The term Renaissance is derived from rebirth. Rebirth of classical thought and design. Society moves away from a culture driven by the church and religion to focus on the humanities and individuality. Accomplishments are made in civil society. Universities are established and bring together Greek and Roman teachings to the forefront, to liberate the human in a humanistic manner. People see themselves as individuals in society as opposed to being part of the larger church. The printing press is invented which now brings out multiple copies of text to spread information across the European continent. Illustrations are printed which is important for design and architecture, making way for the circulation of information and design. Politics and the economy change. Italy is not a complete country ruled by one force, it is divided into individual city states, each of these ruled by Dukes. Furthermore, the focus is predominantly on individual places and economic growth. Italy has a vast amount of trade taking place which leads to a rich and stable economy. Wealthy families who are industrialists or bankers, compete to show who is the most educated and who can attract the most elite artisans and architects.
There is a constant competition between the artisans and architects who are fascinated by the knowledge of the past and competing for commissions. A rediscovery occurs through the studying of ancient texts and books relating to art and architecture. The most famous historical text being that of Vitruvius. He focuses on proportions and the way all parts of a column, tablature and the entire building relate one to the next which is central to classical design. Leonardo Di Vinci’s Vitruvian Man becomes central to Renaissance thinking regarding the man being the measure of all things. The man inscribed within the circle and square has proportional measurements all throughout his body as Da Vinci illustrates.
One point perspective which states everything recedes on the horizon on the back of the image leads to one looking at the colonnades to wonder what comes first the colonnade or the image of the colonnade. This goes hand in hand with how one looks at a painting and what architects chose to build. Most architects were artists, painters and sculpture makers. The Renaissance combined science, art and culture. Furthermore, perspective was applied to great works like Leonardo Di Vinci’s Last Supper. This is a clear one point perspective with foreshortening used. The artist takes into account the position of the viewer when the painting is installed. If the painting is installed high up the viewer is looking at people from below and their bodies are shortened.
Therefore, the human experience of experiencing art is taken into consideration, as a part of this exploration of the humanities. The individual in this manner becomes central to the Renaissance. One point perspective can be applied to architecture as well. Foreshortening creates an expansion of the space visually. Artists are learning from the past and go beyond, thus leading to outstanding sculptural work and close analysis of the human form. The human is seen as God’s perfect creation which leads into Christianity being the heart of Italian culture. Humanism enters the church and society’s everyday ideas of the church.
In The Annunciation by Filippo Lippi, 1443, one sees the depiction of ideal beauty through idealized figures which are highly sculptural in nature. Moreover, the interior is one point perspective, there is a science to how the eye perceives space. Furthermore, the architectural surrounding makes use of classical orders.
Florence is the heart of the origins of the Renaissance. The Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, by Brunelleschi, was proposed c.1420, and the building is not completed for a long time given the size and height required experimentation in which one sees Gothic engineering and contemporary ideas. Even the concrete usage is distinct from classical times. In Gothic times the flying buttresses were used to keep the walls firm, rather than building an interior dome that is ribbed like a Gothic structure and exterior dome with ribbing which uses reinforcements banded at the base of both domes to hold them together. The exterior is a combination of Gothic and classical ornament. Quatrefoil and trefoil arches and above niches are adorned with classical shelving and corinthian columns. Many churches take decades or centuries to build resulting in the mixture of various forms and designs. The interiors are purely Renaissance, arcade of rounded arches held up by light corinthian columns, clear geometric pattern on the floor and ceiling above is flat and coffered. The interior dome is decorated with illusionistic paintings with saints floating in clouds. The foreshortening and creation of perspective is used in the ceiling fresco.
Early Renaissance has a light interpretation of classicism as can be seen in the Foundling Hospital, Ospedale degli Innocenti. Thin columns, roundels with moulded ceramics that are glazed are prominent in this structure. Rhythm is created in the facade with repeated arches above them and simple pedimented windows. Solid portions end the rhythm.
Interiors were perfectly proportioned, clearly articulated architectural forms are created through the use of contrasting stones as seen in the interior of Pazzi Chapel located in Florence by Brunelleschi. Disruptions in Florence help shift interest in patronage in the arts to Rome. There is a push to rebuild Rome. In Bramante’s San Pietro in Montorio, classical architecture is used in a building for modern use. Bramante creates a circular building using corinthian columns and mirrors the columns on the facade with pilasters. He creates a rhythm of alternating niches and doorways.
In Alberti’s Santa Maria Novella, a central form is developed within the small temple itself with a pediment atop and rectangular portion above sits atop a deep frieze. Alberti places large swirling volutes on either side to connect the high central portion with a lower horizontal portion of the building. He matches the surface used on the lower portion to that of the upper portion and he adds 4 corinthian columns at the base to continue the idea of classicism throughout the facade.
Andrea Palladio was a stone mason, he studied ancient ruins in Rome and was an avid fan of Vitruvian. He acquired commissions to build houses of the wealthy in Vicenza. In the Villa Godi, he uses regional design to inform the architecture. Divided into three stories, there is a plain facade, in the centre he pushes back the central portion and creates a porch and an arcade of three arches that define the central entryway to the building. .
In the Villa Barbaro, he combines a Greek temple style with an Italian farmhouse style throughout the central building portion with a temple facade. Attached columns run to lengthen the two stories that end in a pediment that has a low relief. Furthermore, there is a sculptural program in the tympanum as an original Greek temple. The building reaches out to two arms connected by an arcade. The interior has a full frescoed and symmetrical interior where everything is reflected. Furthermore doors are trompe-l’oeil to fool the eye. Blind doors are painted and foreshortening is used in painted images of people on balconies.
Palladio explored various ways to make use of the Greek temple forms into the facades of his villas. He came to the conclusion that in ancient Rome, the temple facades were applied to domestic architecture to denote social standing and importance of certain land owners. He tries to do this in his own work. Architects are being informed through incomplete information from the past therefore, the results are experimental but extraordinary.
The temple form projects out to create an exterior balcony, columns are tall and the tops of buildings have classical statues to accentuate the peaks of roofs.
The Piano Nobile is the main floor for receiving and entertaining. Palladio raises this floor higher up to include a symmetrical staircase to bring visitors onto the porch of the building. In the Villa Cornaro Palladio uses a double columned loggia, 4 stories are contained within the building and each of the loggia stretches for 2 stories each.
The most famous is the Villa Rotunda which exudes complete symmetry. Each facade is exactly the same on all sides of the building. There is a cross plan in the centre, with a dome over the centre. The Piano Nobile is the main part of the building. Furthermore, the building sits atop a hill and the view of each of the four facades is available in the countryside.
The most famous civic building was the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza. Built in the centre of the Vicenza marketplace in basilican form, the villa is built in Gothic architectural form which was then renovated by Palladio. The spacing of the arcade in the Gothic form is not regular so when he applies classical design elements he has trouble at corners which he resolves by making the space between the columns and central arches smaller. This results in the corners looking smaller. The way he places the columns on either side of the arches is important because this is what is known as the Palladian window. Palladio was not the first to do this but this was published in his 4 books of architecture; thus, Palladio is credited with this form. He adds roundels on the top of the capitals to give a lightness to the facade.
Wealth becomes a part of the upper class families. Domestic comforts enjoyed by the wealthy were non existent in regular Renaissance interiors. Interiors were sparsely furnished and there was no great shift in furniture forms from the Gothic into the Renaissance.
Information courtesy of New York School of Interior Design “Historical Styles 1” class