My Notes:
Cosimo Medici “God father of the Renaissance”
Wealth was not enough for Cosimo, he wanted wealth to transform into power & prestige so he become a patron of arts.
Why did art need a Patron? Because artist’s did not sell work at this time.
They only worked when they were commissioned to do work.
In time 70% of renaissance artists came to be working in Florence.
One of the artist Cosimo supported was Filippo Brunelleschi who was an architect not favored by the mainstream for his odd, difficult ways. Cosimo took a risk in supporting Brunelleschi in his work and set him the tast of completing the roof of the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. In 1436 after 4million bricks & weighing 37,000 tons he completed the inward curving vault. This became a symbol of Florence & Tuscany. In art Brunelleschi’s greatest contribution was his invention of linear perspective that went revolutionised Art.
Other Renaissance artists taken on by Cosimo were Donatello who became a close trusted friend of Cosimo. Best known for his sculpture David that was the 1st time since Roman times a freestanding nude in bronze had been attempted. The sculpture was frowned upon at the time by mainstream thinking & was very much at the cutting edge for the nature of the work.
Other artists of note from the Renaissance period include, Boticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Lippi, Altissimo & Gozzoli.
Book Research:
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The Medici-Godfathers of the Renaissance Publisher: Pimlico; New edition (2 Dec 2004) Language English ISBN-10: 1844130983 |
A dazzling history of the modest family, which rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici, is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning - of humanism which penetrated and explored the arts and sciences and the 'dark' knowledge of alchemy, astrology, and numerology - Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello, as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola, both of whom clashed with the religious authorities. In this enthralling study, Paul Strathern also follows the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns. Vivid and accessible, the book ends with the gloriously decadent decline of the Medici family in Florence as they strove to be recognised as European Princes. (20040315)
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Filippo Brunelleschi's design for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence remains one of the most towering achievements of Renaissance architecture. Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Its span of over 140 feet exceeds St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington DC, making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. The story of its creation and its brilliant but "hot-tempered" creator is told in Ross King's delightful Brunelleschi's Dome. King has already established himself as an accomplished novelist, author of Domino, Ex-Libris, and the story of both dome and architect offer him plenty of rich material. The story of the dome goes back to 1296 when work began on the cathedral but it was only in 1420, when Brunelleschi won a competition over his bitter rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to design the daunting cupola, that work began in earnest. King weaves an engrossing tale from the political intrigue, personal jealousies, dramatic setbacks and sheer inventive brilliance that led to the paranoid Filippo, "who was so proud of his inventions and so fearful of plagiarism" finally seeing his dome completed only months before his own death. King argues that it was Filippo's improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar (painstakingly detailed with precise illustrations) that led him to "succeed in performing an engineering feat whose structural daring was without parallel". He tells a compelling and informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli FURTHER READING: April Blood - Florence and the Plot against the Medici - Lauro Martines Brunelleschi's Dome - Ross King Catherine de'Medici - Leonie Frieda Cosimo de'Medici and the Florentine Renaissance - Dale Kent Dynasty and Destiny in Medici Art - Janet Cox Rearick Florence and the Medici - J.R Hale Florentine politics 1502 - 1515 - Humfrey Butters Galileo - Courtier - Mario Biagioli Galileo's Daughter - Dava Sobel Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling - Ross King Patronage - Art and Society in Renaissance Italy - F.W. Kent The French wars of Religion - R. J. Knecht The Last of the Medici - Harold Acton The Lives of the Artists - Giorgio Vasari The Pope's Elephant - Silvio Bedini The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli The Renaissance Bazaar - Jerry Brotton The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank - Raymond de Roover The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici - Christopher Hibbert The Rise of the Medici - Faction in Florence 1426-1434-Dale Kent Video: Web:On-line Gallery of Renaissance Art: Web Links |
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