Art & Architecture
Plate 3
In 1401 Lorenzo Ghiberti, goldsmith and sculptor, won a commission to design the doors of the Baptistry of Florence. Over the next 50 years, he created two series of bronze panels illustrating the lives of saints and themes from the Bible. The panel shown here tells the story of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt.
Plate 5
The green-and-white marble façade of the church of Santa Maria Novella, designed by Leon Battista Alberti in the mid-1400s, introduced a distinctive new look in Florence. Alberti successfully blended the Gothic style of the lower façade with geometric patterns above. He also used scroll buttresses (supports) to soften the outline and tie the two stories of the structure together.
Plate 7
Titian (ca. 1488–1576), another great master of Renaissance Venice, brought rich color and sensuality to his paintings. Here Penitent Magdalene, the Mary Magdalene saved by Christ in the Bible, is clearly inspired by religious feeling but remains a very earthly figure.
Plate 10
Renaissance architecture took a unique form in France. The Château of Chambord, started in 1519, shows the influence of Italian style but remains essentially French. Its massive towers and the extraordinary roof overflowing with chimneys and turrets continue the inventive spirit of late Gothic design. The layout of the château also follows the tradition of medieval castles.
Plate 12
German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553) worked for three successive rulers of Saxony and created many portraits of them. This painting, The Deer Hunt of Frederick III, the Wise, Elector of Saxony, shows a royal hunt in progress. Cranach presents the scene in considerable detail, but the landscape seems more fanciful than realistic.
Plate 14
El Greco, a Greek from the island of Crete, became the leading painter of the Spanish Renaissance. He used color in an intense and original way and often created swirling backgrounds to express spirituality. In his dramatic View of Toledo (ca. 1600), the vibrant colors produce a sense of motion and suggest a coming storm.
