Context
Villard de Honnecourt (c. 1200-c. 1250) was a thirteenth-century French artist best remembered for his sketchbook, in which he drew objects, architectural motifs, animals, and people from real life (click here to view the sketchbook; the website is in French, but you can virtually flip through the pages of Honnecourt's sketchebook by clicking on the purple arrows above the drawings). The mere existence of Honnecourt's sketchbook shows how artists were taking a renewed interest in the world around them during the late Gothic period. Also during this time, artists started being known widely and valued as individuals, and they began signing their works.
This era also coincided with invention of moveable type by the German printer-publisher Johann Gutenberg (born 14th century, died 1468), which eventually allowed for the rapid dissemination of knowledge on a scale never seen before. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the Italian artist and writer, would later compare this period to the Renaissance and find it wanting in his highly influential "Lives of the Artists." The "Lives of the Artists" was a series of biographies focused on artists whose accomplishments led up to and were part of the Renaissance, beginning with Giotto, who would become known as the father of the Italian Renaissance, and ending with Michelangelo and Titian.
An increased interest in naturalismthat is, in capturing the world as we see itcan be traced in art through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Scholars were also increasingly engaged with Humanism. Thus this period, what is sometimes called the Proto-Renaissance, was a "rebirth" of classical ideals that led to the modern era. Gutenberg's moveable type allowed publishers to reprint not only the bible, but stories and treatises, especially from ancient Rome and Greece, that had once been forgotten or read only in high social circles.
The study of Humanism was strengthened by the new circulation of ancient philosophies and stories, among other texts, and it inspired people to create a code of civil conduct, as well as new theories about education, and a push for scholarly discipline. Humanism focuses on the concept of the individual within society and the use of one's own senses toward knowing. More artists seek recognition beyond their guilds and become widely known for their efforts. The enthusiasm for antiquity that was already evident in Italy began to spread across Europe. The surge of vernacular literature also gave rise to a more uniform language while Latin remained the official language of Catholic religion. Artistically, Medieval style and conventions still dominated, but there is a more formal attempt to break away from such conventions during the 13th and 14th century.
These years gave rise to city states as empires broke up and latched on to the rise of cities in the Romanesque and Gothic eras. In Italy, each city state was governed by executive bodies, councils, and special commissions. Each kingdom had its individual sources for revenue and support and all began to see an age of economic prosperity. Politics were often tied directly to religion and the Catholic Church that encouraged many religious commissions.
In 1305 the Great Schism occurred in the Catholic Church. The Great Schism refers to n event were a French pope was appointed and settled in Avignon as other subsequent French popes did. This caused a divide in the religion as Italians believed that the center of the Catholic Church should remain in Rome and the Vatican. This tension led to propagandistic commissions on both sides in an attempt to sway parishioners
Though all of this great progress occurred during this time, The late Medieval era and the Proto-Renaissance witnessed and documented diseases never before witnessed in human civilization. During the 1340's the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) eliminated 25-50 percent of Europe's population in only around five years. These events led many to either move more closely to the Church to seek salvation or seek answers though a growing academic interest.
Sculpture: There was an interest in classical sculpture throughout the middle ages.
Painting:
NOW IN THE YEAR 1276, in the country of Florence, about fourteen miles from the city, in the village of Vespignano, there was born to a simple peasant named Bondone a son, to whom he gave the name of Giotto, and whom he brought up according to his station. And when he had reached the age of ten years, showing in all his ways though still childish an extraordinary vivacity and quickness of mind, which made him beloved not only by his father but by all who knew him, Bondone gave him the care of some sheep. And he leading them for pasture, now to one spot and now to another,was constantly driven by his natural inclination to draw on the stones or the ground some object in nature, or something that came into his mind. One day Cimabue, going on business from Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were feeding, drawing a sheep from nature upon a smooth and solid rock with a pointed stone, having never learnt from any one but nature. Cimabue, marvelling at him, stopped and asked him if he would go and be with him. And the boy answered that if his father were content he would gladly go. Then Cimabue asked Bondone for him, and he gave him up to him, and was content that he should take him to Florence.
There in a little time, by the aid of nature and the teaching of Cimabue, the boy not only equalled his master, but freed himself from the rude manner of the Greeks, and brought back to life the true art of painting, introducing the drawing from nature of living persons, which had not been practised for two hundred years; or at least if some had tried it, they had not succeeded very happily. Giotto painted among others, as may be seen to this day in the chapel of the Podestà's Palace at Florence, Dante Alighieri, his contemporary and great friend, and no less famous a poet than Giotto was a painter.(Vassari)
We see the high pedestal that Vassari places this artist in relation to the transition from the Gothic era to the Renaissance. Vassari notes the naturalism that is demonstrated from observation. He also presumes Cimabue to be his teacher and it is also presumed that he could have been influenced by many different styles or people, but the outcome is a major shift in expression. According to Vassari, Giotto is almost solely responsible for displacing Byzantine style, establishing painting as a major art form, and restoring a naturalistic approach which had been abandoned. This also expressed the dominance of sight for gaining knowledge of the world which pushed the early scientific revolution.
Pietro Lorenzetti, The Birth of the Virgin (1342): Lorenzetti was also a pupil of Duccio. His work demonstrates a search for convincing spatial illusions. This was painted for a Cathedral as part of a series honoring the Virgin Mary. The painting seems a sort of diorama of the narrative. Characters are even cut by the architecture giving mor sense of a space. This was a large step in integrating architectural illusionism with the figure.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Peaceful City (From: Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country) (1338-1339): Ambrogio was the brother of Pietro and also a student of Duccio. These paintings were done as a part of a series of frescos that are in the public house of Siena, Italy. The series represents the effects of good and bad government done as a sort of reminder by those in charge to keep with the program. The mural project gave the artist the chance to study everyday life and use it as metaphor. It also gave the artist the chance to practice new ideas of perspective in depicting the cityscape and landscape in the paintings of the effects on the country.
Architecture
This module was produced by Professor Josh Yavelberg utilizing a mixture of open educational resources and notes from:
Kleiner, Fred. Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective,|. Vol. 2. Cengage Learning, 2013.