The city-state of Florence in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries was a city on the rise. Urbanization was experienced by all Italian cities at this time and Florence’s population doubled in size. But more than almost any other town, Florence saw an explosion in international trade and innovations in finance. A new class of bankers and merchants replaced the old noble families as the center of power, developing a complex, barely democratic social structure that hung in a careful balance.
Like the art of most Italian cities at the time, thirteenth-century art in Florence was heavily influenced by Byzantine art (the art of the Byzantine Empire). Images from this period are in fact often described as “Italo-Byzantine,” a label that reflects how artists such as Coppo di Marcovaldo (and many more artists whose names we don’t know) adapted the foreign style into something altogether Italian.
Figures are formed out of abstract but expressive shapes designed to identify various body parts or items of clothing while creating beautiful patterns. In narrative images, each story plays out across the field of representation instead of within it, eliminating the need for a sense of depth.
I always start a visit to Florence at Santa Croce. In part it’s practical: it’s the furthest point from the train station at Santa Maria Novella, so if you are coming in for a day from another Italian city it makes sense.
From Santa Croce I suggest you walk over to Piazza Duomo. Both buildings were started in the 1290s, and both have facades that were finished in the 19th century (did you know that?). But while the first church belonged to an order, the Duomo or Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop and the most important church in the city.
On a clear axis on the other side of the city from Santa Croce is the Basilica or great church of Santa Maria Novella, which was built some 50 years after the Franciscan church by the “competing” mendicant order the Dominicans.