Italian Renaissance Artists

Michelozzo fluctuated between sculpture and architecture, but finally decided for the latter, and, with Brunelleschi, is the great reviver of the classical style. He worked with Ghiberti on a St. Matthew and a tabernacle for Orsanmichele, and with Donatello on the tomb of John XXIII in the Baptistery.

Benozzo Gozzoli - The Magi (representing the Medici Family), 1459-1461 Chapel of the Magi-Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence

But he is chiefly remembered as the architect of the Medici (now Medici Riccardi) Palace, of their three villas of Caffagiolo, Nozzi, and Careggi—this latter the most beautiful of all and the one in which Cosimo and Lorenzo both lived and died; and also for the Chapel of the Annunziata, and for the complete reconstruction of San Marco, where Michelozzo is buried.

Desiderio da Settignano, only lived to the age of thirty-five, but his monument to Carlo Marsuppini, Greek scholar and orator, is one of the three finest tombs in Tuscany, the second being one by Bernardo Rossellini, erected for the famous Leonardo Bruni, Chancellor and historian of the Republic, a man universally admired and beloved: both are in Santa Croce. The third tomb is that of Cardinal James of Portugal, who died in 1459; it is in San Miniato and is the work of Antonio Rossellini, Bernardo’s brother.

Italian Renaissance Artists and their versatility

Domenico Ghirlandaio - The Confirmation of the Order of Saint Francisc by Pope Honorius III. 1482-1486 Holy Trinity, Florence

Verrocchio, who added to the other accomplishments that of being a musician, and who also gave himself over to painting, shows the same tendencies, but, besides his pictures, we have in Florence his fine Christ and St. Thomas, and his "Boy with the Dolphin" and his bronze David, both cast for Lorenzo de' Medici.

Also the very simple but beautiful monument to Piero and Giovanni de' Medici in the old sacristy of San Lorenzo. But he was in nothing as famous as in having Leonardo da Vinci as his pupil.

Another great tomb is that of Bishop Salutati in the Duomo at Fiesole, which is by Mino da Fiesole; nor do these names nearly exhaust the number. The della Robbias, uncle and nephew, are of course in the tradition of the great sculptors; to Luca, in conjunction with Michelozzo, we owe the bronze gates of the Duomo sacristy, and also the organ-gallery which was the companion to Donatello's.

Italian Renaissance Artists - The Painters

No other epoch saw such a galaxy of painters as the Italian Renaissance. Artists like Benozzo Gozzoli, Ghirlandaio and, especially, Botticelli, became the favorites of Lorenzo de' Medici. The first of these, born in 1420, was a pupil of Fra Angelico, and shortly before the death of Cosimo he had painted on the walls of the chapel of the Riccardi palace his gorgeous Procession of the Magi, which is the glorification of the Medici and their court. The third king is Lorenzo as a boy; Cosimo and his son follow behind, and further back the painter himself. In these frescoes, Benozzo gave free rein to his passion for elaborate and complicated background; he is remarkable as one of the first painters of detailed landscapes, wherein he used to place birds and animals of all kinds.

Filippo Lippi - Virgin and Child with Angels, 1465 Uffizi, Florence

Ghirlandaio is the most modern and realistic of the three Italian Renaissance artists mentioned above; he is an architectural painter and displays an intimate knowledge of perspective, but what chiefly interests him is the life going on around him—the houses, the furniture, the people as they looked and dressed and walked.

Though by no means an uninspired painter, he is most valuable as an historical portrayer of the times. Also he loved to introduce portraits, and in one of his frescoes in Santa Maria Novella he has given us a group of four Humanists—Becchi, Poliziano, Landini and Ficino. As an artist he matured slowly, but by degrees he acquired the grand manner in treatment and composition.

But of all Italian Renaissance artists, Botticelli, the pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi, was the favorite of Lorenzo. He was also, in some sort, the reflection of the genius of Lorenzo, and seemed to breathe the same atmosphere with him.