AHIS102 Terms & Artists Exam 2

Genre painting (or genre scene)

"Generic painting." A type of painting that is not based on any particular text, but rather depicts a scene apparently taken from everyday life. This category of subject matter began to be popular in the 16th century, and spread from Northern Europe to Italy.

Glazing

A method of painting in oils which involves the application of a transparent layer of dark paint on top of an opaque layer of light paint.

Triptych

A painting (most often an altarpiece) consisting of three panels, usually hinged together. The central panel was often twice the width of the outer panels, so that these panels could be closed over the central image (in such cases, the outer panels had images on the back and front, so that the altarpiece contained an image even when closed.

Oil painting technique

A painting technique in which pigments are suspended in a medium consisting of a drying oil such as linseed or walnut. Although oils were sometimes used in conjunction with egg tempera in 14th century painting, the use of oil paints and glazing (see below) was first practiced extensively by 15th century Flemish artists.

Sketch

A quick or "messy" drawing in which an artist sets down his first thoughts for a figure or composition. Leonardo da Vinci created sketches in which he would draw over the initial image, creating various alternative poses for limbs, and in the end creating almost a kind of "chaos", out of which he would choose his final ideas. In doing this--rather than working out the perfect pose first in his mind--he externalizes the process of his imagination.

Colossus

A statue or painting that is at least three times life-size. Colossi (pl. of colossus) were considered to be great examples of difficultà; in Roman antiquity a colossus was also considered an example of "audacia"-- audacity, or daring--referring to the courage necessary to undertake such a task.

Greek cross plan

A sub-type of the central plan. A particular type of central plan church in which the transept crosses the nave at its midpoint, and is the same length as the nave.

Baroque

A term used to describe the art of the 17th century, generally speaking. The word derives from the Portuguese "barocco," used to describe pearls of uneven size or unusual shape. (that term may in turn derive from the Latin word verruca, meaning wart). It was originally applied to 17th-century art in a derogatory manner, by late 18th-century critics who found the irregular shapes and dramatic patterns of light and dark seen in the work of artists like Borromini or Bernini to be too far removed from the balanced, "rational" ideals of classicism. Today the term "Baroque" is used more as a convention, than for any usefulness it might have in describing the most striking characteristics of 17th century art. Art historians who seek to characterize the salient features of the art of this period (which encompasses the works of such vastly different artists as Caravaggio, Reni, Rembrandt, Rubens and Poussin) have turned less to notions of artistic style than to concerns shared by a variety of artists: e.g., an interest in depicting or using light in new ways, an interest in infinite space, a revitalization of allegory, an interest in making an emotional or physical connection with the viewer.

Latin Cross plan

A type of church plan in which the nave is longer than the transept, producing three short arms and one long arm (Santo Spirito). Nave, aisles, bays, transept, crossing.

Four Temperaments (Humors)

According to ancient medical doctrine (still largely followed in the Renaissance), just as the earth was made up of four elements (fire, air, water, earth), so the human body was made up of four "humors": blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Good health was largely dependant on keeping these humors in balance, and the preponderance of one particular humor over the others in a person was thought to explain his or her temperament: the melancholic person had too much black bile, the sanguine (passionate) person too much blood, the phlegmatic (sluggish) person too much phlegm, and the choleric (bad-tempered) person too much yellow bile. Certain animals were thought to be representative of these humors and temperaments as well: the elk was a melancholic beast, the rabbit a sanguine one, the cat choleric, and the ox phlegmatic. Albrecht Dürer made use of this animal symbolism in his engraving of Adam and Eve.

Combinatory fantasy

According to the Aristotelian model of late medieval psychology, all human knowledge derives from sense data (i.e., things seen, heard, tasted, etc.). The mind was able to imagine things it had never actually seen (e.g., dragons or angels) only by taking apart and recombining actual things that it had learned through the senses (e.g., putting a lizard's body together with a bird's wings can make a dragon; putting a youthful human body together with bird or butterfly wings can make an angel). This creative faculty that could take apart images stored in the memory and recombine their various parts to make new forms was called the "combinatory fantasy." This model of the brain and its functions remained the dominant one throughout the Renaissance period, and provided the explanation of how an artist might create fantastic monsters but also of how he might create images of surpassing beauty (by combining together the parts of the most beautiful things he or she had seen).

Portrait of a Young Man

Agnolo Bronzino; Viewer is below man. Seen with finger keeping page in book: giving us a small amount of his time. (didn't write much on this).

Four Apostles

Albrecht Dürer; Given to magistrate of Nuremberg as "a remembrance in respect for your wisdom". Though the subject matter here--depictions of John the Evangelist, Peter, Mark and Paul--is religious, this work was actually presented by the artist to the governors of the city of Nuremberg, with a letter of dedication stating it was "a Remembrance in respect for your wisdom." This seems to refer to the city's adoption of Lutheranism as its official religious creed in 1524. At the bottom of each panel are biblical verses taken from the writings of the four figures depicted, rendered in the German of Martin Luther's bible translation. The painting combines a monumentality comparable to contemporary Italian High Renaissance works with a Northern attention to particularity and illusionistic depiction of surfaces.

Counter-Reformation

Also called "Catholic Reformation." The revival of the Roman Catholic church in Europe, beginning around the middle of the 16th century and lasting into the 17th. It is characterized by a series of internal reforms, stimulated in part by the Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent (see below) was one manifestation of the counter-reformation, as was the foundation of a number of new religious orders, including the Society of Jesus (Jesuit order).

The Protestant Reformation

Also known as the "Protestant Reformation." A series of reform movements in Western Christendom beginning around 1515-20, which eventually led to a break with the Catholic church. Although the Papacy attempted to put a stop to these movements through tools such as the Inquisition (begun in Italy in 1542 to prosecute heretics) and the Council of Trent (begun in 1545 to institute certain internal reforms), the various protestant movements (e.g., Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Church of England) were immensely successful in numerous Northern European centers.

Disegno

An Italian word meaning both drawing and design. It was strongly associated with central Italian art (i.e., works by artists trained in Tuscany), especially that of Michelangelo. Art that possessed good design was generally believed to be the result of much preliminary drawing.

Vitruvius

Ancient Roman architect and architectural theorist active 46-30 BCE; his treatise De Architectura (On Architecture) was much read by humanists and architects in the 15th and 16th centuries.

David

Andrea Verrocchio; Compared to Donatello's: Similar: contrapposto, head of Goliath at base. Different: Verrocchio's is clothed, Donatello's is nude. This under life-size statue (about 4 feet 2 inches high) was commissioned for the palace belonging to the Medici family in Florence. While it seems that it was intended for the interior of that building, visitors almost certainly would have compared it to Donatello's bronze statue of David, located in the palace's courtyard. In this work, Verrocchio models some features (e.g. the contrapposto pose) on Donatello's earlier work, but he also makes substantial changes in style and in "mood." Note for instance the clothing worn by David in Verrocchio's sculpture. Not only does it make the statue less "radical" (i.e. not nude, like Donatello's), but it is also highly ornate, in line with many of the works in late 15th-century Florence (e.g. Botticelli's Birth of Venus). The position of David's head, and his facial expression, also seem less "meditative" than in Donatello's sculpture--he looks out, and confidently smiles at the viewer, rather than gazing downward with eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat. The head of Goliath in Verrocchio's sculpture had long been placed between David's legs (as in Donatello's statue), but recent analysis of the statue, taken with other evidence, suggests the artist had originally placed it at his side, (as seen in the photo at left). This change reinforces the viewer's sense that David has moved beyond that battle, and (unlike Donatello's David) is no longer meditating on the deed or its meaning.

Pietà

Annibale Carracci; Dead Christ laid across Mary's lap. Based on High Renaissance and nature. Angel pricking his finger on jesus' crown of thorns, looking at us: Appeal to the sense of touch. Emotionally engages the viewer. Notice that Carracci takes his general composition from Michelangelo's High Renaissance sculpture of the Pietà, but also "humanizes" the theme, depicting the Virgin Mary as genuinely pained, and including small cherubs who hold up Jesus' wounded hand for us to contemplate, or prod us to think of the pain he suffered by touching (and being pricked by) the crown of thorns.

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi; Showed her in more strong way. Head about to fall out of painting. Blood spraying everywhere. (didn't write much on this).

Artifice & nature

Artifice simply means anything made by art--i.e, by human hands rather than by nature. It can be used as a term of praise, in the sense of craftsmanship or artfulness, but it can also carry the negative meaning of something false or contrived (the "-fice" part of the word comes from the same Latin root as does the word fiction; that term too carries a double meaning--both something made, and something made-up). All works of art are the product of artifice, but the artist can either choose to make the viewer aware of the art that went into its making, or choose to make it look natural by hiding that artifice. Recall the opinion expressed by Baldassare Castiglione in Part One, on sprezzatura: the best art is that which hides its own artifice. While we could see that in some ways as a formula followed by artists of the High Renaissance, Mannerism is a style period known for its conscious display of artifice. For the artists who made the art, and for the patrons who bought their art, Mannerism was thus an artful style, but for later critics of the art, it could be seen as artificial.

Romanist

Artist from northern Europe who journeys to Rome in order to study and learn from both ancient and modern Italian art. There is in Romanism an implicit assumption that the art of the Greco-Roman classical tradition is superior to local Northern artistic traditions.

Caravaggist

Artists who imitate various features of the style of Caravaggio, for instance his tenebrism and his methods of bridging the gap between the fictive world of the painting and the real world of the spectator. This movement flourished in Italy especially during the decade after the artist's death in 1610, but it had an even longer life among non-Italian artists who visited Italy in the 17th century, such as Gerrit van Honthorst. One can find certain Caravaggist features even among artists who never visited Italy (e.g., Rembrandt, Georges de la Tour).

Vitruvian man

Body is geometrical; compares Church to body; navel is center of body (placing body in square and circle would touch sides). A schema derived from the writings of the ancient Roman architectural theorist Vitruvius in which a perfectly proportioned human body touches (in various positions) the outlines of a square and a circle. This was illustrated a number of times in the Renaissance, most famously by Leonardo da Vinci, during his years in Milan. It is thought that Leonardo's interest in Vitruvian proportion was influential on Donato Bramante, whose service at the Milanese court overlapped that of Leonardo.

Bacchus

Caravaggio; God of wine. Allegory of the senses. Caravaggio's Bacchus could technically be called a mythological painting: the Roman god of wine, his temple wreathed with grape leaves, lifts a glass of his divine nectar. Yet the painting depicts Bacchus in the same sense as Titian's Venus of Urbino depicts the goddess Venus. As in that earlier painting, the central figure doesn't display divine dignity, but gazes seductively at the viewer. In light of that psychological engagement, we realize that the the glass of wine Bacchus holds out is being offered to us. The table at which he sits extends forward all the way to the picture plane, suggesting that we are seated across from him--his drinking partner. Implicitly Bacchus's gaze and gesture--the painting itself--only make sense if we are present, in "dialogue" with him. The items surrounding Bacchus suggest that the painting may be an allegory of one or more of the senses. For instance, in earlier works, a figure holding a glass of wine, eating fruit, or seated next to a fruit basket, was sometimes used to represent the sense of taste. Here the dish of fruit, which is past its prime to say the least, may also conjure the sense of smell. But a more interesting, and playful, reference to sense is Bacchus's right hand, which appears to unknot the sash around his waist (i.e. he is about to take off his clothes). In earlier allegorical prints, touch is often represented by two lovers embracing. Here, Caravaggio seems to be offering a variation on that theme: a seduction in which it is the viewer who takes on the role of the other lover.

Entombment

Caravaggio; Tenebrism. In this altarpiece, Caravaggio creates a work that not only differs from a Mannerist predecessor such as Pontormo's Descent from the Cross but also departs from the High Renaissance model of Raphael's Entombment, by appearing to reject all artifice and classical idealism in its depiction of the figures and composition.

St. Peter's, Rome, nave and façade

Carlo Maderno; Latin cross plan. Dome barely visible because of horizontality. (didn't write much on this).

Pentimento

Changing your mind; painted over.

Giovanna Tornabuoni

Domenico Ghirlandaio; The profile pose used here ultimately derives from the portrait types found on ancient Roman coins. Renaissance artists had in fact revived this type of portrait, seen in the portrait medal of another female member of the Tornabuoni family. (The Tornabuoni were a wealthy Florentine family, related to the Medici through marriage). The classicizing spirit of the painting is continued in the inscription pinned to the wall at Giovanna's left. It is taken from the ancient Roman writer Martial, and says, in Latin: "Art, if you were able to represent the costumes, character and soul, There would not be a more beautiful painting on earth."

New Saint Peter's (plan and medal)

Donato Bramante; Wanted to do a Greek Cross Plan. This was risky because the old, more traditional church had been Latin Cross.

Adam and Eve (Fall of Man)

Engraving by Albrecht Dürer; Three issues: refinement in engraving technique, style, complexity of meaning. In this work, Albrecht Dürer showcases both his Northern European artistic heritage (note the careful and individualized rendering of the forest, the rocky hillscape and the various animals; see details below) and his admiration for Italianate classicism (the body of Adam is based on ancient Greco-Roman prototypes such as the Apollo Belvedere (see the image of that statue below, in a print by the early 16th-century Italian engraver Marcantonio Raimondi). It has been proposed that in this print, Dürer uses the animals gathered in the foreground to represent the four humors, which (according to a medieval theologian) were in perfect balance in the bodies of Adam and Eve before they committed original sin, but afterwards fell into imbalance--the result being imperfect health and (ultimately) mortality.

Battle of the Ten Nudes

Engraving by Antonio del Pollaiuolo; Lines, classical subject, ornate. In engraving, the appearance of shadow is created by masses of incised lines. The parallel shading lines seen here are referred to as hatching. Although Pollaiuolo's print is intended to evoke ancient battle scenes, no story has ever been found that corresponds to the scene shown. Possibly it is intended to be used as a teaching device, or to demonstrate to potential patrons Pollaiuolo's talents in rendering the nude.

Church of Santo Spirito

Filippo Brunelleschi; Latin cross plan. Santo Spirito showcases the other side of his architectural interests: ancient Roman architectural theory and building styles. Although Brunelleschi used a few classical elements in the dome, the cathedral was essentially a 14th-century building, and he needed to harmonize his designs with the Gothic features already in place. In Santo Spirito, he was designing an entirely new church and had more freedom to employ ancient ideas on proportion and ancient types of decoration. In Santo Spirito, Brunelleschi maintains the traditional Latin cross, but incorporates two elements from ancient design: Corinthian columns, and a harmonious proportional relationship among the architectural elements (and the interior spaces they create). These elements are in fact related: the term "classical orders" does not just refer to different types of column capitals, but to different proportional systems distinguished by the height, thickness and spacing of the columns. In Santo Spirito Brunelleschi uses the Corinthian order, incorporating it into a modular system that makes all elements in both the plan and elevation relate to one another. This made for spaces quite different from those found in earlier Florentine churches. Here the side aisle bays create a square module to which everything else is related: the nave is two bays wide, and the area of crossing and or each arm of the transept is the equivalent of four bays. This same order is seen in the elevation of the nave.

S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (or "San Carlino")

Francesco Borromini; Lots of curves. Small space, so architecture is innovative. (didn't write much on this).

Cornaro Chapel (Ecstasy of S. Teresa)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini; Combines architecture, sculpture, and painting. Members of the Cornaro family seen to witness the miracle taking place over the altar. Altarpiece: Ecstasy of S. Teresa. Teresa of Avila: Counter-reformation figure. Founder of the Catholic order of Discalced Carmelites. Hidden window light bathes figures without evident source.

David

Gian Lorenzo Bernini; In this second work for Cardinal Scipione Borghese's villa, Bernini once again emulates classical antiquity. This time he looks to the twisting pose and broad stance of the ancient Borghese Gladiator, a statue in the Borghese family collection. Once again, Bernini attempts to surpass his ancient model by introducing a note of dramatic tension (David is ready to release his ammunition, but at whom?) which plays across his intently focussed face. As with many Baroque works of art, we seem to be participants (or at least bystanders) in the drama, which plays out across the space in which we stand.

Pastoral Symphony

Giorgione; Meaning is uncertain. Pastoral Symphony? Fete champetre? Concert champetre? Possibly an allegory of Poetry. Oil on canvas. Impasto.

Garden of Earthly Delights

Hieronymus Bosch; Triptych. Outside gloomy, inside bright and happy. Left wing: garden of eden. Right wing: hell. Middle: earth. Combinatory fantasy. The symbolism in it is not "disguised:" in the everyday world there are no half-duck, half-fish creatures that read books, no giant strawberries, no buildings that seem built out of dissected pink beetles. Thus one suspects from the first glance that these creatures or objects have some meaning, either in their own right, or as part of a larger schema (i.e. the overall meaning of the painting). Scholars have come up with a variety of explanations, often complicated and arcane. No single reading has become universally accepted, although several scholars have noted the similarity of certain objects in the painting to the instruments used in alchemy. Yet even those scholars have used that information to argue for different overall meanings. The triptych format-- often used for altarpieces-- along with various subjects (the creation of Adam and Eve in the left wing, a hell scene in the right) suggest a Christian meaning. (The work, however, would likely not have served as an altarpiece in a church). The central panel is something of a puzzle (and the source of the work's somewhat vague title). It certainly represents humans enjoying various sensual pleasures, and may represent the interlude of sensual temptations between the original creation of humans and the final judgment that awaits them. Bosch's creatures would have been understood in the Renaissance as products of his combinatory fantasy. The ability to combine parts of individual things into a hybrid whole had been associated with artistic freedom since classical antiquity, and scenes similar to Bosch's were part of medieval decoration, in architecture (especially column capitals), furnishings, and manuscripts (especially in the marginal regions surrounding blocks of text. The difference in this painting is that what was marginal now becomes central.

Quadratura

Illusionistic architectural painting. The use of quadratura to paint ceilings in such a way as to make the actual architecture of the room appear to continue beyond the actual bounds of the ceiling became fashionable in Italian Baroque painting from the 1620s forward. Quadratura painting required a rather sophisticated knowledge of perspective, and painters might hire a specialist to help them design and paint the architecture in their ceiling fresco (as did Guercino in his Aurora).

Classical order

In classical architecture, the parts of a temple elevation may be in different proportional ratios to one another and be decorated with different types of ornamentation. The different types of proportional systems, seen in the relationships between the parts of the column and entablature (i.e., the superstructure supported by columns) came to be known as orders. The three major classical orders are called Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

Descent from the Cross

Jacopo Pontormo; Bright colors. Unrealistic poses and people. (didn't write much on this).

Neptune and Amphitrite

Jan Gossaert; Trained in the Netherlands and active in the city of Antwerp, Gossaert traveled to Rome with his princely patron Philip of Burgundy in 1508. While there he made avid studies of the art and architecture of classical antiquity, and upon his return to the Netherlands in 1509, Gossaert began to incorporate this new classical vocabulary into his works. He is one of the first examples of a "Romanist"--an artist trained in Northern Europe whose style is transformed after visiting the city of Rome. In this painting--part of a cycle of paintings done for Philip of Burgundy--Gossaert playfully combines classical and Northern elements: e.g., the body of Neptune (based in part on Dürer's Adam from the Fall of Man) in its classicizing architectural setting, and the figure's shiny curls (rendered convincingly in oils), as well as the detailed conch shell that serves as his cache-sexe.

Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride

Jan Van Eyck; Oil painting technique involves a series of layers (Oil glazing (transparency) vs. egg tempera painting (opacity) -- glazing: putting on a layer of paint). Used disguised symbolism: where something means more than it appears to be; however, nothing seems to be out of place. Had signature of artist: Johannes de eyck fuit hic -- "Jan van Eyck was here". This small painting (around 32 1/3 inches high) has been the subject of many scholarly books and articles by art historians, most of which try to explain elements that are to various degrees unusual for a portrait of a married couple.

Process over product

Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci; Eyes and mouth smiling; done fairly believably. Leonardo's portrait of Lisa Gherardini (The Mona--or more properly Monna--at the beginning of her name is a shortened form of Madonna, or "Milady": a form of address rather than a name) was cut down from its original size.

Virgin of the Rocks

Leonardo da Vinci; Unites figures through gesture and gaze. Uses pyramidal figure group that create monumentality. Places figures believably within setting through the rendering of color, light, and shadow. Combines deep chiaroscuro and sfumato. This altarpiece, done while Leonardo was in Milan, depicts an incident not in the Bible and often seen in religious art: a legendary encounter between the Holy Family (Mary and Jesus) and Jesus' cousin S. John the Baptist, who is out in the wilderness, apparently being tutored by an angel. Jesus blesses John, while John kneels in an attitude of prayer toward Jesus.

The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci; Very damaged from technique used (painted on dry plaster using oils) and exposure. Makes figures seem monumental. Groups of 3; Jesus only figure alone. Reactions move out in waves.

Colorito

Literally "colored" or "painted" (the Italian verb colorire = to paint). The word describes the application of paint, and was used to characterize works by Venetian artists such as Giorgione or Titian. While for a central Italian artist such as Michelangelo, the "imaginative" part of painting (and the proper time for experimentation) was during the process of making a preliminary drawing (disegno), for the Venetians, the actual application of paint was a crucial stage in the creative process, and they sometimes changed a composition while they were painting it.

Tenebrism

Literally, "darkness" or"shadowiness" (from Latin word tenebrae=darkness); a term used to describe paintings in which there is a preponderance of darkness. This is found especially in the work of Caravaggio, who often placed a partially (if brightly) lit figure or figures in an otherwise dark setting. This feature is also found in the art of Caravaggio's followers, but with certain differences. While Caravaggio often used this device in his religious paintings (e.g., The Conversion of Paul) to suggest the mysterious and momentary penetration of the divine into an otherwise shadowy terrestrial world, Caravaggio's followers tended to demistify that light by including a candle or a lamp to explain its source (see, for instance, Gerrit van Honthorst's Supper Party).

Figura serpentinata

Literally, a serpentine figure; used to describe the human figure twisting on its axis; the shoulders and hips of a figura serpentinata consequently occupy different planes. This type of pose--perfected by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo--was especially favored by artists in the High Renaissance and Mannerist periods.

Maniera

Maniera is the Italian word for style (derived from mano, or hand, and related to our word manner). Used in reference to art, style usually means a characteristic way of doing things (e.g., modelling form, composing paintings, laying on paint, etc.) that is the hallmark of a particular artist (e.g., "Michelangelo's style") or period (e.g., "Flemish style"). Yet the term can also apply to a sort of absolute quality of fashion or elegant comportment--as in "he really has style." Mannerism is an artistic period whose style (in the first sense of the word) is characterized by style (in the second sense of the word). It is, in other words, the "stylish style." Like the term artifice,maniera can have both positive and negative meaning, for while Mannerist artists might see their products as "stylish," later critics might view them as "mannered."

Engraving (engraving technique)

Method of printmaking involving working a metal plate with a burin. The plate is then coated with ink, the surface wiped clean, and the ink that remains in the lines made by the burin is printed onto a sheet of moistened paper when the plate and paper are run through a printing press. The image in an engraving is constructed out of lines, and occasionally, of stipples. The lines can either suggest the contours of objects or their internal modeling; in the latter case, the series of parallel lines suggesting shadow are referred to as "hatching" (or, when lines drawn at different angles intersect each other, as "crosshatching").

The virtue of difficulty

Michaelangelo

Libyan Sibyl

Michelangelo; Figura serpentinata: twisted figure. Thought male body was most beautiful. This is one of the 12 figures of prophets and sibyls that Michelangelo painted on the Sistine Ceiling. In this figure Michelangelo shows his power to surpass nature by making a human form turn on its axis to a greater degree than an actual human body can accomplish.

Last Judgment

Michelangelo; Jesus portrayed differently than normal. Artistic License. Michelangelo's Last Judgment was highly praised when it was completed, but it came under heightened scrutiny and received cutting criticism from various quarters in the decades thereafter. Many of these criticisms embodied counter-reformation ideas, finding fault with Michelangelo for displaying an overabundance of artistic license.

Temptation and Expulsion

Michelangelo; Not much scenery; human body valued more than ornament. Bodies grow uglier once they leave the garden. Male models used. (didn't really write down much about this)

David

Michelangelo; Terribilitá. Michelangelo made a sheet of studies during this time (see below), which included a sketch for a more traditional type of David, and a drawing for the marble David's right arm. At the side of the sheet he jots down some poetic thoughts, one of which reads "David with the sling, and I with the bow. Michelagnolo."

Impasto

Paint applied thickly, so that brushstrokes are evident on the paint surface. A method of oil painting associated with 16th-century Venetian artists such as Titian, it is also seen in artists of later centuries who emulated Titian.

Madonna with the Long Neck

Parmigianino; Italian 16th Century Treatise on Beautiful Women: A beautiful woman is well proportioned like a beautiful vase. Extended, weird proportions, small man in corner. This painting demonstrates the highly prized qualities of grace and ornateness in its depiction of the Madonna and Child as well as its treatment of the angels at the left (the small figure at the right is St. Jerome). In contrast to Raphael's Madonna of the Meadow, the Virgin is not placed in nature, but rather is placed in the midst of a highly artificial environment. She is flanked on one side by a vase and the other by a column, both of which can be seen as metaphorically referring to her beauty (e.g., both--like her--are elongated).

Arrival of Maria de' Medici at Marseilles

Peter Paul Rubens

Elevation of the Cross

Peter Paul Rubens

Outbreak of War

Peter Paul Rubens

Peasant Dance

Pieter Bruegel; Shows peasants getting drunk, dancing, being rambunctious. Genre painting. (didn't write much on this).

Hunters in the Snow

Pieter Bruegel; This panel is part of a series that Bruegel painted for a wealthy banker in Antwerp (five survive). The paintings illustrate activities associated with different months of the year, drawing their subject matter from the calendar pages in medieval and Renaissance Books of Hours, such as the Limbourg Brothers' Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. Like the February illustration from that work, Bruegel shows a snow-covered landscape, with a convincing rendering of the heavy atmosphere on a snowy day. Yet for all the naturalism of the depiction (e.g., the reflections on the ice at the lower right), the landscape is still constructed according to a schema, rather than copied from nature. The formula of a diagonal foreground with large figures, a steep drop-off, and then a vast rising plain seen from a "bird's eye view" is enriched by the addition of steep mountain peaks on the horizon at right--a feature not to be found in the Netherlands, but a suitable ornament for a painting.

Triumph of the Barberini

Pietro da Cortona; Commissioned by nephew of Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini). Quadratura. This illusionistic fresco allegorically celebrates the papacy of Pope Urban VIII, and was commissioned for the family palace by one of Urban's nephews. In it you can see one of the chief characteristics of Baroque allegory: the dynamism and dramatic contrast and composition that make it look more like an (active) narrative than a (static) allegory.

Central plan

Radial symmetry around a central point. A type of plan in which all parts radiate from a central point. These plans may be circular (as seen below), or may be equal-armed (i.e., Greek) crosses (as seen in Bramante's and Michelangelo's plans for new S. Peter's).

The triumph of emulation

Raphael

Baldassare Castiglione

Raphael; Eyes main color in painting. Castiglione was the author of The Book of the Courtier (quotation on sprezzatura) and was a friend of Raphael.

Galatea

Raphael; Figura serpentinata. Raphael's Galatea was painted for one of the wealthiest men in Rome, the banker Agostino Chigi. It decorated a wall in his country house, or villa, which is across the Tiber River from the heart of "downtown" Renaissance Rome. It is instructive to compare the composition of this High Renaissance work with Sandro Botticelli's earlier mythological painting, also done for a private patron, The Birth of Venus.

Philosophy ("School of Athens")

Raphael; Knowledge as active, formed through dispute. Raphael's fresco of Philosophy is one of four large-scale allegorical paintings he did for a room that came to be called the Stanza della Segnatura. This room originally housed Julius II's personal library, and the subjects of the allegories correspond to the four large subject categories into which libraries at the time were divided: philosophy, theology, jurisprudence and poetry (literature).

Madonna of the Meadow

Raphael; More traditional; not as much dark shadow. Here we see ample evidence of Raphael's skill at emulation: this work was done after he came to Florence and was able to study the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Deposition

Rogier van der Weyden; Oil on panel.

Birth of Venus

Sandro Botticelli; Classical subject, lines, patterns. This painting, which depicts the ancient myth of the birth of Venus (goddess of love and beauty) from the sea, was made for a member of the Medici family. She is generated in the the ocean after her father's castrated member falls into the waters. Botticelli avoids any hint to the violent genesis of her birth, focusing instead on her journey to the shore, propelled by two entwined wind gods and met by a nymph or perhaps one of the Hours (goddesses of the seasons). The modest pose Botticelli uses for Venus derives from the same ancient model that Masaccio uses in his Expulsion of Adam and Eve. Though they share this model, the two artists put it to very different use. Botticelli's painting is very ornate, as can be seen in the patterned cloth held by one of the figures, the windblown locks of Venus's hair, and the feathers, hair and intertwined poses of the two wind gods.

Humanism

Term applied to fourteenth-, fifteenth- and sixteenth-century scholars who studied and wrote literature, history and ethics in classical Latin and sometimes in classical Greek. Although very few artists could be called humanists in the strict sense (most were not fluent in Latin), humanists sometimes acted as their advisors, providing them with the subject matter for individual works or programs for series of decorations. The term "humanist art," therefore, is applied to art in which learned themes from antiquity are treated, with the artists often using a style imitating or emulating that of classical antiquity.

Modularity and proportion

Terms used to describe the architecture of Filippo Brunelleschi, who used a square module as the basic unit for his church plans. Because all of the parts of the church are based on this single module, all of the parts of the church are proportionate to each other.

Terribilità

The capacity to inspire awe; awesomeness. The word may be used to describe a facial expression, a work of art, or even an artist. It is related to the ancient style category of the sublime, and is especially notable in the works of Michelangelo.

Microcosm & macrocosm

The human body is created in a form that is in keeping with the form and dimensions of the cosmos itself. The idea, of great interest to Leonardo da Vinci, that the human body (microcosm--i.e., small world) and the universe (macrocosm--i.e., large world) mirror one another in various ways. As Leonardo would state in some of his writings, the rivers that nourish the land are like the arteries that carry blood through the body, the stones of the earth are like bones, etc.

Artistic license

The idea, modeled on the ancient notion of "poetic license", that the artist has the freedom to do what he wishes in a work of art--i.e., to follow his own imagination and taste rather than depend on norms of nature or decorum or tradition. This quality is associated with Mannerism, and artists such as Michelangelo were sometimes taken to task for it by counter-reformation critics.

Venus of Urbino

Titian; Impasto. Exchange between woman and viewer. This painting was made for Guidobaldo della Rovere, who was to become the Duke of Urbino. The subject matter and meaning of the painting have been debated among art historians. The figure has traditionally been identified as Venus because of her similarity to the reclining figure in Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (that painting originally had a Cupid standing at the feet of the goddess, certifying her identity). Yet this "Venus" is reclining in a modern (Renaissance) setting: behind her, two maidservants either fetch clothing from, or put clothing away in, a chest. Because Guidobaldo had recently taken a bride, the painting is sometimes identified as alluding to the benefits of marriage, but it has also been argued that this is a frankly erotic, rather than allegorical painting.

Madonna of the Pesaro Family

Titian; Sacra conversazione. Madonna off center. Orthogonals meet at left of painting. Little boy looking out; balance in painting. Pentimento. During the 7 years the artist worked on this painting, he changed his mind several times about the architectural setting. It is possible to see pentimenti around the columns indicating some of his earlier compositions.

Oil on canvas

While most fourteenth- and fifteenth-century easel paintings used wooden supports (see diagram at "panel painting technique," above), sixteenth century Venetian painters often used canvas as a support. Venetian canvases were often of a particularly coarse weave, and artists such as Giorgione did not attempt to hide the surface texture of the support.

Sprezzatura

grace; not given to you by nature, but rather by hard work; don't let people know how nervous you are