Early Italian Art (1250-1400) : Introduction and Overview

First of a series of study days on Early Italian Art in the 13th and 14th centuries organised by the London Art History Society and held at Friends House.

This first day was lead by John Renner and gave an introduction to and overview of the period. It’s a subject I know quite well but it’s good to hear it put into context. The first talk looked at how this art was discovered after it fell out of favour following Vasari’s great work which upheld Michelangelo and Raphael as the pinnacle of art and how early Italian art was rediscovered and championed in the 19th century.

We then went on to look at the drivers for artistic creation in this period from the strong economic background, the inception and growth of the new religious orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans, and the role of art in showing civic and family importance. This was followed after lunch by a look at the techniques and forms of the art. The lecturer had good slides from the National Gallery which looked at how a panel painting was created. We then looked at how the structure of altar pieces changed in this period.

Finally we had a delightful talk looking at art of this period in some smaller cities, as the course is going to concentrate on the large cities of Tuscany and Umbria where this art thrived. We looked at San Gimignano, Prato and Cortona. Oh dear although I’ve been to San Gimignano there others are two more to add to the list of places I want to visit!