1. Competition panels for Baptistery

Lorenzo Ghilberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. 15th ER

• Sacrifice of Isaac
• Panel chooses Ghilberti’s because his Isaac is kneeling in contrapposto, reminiscent of Ancient Roman sculpture. 

2) Gates of Paradise.

Lorenzo Ghilberti. 15th ER

• Ghilberti works on the doors for his entire life.

3) The Story of Jacob and Esau (Panel on the Gates of Paradise)

Lorenzo Ghilberti. 15th ER

• Perspective. Orthogonal (lines) meet at a vanishing point to create one point perspective. Phenomenal idea at the time. 
• High relief in the foreground, low relief in the background
• Rebirth of antiquity (rounded arches), as well as the introduction of scientific perspective.

4) Dome of Florence Cathedral

Filippo Brunelleschi. 15th ER

• First dome since antiquity
• Double shell
• herringbone brick, bricks are interlocked horizontally and vertically. creating more pressure to prevent the dome from collapsing. 
• Invented everything without and precendent

5) Hospital of the Innocents

Brunelleschi. 15th ER

• repetition of rounded arches

6) San Lorenzo nave

Brunelleschi. 15th ER

• Filled with classical elements
• coffered ceiling (square inserts)
• oculus (rounded windows)
• columns
• Corinthian capitals
• rounded arch
• significant because it is a Christian church, not a Pagan temple. Early Christians strayed away from the Pagan world. 

St. Mark

Donatello. 15th ER

• standing in contrapposto: one leg bent, one leg strait. tilted shoulders.
• you can see the silhouette of the body

David

Donatello. 15th ER

• first bronze nude sculpture of the Renaissance
• life size, standing in contrapposto
• David and Goliath. Jewish shepherd boy kills Palestinian Goliath with a sling shot.
• symbol of virtue over vice, good over evil
• nude David becomes a part of how he is represented in art, although he was never nude in the biblical story

Holy Trinity with Virgin, St. John and two donors

Masaccio. 15th ER

• fresco
• God, Holy Spirit, and Christ on a Cross
• Virgin, Saint John
• Kneeling donors
• ancient architectural motifs
• arch, coffered barrel vault, ionic capitals, columns, corinthian capitals
• the merge of pagan and christian concepts
• God and Christ are standing under a triumphal arch constructed with one point perspective
• first painting to demontrate linear perspective
• skeleton. “What I once was, you are; what I am, you will become.” To remind you that once you join the church and give to the church, you will be promised an afterlife in paradise.

The Tribute Money

Masaccio. 15th ER

- fresco

• Depicts a biblical story. Jesus tells St. Peter to find money in a fish’s belly for the Roman tax collector.
• St. Peter appears several times in the painting to narrate the passage of 

time.

• The tax collector stands in contrapposto, the building has rounded arches to 

suggest antiquity.

• Space suggested by atmospheric perspective, scientific perspective, and 

overlapping to create a crowd.

Expulsion

Masaccio. 15th ER

• Adam and Eve are being forced out of the Garden of Eden by an angel.
• figures are anguished and have a sculptural quality
• Eve’s pose suggests the pose of Venus

Tomb of Leonardo Bruni

Bernardo Rosellino. 15th ER

Sant' Andrea (Mantua)

Leon Battista Alberti. 15th ER

Ressurection

Piero della Francesca. 15th ER

• suggestion of natural light and shadows to create space
• fresco
• Jesus steps out of his tomb, surrounded by sleeping Roman guards
• The solemnity of Jesus contrasts with the foolish, carless soldiers.

Double Portrait of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro

Piero della Francesca. 15th ER

• atmospheric perspective. blue fading into white at the horizon line.
• subjects are in profile, reminiscent of the profiles on Ancient Roman coins
• the duke memorialized the woman in the portrait
• the duke is shown in profile because he lost an eye in jousting

The Doubting of Thomas

Andrea del Verrocchio. 15th ER

• Thomas is hesitant to touch Christ’s wound. He cannot believe it is Jesus. 
• sense of doubt it created through body language. Thomas is slightly out of frame to show that he is scared and backing away.

Lady with a Bunch of Flowers

Andrea del Verrocchio. 15th ER

Camera Picta, Ducal Palace

Andrea Mantegna. 15th ER

• ceiling of the ducal palace has a painted oculus
• the trump l’oeil sky sky fools the eye
• The foreshortening of figures creates the perspective of down looking up, or di sotto in su.

Birth of Venus

Sandro Botticelli. 15th ER

• Venus is standing in contrapossto
• Completely pagan because the very subject is mythological, which was very

uncommon. Revival of an antique subject.

- Revival of the classical nude.

• atmospheric perspective

Primavera

Botticelli. 15th ER

Madonna and Saints, San Zaccaria Altarpiece

Giovanni Bellini. 15th ER

Vitruvian Man and other drawings

Leonardo da Vinci. 16th HR

• scientist and artist
• wanted to understand how the human body worked

Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci

Leonardo da Vinci. 16th HR

• Juniper bush
• related to the work of Verochio, his teacher
• elegant and refined
• atmospheric perspective

The Last Supper, c.1495

Leonardo da Vinci. 16th HR

• institutes the mass on this day
• he says, at this exact moment, one of you will betray me. All the disciples react. 
• one point perspective, atmospheric perspective.

Mona Lisa, c.1503

Leonardo da Vinci. 16th HR

• Her smile shows that she was thinking. First time personality is given to women in 

painting.

• solved the problem of how to set up a portrait with a complementing background
• added black paint on entire surface to create a smoky veil, sfumato, that unifies

and softens the entire painting. 

Pietà, c.1495

Michelangelo. 16th HR

• triangular composition
• Christ is slightly under life size, whereas Mary is over life sized, so that they fit 

together.

David, c.1501

Michelangelo. 16th HR

• completely nude, closer to the idea of antique sculpture
• contrapposto

Awakening Prisoner, c. 1525

Michelangelo. 16th HR

• shows Michelangelo’s sculpting process
• imagines the figure trapped in stone

Sistine Ceiling, 1508-12 (Frescos)

Michelangelo. 16th HR

Creation of Adam (Creation of the Sun and Moon)

Michelangelo. 16th HR

• God’s other hand is already ready to create the new Adam, Christ, because 

he knows that Adam will sin.

• God’s entourage is shaped like a brain

Fall of Man and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Michelangelo Buonarroti. 16th HR

• innocence. Eve’s head is strategically turned away from Adam’s private parts. 
• figures repeat to show expulsion

Libyan Sibyl (and drawing)  

Michelangelo. 16th HR

Dome of St.Peter’s

Michelangelo. 16th HR

Donato Bramante. 16th HR (1444-1514)

         34) The Tempietto, c. 1502-11

• the little temple marks the site of St. Peter’s crucifixion
• dome, columns, and central plan suggest classical antiquity

          35) Plans for St. Peter’s, 1506 

Donato Bramante. 16th HR

• the central plan is based on the design of the tempietto, but altered many times before the completion of the church. 

Raphael Sanzio. 16th HR (1483-1520)

1. La Belle Jardinière, c.1507

• triangular composition
• atmospheric perspective
• chiaroscuro, creating the realness of skin through refined shading.

• Chiaroscuro, use of light and dark to create a natural 3 dimensional space.

37) Stanza dell Segnatura (Room of the Senate—Library), c.1508-11

Raphael Sanzio. 16th HR

38) School of Athens

Raphael Sanzio. 16th HR

• one of the four walls, represents philosophy.
• Plato, pointing to the sky, and Aristotle, pointing towards the earth, 

     separate the crowd into two categories of belief. 

• pagan temple consists of coffered triumphal arch, the base of a dome, and pagan statues, which suggest antiquity
• upstairs, Michelangelo was painting the Sistine ceiling at the same time

• triumphal arch with coffered barrel vault
• one point perspective
• cartoon: a large drawing that is used to transfer an image into a fresco
• Plato and Aristotle are the central figures

Titian. 16th HR (1488/90-1576)

39) Man with a Blue Sleeve (at a ledge) c.1520

• triangular composition
• texture of cloth and features of the face are painted in detail with chiaroscuro
• sfumato blends the subject with the neutral background

Bacchanal, 1518

Titian. 16th HR

• chaotic scene depicts people drinking wine in free spirit. 

Venus Urbino, c.1538

Titian. 16th HR

- impasto

Titian. 16th HR

Rape of Europa, c. 1560

• impasto

Titian. 16th HR

Madonna of the Pesaro Family, 1520

Palladio. 16th HR

44) Villa Rotunda, c.1570

- based on the plan of the Pantheon. 

Giovanni Bologna. 17th Man(1529–1608)

45) Rape of the Sabine Woman, 1583

• figura serpentinata: coiled serpent like shape. Whereas in the Renaissance, 

three figures would create a triangle

- multiple figures that can be seen from multiple points of view. 

Jacopo da Pontormo. 17th Man(1495-1540)

46) The Entombment, 1526

• figures are piled up. no linear or atmospheric perspective. no central point. 
• deconstruction of Michelangelo’s pieta. 

Parmagianino. 17th Man(1503-1540)

 47) Self-Portrait, c.1529

• values the distortion of the mirror

48) Madonna of the Long Neck, 1535

Parmagianino. 17th Man(1503-1540)

• combination of natural and bizzare
• he’s trying to do something new
• Madonna creates a diamond shape instead of a triangle

El Greco. 17th Man(1541-1614)

49) Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586

(Vision of St. John, c.1608)

- painting placed above an actual tomb

Tintoretto. 17th Man (1519-1594)

 50) Last Supper, 1594