional aspects: Federico is blind in one eye and this representation enables not to offend. Nevertheless, he is depicted with great realism (bent nose and wart are shown). The elegance of the portrait rejoins the precepts of Alberti (enounced in De Pictura). The recent discovering of oil painting enables more realism and subtlety, especially in the illusionism one can see in the background landscape.

121. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Annunciation, c. 1472, Oil and Tempera on panel, 98 × 217 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Annunciation, is one of the most popular versions of this subject. The angel, carrying white lilies, kneels to the Madonna, who is seated next to a building and has raised her left hand in a gesture of surprise. They both represent the ideal beauty and exuberance of youth. The Virgin’s right hand is resting on the page of a book, symbolic of her knowledge as Mary-Sophia, the personification both of Wisdom and of the Logos, the Word of God. Below her hand, the shell that adorns the furniture represents the connection between Mary and the ancient Roman goddess of love, Venus.

122. Martin Schongauer, 1450–1491, Northern Renaissance, German, Madonna at the Rose Bush, 1473, Oil on panel, 200 × 115 cm, Eglise Saint-Martin, Colmar

Schongauer, painter from Alsace, is linked to the circle of painters influenced by Flemish and Burgundy artists. Executed for the Church of Saint Martin in Colmar, this painting displays one of the most beautiful illustrations of the Virgin in German art.

123. Antonello da Messina, 1430–1479, Early Renaissance, Southern Italian School, Italian, Virgin Annunciate, 1475, Oil on panel, 45 × 35 cm, Museo Nazionale, Palermo

The half-length representation of Mary and the absence of the Archangel Gabriel make an exceptional iconography out of this painting of the Annunciation.

124. Antonello da Messina, 1430–1479, Early Renaissance, Southern Italian School, Italian, Portrait of a Man (Le Condottiere), 1475, Oil on panel, 36 × 30 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

This three-quarters view portrait on a dark background moves away from the profiles from the Early Renaissance. The face of the man is deeply individualised and betrays the influence of Flemish painters such as van Eyck or Campin.

125. Antonio del Pollaiuolo, 1432–1498, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, 1475, Oil on poplar, 291.5 × 202.6 cm, National Gallery, London

The pyramidal composition and the attention paid to the quality of the drawing are characteristic of the Florentine researches at the time.

Antonello da Messina

(1430–1479 Messina)

If little is known about his life, the name of Antonello da Messina corresponds to the arrival of a new technique in Italian painting; oils. He used them especially in his portraits where they were very popular in his day, such as Portrait of a Man (1475).

Now, if this appears to be not exactly true, still his work influenced Venetian painters. His work was a combination of Flemish technique and realism with typically Italian modelling of forms and clarity of spatial arrangement. Also, his practice of building form with colour, rather than line and shade, greatly influenced the subsequent development of Venetian painting.

126. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna with a Flower (Madonna Benois), 1478, Oil on canvas, 49.5 × 33 cm, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

127. Antonello da Messina, 1430–1479, Early Renaissance, Southern Italian School, Italian, San Cassiano Altar, 1475–1476, Oil on panel, 115 × 65 cm (central panel); 56 × 35 cm (left panel); 56.8 × 35.6 cm (right panel), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

This painting was a model for painters such as Bellini, with his San Giobbe Altarpiece or Giorgione, the painter of the Castelfranco altar.

128. Nicolas Froment, 1430–1485, Early Renaissance, French, The Burning Bush, c. 1475. Tempera on panel, 410 × 305 cm, Cathédrale St Sauveur, Aix-en-Provence

Central panel of Froment’s triptych commissioned by King René of Provence, this is the most important work of the Provençal artist. The kneeling figures on the wing portray the donor and his wife.

129. Martin Schongauer, 1450–1491, Northern Renaissance, German, The Holy Family, 1475–1480, Oil on panel, 26 × 17 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

130. Hans Memling, 1433–1494, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Madonna Enthroned with Child and Two Angels, late 15th c., Oil on panel, 57 × 42 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Hans Memling painted his Madonna Enthroned with Child and Two Angels during the second half of the fifteenth century. The Virgin and her child are seated on a throne amid lavish surroundings. Golden rays emanate from the Queen of Heaven’s head, and the two musical angels are eager to entertain her son. Above, an arch is adorned with cherubim who carry beautiful garlands of fruit and flowers, an allusion to abundance in nature, a gift which Mary, like female deities of the past, was believed to bestow on her followers.

131. Hugo van der Goes, c. 1440–1482, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Adoration of the Shepherds. (Central panel of the Portinari Altar), 1476–1478, Oil on wood, 250 × 310 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

This big triptych, commissioned by the Florentine merchant, Tommaso Portinari, for the Church of S. Egidio in Florence, is van der Goes’s masterpiece. It shows a great emotional intensity, rarely gained by other artists. The Child is isolated, in the core of a devotional circle as the Virgin meditates on his destiny. The sudden irruption of the shepherds contrasts with the solemnity of the other characters.

132. Antonello da Messina, 1430–1479, Early Renaissance, Southern Italian School, Italian, St Sebastian, c. 1476, panel transposed on canvas, 171 × 85 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Antonello da Messina had a fundamental influence on Venetian painting (especially on Bellini) because of his knowledge of oil painting (that he learnt from the Flemish artists). He also used a lot of this knowledge for his portraits. This painting was a pendant to St. Christopher. The perspective has a very low vanishing point and the frame is narrowed so that the saint is monumentalised.

133. Hans Memling, 1433–1494, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Portrait of a Man at Prayer before a Landscape, c. 1480, Oil on panel, 30 × 22 cm, Mauritshuis, The Hague

Memling’s portraits show a lot of attention paid to the position of the head and hands. The man’s devotion is made obvious here in the representation of his hands in prayer and the church in the distance. The tightly framed composition gives a strong sensation of intimacy to this portrait.

134. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Primavera, c. 1478. Tempera on panel, 203 × 314 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The painting, sometimes called Primavera, but now and again also Realm of Venus, is Botticelli’s most celebrated masterpiece. This work is one in a series of paintings depicting heathen myths and legends in the form of antique gods and heroes. Just as convincingly and naively, and with the same enthusiasm, Botticelli makes the beauty of the naked human body his task. In the large presentation of Primavera he does indeed describe an antique subject, stipulated by his clients and advisers, but he penetrates it with his mind, his imagination and his artistic sense. The composition is built up in nine, almost life-size figures in the foreground of an orange grove. The individual figures are borrowed from Poliziano’s poem about the great tournament in the spring of 1475, the Giostra, in which Giuliano was declared the winner. The artistic appearance of Primavera which, apart from the dull old layer of varnish, is well preserved, deviates from most of Botticelli’s paintings in so far as that the local colours are rather secondary. This is how the artist tried to bring out the full beauty of the figures’ bodies, which, apart from Venus and Primavera, are more or less naked. He enhances this with the deep green background, covered with flowers and fruit. There, where local colours occur to a greater extent as, for example, in the short red robe of Mercury, the pale blue decoration of the god of wind or the blue dress and red cloak of Venus in the middle, the colours have been strongly tinted with gold ornaments and glaze.

Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)

(1445–1510 Florence)

He was the son of a citizen in comfortable circumstances, and had been, in Vasari’s words, “instructed in all such things as children are usually taught before they choose a calling.” However, he refused to give his attention to reading, writing and accounts, continues Vasari, so that his father, despairing of his ever becoming a scholar, apprenticed him to the goldsmith Botticello: whence came the name by which the world remembers him. However, Sandro, a stubborn-featured youth with large, quietly searching eyes and a shock of yellow hair – he has left a portrait of himself on the right-hand side of his picture of the Adoration of the Magi – would also become a painter, and to that end was placed with the Carmelite monk Fra Filippo Lippi. But he was a realist, as the artists of his day had become, satisfied with the joy and skill of painting, and with the study of the beauty and character of the human subject instead of religious themes. Botticelli made rapid progress, loved his master, and later on extended his love to his master’s son, Filippino Lippi, and taught him to paint, but the master’s realism scarcely touched Lippi, for Botticelli was a dreamer and a poet.

Botticelli is a painter not of facts, but of ideas, and his pictures are not so much a representation of certain objects as a pattern of forms. Nor is his colouring rich and lifelike; it is subordinated to form, and often rather a tinting than actual colour. In fact, he was interested in the abstract possibilities of his art rather than in the concrete. For example, his compositions, as has just been said, are a pattern of forms; his figures do not actually occupy well-defined places in a well-defined area of space; they do not attract us by their suggestion of bulk, but as shapes of form, suggesting rather a flat pattern of decoration. Accordingly, the lines which enclose the figures are chosen with the primary intention of being decorative.

It has been said that Botticelli, “though one of the worst anatomists, was one of the greatest draughtsmen of the Renaissance.” As an example of false anatomy we may notice the impossible way in which the Madonna’s head is attached to the neck, and other instances of faulty articulation and incorrect form of limbs may be found in Botticelli’s pictures. Yet he is recognised as one of the greatest draughtsmen: he gave to ‘line’ not only intrinsic beauty, but also significance. In mathematical language, he resolved the movement of the figure into its factors, its simplest forms of expression, and then combined these various forms into a pattern which, by its rhythmical and harmonious lines, produces an effect upon our imagination, corresponding to the sentiments of grave and tender poetry that filled the artist himself.

This power of making every line count in both significance and beauty distinguishes the great master-draughtsmen from the vast majority of artists who used line mainly as a necessary means of representing concrete objects.

135. Michael Pacher, c. 1430–1498, Northern Renaissance, Austrian, Altarpiece of the Early Church Fathers, c. 1480, Oil on panel, 216 × 380 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Gothic in the canopies, the characters’ poses and the contorted hands, the altar of the Austrian painter is also strongly influenced by Italian art in the use of perspective, low viewpoint and figures close to the picture plane recalling Mantegna’s works.

136. Ercole de’Roberti, 1450–1496, Early Renaissance, Ferrarese School, Italian, Madonna with Child and Saints, 1480, Oil on panel, 323 × 240 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Ercole de’Roberti inherited the tradition of Tura and Cossa with their precise line and metallic colours against elaborately fanciful ornamentation. But he developed a very personal and expressive style in his works. In this Altarpiece, which is his first documented work, his style is independent although it shows the influence of his Ferrarese antecedents. The Altarpiece reveals a familiarity with Venetian art and the work of Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina in particular.

137. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Adoration of the Magi, c. 1481. Tempera, oil, varnish and white lead on panel, 246 × 243 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Adoration of the Magi is an unrivalled work exclusively in brown cameos. The drawing matters less than its special organisation. The central characters (the Virgin and the Magi) draw a pyramidal shape. This kind of shape is unifying the composition and will influence Raphael. Taking his inspiration in the traditional representation of the Magi, Leonardo proposes a new iconography: all the characters are depicted in action; each of them is individualised by a particular facial expression or movement. The central position of the Virgin and Child is enhanced by the gyratory movement surrounding them.

138. Pietro Perugino, 1450–1523, High Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter, 1481–1482, Oil on wood, Vatican Museums, Rome

The fresco is from the cycle of the life of Christ in the Sistine Chapel. The principal group, showing Christ handing the keys to the kneeling St Peter, is surrounded by the other Apostles. The Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter shows the search for a classical rhythm. The artist begins to emancipate from the teaching of Piero della Francesca realising a frieze of characters placed on different grounds.

Pietro Perugino

(145 °Citta della Pieve – 1523 Perugia)

Perugino’s art, like Fra Angelico’s, had its roots in the old Byzantine tradition of painting. The latter had departed further and further from any representation of the human form, until it became merely a symbol of religious ideas. Perugino, working under the influence of his time, restored body and substance to the figures, but still made them, as of old, primarily the symbols of an ideal. It was not until the seventeenth century that artists began to paint landscape for its own sake.

However, the union of landscape and figures counts very much for Perugino, because one of the secrets of composition is the balancing of what artists call the full and empty spaces. A composition crowded with figures is apt to produce a sensation of stuffiness and fatigue; whereas the combination of a few figures with ample open spaces gives one a sense of exhilaration and repose. It is in the degree to which an artist stimulates our imagination through our physical experiences that he seizes and holds our interest. When Perugino left Perugia to complete his education in Florence he was a fellow-pupil of Leonardo da Vinci in the sculptor’s bottegha. If he gained from the master something of the calm of sculpture, he certainly gained nothing of its force. It is as the painter of sentiment that he excelled; though this beautiful quality is confined mainly to his earlier works. For with popularity he became avaricious, turning out repetitions of his favourite themes until they became more and more affected in sentiment.

139. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Birth of Venus, c. 1482. Tempera on canvas, 173 × 279 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The title announces the influence here of the Roman classics, as it selects the Roman name, rather than the Greek name for the goddess of love – Aphrodite. The geometric centre of the work is the gesture of modesty near the left hand of Venus, the central figure, although the triangular arrangement of the overall work leads our eye to accept her upper torso as central. Her long tresses and flowing garments throughout make the overall geometric arrangement soft and dynamic. The sides of an equilateral triangle are formed by the bodies of the figures on either side of Venus; the base of the triangle extends beyond the sides of the work, making the painting seem larger than it is (Piet Mondrian will exploit that technique in a minimalist way centuries later). The mature goddess has just been born from the sea, blown ashore by Zephyr (The West Wind), and his abducted nymph Chloris. The stylised waves of the sea bring the shell-boat forward and counter-clockwise to The Hour waiting on the shore. The sea has somehow already provided a ribbon for her hair. Her introspective expression is typical of the central figures in the painter’s work (See Portrait of a Man (1417)). The Hour, symbolising Spring and rebirth, begins to clothe the naked, new-born goddess with an elegant, high fashion robe covered in flowers, similar to her own gown on which there are corn flowers. Several spring flowers are sprinkled throughout the scene: orange blossoms in the upper right; evergreen myrtle around The Hour’s neck and waist; a single blue anemone between The Hour’s feet; over two dozen pink roses accompany Zephyr and Chloris. Cattails in the lower left balance the strong verticals of the orange trees. Each of the figures is outlined in thin black lines, characteristic of the artist. Sometimes the artist doesn’t follow his outline, but doesn’t cover it up either; as we see along the right arm of Venus, the outline has become visible over the years.

140. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna of the Magnificat, c. 1483. Tempera on wood, Tondo, dia. 118 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The paintings of the Virgin by Botticelli dated between 1481 and 1485 may embody the purest essence of the physical ideal, in relation to both the Madonna and the baby Jesus, developed during the Renaissance. At the same time, a deep sense of spirituality pervades the scene, Madonna and Child with Angels, also known as the Madonna of the Magnificat. Mary is represented seated, her child on her lap. The angels hold an elaborate crown above her head, reminding the viewer that she is the Queen of Heaven, while mother and child gaze in rapture at each other. The child has his hand on the page of a book, pointing at the word “Magnificat“, a reference to Mary’s consent to bear him, and her declaration to the archangel of the Annunciation that “my soul magnifies the Lord“ (in Latin, “Magnificat anima mea Dominum“).

141. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Pallas and the Centaure, c. 1482. Tempera on canvas, 205 × 147.5 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

142. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna and Child (Madonna of the Caves), 1485, Oil on panel, 29 × 21.5 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

143. Francesco Botticini, c. 1446–1498, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Adoration of the Christ Child, c. 1485. Tempera on panel, Tondo, dia. 123 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

144. Carlo Crivelli, 1430–1495, Early Renaissance, Venetian School, Italian, Annunciation with St Endimius, 1486, Oil on canvas transferred to wood, 207 × 147 cm, National Gallery, London

145. Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449–1494, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Adoration of the Magi, 1488. Tempera on panel, Tondo, dia. 171 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

This pyramidal composition with Mary at the top was influenced by Leonardo’s uncompleted Adoration of the Magi (1481, Uffizi)

146. Piero di Cosimo, 1462–1521, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, c. 1485, Oil on panel, 57 × 42 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly

Here is one of the artist’s finest portraits. Simonetta Vespucci is depicted as Cleopatra with the asp around her neck. The snake, also being a symbol of immortality, reinforces the strange atmosphere of this work.

147. Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1406–1469, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna and the Child Enthroned with Saint John the Baptist, Victor, Bernard and Zenobius (Altarpiece of the Otto di Pratica), 1486. Tempera on panel, 355 × 255 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

148. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Coronation of the Virgin, c. 1490. Tempera on panel, 378 × 258 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

149. Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1449–1494, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, An Old Man with his Grandson, 1488. Tempera on panel, 62 × 46 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

This is the first time that a character is portrayed with such realism showing clearly disfiguring details. This portrait conveys the deep affection between the man and the boy. The motif of the open window on a landscape in the background was borrowed from the Flemish Renaissance and brought to Italy in the mid-fifteenth century by artists such as Filippo Lippi.

150. Andrea Mantegna, 1431–1506, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1490. Tempera on canvas, 68 × 81 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

A nearly monochromatic vision of Jesus mourned by three figures was in Mantegna’s collection at the time of his death; this Dead Christ includes Saint John, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. His inventory of 1506 referred to a work fitting this description, presumably the very same picture, and it ended up in Gonzaga collections later in the century. This is a searing image of Christ laid out on his funeral slab, an intense vision of Christ’s suffering and death. The wounds in his hands are like torn paper, as is the spear gash in his side. Mantegna has played with the rules of perspective here, making the head large; it should be much smaller than the feet because the figure is strongly foreshortened. To make the work in proper perspective would have made the face of Christ too small to elicit strong empathy from the viewer. The monochromatic, golden-brown colouring helps to move this painting to another realm of passion and religious fervour. The viewers would sympathise with the sorrowful Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene who appear in truncated form on the left, pouring out their grief in open mourning.

151. Pietro Perugino, 1450–1523, High Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, St Sebastian, c. 1490–1500, Oil on wood, 176 × 116 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

152. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Last Supper, 1495–1498, Oil and tempera on stone, 460 × 880 cm, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Refectori, Milan

The perfection of grouping achieved in The Last Supper would of itself be sufficient to mark an epoch in the annals of painting. Its ease and rhythm are sublime. The figures, placed on two planes in perspective, are further arranged in groups of three, with the exception of Christ, who, isolated in the centre, dominates the action. If we turn to expression and gesture, we must again do homage to the master’s extraordinary perception of dramatic effect. The Saviour has just uttered the fateful words: “One of you shall betray me,“ with sublime resignation. In a moment, as by an electric shock, he has excited the most diverse emotions among the disciples, according to the character of each. Sadly, Leonardo painted in oil and tempera on a dry wall, such a defective process that three-quarters of the work may be said to have been destroyed by the middle of the sixteenth century. The skill and the knowledge necessary in order not to destroy their balance, to vary the lines without detracting from their harmony, and finally to connect the various groups, were so tremendous that neither reasoning nor calculation could have solved a problem so intricate; but for a sort of divine inspiration, the most gifted artist would have failed.

153. Lorenzo di Credi, c.1458–1537, High Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Venus, c. 1493, Oil on canvas, 151 × 69 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

154. Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), 1445–1510, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints, c. 1490. Tempera on panel, 140 × 207 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

155. Giovanni Bellini, c. 1430–1516, Early Renaissance, Venetian School, Italian, Sacred Allegory, c. 1490, Oil on panel, 73 × 119 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

156. Hieronymus Bosch, c.1450–1516, Northern Renaissance, Dutch, The Ship of Fools, after 1491, Oil on panel, 58 × 33 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Hieronymus Bosch

(c.1450–1516 ‘s-Hertogenbosch)

Born in the middle of the century, Bosch experienced the drama of the highly charged Renaissance and its wars of religion. Medieval traditions and values were crumbling, paving the way to thrust humankind into a new universe where faith lost some of its power and much of its magic. His favourite allegories were hell, heaven and lust. He believed that everyone had to choose between one of two options: heaven or hell. Bosch brilliantly exploited the symbolism of a wide range of fruit and plants to lend sexual overtones to his themes.

157. Vittore Carpaccio, c.1465-c.1525, High Renaissance, Venetian School, Italian, The Dream of St Ursula, 1495. Tempera on canvas, 274 × 267 cm. Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice

Vittore Carpaccio

(c. 1465 Venice – c. 1525 Capodistria)

Carpaccio was a Venetian painter strongly influenced by Gentile Bellini. The distinguishing characteristics of his work are his taste for fantasy and anecdote and his eye for minutely-observed crowd details. After completing the cycles of Scenes from the Lives of St Ursula, St George and St Jerome, his career declined and he remained forgotten until the nineteenth century. He is now seen as one of the outstanding Venetian painters of his generation.

158. Hieronymus Bosch, c.1450–1516, Northern Renaissance, Dutch, Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns), 1490–1500, Oil on oak panel, 73.8 × 59 cm, National Gallery, London

159. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Lady with an Ermine (Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani), 1483–1490, Oil on panel, 54 × 39 cm, Czartoryski Museum, Cracow

Favourite portrait of the Duke of Milan, the Lady with an Ermine is part of a series of animated portraits painted by Leonardo in Milan: dynamism is given by the bust facing the left side of the panel and the head turned toward the right.

Leonardo da Vinci

(1452 Vinci – 1519 Le Clos-Lucé)

Leonardo’s early life was spent in Florence, his maturity in Milan, and the last three years of his life in France. Leonardo’s teacher was Verrocchio. First he was a goldsmith, then a painter and sculptor: as a painter, representative of the very scientific school of draughtsmanship; more famous as a sculptor, being the creator of the Colleoni statue at Venice, Leonardo was a man of striking physical attractiveness, great charm of manner and conversation, and mental accomplishment. He was well grounded in the sciences and mathematics of the day, as well as a gifted musician. His skill in draughtsmanship was extraordinary; shown by his numerous drawings as well as by his comparatively few paintings. His skill of hand is at the service of most minute observation and analytical research into the character and structure of form.

Leonardo is the first in date of the great men who had the desire to create in a picture a kind of mystic unity brought about by the fusion of matter and spirit. Now that the Primitives had concluded their experiments, ceaselessly pursued during two centuries, by the conquest of the methods of painting, he was able to pronounce the words which served as a password to all later artists worthy of the name: painting is a spiritual thing, cosa mentale.

He completed Florentine draughtsmanship in applying to modelling by light and shade, a sharp subtlety which his predecessors had used only to give greater precision to their contours. This marvellous draughtsmanship, this modelling and chiaroscuro he used not solely to paint the exterior appearance of the body but, as no one before him had done, to cast over it a reflection of the mystery of the inner life. In the Mona Lisa and his other masterpieces he even used landscape not merely as a more or less picturesque decoration, but as a sort of echo of that interior life and an element of a perfect harmony.

Relying on the still quite novel laws of perspective this doctor of scholastic wisdom, who was at the same time an initiator of modern thought, substituted for the discursive manner of the Primitives the principle of concentration which is the basis of classical art. The picture is no longer presented to us as an almost fortuitous aggregate of details and episodes. It is an organism in which all the elements, lines and colours, shadows and lights, compose a subtle tracery converging on a spiritual, a sensuous centre. It was not with the external significance of objects, but with their inward and spiritual significance, that Leonardo was occupied.

160. Fra Bartolomeo, 1473–1517, High Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Portrait of Girolamo Savonarola, c. 1498, Oil on panel, 47 × 31 cm, Museo di San Marco, Florence