Paper for Special Problems in Art History (Capstone), a writing-intensive course designed for gaining depth and breadth in specific academic areas related to the disciplines of art, architectural and social-cultural history.

A complete research paper with a minimum of 20 pages reflecting a semester's worth of research and writing was required. An abstract, initial bibliography, paper outline, and peer-reviewed rough drafts, as well as annotated bibliographies, were also required. I included a supplemental timeline of the major events, art, and people discussed in this paper. You can access it at: http://zaworadesign.com/timeline (best viewed in 3D mode)

Abstract

During the early Renaissance, the Oltrarno area of Florence was where the working class and the wealthy lived, worked, and worshiped side-by-side. The wealthy families, confraternal organizations, and groups of private citizens who supported Santo Spirito and Santa Maria del Carmine’s parishes in this region, created spaces that fostered exceptional creativity while reflecting uniquely different visions based on their parish demographics. The mix of inhabitants residing in the wards or “gonfaloni” of the Oltrarno cultivated intellectual and Humanist thought as well as the power and political turmoil you would expect to find where such differences coalesce. That power mostly exhibited in the families who controlled the various Operai, organizations who adjudicated decorative and architectural control within the churches.

This paper will argue the importance of the Oltrarno as critical to Florence’s Renaissance. This research will question if the unique sociological mix of each gonfaloni contributed to the type of artwork patrons commissioned for their churches, while reflecting on how this affected the artists and architects working there. This paper will also process the unique relationships between artists and patrons working under the opera’s guidance. The research will further explore the churches that families (wealthy and poor) chose to patronize, how chapels within those churches were acquired, and the artist’s contractual process. A survey of Masolino, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, and the other artists working in this district will demonstrate how the patrons’ economic backgrounds defined Santo Spirito and Santa Maria del Carmine’s decoration. The people who toiled “beyond the Arno” during the 15th century provided a firm foundation for Humanist thought and created art and architectural works that ushered in the Renaissance in Florence.