Italian Renaissance Portraits [antikvár]

I 1 i, i', t 'f '! ¦ l i'' "Le imagini adunque de' buoni e de' virtuosi infiammano gli uomini, come lo dico, alie virtu cd alle opere buone." Lod. Dolce ("Dialogo della pittura") In the rich pictorial material of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts, the portrait collection of the Italian Renaissance is distinguished by its unity and completeness. The development of the new genre of portrait painting, which gained ground together with the achievements of the new era, is best exemplified by about fifty paintings, including works by the most noted masters. At the beginning of its development the new genre produced portraits appearing on medieval altar-pieces and wall paintings, and falling within the category of traditional religious portrayal. The painters sometimes portrayed prominent lay personalities, notable mortals, as figures of holy scenes; thus we meet Dante's portrait in Italian paintings as early as the 13th century. According to Vasari, Giotto was the first to paint living persons rhratti di natu-rak; the first famous series of portraits, the "Gallery of Famous Men" which since has perished, of the Neapolitan royal castle, is attributed to Giotto. Then, with the strengthening of the Italian city states and the rise of the bourgeoisie which led to the gradual unfolding of the Renaissance way of life and attitudes, the significance of active man and the importance of lay existence on this earth came more and more to the fore. Increasing individual consciousness, the desire to get ahead in life and to win glory, demanded expression in the fine arts too and created an increasingly wide and secure foundation for the portrayal of the individual, for portrait painting. The ecclesiastical and lay paintings of the 15 th century contain large numbers of portrait figures; condottieri and guild-masters, rulers and citizens, scientists and wealthy women. They people contemporary Florentine, Umbrian and Venetian paintings, particularly the works of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Masolino, Mantegna, Botticelli and Pinturicchio. The portrayal of contemporaries as an expression of local, family and political pride was one of the most important factors in the evolution of portrait painting. Another factor in its development arose from the traditional medieval way of portraying donors.