Image Question

1270-1337

Dates of Giotto di Bondone?

Begins with the dance of Salome, then decapitation of St John the Baptist, presentation of the head at the feast of Herod, and finally the bringing of the head to Herodias. Narratively conservative, as per the requirements of the commission, separate panel for each scene. Figures uniform, fulfilled narrative requirements but do not extend to emotional expression or movement. Effort to provide convincing architecture setting to provide context for the figures. continuity of narrative between the dance of Salome and the feast of Herod, same backdrop, placement of figures.

Describe Andrea Pisano, The Story of Herod, sequence

Apollo, after mocking eros/cupid, is shot with his arrow and falls in love with Daphne, who has also been shot, but with a lead arrow (hatred for Apollo). He pursues her until he almost catches her, at which point she begs her father Peneus to save her. He transforms her into a laurel tree - the climactic moment of transformation is the one depicted in the painting. Apollo has grabbed her waist, arm around her abdomen (reproductive imagery), his contemporary renaissance clothing blows in the wind as he rushes forward (dynamism) to catch her. Make eye contact as a signifier of the last human contact between them, her arms transformed, her right leg shown from beneath fabric, white - contrasted with back leg turning to bark.

Describe Apollo and Daphne

Two scenes which took place at different times happen in the same sequence. The simultaneous narrative was foreign to most of Giotto's work. The far lower left contains John's headless body protruding from the prison where he was kept. The centre is devoted to the feast itself. Herod and his men sit behind a table, viewing the head of St John which has just been brought in on a plate, and Salome, to the right, interrupts her dance to watch the spectacle. On the far right, Salome presents the head (appearing for the second time) to Herodias, her mother and perpetrator of the crime. Because of the simultaneous narrative there can be no dramatic climax. The birth and naming of St John also contains this. There are two logical explanations for this: The patron wanted it It was a way for Giotto to experiment and convey new complex representations of space and narrative. Simultaneous narrative was used in medieval times too, but not in such a convincing pictorial setting. A series of architectural boundaries define the narrative, the body of St John is divided from the feast by the tower, and the feast itself is marked out by a gabled roofed structure. However there also exists a connection in composition, such as between the train of Salome's gown and the hem of a figure in the foreground of the feast. This gives the image double representation. Important to note is that the composition runs diagonally to the picture plane, not parallel. Recession and depth indicated by the two steps leading to the table. Such compositional and narrative complexity is indicative of Giotto's innovation.

Describe Beheading and Feast of Herod

The first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, bearing the sword of Goliath. (Comparison with marble David) The iconography of the bronze David follows that of the marble David: a young hero stands with sword in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, a favorite of Hadrian renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique contrasted with the absurdly large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God.

Describe Donatello's bronze David

The marble David is Donatello's earliest known important commission, and it is a work closely tied to tradition, giving few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical contrapposto, the figure stands in an elegant Gothic sway that surely derives from Lorenzo Ghiberti. The face is curiously blank (curiously, that is, if one expects naturalism, but very typical of the Gothic style), and David seems almost unaware of the head of his vanquished foe that rests between his feet. Some scholars have seen an element of personality - a kind of cockiness -(contrapposto=relaxed stance, shifted weight) suggested by the twist of the torso and the akimbo placement of the left arm, but overall the effect of the figure is rather bland. However it was intended to be gilded and painted, set on a pedestal with mosaic, and also seen from a considerable distance below. Donatello distorted the proportions of the figure to allow for this angle of view. The head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the young sculptor's genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".

Describe Donatello's marble David

A sense of readiness on the part of the saint to quickly confront enemies coming from different directions. Unlike the statue of St. Mark, the statue of St. George does not stand in contrapposto. Instead, both legs are clearly supporting the saint's weight, although the front of his left foot is not completely planted on the ground, but instead partially hangs off the front of the base. The purpose of the stance that Donatello gave to St. George was to suggest stability and immobility; he is not supposed to be interpreted as moving, but instead, as stable and unmoveable. This is a defensive posture. He turns his neck slightly to his left, his mouth is barely opened, and his pupils show a glance which is up and to his left, rather than directly in front of him. His expression is one of intense concentration, reflected in his wrinkled brow. This is a look of courage and resolve; this is a figure who will not back down. Thus, St. George's facial expression complements the posture of his body to create a memorable statement not only about this man in particular, but also about the Florentine spirit in general.

Describe Donatello, St. George

Carved at the foot of the niche for his statue of St George on Orsanmichele, Florence in 1417. Relief shows in the centre St. George, in left profile on a rearing horse, drives his spear into the dragon. To the right stands the princess before a portico. Five trees are visible in the distance on the right side of the relief. Figures in highest relief are most important to narrative. Depicts most climactic moment, filled with movement - diagonal and horizontal thrusts do this. Gothic curve of princess, although contrapposto too, thus combining two present stylistic strands in one, under a classical portico. San Giovanni patron saint of Florence, the princess could be read as an allegory of the people of Florence, protected by their state and religion. Story comes from the Golden legend

Describe Donatello, St. George and the Dragon

Donatello's sculpture is notable for its detailed realism, evidence of the artist's skills. Even the veins of St. Mark's left hand are visible as he holds a text upon his hip. The contrapposto pose, or natural pose, is used with Donatello's St. Mark. The saint has more weight on his right leg, his left knee is bent, and his torso is slightly twisted. The style is much more naturalistic than the symmetry and unrealistic nature of art from the Dark Ages. Also Donatello's sculpture differs from medieval works in the way that drapery is used, specifically in that St. Mark's figure is revealed by a realistic draping of linen. According to Vasari's text The Lives of the Artists, written 140 years after the completion of St. Mark, the linen workers' guild originally rejected the sculpture because it appeared unnatural when set at street level. This was due to proportion adjustments made for its final resting place in the niche, well above street level. The head and torso were made larger as they would be further away from the viewer. Donatello promised to make adjustments, so he covered the statue with a cloth, set the statue in the niche above the street, and without touching the statue for 15 days, once again revealed it to the guild. With its location above the viewer, the proportions looked perfect and the linen weaver's guild accepted the statue.

Describe Donatello, St. Mark

The sculpture depicts the beheading of John the Baptist after Salome asks Herod Antipas for his head on a platter. The scene depicts an executioner presenting the severed head, and Herod reacting in shock. In earlier depictions, such as Andrea Pisano's reliefs on the South Doors of the Florence Baptistery (1330-1336), Salome's dance, the beheading of St. John, and the presentation of the head to King Herod, were separated into different scenes. Donatello brings these elements together, using continuous narrative (a type of narrative art that illustrates multiple scenes of a narrative within a single frame) to illustrate the scene and portray John's martyrdom without explicitly showing the beheading[6] Another way that Donatello's work differs from previous representations of the scene is the emotional expressiveness of the figures, as Herod and his companions react to the severed head as it is presented. The addition of architectural elements allowed for the incorporation of linear perspective to the scene, which in turn brings attention to the important focal points and figures. Donatello was inspired by his contemporary Filippo Brunelleschi's exploration into a linear perspective system involving orthogonals and transversals (the lines crossing these orthogonals) which work together to draw the eye to the vanishing point and create an illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface. Also used high and low relief. Composition is muddled, layering of spaces.

Describe Donatello, The Feast of Herod

Jesus and Judas dip their hands in the dish at the same moment, a sign that he is the one who will betray Jesus. As Judas does this, his halo starts to fade. Conventional in terms of composition, figures placed convincingly in space, however small. Bench in foreground slants, to fit with viewpoint (diagonal to picture plane).

Describe Giotto, Last Supper

Each panel of the Gates of Paradise depicts several episodes of a biblical narrative. In the panel depicting the story of the rival brothers Jacob and Esau, the latter exchanging his birthright as the eldest son for some food from his younger brother Jacob is depicted in the centre background. In front of this scene in the centre foreground is Esau and his hunting dogs being sent by his old and blind father Isaac to hunt for deer, while Esau's departure on this quest is represented in the background at the far right. During Esau's absence, Jacob and their mother, Rebecca, execute a plan whereby Jacob, dressed in the animal skins typical of Esau, approaches Isaac, and thereby deceives him into recognizing the disguised Jacob as his heir. These scenes are illustrated under and in front of the arch on the right. In the foreground the seated Isaac blesses a kneeling Jacob, who has an animal skin slung over his shoulder, while his elderly mother looks on. The schiacciato relief deriving from Donatello's sculpture and the single-point perspective system allow the space in this panel to recede illusionistically, the figures becoming flatter as well as smaller as they move into the distance.

Describe Lorenzo Ghiberti, The Story of Jacob and Esau

The artist's use of the unnaturalistic but elegant curves in the hair and drapery of the saint show the influence of the International Gothic style prevalent in Italy at the time the work was created. The work was successfully cast in a single piece, making it the first bronze statue of its size to be cast in a single piece for at least several hundred years in Italy. The pronounced cheekbones, the forehead that recedes sharply at the temples, and the slightly furrowed brow that overhangs the deeply inset eyes are examples of this practice that allowed sculptors to construct sited works that would generally be seen from below, rather than from straight ahead.

Describe Lorenzo Ghiberti, St. John the Baptist

The painting contains six figures: the Madonna and Child and four angels. The Madonna is the centre figure and is larger than any of the others to signify her importance. Christ sits on her knees, eating grapes offered to him by his mother. Although he is an exceedingly babyish baby (in comparison to the babies of Masaccio's immediate predecessors, like Lorenzo Monaco or Gentile da Fabriano), the grapes are a symbol of his blood - like the red wine of Communion - which indicates Christ's awareness of his eventual death. The Madonna looks sorrowfully at her child, as she also realises his fate. Originally a panel of the Crucifixion stood above this painting, underlining the sacrificial (Eucharistic) nature of the image.[4] In many ways the style of the painting is traditional; the expensive gold background and ultramarine draperies of the Virgin, her enlarged scale, and her hierarchical presentation (ceremoniously enthroned) all fit within the late-medieval formulas for the representation of Mary and Jesus in glory. In other ways, however, the painting is a step away from International Gothic in the sense that Masaccio has created a more realistic approach to the subject: The faces are more realistic and not idealised. The baby Jesus is less of a small man and more childlike. An attempt at creating depth has been attempted by Massacio's placement of the two background angels and through the use of linear perspective in the throne. Modeling is clearly visible as the light source is coming from the left of the painting. The Madonna is a bulky figure, deriving from classical models, and her drapery has larger and more naturalistic folds that shape her body. Masaccio has used linear perspective to create pictorial space; it can be seen on the orthogonal on the cornice of her throne. The vanishing point is at the child's foot. The reason for this is that the work was originally located above a representation of the Adoration of the Magi, in which one of the magi kisses Jesus' foot.

Describe Masaccio, Madonna and Child

The Expulsion shows the scene from the book of Genesis after the Fall; after Adam and Eve have eaten from the fruit which God has forbidden them to eat, they are cast out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they are forced to labor and suffer the consequences of their sin. It is a scene of remarkable emotion, as Eve cries out and Adam cannot bear to show his face. The Expulsion is next to another of Masaccio's paintings in the chapel called the Tribute Money, in which St. Peter plays a prominent role. By placing these two scenes next to one another, Masaccio (or the theologian responsible for designing the program) seems to draw a connection between the Fall of Man and subsequent salvation via the Catholic Church, symbolized by St. Peter. An off-picture light source which causes shadows to be cast to the left (matches actual light source). Shows Adam's muscularity and the bending of his torso. Eve, who covers herself in her shame, does so in a way which resembles classical statues of the Venus Pudica. One of the best ways of understanding Masaccio's contributions to Renaissance painting is by comparing the Expulsion to Masolino's fresco on the opposite wall in the chapel showing the temptation of Adam and Eve. Masolino painted two expressionless figures who appear to be suspended in air against a dark-colored background. These figures appear static and more in keeping with medieval figural depictions. Masaccio, however, has given Adam and Eve an incredible amount of expression as they grieve over the consequences of their sins. They appear to be firmly planted on the ground and they are placed against a simple landscape setting. Masolino's fresco may have been in keeping with traditional expectations, but Masaccio's was one which would push Renaissance artists forward.

Describe Masaccio, The Expulsion

The painting is part of a cycle on the life of Saint Peter, and describes a scene from the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus directs Peter to find a coin in the mouth of a fish in order to pay the temple tax. The story is told in three parts that do not occur sequentially, but the narrative logic is still maintained, through compositional devises. The central scene is that of the tax collector demanding the tribute. The head of Christ is the vanishing point of the painting, drawing the eyes of the spectator there. Both Christ and Peter then point to the left hand part of the painting, where the next scene takes place in the middle background: Peter taking the money out of the mouth of the fish. The final scene - where Peter pays the tax collector - is at the right, set apart by the framework of an architectural structure. Also, it is one of the first paintings that does away with the use of a head-cluster. A technique employed by earlier Proto-Renaissance artists, such as Giotto or Duccio. (perceivable space). Christ and the disciples are placed in a semicircle, reflecting the shape of the chapel's apse. The tax collector, on the other hand, stands outside the holy space.[12] While the group of holy men are dressed almost entirely in robes of pastel pink and blue, the official wears a shorter tunic of a striking vermilion. The colour adds to the impertinence expressed through his gestures.[13] Another way contrast is achieved is in the way - both in the central scene and on the right - the tax collector's postures are copying almost exactly those of Peter, only seen from the opposite angle. This gives a three-dimensional quality to the figures, allowing the spectator to view them from all sides One technique that was unique to Masaccio, however, was the use of atmospheric, or aerial perspective. Both the mountains in the background, and the figure of Peter on the left are dimmer and paler than the objects in the foreground, creating an illusion of depth.

Describe Masaccio, The Tribute Money, fresco

In this scene Masolino makes use of the most popular and traditional iconography of the period and the two figures, both in their gestures and in their expressions are courtly and elegant: a mood which has always been contrasted with the atmosphere in Masaccio's fresco on the opposite wall of the chapel, interpreted as a powerful manifesto of a new cultural and artistic vision, one of great spiritual harmony and technical ability. Serpent has female head, similar to that of eve, signifier as woman as inferior sex, future strife (childbirth etc).

Describe Masolino, The Temptation

In 1408 a commission for executing the statues of four Evangelist for niches flanking the central portal of the Cathedral was split among three sculptors, Donatello (St John), Nanni di Banco (St Luke) and Niccolò di Piero Lamberti (St Mark). The St Matthew was offered as a prize in a competition. View point obviously from below, made adjustments, elongated neck and torso. however, failed to disguise neck unlike Donatello's, appears flimsy. Knees dwarfed by torso, and do not project far enough into the space.

Describe Nanni di Banco, St. Luke

For the first time in the history of western painting, both the Madonna and the Child appear to be inserted in a real, well-defined space (not floating off in space). Mary is sitting on a throne that seems to have been designed with perspective in mind, conveying the idea of ​​a real environment. The folds of the garments outline the volume of the bodies. The figures are more plausible, more human, they are no longer flat as if they were puppets on a flat surface (which they are, of course). Just look at the angels in the foreground singing in such a realistic way or the hand of the Virgin holding the Child as a real mother would do. Giotto's style is therefore an innovation in the way of painting done up to then. Although some elements still recall traditional methods, such as the golden background or the hierarchy of the figures (the Madonna and the Child are large, the angels are smaller in comparison), the new value given to the human figure and its relationship with space make this work a very important example of the new course of 14th century painting.

Describe Ognissanti Madonna, Giotto

life size figures from Mythology, centaur to the left, female figure holding a halberd (axe mounted on staff, an attribute of minerva - Pallas) to the right, clutching the hair of the centaur who is submissive to her, SUBMISSION OF PASSION TO REASON/WISDOM, her clinging dress decorated with the three ring insignia of the Medici family (patron), laurel wreaths wrapped around her arms into a crown - pun to Lorenzo, halberd typically carried by guards so she may be in the act of arresting him for attempting to shoot arrow - Control/power of reason. marsilio Ficino's theory - man is part human, part beast. Note pained expression of centaur's face compared to serene expression of Pallas.

Describe Pallas and the Centaur

According to the legend, the Queen of Sheba worshiped the beams made from the tree, and informed Solomon that the Saviour would hang from that tree, and thus dismember the realm of the Jews. This caused Solomon to hew it down and bury it, until it was found by the Romans. The two episodes are shown in the same fresco, separated from each other by the column of the royal palace: the Procession of the Queen of Sheba is on the left, the Meeting between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon on the right. - NARRATIVE FRESCO. Architecture (classical) used as a division, marble panelling, taking inspiration from antiquity, reproducing it with clear linear perspective. Conservative use of colour, pinks, reds, blues, greens, used to distinguish between figures - continuity in the two scenes. First scene set in landscape (relevant to subject matter).

Describe Piero della Francesca, The Queen of Sheba Worships the Wood from the True Cross and Her Meeting with Solomon

Scholars have never doubted that this scene is entirely by Masaccio. Starting with Vasari (1568), who used the man with the hood as the portrait of Masolino he put on the frontispiece of his biography of the artist, all later scholars have tried to identify the contemporary characters portrayed in the scene. It was noticed that the bearded man holding his hands together in prayer is the same person as one of the Magi in the predella of the Pisa Polyptych, now in Berlin; furthermoree it has been suggested that it may be a portrait of Donatello, while others think that Donatello is the old man with a beard between St Peter and St John. According to another view this character is Giovanni, nicknamed Lo Scheggia, Masaccio's brother; while some believe that he is a self-portrait. The removal of the altar has uncovered a section of the painting, at the far right, which is of fundamental importance in understanding the episode: this section includes the facade of a church, a bell tower, a stretch of blue sky and a column with a Corinthian capital behind St John. Also extremely important is the way Masaccio conceived the right-hand margin of the composition. To give the space a more regular geometrical construction, Masaccio has created "a complex play of optical effects and of perspective, as we can see in the lower section of the window jamb, where he has solved graphically an architectural problem, pictorially adjusting the faulty plumb-line of the edge of the jamb and the end wall; he makes the story, and therefore some of the background constructions, continue on the jamb." The street, depicted in accurate perspective, is lined with typically mediaeval Florentine houses; in fact, the scene appears to be set near San Felice in Piazza, which had a commemorative column standing in front of it. But the splendid palace in rusticated stone looks like Palazzo Vecchio in the lower section (the high socle that we can still see on the facade along Via della Ninna, with the small built-in door), although it is much more similar to Palazzo Pitti in the upper part (the windows with their rusticated stone frames). And in some details, such as the exact geometrical scansion of the ashlars, it is an anticipation of later facades, first and foremost Palazzo Antinori.

Describe St. Peter Healing with his Shadow

Shivering the Neophytes await baptism by Peter. Masaccio depicts their bodies with great skill and much attention for facial expressions. The two spectators on the left are possibly members of the Brancacci family, the owners of the chapel. In The Baptism of the Neophytes, Masaccio modeled Peter's robe and defined the muscles of the neophytes (new converts to Christianity) through the use of light and shadow effects. Peter is closest to the picture plane and behind him are two figures believed to be sponsors; we interpret them as being behind Peter because they are blocked partially from our view. From experience we know objects that are farther away appear smaller in size; therefore, because of size differences and being higher in the picture plane, we interpret Masaccio's neophytes as being farther from us. Masaccio also is aware that when objects are far away, textural details are not discernable and we are not able to determine color. Atmosphere causes values to become lighter; thus, the hills in the far distance are progressively lighter in tone. Before Masaccio's time, painters had limited success in creating a sense of depth. Masaccio created pictorial space and made it all seem natural; unless we analyze how he did it we are not consciously aware of the illusionistic devices he used. In the lower half of this fresco, Peter is baptizing a man by pouring water over him as he kneels in a stream. After we look at the baptism, our focus shifts to the waiting neophytes and we see their facial expressions and body language. Our eyes then progress from the left side to the right and we are guided back to the central foreground figure being baptized. In addition to a convincing depiction of a Biblical event, The Baptism of the Neophytes is a very balanced composition and the continuity of images keeps us engaged.

Describe The Baptism of the Neophytes

In the year 615, the Persian King Chosroes steals the cross, setting it up as an object of worship. The Eastern Emperor Heraclius wages war on the Persian King and, having defeated him, returns to Jerusalem with the Holy Cross. In representing the episode Piero has chosen to represent the grim mechanics of the slaughter: there are no beautiful patterns, no lovely light, and the armour has little allure. The legs of horses and people fill the lower part of the composition, while above masses of steel and flesh collide. There are incidents of utter brutality, as when a soldier near the throne jabs his dagger into the throat of another, or of pathos, as we watch the dying figure below the rearing horse. The dethroned monarch on the far right awaits the executioner's sword. Above him the True Cross is blasphemously incorporated into his throne. Tripartite composition between legs at bottom, bodies in centre, lances, flags, weapons above - lances in particular show use of perspective. Chosroes defeated, removed from architectural throne in far right - combination of narrative and battle scene.

Describe The Battle between Heraclius and Chosroes

Painted in the flat hieratic style of Byzantine art, using egg-tempera on wood. Although the figures shown in the work are stylish and elegant, they lack the new naturalism. his overall decorative scheme, Duccio introduced greater elegance and a bold use of colour. Unlike Giotto, he employed gold (and other rich, subtle colours) as an aesthetic feature in its own right, rather than simply as a functional feature to give added impact to figurative forms. Duccio's emphasis on the decorative links him to Gothic art, in particular the International Gothic style of the early 14th century.

Describe The Maestà, Virgin and Child with Saints

Francis' trip to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan, who sits on a throne in the centre, and whose attendants flee rather than submit to a test of fire that Francis has suggested to demonstrate the veracity of Christianity. Francis and a brother stand before a very hot fire (denoted by reds and oranges) to the right of the Sultan. Francis shields his face from the heat of the fire that he is about to walk through. Giotto has placed the Sultan in the centre of the composition, and emphasised his body language as the main source of narrative. The psychological importance of this story, Giotto has noted, is the Conversion of the Sultan, rather than the act of walking through fire by St francis. Therefore he is the central protagonist in this scene. Similarly, he directs his head in a leftward glance to his fleeing advisors, while pointing his right arm across the body to St Francis and the fire. This creates a physically obvious tension that expresses the intellectual tension the Sultan experiences, and who later converts to Christianity. This formula of central protagonist flanked on either side of opposing groups was an ingenious creation by giotto to manifest the divisive nature of choice, particularly potent in the context of a grand ruler, whose confusion and perplexity is only exacerbated by the contrast with the grand throne and placement within the composition. They are set in a perceivable fictive environment, the scene being flanked on both sides by projecting walls, both containing doorways, and out of which the advisors flee. This compounds the naturalism by placing them in a believable setting. This was unusual for the period, but the movement from square to rectangular frescoes may have played a part, in allowing for more horizontal space in which to create a setting. The fact that two square frescoes could have fitted comfortably into the space occupied by trial by fire suggests that Giotto was actively interested in narrative. Take for example the fleeing advisors, whose arm movements connect each other in a rhythmic sequence, beginning the the orange robe raised to the eyeline of the Sultan (linking the two). Also note the crescendo and v-shape of the cloth itself which extends a sense of fullness and weight to the viewer achieved with rapid strokes of a heavily loaded brush. The body language of the man in front of him is bent forwards towards the door, highlighting their immediate desire to flee. Cole compares these figures to the Betrayal of Christ in Padua, though less sophisticated. Also compares the fleeing group to a series of freeze-frames in movie, which when viewed in quick succession, appear to move. The men represented are Fear Preparation for flight Escape Consistent light source which coincides with the real light source from the chapel.

Describe Trial by fire

Venus the goddess of love, and Mars the God of War lie opposite each other as an allegory of beauty and valour, reclining in a forest surrounded by Satyrs. Most likely painted to adorn a wedding chest. Venus watches mars sleep, while satyrs play with his armour, and another blows a conch shell into his ear in an effort to wake him. The male tendency to fall asleep after sex, joined with the lance and conch shell as sexual symbols align with possible wedding theory. Venus sits in a growth of myrtle or laurel (or both), a symbol of Lorenzo. view of walled city to the distance. Venus is fully clothed, in marital mode (despite this being adulterous, she is married to Vulcan), the result of this was Harmony (offspring), Mars thought to be Botticelli's most anatomically correct nudes. Neoplatonist symbol: love conquers war.

Describe Venus and Mars

Jesus is in the centre of the composition, portrayed in the moment of his resurrection, as suggested by the position of the leg on the parapet of his tomb, which Piero renders as a classical sarcophagus. His stern, impassive figure, depicted in an iconic and abstract fixity, rises over four sleeping soldiers, representing the difference between the human and the divine spheres (or the death, defeated by Christ's light). (POSSIBILITY) The landscape, immersed in the dawn light, has also a symbolic value: the contrast between the flourishing young trees on the right and the bare mature ones on the left alludes to the renovation of men through the Resurrection's light. Andrew Graham-Dixon notes that apart from the wound, Christ's "body is as perfectly sculpted and as blemish-free as that of an antique statue. But there are touches of intense humanity about him too: the unidealised, almost coarse-featured face; and those three folds of skin that wrinkle at his belly as he raises his left leg. Piero emphasises his twofold nature, as both man and God." NB - contains two vanishing points, one at the sarcophagus, for the soldiers, and the other at Christ's face: soldiers seen from below, Christ straight on (symbolic of the triumph of christianity).

Describe francesca's resurrection

The Camera Picta, also known as the Camera degli Sposi, shows the Marchese and his consort, Barbara of Brandenburg, together with their children, friends, courtiers and animals engaged in professional and leisurely pursuits, illustrating the present successes and alluding to the future ambitions of the Gonzaga dynasty. On the north wall, often referred to as the 'Court Scene'. It shows Ludovico Gonzaga, dressed informally, with his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. They are seated with their relatives, while a group of courtiers fill the rest of the wall. The figures are interacting in an illusionistically expanded space. (About the room: Mantegna's playful ceiling presents an oculus that illusionistically opens into a blue sky, with foreshortened putti playfully frolicking around a balustrade. This was one of the earliest di sotto in sù ceiling paintings.)

Describe the Duke of Mantua and his consort (Camera Picta)

The Ascension with Christ giving the Keys to Saint Peter, marble carved in low relief, with numerous figures, representing Jesus Christ delivering the Keys to Saint Peter. In the centre of the upper part of the relief is the seated figure of Christ, with head bent in right profile and right hand raised in benediction, presenting the keys with his left hand to St. Peter, who stands beneath him on the right. In the clouds to right and left of Christ are four angels. Below and to the left of Christ is the kneeling figure of the Virgin in right profile with her right hand outstretched. Behind St. Peter stand five apostles, grouped roughly in a semi-circle, and behind the Virgin are five further apostles ranged in a descending line. To their left, in the left lower corner of the relief are two standing angels. The scene is set in a hilly landscape. The squashed relief gives greater definition to the most important figures, provides narrative. Certainly based on roman sarcophagi, naturalistic movement, interaction of figures.

Describe the ascension of Christ (Donatello)

The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a triangular shape with the Magi kneeling in adoration. Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a self-portrait of the young Leonardo (on the far right). In the background on the left is the ruin of a pagan building, on which workmen can be seen, apparently repairing it. On the right are men on horseback fighting and a sketch of a rocky landscape. The ruins are a possible reference to the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to Medieval legend, the Romans claimed would stand until a virgin gave birth. It is supposed to have collapsed on the night of Christ's birth (in fact it was not even built until a later date). The ruins dominate a preparatory perspective drawing by Leonardo, which also includes the fighting horsemen. The palm tree in the center has associations with the Virgin Mary, partly due to the phrase "You are stately as a palm tree" from the Song of Solomon, which is believed to prefigure her. Another aspect of the palm tree can be the usage of the palm tree as a symbol of victory for ancient Rome, whereas in Christianity it is a representation of martyrdom—triumph over death—so in conclusion we can say that the palm in general represents triumph. The other tree in the painting is from the carob family, the seeds from the tree are used as a unit of measurement. They measure valuable stones and jewels. This tree and its seeds are associated with crowns, suggesting Christ as the king of kings or the Virgin as the future queen of heaven, as well as that this is nature's gift to the new born Christ. As with Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, the background is probably supposed to represent the Pagan world supplanted by the Christian world, as inaugurated by the events in the foreground.The artist uses bright colors to illuminate the figures in the foreground of the painting. Jesus and the Virgin Mary are, in fact, painted yellow, the color of light. It is also interesting how the trees are painted blue, an unusual color for trees of any kind. On the right side the most credible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a 30-year-old can be seen, according to several critics.

Discuss Adoration of the Magi

This depicts five men wearing headbands and five men without, fighting in pairs with weapons in front of a dense background of vegetation. All the figures are posed in different strained and athletic positions, and the print is advanced for the period in this respect. The style is classicizing, although they grimace fiercely, and their musculature is strongly emphasized. The two figures nearest the front of the picture space are in essentially the same pose, seen from in front and behind, and one purpose of the print may have been to give artists poses to copy. An effective and largely original return-stroke engraving technique was employed to model the bodies, with delicate and subtle effect. Vasari: 'He had a more modern grasp of the nude than the masters who preceded him, and he dissected many bodies to study their anatomy; and he was the first to demonstrate the method of searching out the muscles, in order that they might have their due form and place in his figures; and of those ... he engraved a battle.'

Discuss Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of Nude Men

The subject matter of the work is the mythological story of Perseus beheading Medusa, a hideous woman-faced Gorgon whose hair was turned to snakes and anyone that looked at her was turned to stone. Perseus stands naked except for a sash and winged sandals, triumphant on top of the body of Medusa with her snakey head in his raised hand. The body of Medusa spews blood from her severed neck. The bronze sculpture and Medusa's head turns men to stone and is appropriately surrounded by three huge marble statues of men: Hercules, David, and later Neptune.[2] Cellini breathed new life into the piazza visitor through his new use of bronze in Perseus and the head of Medusa and the motifs he used to respond to the previous sculpture in the piazza. If one examines the sculpture from the back, you can see the self-image of the sculptor Cellini on the backside of Perseus' helmet. The sculpture is thought to be the first statue since the classical age where the base included a figurative sculpture forming an integral part of the work. At the time of creating the sculpture bronze had not been used in almost half a century for a monumental work of art. Cellini made the conscious decision to work in this medium because pouring molten metal into his cast, he was vivifying the sculpture with life-giving blood.[13] The most difficult part would be completing the entire cast all at once. Donatello's Judith and Holofernes was already placed within the Loggia dei Lanzi in the westernmost arch.[14] Judith had been cast in bronze, but in several sections jointed together.[15] Cellini was competing against monumental works, like Michelangelo's David and wanted to make a statement for himself and the patron, Cosimo I.

Discuss Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus and Medusa

The scene is based on the mythological princess Danaë, as -very briefly- recounted by the Roman poet Ovid, and at greater length by Boccaccio. She was isolated in a bronze tower following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father.[3] Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus (in Roman mythology Jupiter), who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to seduce her in the form of a shower of gold. In the 1544-1546 version, the burst of light that showers coins and on which Danaë's heavy gaze falls is flanked by dark clouds that appear to be moving towards the centre of the canvas. They spill heavy rain, which falls parallel to Zeus's coins.

Discuss Danae and the Shower of Gold

In contrast to the active struggle of the Rebellious Slave, Dying Slave seems to be sinking into a deep sleep. Far from dying, the figure in Michelangelo's Dying Slave seems to be abandoning himself to the effects of an intoxicant. Little resistance is shown in the silky contours of the arched back, extended left arm, and relaxed abdomen.

Discuss Dying slave

What we see in Giambologna's sculpture is the moment when a Roman successfully captures a Sabine woman as he marches over a Sabine male who crouches down in defeat. (As a note, the sculpture is also referred to as the Rape of a Sabine Woman, which can lead to confusion over the subject. In Latin, the word rapito means "abduction" (and in Italian, the verb rapire means "to abduct," thus the title Abduction of a Sabine Woman is technically more correct than the Rape of a Sabine Woman, which has explicit connotations of sexual violence. And indeed, in Livy's account of the episode, he claims there was not sexual violence, rather a variety of enticements by the Roman for how the women would be treated as their wives.) Giambologna built his figures up from the bottom, beginning with the cowering Sabine male (above), whose body twists and contorts in reaction to what is happening above him. The man's straining muscles are evident as he raising his left hand up in despair as the triumphant Roman literally straddles his body, as he strides forward, carrying the Sabine woman away. If you look closely where he grabs her left hip, his fingers actually press into her flesh (below), thus amplifying the effect of these figures being more than marble statues. The woman herself, arms outstretched, twists back and over the Roman's shoulder as she is hoisted into the air. These figures convey movement, aggression, fear, and struggle, as they move upward in a flame-like or twisting pattern known as figura serpentinata (serpentine figure), popular with Mannerist artists of the period. And to enhance the sense of frenetic energy, Giambologna did not provide a single or primary viewpoint for the work so the viewer must engage with the sculpture in 360 degrees in order to see the entirety of the drama unfold.

Discuss Giambologna, Rape of the Sabine Woman

The painting, one of the last works by Giorgione (if it is), portrays a nude woman whose profile seems to echo the rolling contours of the hills in the background. It is the first known reclining nude in Western painting, and together with the Pastoral Concert (Louvre), another painting disputed between Titian and Giorgione,[3] it established "the genre of erotic mythological pastoral",[4] with female nudes in a landscape, accompanied in that case by clothed males.[5] A single nude woman in any position was an unusual subject for a large painting at this date, although it was to become popular for centuries afterwards, as "the reclining female nude became a distinctive feature of Venetian painting".[6] There was originally a sitting figure of Cupid beside Venus's feet, which was over-painted in the 19th century.[7] In the course of painting, the landscape has also been changed at both sides, as has the colouring of the drapery, and the head of Venus was originally seen in profile, making it very similar to Titian's later Pardo Venus.

Discuss Giorgione, Sleeping Venus

Jonah, was readily recognisable by his attribute of the large fish and was commonly seen to symbolise Jesus' death and resurrection. Located above the altar, before the scene in which God divides light from darkness.

Discuss Johah from Sistine Ceiling

The story from the Old Testament tells how two women came to Solomon to settle a dispute about which one was the mother of a child. When Solomon ordered the baby to be cut in half, one of the women agreed to give up the child. Solomon recognized her as the true mother. The man holding the sword derives from a classical figure, either Castor or Pollux from the Quirinal, an ancient Roman palace. Expression of istoria from multiple figures, gesture, interaction, emotion. In fresco though looks like mosaic link to ancient tradition (roman).

Discuss Judgement of Solomon, from the ceiling of the Stanza della Segnatura

Inspired by a classical relief created by Bertoldo di Giovanni, the unfinished marble sculpture depicts the mythic battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. A popular subject of art in ancient Greece, the story was suggested to Michelangelo by the classical scholar and poet Poliziano. Battle of the Centaurs was a remarkable sculpture in several ways, presaging Michelangelo's future sculptural direction. Michelangelo had departed from the then current practices of working on a discrete plane to work multidimensionally. It was also the first sculpture Michelangelo created without the use of a bow drill and the first sculpture to reach such a state of completion with the marks of the subbia chisel left to stand as a final surface. Whether intentionally left unfinished or not, the work is significant in the tradition of "non finito" sculpting technique for that reason. Michelangelo regarded it as the best of his early works, and a visual reminder of why he should have focused his efforts on sculpture. Particularly striking is the composition of the figure's upper limbs, which deviate from the carefully articulated norms. Also remarkable, according to them, is the manner in which Michelangelo sculpted independently of his preparatory drawings, freeing him from the constraints of two-dimensional vision and allowing him to merge the figures fluidly and multi-dimensionally.

Discuss Michelangelo's Battle relief

Christ appears to the Magdalen after the Resurrection to comfort her. At first she thinks he is a gardener; when she recognises him he tells her not to touch him - 'noli me tangere' (let no one touch me) - as told in the Gospels (John 20: 14-18). Elsewhere, the Bible records that Christ will soon ascend to heaven and send the Holy Spirit down to his followers: he does not want them to cling to his physical presence. the painter innovates by evoking the resurrection through the nakedness of Christ's body, covered only by the shroud in which he had been buried - a shroud whose white draping magnificently complements the red flow of Mary's garment. He accentuates the tension in the woman's movement and the closeness of the two people whose right hands would touch were it not for Christ pulling back in a subtle movement of refusal nuanced by the affectionate inclination of his torso bending over Mary Magdalen.

Discuss Noli me tangere

This painting suggests a whirling dance of the grief-stricken. They inhabit a flattened space, comprising a sculptural congregation of brightly demarcated colors. The vortex of the composition droops down towards the limp body of Jesus off center in the left. Those lowering Christ appear to demand our help in sustaining both the weight of his body (and the burden of sin Christ took on) and their grief. No Cross is visible; the natural world itself also appears to have nearly vanished: a lonely cloud and a shadowed patch of ground with a crumpled sheet provide sky and stratum for the mourners. If the sky and earth have lost color, the mourners have not; bright swathes of pink and blue envelop the pallid, limp Christ. Pontormo's undulating mannerist contortions have been interpreted as intending to express apoplectic and uncontrolled spasms of melancholy.[1] The Virgin, larger than her counterparts, swoons sideways inviting the support of those behind her; the Swoon of the Virgin was a controversial moment at the time. The assembly looks completely interlocked, as if architecturally integrated. Legend has it that Pontormo set himself in self-portrait at the extreme right of the canvas; but ultimately, the most compelling and empathic figure is the crouching man in the foreground, whose expression mixes the weight of the cadaver and the weight of melancholy.

Discuss Pontormo, 'Entombment'

Looking at it formally, the scene depicted is actually neither the Deposition nor the Entombment, but located somewhere in-between. We can determine this through the background: on the right is Mount Calvary, the location of the Crucifixion and Deposition, and on the left is the cave where the Entombment will take place. And so two men, lacking halos, use a piece of linen to carry the dead Christ and it seems as if all the participants in the bearing of the body are in suspended animation.[14] The two men and Christ form very strong diagonals in the shape of a V. The younger man on the right holding Christ is posited to be a representation of the slain youth, Grifonetto himself.[1] Besides the two men carrying the body, we have St. John and Nicodemus behind and to the left and Mary Magdalene holding the hand of Christ. The legs of St. John and Nicodemus do present a distracting problem, especially in the case of Nicodemus because due to the obstruction of the view, it is not clear what he is exactly doing, or what he is exactly looking at.[15] On the far right, in the other figural group slightly behind the action, are the three Marys supporting the Virgin Mary, who has fainted (a controversial depiction known as the Swoon of the Virgin) most likely due to her overwhelming grief.[12] The way in which the Virgin is kneeling is excessively awkward, with extreme torsion and sharply cut drapery, also known as a figura serpentinata. Though seen in other famous works, her positioning seems to have been directly inspired by the example of Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, completed only a few years earlier. In terms of color, Raphael balances his use of strong reds, blues, yellows and greens and he creates subtle contrast in his flesh tones, best seen with the living Mary Magdalene's holding of the dead Christ's hand.[16]

Discuss Raphael Entombment

Raphael's painting depicts two consecutive, but distinct, biblical narratives from the Gospel of Matthew, also related in the Gospel of Mark. In the first, the Transfiguration of Christ itself, Moses and Elijah appear before the transfigured Christ with Peter, James and John looking on (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-13). In the second, the Apostles fail to cure a boy from demons and await the return of Christ (Matthew 17:14-21; Mark 9:14).[3] The upper register of the painting shows the Transfiguration itself (on Mount Tabor, according to tradition), with the transfigured Christ floating in front of illuminated clouds, between the prophets Moses, on the right, and Elijah, on the left[12] with whom he is conversing (Matthew 17:3). The two figures kneeling on the left are commonly identified as Justus and Pastor who shared August 6 as a feast day with the Feast of the Transfiguration.[13] These saints were the patrons of Medici's archbishopric and the cathedral for which the painting was intended.[2] It has also been proposed that the figures might represent the martyrs Saint Felicissimus and Saint Agapitus who are commemorated in the missal on the feast of the Transfiguration.[4][13] The upper register of the painting includes, from left to right, James, Peter and John,[14] traditionally read as symbols of faith, hope and love; hence the symbolic colours of blue-yellow, green and red for their robes.[2] In the lower register, Raphael depicts the Apostles attempting to free the possessed boy of his demonic possession. They are unable to cure the sick child until the arrival of the recently transfigured Christ, who performs a miracle. The youth is no longer prostrate from his seizure but is standing on his feet, and his mouth is open, which signals the departure of the demonic spirit. As his last work before this death, Raphael (which in Hebrew רָפָאֵל (Rafa'el) means 'God has healed), joins the two scenes together as his final testament to the healing power of the transfigured Christ. According to Goethe: "The two are one: below suffering, need, above, effective power, succour. Each bearing on the other, both interacting with one another."[15]

Discuss Raphael, Transfiguration

Highlights understanding of musculature, human body/anatomy, movement. All part of disegno process by where each detail is carefully analysed and prepared.

Discuss Raphael, drawing of the nude model in action

This painting has often been compared to the fellow Mannerist painter Pontormo's near contemporary (1528) treatment of the same subject in his Deposition canvas in Florence. Unlike Pontormo's bright coloration and unitary collection of billowing figures, the Fiorentino depiction has two arenas: above is an Escher-like geometric struggle of laborers on ladders, mechanically removing the crucified Christ, while below, the women and men are subsumed in grief. Mary, pale and downcast, collapses in the arms of two women. Mary Magdalen in bright red, swoons to hug the Madonna's legs. A grief-stricken apostle turns his face away. The somber landscape is virtually barren.[1] One reviewer describes the scene as "violent suffering ...rendered by extreme expression, the concatenation of angular bodies, and the dazzling light that sharply draws clear folds on the clothing."[2] Another states that this is the prototype of early-Mannerism, with "no logical spatial connection between the figures, the cross and ladders; the size of the figures appears arbitrarily chosen, and their elongated bodies and small heads" distort classical proportions.[3] Rosso would go on to paint a second, darker and more crowded Deposition altarpiece for the church of San Lorenzo, Sansepolcro in Sansepolcro

Discuss Rosso Fiorentino, Deposition

The Entombment is a 1559 painting by Titian, commissioned by Philip II of Spain. In this painting, Tizian uses the mature style characterized by the use of broad brushwork and brilliant colours. The figure holding Christ body is Nicodemus, the Jewish elder that secretly visited Jesus at night to learn about his teachings. The figure of Nicodemus bears the traits of the artist himself. This could have been inspired by Michelangelo's idea in his unfinished Pietà from 1550, depicting himself as Nicodemus, supporting the body of Christ displayed in the Cathedral in Florence. The stone sarcophagus where Christ body is placed is decorated with depictions of Cain and Abel and the Sacrifice of Isaac - themes that according to the Christian faith predicted the sacrifice of Jesus. Note Venetian colore, shadow on christ's face.

Discuss Titian's Entombment

Two women, who appear to be modelled on the same person, sit on a carved Ancient Roman sarcophagus that has been converted to a water-trough, or a trough made to look like a Roman sarcophagus; the broad ledges here are not found in actual sarcophagi. How the water enters is unclear, but it leaves through a phallic-looking brass spout between the two women, next to an anachronistic coat of arms in the carving. This belongs to Niccolò Aurelio, whose presence in the picture is probably also represented by the spout.[6] Between the two women is a small winged boy, who may be Cupid, son and companion of Venus, or merely a putto. He is looking intently into the water, and splashing a hand in it. The woman on the left is fully and richly dressed; her clothes are now usually recognized as those of a bride,[7] though in the past they have been said to be typical of courtesan wear. In her hair she wears myrtle, both a flower sacred to Venus and one worn by brides.[8] In contrast, the woman on the right is nude except for a white cloth over her loins and a large red mantle worn over one shoulder. It was generally recognised by the 20th century that, somewhat contrary to a natural first impression, if the painting indeed represented figures along the lines of Sacred and Profane Love, the clothed figure was "profane love", and the nude one "sacred love".[9] The nude figure sits comfortably on the ledge of the trough, with one hand resting on it and the other held high, holding a vessel with smoke coming out of it, probably an incense-burner. In contrast the pose of the clothed figure, apparently poised and relaxed, becomes rather strange in the lower part of her body when considered carefully, "the lower half of the bride's body is lost in her drapery and does not conform with her upper half".[10] The ledge seems too high for her to sitting on it properly, and her knees are wide apart. Perhaps she is actually sitting on something else beside the trough, or this may just be one of a number of lapses in depicting anatomy found in Titian's early career.[11] The clothed woman leans over, but is probably not supported by, a metal bowl whose contents have been described in various ways, despite it not being possible to see them. Another shallow metal bowl is on the ledge, nearer the nude figure; some have proposed a meaning for the decoration inside the bowl, such as the arms of Aurelio's bride, but this does not seem to be the case on close examination, after the picture was cleaned.[12] It would be convenient if the arms were there, as an early objection to the marriage picture theory was that "allusion to a marriage would require two coats of arms, not one".[13] The carved scenes on the front face of the trough/sarcophagus do not yet have a generally agreed reading.[14] They were described by Edgar Wind as "A man is being scourged, a woman dragged by the hair, and an unbridled horse is led away by the mane", all perhaps images of the taming of the passions.[15] Alternatively they have been seen as (reading right to left): Adam and Eve standing beside the Tree of Knowledge, Cain killing Abel, and the Conversion of Saint Paul, shown falling off his horse.[16] By 1914 they had been claimed to derive from scenes in five different literary works, ancient and modern,[17] reflecting the 19th-century taste for finding literary sources for paintings. They have been connected with the woodcut illustrations to Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (published in Venice in 1499).[18] The landscape on the left, behind the clothed woman, goes uphill to a what seems to be a walled castle or village dominated by a high defensive tower. There are two rabbits nearby, usually symbols of fecundity or lust in the Renaissance. The landscape behind the clothed figure stretches downhill, with village dominated by a church tower and steeple on the far side of water. Two men on horses are hunting a hare or outsized rabbit with fast lurcher-type dogs, and a flock of sheep are apparently tended by a shepherd, with a pair of lovers sitting nearby

Discuss Titian, "Sacred and Profane Love"

The broad composition of Titian's painting, with a group of apostles below a rising Mary, shown as alive, who moves towards a group of angels in heaven, follows earlier depictions in art, though such an imagined scene did not form part of the doctrine. The related scene of the Coronation of the Virgin in heaven had tended to be replaced by scenes showing the moment of the actual assumption, as here, which was often combined with it. Here the angel accompanying God the Father on the right holds out a crown, which he is about to place on her head. The figures are in three zones, divided by spaces filled only with light. On the ground are the Apostles, tightly packed in a group and in a variety of dramatic poses, most looking up at the unprecedented sight of the Virgin Mary rising to heaven. They are shown in a variety of poses, ranging from gazing in awe, to kneeling and reaching for the skies, "monumental figures ... massed in collective movement, united with shadow, heroic gestures are given a silhouette of unprecedented boldness".[5] In the centre zone, the Virgin Mary stands on clouds, wrapped in a red robe and blue mantle, and also makes a gesture of astonishment. Around her "throngs of angels are melted into clouds irradiated by heavenly light".[5] Above is God the Father, who is about to be handed a crown for Mary by the angel to the right (see above). Titian broke with tradition by omitting all landscape elements, although the blue-grey sky above the apostles shows the scene is set outdoors. The sky contrasts with the golden heavenly light in the upper zones, which recalls the gold ground traditional in mosaics such as those still being made in San Marco, and the gold ground paintings of the Gothic period.[6] Altogether there are twelve apostles, some only visible by a small area of their face. Saint Peter sits at the centre with his hands together in prayer, and Saint John the Evangelist is the younger man in red to the left of him; the others are probably not intended to be identifiable. The painting is signed "TITIANUS" on the sarcophagus below St Peter.

Discuss Titian, Assumption

The use of compartment-divided polyptych, a solution rather old fashioned for the time, was surely an explicit demand of Averoldi. Titian obtained anyway a certain degree of unity, although not a spatial or architectural one as in the 15th century polyptychs: the Veneto painter adopted instead a chromatic-dynamic and light convergence towards the central scene.[2] The panels are: Resurrection of Christ, Saints Nazarius and Celsus with Donor, Saint Sebastian, Angel of the Annunciation, Annunciation of the Virgin, Resurrection The central scene depicts a triumphant and blazing Christ above a dawn dark yellow and grey sky, who holds the Crusader banner as an emblem of the Christian Catholic church. Under him is a group of soldiers with armors. The work shows the influence of Raphael's works such as the Transfiguration (the centripetal position of Christ) and the fresco of the Deliverance of Saint Peter for the quasi-night atmosphere[1] Another possible influence is that of Danube school, in details such as the landscape illumination and the northern European fashion of the ideal Jerusalem in the background. Saints Nazarius and Celsus with Donor The left panel show the saints Nazarius and Celsus, to which the church housing the altar was dedicated, on a gloomy background. Nazarius wear a shining armor, while his disciple, Celsus, is behind him. The kneeling donoris averoldi the then papal legate to venice is portrayed from profile, and is stylistically reminiscent of the depiction of Sigismondo de' Conti in Raphael's Madonna of Foligno. The influence of Titian's master, Giorgione, is also visible in the calm atmosphere and the dull colors. Saint Sebastian The right panel shows the traditional Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, although in this case the saint is depicted in a rather contorted position which likely derived from Michelangelo's Punishment of Aman in the Sistine Chapel ceiling, or from Raphael's Fire of Borgo also in the Vatican.[1] The arms are tied to a trunk at different heights, while the legs are also differently articulated due to the presence of a column section. The saint's face resembles that of the Christ in the central panel, as well as that of Titian, who was thirty at the time.[1] In the background is an angel, who points at Sebastian and talks with Saint Roch: prayers to both saints were invoked as a protection against the plague, and Roch's uncovered legs show the characteristic lesions. Annunciation The two upper panels show the Annunciation, with the angel on the left and the Virgin on the right, according to a scheme dating to the Middle Ages. Titian painted the two figures under a powerful light, in particular the angel which is illuminated from behind. His figure is unrolling a cartouche with the Gospel words Ave Gratia Plena.

Discuss Titian, Averoldi Altarpiece

Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel's ceiling, a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization. Michelangelo used bright colours, easily visible from the floor. On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ. Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section, Michelangelo painted nine stories from the Book of Genesis. He was originally commissioned to paint only 12 figures, the Apostles. He turned down the commission because he saw himself as a sculptor, not a painter. The Pope offered to allow Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice as a compromise. After the work was finished, there were more than 300. His figures showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Great Flood.

Discuss the Ceiling of Sistine Chapel

In the first of the pictures, and one of the most widely recognised images in the history of painting, Michelangelo shows God reaching out to touch Adam, who, in the words of Vasari, is "a figure whose beauty, pose and contours are such that it seems to have been fashioned that very moment by the first and supreme creator rather than by the drawing and brush of a mortal man."[9] From beneath the sheltering arm of God, Eve looks out, a little apprehensively.[18] The "glory" of God, represented by a dark shaded area around him, has the same anatomical geometry as a human brain. God is depicted as an elderly white-bearded man wrapped in a swirling cloak while Adam, on the lower left, is completely nude. God's right arm is outstretched to impart the spark of life from his own finger into that of Adam, whose left arm is extended in a pose mirroring God's, a reminder that man is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Another point is that Adam's finger and God's finger are not touching. It gives the impression that God, the giver of life, is reaching out to Adam who has yet to receive it; they are not on "the same level" as would be two humans shaking hands, for instance. Many hypotheses have been formulated regarding the identity and meaning of the twelve figures around God. The person protected by God's left arm might be Eve due to the figure's feminine appearance and gaze towards Adam, but was also suggested to be Virgin Mary, Sophia goddess of wisdom, the personified human soul, or an angel of feminine build.[10] The Creation of Adam is generally thought to depict the excerpt "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him" (Gen. 1:27). The inspiration for Michelangelo's treatment of the subject may come from a medieval hymn, "Veni Creator Spiritus", which asks the 'finger of the paternal right hand' (digitus paternae dexterae) to give the faithful speech.[11]

Discuss the Creation of Adam

Several sources indicate that there were actually three versions, with this one being the last. This final sculpture revisited the theme of the Virgin Mary mourning over the emaciated body of the dead Christ, which he had first explored in his Pietà of 1499. Like his late series of drawings of the Crucifixion and the sculpture of the Deposition of Christ intended for his own tomb, it was produced at a time when Michelangelo's sense of his own mortality was growing. He had worked on the sculpture all day, just six days before his death. The elongated Virgin and Christ are a departure from the idealised figures that exemplified the sculptor's earlier style, and have been said to bear more of a resemblance to the attenuated figures of Gothic sculpture than those of the Renaissance.[8][9] Some also suggest that the elongated figures are reminiscent of the style used in Mannerism

Discuss the Pietà Rondanini

The "Rebellious Slave" is portrayed trying to free himself from the fetters which hold his hands behind his back, contorting his torso and twisting his head. The impression given, which would have contributed to the spatial appearance of the monument, was that he was moving towards the viewer, with his raised shoulder and knee. The iconographic significance of the two figures is probably linked to the motif of the Captive in Roman art; in fact Giorgio Vasari identified them as personifications of the provinces controlled by Julius II. For Ascanio Condivi, however, they symbolised the Arts taken prisoner after the death of pontif. The Rebellious Slave in particular might, speculatively, represent sculpture or architecture. Other meanings of a symbolic and philosophical nature have been suggested as well as some linked to Michelangelo's personal life and his "torments". From a stylistic point of view, they are based on ancient models, particularly Hellenistic sculpture, like the statue group of Laocoön and His Sons, discovered in 1506 and at that time in Michelangelo's possession, but also the sculptural friezes on the triumphal arches of Rome and depictions of Saint Sebastian.

Discuss the Struggling Slave

The fresco shows the mythological Mount Parnassus where Apollo dwells; he is in the centre playing an instrument (a contemporary lira da braccio rather than a classical lyre), surrounded by the nine muses, nine poets from antiquity, and nine contemporary poets. Apollo, along with Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, inspired poets.[3][4] Raphael used the face of Laocoön from the classical sculpture Laocoön and His Sons, excavated in 1506 and also in the Vatican for his Homer (in dark blue robe to the left of centre), expressing blindness rather than pain.[5] Two of the female figures in the fresco have been said to be reminiscent of Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam, Euterpe and Sappho, who is named on a scroll she holds.[6] Sappho is the only female poet shown, presumably identified so that she is not confused with a muse; she is a late addition who does not appear in the print by Marcantonio Raimondi that records a drawing for the fresco. The window below the fresco Parnassus frames the view of Mons Vaticanus, believed to be sacred to Apollo. Humanists, such as Biondo, Vegio, and Albertini, refer to the ancient-sun god of the Vatican.

Discuss the parnassus

It is an important work as it balances the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism. The structure is pyramidal, and the vertex coincides with Mary's head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to the base, the rock of Golgotha. The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. Much of Mary's body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural. Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pietà was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than an older woman around 50 years of age.[1] The marks of the Crucifixion are limited to very small nail marks and an indication of the wound in Jesus' side. Christ's face does not reveal signs of The Passion. Michelangelo did not want his version of the Pietà to represent death, but rather to show the "religious vision of abandonment and a serene face of the Son",thus the representation of the communion between man and God by the sanctification through Christ.

Discuss the pieta (Michelangelo)

It displays an unparalleled mastery of perspective. The statue was to be placed far above eye level. To correct the distortion that onlookers would observe from this angle Donatello extended the torso and shortened the legs of St. John. In Biblical history St. John was one of the original twelve apostles. He was considered a pillar of the church in Jerusalem after the death of Jesus. Donatello portrayed St. John as a noble and introspective prophet. He is seated in traditional flowing robes that hide his body but show off a gracefully sculpted arm and torso. Before the Renaissance John the Evangelist had usually been depicted has a young man. Donatello did not choose to create an idealized rendition of legend. He decided to show the wisdom of an aging prophet. His St. John has his hand placed carefully atop a book of scripture as his eyes seem to search for some deeper truth. Uses entire block for front form, set into niche, allows him to get full projection of figure into space.

Donatello, St. John the Evangelist

"Saw with his bodily eyes blessed Francis lifted up in midair, his arms extended as though on a cross, and blessing friars"

Give a quote from St Bonaventura's Life of St Francis, about the apparition

"For he had seen immediately one of his priests, a man full of authority and years, slipping away from his view when he heard Francis' words"

Give a quote from St Bonaventura's Life of St Francis, about the trial by fire

Gombrich observes with regard to the frescoes of the Storie di San Giacomo, destroyed during a bombing raid, that Mantegna did not use the art of perspective in the same way as Paolo Uccello, who used the new effects to "show off", but to give a solidity and physical appearance to the characters painted. And to create an architectonic illusion: in the Wedding Chamber the few elements that stand out are the door posts, the fireplace and a small walled cupboard as well as corbels that falsely support the triple lunettes that join the vault of the ceiling to the walls. The rest is painted architecture and this helps us to read the name Camera picta (or even camera magna picta) no longer a simple "room decorated by paintings" but constructed with images and geometry and, in this way, rendered "magna". i. e. magnificent. The crowd of the court and family on one side, the characters in plein-air and the panorama on the other and finally the vaults that stretch up to the sky creating a truly convincing illusion of being at the centre of a space whose boundaries are those dictated by one's own visual capacity.

Gombrich on Mantegna's use of perspective in the Camera Picta

The girls beside the marchesa are her two daughters Paola and Barbara. Ludovico Gonzaga is seated on a chair by the left pilaster. He turns to the side to speak with a man who has just entered from the left. To Gonzaga's right sits his wife, Barbara von Hohenzollern-Brandenburg, surrounded by her sons and daughters, a nurse, and a female dwarf. Beneath the right arcade, which is closed by a curtain that is drawn aside only slightly at the outside corner, stand a number of noblemen in elegant and colourful costumes.

Identity of those in Mantegna's Court Scene?

Each panel of the Gates of Paradise depicts several episodes of a biblical narrative. In the Story of Joseph a huge crowd takes part in the main action before the circular building which forms the background, yet despite the number of actors the scene combines coherence and unity with delicate, sinous charm, but the new interest in a perspective setting imparts a new logic and new order. The panel is showing clearly the modelling technique and perspective, so that the figures stand out against the architectural background and the work seems almost a painting in bronze. Scene begins top right, the climax takes place in centre. Adapts perspective to low viewpoint.

Lorenzo Ghiberti, The Story of Joseph

he was evoking the theory discussed by Alberti in his De Pictura (1435), according to which the painting is a window on reality.

Mantegna's fictive oculus?

He started with the subject of a Lamentation over the dead Christ,[9] similar to the famous painting of the same name by his teacher Pietro Perugino. He moved from that idea to an Entombment of Christ,[10] perhaps inspired by an ancient Roman sarcophagus relief of Meleager from Greek mythology, Michelangelo's Entombment or the print of the Entombment by Mantegna.

Relate the entombment to the roman sarcophagi

the young David was seen as an effective political symbol, as well as a religious hero. Wit, reason, religion trump barbarism.

Significance of David (and Goliath) for Florence?

Before Giotto, painting was still tied to the schematic Byzantine style and its archaisms. The figures were often stiff, two-dimensional and did not evoke emotional involvement with the viewer. Giotto broke with that tradition revolutionizing painting and the representation of the human figure.

Significance of Giotto

Head and torso of a man, body of a horse, to symbolise the animalistic lust of man's lower half in renaissance humanism, contrasted with the wisdom and reason of the mind.

Symbolic meaning of the centaur?

Told as part of the 'Golden Legend'.

Where is the legend of the true cross told?

the scene is part of the History/Legend of the True cross sequence. In Constantine's Dream, the Emperor Constantine the Great, before the battle of Milvian Bridge, is awakened by an angel who shows him the cross in heaven. With the cross on his shield, he slew the enemy, and later converted to Christianity. It is one of the earliest examples of nocturnal scenes in renaissance art. The moment depicted is the arrival of the angel, to the sleeping emperor, still unaware of its presence. The darkness is contrasted with the luminous divinity of the angel arriving, which illuminates the bed, sleeping Constantine, and guardsmen. Narratively, the angel arrives in from the top left corner, while the bottom left corner is filled by a darkened soldier whose back is to the viewer (frames the composition, connects the physical world with angel through vertical lance, also picture plane into depth of picture). Ordered geometric forms such as cylindrical tent, supporting pole, pyramidal mountains - reinforce use of single point linear perspective. Extreme tonal contrast to differentiate between mortal world of darkness and divine light.

describe Piero della Francesco's dream of Constantine