among his rare jewels and works of art.
While exquisite hand-illuminated books were being created for the very wealthy, in the 1440s Johann Gutenberg (1398–1468) was able to expand on the block printed books of the fourteenth century by creating moveable type and modifying presses used for making wine to develop a more efficient and less expensive system for printing.
Other innovations of the time included Filippo Brunelleschi’s (1377–1446) development of one point perspective for painting. This system allowed for greater illusionism in two-dimensional paintings, creating the impression of three-dimensional space. This was a breakthrough from the flattened, awkward pictures of the Middle-Ages.
This period was also known as the dawn of the Age of Exploration. Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) sailed across the Atlantic for the Americas in 1492 under the flag of Castille. While the Portuguese explorer, Pedro Alvares Cabral (1467–1520), later would claim Brazil for Portugal in 1500.
The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama (1469–1524), also sailed to India in 1498 around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, which had been explored by Bartholomew Diaz in 1487. These sea routes would lead to tremendous expansion of European wealth and power through international trade.
52. Konrad von Soest, active 1394–1422, Northern Renaissance, German, The Wildunger Altarpiece, c. 1403, Oil on panel, 158 × 267cm, Church of Bad Wildungen, Bad Wildungen
53. Frater Francke, 1380-c.1430, International Gothic, German, Pursuit of St Barbe, 1410–15. Tempera on panel, National Museum, Helsinki
54. Limbourg Brothers, International Gothic, Flemish, The Very Rich Hours of the Duc of Berry: January, 1412–1416, Illumination on vellum paper, 22.5 × 13.6 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly
These three Flemish brothers were the most famous illuminators of late Gothic. The Very Rich Hours of the Duc de Berry in January is considered their greatest work and an outstanding example of International Gothic art. The miniatures are by common consent masterpieces of manuscript illumination for their masterful rendering of space and their use of unusual colours.
55. Gentile da Fabriano, 1370–1427, International Gothic, Italian, Adoration of the Magi, 1423. Tempera on panel, 303 × 282 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
The large, beautifully gilded Altarpiece for the Strozzi Chapel of The Holy Trinity in Florence presents the Epiphany event. In its three lower panels, with details like that of Dutch miniatures, it also shows three other related events from the New Testament: The Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The elegantly dressed three kings and their large entourages, with horses and a large dog nearly dominate the scene. Gentile’s subjects in subsequent paintings, such as Golden Alms of St. Nicholas (1423), become more natural as if anticipating the masters of Italian Renaissance painting.
Gentile da Fabriano
(1370 Fabriano – 1427 Rome)
Fabriano was a leader of Italian late Gothic. His works were religious, characterized with elegant gold gilding. His masterpiece is the Altarpiece, Adoration of the Magi (1423). Shortly afterwards he showed new insight into perspective with foreshortening of his subjects as in Golden Alms of St. Nicholas (1425).
56. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden, 1425, Fresco, 208 × 88 cm, Brancacci Chapel of
Santa Maria della Carmine, Florence
This scene represents the expulsion of Adam and Eve following the Original Sin. Rays coming from the gate of Paradise represent the Voice of the Creator. The source of light, however, is to the right, as can be seen from the shadows. The Archangel Gabriel with his symbolic sword hovers above. The breakthrough element in the fresco is the depiction of human emotion by way of the body language and facial expressions of the couple. The important comparison to be made here is between this work and that of Michelangelo’s treatment of the same biblical moment in his larger The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The latter was done only seventy-five years after the Masaccio, yet there is a leap ahead towards realistic, albeit monumental, rendering of the human forms of the couple. The figure of the angel in the Michelangelo expresses more depth and aggression. However, a few months before the Michelangelo, Dürer’s Adam and Eve (1509) gives the couple even more realistic shape, yet the infamous fig leaves are used and the poses are rather lifeless, compared even to the Masaccio.
57. Frater Francke, 1380-c.1430, International Gothic, German, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1424. Tempera on panel, 99 × 88.9 cm, Kunsthalle, Hamburg
58. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Madonna and Child with St Anne Metterza, c. 1424. Tempera on panel, 175 × 103 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Masaccio was deeply influenced by Giotto’s work. This work doesn’t show superfluous decoration. Its bare aspect, and the treatment of perspective, prove how Masaccio changed drastically the traditional pictorial expression.
59. Tommaso Masaccio, 1401–1428, Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Tribute Money, c. 1428, Fresco, 255 × 598 cm, Brancacci Chapel of
Santa Maria della Carmine, Florence
Before they were written down as gospels, the oral tradition of the early church passed along fascinating stories about the life of Jesus, including miracles, miraculous healings, and other spectacular events. One such miraculous moment in the life of St. Peter, the most dominant of the apostles of Jesus, recalls when The Master told Peter, formerly a fisherman, to pay a tax collector with a coin that Peter would find in the mouth of a fish. This fresco shows Peter on the left catching the fish. On the right he gives the coin to the tax collector. In the middle of the work, Jesus is discussing matters with his apostles and the same tax collector. Jesus is mid-way in the vertical and slightly to the left of the horizontal mid-point. Masaccio shows a great master of perspective in this work. The characters are put in circle (not in the disposition of a frieze) and the grounds are depicted behind each other, terracing each other. The character in the foreground is all in volumes, with a strong modelling of his legs. His back to the viewer, he closes the composition and inserts depth into the painting.
Tommaso Masaccio
(1401 San Giovanni Valdarno – 1427 Rome)
He was the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance, innovating with the use of scientific perspective. Masaccio, originally named Tommaso Cassai, was born in San Giovanni Valdarno, near Florence. He joined the painters’ guild in Florence in 1422.
His influences came from the work of his contemporaries, the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello, from whom he acquired the knowledge of mathematical proportion he used for scientific perspective, and the knowledge of classical art that led him away from the prevailing Gothic style.
He inaugurated a new naturalistic approach to painting that was
