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77-628: The Rucellai Madonna is the earlier of the two works by Duccio for which there is written documentation (the other is the Maestà of 1308–11). The altarpiece was commissioned by the Compagnia dei Laudesi , a lay confraternity devoted to the Virgin, to decorate the chapel they occupied in the transept of the newly built Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The contract for the painting, dated 15 April 1285,

154-540: A Flemish sculptor working in Rome and his pupils such as Rombaut Pauwels . Duquesnoy's Saint Susanna (1633) in Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome is an example. At the time even artists in Rome were able to see very little actual ancient Greek sculpture , and their idea of "Greekness" is rather subtle and hard to reconstruct today; to a large degree it relates to Hellenistic sculpture rather than that of earlier periods, and gives

231-605: A chapter house for the Dominican Order . Construction started c. 1343 and was finished in 1355. The Guidalotti chapel was later called "Spanish Chapel", because Cosimo I assigned it to Eleonora of Toledo and her Spanish retinue. Within the Spanish Chapel there is a smaller Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament. The Spanish Chapel was decorated from 1365 to 1367 by Andrea di Bonaiuto , also known as Andrea da Firenze. As

308-541: A characterization by style rather than a record of the place of origin. Especially for Venetian paintings , modern art history may use local terms such as scuola veneto-bizantina ("Venetian-Byzantine school") or "Byzantine (Greco-Venetian) School", especially in Italian. Maniera greca had a different meaning from the 17th century, when it described a trend in Baroque sculpture especially associated with Francois Duquesnoy ,

385-467: A familiarity with French Gothic art (which is also suggested by the aspects of the later Maestà). The Rucellai Madonna is currently displayed in the first gallery of the Galleria degli Uffizi, along with Cimabue's Santa Trinità Maestà (c. 1285) and Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna (1306). This choice follows Vasari's example by locating the originary moment (“i primi lumi”) of Italian Renaissance painting in

462-498: A few other very old buildings in Venice (the Fondaco dei Turchi for example) and on the small islands of Torcello ( Torcello Cathedral ) and Murano in the lagoon, but is not often used for other buildings (until 19th-century revivals such as Westminster Cathedral and Bristol Byzantine ). Even the rest of Venetian Gothic architecture does not owe much to Byzantium . The people of

539-620: A late boost in popularity in the decades after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 brought a new influx of Greeks and icons to Italy. Prominent collectors included Pope Paul II (d. 1471), who by 1457 had 23 micromosaic icons and 13 painted or relief ones. Some later passed to Lorenzo de' Medici , who owned 11 mosaic icons at his death in 1492. The Greek Cardinal Bessarion gave several icons to Saint Peter's, Rome , and lent Greek manuscripts to Francesco d'Este to be copied; d'Este many have had some of Paul II's icons. Italian painting up to about 1200

616-460: A monument by Bernardo Rossellino executed in 1451. In the same aisle, are located tombs of bishops of Fiesole , one by Tino di Camaino and another by Nino Pisano . The chancel (or the Cappella Tornabuoni ) contains series of famous frescoes painted from 1485 to 1490 by Domenico Ghirlandaio whose apprentice was the young Michelangelo . The frescoes represent themes from the lives of

693-516: A more restrained and less dramatic style of Baroque than that of, say, Bernini . The Italo-Byzantine icon style is usually said to have become common after the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade . The booty brought back to Europe included many icons, which probably stimulated demand for more, and provided models for local artists. The portable panel painting was not a usual form in

770-453: A portrait of Dante), Hell (on the right wall) and paradise (on the left wall). The main altarpiece of The Redeemer with the Madonna and Saints was done by Nardo di Cione 's brother, Andrea di Cione, better known as Orcagna . The large stained-glass window on the back was made from a cartoon by the two brothers. The Della Pura Chapel is situated north of the old cemetery. It dates from 1474 and

847-420: A remarkable 81% of the households of Venetian labourers possessed artworks of some sort; when icons, these would have mostly have been very small, and perhaps mostly Cretan imports (see below). However, by this period alla greca icons had come to seem old-fashioned, although some lingered until the 18th century. The Cretan icon-industry was already adopting more up to date Western styles, with some success, and

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924-409: Is a clerestory of ocular windows above which rises a ribbed, pointed quadrupartite vault. The ribs and arches are all black and white polychrome. There is a trompe-l'œil effect by which towards the apse the nave seems longer than its actual length because the piers between the nave and the aisles are progressively closer, nearer to the chancel. Many of the windows have stained glass dating from

1001-501: Is a relatively late piece, probably painted around 1340 in Italy, perhaps in Pisa , by no means entirely in the old Italo-Byzantine style. One Greek scholar describes it as "a work which most likely no Byzantine of the period would have recognized as a Greek icon". It is especially significant because by the time a canon of Cambrai Cathedral bought it for the cathedral in 1450 it was believed to be

1078-592: Is much evidence that the Cretan trade declined significantly, as the European demand had been reduced. There were also workshops led by masters with a much better reputation, who produced works of much higher quality. El Greco was trained in this part of the Cretan industry, running his own workshop for a few years before he emigrated to Italy in 1567, at the age of about 26. His very individual later Italian style might fairly be characterized as "Italo-Byzantine", though in fact

1155-555: Is now less popular among scholars. According to John Steer , "down to the thirteenth century ... all Italian local schools [of painting] were provincial variants of the central Byzantine tradition". Most of the artists of Italo-Byzantine paintings are unknown, though we know some facts about later transitional figures such as Coppo di Marcovaldo in Florence (active mid-13th century), and Berlinghiero of Lucca (active c. 1228–42). The gold ground style encouraged strong outlines in

1232-424: Is often described as a naturalistic advance over primitive Italo-Byzantine stylization, a willful misreading of a gold-ground , highly stylized and ethereal image that has much more in common with Paleologan icons than with Masaccio. Santa Maria Novella Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence , Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station . Chronologically, it

1309-428: Is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapter house contain a multiplicity of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance . They were financed by the most important Florentine families, who ensured themselves funerary chapels on consecrated ground. This church

1386-420: Is the oldest Italian document of its kind to survive. The contract states that Duccio was commissioned to paint a panel depicting the Virgin and Child and "other figures,” for which he was to be paid 150 lire. It enjoins the artist to work on no other commissions while completing the altarpiece, and specifies that the entire work must be painted by Duccio alone without workshop assistance. The contract also requires

1463-586: The Crucifixion of St Philip . On the left wall is the fresco St John the Evangelist Resuscitating Druisana and in the lunette above it The Torture of St John the Evangelist . Adam, Noah, Abraham and Jacob are represented on the ribbed vault . Behind the altar is the tomb of Strozzi with a sculpture by Benedetto da Maiano (1491). This chapel, designed by Giuliano da Sangallo , is situated on

1540-522: The Holy Face of Lucca (originally 11th-century or earlier), and the 12th-century Catalan Batlló Majesty . The painted crucifixes typically included many smaller figures in sections at the four extremities of the cross, and built out to the sides below the horizontal arms, level with Christ's torso and legs, as in the cross in Sarzana Cathedral , dated 1138, the earliest dated Tuscan painting. Of

1617-459: The Madonna and Child , but also of other subjects; essentially they introduced the relatively small portable painting with a frame to Western Europe. Very often they are on a gold ground . It was the dominant style in Italian painting until the end of the 13th century , when Cimabue and Giotto began to take Italian, or at least Florentine, painting into new territory. But the style continued until

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1694-564: The 14th and 15th century, such as 15th century Madonna and Child and St. John and St. Philip (designed by Filippino Lippi ), both in the Filippo Strozzi Chapel. Some stained glass windows have been damaged in the course of centuries and have been replaced. The one at the west end, a depiction of the Coronation of Mary , dates from the 14th century, and is based on a design of Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze . The pulpit, commissioned by

1771-530: The 15th century and beyond in some areas and contexts. Maniera greca ("Greek style/manner") was the Italian term used at the time, and by Vasari and others; it is one of the first post-classical European terms for style in art . Vasari was no admirer, defining the Renaissance as a rejection of "that clumsy Greek style" ("quella greca goffa maniera"); other Renaissance writers were similarly critical. This also covered actual Byzantine icons in Italy; by

1848-568: The 19th century Frederic Leighton depicted the Rucellai Madonna paraded through the streets in his first major painting, which bore the title Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna Carried in Procession (1853-5). In 1889, however historian Franz Wickhoff compared stylistic choices between the Rucellai Madonna and Duccio's Maestà , and soon other critics agreed that Duccio had indeed painted the Rucellai Madonna. The work, measuring 4.5 by 2.9 meters,

1925-574: The Catholic Church; it now has some 70,000 members, not all in Italy. Variants of maniera greca in contemporary sources such as inventories included alla greca , more greco , grechescha and pittura greca , as well as ones using "Cretan" or "Candia", the Venetian name for Heraklion , then as now the main city on Crete . These included quadro a la candiota and quadro candiota piccolo ("a small Candia picture"); they are probably best regarded as

2002-607: The Chapel of the Annunciation by the Cavalcanti family in 1380. It houses, after a recent period of fourteen years of cleaning and renovation, the enormous painted Crucifix with the Madonna and John the Evangelist , an early work by Giotto . The sacristy is also embellished by a glazed terra cotta and a marble font, masterpieces by Giovanni della Robbia (1498). The cupboards were designed by Bernardo Buontalenti in 1593. The paintings on

2079-478: The Italo-Byzantine style, but also developing it in new directions in terms of representing solidity and depth, and loosening up the age-old Byzantine poses. This approach, and its further development by Giotto , was slowly taken up by the main workshops in other cities, but many lesser figures in smaller or more remote cities and towns continued the old style for a considerable time. The Cambrai Madonna

2156-513: The Orthodox, to have remained unchanged since the very beginning of Christianity, and in several cases to derive either from miraculous acheiropoieta or "icons not made by human hands", or from supposed portrait paintings of Christ or the Virgin painted from the life, by Saint Luke or others. Some, especially among the clergy, felt that the beauty and greater naturalism of newer Italian styles distracted from devotion. The Greek originals received

2233-468: The Renaissance these were imported on a large scale from Crete , then a Venetian possession. Especially in later periods, the terms also cover paintings done in Italy by Greek or Greek-trained artists; some of these are difficult to distinguish from works of the Cretan School , the main source of Greek imports to Europe. In the mid-20th century, many of these were attributed to Venetian Dalmatia , which

2310-565: The Rucellai family in 1443, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and executed by his adopted son Andrea Cavalcanti . This pulpit has a particular historical significance, since it was the pulpit from which Father Tommaso Caccini denounced Galileo Galilei 's defense of Copernican heliocentrism . The Holy Trinity , situated almost halfway along the left aisle, is a pioneering early Renaissance work of Masaccio , showing his new ideas about perspective and mathematical proportions. Its meaning for

2387-842: The Virgin and John the Baptist. They contain portrayals of several members of important Florentine families. The vaults have roundels with paintings of the Evangelists. On the rear wall are the paintings Saint Dominic burns the Heretical Books and Saint Peter's Martyrdom , the Annunciation , and Saint John goes into the Desert . The stained-glass windows were made in 1492 by the Florentine artist Alessandro Agolanti , known also as Il Bidello, and were based on cartoons by Ghirlandaio. The bronze crucifix on

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2464-465: The Virgin; an image of Mary provided a focus for those devotions. The roundels on the frame represent apostles, saints, and prominent members of the Dominican order, including Saints Dominic and Thomas Aquinas. Given the bitter political enmity of Florence and Siena, the Florentine civic group's choice of a Sienese artist is noteworthy. Siena regarded the Virgin not only as its patron saint, but as Queen of

2541-663: The West before this, though a few Byzantine examples had arrived, and were often highly revered, and a few had been locally produced, like the possibly 7th-century Madonna della Clemenza . The 13th century also saw a great increase in devotions to the Virgin Mary, led by the Franciscan Order , founded five years after the sack. At this point most examples were probably made for churches, or for great households; these tended to be left to churches later. The reasons and forces that led to

2618-478: The already existing medieval part of the façade. The combined façade can be inscribed by a square; many other repetitions of squares can be found in the design. His contribution consists of a broad frieze decorated with squares, and the full upper part, including the four white-green pilasters and a round window, crowned by a pediment with the Dominican solar emblem, and flanked on both sides by enormous S-curved volutes . The four columns with Corinthian capitals on

2695-508: The art of painting can easily be compared to the importance of Brunelleschi for architecture and Donatello for sculpture. The patrons were the judge and his wife, members of the Lenzi family, here depicted kneeling. The cadaver tomb below carries in Italian the epigram : "I was once what you are, and what I am you will become". Of particular note in the right aisle is the Tomba della Beata Villana ,

2772-661: The artist to pay for and use ultramarine blue for the Virgin's robe and real gold leaf for the background. The framed panel itself—the largest of the dugento—was supplied by the Laudesi. The patron had the right of refusal. In the 16th century, the art historian Giorgio Vasari mistakenly attributed the Rucellai Madonna to Duccio's contemporary, Cimabue , in his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects . This mistake went unchallenged for centuries; in

2849-443: The centuries, the blue pigments darkened considerably and the green bole underpainting of the fleshtones became more visible. A more recent restoration has rectified those issues, thereby greatly enhancing the tonal unity and subtle naturalism of the work. The iconography of the painting was determined by the needs of the patrons and the Dominican order. The members of the Laudesi met in the chapel to sing lauds, or Latin hymns praising

2926-555: The chapel was built for the Dominicans, depictions of Saint Dominic are found in most of the frescos. The large fresco on the right wall depicts an Allegory of the Active and Triumphant Church and of the Dominican order . It is especially interesting because in the background it shows a large pink building that some think may provide some insight into the original designs for Florence Cathedral by Arnolfo di Cambio (before Brunelleschi's dome

3003-469: The chapel's altar, depicting the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Four Saints by Bernardo Daddi dates from 1344 and is currently on display in a small museum area reached ed through glass doors from the far end of the cloister. Together, the complex iconography of the ceiling vault, walls, and altar combine to communicate the message of Dominicans as guides to salvation. Rectangular in shape, towards

3080-597: The church (1456–1470). He was already famous as the architect of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini , but even more for his seminal treatise on architecture De re aedificatoria . Alberti had also designed the façade for the Rucellai Palace in Florence. Alberti attempted to bring the ideals of humanist architecture, proportion and classically inspired detailing to bear on the design, while also creating harmony with

3157-459: The church include: Italo-Byzantine Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art . It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but painted by artists without a training in Byzantine techniques. These are versions of Byzantine icons, most of

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3234-463: The city. As a result of this association, Sienese artists like Guido da Siena and Duccio came to specialize in Marian imagery. Although compositional and iconographic sources of the Rucellai Madonna are Byzantine icons, Duccio's work was modeled on recent Sienese works, and not derived directly from a Greek model. The emphasis on grace and refinement seen in the Virgin's gown and stylized anatomy may reflect

3311-418: The congregation, so with his back to them for much of the time. This encouraged the creation of altarpieces behind and above the altar were a visual devotional focus. Most larger Italo-Byzantine paintings were altarpieces, for which the elaborately-framed polyptych or "composite altarpiece" form soon developed. These were especially common in Venice, where large mural schemes in fresco were rare; mosaic

3388-401: The development of altarpieces are not generally agreed upon. Placing decorated reliquaries of saints on or behind the altar, as well as the tradition of decorating the front of the altar with sculptures or textiles, preceded the first altarpieces. During the 13th century, liturgical changes (only reversed in the 20th century) placed the priest celebrating mass on the same side of the altar as

3465-624: The later installation of a choir), The Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas and the Allegory of Christian Learning on the left wall, and the large "Crucifixion with the Way to Calvary and the Descent into Limbo" on the archway of the altar wall. The four-part vault contains scenes of Christ's resurrection, the navicella, the Ascension, and Pentecost. The five-panelled Gothic polyptych that was probably originally made for

3542-441: The left side of the main altar and dates from the end of the 13th century. Here, on the rear wall, is the famous wooden Crucifix by Brunelleschi , one of his very few sculptures. The legend goes that he was so disgusted by the "primitive" Crucifix of Donatello in the Florence's church of Santa Croce that he made this one. The vault contains fragments of frescoes by 13th-century Greek painters. The polychrome marble decoration

3619-485: The lower part of the façade were also added. The pediment and the frieze are clearly inspired by antiquity, but the S-curved scrolls in the upper part are new and without precedent in antiquity. Solving a longstanding architectural problem of how to transfer from wide to narrow storeys, the scrolls (or variations of them), found in churches all over Italy, all draw their origins from the design of this church. The frieze below

3696-607: The main altar is by Giambologna (16th century). The Filippo Strozzi Chapel is situated on the right side of the main altar. The series of frescoes by Filippino Lippi depict the lives of Apostle Philip and the Apostle Saint James the Great and were completed in 1502. On the right wall is the fresco St Philip Driving the Dragon from the Temple of Hieropolis and in the lunette above it,

3773-593: The marble statue of the Madonna and the Child by Nino Pisano, it houses several art treasures such as remains of frescoes by the Maestro di Santa Cecilia (end 13th – beginning 14th century). The panel on the left wall, the Martyrdom of St Catherine , was painted by Giuliano Bugiardini (possibly with assistance from Michelangelo). The bronze tomb, in the centre of the floor, was made by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1425. The Bardi Chapel,

3850-465: The new Gregorian calendar . Danti also placed a hole in the south facing circular window at a height of 21.35 metres (70 ft) and installed a meridian line on the floor of the church as a better method of determining the equinoxes than the armilliary sphere. However, the construction was not completed due to the death of his patron, the Grand Duke Cosimo I . Artists who produced items for

3927-520: The original portrait of the Virgin Mary painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist and was much copied by Early Netherlandish painters . Some copies are clearly Netherlandish in style, though preserving the pose and details of the original, but others previously thought to have been made in Italy may in fact have been made in the Netherlands by local artists. The maniera greca survived being replaced by

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4004-500: The painted shapes, and "figures are formed out of abstract but expressive shapes designed to identify various body parts or items of clothing while creating beautiful patterns." The term "Italo-Byzantine" is used for sculpture much less often, as the Byzantines did not provide large models to follow for that. It may be used of ivories, mosaics and the like. In architecture it is the almost inevitable term used for San Marco, Venice , and

4081-560: The painted versions the San Damiano cross of about 1100 is one of few early survivals; perhaps it has only remained intact because Francis of Assisi had a revelation in front of it around 1206. There are more survivals from later in the century; some are not entirely flat, but have the face and halo protruding somewhat from the main plane, to help visibility from below. It was to make works such as these that Italian panel painters had presumably been trained, as well as combinations of frescos,

4158-542: The painting of sculpture in both wood and stone, and illuminating manuscripts. The main masters of the new Proto-Renaissance , including Cimabue and Giotto , about whose work we have better information, mostly painted both panels and frescos, and sometimes designed mosaics , such as Giotto's Navicella outside Old Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and Berlinghiero's on the facade of the Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca. Duccio

4235-507: The parts of southern Italy and Sicily ruled by the Byzantines during the High Middle Ages often continued to speak Greek until about the 16th century and had Greek Orthodox religious habits. They and things relating to them may be called Italo-Byzantine, or alternatively "Italo-Greek" or "Italo-Albanian". The Eastern Catholic Italo-Byzantine or Italo-Albanian Catholic Church was set up to enable them to keep Orthodox traditions within

4312-526: The pediment carries the name of the patron: Iohan(n)es Oricellarius Pau(li) f(ilius) An(no) Sal(utis) MCCCCLXX ('Giovanni Rucellai son of Paolo in the year of salvation 1470'). The vast interior is based on a basilica plan, designed as an Egyptian cross (T-shaped) and is divided into a nave, two aisles set with windows and a short transept. The large nave is 100 metres long and gives an impression of austerity. The piers are of compound form and have Corinthian columns supporting pointed Gothic arches above which

4389-422: The sculptor Giambologna . An armillary sphere (on the left) and an astronomical quadrant with gnomon (on the right) were added to the end blind arches of the lower façade by Ignazio Danti , astronomer of Cosimo I, in 1572. The armilliary sphere was intended to determine the vernal equinox and this was observed for the first time publicly in 1574. The gnomon threw shadows on the astronomical quadrant to tell

4466-410: The second chapel on the right of the apse, was founded by Riccardo Bardi and dates from early 14th century. The high-relief on a pillar on the right depicts St Gregory blessing Riccardo Bardi . The walls show us some early 14th-century frescoes attributed to Spinello Aretino . The Madonna del Rosario on the altar is by Giorgio Vasari (1568) The sacristy, at the end of the left aisle, was built as

4543-532: The slow loss of Crete to the Ottomans from 1645 to 1669 seriously interrupted supplies. As the gap in style between contemporary Italian painting and Italo-Byzantine (or Greek post-Byzantine ) icons grew wider, there is evidence that at least some Italians regarded the maniera greca as superior from a devotional point of view. This was partly because of the perceived authenticity of the compositions or poses of Byzantine icons, which were believed, and proclaimed by

4620-537: The supervision of Friar Iacopo Talenti with the completion of the Romanesque - Gothic bell tower and sacristy. In 1360, a series of Gothic arcades were added to the façade; these were intended to contain sarcophagi. The church was consecrated in 1420. On a commission from the wealthy Florentine wool merchant Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai , Leon Battista Alberti designed the upper part of the inlaid green marble of Prato, also called 'serpentino', and white marble façade of

4697-456: The time according to the transalpine, Italian and Bohemian methods. Thanks to these instruments, the astronomer was able to calculate exactly the discrepancy between the true solar year and the Julian calendar, then still in use since its promulgation in 46 BC. By demonstrating his studies in Rome to Pope Gregory XIII , he helped obtain the realignment of the date of Easter and the promulgation of

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4774-453: The top Italian painters, indeed became more common, as increasing prosperity and cheap Cretan imports spread the possibility of owning an icon for the home down the economic scale. By the 16th century, as revealed by inventories, ownership of alla greca icons was highly common in noble households, and those of the senior clergy, and was spreading to the homes of the middle classes, and later the working classes. By 1615, one study showed that

4851-413: The trade of artistic icons between Venice and Crete, which by the end of the 15th century had become one of mass production. There is documentation of a specific order in 1499, of 700 icons of the Virgin Mary , 500 in a Western style, and 200 in Byzantine style. The order was placed with three artists by two dealers, one Venetian and one from mainland Greece , and the time between contract date and delivery

4928-549: The two styles of small and cheap devotional paintings by workshops of the Cretan School which were mass-produced in Crete (then ruled by Venice ) for export to the West. The alternative style was alla latina ("Latin style"), mostly a conservative Romanesque or Gothic style, where the Greek-style works followed traditional Byzantine style as far as their cheap price allowed. The Venetian archives preserve considerable documentation on

5005-439: The wall are ascribed to Vasari and other contemporary Florentine painters. The large Gothic window with three mullions at the back wall dates from 1386 and was based on cartoons by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini The Spanish Chapel (or Cappellone degli Spagnoli ) is the former chapter house of the convent. It is situated at the north side of the green Cloister ( Chiostro Verde ). It was commissioned by Buonamico (Mico) Guidalotti as

5082-419: The west it has a scarsella containing the altar and a marble crucifix by Domenico Pieratti from the early seventeenth century, donated in 1731 by Gian Gastone de' Medici . Vasari was the architect, commissioned in 1567 by Grand Duke Cosimo I , for the first remodelling of the church, which included removing its original rood screen and loft, and adding six chapels between the columns. The second remodelling

5159-464: The works of those artists. This tendentious and teleological conception of late medieval works as early instantiations of the naturalistic, volumetric, and spatial concerns of the quattrocento is, however, misleading at best, as it divorces those images from their proper historical contexts and selectively emphasizes stylistic qualities that resemble later artistic currents of which 13th-century painters would obviously been unaware. Hence, Rucellai Madonna

5236-533: Was an exception here, mainly just painting panels. Venetian Crete had a busy painting industry, with Cretan, Italian, and (especially after 1453) mainland Greek artists at work. There are examples both of artists from different backgrounds setting up workshops together, and of both Italian and Cretan patrons commissioning works from a painter of a different background. At least by the late 15th century, Italian importers also used maniera greca (or in forma greca , alla greca ) in their contracts to describe one of

5313-410: Was applied by Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1503). The stained-glass window and dates from the 20th century. The Cappella Strozzi di Mantova is situated at the end of the left transept. The frescoes were commissioned from Nardo di Cione (1350–1357) by Tommaso Strozzi , an ancestor of Filippo Strozzi . The frescoes are inspired by Dante 's Divine Comedy : Last Judgment (on the back wall; including

5390-482: Was built). However, such an interpretation is fantasy since the Duomo was never intended to be pink, nor to have the bell tower at the rear. This fresco also contains portraits of pope Benedict IX , cardinal Friar Niccolò Albertini , count Guido di Poppi, Arnolfo di Cambio and the poet Petrarch . The frescoes on the other walls represent scenes from the lives of Christ and St Peter on the entry wall (mostly ruined due to

5467-430: Was called S. Maria Novella ('New') because it was built on the site of the 9th-century oratory of Santa Maria delle Vigne. When the site was assigned to the Dominican Order in 1221, they decided to build a new church and adjoining cloister. The church was designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi. Building began in the mid-13th century (about 1276), and lasted 80 years, ending under

5544-409: Was constructed with Renaissance columns. It was restored in 1841 by Gaetano Baccani . On the left side there is a lunette with a 14th-century fresco Madonna and Child with St Catherine . On the front altar there is a wooden crucifix by Baccio da Montelupo (1501). The Rucellai Chapel, at the end of the right aisle, dates from the 14th century. Besides the tomb of Paolo Rucellai (15th century) and

5621-494: Was designed by Enrico Romoli, and was carried out between 1858 and 1860. The square in front the church was used by Cosimo I for the yearly chariot race ( Palio dei Cocchi ). This custom existed between 1563 and late in the 19th century. The two Obelisks of the Corsa dei Cocchi marked the start and the finish of the race. They were set up to imitate an antique Roman Circus Maximus . The obelisks rest on bronze tortoises, made in 1608 by

5698-689: Was greatly preferred, but too expensive for most churches. Paolo Veneziano (active roughly from 1321 to 1360) led the development, with a style that is "still Byzantine", but increasingly influenced by the Gothic art developing north of the Alps, and personal elements. However, influence from Giotto is "almost entirely absent". In the later part of the 13th century the two leading painters in north Italy, Cimabue in Florence (active c. 1270–1303) and Duccio in Siena (active c. 1268–1311) were both trained and highly skilled in

5775-436: Was painted in egg tempera on a five-pieced poplar panel. The panel and frame would have been constructed by a master carpenter and then handed over to Duccio for painting. The frame is of the same wood. Although the contract required Duccio to use costly, ultramarine blue, made from ground lapis lazuli, conservators restoring the panel in 1989 determined the pigment of the Virgin's robe to be the cheaper substitute, azurite . Over

5852-428: Was set at only forty-five days. Probably the quality of many such commissioned icons was fairly low, and the dismissive term Madonneri was devised to describe such bulk painters, who later practised in Italy also, often using a quasi-Byzantine style, and apparently often Greek or Dalmatian individuals. Production of icons at these levels seems to have led to a glut in the market, and in the following two decades there

5929-475: Was used for illuminated manuscripts , frescos , and on wood, large painted crucifixes for rood crosses in churches, as well as assorted pieces of furniture and so on. The life-size crucifixes were not a Byzantine form, and were probably regarded in Italy as a cheaper version of the crosses with a sculpted corpus or body. Famous versions of the sculpted type include the Gero Cross ( Cologne , 10th-century),

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