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The early 1400's in Italy saw the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance style in painting. In major areas of patronage, be it for churches or wealthy patrons, a new style flourished that was representative of the interconnectivity between European cultures and the wider Mediterranean, one that bridges the Gothic and Renaissance styles - the International Gothic. Looking at two masterworks, one from Lorenzo Monaco and one from Gentile da Fabriano, this episode examines the historical moment and the stylistic factors that unify and separate the Gothic and International Gothic in Italy.

Further, through Giorgio Vasari, we can look at how historical shifts in artistic style were perceived by later Renaissance writers, who looked to organize the trajectory of Italian art as a series of quantifiable improvements. These two artists help us bridge the end of the medieval period with the developments that will become Renaissance art.

Works discussed:
Lorenzo Monaco, Coronation of the Virgin - https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/coronation-of-the-virgin
Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi -
https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/adoration-of-the-magi

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While the idea of an entirely joyous rise of Renaissance culture might sound apt for a period known for mesmerizing art and literature, history tells a different story, one of war, of plague, and of death. This episode discusses just a small amount of the social issues that contributed to the rise of Renaissance culture in Italy, from the multiple plagues that continued after the Black Death, to the banking crisis in Florence at the dawn of the Hundred Years' War, and Milanese military aggression under Gian Galeazzo Visconti.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Italy was a center of trade and multi-branch banking that spanned the Mediterranean and beyond. This discussion looks at the relationship between trade routes and plague outbreaks in the larger picture of Florentine banking and mercantilism as necessary precursors for the rise of civic Humanism. Likewise, it explores the religious and visual implications of post Black Death Italy, and the significance of Florence's unexpected triumph over Milan.

Images discussed:
Titian, Saint Mark Enthroned, ca. 1510, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Triumph of Death, ca. 1440, Palazzo Abetellis, Palermo

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It is time to open the next chapter of our dive into Renaissance history, dialing back to look at the early Renaissance and the Proto-Renaissance. The terminology of periodization is loose and malleable, and brings to light of other renaissances that occurred throughout the Middle Ages. What is the difference between the way classical revival was exercised from the 8th and 12th centuries, and the world of Renaissance Italy?

This episode provides the fundaments of the earliest years of the Renaissance in Florence. The discussion links the literary developments of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio to the art developments of Cimabue and Giotto. Did the Black Death, that devastating plague that swept through Italy in 1348, have an impact on intellectual development? What did the early phases of Humanism look like, before the late 15th century?

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