History of Art & Architecture, University of Pittsburgh

HAA1305 CRN36787 (grad level HAA2308/CRN 36790), Fall Term 2010 (2111)

Frick Fine Arts room 203, Mon-Wed 3:00-4:15 pm

 

Syllabus for

 

Architecture of the Early Renaissance

 

Professor Franklin Toker

 

SUMMARY SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

 

 

1. Monday August 30: A Curtain-Raising Marvel: Brunelleschi's Cupola

2. Wed Sept 1: What the Quattrocento Knew of Antiquity

 

[Monday September 6: NO CLASS--UNIVERSITY OBSERVES LABOR DAY]

3. Wed September 8: What the Quattrocento Owed the Middle Ages

 

4. Mon September 13: Scientific and social-political-cultural background to the Quattrocento

5. Wed September 15: Brunelleschi and the Rationalization of Sight

 

6. Mon September 20: Brunelleschi's Buildings:1

7. Wed September 22: Brunelleschi's Buildings:2

 

8. Mon September 27: Michelozzo, the Medici Palace and SS Annunziata

9. Wed September 29: The Quattrocento Taste for Gothic

 

10. Mon October 4: Filarete

11. Wed October 6: Alberti 1: Rucellai Palace and facade S.Maria Novella

 

[Mon October 11: NO CLASS--UNIVERSITY OBSERVES FALL BREAK]

12. Special meeting on TUESDAY 12 October Alberti in Mantua

13. Wed October 13: Rome 1: Vatican and St. Peter's

 

14. Mon October 18: Rome 2: Pienza; Palaces & Churches

15. Wed October 20: MIDTERM EXAMINATION

 

16. Mon October 25: Urbino, and a spectacular palace

17. Wed October 27: Francesco di Giorgio

 

18. Mon November 1: Naples

19. Wed November 3: Ferrara and Biagio Rossetti

 

20. Mon November 8: Venice

21. Wed November 10: Giuliano da Sangallo: Poggio a Caiano

 

22. Mon November 15: Giuliano in Prato; the Scala Palace

23. Wed November 17: The Strozzi and Gondi palaces

 

24. Mon November 22: Leonardo from Florence to Milan

[Wed November 25: NO CLASS--UNIVERSITY OBSERVES THANKSGIVING BREAK]

 

25. Mon November 29: Bramante 1: S. Maria presso S. Satiro to S. Maria delle Grazie

26. Wed December 1: Bramante 2: canonica S. Ambrogio; Pavia Cathedral; piazza Ducale at Vigevano

 

27. Mon December 6: All roads leading to Rome; Cancelleria Palace and Pope Innocent's Belvedere Villa

 

28. Wed December 8: FINAL EXAMINATION. The official final is scheduled for Saturday December 18 at 4 to 5:50 p.m., and I will greet any students who need to take it at that hour. The University discourages turning last classes into final examinations, and I almost never do, but this case seems to require it. Tell me if you cannot write the final exam on December 8, and we'll work something out. Term grades will be posted on the University grades site by 23 December, and corrected exams will be available in my office January 3 through 7, 2011.

 

DETAILED CLASS NOTES

 

1. A Curtain-Raising Marvel: Brunelleschi's Cupola

Special reading: Marvin Trachtenberg, "Architecture and Music Reunited: A New Reading of Dufay's Nuper Rosarum Flores and the Cathedral of Florence," Renaissance Quarterly (2001):740-75; http://www.jstor.org/stable/1261923

Text: pp. 13-14.

Key works:

1. Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446): Cupola of S. Maria del Fiore, Florence, 1420-36 [13]

2. Brunelleschi: Lantern for cupola S. Maria del Fiore, 1436 [13 and 17]

3. Brunelleschi: Exedrae ("Tribune morte") for S. Maria del Fiore, 1438 [13 and 17]

Listings like these give the main theme of each class, and the main buildings or projects that will be discussed. These works (either bolded or bolded) will form the basis of the midterm and final examination.  Those illustrated in the Heydenreich-Davies text are so indicated in brackets, e.g. [148]. The Key works are those buildings and theoretical writings on architecture for which you need to have a close and detailed knowledge, and also of their designers. At the same list there may be works in context to which I may make reference in the lectures. The majority of key works are illustrated in the text. Key works can also be added or dropped: it is essential that you attend every class to learn about these works.  If you miss a class or section, get the list of key works from another class member (it's wise to gather up several telephone numbers as soon as the course begins).

 

 

2. What the Quattrocento Knew of Antiquity

Beverly Brown & Diana Kleiner, "Giuliano da Sangallo's Drawings after Ciriaco d'Ancona: Transformations of Greek and Roman Antiquities in Athens," JSAH 42 (1983):321-35; online as www.jstor.org/stable/989919

The Early Renaissance could see the Roman half of Antiquity by studying the monuments right in Italy, but Greek antiquities were largely closed to them. They learned about Greece in four ways:

1) through texts, though all they had was refrences Vitruvius made to Greece.

2) Through observation of Roman remains in Italy.

3) Through scholars coming over from Greece and Constantinople (before the latter fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, getting the variant name Istanbul).

4) Through archaeological drawings, mainly of Ciriaco d'Ancona.

Key works:

1. Vitruvius, De architectura, late 1st century BCE.

--Hartmann Schedel, World Chronicle, 1493.

--Manuel Chrysolaras (1355-1415) lectured on Homer and Plato in Florence 1397-1400. He appears to have brought an illustrated copy of Ptolemy's Geography to Florence.

--Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1390-1448; ruled from 1425), created a sensation by appearing at the Council of Florence 1439. The Council aimed to reunite the Greek and Latin churches; it played a huge role in making Florence aware of Greek Antiquity.

--The secular scholar Gemistus Pletho (1355-1452) was a neoplatonist (i.e. sought to reconcile Plato and Christianity) who translated all Plato to Latin; lectured in Florence 1438-39 and inspired Cosimo de'

Medici to found the Platonic Academy in Florence.

2. The merchant and amateur archaeologist Ciriaco d'Ancona (ca. 1391-1455) traveled extensively in Greece and the Byzantine Empire (modern Turkey), drawing observations and whole monuments. These drawings circulated in copies all over Europe, being carefully redrawn particularly by the Florentine architect Giuliano da Sangallo around 1465.

3. Giuliano da Sangallo sketchbooks (1465-1516), after Ciriaco for Greek monuments but also by direct observation of Roman monuments.

4. Filarete, Trattato di architettura (ca. 1465): ancient key to ideal city of Sforzinda

--Pantheon, Rome, 2nd c CE

--Basilica of Maxentius & Constantine, Rome, 4th c

--Roman Florence (Florentia), founded c. 40-25 BCE, first walls.

 

 

3. What the Quattrocento Owed the Middle Ages

Franklin Toker: "Arnolfo's S. Maria del Fiore: A Working Hypothesis," Journal of the Society ofArchitectural Historians 42 (1983):101-120; http://www.jstor.org/stable/989925

Text: Introduction, pp. 1--6.

Key works:

1. Arnolfo di Cambio (born Colle di Val d'Elsa, near Florence, ca. 1245, died in Florence between 1302 and 1310)

2. Arnolfo: duomo of S. Maria del Fiore, Florence, begun 1296; building suspended 1310; enlarged plan 1368-1421 [12]

3. Attributed to Arnolfo by Vasari: S. Croce, Florence, begun 1294 [partial view & plan, 20, 21]

4. Attributed to Arnolfo by Vasari: Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1299-1310.

--S. Reparata (Early Christian cathedral, ruins beneath duomo of S. Maria del Fiore), ca. 500-1296.

--Romanesque Florence (11th-12th c); second walls begun 1172.

--Baptistery (S. Giovanni): 6th c?, rebuilt 11th c; revetment 12th c.

--S. Miniato, Carolingian, rebuilt 11th-12th c; revetment 12th c.

--Gothic Florence (13th-14th c); third walls begun 1284.

--Florence: S. Maria Novella, new church 1279ff.

--Florence: Loggia dei Lanzi, 1370s.

 

4. Scientific and social-political-cultural background to the Quattrocento

Understanding Renaissance architecture demands looking also at Renaissance science, particularly cartography and optics. Greek scholars were highly influential here, too. Manuel Chrysolaras already brought a copy of Ptolemy's Geography to Florence as early as 1397. It was a great inspiration for Renaissance cartography (they called it cosmology), resulting in the many navigators voyaging to the New World. Gemistos Pletho was a direct influence on the Florentine Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1397-1482), a giant in mathmatics, physics, and cartography (he produced a famous map of the world in 1474 that almost certainly inspired Columbus). Toscanelli in turn influenced Brunelleschi's research in optics and the navigators Giovanni da Verrazzano and Amigo Vespucci, both Florentines. Vespucci's observations on North and South America led Martin Waldseemuller to place him as the "new Ptolemy" in his world map of 1507, and also to call the New World after him: America.

Key works:

1. Brunelleschi: S. Maria degli Angeli, Florence, 1434 [24]; the Camaldolese monastery famous for cartographic research

--Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolomeus; ca. 90-168 CE): Geography

--Gemistos Plethon at Council of Florence, 1439

--Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1397-1482)

--Ambrogio Traversari (1386-1439), general of the Camaldolese order and Brunelleschi's main patron at S. Maria degli Angeli. A student of Manuel Chrysolaras, he translated Greek texts into Latin, and so contributed greatly to Humanistic culture in Italy.

--Amerigo Vespucci and Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine navigators

--Martin Waldseemüller, World Map of 1507

 

5. Brunelleschi and the Rationalization of Sight

Franklin Toker: "Gothic Architecture by Remote Control: An Illustrated Building Contract of1340," Art Bulletin 67 (1985):67-95; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3050888

Key works:

1. Brunelleschi: Baptistery panel ca. 1420

2. Masaccio: Trinity fresco in S. Maria Novella, Florence, c. 1425

--Piero della Francesca: Flagellation, 1460s?, Urbino

--Giovanni di Agostino: facade elevation, palazzo Sansedoni, Siena, 1340.

--Milan: Duomo under various French and German builders, 1390ff.

 

6. Brunelleschi's Buildings:1

Rudolph Wittkower, "Brunelleschi and 'Proportion in Perspective'," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 16 (1953):275-291; http://www.jstor.org/stable/750367

Text: pp. 13-24.

Matthew A. Cohen, "How Much Brunelleschi? A Late Medieval Proportional System in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 67 (March 2008):18-57. Not online.

and

Marvin Trachtenberg, "What Brunelleschi Saw: Monument and Site at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 47 (March 1988):14-44; http://www.jstor.org/stable/990254

Key works:

1. Brunelleschi: Sacristy, S. Lorenzo, Florence, 1421 [17]

2. Brunelleschi: S. Lorenzo, 1421 and later [16, 17]

With project by Prior Matteo Dolfini? ca. 1418; patron Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici

3. Brunelleschi: S. Spirito, 1436-1470s [17,18]

 

SPECIAL NOTE ON MAIN MEDICI FAMILY members in the quattrocento:

--Giovanni di Bicci: 1360-1429, builds Old Sacristy and promotes S. Lorenzo project.

--son Cosimo di Giovanni: 1389-1464, builder of Palazzo Medici, S. Marco, and country villas at Trebbio, Bosco ai Frati, Cafaggiolo, Careggi, Fiesole.

--his son Piero di Cosimo: 1414-1469, weak successor, commissions tabernacles at SS Annunziata and S. Miniato from Michelozzo

--Piero's son Giuliano di Piero: 1453-1478, murdered by the Pazzi 1478. His son Giulio becomes Pope Clement VII (1523-34)

--Older son Lorenzo di Piero "the Magnificent": 1449-1492 regains control of Florence, sponsors best Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano from Giuliano da Sangallo; involved in S. Maria de' Carceri in Prato; uses architecture as foreign policy with allies Pope Innocent VIII and King of Naples. His son Giovanni becomes Pope Leo X (1513-21).

--Lorenzo's son Piero di Lorenzo: 1471-1503 lost control of Florence in 1494.

 

7. Brunelleschi's Buildings:2

Marvin Trachtenberg, "Why the Pazzi Chapel is not by Brunelleschi," Casabella 60/635 (June 1996):58--77

The question of who designed the Pazzi Chapel involves all the aspects of looking at an Early Renaissance building: patronage, financing, physical observations, proportion studies, connoisseurship of details.

 

Key works:

1. Brunelleschi: Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital), Florence, 1419ff [14, 15]

2. Brunelleschi: S. Maria degli Angeli, Florence, 1434 [24]

3. Brunelleschi: Palazzo di Parte Guelfa, Florence, c. 1425 [24]

--Florence: Ospedale di S. Matteo, end 14th c.

4. Disputed authorship: Pazzi chapel at S. Croce: funded from 1429(?) and 1433; under construction from 1442ff; portico bears date 1459; dome bears date 1461 [17, 19-21]

5. Disputed authorship: Palazzo Pitti, Florence, l458ff [47]

6. Disputed authorship: Badia Fiesolana, Fiesole, outside Florence, 1456ff [46]

 

8. Michelozzo, the Medici Palace and SS Annunziata

Marvin Trachtenberg: "Michelozzo and the Pazzi Chapel," Casabella 61/642 (February 1997):56--75.

and

Rudolph Wittkower: "The Centrally Planned Church and the Renaissance," in Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, pp. 1-21 and 27-32

Text: pp. 25--33

Key works:

1. Michelozzo di Bartolommeo (1396-1472): convent and library of S. Marco, Florence, 1436ff [25, 26]

2. Michelozzo: Santissima Annunziata church: new rotonda added, 1444ff [26]

3. Michelozzo: Medici palace, Florence, 1444ff [27-29]

--(attributed) Pazzi Chapel at S. Croce, 1440s-1460s

 

Because Michelozzo's career was so well documented and so rich in commissions, I have conjoined details found in Grove Dictionary of Art; Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects; and Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici to present some highlights of his career here:

--1410 joined coinmakers' guild as engraver.

--ca. 1420 Worked for Lorenzo Ghiberti on the north doors of the Baptistery, completed 1424

--1420 joined Stonemasons' and Carpenters' guild

--1421 collaborated with Ghiberti on the bronze St. Matthew for the church of Orsanmichele.

--1426ff participated in final set of Baptistery doors ("Gates of Paradise"), completed 1452.

--1424-5, possibly after a visit to Venice, entered into partnership with Donatello

--1424-28 tomb monument of Cardinal Baldassare Coscia (anti-pope John XXIII) in Baptistery; Brancaccio tomb in Naples (1426-8); and pulpit of the Sacro Cingolo 1433-8 on the exterior Prato Cathedral

--1430 consults with Brunelleschi & Donatello to besiege Lucca.

--1432 military engineer at Montepulciano.

--1430 travelled with Averardo de' Medici to Venice, Padua and Verona; designs undocumented work there.

--1435 returns to Florence as director of the mint.

--ca. 1435 rebuilds Medici Villa at Cafaggiolo for Averardo de' Medici.

--1433-34, according to Vasari, he accompanied Cosimo de' Medici into exile in Venice; built a library financed by Cosimo for monastery of S. Giorgio Maggiore there.

--late 1420s and 1430s Cosimo pays for Michelozzo to build monastery at Bosco ai Frati in Mugello valley, where Medici came from; nearby villa of Trebbio; and the monastery of S Marco in Florence (begun c. 1436).

--1437 Michelozzo in Montepulciano for Aragazzi tomb (not fully paid until 1469!).

--1440 in Montepulciano refaced Palazzo Comunale in travertine, supervised by a Florentine mason; reworked interior.

--1441ff supervised construction on S Lorenzo for Cosimo de' Medici, through 1454, after years of neglect on Brunelleschi's project.

--1444ff runs Palazzo Medici for Cosimo (attribution from Vasari, who says Cosimo backed away from Brunelleschi's too-elaborate competing design); palace completed about 1460.

--1440s designed Cosimo's villa at Careggi

--1440s Cosimo pays for reconstruction of monastic buildings at S. Croce; Trachtenberg proposes Michelozzo worked also on Pazzi Chapel there.

--1444 began work on the tribune of SS Annunziata. Patron was Ludovico II Gonzaga, 2nd Marchese of Mantua. Monastery tabernacle for Annunciation painting commisioned 1448 by Cosimo's son Piero de' Medici.

--1447 Piero de' Medici pays for tabernacle in S. Miniato al Monte

--1445 Michelozzo married Francesca Galigari; house near San Donnino a Brozzi, west of Florence; joined upscale Compagnia de' Magi (Company of Magi)

--1444ff begins long association with Opera del Duomo for completion of S. Maria del Fiore; appointed Master of the Cathedral Works after the death of Brunelleschi in 1446. Reworks Brunelleschi's project for the cathedral lantern. Now recognized as top architect in Florence.

--As head of the Cathedral Works, supervised defences of the Florentine Republic at castle of Castellina in Chianti & hydraulic engineering at lake at Castiglione della Pescaia (1447-8) and fisheries at Mantignano (1460).

--For the Commune of Florence, replaced disintegrating columns in Palazzo Vecchio courtyard; involved after 1457 in transformation and extension of the building

--decade 1445-1455 saw attributed work in Volterra, Fiesole, S Miniato; Strozzino Palace (1458-65) in Florence; Medici villa at Fiesole (c. 1466).

--during the 1450s his career declined: disputes at SS Annunziata 1455; leaves "design" but does not do work at S Paolo hospital (1455) in Florence; Ceppo Hospital at Pistoia (1451). Contract with the cathedral authorities not renewed after 1460.

--Vasari says he visited Milan, left designs for the Medici Bank (1454-9); accepted offer at Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) to supervise the strengthening of the city walls.

--1464 involved with fortress in Aegean; writes Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, on design of hydraulic machine for copper mines.

--1467 Michelozzo and son stop at Crete to visit the ruins at Knossos; do not return to Florence until 1469.

--illness in 1470, minor involvement with cathedral choir 1471; dies 1472, buried at S Marco, Florence.

 

 

9. The Quattrocento Taste for Gothic

Howard Saalman, "The Palazzo Communale in Montepulciano: An Unknown Work by Michelozzo," Zeitschrift für Kunstgeshichte 28 (1965):1-46; http://www.jstor.org/stable/1481669

Key works:

1. Michelozzo: Medici country villa at Careggi, 1440s

2. Michelozzo: Villa Medici Fiesole

 

--Benozzo Gozzoli, Procession of the Magi; chapel in the Medici Palace, 1459-62

--Michelozzo: other Medici country villas at Trebbio, Bosco ai Frati, Cafaggiolo, .

--Michelozzo, Palazzo Communale, Montepulciano

--Bernardo Rossellino, Misericordia, Arezzo, 1433 [48]

--Palazzo Antinori, Florence, 1465 [46]

--Attributed to Il Cronaca (Simone di Pollaiuolo; 1457-1508): Palazzo Guadagni, Florence, 1504-06 [147]

 

10.Filarete

John Onians, "Alberti and Filarete [written in Greek characters]: A Study in Their Sources," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1971):96-114; http://www.jstor.org/stable/751017

Key works:

1. Antonio Averlino, called Il Filarete: Trattato di Architettura, 1461-64.

2. Filarete: Ospedale Maggiore, Milan, 1460ff [105]

3. Filarete: Project for a palace in Venice

 

11. Alberti 1: Rucellai Palace and facade S.Maria Novella

John Summerson: "Antithesis of the Quattrocento," in Heavenly Mansions, and Other Essays on Architecture, pp. 29--50;

and

Charles Randall Mack, "The Rucellai Palace: Some New Proposals," Art Bulletin 56 (1974):517-529; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049298

this is then disputed by Kurt W. Forster: "The Palazzo Rucellai and Questions of Typology in the Development of Renaissance Buildings," Art Bulletin 58 (1976):109-113; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049468

Text: pp. 34--44.

Key works:

1. Leonbattista Alberti (1404-1472): De Re Aedificatoria ("On Building"), version for Pope Nicholas V, 1452. Published 1485 in Latin; again 1512 in Paris; 1541 in Strassbourg; 1546 in Italian at Venice; 1550 in Italian in Florence (illustrated ed.).

2. Alberti: S. Francesco [=Tempio Malatestiano], Rimini, built by Matteo de' Pasti c.1450 [36, 37]

3. Generally attributed to Alberti: Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, built by Bernardo Rossellino, 1453?-61? [39]

4. Generally attributed to Alberti: facade of S. Maria Novella, Florence, 1455ff [38]

--Attributed to Alberti: Holy Sepulchre chapel in S. Pancrazio, Florence, c. 1458-67 [40]

--Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Polifili, Venice, 1487.

 

12. Alberti in Mantua

and

Rudolph Wittkower: "Alberti's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 4 (1940):1-18; http://www.jstor.org/stable/750120; also in Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, pp. 33--56.

Text: pp. 55-73.

Key works:

Alberti: S. Sebastiano, Mantua, 1460ff; built by Luca Fancelli [41]

Alberti: S. Andrea, Mantua, 1470ff; built by Luca Fancelli [42, 43]

--Luca Fancelli, Domus Nova palace for the Gonzaga family, 1480-84

 

13. Rome 1: Vatican and St. Peter's

Charles Burroughs: "Below the Angel: An Urbanistic Project in the Rome of Pope Nicholas V," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 45 (1982):94-124; http://www.jstor.org/stable/750968

Text: pp. 55-73, especially 67-73.

Key works (listed by papal patrons as well as by architects):

1. Pope Nicholas V (Tomasso Parentucelli; 1447-55): Tower and Papal apartments in the Vatican, 1447-55, probably built by Bernardo Rossellino [56]

2. Pope Nicholas V: attributed to Alberti: project for the Borgo, c. 1450

3. Pope Nicholas V: attributed to Alberti: project for new St. Peter's, c.1450, built by Bernardo Rossellino [35]

4. Pope Pius II Piccolomini (1458-64): Benediction loggia at St. Peter's, 1461ff; built by Bernardo Rossellino and Jacopo da Pietrasanta, possibly after a design by Alberti [60]

5. Pope Paul II Barbo (l464-71): advanced Rossellino's choir of St. Peter's under Giuliano da Sangallo, 1470;

 

14. Rome 2: Pienza; Palaces & Churches

Nicholas Adams, "The Acquisition of Pienza 1459-1464," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 44 (1985):99-110; http://www.jstor.org/stable/990023

Key work:

1. Bernardo Rossellino (documented; presumed consultation from Alberti) for Pope Pius II: Pienza, its piazza, Cathedral, and Palazzo Piccolomini, 1460-62 [50, 51]

2. Paul II: Palazzo Venezia, begun 1455, expanded 1465 [68, 69]. Builders included Jacopo da Pietrasanta; desigers or superintendants Francesco del Borgo and possibly Giuliano da Sangallo.

3. Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (1471-84): four major streets, a bridge, new power to the magistri de strada for renovation

4. Sixtus IV: Sistine Chapel, 1473-81; seemingly built by Baccio Pontelli:  [66]

--Sixtus IV: new parish churches in Rome, 1470s; with participation of Baccio Pontelli and others: S. Maria del Popolo, S. Maria del Pace, S. Pietro in Montorio, S. Agostino built by Jacopo da Pietrasanta

 

15. MIDTERM EXAMINATION

 

16. Urbino, and a spectacular palace

Text: pp. 74-85, 86-101.

Key works:

Patron Federigo da Montefeltro, born 1422; ruled from 1444; created Duke 1474; died 1482.

1. Ducal Palace, Urbino [75--78 and frontispiece]. Something begun for Federigo by Maso di Bartolommeo of Florence in 1440s or 1450s. Redesigned l464-66 by Luciano Laurana to about 1472; continued by Francesco di Giorgio around 1474 until death of Federigo 1482; work done by Baccio Pontelli in years 1479-83. In 1481 Lorenzo de' Medici asks Baccio Pontelli for a drawing of the work; seemingly the Duke of Milan did, too.

2. Studiolo in palace worked on by Luciano Laurana 1464-72/74; then Francesco di Giorgio 1474-82.

--Piero della Francesca probably painted his Flagellation of Christ at Urbino around 1455-60.

--Piero: double portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza (the "Uffizi diptych"), 1465/66 or a few years later.

 

17. Francesco di Giorgio

Henry Millon: "Architectural Theory of Francesco di Giorgio," Art Bulletin 40 (1958):257-261; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3047782

1. Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501): S. Bernardino, Urbino, l482-90 [79]

2. Francesco di Giorgio: Madonna del Calcinaio, Cortona, l484ff [136--138]

--Piero della Francesca: Brera Altarpiece for S. Bernardino c. 1465 or 1472/74

--Francesco di Giorgio: Sta. Chiara convent, Urbino, 1480?

--Francesco di Giorgio (?): Urbino cathedral, partially destroyed by earthquake 1789

--Francesco di Giorgio, Treatise on Architecture, dedicated to Federigo 1476

--Francesco di Giorgio, hydraulic and military architecture

 

18. Naples

Patrons: Alfonso I, King of Naples 1442-58. His son is Ferrante (also known as Ferdinand I; ruled 1458-94); grandson Alfonso II (reigned 1494-95).

1. Pietro da Milano & Francesco da Laurana: Arch of Alfonso in the Castelnuovo, Naples; begun for King Alfonso I, l452ff [132]

2. Giuliano da Maiano: Porta Capuana, Naples, l485 [133]

3. Giuliano da Maiano: Poggioreale Palace, Naples, begun l487 for Alfonso II just before his reign as king [133]. Plan known from reproduction print by Sebastiano Serlio.

 

19. Ferrara and Biagio Rossetti

Text: pp. 118--125, 126--135

Key works:

Patron Duke Ercole d'Este, Duke from 1471ff

1. Biagio Rossetti (1447-1516): expansion of Ferrara in the Addizione Ercole, 1492

--Rossetti: San Francesco, Ferrara, l494 [121]

--Rossetti: Palazzo dei Diamanti, l493 [123]

 

20. Venice

Rudolph Wittkower: "The Problem of Harmonic Proportion in Architecture," in Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, pp. 101-16

Text: pp. 86-101

Key works:

1. Ca' Doro, Venice, 1434

2. Mauro Codussi: S. Michele in Isola, Venice, 1469-79 [91]

3. Pietro Lombardo: S. Maria de' Miracoli, Venice, 1481-89 [92, 93]; note partial subsidy by Federigo da Montefeltro

4. G.A. Amadeo: Colleoni Chapel, cathedral of S. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, 1470-73 [108]

--Possibly by Pietro Lombardo: Palazzo Dario, Venice, 1487ff [98]

--Mauro Codussi: adds facade to S. Zaccaria (c. 1444) in 1460s.

 

21. Giuliano da Sangallo: Poggio a Caiano

Linda Pellecchia: "Reconstructing the Greek House: Giuliano da Sangallo's Villa for the Medici in Florence," JSAH 52 (1993):323-338; http://www.jstor.org/stable/990838

Text: pp. 137-148

Key works:

Giuliano da Sangallo (Giuliano di Francesco Giamberti( l443-l5l6). Sangallo seems documented in Rome 1465; 1467-72 working at the Vatican.

1. Sangallo notebooks: Cod. Lat. Barb. 4424, l465ff.

2. Sangallo: Medici Villa, Poggio a Caiano, l480's [141]

A Poggio chronology:

1470s Lorenzo de' Medici shows interest in the land.

1480s he buys it, in part from the Ruccellai.

1485 Sangallo creates a model.

1487: foundations complete.

1492 Lorenzo dies.

1495-1513 Medicis exiled from Florence; no work done.

1515 Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo, returns to Florence in triumph.

1520: villa seemingly complete.

 

22. Giuliano in Prato; the Scala Palace

Key works:

1. Sangallo: S. Maria delle Carceri, Prato, 1484 [142]

2. Sangallo and Il Cronaca: Vestibule and sacristy, S. Spirito, Florence, l485 [143]

3. Sangallo: S. Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi (Cestello), Florence, early l490s [142]

4. Sangallo: palace for Bartolomeo Scala, Florence (land purchased 1473; house complete 1480). Scala lived 1430-97; chancellor of the Republic of Florence and close confidant to the Medici.

--Sangallo: Design for a palace for the King of Naples, 1488 [145]

--Sangallo: Projected Medici palace on the via Laura, Florence, after 1512 but possibly conceived 1492

 

23. The Strozzi and Gondi palaces

Richard Goldthwaite: "The Building of the Strozzi Palace: The Construction Industry in Renaissance Florence," Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 10 (1973) [Hillman library D119.S933, vol 10]

Key works:

1. Giuliano da Sangallo, Benedetto da Maiano, and il Cronaca: Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; 1489-90 [143-145]

2. Sangallo and Il Cronaca: Palazzo Gondi, Florence, ca. 1490 [143]

 

24. Leonardo from Florence to Milan

Text: pp. 148-151

Key works:

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).

1. Leonardo: Adoration of the Magi, Florence, 1481

2. Leonardo: Last Supper for S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan, 1495--97

3. Leonardo: notebook designs for architecture (including the "Vitruvian Man"), 1490s [148, 150]

Leonardo's career: 1452-73 youth and apprentice to Verrocchio; 1473-81 on his own in Florence; 1481-94 first Milan service; 1494-97 second Milan service; 1497-1503 served Cesare Borgia; 1510 documented at the Vatican; ca 1510-19 served King Francis I of France.

 

25. Bramante 1: S. Maria presso S. Satiro to S. Maria delle Grazie

Carlo Pedretti, "Newly Discovered Evidence of Leonardo's Association with Bramante," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 32 (1973):223-227; http://www.jstor.org/stable/988793

 

Donato Bramante (1444-1514) as painter and printmaker. Leaves Urbino 1472; 1478 documented at Milan. 1481 date of the Prevedari print. A minimum of six architects worked for the Milan court: Michelozzo, Filarete, Francesco di Giorgio, Leonardo, Giuliano Sangallo, and Bramante.

Key works:

1. Bramante: attributed chapels at Ducal Palace, Urbino, before 1472.

2. Bramante (1444-1514): S. Maria presso S. Satiro, Milan, l478ff and l482ff [108, 109]

3. Bramante: S. Maria delle Grazie crossing added l493ff to nave by Guiniforte Solari, 1470s [112]

--Giovanni and Guiniforte Solari: Certosa di Pavia, Pavia (south of Milan); 1429-73 [103]

 

26. Bramante 2: canonica S. Ambrogio; Pavia Cathedral; piazza Ducale at Vigevano

Wolfgang Lotz: "The Palazzo Ducale in Vigevano: A Princely Forum of the Late Fifteenth Century," in Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture, pp. 117-139.

 

Text: pp 102-117

Key works:

1. Bramante: cloisters of S. Ambrogio, Milan, l492-97

2. Attributed to Bramante: Piazza Ducale, Vigevano, 1494ff

3. Cristoforo Rocchi (and Bramante?) (and Leonardo?): Cathedral, Pavia, ca. l490 [110, 11]

 

27. All roads leading to Rome; Cancelleria Palace and Pope Innocent's Belvedere Villa

Text: pp. 70--73; pp 148--151

Key works:

1. Cancelleria Palace, Rome; ca. l489 to ca. 1513 [71, 72]. Under patron Cardinal Raffaello Riario: collaborative or sequential architects, seemingly including Francesco di Giorgio, Baccio Pontelli, and (at a late date) Donato Bramante: 

2. Under Pope Innocent VIII (Giovanni Cibo; 1484-92): Antonio Pollai[u]olo (and Francesco di Giorgio?): Villa Belvedere in the Vatican; built by Jacopo da Pietrasanta [101]

Innocent VIII was closely tied to the Medici: his son Francesco married Madellena de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo; major supporter was future pope Giuliano della Rovere.


THEME AND OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE

 

The history of art records many shifts in taste, but none more profound than the Renaissance in Italy. The Early Renaissance (1420-1500) was far more than an art movement: it was a fundamental change in the way mankind saw and thought about the world. In terms of formal analysis, the Renaissance in architecture marks a return to the vocabulary and (in part) the compositional principles of classical architecture, and hence a return to the foundations of western art. The importance of this achievement can hardly be overemphasized, because the return to rationality and modular linkage in building prefigures the emphasis on rationality and scientific method so characteristic of the modern world. In terms of human significance, we are indebted to the Renaissance architects for instilling "self-awareness" in their buildings, parallel to the self-awareness of Renaissance painting, sculpture and philosophy.

This course will review manifestations of the Early Renaissance in the world of politics, letters, the visual arts and urbanism, with concentration on the formation of a new style of architecture.  The course will examine the "proto-Renaissance" of 12th-century Tuscany, and important precursor works of the 13th and 14th centuries. Florence will be the main city of focus for the first half of the course, with the scope then widening to Rome, Naples, Venice and Milan, plus such important provincial centers as Urbino and Ferrara. Brunelleschi, Alberti and the young Bramante will be the three main figures studied, but many of the concerns of the course will go beyond this particular movement of the 15th century to ask how art movements in general come into being, and how they change from a first set of objectives into a second one (in this case, the High Renaissance of the 16th century).

 

OTHER COURSE INFORMATION

 

This syllabus is accessible at www.franktoker.pitt.edu; just click on HAA1305. The advantage of the electronic version is that the many readings on-line become instantly accessible, too.  The course text is Ludwig Heydenreich's Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500 (revision by Paul Davies), on sale at the Book Center.  I recommend that you read ahead on the pages marked "Text" in the Course Schedule. The reserve desk in Frick Library holds a score of supplementary texts for the course, and many other relevant books are easily available from Frick, Hillman, and Carnegie libraries. The readings cited here are almost all accessible on http://www.jstor.org. If you are working off-campus you will need to go to https://sremote.pitt.edu, then following the links to "find articles," "databases a-z," then the JSTOR database (this takes a few seconds, but establishes you as an authorized user). Or even faster: go to www.library.pitt.edu home page, and on the right of the screen, clik on "connecting from off campus?"

 

Office hours: I am available in my office (balcony of Frick Library reading room) every Tuesday from 10 to 12 noon, or we can arrange other times if you reach me by telephone at 412.648.2419 or e-mail ftoker@pitt.edu; I will quickly respond to questions you leave for me there. We could also go out for post-class snacks or early dinner.

 

Grading is based 30% on the midterm test, 30% on the final examination, 10% on participation in class; and 30% on your class presentation (see below). By participation is meant not merely regular attendance but asking at least two questions or making two observations in class during the term. Both the midterm and the final will involve analytical skills as well as evidence of thought about the lectures.  A strong performance on the final examination and the term paper can improve a weak grade on the mid-term.

This course follows this Department's statement on academic integrity: "Plagiarizing is an act that violates the Student Conduct Code, and will not be tolerated in this class. Plagiarized assignments will result in a failing grade for that assignment."  Note that in the world of the Internet, plagiarizing has gotten ever more easy: it is mandatory that the full URL address be given for every website you draw upon for your research.

 

The class presentation. You will note about thirty of the key works are not merely bolded but bolded. Those are the works available for your class presentation, on the date stipulated in the first part of this syllabus. Other topics would also be acceptable, if research resources exist for them. You can give this presentation yourself (many students prefer to work this way) or with a partner. In fairly exceptional cases, the group could consist of three students (in which case one might work on the architect, one on the construction history, and one on the interaction of the building with its surrounding city).

A full third of your term grade is riding on this presentation, so do not let it go too long (I will impose no "deadlines": it's up to you). I will accept the first bid I get for any topic, and when all the topics are gone, they are gone--and with it 1/3 of your term grade if you are left out in the cold. Time limit: 10 minutes, 15 maximum. Format: PowerPoint: email me your PowerPoint, whose receipt I will acknowledge almost immediately. Or bring your flash drive to my office about an hour before class. Bringing a flash drive to class, last minute, is unacceptable. Hardcopy: No text need be written out, but you will need to bring to class one page for every student (about 33) that will summarize main points about the building (or treatise) and give main bibliography you used. More details as we get into this.

 

Main questions to address in your presentation (for simplicity, this assumes you are writing on a single building, but you can extrapolate for a city, architect, theme etc.) 

1) description of the building (architect, city plan, theme, etc.);

2) history of how it came about;

3) analysis of how it works, what decisions the architect took, where it fits in its context, etc.;

4) critique of how successful or unsuccessful the building (city, architect etc.) is. 

What is the "problem" of this building? i.e. what was it about the function, structure, placement, political importance etc. of this building that makes it noteworthy?  Then recapitulate its construction history (were there numerous changes in design before or during construction?), and add a short note of any changes post-construction.  Finally, the last third of the presentation should be an assessment of the accomplishment of this particular building: where does the building stand in the career of its architect? Or in the history of that particular building type?  Or in the history of whatever city or state it stands in (or was meant to stand in)?  How did it change the course of Early Renaissance architecture, or how might it have changed it?  You need to assess success or failure in the building, and specify your criteria.

 

Guidelines for a successful presenation: give it a title that presents a specific point of view, and make sure the whole presentation embodies a point of view--as any original piece of scholarship would. Start with a "problem," and keep referencing the problem throughout. What was it about the function, structure, placement, political importance etc. of your building (or architect, or city, or patron, or building type etc.) that makes it noteworthy?

 

Research To get these answers, you need to research the building, architect, theme etc. The Heydenreich text discusses nearly all the buildings you might choose, but you'll need background information. Three valuable volumes, all in the Frick Reference Room (the smaller room behind the Reading Room, with the computers and photocopy machine in it) are the two-volume International dictionary of architects and architecture; the four-volume Macmillan encyclopedia of architects, and the thirty-four volume Dictionary of Art (also on-line under "Grove Dictionary of Art" on www.library.pitt.edu).  Ask someone on duty in the library to guide you to them.  It's certain that every one of your architects will be listed there, and a very large number of your buildings.  Beware, however, of helping yourself too liberally to their contents: I own the first two sets, and constantly turn to the third, so I'll spot plagiarism in about 30 seconds.

Specific to the Renaissance: Enciclopedia dell'Arte Medioevale (9 vols and growing): yes it's in Italian, but lists articles and books in all languages; and it's for the Middle Ages but plenty of Renaissance people got covered too.

--Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art (2 volumes carved out of The Dictionary of Art)

--Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (6 vols): good but spotty in coverage of some architects and not others. Good for "themes," such as the Renaissance revival of antiquity.

--Encyclopedia of World Art--good long articles on main architects.

If your investigation turns up articles, go to www.jstor.org, from which you may be able to get the whole article fast, on-line (for sure if it's from Art Bulletin or Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians).  If it's not on-line, check PITTCAT to see if Frick or Hillman carries that journal, and order the relevant volume.

PITTCAT in any case is crucial to your search, since it gives you all books in the university library system.  Look up your particular architect or building, but always broaden your search by typing in "Subject Heading = architecture, Renaissance Italy."  This will bring up numerous books that will help you refine your search.

Lastly, some more far-reaching databases: PITTCAT is the most important, for all the electronic resources you find there. Go to "databases A to Z" to find a specific database, OR "Databases by subject" and go to "art and architectural history."  The five databases most useful to you are: Grove Dictionary of Art (already cited above): Bibliography of the History of Art; Art full text for recent journal entries; art index retrospective, for older entries; and Art bibliographies modern, for both books and journals on topics since about 1850 but also earlier.  Many of the databases give summaries of all articles covered, which helps get over hurdle of foreign languages.  The website for Frick Library is: www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/frick/fine_arts.html. Go to it, and click at the bottom of the page, on Art History and Architectural History Subject Guide. This will bring you to a full listing of the databases available.

 

Some miscellaneous sources: Looking for books that you know exist but are not in the University of Pittsburgh system?  Then go to www.library.pitt.edu, and click on 'other libraries'.  This will bring you to www.worldcat.com, which tells you which libraries DO have that book. You might get it delivered by inter-library-loan in time. This ALSO works with scholarly journals that UPittsburgh might not have.  Inter-library-load can get a computer-based PDF of an article very quickly.

 

Value of this assignment: this is your chance to leave your own mark on the history of architecture. Giving this oral presentation will help with your own intellectual formation for years to come, and might even change your life. An earlier student in this class wrote a whole M.A. paper from what he observed in this course.

Good luck with what should be a fascinating search!

--Frank Toker

 

BOOKS ON RESERVE

 

Alberti, Leon Battista: On the Art of Building in Ten Books (Rykwert edition)

Argan, Giulio Carlo: The Renaissance City

Battisti, Eugenio: Filippo Brunelleschi: The Complete Work

Benevolo, Leonardo: The Architecture of the Renaissance (2 vols.)

Borsi, Franco: Leon Battista Alberti

Bruschi, Arnaldo: Bramante

Burckhardt, Jacob: The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy

Gadol, Joan M. Kelly: Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renaissance

Goldthwaite, Richard: The Building of Renaissance Florence: An Economic and Social History

Heydenreich, Ludwig: Architecture in Italy, 1400-1500 (revision by Paul Davies); the first half of Heydenreich and Wolfgang Lotz: Architecture in Italy, 1400 to 1600

Kruft, Hanno-Walter: A History of Architectural Theory: From Vitruvius to the Present

Lotz, Wolfgang: Studies in Italian Renaissance Architecture, especially chapter 1, "The Rendering of the Interior in Architectural Drawings of the Renaissance," pp. 1--65

Lowry, Bates: Renaissance Architecture

Millon, Henry, ed., The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo: the representation of architecture

Murray, Peter: The architecture of the Italian Renaissance

Murray, Peter: Renaissance Architecture

Payne, Alina: The Architectural Treatise in the Renaissance

Saalman, Howard: Brunelleschi: Studies in his buildings (2 vols.)

Smith, Christine: Architecture in the cult of early humanism . . . 1400--1470

Summerson, John: Heavenly Mansions, and Other Essays on Architecture

 

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT BOOKS IN FRICK LIBRARY (mainly reference room)

Blunt, Anthony: Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600

Ferguson, Wallace K. et al.: The Renaissance: Six Essays

Frankl, Paul: Principles of Architectural History: The Four Phases of Architectural Style, 1420-1900

Furnari, Michele: Formal Design in Renaissance Architecture: From Brunelleschi to Palladio (at Carnegie)

Gilbert, Creighton: Italian Art, 1400-1500: Sources and Documents

Grafton, Anthony: Leon Battista Alberti : master builder of the Italian Renaissance

Hall, Peter: Cities in civilization: culture, innovation, and urban order

Hartt, Frederick: History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

Hersey, George: Pythagorean Palaces

The Horizon Book of the Renaissance

Klein, Robert: Italian Art, 1500-1600: Sources and Documents

Jestaz, Bertrand: Architecture of the Renaissance: From Brunelleschi to Palladio (at Carnegie)

King, Ross: Brunelleschi's dome: how a Renaissance genius reinvented architecture

Lillie, Amanda: Florentine villas in the fifteenth century: an architectural and social history

Masson, Georgina: Italian Villas and Palaces

Morris, A. E. J.: History of urban form before the industrial revolutions

Onians, John: Bearers of Meaning: The Classical Orders in Antiquity, The Middle Ages, and the Renaissance

Payne, Alina: Interpreters of Antiquity

Scott, Geoffrey: The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste

Stegmann, Carl: The Architecture of the Renaissance in Tuscany (2 vols).

Trachtenberg, Marvin: Dominion of the Eye: Urbanism, Art and Power in Early Modern Florence, Cambridge, 1997

Trexler, Richard: Public Life in Renaissance Florence

Turner, Harold: From Temple to Meeting House: The Phenomenology and Theology of Places of Worship

Vasari, Giogio: Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (Vasari wrote around 1550, so he knew none of the Early Renaissance architects personally, but his biographic details are still valuable.)

Wittkower, Rudolph: Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, especially "The Centrally Planned Church and the Renaissance," pp. 1-12

Wölfflin, Heinrich: Principles of Art History: The Problem of the Development of Style in Later Art

Wölfflin, Heinrich: Renaissance and Baroque