Blog #3- Chapter 19 Renaissance Art in 15th Century Italy

The piece I have chosen for this blog is Nanni di Banco’s The Four Crowned Martyrs. Banco won the commission to create a sculpture representing the patron saints of the stone carvers and woodworkers guilds (to which he belonged) for the Guild Building, the Orsanmichele in Florence. His piece was completed between 1409-1417. Although Nanni chose to set the stage for his 4 Martyrs by placing them in what looks like a Gothic Church, with a roofline that became popular 100 years later in the Flamboyant Style as seen on the Church of Saint Maclou, he created his Martyrs in Classical Roman style. The four men have solid bodies, and are dressed in togas. But he does something different with them. He has them standing in a semi-circle that brings the viewer into the picture, as the completed imaginary circle extends outside of the niche to where the viewer would be standing. Below the 4 Martyrs, is a relief panel showing the sculptors at work. Although only a few inches deep, Nanni cut deeply into the panel to give his figures a 3d depth that is very effective.

The top photograph shows the stone carved niche as it would have been seen right up to as recently as 2005, when it was cleaned. Covered in the black grime of the modern city of Florence, many people probably just walked past and did not take in the beauty of this piece. The lower photo is the way it looks today, and the way it looked back in 1417 when it was completed. What a difference! The figures are very realistically carved and are prominently set off by the black and white faux dome just inside the niche.


I was drawn to this piece because I am just finishing up my first stone sculpture. My piece is 2 feet wide by 1 foot high by 2 feet deep, and weighs around 65 lbs. It has taken me weeks to carve and in the last week, I have spent hours polishing the surface. I can not imagine working on 4 human figures, each 6 feet high, and with that detail of their clothing and facial expression… and not break it at some point! How did Nanni even get his stone sculpture into that niche? It must have weighed thousands of pounds! I can hardly lift my small sculpture to get it on the worktable each day. I have a whole new respect for stone carvers of any time period!

Chapter 18- "15th Century Art In Norther Europe"

Relate one thing from the reading to your everyday world.

The one section of this chapter that really spoke to me was the section that talked about fiber arts, as I enjoy working in this medium. The tapestries of the 15th century served many purposes- they told stories, as seen in the Hunt for the Unicorn series, they were a symbol of wealth, they provided beautiful decorations, and they provided insulation from the cold in those stone houses and castles of the time. I have seen some of these tapestries in castles in England, in museums in Europe, and in the Vatican in Rome. They are extremely large and incredibly intricate. What is so impressive about tapestry as an art form is how they are made. When you paint a picture, you can work at any point on the canvas. You can start and stop. You can go in and redo a section that you don’t like, by painting over it. But with a tapestry, you have to plan out the whole picture down to the smallest detail ahead of time. Then you have to weave row after row of colored yarn starting with the first row on the bottom and working your way up to the top, row by row. For example, with the making of the “Unicorn is found at the Fountain”, you would have to know that in row 56 (just choosing one at random) , you have to make over 100 color changes to create the background, leaves, legs and body parts of the various animals, flower petals, oranges, lions paws and tail, foreground, and the hidden letters representing the patrons. And after completing that row, you would have to start all over again with row 57 and onward!!

This fascinates me because I like to make art quilts. I use fabric that I have applied fusible webbing to the back of, and with many different colors, I create scenes or abstract pictures. After creating the top, I sew all the pieces in place with a multitude of colorful threads, varying the length and the type of stitch to make a unique design. Like the tapestries of the 15th century, I use many different threads to create a complete piece. My quilts are very basic when compared to the Tapestries of the 15th century, but I am inspired by them and hope to attain some of their eye for detail in my future projects!
(Some of my art quilts...)

(The detail of the stitching of my "Afternoon in Maui" quilt)

Blog Assignment #1 Three pictures that represent me:

This last photo is of an elaborate park bench in Antoni Gaudi's Park Guell in Barcelona. This elaborate bench, made in the medium of mosaic tiles formed from  thousands of pieces of pottery, =glass and tiles and winding all through the garden was the first piece of art that I was drawn to because I feel that my life is a patch work of differing experiences all patched together to make a meandering whole. Like this bench, my life has a multitude of different periods, interests and focal points. My life  goes forward, changing constantly, but always providing a place to rest for those I love!

Blog Assignment #1- 3 pictures that represent me:

This second picture represents my energy. I have been told that I am like a wind up toy that never turns off.... explosive, frenetic energy that has no end. Painting in the era of Expressionism, Derians' explosive use of color and lines make his trees and grass come alive. His abstraction of the branches of the trees give them the look of firecrackers waiting to explode. His use of bold colors on  the hillsides make them look like they are  on fire and the mountains look like volcanic eruptions. I feel  a very strong pulse of vibrant energy when I look at this piece and it resonates with my own energy level, sometimes chaotic and unfocused, but always there. 

Blog Assignment #1- Three pieces that represent me:

This first picture represents my maternal instincts of caring, nurturing, giving and loyalty. Kauffmann painted this for an English patron in 1785. Like Cornelia, I too have 2 boys and one girl and they are my most valuable treasure. In painting Cornelia wearing a white dress, and placed in the center of the picture, balanced on either side by her children, Kauffmann presents the mother in the idealized angelic model of perfect mother.