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DOMESTIC INTERIOR IN THE EARLY RENAISSANCE AND ITS PICTORIAL DEPICTION

A. Pazdur-Czarnowska

Abstract

At the beginning of the XVth Century Europe was stepping away of the sacred, humanism was sweeping through the continent, starting with the Florentines and Venetians. Thus far, art had been acceptable as made for the glory of God. It is said that, at that time, the most noble art was architecture and the most noble building was the church. By the coming of Rinascimento, sacral themes were slowly being preempted by the scientific approach with the human, God and nature existing in harmony and cohesion. Italian artists and craftsmen achieved a new kind of virtuosity with the flowering of Renaissance. The increasing interest in illusionism, as well as high realism in furniture design and depiction of interiors was visible in many paintings, goodsВ’ decoration and their design. Aside from the depictionВ’s subject, the modest aesthetic of Middle Ages was abandoned in order to leave space for a rich and vibrant Renaissance creativity. The furniture craft, substantially financed by noble families, was flourishing and gradually revolutionizing the meaning of decoration. New forms appeared, such as f.i.: sgabello stool or cassapanca chest. Many, already known in Ancient Rome, attained a new structure and decorative motifs (f.i. SavonarolaВ’s chair, credenza etc.). Domestic interiors ravished with their coffered ceilings, beds with baldachino, walnut furniture decorated with intarsia and golden walls covered in paintings. Although, depicting the urban palazzosВ’ and villasВ’ interiors, without any kind of sacral reference, was still ab ovo, few painters such as f.i. Vittore Carpaccio or Giovanni Mansueti started to portray living spaces with hidden symbols and as they existed by that time. The author shows, throughout a thorough analysis and collecting of data, that the early, Florentine and Venetian Renaissance manifested in domestic interiors created a future path for famous craftsmen and artists. At the same time, it was a beginning of domestic interiorВ’s depiction, which might be considered as a foundation for today's 3D visualizations.

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