Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll.
- Anna Brownell Jameson
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Memoirs of the early Italian painters / by Anna Jameson; thoroughly revised and in part rewritten by Estelle M. Hurll. Source: Wellcome Collection.
85/335 page 49
![LORENZO GHIBERTI [Born 1381,1 Died 1455] THE DOORS OF SAN GIOVANNI We are now to enter on a view of the progress of painting in the fifteenth century — a period perhaps the most remark- able in the whole history of mankind — distinguished by the most extraordinary mental activity, by rapid improvement in the arts of life, by the first steady advance in philosophical inquiry, by the restoration of classical learning, and by two great events, of which the results lie almost beyond the reach of calculation — the invention of the art of printing, and the discovery of America. The progressive impulse which characterized this memorable period was felt not less in the fine arts: in painting, the adop- tion of oils in the mixing of colors, instead of the aqueous and glutinous vehicles formerly used for the purpose, led to some most important results. But long before the general adoption of this and other improvements in the materials employed, there had been a strong impulse given to the mental develop- ment of Art, of which we have to say a few words before we come to treat further of the history and efforts of individual minds. During the fourteenth century the leading school of Art was that of Florence, and we find all Italy filled with the scholars and imitators of Giotto ; but in the fifteenth century there was a manifest striving after originality of style, —a branching off into particular schools, distinguished by the predominance of some particular characteristic in the mode of treatment, — as expression, form, color, the tendency to the merely imitative, or the aspiration towards the spiritual and ideal. At this time we begin to hear of the Neapolitan, Umbrian, Bolognese, Ve- netian, and Paduan schools as distinctly characterized ; but 1 [This date is given by Perkins. Others give 1378.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24877888_0085.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
