Ch. 22/21/23/30 ap art history
Raphael Cowper Madonna, c1505.
Things to notice: -Use of primary colors -Three-D modeling through Chiaroscuro -Triangular composition
Matthias Grunewald
was a man of many talents, who worked as an architect and hydraulic engineer as well as a painter. He is best known today for paintings on the shutters or wings attached to Nikolaus Hagenauer's carved Isenheim Altarpiece
an Vermeer The LaceMaker 1665-1670
,
Northern Baroque or "Protestant" :
-As the Protestants are generally trying to remove themselves from religious images that might be considered Icons, they will find other subject matter other than religion, yet often times still have highly symbolic images: -Look for images showcasing CIVIC PRIDE! -History images -Portraits -Still lifes (symbolic meanings) -Landscapes (look how pretty our home is!) -GENRE PAINTINGS (v. important.....showcases scenes of everyday life) -Civic Pride (look how awesome we are!)
Characteristics of Mannerism:
-Elongated proportions -Awkward use of human anatomy (bodies twisting in elegant but unnatural ways) -Awkward compositions -Inconsistent lighting and tone (where is the light source) -Highly intellectual in theme (not typical subject matter or representation of normal themes) -Extremely well painted/showcasing superb technical ability -Made of very valuable metals (in terms of architecture or sculpture) -Tends to have lighter colors, or more pastel colors
Southern or 'Catholic" Baroque:
-The Reformation influences subject matter for religion.... -Church wants to try and entice people back to the church, so in the countries where the Church is still a primary power, they will dictate what will be shown: -Images of Extreme religious Ecstasy -Images of Martyrdom
ALLEGORY WITH VENUS AND CUPID Bronzino Mid 1540's
-Three Masks -Dove -Venus and son (venus takes arrow from quiver) Cupid pinches nipple and they kiss. -Putto Represents Folly, Jest, Playfulness -He steps on thorny branch and bleeds slightly -Venus hold golden apple of Discord -Masks=duplicity -Old man = chronos? Assisted by outraged Truth or Night, reveals the couple -Monstrous serpent girl. Head of girl, legs of clawed lion. Holds her scorpion stinger tail and also honeycomb (supposed to be Fraud and Pleasure) -Screaming Man (victim of syphilis....sexually transmitted disease popular at the time)
Artemisia Gentileschi "Judith and Maidservant With Head of Holofernes" ca. 1612-1613
.
Borromini
.
Caravaggio, "Judith Slaying Holofernes", ca. 1599.
.
Caravaggio, "The Incredulity of St. Thomas", 1602.
.
Caravaggio, Crucifixion of St. Peter
.
Caravaggio, Flagellation of Christ. c.1606-1607. Oil on canvas.
.
Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, 1602.
.
Claesz
.
Correggio ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN Main Dome Interior Parma Cathedral Italy 1526-1530
.
DEPOSITION Pontormo Florence 1525-1528
.
Frans Hals Buffoon (Jester) Playing A Lute 1623
.
Frans Hals. Officers and Sergeants of the St Hadrian Civic Guard. c. 1633.
.
Frans Hals. The Governors Of The Old Mena Almhouse At Haarlem, 1664.
.
Hans Holbein the Younger Henry VIII (King of England), 1540 Oil on Wood.
.
Jan Vermeer The Letter 1630
.
Judith Leyster Self-Portrait 1630
.
Lorrain
.
Louis XIV,
.
MADONNA OF THE LONG NECK Parmigianino Florence 1534-1540
.
Michelangelo The Last Judgment Fresco Sistine Chapel, Italy 1541.
.
Philip IV
.
Poussin
.
Raphael Madonna dell Granduca c. 1505 Oil on wood. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
.
Raphael Alba Madonna
.
Rembrandt
.
Ruisdael
.
Titian, Penitent Mary Magdalen 1560s, Oil on canvas.
.
Titian, The Pesaro Altarpiece, 1522-26, canvas, San Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
.
Velazquez
.
Vermeer
.
Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi,1573 Oil on canvas, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
.
an Vermeer Allegory of the Art of Painting 1670
.
an Vermeer The Music Lesson 1662-1665
.
da Vinci "Portrait of Ginerva Benci", Oil on Wood, 1474-76.
.
da Vinci "Virgin of the Rocks", 1485. Oil on wood..
.
Raphael Madonna della Sedia
/
A Brief History of St. Peter's in Rome...
1506-Bramante designs a Greek-Cross plan for a new St. Peter's to replace the old church. 1514-Bramante dies, and the building of the church is put on hold for over 30 years. 1546-Michelangelo becomes Chief Architect for the building of St. Peter's... built up to the dome.
Reformation
1517 REFORMATION -begins when Martin Luther posts his Thesis that explains that the bible is the authority and that a head of the religion is not needed -At this time the church is selling indulgences -not a fan of venerating relics -creation of Protestants -COUNTERREFORMATION -goal is to say that the catholic church and the pope are very important -the council of trent 1545-1565 defines the way the catholic is going to be run and recognizes that there are some abuses; set guidelines on the way art was to be made -1542 Pope Paul III started the inquisition--> art had to be okayed by the church -venetian art focuses on color and roman on design -venetian art on style roman on design
Michelangelo
A High Renaissance artist. He sculpted David (1504. Michelangelo also carved great statues of Moses (c. 1513-15), The Dying Slave (1513-16), and The Bound Slave (1513-16). Pope Julius II commissioned him to decorate the Sistine Chapel (1508- 1512).
Michelangelo, Pietà, c1500, Marble, 5'8.5
A Pietà is the Virgin Mary holding and mourning dead Christ Italian for "compassion" Popular in Northern Europe, but rare in Italy. Made by Michelangelo when he was 24. Only major work that has Michelangelo's signature on it (on the strap across her chest) The marble sculpture is encased in bullet-proof glass inside St. Peter's in Rome.
Albrecht Durer Adam And Eve, Engraving, 1504.
Adam and Eve is a metal plate carved w/ tiny lines...Parrot= false wisdom, they are being told false wisdom by the serpent. Cat & rat= may represent JC or vanity since cats are very proud. Represents SELFISHNESS they want to be like God. Elk-black bile, ox-phlegm, there is an imbalance in u somewhere, symbolic by an animal. Goat= one of the ailments of the 4 fluids out of balance. Eve is a symbol of Vergo the virgin, capicorn, torus...3 earth signs...Symbol of the earth= 4. He's very much using symbolism and composition by portraying the fall of man on earth he may be talking about dual natures (S. Italian idea) He is trying to duplicate that. Obessive comparison of detail. Dürer tempered his Vitruvian idealization with naturalism, demonstrating his well-honed observational skills in his rendering of the background foliage and animals. The gnarled bark of the trees and the feathery leaves authenticate the scene, as do the various creatures skulking underfoot. Symbolic Animals The animals populating the Fall of Man are symbolic. The choleric cat, the melancholic elk, the sanguine rabbit, and the phlegmatic ox represent humanity's temperaments based on the "four humors," body fluids that were the basis of theories of the human body's function developed by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and practiced in medieval physiology. The tension between cat and mouse in the foreground symbolizes the relation between Adam and Eve at the crucial moment in Fall of Man.
Giorgione, The Pastoral Concert, 1509. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Also attributed to Titian Combines the Greek idealism with a pastoral (or "shepherd") setting Not intended to convey a plot, but rather an idyllic, romantic setting
Hans Holbein the Younger The (French) Ambassadors, 1533. Oil on Wood.
Although a German-born artist who spent much time in England, Holbein displayed the influence of Early Northern painters in this work. What is most "Flemish" of Holbein's use of oils is his use of the medium to render meticulous details that are mainly symbolic: as Van Eyck and the Master of Flemalle used extensive imagery to link their subjects to divinity, Holbein used symbols to link his figures to the age of exploration. The most notable and famous of Holbein's symbols in the work, however, is the skewed skull which is placed in the bottom centre of the composition. The skull, rendered in anamorphic perspective, another invention of the Early Renaissance, is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting nearly from the side to see the form morph into an accurate rendering of a human skull. While the skull is evidently intended as a vanitas or memento mori, it is unclear why Holbein gave it such prominence in this painting. • Only work that he signed with his full name • Around the time of King Henry the 8th, he broke off from the catholic church made the englicatian church because they wouldn't anull his marriage • Ambassador on left: short robe man of the world, order of st. Michael medallion around neck, age located on dagger • Bishop on the right: long robe man of the church, painted when he was 25(located on book) • Open hymnal: martin luther • Global: 20 names that rep family • Instruments of travel, shared interest of travek • Anamorphic image: take an image then mathematically
Caravaggio, "Calling of Saint Matthew" c1597-1601
Although earlier artists had been called on to provide paintings for the chapel, it was only after Contarelli's death in 1585 that the executors of his will brought the decoration to completion, hiring Giuseppe Cesare in 1591 to paint the ceiling frescos, and Caravaggio in 1599 to provide paintings of scenes from the life of the patron's patron saint: THE CALLING OF ST. MATTHEW on the left wall (FIG. 23-11) and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew on the right (not visible in FIG. 23-10), both installed in July 1600. The commissioning document was explicit, requiring the artist to show, in The Calling of St. Matthew, the saint rising from his seat to follow Christ in ministry. But Caravaggio was never very good at following the rules. Among the group of smartly dressed Romans who form Matthew's circle of cohorts seated at the left, no one rises to leave. Art historians have not even been able to agree on which figure is Matthew. Most identify him with a bearded man in the center, interpreting his pointing gesture as a self-referential, questioning response to Jesus' call. But some see Matthew in the figure hunched over the scattered coins at far left, seemingly unmoved by Jesus' presence. In this case, the bearded figure's pointing would question whether this bent-over colleague was the one Jesus sought. The painting is marked by mystery, not by the clarity sought by Counter-Reformation guidelines.
Titian, Portrait of Isabella d'Este, 1534-1536
Although she is shown as a young woman, Isabella was 62 by the time the work was painted. Titian had originally painted a more aged Isabella, but she was so displeased with the picture that she made him repaint it in an idealized form, so that she looked forty years younger. Her face and hands were given the most attention, while her garment fades into the background.
Gianlorenzo Bernini, "David", Galleria Borghese, Rome, 1623.
Bernini's sculpture is expansive and dramatic, and the element of time usually plays an important role in it. This marble statue aims at catching the figure's split-second action and differs markedly from the restful figures of David portrayed by Donatello and Michelangelo. The figures legs are widely and firmly planted, beginning the violent, pivoting motion that will launch the stone from his sling. If the action had been a moment before, his body would have been in a completely different position. Bernini selected the most dramatic of an implied sequence of poses, so observers have to think simultaneously of the continuum and of this tiny fraction of it. This is not the kind of sculpture that can be inscribed in a cylinder or confined in a niche; its indicated action demands space around it.
Palladio
Andrea Palladio dominated architecture during the second half of the century by expanding upon the principles of Alberti and ancient Roman architecture. His buildings— whether villas, palaces, or churches—were characterized by harmonious symmetry and controlled ornamentation. Born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola (1508-1580), probably in Padua, Palladio began his career as a stonecutter. After moving to Vicenza, he was hired by the nobleman, humanist scholar, and amateur architect Giangiorgio Trissino, who gave him the nickname "Palladio" for the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena, and the fourth-century Roman writer Palladius. Palladio learned Latin at Trissino's small academy and accompanied his benefactor on three trips to Rome, where he made drawings of Roman monuments.
Gentileschi
Artemisia was a follower of Caravaggio; she was a woman in a male-dominated art world. Her father figured out that she was a much better artist from his and had teachers come but they raped her. Artesmia was coerced by her teacher to continue the sexual relationship. The guy was brought up on charges from the father. Back then women were sencond-hand citizens. Girls were seen as properties of their father. Now she was "damaged" property. The guy was charged, but never served time. It influenced her art work. She did the beheading of Judith over and over again. Her early paintings were disgustingly harsh; like she was working thru her anger/trauma thru her pictures. She also made social commentaries where women were stronger the men and killing them. She was a very sought after painter and helped promote the Caravaggio style in Italy but at the same time it was religious work; stuff the Church would want to see. **Very early ideas of feminism...
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, "Triumph in the Name of Jesus", Church of Il Gesu, Rome, Italy, 1676-1679 ITALIAN BAROQUE
As the mother church of the Jesuit order, Il Gesu played a particularly prominent role in the Counter-Reformation. Gaulli's compostion focuses on the joyful rise of spirits to Christ's aura. In contrast, figures of the damned seem to plummet through the ceiling to the nave floor. Gaulli successfully combined architecture, painting and sculpture to create a dramatic work that celebrates the glory of Christ and His Church. Every element is dedicated to creating the illusion that clouds and angels have descended through an opening in the top of the church into the upper reaches of the nave. The extremely foreshortened figures are projected as if seen from below, and the whole composition is focused off-center on the golden aura around the letters IHS, the monogram of Jesus and the insignia of the Jesuits. The subject is in fact the last judgement. with the elect rising joyfully toward the name of God and the damned plummeting through the ceiling toward the nave floor. The sweeping extension of the work into the nave space, the powerful appeal to the viewer's emotions, and the near-total unity of the multimedia visual effect—all hallmarks of Italian Baroque—were never surpassed.
Caravaggio, "Entombment" 1602-1603
Beyond its ability to move its audience, this composition also had theological implications. To viewers in the chapel, it appeared as though the men were laying Christ's body onto the altar, which was in front of the painting This served to visualize the doctrine of transubstantiation (the transformation of the Eucharist and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ) -- a doctrine central to Catholicism but rejected by Protestants. By depicting Christ's body as though it were physically present during the Mass, Caravaggio visually articulated an abstract theological precept. Unfortunately, viewers no longer can experience this effect.
Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio), Conversion of Saint Paul , 1601
Caravaggio painted Conversion of Saint Paul for the Cerasi Chapel in the Roman church of Santa Maria del Popolo. It illustrates the conversion of the Pharisee Saul to Christianity, when he became the disciple Paul. The saint-to-be appears amid his conversion, flat on his back with his arms thrown up. In the background, an old hostler seems preoccupied with caring for the horse. At first inspection, little here suggests the momentous significance of the spiritual event taking place.
Caravaggio
Caravaggio, too, interpreted his religious subjects directly and dramatically, combining intensely observed figures, poses, and expressions with strongly contrasting effects of light and color. His knowledge of Lombard painting, where the influence of Leonardo was strong, must have facilitated his development of the technique now known as tenebrism, in which forms emerge from a dark background into a strong light that often falls from a single source outside the painting. The effect is that of a theatrical spotlight.
Tomb of Pope Julius II: Michelangelo, Moses 1513-1515
Commissioned by Pope Julius II as part of his immense tomb, (which was never completed as planned... Julius used more funds to the building of St. Peter's) Horns on head were traditionally meant to be divine, but scripture may have meant that Moses was "radiant", not "horned". Inspired by Greek Hellenistic sculpture Laocoon & Sons
Traits of the High Renaissance in Italy:
Continuous Warfare by the major monarchs trying to expand their territories (including the popes) -Rumblings of the Reformation (issues with the papacy and the institution of the Church). -Pope wanted to remodel and rebuild the vatican and Rome. Required many taxes. -Indulgences -Establishing family members as hereditary rulers, pope/clergy acting like princes -The HRE and the Pope went to war for 6 months....instability -Humanist ideas (Arts are more intellectual than simply a skilled labour) -The printing press allowed for cheaper and more plentiful books to be available to education -Increase interest in the Classics (Very much focusing on the Classical Age of Greece in terms of composition in paintings, statues.....) -Despite wars, travel was increasing for not only the educated classes, but artists were traveling much more. -Artists moved almost entirely to oil painting and were no longer reliant on the church for patronage.
the dutch
DUTCH FREEDOM The Dutch succeeded in securing their independence from the Spanish in the late sixteenth century. Not until 1648, however, after years of continual border skirmishes with the Spanish were the northern Netherlands officially recognized as the United Provinces of the Netherlands ( The Dutch Republic ). DUTCH MONEY Amsterdam had the highest per capita income in Europe. That city emerged as the financial center of Europe, having founded the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609. DUTCH GOVERNMENT Due to this prosperity and the absence of an absolute ruler, political power increasingly passed into the hands of an urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers, especially in cities such as Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft. That these bustling cities were all located in Holland ( the largest of the seven United Provinces ) perhaps explains why the name "Holland" is used informally to refer to the entire country. DUTCH RELIGION While Spain and the southern Netherlands were Catholic, the northern Netherlands were predominantly Protestant. The prevailing Calvinism demanded a puritanical rejection of art in churches, and thus artists produced relatively little religious art in the Dutch Republic at this time (especially when compared to areas dominated by Catholicism in the wake of the Counter- Reformation.)
Leonardo Da Vinci. "Last Supper" ca. 1495-1498. Fresco.
Despite it's ruined state and its restorations, this piece is by far the most impressive of Leonardo's works. Christ and his 12 disciples are seated at a long table set parallel to the picture plan in a simple, spacious room. Leonardo amplified the painting's highly dramatic action by placing the group in an austere setting. Christ appears isolated from the disciples, framed by the window behind him. It serves as a halo. The artist took people out of his real life and used them as figures for his painting, but had problems with Judas because he couldn't find a significant figure for him. When he did finally paint him, he portrayed him with his hand over a dish because of Christ's foretelling that "he that dippeth his hand with me into the dish, he shall betray me" refering to Judas' betrayal. He is also leaning back from Christ and in a shadow. Christ was the last to be painted. Divine THREEs: Trinity & Theological Virtues Earthly FOURs: Elements & Cardinal Virtues
Jusepe de Ribera Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew 1634
During this period, the Church—aiming to draw people back to Catholicism—commissioned portrayals of heroic martyrs who had endured shocking torments as witness to their faith. Ribera's painting of the MARTYRDOM OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW, the apostle who was martyred by being skinned alive, captures the horror of the violence to come while emphasizing the saint's spirituality and acceptance (FIG. 23-17). The bound Bartholomew looks heavenward as his executioner tests the sharpness of the knife that he will soon use on his living victim. Ribera has learned the lessons of Caravaggio well, as he highlights the intensely realistic faces with the dramatic light of tenebrism and describes the aging wrinkled flesh in great detail. The compression of the figures into the foreground space heightens our sense of being witness to this scene
Albrecht Durer, Four Apostles, 1526. HIGH GERMAN RENAISSANCE
Dürer admired Martin Luther, but they never met. In 1526, the artist openly professed his Lutheranism in a pair of inscribed panels, the FOUR APOSTLES (FIG. 22-9). On the left panel, the elderly Peter, who normally has a central position as the first pope, has been displaced with his keys to the background by Luther's favorite evangelist, John, who holds an open Gospel that reads "In the beginning was the Word," reinforcing the Protestant emphasis on the Bible. On the right panel, Mark stands behind Paul, whose epistles were particularly admired by the Protestants. A long inscription on the frame warns the viewer not to be led astray by "false prophets" but to heed the words of the New Testament as recorded by these "four excellent men." Below each figure are excerpts from their letters and from the Gospel of Mark—drawn from Luther's German translation of the New Testament—warning against those who do not understand the true Word of God. These paintings were surely meant to chart the possibility of a Protestant visual art.
Francis I Jean Clouet 1525-1530
Flemish artist Jean Clouet (c. 1485-c. 1540) found great favor at the royal court, especially as a portrait painter. About the same time that he became principal court painter in 1527, he produced an official portrait of the king (FIG. 22-13). Clouet created a flattering image of Francis by modulating the king's distinctive features with soft shading and highlighting the nervous activity of his fingers. At the same time he conceived an image of pure power. Elaborate, puffy sleeves broaden the king's shoulders to fill the entire width of the panel, much as Renaissance parade armor turned scrawny men into giants. The detailed rendering of the delicately worked costume of silk, satin, velvet, jewels, and gold embroidery could be painted separately from the portrait itself. Royal clothing was often loaned to the artist or modeled by a servant to spare the "sitter" the boredom of posing. In creating such official portraits, the artist sketched the subject, then painted a prototype that, upon approval, became the model for numerous replicas made for diplomatic and family purposes.
Artemisia Gentileschi "Judith Slaying Holofernes" ca. 1614-1620
Gentileschi used what might be called the "dark" subject matter Caravaggio that favored. Significantly, Gentileschi chose a narrative involving a heroic female, and favorite theme of hers. The story, from the work of the Old Testament, the Book of Judith, relates the delivery of Israel from its enemy, Holofernes. Having succumbed to Judith's charms, the Assyrian general Holofernes invited her to his tent for the night. When he fell asleep, Judith cut off his head. In this version of the scene, Judith and her maidservant are beheading Holofernes. Gentileschi emphasizes the grisly facts of this heroic act, as the women struggle to subdue the terrified Holo fernes while blood spurts wildly from the severing of his jugular. The artist's dramatic spotlighting and a convergence of compositional diagonals rivet our attention on the most sensational aspects of the scene pushed toward us in the foreground. Throughout her life, Gentileschi painted many such images of heroic biblical women, which art historians have interpreted in relation to her own struggle to claim her rightful place in an art world dominated by overpowering men.
Albrecht Durer Melancholia I, Engraving, 1514. HIGH GERMAN RENAISSANCE
Germany, N. Renaissance, engraving
Matthias Grunewald, The Crucifixion, 1515 Panel from the Isenheim altarpiece: oil on wood.
Grünewald reveals a lack of interest in Renaissance or Classical theories of proportion or perspective. Christ is not related in size to the other figures - he dominates the panel - note the hands. It was painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim near Colmar (then in Germany), which specialized in hospital work. The Isenheim Altarpiece, completed 1515, now in the Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar. Its nine images on twelve panels contain scenes of the Annuciation, Mary bathing Christ, Crucifixion, Entombment of Christ, Resurrection, Temptation of St. Anthony and saints. The Antonine monks of the monastery were noted for their treatment of sufferers of skin disease, such as ergotism (fungus that infects rye, other cereals -painful seizures and spasms, diarrhea, paresthesias, itching, headaches, nausea and vomitting), symptoms of which are displayed by figures including the crucified Christ in the altarpieces. Meant to meditate on the Crucifixion and Resurrection and derive from them comfort for their own sufferings.
Frans Hals, Officers of the Haarlem Militia Company of St. Adrian, 1616.
Hals's composition is based on a strong underlying geometry of diagonal lines—gestures, banners, and sashes—balanced by the stabilizing perpendiculars of table, window, and tall glass. The black suits and hats make the white ruffs and sashes of rose, white, and baby blue even more brilliant. Although Hals focused his career on portraits of wealthy members of Haarlem's merchant class, he also painted images of eccentric local figures
Titian. Venus of Urbino. 1538. Oil on canvas. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Here, we seem to see a beautiful Venetian courtesan, with deliberately provocative gestures, stretching laguidly on her couch in a spacious palace, her glowing flesh and golden hair set off by white sheets and pillows. But for its original audience, art historian Rona Goffen has argued, t painting was more about marriage than mytholgy or seductiveness. The multiple matrimonial references in this work include the pair of cassoni (see FIG. 20-26) where servants are removing or storing the woman's clothing in the background, the bridal symbolism of the myrtle and roses she holds in her hand, and even the spaniel snoozing at her feet—a traditional symbol of fidelity and domesticity, especially when sleeping so peacefully. Titian's picture might be associated with Duke Guidobaldo's marriage in 1534 to the 10-year-old Giulia Verano. Four years later, when this painting arrived, she would have been considered an adult rather than a child bride. It seems to represent not a Roman goddess nor a Venetian courtesan, but a physically and emotionally mature bride welcoming her husband into their lavish bedroom.
Bernini
His works include: The colonnade of St. Peter's Piazza Vibrant marble sculpture of David Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture
Patrons and their influence on art
How did royal patrons of the arts choose to have themselves portrayed in the art of the seventeenth century? Comparing the art of painters such as Riguard, Van Dyck, Rubens, and Velazquez will help students to visualize the changes that had occurred since the Renaissance. Regional differences should also be noted. The mid-class r rising up the renaissance. Changing stays of artists. Artists r being seen as geniuses in their own right, divine gifts from God...
Michelangelo, David 1501-1504.
In 1501, the city of Florence asked Michelangelo to work a great block of marble, called "The Giant," left over from an earlier aborted mission. From this stone, David was sculpted, the defiant hero of the Florentine republic and, in so doing, assured his reputation then and now as an extraordinary talent. David's formal references to classical antiquity appealed to Julius II, who associated himself with humanists and with Roman emperors. Thus, this sculpture and the fame that accrued to Michelangelo on its completion called the artist to the pope's attention, leading to major papal commissions. The artist chose to depict David not after victory, but turning his head to his left, sternly watchful of the approaching foe. His whole muscular body, as well as his face, is tense with gathering power. Michelangelo worked for the Medici family in Florence Claimed to have taught himself to carve marble by studying the Medici collection of classical statue It's a larger than life sculpture, the height of David reaches over 13 feet tall. It's also sculpted in perspective (top heavy), so if viewed from below the figure looks proportional. Contrapposto or a weight shift is also apparent in this sculpture.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, 1632.
In his 1st group portrait rembrandt combined his scientific and humanities interests. Frans Hals had activated the group portrait rather than conceiving it as a simple reproduction of posed figures and faces; rem brant transformed it into a charged moment from a life story. Rembrandt built his composition on a sharp diagonal that pierces space from right to left, uniting the cadaver on the table, the calculated arrangement of speaker and listeners and the open book into a dramatic narrative event
Albrecht Durer, Self-Portrait, c1500
In his self-portrait of 1500, Dürer represents himself as an idealized, Christ-like figure in a severely frontal pose, staring self-confidently at the viewer. he incorporated many Italian Renaissance developments into his art. Art historians have acclaimed Dürer as the first Northern European artist to understand fully the basic aims of the Renaissance in Italy. Similar to Leonardo Like Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer wrote theoretical treatises on a variety of subjects, such as perspective, fortification, and the ideal in human proportions. Unlike Leonardo Unlike Leonardo, he both finished and published his writings.
Leonardo
Leonardo was the quintessential "Renaissance Man", studying all types of subjects. He was an Artist, Sculptor, Architect, Scientist, Engineer and Inventor. Worked as an apprentice to Verrocchio
Raphael, Self-Portrait, 1506 Oil on wood, Uffizi Galleria.
Raffaello Sanzio, Raffaello Sanzi, and Raffaello Santi Place of Birth - Urbino, Italy 1483 - 1520 Died of a fever aged 37 years old Served as an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio Supported by The Medici Family and Pope Leo X
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1642.
The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq is more commonly known as Night Watch. This common title is , however, as a misnomer- Night Watch is not a nocturnal scene
Raphael, The School of Athens, 1511, Fresco, Stanza della Segnatura.
PLATO: looks to the heavens [or the IDEAL realm]. Da Vinci was the model. ARISTOTLE: looks to this earth [the here and now].
Palladio, Villa Rotunda, 1566, HIGH ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Palladio's versatility was already apparent in numerous villas built early in his career. In the 1560s, he started his most famous and influential villa just outside Vicenza (FIGS. 21-45, 21-46). Although villas were working farms, Palladio designed this one in part as a retreat, literally a party house. To maximize vistas of the countryside, he placed a porch elevated at the top of a wide staircase on each face of the building. The main living quarters are on this second level, and the lower level is reserved for the kitchen, storage, and other utility rooms. Upon its completion in 1569, the building was dubbed the VILLA ROTONDA because it had been inspired by another round building, the Roman Pantheon. The plan shows the geometric clarity of Palladio's conception: a circle inscribed in a small square inside a larger square, with symmetrical rectangular compartments and identical rectangular projections from each of its faces. The use of a central dome on a domestic building was a daring innovation that effectively secularized the dome and initiated what was to become a long tradition of domed country houses, particularly in England and the United States.
Hieronymus Bosch Creation of the World. Outer wings of the triptych Garden of the Earthly Delights. c.1504-1510. Grisaille on panel.
People consider him the father of surrealism (Bosh) His stuff is so dreamlike, but it is very Northern highly detailed and symbolic. So different for this time period. depicted the sort of imaginative fantasies more often associated with medieval than Renaissance art. A superb colorist and virtuoso technician, Bosch spent his career in the town whose name he adopted, 's-Hertogenbosch. Bosch's religious devotion is certain, and his range of subjects shows that he was well educated. Bosch's religious devotion is certain, and his range of subjects shows that he was well educated. Challenging and unsettling paintings such as his GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS (FIG. 22-20) have led modern scholars to label Bosch both a mystic and a social critic. The subject of the triptych seems to be founded on Christian belief in the natural state of human sinfulness, but it was not painted for a church. In the left wing, God introduces doll-like figures of Adam and Eve, under the watchful eye of the owl of perverted wisdom. The owl symbolizes both wisdom and folly. Folly had become an important concept to the northern European humanists, who believed in the power of education. They believed that people would choose to follow the right way once they knew it. Here the owl peers out from an opening in the spherical base of a fantastic
The 'Raphael Stanze'
Pope Julius II commissioned 25 year old Raphael Sanzio in 1508 to paint the frescos in his four room apartment on the top floor. Three of the rooms were of modest dimensions, while the fourth one was considerably larger; with the completion of the work, the rooms became known as "The Raphael Stanze" .
Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508-12
Pope Julius II gave the reluctant Michelangelo the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo faced enormous difficulties: relative inexperience in fresco technique, large dimensions, height above pavement, and perspective. Depicting the most august themes of all, the Creation, Fall, and Redemption of humanity, Michelangelo spread a colossal decorative theme with over 300 figures. A long sequence of narrative panels describing the creation, as recorded in the biblical book Genesis, runs along the crown of the vault.
Rembrandt van Rijn Self-Portrait 1660
Rembrandt absorbed an interest in the naturalism, drama, and tenebrism chapioned by Caravaggio. By the 1630s, Rembrandt was established in Amsterda primarily as a portrait painter, although he also painted a wide range of narrative themes and landscapes.
Hans Holbein the Younger
Since the Tudors had long favored Netherlandish and German artists, it is hardly surprising that it was a Germanborn painter, Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543), who shaped the taste of the English court and upper classes.
Naturalism/verisimilitude
The desire of seventeenth-century painters to achieve naturalism in their works marks a shift away from Classical ideals. The willingness of patrons to be portrayed, "warts and all" (p. 752), is a startling shift from the trends first seen in the art of the ancient Near East. Caravaggio takes this notion to an extreme, and was famously persecuted because of it.
New patrons
The emergence of a middle-class art-buying public in Holland during this period is an extraordinary development. The Calvinistic mores of that culture need to be closely scrutinized to understand the laces in their portraits and the oysters in the still lifes of the period (p. 799).
Shifting styles
This chapter includes the Baroque and the Rococo art styles. The reasons, not fully understood, for this shift in taste and what it means visually, are of major importance. Unlike Mannerism, the Rococo style is mostly uniform, and quickly identified. Nonetheless, the chapter provides opportunities for students to practice connoisseurship—for example, in a comparison of Watteau and Boucher. Roccoco was part of the King's desire to control the arts and behavior of his courts. The king tried to centralize power of the peep who surrounded him (monarchy) in the Baroque period where they all had to live in versatile. The etiquette, taste, art will influence rococo. U only see it in the upper-class monarchy not the gentry midd class peep. Rococo was flight, fluid and charming , which was what the court wanted to be. This was the style of the elite. French baroque is dark has bright colors instal of pale pastel colors.Will not have large monumental figures; very lightly painted almost looks like their glowing.
Titian
Titian had a creative career during which he produced splendid religious, mythological, and portrait paintings, original in conception and vivid with color and movement
Goals of Art during the COUNTER-REFORMATION (The "Empire Strikes Back")
To deliberately evoke intense emotional response from the viewer To create dramatically lit, often theatrical compositions To use diverse media such as bronze and marble within a single artwork To create work with spectacular technical virtuosity
Raphael
Two young artists—Raphael and Michelangelo—although rivals in almost every sense, were linked in service to Pope Julius II in the early years of the sixteenth century. Raphael w/ painting the pope's private library (1509-1511) while, nearby, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of his Sistine Chapel (1508-1512). The pope demanded an art that reflected his imperial vision of a new, worldwide Churc based on humanistic ideas, which he would lead as a new St. Peter, founding a second great age of papal dominion. In fulfilling this proud demand, Raphael and Michelangelo, following the lead of Leonardo da Vinci, united Renaissance principles of harmony and balance with a new monumentality based on Classical ideals, and they knit these elements into a dynamic and synthetic whole, rich in color and controlled by cohesive design. Working alongside Leonardo and the architect Donato Bramante, they created a style we call the High Renaissance. Raphael achieved a lofty style in keeping with papal ambition—using ideals of Classical grandeur, professing faith in human rationality and perfectibility, and celebrating the power of the pope as God's earthly administrator.
Diego Velazquez Las Meninas 1656
Velázquez draws viewers directly into the scene. In one interpretation, the viewer stands in the very space occupied by King Philip and his queen, whose reflections can be seen in the large mirror on the back wall, perhaps a clever reference to Jan van Eyck's Double Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife (see FIG. 19-1), which was a part of the Spanish royal collection at this time. Echoing pictorially the claim made in Jan's signature, Velázquez himself is also present, brushes in hand, beside a huge canvas. The central focus, however, is neither the artist nor the royal couple but their brilliantly illuminated 5-year-old daughter, the Infanta (princess) Margarita, who is surrounded by her attendants, most of whom are identifiable portraits. No consensus exists today on the meaning of this monumental painting. It is a royal portrait; it is also a self-portrait of Velázquez standing at his easel. But fundamentally, Las Meninas is a personal statement. Throughout his life, Velázquez had sought respect and acclaim for himself and for the art of painting. Here, dressed as a courtier, the Order of Santiago on his chest (added later) and the keys of the palace tucked into in his sash, Velázquez proclaims the dignity and importance of painting itself.
Biago da Cesena (the Pope's Master of Ceremonies) painted as Minos, Ruler of Hell
When the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns," Michelangelo worked da Cesena's semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. It is said that when he complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.
Leonardo Da Vinci, "Mona Lisa" ca. 1503-1505. Oil on wood, approx 2'6" x 1'9". Louvre, Paris.
World's most famous portrait. Leonardo took three years to finish the portrait and it is said to be of Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine. It was his favorite piece - so much so that Leonardo kept it for years. The subject may have been 24-year-old Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a prominent Florentine merchant. Leonardo never delivered the painting and kept it with him for the rest of his life. In a departure from tradition, the young woman is portrayed without jewelry, not even a ring. The solid pyramidal form of her halflength figure—another departure from traditional portraiture, which was limited to the upper torso—is silhouetted against distant hazy mountains, giving the painting a sense of mystery reminiscent of The Virgin of the Rocks (see FIG. 21-2). Mona Lisa's facial expression has been called "enigmatic" because her gentle smile—typical of Leonardo's women and angels (see FIG. 21-2)—is not accompanied by the warmth one would expect to see in her eyes, which have boldly shifted to the side to look straight out at the viewer. It is this expressive complexity, and the sense of psychological presence it gives the human face—especially in the context of the masklike detachment that was more characteristic of Renaissance portraiture (compare FIG. 20-31, or even FIG. 21-8)—that makes the innovative Mona Lisa so arresting and haunting, even today.
Francisco de Zurbaran St. Serapion 1628
Zurbarán primarily worked for the monastic orders. In this painting, he portrays the martyrdom of Serapion, member of the thirteenth-century Mercedarians, a Spanish order founded to rescue the Christian prisoners of the Moors. Following the vows of his order, Serapion sacrificed himself in exchange for Christian captives. The dead man's pallor, his rough hands, and the coarse ropes contrast with the off-white of his creased Mercedarian habit, its folds carefully arranged in a pattern of highlights and varying depths of shadow. The only colors are the red and gold of the insignia. This timelessly immobile composition is like a tragic still life, a study of fabric and flesh become inanimate, silent, and at rest.
Leonardo Da Vinci, "Virgin of the Rocks" 1485. Oil on wood (transferred to canvas), approx. 6'3" x 3'7". Louvre Paris.
a painting of the Virgin and Child with angels, but Leonardo added a figure of the young John the Baptist, who balances the composition at the left, pulled into dialogue with his younger cousin Jesus by the long, protective arm of the Virgin. She draws attention to her child by extending her other hand over his head, while the enigmatic figure of the angel—who looks out without actually making eye contact with the viewer—points to the center of interaction. The stable, balanced, pyramidal figural group—a compositional formula that will become a standard feature of High Renaissance Classicism—is set against an exquisitely detailed landscape that dissolves mysteriously into the misty distance. To assure their dominance in the picture, Leonardo picks out the four figures with spotlights, creating a strong chiaroscuro (from the Italian words chiaro, meaning "light," and oscuro, meaning "dark") that enhances their modeling as three-dimensional forms. This painting is an excellent early example of a specific variant of this technique, called sfumato ("smoky"), in which there are subtle, almost imperceptible, transitions between light and dark in shading. Sfumato becomes a hallmark of Leonardo's style, although the effect is artificially enhanced in this painting by the yellowing of its thick varnish, which masks the original vibrancy of its color.
Albrecht Durer Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse, Woodcut, 1498
based on figures described in Revelation 6:1-8: a crowned rider, armed with a bow, on a white horse (Conquest); a rider with a sword, on a red horse (War); a rider with a set of scales, on a black horse (Plague and Famine); and a rider on a sickly pale horse (Death). Earlier artists had simply lined up the horsemen in the landscape, but Dürer created a compact, overlapping group of wild riders charging across the world and trampling its cowering inhabitants, men and women, clerical and lay. war is the one w/ the sword. Pestillence, death, and famine. Each one is described as signs of the end of the world. He's always seen w/ harvesting tools b/c he is harvesting souls. There is a hell mouth like a big entrance. More modern interpretations. Stokstad, Marilyn; Cothren, Michael (2013-01-09). Art History (5th Edition) (Page 686). Pearson. Kindle Edition. . Dürer's early training as a goldsmith is evident in his meticulous attention to detail, and in his decorative cloud and drapery patterns.
El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586-88. MANNERISM
captures these miracles in a Mannerist composition that recalls Pontormo (see FIG. 21-30), packing the pictorial field with figures and eliminating specific reference to the spatial setting. An angel lifts Orgaz's ghostly soul along the central axis of the painting toward the enthroned Christ at the apex of the canvas. The otherworldly luminescence emanating from Christ in this heavenly vision is quite unlike the natural light below, where El Greco surrounded the burial scene with portraits of the local aristocracy and religious notables. He placed his own 8-year-old. son at the lower left next to St. Stephen and signed the painting on the boy's white kerchief. El Greco may also have put his own features on the man just above the saint's head, the only other figure who, like the child, looks straight out at the viewer.
Carlo Maderno and Gianlorenzo Bernini ST. PETER'S BASILICA AND PIAZZA, VATICAN, ROME Maderno, façade, 1607-1626; Bernini, piazza design,
exemplifies the Baroque objective to create multimedia works, combining architecture and sculpture sculpture—and sometimes painting as well—that defy simple categorization. The gigantic corner columns symbolize the union of Christianity and its Jewish tradition—the vine of the Eucharist climbing the twisted columns associated with the Temple of Solomon. They support an entablature with a crowning element topped with an orb (a sphere representing the universe) and a cross (symbolizing the reign of Christ). Figures of angels and putti decorate the entablature, which is hung with tasseled panels in imitation of a cloth canopy. This imposing work not only marks the site of the tomb of St. Peter, but also serves as a tribute to Urban VIII and his family, the Barberini, whose emblems—honeybees and suns on the tasseled panels, and laurel leaves on the climbing vines—are prominently displayed.
Hieronymus Bosch Garden of Earthly Delights (Triptych). c.1510. Oil on panel.
pink fountain in a lake from which vicious creatures creep out into the world. In the central panel, the Earth teems with such monsters, but also with vivacious human revelers and luscious huge fruits, symbolic of fertility and sexual abandon. In hell, at the right, sensual pleasures—eating, drinking, music, and dancing—become instruments of torture in a dark world of fire and ice. The emphasis in the right wing on the torments of hell, with no hint of the rewards of heaven, seems to caution that damnation is the natural outcome of a life lived in ignorance and folly, that humans ensure their damnation through their self-centered pursuit of pleasures of the flesh—the sins of gluttony, lust, greed, and sloth—outlined with such fantastic and graphic abandon in the central panel. Luscious fruits of obvious sexual symbolism—strawberries, cherries, grapes, and pomegranates—appear everywhere in the garden, serving as food, as shelter, and even as a boat. Is human life as fleeting and insubstantial as the taste of a strawberry? Yet another modern reading sees the central tableau imagining the course of life in paradise, assuming that Adam and Even had not consigned humanity to sin by eating the forbidden fruit. Conforming to a long tradition of triptych altarpieces made for churches, Bosch painted a more sober, grisaille picture on the reverse of the side wings. When the triptych is closed, a less enigmatic, but equally fascinating, scene is displayed (FIG. 22-21). A transparent, illusionistic rend ring of a receding sphere floating within a void encloses the flat circular shelf of Earth on its third day of creation. Fragments of the fantastic fruit that will appear fully formed in the interior pictures float here in the primordial sea, while ominous dark clouds promise the rain that will nurture them into their full seductive ripeness. A tiny crowned figure of God the Creator hovers in a bubble within dark clouds at upper left, displaying a book, perhaps a Bible opened to the words from Psalm 33:9 that are inscribed across the top: "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm."
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Hunters In the Snow. 1565. Oil on panel.
represents December and January. The bleak landscape is gripped by winter as hunters return home at dusk with meager results: a single rabbit slung over the largest man's shoulder. But the landscape, rather than the figures, seems to be the principal subject here. A row of trees forms a receding set, consistently diminishing in scale, to draw our attention into the space of the painting along the orthogonal descent on the hillside of houses on the left. Like the calendar illustrations of medieval Books of Hours, the landscape is filled with behavior emblematic of the time of year: the singeing of the pig outside the farmhouse at left, the playful movement of ice skaters across frozen fields. We see it all from an omnipotent elevated viewpoint, like one of the birds that perch in the trees or glide across the snow-covered fantasy of an alpine background.
Hals
the leading painter of Haarlem, developed a style grounded in the Netherlandish love of description and inspired by the Caravaggesque style introduced by artists such as Ter Brugghen. Like Velázquez, he tried to recreate the optical effects of light on the shapes and textures of objects. He painted boldly, with slashing strokes and angular patches of paint. Only when seen at a distance do the colors merge into solid forms over which a flickering light seems to move. In Hals's hands, this seemingly effortless, loose technique suggests the spontaneity of an infectious joy in life. He was known primarily as a portraitist.
Gianlorenzo Bernini ST. TERESA OF ÁVILA IN ECSTASY
saint Theresa was a nun of the Spanish Counter-Reformation. Her conversion occurred after the death of her father, when she fell into a series of trances, saw visions, and heard voices. Feeling a persistent pain, she attributed to "the fire tipped arrow of Divine love" that an angel had thrust repeatedly into her heart. In her writings, Saint Theresa described this experience as making her swoon in delightful anguish. The whole chapel became a theater for the production of this mystical drama. Bernini depicted the saint in ecstasy, unmistakably a mingling of spiritual and physical passion, swooning back on a cloud while the smiling angel aims his arrow. Bernini effectively used the configuration of the garment's folds to convey the saint's swooning, sensuous body beneath, even though only Teresa's face, hands, and bare feet are actually visible.
Albrecht Durer
was the foremost artist of the German Renaissance. He made his home in Nuremberg, where he became a prominent citizen. Dürer did complete an apprenticeship in gold working, as well as in stained-glass design, painting, and the making of woodcuts—which he learned from Michael Wolgemut, illustrator of the Nuremberg Chronicle (see FIG. 19-29). It was as a painter and graphic artist, however, that he built his artistic fame. His first trip to Italy (1494-1495) introduced him to Italian Renaissance ideas and attitudes
