Art of the Florentine Renaissance

Art of the Florentine Renaissance

Hi. I’m Rick Steves, back with
more of the best of Europe.
This time, rather than
a particular place,
we’re going thematic
and traveling anywhere
that theme takes us.
This time, it’s the art of
the Florentine Renaissance,
with a star-studded cast, from
art-loving princes and popes
to Mona Lisa
to Michelangelo’s David.
Thanks for joining us.
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-After centuries
of medieval struggles,
Europe enjoyed a reawakening
to the enlightened ways
of ancient Greece and Rome.
For two centuries,
roughly 1400 to 1600,
there was an explosion of art,
learning, and culture.
This rebirth was known
as the Renaissance.
We’ll focus on Florence,
the birthplace and epicenter
of that cultural big bang.
We’ll see the dramatic
revolution in art,
revel in the bold spirit
of the times,
and meet the artistic geniuses
who made it possible.
Celebrating the art
of the Early Renaissance,
we’ll admire the works of
Ghiberti,
who merged art and mathematics
to show the illusion of depth,
Brunelleschi, who built
the greatest dome yet,
and Donatello, who gave
his statues emotion and life.
Then we’ll meet the three greats
of the High Renaissance —
Leonardo, the quintessential
Renaissance genius,
Raphael, a master of grace
who decorated the Vatican
with pre-Christian
and very Renaissance themes,
and Michelangelo,
with his beloved art —
statues and paintings
that inspire to this day.
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Though best known for its art,
the Renaissance would change
Europe in every way,
from politics to economics
to religion.
Most of all, it was a whole
new attitude toward life,
a new optimism and confidence.
It was humanism.
Humanism focused
not on our sinfulness,
as dominated the Middle Ages,
but in our essential goodness.
People worked hard,
making money was respectable,
and excellence was rewarded.
Real-life people,
not just saints and kings,
were worthy —
worthy of being portrayed
realistically,
in all their human glory.
Humanism.
In politics, the Renaissance
meant budding democracy.
It was people power, not kings.
This was the city hall.
In economics, merchants were
developing modern capitalism,
like banking and loans.
Scientists were delving
into nature.
Artists were employing
new techniques to show depth
and to portray things
more realistically.
And architects were
going forward by going back —
to ancient Greek-style columns
and Roman-style arches.
If the Renaissance was the
foundation of our modern world,
a foundation for the Renaissance
was classical art.
Sculptors, painters,
and poets alike
turned to ancient work
for inspiration.
For example, this Renaissance
portrayal of the Three Graces
was inspired by ancient versions
from 1,500 years earlier.
This Renaissance goddess?
Clearly modeled on works done
in ancient times.
And this holy Virgin Mary
looks suspiciously
like this very pagan
ancient goddess of love.
The great pre-Christian
thinkers,
like Plato and Aristotle,
were back in vogue.
And in architecture,
the ultimate
Renaissance-designed church
was essentially
this ancient dome
placed upon
this ancient basilica.
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The city of Florence was
the epicenter of the Renaissance
and in so many ways
the birthplace
of our modern Western world.
And for good reason.
This was where capitalism
was replacing feudalism.
The city had money,
and it knew what to do with it.
Florence was a prosperous city,
a producer of wool
and fancy clothes,
well located
along a busy river.
Trade brought bankers,
who brought money.
And wealthy businessmen
showed their civic pride
by investing in their city,
commissioning splendid art
from talented artists —
artists who were now respected
and well paid.
With all this going for it,
Florence of the early 1400s
unleashed a cultural explosion.
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Three works
by pioneering geniuses
helped launch the Renaissance —
the towering dome
of its cathedral,
the groundbreaking statues
that decorated it,
and the doors of its baptistery.
Excitement over
these bold projects,
by three greats
of the early Renaissance —
Brunelleschi, Donatello,
and Ghiberti —
sparked a citywide boom
in art and creativity.
To better understand
the groundbreaking art
of the early Renaissance,
we’re joined by my friend
and fellow tour guide
Elena Fulceri.
-Well, some say
that the Renaissance
truly started here in 1401,
when the city arranged
a competition
to select an artist
for the bronze casting
of a new door
of the baptistery.
The winning panel was made
by a brilliant goldsmith
named Lorenzo Ghiberti.
-Ghiberti —
this is a self-portrait —
won the competition
with this panel.
He then completed the north
doors of the baptistery
with additional panels
like this.
So, the competition doors
were on the north side.
-Exactly.
And later on,
Ghiberti was in charge
of another wonderful project.
He cast in bronze the
eastern door of the baptistery,
which ended up being so
revolutionary and so spectacular
that it was nicknamed
"the Gate of Paradise."
And as you can see here,
Ghiberti was able to use
also the rules of prospettiva,
perspective,
mathematical laws that help
defining
the three-dimensionality.
And you can see, there is
a foreground, middle ground,
and background.
-By doing this, Ghiberti creates
a vanishing point
that gives the illusion
of depth,
a believable 3-D scene
on a 2-D surface.
-They were considered
revolutionary
for the three-dimensionality
that they offered.
-It’s like now the viewer
is involved in the art.
-Exactly.
We feel part of the artwork.
It’s three-dimensional.
It goes way beyond the shape
of the panel.
And it’s achieved
by mathematical laws.
And the next great
Renaissance achievement
was the construction of the dome
for the cathedral.
It was a huge medieval church
that after 120 years
was left incomplete,
with a huge hole.
So the city really needed
the proper technology
and the right genius.
And this genius was
Filippo Brunelleschi.
With his innovative
eight-sided design,
Brunelleschi was able to finish
the largest dome in 1,000 years.
And this is the essence
of the Renaissance.
You can see how art and science
can create great beauty.
-The cathedral
and its soaring bell tower
were landmark accomplishments
in architecture,
and they were to be decorated
inside and out
with wonderful statues.
For this, Florence turned
to Brunelleschi’s good friend
and Ghiberti’s assistant,
the sculptor Donatello.
An eccentric, innovative,
workaholic master,
Donatello lit up his statues
with an inner soul,
giving his subjects
unprecedented realism
and emotion.
This balcony,
from where the choir sang,
captures the exuberance
of the Renaissance.
Dancing and swirling
in a real space,
unconstrained by the columns,
Donatello’s happy angels
celebrate the freedom and spirit
of this new age.
His Mary Magdalene,
carved out of wood,
is provocative,
shockingly realistic.
Rather than a saint in glory,
Donatello portrays
a real person,
whose entire being
is about the spiritual
rather than the physical.
Hands folded in prayer
and emaciated from fasting,
she’s repentant.
While her neglected
physical body seems fragile,
she exudes strength in spirit,
with a faith that salvation
will be hers.
Before the Renaissance,
church architecture,
because it was the house of God,
was the most noble art form.
Other arts, like statues,
paintings, and stained glass,
were especially worthwhile
if they ornamented the church.
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With his bronze David,
Donatello helped revolutionize
sculpture.
Renaissance man now stands
on his own.
This is one of the first
freestanding nudes
sculpted in Europe
in 1,000 years.
While the formal subject
is still biblical —
David slaying the giant —
truth be told,
it’s a classical nude,
a celebration of the human body.
Driven in part by artists,
society was changing.
A generation before,
this would have been shocking.
But with the Renaissance,
it’s art for art’s sake,
adorning not a church
but a noble family’s courtyard.
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By the late 1400s,
the Florentine Renaissance
was in full bloom,
and that exuberant spirit
is best found
in the big, colorful paintings
of Sandro Botticelli.
As a member of
the Medici circle —
he was even a friend
of Lorenzo the Magnificent —
he studied their collection of
ancient statues.
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Botticelli found inspiration
in the balanced compositions,
the naked beauty,
and secular humanistic outlook.
As he painted, he created
visions of pure beauty
that captured the optimistic
springtime, or primavera,
of the Renaissance.
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The epitome of
Early Renaissance beauty
may be Botticelli’s
"Birth of Venus,"
the first large-scale depiction
of a naked woman
in a thousand years.
Born from the foam of a wave,
Venus is just waking up.
The world itself seems fresh
and newly born.
The god of the wind sets
the whole scene in motion.
Floating ashore
on her scallop shell,
Venus takes center stage.
Botticelli creates
an ideal world, perfectly lit.
The bodies curve harmoniously.
The faces are idealized,
and their gestures exude grace.
Naked as a newborn,
Venus symbolized the optimism
of the Renaissance.
By the year 1500,
what had begun in Florence
a century earlier
was coming to a peak,
an exciting time known
as the High Renaissance.
Italy was thriving,
with a huge appetite for art.
Artists who in earlier times
had toiled
as anonymous craftsmen
were now famous and well paid.
Three towering artists,
all with Florence connections,
brought the Renaissance
to its culmination
and then helped spread it
throughout Italy and beyond —
Leonardo, Michelangelo,
and Raphael.
Leonardo da Vinci
was the ultimate well-rounded
Renaissance man —
inventor, engineer, sculptor,
and painter.
Always asking why and how,
he filled up entire notebooks
with sketches and ideas.
When he was an apprentice,
just a boy,
Leonardo painted
this beautiful angel,
with curly hair, rosy cheeks,
and innocent gaze.
Welcomed as a part of the elite
and enlightened Medici circle,
young Leonardo was already
developing the elements
of his signature style —
Meditative Madonnas,
a playful baby Jesus
amid a hazy,
mysterious backdrop.
One of Leonardo’s
greatest masterpieces
decorates a dining hall
in a Milan monastery.
"The Last Supper."
It’s Jesus’ last meal
with his disciples,
just before he’d be crucified.
Leonardo packs the scene
with psychological tension.
He captures the moment
Jesus says,
"One of you will betray me,"
and the apostles, huddling
in stressed-out groups of three,
wonder, "Lord, is it I?"
In this agitated atmosphere,
only the traitor Judas,
clutching his 30 pieces
of silver, is not shocked.
Leonardo’s use
of linear perspective
gives the scene an extra punch.
He makes the painted room
an extension of the actual room,
with shadows as if lit
by the real room’s windows.
All the lines of perspective
converge toward the center,
subconsciously drawing you
to the powerful emotional
focal point — Jesus.
His calm expression
makes it clear
that he knows
the painful sacrifice ahead
and accepts it.
Constantly evolving,
Leonardo perfected
his signature sfumato,
or "hazy," technique,
the soft outlines of the faces,
the mysterious mountains
fading in the mist.
Using what’s called
atmospheric perspective,
he showed depth by understanding
how colors become muted
when more distant.
He managed to create scenes
that looked perfectly natural
but had an underlying geometry
that reflected the order seen
in nature.
And with his "Mona Lisa,"
all these techniques
came together marvelously.
Lisa, a woman from Florence,
rests easily,
as if sitting in a window
looking out.
Remarkably realistic
and relaxed,
her body is a solid pyramid,
turned slightly at an angle
so we can appreciate its mass.
With its hazy background
emphasizing the depth,
the overall mood is
one of serenity and harmony,
but with an element of mystery,
especially the enigmatic smile.
Leonardo’s hazy sfumato
blurs the edges.
That’s why, try as we might,
we can never quite see
the corners of her mouth.
Is she happy or sad?
Everyone sees her differently.
For me, this painting sums up
the Renaissance —
balance, confidence,
and humanism,
the age when the common
individual, Mona Lisa,
becomes artworthy.
In his long career,
Leonardo da Vinci,
by combining art and science,
revolutionized our notion
of art.
He was the epitome of perhaps
the highest compliment
an artist can receive,
a true Renaissance genius.
Leonardo strongly influenced
another talented young artist —
Raphael.
By combining the grace
of Leonardo,
the power
of Florentine sculpture,
and the humanist spirit
of the age,
Raphael became the master
of High Renaissance painting.
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A true prodigy, young Raphael
quickly mastered realism.
In these portraits, he captured
the proud faces, rich clothing,
and fine jewelry of this cloth
merchant and his noble wife.
He gave them Leonardo’s
Mona Lisa treatment —
turned at a three-quarter pose,
arms and hands resting
comfortably.
This Madonna also pays homage
to Leonardo.
Mary presides in a beautiful
earthly setting,
with a young Jesus
and curly-haired,
little Johnny the Baptist,
washed in warm sfumato
and a golden glow
and posed like a pyramid.
While natural, it’s thoughtfully
planned, symmetrical —
a baby to the left,
baby to the right,
flanked by trees
and framed with clouds,
all reinforcing the atmosphere
of serenity, order,
and maternal love.
Raphael soon became the most
sought-after painter of his day.
The Pope in Rome actually hired
him to decorate his palace —
now the Vatican Museum —
with his paintings.
The classical decor
and ancient treasures
that line the halls
of the Vatican palace
show how popes of this age
actually embraced
that Renaissance respect
for pre-Christian thinking.
Raphael’s "School of Athens"
merges the ancient
and Christian worlds.
Here in the Pope’s study,
the heart of Christian Europe,
he painted not only
Christian saints
but — so radical,
so shocking for the age —
pagan philosophers —
Plato, Aristotle.
Again, in good
Renaissance style,
Raphael balances everything
symmetrically,
with all the lines
of perspective leading your eye
to dead center,
two secular saints framed
with a Renaissance arch
as their halo.
This is humanism,
the geometrically perfect world
created by a Christian god.
The ancient philosopher Plato
is none other
than Raphael’s idol,
Leonardo da Vinci.
And the guy in the black cap —
It’s young Raphael himself.
Finally, there’s
this brooding figure,
the man who would take
the High Renaissance
to the greatest heights
of all —
Michelangelo Buonarroti.
More than any previous artist,
Michelangelo pioneered the idea
that art was not just a job
but a unique personal statement,
an expression
of his inner passion.
Even as he worked for the church
and wealthy patrons,
his vision was always his own.
As a multitalented
Renaissance man,
Michelangelo made his mark
as a world-class sculptor,
painter, and architect.
As an architect,
he designed and created
this memorial chapel
for his patrons, the Medici,
a harmonious ensemble
of innovative architecture,
tombs, and sculpture.
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As a sculptor, Michelangelo
believed his figures
were already divinely created
within the stone.
He was simply chiseling away
the excess.
These rough
and unfinished statues
seem to be struggling,
like prisoners,
to free themselves
from the marble.
They show the Renaissance love
of the body
as, with his chisel,
Michelangelo reveals
these compelling figures.
Barely 25 years old,
Michelangelo established
his genius
by sculpting this pietà,
adored by centuries of pilgrims.
With powerful realism,
Michelangelo made it clear
to the faithful —
Jesus is dead.
The theological point
of this work —
He gave his life
for our salvation.
Mary’s crumpled robe accentuates
Christ’s smooth body,
helping make hard stone
look soft as skin.
Great art that delivers
an emotional punch
is no accident.
That’s its purpose,
and it does so by design.
Next, Michelangelo took on
the epic-scale statue of David,
displayed today as if the high
altar in a temple to humanism.
The young shepherd
who slew the giant
turned down the armor
of the day,
arming himself only with stones.
He throws his sling
over his shoulder
and goes out to face the giant.
Michelangelo catches David
at the exact moment
when he’s sizing up the enemy
and thinks to himself,
"I can take this guy."
This statue has come
to symbolize
that, with the Renaissance,
humankind could slay
the giant of medieval ignorance
and superstition.
David’s oversized right hand
was no accident.
It represented
how this shepherd boy,
empowered by God,
could slay the giant
and how Florence could rise
above its rival city-states.
When you look at David,
you’re looking at
Renaissance man.
Artists now made their point
using realism.
They did this by merging art
and science.
For instance, Michelangelo
actually dissected human corpses
to better understand anatomy.
This humanism was not
anti-religion.
Now, people realized
that the best way to glorify God
was not to bow down in church
all day long,
but to recognize their talents
and to use them.
Michelangelo established himself
as Europe’s greatest sculptor.
And he was a pretty darn good
painter as well.
This Holy Family,
Michelangelo’s only surviving
easel painting,
offers a closer look
at his mastery as a painter.
The solid, statuesque people
posed in a sculptural group
show why many call Michelangelo
a sculptor with a paintbrush.
He created perhaps
his greatest work
in the Pope’s Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo depicted no less
than the entire history
of the Christian world,
from the creation…
to the first people…
and, much later,
to the final event in history,
the awe-inspiring
Last Judgment.
Michelangelo painted God
busy creating
from every conceivable angle.
And the centerpiece,
the central act of creation —
God passing
the divine spark of life
to His greatest masterpiece —
you and me.
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But Michelangelo saved
his most majestic work for last.
Now, as a master architect,
he designed the dome
of the greatest church
in Christendom,
St. Peter’s in Rome.
The dome rises up
from the church’s heart,
the tomb of St. Peter,
taller than a football field
on end.
Enjoying the commanding view
from the top is a reminder
of how the cultural explosion
of the Italian Renaissance
was destined to reverberate
far and wide.
That great awakening
called the Renaissance,
a movement that had begun
in Florence,
would spread to Rome,
from Italy to Spain,
and to the north,
eventually infusing all Europe
with an invigorating spirit
of humanism
and a can-do optimism.
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Europe offers a lifetime
of artistic treasures,
and the more
you understand its art,
the more you’ll appreciate
the society that created it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our sweep
through the highlights of
the Florentine Renaissance.
And from
this Italian springboard,
this cultural explosion
spread throughout Europe.
I’m Rick Steves.
Until next time,
keep on travelin’.
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Rick Steves’ Europe Season 12 showcases Europe’s great art and architecture. © 2024 | After its medieval struggles, Europe rediscovered the art of the ancients, led by booming Florence. We revel in the bold spirit of the Cathedral’s lofty dome and Botticelli’s sweet “Venus.” Leonardo da Vinci gives us the iconic “Last Supper” and enigmatic “Mona Lisa.” And Michelangelo — sculptor of “David,” painter of the Sistine, and architect of St. Peter’s — takes the Florentine Renaissance to new heights. #ricksteveseurope #artofeurope #arthistory

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Rick Steves, America’s most respected authority on European travel, writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio.