Painted Decoration
A conspicuous feature of the Italian Renaissance was the development of painted decoration, which had in Italy succeeded the Byzantine mosaic.
As in this method of decoration, mouldings in relief were ineffective, and were replaced by decorative bands or borders, so in the succeeding painted work similar framings were adopted.
No. 82. Painted Decoration. Palazzo Publico, Sienna, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.
No. 83. Painted Ceiling in the Castello San Angelo, Rome, by Giulio Romano, from a drawing by Miss Dora Bard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.
No. 84. Painted Decoration in the collonade of the Villa Papa Giulio, Rome, showing Pompeian influence, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.
No. 84. Painted Decoration in the collonade of the Villa Papa Giulio, Rome, showing Pompeian influence, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.
No. 85. Ceiling-Painting from the Castello San Angelo, Rome, reminiscent of Graeco-Roman work, from a drawing by C. E. Bernard, Goldsmiths’ College School of Art.
Mosaics were in vogue in Italy to the twelfth century, when painted decoration came into favour, and notable in the exploitation of this latter phase was the school of Giotto in the early part of the fourteenth century.
Vaultings and spandrils were covered with painted subjects, strongly framed by ornamental borders, which served to strengthen the sense of construction in reinforcing the dividing ribs.
With the advent of the Renaissance, these divisional bands became more architectural in treatment, and large areas, such as ceilings, were subdivided, the sub-divisions being based on a logical sense of construction.
The name of Pinturrichio is associated with the Renaissance, among his works being the decorations of the Appartamenti Borgia in the Vatican, the Choir in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, and in Santa Maria Maggiore at Spello; contemporaneous was Perugino; another celebrated name is that of Gian Antonio Bazzi of Sienna, generally known as Sodoma.