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Seeing Renaissance Glass

Art, Optics, and Glass of Early Modern Italy, 1250–1425

by Sarah Dillon (Author)
©2018 Monographs XVIII, 214 Pages
Open Access

Summary

With the invention of eyeglasses around 1280 near Pisa, the mundane medium of glass transformed early modern optical technology and visuality. It also significantly influenced contemporaneous art, religion, and science. References to glass are found throughout the Bible and in medieval hagiography and poetry. For instance, glass is mentioned in descriptions of Heavenly Jerusalem, the Beatific Vision, and the Incarnation. At the same time, a well-known Islamic scientific treatise, which likened a portion of the eye’s anatomy to glass, entered the scientific circles of the Latin West. Amidst this complex web of glass-related phenomena early modern Italian artists used glass in some of their most important artworks but, until now, no study has offered a comprehensive consideration of the important role glass played in shaping the art of the Italian Renaissance.
Seeing Renaissance Glass explores how artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Nicola Pisano, Simone Martini, and others employed the medium of glass—whether it be depictions of glass or actual glass in the form of stained glass, gilded glass, and transparent glass—to resonate with the period’s complex visuality and achieve their artistic goals.
Such an interdisciplinary approach to the visual culture of early modern Italy is particularly well-suited to an introductory humanities course as well as classes on media studies and late medieval and early Renaissance art history. It is also ideal for a general reader interested in art history or issues of materiality.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author(s)/editor(s)
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Illustrations
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1 Introduction to Seeing Renaissance Glass: Art, Optics, and Glass of Early Modern Italy, 1250–1425
  • Chapter Summaries
  • Brief History of Glass
  • Notes
  • References
  • 2 Stained Glass: Duccio, Simone Martini, and Taddeo Gaddi
  • Brief History of Colorful Glass
  • Duccio’s Window for the Cathedral of Siena
  • Simone Martini’s Windows in the Chapel of Saint Martin
  • Taddeo Gaddi’s Stained Glass in the Baroncelli Chapel
  • Conclusions on Trecento Stained Glass: A Network of Glass
  • Notes
  • References
  • 3 Gilded Glass: Nicola Pisano, Simone Martini, Orcagna, and Paolo di Giovanni Fei
  • The Glittering Gold of Mosaics and Cosmati
  • The Revival of Verre Églomisé
  • Nicola Pisano’s Arca of San Domenico and Sienese Pulpit
  • Simone Martini’s Maestà and Saint Louis of Toulouse
  • Orcagna’s Tabernacle for Orsanmichele
  • Paolo di Giovanni Fei and Lorenzo Monaco
  • Conclusions on Gilded Glass: Harnessing Divine Light and Fiery Rays
  • Notes
  • References
  • 4 Transparent Glass from the East: Beruni, Hunain, and Alhazen
  • Glass Reliquaries from the Holy Land
  • Revealing and Concealing
  • Rock Crystal Reliquaries from the East
  • Beruni on Glass vs. Crystal
  • Hunain, Visual Theory, and Transparent Glass
  • Conclusions on Transparent Glass from the East: Shaping Renaissance Visuality
  • Notes
  • References
  • 5 Transparent Glass in the West: Pietro Lorenzetti, Naddo Ceccarelli, and Others
  • Reliquaries with Glass: The Case Studies
  • Reliquaries by Naddo Ceccarelli and Bartolo di Fredi in Context
  • Relic Windows: Precedents and Influences
  • Relic Windows in “An Age of Vision”
  • Pietro Lorenzetti’s Reliquary Tabernacle in Context
  • Relic Windows, Mirrors, and Eyeglasses
  • The Black Death and Windows to Another World
  • Conclusions on Transparent Glass in the West: Seeing Glass through a Renaissance Lens
  • Notes
  • References
  • 6 Verre Églomisé Reliquaries: Pietro Teutonico and Tommaso da Modena
  • Verre Églomisé Reliquaries
  • The Franciscan Connection
  • Windows to Relics and a Mirror for the Divine
  • The Beatific Vision and Viewing God Through a Glass Darkly
  • Tommaso da Modena’s Reliquary and Ugo da Panciera’s Treatise on Perfection
  • Conclusions on Verre Églomisé Reliquaries: Reflections of God
  • Notes
  • References
  • 7 Conclusion: Giotto, Brunelleschi, Alberti, and the Network of Glass
  • Through Giotto’s Eyes
  • Illusionistic Architecture and Glass Vessels: Pietro Lorenzetti and Taddeo Gaddi
  • Trecento Glass, Brunelleschi’s Mirror, and Alberti’s Window
  • Conclusion: Mapping the Trecento Network of Glass
  • Notes
  • References
  • Index

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Chapter 1

Figure 1.1: Arnolfo di Cambio, Madonna and Child, ca. 1296–1302, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence. Source: Francesco Bini via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA).

Figure 1.2: Simone Martini, Detail of Maestà showing diamond-shaped panels of glass, ca. 1315, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Source: Alinari Archives, Firenze.

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1: Duccio, Rose Window with Scenes of the Dormition, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin, ca. 1288, Cathedral, Siena. Source: José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Figure 2.2: Duccio, Maestà, Detail of central panel showing Madonna, Child, and Saints, ca. 1308−1311, Cathedral, Siena. Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. ← xi | xii →

Figure 2.3: Duccio, Maestà, Detail with Last Supper, ca. 1308−1311, Cathedral, Siena. Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 2.4: Simone Martini, Stained Glass Windows in Saint Martin Chapel, ca. 1317, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi. Source: Franco Cosimo Panini Editore © Management Fratelli Alinari.

Figure 2.5: Ceiling of Lower Church with light reflecting off silver-backed glass insets, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi. Source: Author.

Figure 2.6: Taddeo Gaddi, Baroncelli Chapel, ca. 1330, Santa Croce, Florence. Source: Francesco Bini via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-2.5).

Figure 2.7: Giotto and Workshop, Pinnacle for the Baroncelli Altarpiece, ca. 1334, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, Gift of Anne R. and Amy Putnam (1945.26). Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 2.8: Taddeo Gaddi, Illusionistic Niche with Liturgical Vessels, ca. 1330, Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence. Source: Raffaello Bencini/Alinari Archives, Florence.

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1: Simone Martini, Detail of Maestà showing diamond-shaped panels of glass reflecting light, ca. 1315, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Source: Author.

Figure 3.2: Orcagna, Detail of Tabernacle showing gilded glass, 1359, Orsanmichele, Florence. Source: Francesco Bini via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Figure 3.3: Byzantine Workshop, Bowl Base with Saints Peter and Paul Flanking a Column with the Christogram of Christ, late 4th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1916 (16.174.3). Source: Public Domain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0).

Figure 3.4: Nicola Pisano, Arca of San Domenico, 1264–1267, Basilica of Saint Dominic, Bologna. Source: Georges Jansoone via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5). ← xii | xiii →

Figure 3.5: Nicola Pisano, Detail of Pulpit showing two glass panels on either side of the trilobed arch, 1265–1268, Siena Cathedral, Siena. Source: Author.

Figure 3.6: Workshop of Giotto, Christ Surrounded by Mary and St. John, ca. 14th century, The Bandini Collection, Fiesole. Source: Francesco Bini via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Figure 3.7: Paolo di Giovanni Fei, Detail of Madonna and Child showing the central roundel and four glass roundels in the frame, ca. 1370s, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941 (41.190.13). Source: Public Domain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0).

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1: Syrian Workshop, Beaker, ca. 1260, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (47.17). Source: Public Domain, The Walters Museum (CC0).

Figure 4.2: Roman Workshop, Pilgrim Flask, 1st−5th century, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Gift of the executors of the Estate of Colonel Michael Friedsam (32.739). Source: Brooklyn Museum (CC BY).

Figure 4.3: Roman-Syrian Workshop, Glass Hexagonal Jug, 6th−early 7th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (X.243). Source: Public Domain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0).

Figure 4.4: German Workshop, Cross of Nikomedes of Borghorst, ca. 1050, Pfarrgemeinde St. Nikomedes, Steinfurt-Borghorst, Germany. Source: Markus Cösters via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

Figure 4.5: Master of the Legend of Saint Francis, Verification of the Stigmata, ca. 1300, Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi. Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 4.6: Giotto, Detail of an illusionistic niche with hanging lamps, ca. 1305, Arena Chapel, Padua. Source: Raffaello Bencini/Alinari Archives, Florence. ← xiii | xiv →

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1: Naddo Ceccarelli, Reliquary Tabernacle with Virgin and Child, ca. 1350, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Acquired by Henry Walters, 1920 (37.1159). Source: Public Domain, The Walters Art Museum (CC0).

Figure 5.2: Lippo Vanni, Reliquary Triptych with Virgin and Child with Saints, ca. 1350−1359, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902 (37.750). Source: Public Domain, The Walters Art Museum (CC0).

Figure 5.3: Pietro Lorenzetti, Reliquary Tabernacle with Madonna and Child, early 1340s, Florence, Villa I Tatti, Collezione Berenson, reproduced by permission of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.” Photo: Paolo De Rocco, Centrica srl, Firenze.

Figure 5.4: Sienese Workshop, Reliquary Tabernacle, 14th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.70.17). Source: Public Domain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0).

Figure 5.5: Simone di Filippo (Simone dei Crocifissi), New Testament and Apocryphal Scenes with Saints, ca. 1360−1370, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902 (37.723). Source: Public Domain, The Walters Art Museum (CC0).

Figure 5.6: Pietro Lorenzetti, Illusionistic Niche with Transparent Glass Liturgical Vessels, ca. 1320, Left Transept, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi. Source: Author.

Figure 5.7: Unknown Artist in the Style of Altichiero, Petrarch in His Study, from the frontispiece of Petrarch’s De viris illustribus, ca. 1400, Darmstadt, Universität- und Landesbibliothek, MS 101. Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia.

Figure 5.8: Giotto, Detail of Arena Chapel Ceiling, ca. 1305, Padua. Source: José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Figure 5.9: Taddeo Gaddi, Detail of Baroncelli Chapel Ceiling, ca. 1330, Santa Croce, Florence. Source: Francesco Bini via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5). ← xiv | xv →

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1: Italian Workshop, Reliquary Diptych, late-14th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.982). Source: Public Domain, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0).

Figure 6.2: Tommaso da Modena, Wing of a Reliquary Diptych with the Crucifixion and Saints, ca. 1355–70, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902 (37.1686). Source: Public Domain, The Walters Art Museum (CC0).

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I can still remember my first encounter with the book Visuality Before and Beyond the Renaissance edited by Robert S. Nelson. Since that day many years ago, the captivating—but impossibly futile—mission of seeing through the eyes of another person living long ago or far away has had an unrelenting hold on both my scholarship and pedagogy and, subsequently, it has informed this book in ways that go beyond the traditional footnote. It also inspired this project in another sense; because none of the essays therein specifically treated Italian art of the fourteenth century my questions and curiosity about this period increased. Studying at Syracuse University’s Villa Rossa in Florence answered some of these questions because I was able to live with the art of the Renaissance in a sense, walking the streets that Dante and Giotto once had. But this experience raised other, more informed questions. I pursued these questions while completing my doctorate at The Graduate Center and on research trips to Italy. As this story suggests, this book would not have been possible without my friends and professors from Syracuse and The Graduate Center who helped shape my questions along the way, or otherwise supported my pursuit of them some, including Jim Saslow, Jenn Ball, Cynthia Hahn, Elinor Richter, Barbara Lane, Rachel Kousser, Gary Radke, Jonathan Nelson, Barbara Deimling, Rab Hatfield, Jillian Domenici, Emily Schiavone, Kate Mendillo, Jeremy Glatstein, Whitney Thompson, Andrea ← xvii | xviii → Ortuno, Anne Vaugniaux, Patricia Rocco, Trinity Martinez, and Ellen Hurst. I also need to thank my colleagues at Kingsborough Community College for their continued support; the PSC-CUNY Research Award Program of the Research Foundation of CUNY; and the museums, individuals, and institutions that have dedicated their photographs of artworks to the public domain or otherwise made them accessible and shareable. Lastly it gives me great joy to thank my family, both immediate and extended, for shaping my ideas, outlooks, and successes. Without all of you, I would not be me. And most importantly to my husband, there are no words to express how much you inspire me and how grateful I am for your support. You make my scholarship stronger and my days brighter; you’re the cream in my coffee.

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Details

Pages
XVIII, 214
Year
2018
ISBN (PDF)
9781433148354
ISBN (ePUB)
9781433148361
ISBN (MOBI)
9781433148378
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433148347
DOI
10.3726/b14280
Open Access
CC-BY-NC-ND
Language
English
Publication date
2019 (January)
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Vienna, Oxford, Wien, 2018. XVIII, 214 pp., 31 b/w ill., 3 col. ill.

Biographical notes

Sarah Dillon (Author)

Sarah M. Dillon is Assistant Professor of Art History at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, specializing in early modern art. She received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, CUNY, and her work has been published in Comitatus, the Chicago Art Journal, and Burlington Magazine.

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