(250 AD)

San Miniato al Monte

An early Christian Armenian martyr who was killed in 250 AD under the reign of the Emperor Decius. He denounced the Emperor for being wicked and worshiping idols, so the Emperor condemned S.Miniato. Legend has it that the trials included: a panther, a fiery furnace, a lion, the rack, having his fingernails pulled out, boiling oil poured in his ear and over his body. But of course he doesn't react to any of them. He is finally beheaded and he picks up his head and carries it up the hill to his sight. He supposedly lays down and waits to be buried. He is depicted in the mosaics holding a crown. 

He was a martyr to Catholicism that had his head chopped off by the Emperor for being Catholic. He climbed up the mountain side therefore making it an important place for the church to stand.

San Miniato, Florence, 250 AD

c. 950-1150 AD

A style of European architecture containing both Roman and Byzantine elements. Developed in Italy and western Europe prevalent especially in the 11th and 12th centuries and characterized by massive walls, round arches, vaults and by the subtraction of piers for columns and profuse. 

St. Thomas Acquinas,

Summa Theologica

Santa Maria Novella

1225- 1274

An Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church who was immensely influential as a philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism.

Summa Theologica: a systematic compendium of theology from between 1265-1273. He intended t to be the sum of all known learning as explained according to the philosophy of Aristotle and his Arabian commentators. It is divided into three parts that may be said to threat of God, Man and Christ. 

Millard Meiss,

Painting in Florence and siena after the Black Death

Santa Maria Novella

Historian of late medieval and early Renaissance art and published his first book "Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death" in 1951. It was a groundbreaking tome combining social history and rigorous connoisseurship.

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1181/1182-1226

Santa Croce, Bardi Chapel

Founder of the Franciscan orders, he was also a leader of the movement of evangelical poverty in the early 13th century. His evangelical zeal, consecration to poverty, charity and personal charisma drew thousands of followers. Francis's devotion to the human Jesus and his desire to follow Jesus's example reflected and reinforced important developments in medieval spirituality. 

Painter, 1267-1334

Bardi Chapel, Life of Saint Francis, 1320s Santa Croce, Florence

The most important Italian painter of the 14th century, whose works point to the innovations of the Renaissance style that developed a century later. For almost seven centuries Giotto has been revered as the father of European painting and the first of the great Italian masters. He is believed to have been a pupil of the Florentine painter Cimabue and decorated chapels in Assisi, Rome, Padua, Florence, and Naples with frescoes and panel paintings in tempera. 

1347-1351, Europe

Master of the Triumph Death or Francesso Traini, Fresco, Pisa, 1355

A pandemic that ravaged through Europe taking a proportionately greater toll of life than any other known epidemic or war up to that time. Art at this period will begin to shift in religious areas with paintings being seen as warnings to what could become. See the Dominicans hold trials and become more concerned about the after life and not being materialist. 

1224 St. Francis first recored stigmatic in Christian history

Bodily marks, sores, or sensation of pain in location corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet. 

When St. Francis journeyed to Mt. La Verna for a forty day fast, one morning near the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, a six winged angel allegedly appeared to Francis while he prayed. As the angel approached, Francis could see that the angel was crucified. He was humbled by the sight and his heart was filled with elation joined by pain and suffering. When the angel departed, Francis was purportedly left with wounds in his hands, feet, and side as if caused by the same lance that pierced Christ's side. The image of nails immediately appeared in his hands and feet, and the wound in his side often seeped blood.

Gothic Architecture 11th century

Santa Croce

The intersection of 2 or 3 barrel vaults produces a rib vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns. These advances in vaulting allowed for the addition of more windows high up in the building and also led to other additions to the higher reaches of a church such as the clerestory or triforium.  

Santa Croce, 11 th century

The area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture. The transept separates the nave from the sanctuary.  

Upon its 4 pieces, the crossing may support aspire, a central tower or a crossing dome. 

Ex. Benozzo Gozzoli, Magi Chapel, (fresco 1459), Florence, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

A Chapel either within a house (when approved by the Pope) or more likely a section of a church that is paid for my a wealthy family and symbolizes importance within the community. It most likely is a chapel that houses monuments to the members and portraits of them in religious frescos.  

1389-1464, Florence

San Lorenzo & San Marco (helped pay for it), Medici Chapel

Founder of one of the main lines of the Medici family that ruled Florence from 1434 to 1537; he would go into exile and then return later so in order to get on the good side of the people he gives money to the church's and in its place get the Medici name out there; he was known was being simple compared to later Medici that would follow; role in the enticing the ecumenical council from Ferrara to Florence was his claim to fame

1416-1478

Portrait seen in the Medici Chapel next to his father

The son of Cosimo the Elder; more lavish than his father symbolizing the power the Medici had in Florence for him to be able to experiment; would be the ruler of Florence for 5 years

Painter, 1400-1455

San Marco Altarpiece, 1440; Annunciation (hallway) 1440

Member of the Dominican order at San Marco; commissioned by Cosimo the Elder to decorate the convent and San Marco; one can note the work he put into some of the artwork and its placement as to understand who could see the work (more elaborate work was when patrons and other could see it and work in the cells were simple)

Painter; 1421-1497

Magi Chapel, 1459, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Italian painter whose masterpiece, a fresco cycle in the chapel of the Medici-Riccardi Palace, reveals a new interest in nature (a careful study of realistic detail in landscape and the costumed figure) and in the representation of human features as definite portraiture. 

Worked with Fra Angelico 

Painter; 1421-1497

The Tornabuoni Chapel: Life of St. John the Baptist and Virgin Mary, 1485, Santa Maria Novella

Painter of the Florentine school that was noted for his detailed narrative frescoes, which include many portraits of leading citizens in contemporary dress.

Scupltor, 1386-1446

St. John the Evangelist, made for the niche of Florence Cathedral, Florence, 1404-1415

A scupltor that was much more experimental than what was normal for the age;the inscriptions and signatures on his works are among the earliest examples of the revival of classical Roman lettering; he had a more detailed and wide-ranging knowledge of ancient sculpture than any other artist of the day.  

Architect, 1377-1446

San Lorenzo, (stone) 1425, Florence

One of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He has famous biography about him by Antonio Manetti who said Brunelleschi "was granted such honors as to be buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and with a marble bust, which they say was carved from life, and place there in perpetual memory with such a spendidepitaph" His machines help make the Doumo and he is comissioned by the Medici. 

San Marco

the area in a monastery or convent around which the principal buildings are ranged, affording a means of communication between the buildings

San Marco

The cafeteria in a convent, usually one would see the Last Supper in this area.

San Marco

The place in a convent where the members of the order would come a meet and conduct business with patron, etc.

San Lorenzo, Cosimo the Elder tome area

The room in a Christian church in which vestments and sacred objects used in the services are stored and in which the clergy and sometimes the altar boys and the choir members put on their robes

Ex. Calimala (international cloth merchant guild)

Between the 11th and 16th centuries.

An association of craftsmen or merchants formed for mutual aid and protection and for the furtherance of their professional interests.

For artists the guilds helped them but also set the prices for materials,etc. 

The wool guild of Florence during the Late Middle Ages and in the Renaissance (symbol can be seen with the Lamb in the Duomo Museum) It was one of the seven greater trades of Florence dealing with woollen cloth and cooperated with the other corporations of bankers and merchants in administering the commune, both under the podesta and the Republic of Florence.

"rough"

The first layer of plaster spread on the masonry (wall) in preparation for the painting, the "sinopia" is executed on this surface. It was purposefully left rough so that the top layer ('intonaco") would adhere to it more firmly. 

"whitewash"/ fine plaste

The final smooth layer of plaster on which painting with colors was carried out. Made from lime, fine sand, and marble dust & laid in sections

Panel Painting

Reddish brown iron-oxide containing clay, used as the under-layer in gilding on panel. The bole provided a background color giving a rich hue to the rather then, meager gold leaf yet also helps in holding the gold to the panel

Panel Painting

The platform on which an altarpiece is set, often decorated with narrative sculpture or painting relating to the main subject

Panel Painting

Paint consisting of pigment dissolved in water and mixed with a binding medium, usually the yolk of the egg. Oil painting will slowly take over Egg Tempura in the 16th century

Sculpture 

A technique in which soft materials like clay or wax are built up or "added" to create a form

Sculpture

Italian for "sketch model", a small preliminary version of a sculpture, generally executed in CLAY, wax or another soft inexpensive material so the artist can work out the composition

Sculpture

Used to rough up the marble??? 

Sculpture

The process in which bronze sculptures where done using a mold from clay

Sculpture

used for the roughing up of the marble

Scuplture

To create decorative features and depth such as hair

Sculpture

the process of creating sculpture by starting with a volume and removing the excess material by chipping, cutting or carving the figure, decoration, etc.

Architecture

A large centralized niche or chapel, usually semi-circular, facing the nave of the church. Sometimes called the high alter or high-chapel-the area where mass takes place

Architecutre

San Miniato al Monte 

A public building of ancient Rome having the central nave with an apse at one of both ends and two side aisles formed by rows of columns, which was used as a courtroom or assembly hall. A Christian church building of a similar design, having a nave with a semicircular apse, two or four side aisles, a narthex and a clerestory.  

Architecture