Questions quiz chapter 25
Rembrandt is one of the most important artists of all time. Discuss, in detail, the subject matter and composition of a work of your choice by Rembrandt.
- Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp - portrayed members of the surgeons' guild - commissioned it - clustered on the painting's left side - foreground - corpse that Dr. Tulp, a noted physician, is dissecting - diagonally placed and foreshortened corpse - disrupted the strict horizontal, planar orientation typical of traditional portraiture - depicted each of the students specifically - virtually identical attire with different poses and facial expressions that suggest varying degrees of intensity with which they watch the demonstration, or ignore it - triangular composition of bodies - one looking at the viewer - another looking at the anatomy manual at the cadaver's feet - innovative approach to group portraiture
What is a Vanitas Still Life? Discuss one example of such a still life of your choice from Ch. 25
- Vanitas still life by Pieter Claesz - vanitas paintings convey the message of inevitable mortality - painter presented a prosperous household's material possessions strewn across a tabletop or dresser - ever-present morality and humility central to the Calvinist faith tempered dutch pride in worldly goods - fostered the appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty and value of the objects he depicted - reminds the viewers of life's transience by incorporating references to death - vanitas - vanity - paintings - each symbolic element is a memento mori - reminder of death - references to mortality - the skull, timepiece, tipped glass, cracked walnut - suggest the passage of time or something or someone that was here but now is gone - emphasized the element of time - self-portrait in the glass ball on the left side of the table - appears to be painting this still life - portrait serves to immortalize the artist
What types of subjects did Jan Vermeer paint?
- interior scenes - popular among middle-class patrons - offer glimpses into the private lives of prosperous, responsible, and cultured citizens of the united provinces - started off as a painter of biblical and historical themes - neat, quietly opulent interiors of Dutch middle-class - some paintings include Woman Holding a Balance and Allegory of the art of painting
Analyze the subject matter and iconography of Rubens' "Arrival of Marie de' Medici at Marseilles
- marie disembarks at the southern French port after her sea voyage from Italy - allegorical personification of France - draped in a cloak decorated with the fleur-de-lis welcomes her - the fleur-de-lis symbolizes French royalty - the sea and sky rejoice the Queen's safe arrival - Neptune and the Nereids salute her - the winged and trumpeting personified fame swoops overhead - commander of the vessel is the only immobile figure in the composition - medici coat of arms
What is Versailles? How is it a symbol of Louis XIV's power and ambition?
- royal hunting lodge converted into a great palace - vast park - king wanted a grand palace worthy of a "sun king" - French Baroque style - symbolic assertion of the ruler's absolute power over his domains - the town axes intersected in the king's bedroom - rich decoration - careful attention - hundreds of rooms - rationalistic creed - mathematical - majestic and rational design proudly proclaims the mastery of human intelligence and also of the king over the disorderliness of nature
How was Christopher Wren's Saint Paul's Church, London influenced by Palladian (Andrea Palladio), French, and Italian Baroque architecture?
- traveled to France - studied prints illustrating Baroque architecture in Italy - harmonized Palladin, French, and Italian Baroque features - relationship to the façade and dome - similar scheme that Italian architects had devised for Saint Peters - two foreground towers act effectively as foils to the great dome - the lower levels owe a debt to Palladio - superposed paired columnar porticos recall the Louvre's east façade - influence of Borromini in upper levels and lanterns of the towers
