Artists are starting to think about the human form and spatial illusions, but the shifts are subtle in this time period.
Using one of the paintings from your textbook readings, find an example where the artist is creating space in the work, and describe how it is done using the vocabulary learned from the content (examples of painterly space: shading, modeling, landscape, etc.).
and speaking to a flock of birds. To the astonished eyes of his
companion, Francis appears to be able to communicate with the
birds, who gather at his feet to listen.
The artist sets the scene outdoors by framing the figures with
trees and painting the background blue. A narrow shelf of earth
creates a platform on which the bulky figures stand. Francis and
his companion are rendered naturalistically, as the artist describes
light washing over their forms to suggest their mass and weight.
Francis’s figure becomes the focal point of the image, through
his central position, the halo around his head, and his downward
glance. His body language-the bent-over stance, the movement
of his hands-express his intense engagement with the birds
as representatives of nature. The simplicity of the composition
makes the fresco easily legible and memorable.
The identities of the artists responsible for the frescoes in the
nave of San Francesco are uncertain and controversial. One of the
artists mentioned as a primary designer and painter is the Roman
Pietro Cavallini; another is the Florentine Giotto di Bondone. But
ADUNARE
13.3 Altarpiece of St. Clare. ca. 1280. Tempera on panel,
9 x 5’6″ (2.73 x 1.65 m). Convent of Santa Chiara, Assisi
13.1 Interior of Upper Church, Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi. Begun 1228; consecrated 1253
of a huge church built in his honor. The pope sponsored its which Italian artists had used throughout the Middle Ages.
construction, which began shortly after Francis’s canonization (See Materials and Techniques, page 441.)
in 1228; the church was consecrated in 1253. Because it held the The scale of the painting program at Assisi required teams of
body of the popular saint, it was built as a large, multistoried artists drawn from all over Italy and the work took many years to
structure in order to accommodate the numerous pilgrims it complete. From the 1270s through the early fourteenth century,
attracted. Most pilgrims would first encounter the large hall of papal sponsorship brought together artists from Rome, Siena,
the Upper Church, before descending to a church below. The Florence, and elsewhere. Assisi became a laboratory for the devel-
Upper Church (fig. 13.1) consists of a single long nave, or central opment and dissemination of fourteenth-century Italian art. The
hall, where crowds could gather. Whereas French churches of frescoes flanking the nave windows depict biblical scenes from
the same period reduced wall surfaces in their naves in favor of the book of Genesis and the life of Christ. But the most visible
large stained-glass windows and complex vertical supports, as frescoes in the nave were painted below the windows; these depict
is the case at Chartres (see fig. 12.12), San Francesco at Assisi the life and achievements of Francis himself.
has relatively small windows and large expanses of wall surface. The artists responsible for the St. Francis cycle had to devise
As in the northern churches, at San Francesco a brick vault, images that conveyed both the events of Francis’s life and their
supported by Gothic pointed arches, covers the nave. Yet San significance to Christian history. The events chosen for depiction
Francesco is neither as high nor as spatially complex as French came from biographies of Francis’s life composed by his follow-
Gothic churches. The elimination of lower side aisles along ers. One important theme found in these texts is the saint’s ven-
the length of the nave simplifies the space and makes the walls eration of nature as a manifestation of divine workmanship. The
more prominent. These wall surfaces became a magnet for art- scene St. Francis Preaching to the Birds (fig. 13.2) expresses this
ists, especially below the windows in the nave of the Upper theme and Francis’s attitude that all creatures are connected. The
Church. Their paintings were executed in the fresco technique, fresco depicts Francis in his brown habit standing in a landscape
documentary evidence is lacking, and the opinions of connois-
seurs vary. Some prefer to assign these frescoes to an anonymous
master, or masters, named either after the paintings at Assisi or
subgroups among them. Since many painters worked in the same
space, they competed with and influenced each other, thus affect-
ing the future direction of Italian art.
Franciscan women served God within the walls of their con-
vents, through their vocations as nuns, and their prayers for their
neighbors. Like the friars, these women devoted themselves to
poverty and simplicity, and their convents and churches were often
less wealthy than many of the masculine institutions. Franciscan
nuns belonged to the branch of the order founded by Francis’s
associate, St. Clare, who was canonized in 1255. The thirteenth-
DAGO
13.2 Anonymous. St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, from Basilica
of San Francesco, Assisi. Begun 1290 (?). Fresco
FEST352
and speaking to a flock of birds. To the astonished eyes of his
companion, Francis appears to be able to communicate with the
birds, who gather at his feet to listen.
The artist sets the scene outdoors by framing the figures with
aisle
nave
13.5 Plan of Santa Croce
church probably comes from monastic churches, especially of
the reform-minded Cistercian order; for example, the plan of
Fontenay Abbey (see fig. 11.21). The nave’s proportions are
broad and expansive rather than vertical. The nave arcade uses
a Gothic pointed arch, while vertical moldings pull the eye up
to the ceiling. Where in a French Gothic church, however, such
moldings would support a vaulted ceiling, at Santa Croce wooden
trusses (beams or rafters joined together) span the nave. The
only vaults are at the apse and several chapels at the ends of the
the simplicity of Early Christian basilicas and thus link Franciscan
poverty with the traditions of the early Church. A vaulted nave
would have been much more expensive.
Santa Croce served the growing population of Florence by
providing room for elite burials in its aisles and chapels. The
church’s wide spaces also held large crowds so they could hear
the friars’ sermons.
1….
n’
1
have exposed many sinopie, such as the one shown here. The fresco,
attributed to Francesco Traini (see fig. 13.30), was badly damaged
by fire in 1944 and had to be detached from the wall in order to save
what was left of it. This procedure revealed the plaster underneath,
on which the composition had been sketched out. These drawings,
of the same size as the fresco itself, are much freer-looking in style
than the actual fresco. They often reveal the artist’s personal style
more directly than the painted version, which was carried out with
the aid of assistants.
Fres
resco is a technique for applying paint to walls that results in
an image that is both durable and brilliant. Frescoed surfaces
are built up in layers: Over the rough wall goes a layer of rough
lime-based plaster called arriccio. The artist then draws prelimi-
nary sketches onto this layer of plaster. Because they are done in
red, these sketches are called sinopie (an Italian word derived from
ancient Sinope, in Asia Minor, which was famous as a source of red-
colored pigment). Then a finer plaster called intonaco is applied in
areas just large enough to provide for a day’s worth of painting-the
giornata (from giorno, the Italian word for “day”). While the plaster
is still wet, the artist applies pigments suspended in lime water. As
the plaster dries, the pigments bind to it, creating a buon fresco, or
“true fresco.” Plaster dries in a day, which is why only the amount
of wet plaster that can be painted during that time can be applied.
The work has to be done on a scaffold, so it is carried out from top
to bottom, usually in horizontal strips about 4 to 6 feet long. As
each horizontal level is completed, the scaffolding is lowered for
the next level. To prevent chemical interactions with the lime of the
plaster, some colors have to be applied a secco or dry; many details
of images are applied this way as well. Fresco secco does not bond to
the plaster as surely as buon fresco does, so it tends to flake off over
time. Consequently, some frescoes have subsequently been touched
up with tempera paints.
Although durability is the key reason for painting in fresco, over
the centuries wars and floods have caused damage. Modern conser-
a
The work has to be done on a scaffold, so it is carried out from top
to bottom, usually in horizontal strips about 4 to 6 feet long. As
each horizontal level is completed, the scaffolding is lowered for
the next level. To prevent chemical interactions with the lime of the
plaster, some colors have to be applied a secco or dry; many details
of images are applied this way as well. Fresco secco does not bond to
the plaster as surely as buon fresco does, so it tends to flake off over
time. Consequently, some frescoes have subsequently been touched
up with tempera paints.
Although durability is the key reason for painting in fresco, over
the centuries wars and floods have caused damage. Modern conser-
vators have developed techniques for removing frescoes from walls
and installing them elsewhere. After the Arno River flooded in 1966,
many Florentine frescoes were rescued in this way, not only preserv-
ing the artworks but greatly adding to the knowledge and technol-
ogy required for this task. When a fresco is removed, series of cuts
are made around the image. Then, a supporting canvaslike material
is applied to the frescoed surface with a water-soluble glue. The
surface to which the canvaslike material has been glued can then
be pulled off gently and transferred to a new support to be hung
elsewhere, after which the canvas can be removed. Such removals
Anonymous (Francesco Traini?). Sinopia drawing for The Triumph
of Death (detail). Camposanto, Pisa
century convent in Assisi dedicated to St. Clare does not boast a
large fresco cycle but preserves a painted panel (fig. 13.3) intended
to sit on an altar (an altarpiece). A tall rectangle of wood covered
with egg-based tempera paints, it was executed around 1280. It
is dominated by the figure of St. Clare, dressed in the habit of
her order, standing frontally and holding the staff of an abbess.
The image does not portray her specific features as a portrait
would, but represents her as a saintly figure of authority, whose
large staring eyes and frontal posture have roots in Byzantine art.
Alongside the saint eight tiny narratives convey stories about her
life, death, and miracles. These vignettes relate her commitment
to her vocation, her obedience to Francis and the Church, and her
service to her fellow nuns. The narratives make little pretense at
three-dimensional form or spatial structure, keeping the focus on
the figures and their actions the better to tell the story.
Churches and Their Furnishings
in Urban Centers
Franciscan churches began to appear all over Italy as the friars
ministered to the spiritual lives of city dwellers. A characteristic
example in Florence is the church of Santa Croce (Holy Cross),
begun around 1295 (figs. 13.4 and 13.5). The architect was prob-
ably the Tuscan sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio. Like San Francesco
in Assisi, Santa Croce shares some features with Gothic churches
in northern Europe, but it differs from them too. Its form is a
basilica (a standard church plan including nave, side aisles, and
apse), though the eastern end, where the high altar and many
chapels are located, terminates in mostly rectilinear forms. Only
the apse (or projecting niche), where the altar stands, is poly-
gonal. This simplified design for the most sacred spaces in the
Florence. Begun ca. 1295
chapels
in
apse
-transept
of the narrative or setting, such as the midwives washing the child
and Joseph’s wondering gaze at the events, give the relief a human
touch. Using forms inspired by both Byzantine and Roman
models, Nicola uses broad figures, wrapped in classicizing dra-
peries, to endow the scene with gravity and moral weight.
When his son Giovanni Pisano carved a pulpit about 50 years
later for the cathedral of Pisa, he chose a different emphasis.
Though executed at the same size and using the same material, his
relief of the Nativity from the cathedral pulpit (fig. 13.9) makes a
strong contrast to his father’s earlier work. Depicting the Nativity
and the Annunciation to the shepherds, Giovanni dwells on the
landscape and animal elements: Sheep and trees fill the right
edge of the composition, while the Nativity itself takes place in a
shallow cave in the Byzantine tradition. The Virgin still domi-
nates the composition, but she is no longer a dignified matron
staring out of the image. Instead, she is a young mother whose
gaze and tender attention focus on her newborn child. Her pro-
portions are elongated rather than sturdy. Rather than echoing
Roman or Classical models, Giovanni has clearly studied contem-
porary French works to bring elegance and a detailed observation
of nature to the image. Giovanni’s swaying figures move more
13.9 Giovanni Pisano. Nativity, detail of pulpit. 1302-10. Marble.
church probably comes from monastic churches, especially of the simplicity of Early Christian basilicas and thus link Franciscan
the reform-minded Cistercian order; for example, the plan of poverty with the traditions of the early Church. A vaulted nave
Fontenay Abbey (see fig. 11.21). The nave’s proportions are would have been much more expensive.
broad and expansive rather than vertical. The nave arcade uses Santa Croce served the growing population of Florence by
a Gothic pointed arch, while vertical moldings pull the eye up providing room for elite burials in its aisles and chapels. The
to the ceiling. Where in a French Gothic church, however, such church’s wide spaces also held large crowds so they could hear
moldings would support a vaulted ceiling, at Santa Croce wooden the friars’ sermons.
trusses (beams or rafters joined together) span the nave. The
only vaults are at the apse and several chapels at the ends of the
transept, the perpendicular space between the nave and the apse.
Pulpits in Pisan Churches
As the stone vaults of San Francesco in Assisi, the order’s For reading Scripture at services and for preaching, churchmen
mother church, indicate that the friars were not averse to such often commissioned monumental pulpits with narrative or sym-
structures, the choice of a wooden roof at Santa Croce may bolic images carved onto them. Several monumental pulpits were
need explanation. This preference perhaps originates in a Tuscan made by members of a family of sculptors who worked in Pisa,
tradition, as the great Romanesque cathedral of nearby Pisa including Nicola Pisano (ca. 1220/25-1284) and his son Giovanni
(fig. 11.34) also has a wooden roof. Santa Croce’s broad nave Pisano (1265-1314). Though the two men worked at various sites
with high arches is also reminiscent of Early Christian churches throughout Italy, they executed important pulpits for the cathe-
(see fig. 8.9), so the choice may also spring from a desire to evoke dral and baptistery at Pisa.
442
PART III
THE RENAISSANCE THROUGH ROCOCO
For the Pisan baptistery, Nicola Pisano and his workshop weight balanced on one leg to suggest movement, seem to be
carved a hexagonal marble pulpit finished around 1260 (fig. inspired by ancient models. Pisano had worked for Frederick II
13.6). Rising to about 15 feet high, so the assembly could see in southern Italy and at Rome, but his deep knowledge of ancient
and hear the speaker, the six sides of the pulpit rest on colored art may also derive from study of Roman artifacts in Pisa.
marble columns supporting classically inspired capitals. Above Nicola’s study of the Roman past informs many other ele-
the capitals, carved into leaf shapes, small figures symbolizing the ments in his pulpit, including the narratives he carved for the
virtues stand between cusped arches, while figures of the prophets six rectangular sides of the pulpit itself. These scenes from the
sit in the spandrels (the areas above the curves) of these arches. life of Christ are carved in relief, so they project from the back-
Surprisingly, one of these figures (fig. 13.7) is a male nude with a ground. The Nativity scene in figure 13.8 is a densely crowded
lion cub on his shoulder and a lion skin over his arm. His form composition that combines the Annunciation with the Birth of
and the lion skin should identify him as the Greek hero Herakles Christ. The relief is treated as a shallow box filled with solid
(Hercules in Latin). Some scholars, however, have interpreted convex shapes in the manner of Roman sarcophagi (carved stone
these same details to identify him as Daniel, the biblical hero whose coffins), which Pisa’s monumental cemetery preserved in good
faith allowed him to survive the lion’s den. In either case, in the numbers. The Virgin has the dignity and bearing of a Roman
program of the pulpit, he stands for the Christian virtue of Forti- matron. Pisano also knew Byzantine images of the Nativity, for
tude. His anatomy, his proportions, and his stance are probably the recumbent figure of the Virgin reflects that tradition. As the
the product of Nicola Pisano’s study of Roman and Early Christian largest and most central figure, the reclining Virgin overpowers
sculpture. The figure’s heroic nudity and his posture, with the all the other elements in the composition. Around her, the details
13.8 Nicola Pisano,
Nativity, detail of pulpit
100
2013
出品
Expanding Florence Cathedral
The building and adornment of Pisa’s cathedral complex were a
civic as well as a religious duty for the town’s citizens. As Italian
cities grew and prospered, their religious centers grew with
them. East of Pisa, along the Arno River, the increasing wealth
of Florence inspired that town to undertake major projects for
its cathedral and baptistery in order to compete with its neigh-
bors. One of Nicola Pisano’s students, Arnolfo di Cambio (ca.
1245-1302), was chosen to design a new cathedral for Florence
to replace a smaller church that stood on the site. The cathedral
was begun in 1296 (figs. 13.10, 13.11, and 13.12). The project
took the skills and energy of several generations, and the plan
was modified more than once. For example, in 1357 Francesco
Talenti (active 1325-1369) took over the project and dramatically
extended the building to the east. By 1367, a committee of artists
consulted by the overseers of the construction decided to cover
the eastern zone with a high dome. The west façade and other
portals continued to be adorned with sculpture throughout the
Renaissance period, but the marble cladding on the building was
not completed until the nineteenth century. Florence’s Duomo
(dome) was intended to be a grand structure that would not only
serve as the spiritual center of the city, but as a statement of its
wealth and importance.