Proto-Renaissance

AKA Italo-Byantine/14th Century Italian Renaissance.
Time Period: 1250-1400

• Italy was not unified; city-states; citizens identified themselves as Sienese or Florentines, not Italians; differences in dialects
• Military interventions from outside forces; instability; pieces come in fragmentary conditions
• Guild system; Italians had a strong devotional attachment to their local church, buried inside; families commissioned artists to decorate private chapels 
• Artist's signatures indicated their rising status; contrasts anonymity of previous period 
• Large scale panels; frescos and tempera; emphasise flatness; frontal and linear compositions
• Artists referenced Byzantine styles; maniera greca
• Expressive faces, meaningful gestures; experimented with composition, moved focus away from centre of painting
• Bridge between Middle Ages and Renaissance; broke away from Byzantine traditions; Giotto focused on mass and solidity, using shading to suggest three dimensionality