Art 40 B Final

contrapposto

(counter-posed)—the depiction of a weight shift to one leg, associated with classical, Greco-Roman sculpture. Contrapposto provides the illusion of immanent motion and making the sculpture more life like. Ex: The sculpture of St Mark by Donatello that represents the linen weavers guild and of St. John the baptist by Ghiberti that represents the wool merchants guild. Donatello's work more consciously employs an increased naturalism. St. Mark's robe falls straight down, modeling the standing leg, and revealing the bent left knee underneath, exposing the weight shift of contrapposto. The weightedness of the figure is enhanced by the fact that he stands on a pillow, which shows the indentation of his feet.

telescopic/microscopic view

(microscopic) an attention to the minutest details from up very close and (telescopic view) an attention to describing in detail even those things that are farthest away. Ex: this can be seen in Jan Van Eyck's Madonna and Chancellor Rolin where the work reveals the approach to painting that spans the width between a kind of microscopic view, (the rug, the hair, fabric) and a telescopic view,(the tiny city in the landscape out the window, which seems to be a contemporary Flemish city, but may also be intended to refer to the New Jerusalem). the artist depicts the chancellor kneeling before the Virgin and Child dressed ostentatiously in gold brocade and furs like a prince, betraying his desire to be seen as a high-ranking court dignitary. The Virgin is seated on a marble throne wearing a full,embroidered cloak adorned with precious stones. The entire picture is composed as a "holy conversation" (a scene that brings saints and donor together).

paragone

: it was a long-standing comparison of the arts that dated back to antiquity (Horace) in which the merits of painting were measured against those of poetry. ex: Poetry, aligned with the liberal arts, was generally thought to be both the better and higher art form because it could evoke all cerebral aspects of man and nature. Leonardo actively engaged in the paragone debate. He claimed that painting could surpass poetry in invoking nature because painting could make what was absence seem like it was present. In the Mona Lisa, Leonardo uses a portrait of a beautiful woman to demonstrates the kind of power that he associated with painting itself.

Michelangelo, David, early 16th c., marble, Florence

A sculptor, architect and painter, Michelangelo dominated the 16th century. He produced works of art that became so famous in his day, they were copied repeatedly. Originally commissioned as a colossal statue for the Florentine cathedral of the Old Testament figure of David (the shepherd who liberated the Israelites by slaying the Philistine giant Goliath), the sculpture was considered too beautiful and important and was placed instead in front of Florence's town hall where it came to symbolize resistance to tyranny (embodied by the Medici family that had been expelled from Florence in 1494). Given a damaged block of marble, Michelangelo carved this enormous figure of a beautiful, male nude David, depicting him in a state of readiness, sling over his shoulder, looking out toward his foe. It was a colossal nude that emulated antique prototypes. Also it was a monumental and heroic nude, the likes of which had not been seen before in the Renaissance. Michelangelo uses anatomy to show the relationship between muscle contractions and movement. You can see the tension in David's neck and abdominal muscles. Michelangelo has chosen to depict the moment of readiness before David kills Goliath and the work is less focused on the biblical story and more focused on the idea of David as an archetype--a youthful hero who exhibits strength, courage, intelligence--he embodies the moral perfection of classical forms.

Peter Breughel the Elder, The Land of Cockaigne, 16th c., oil on panel, Netherlands

After the Reformation, art produced in the Netherlands steers away from overt Christian subjects and moves toward genre paintings that depict parables and moralizing narratives that emphasize Christian ethics over depictions of Christ and the Virgin, even in those places like the low countries that were mixed Protestant and Catholic. The works of Brueghel often reflect the religious tensions that existed in his homeland, although his religious affiliations or loyalties are not known. But his later works reflect an ironic view of human foibles, and they focus on genres that are typically secular, rather than overtly Christian. One of his specialties was illustrating Flemish proverbs and satirical stories. Proverbs often depict men making silly or foolish choices, or behaving in unseemly and potentially dangerous and self-defeating ways. The Land of the Cockaigne is a place whose inhabitants are encouraged to be lazy and to give into all vices like gluttony and sloth. A clerk lies on his fur robe, ink and pen unused at his waist, book beside him; the peasant sleeps on his flail (weapon); and the soldier's lance and gauntlet lie useless beside him. Beneath the clerk and the peasant runs an egg, already half-eaten; empty eggshells in Brueghel and in Bosch are symbolic of spiritual sterility. This painting is an allusion to the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. The three men represent the different orders involved in the conflict, military, peasant and merchant: while the fourth, the nobility, is depicted as a roasted duck. This seems to allude to the impotence of the nobility to either meet the needs of the lower classes, or take leadership of the situation. In the meantime, all participants are represented as giving into their baser instincts, preferring sin over virtue.

Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel (Meeting at the Golden Gate, Kiss of Judas, Last Judgment), 14th c., fresco, Padua

Although Giotto was Florentine and spent most of his life in Florence, the most extensive extant project that remains by him is one of his earliest and it is far from Florence. This is the remarkable Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, a city in northern Italy. The chapel was built on the site of an old Roman arena, so it is sometimes called the Arena Chapel. The interior decoration was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni. He was a banker in the city of Padua. Banking was a problematic profession because it was associated with the sin of usury (the collecting of interest on money loaned). Enrico's father had been represented by Dante as one of the usurers in the Inferno. So the chapel seems to be Enrico's attempt to take away the sin of usury associated with the family. The chapel contains scenes from the Life of the Virgin (it is dedicated to her) and the Life of Christ. From the scenes of the life of the virgin, Joachim has a vision in which he too is visited by Gabriel and learns of his impending fatherhood. He rushes back to Jerusalem, where he meets Anne at the Golden Gate. These scenes are unique in that they are rarely included in the telling the Virgin's life but they serve the purpose of developing a psychological intensity and humanity for the narrative. They also provide a prefiguring of Christ's equally miraculous birth. On the bottom register of the walls, Giotto painted scenes from the life and passion of Christ. Centered on the south wall, at eye level, is a scene called Kiss of Judas. It portrays the moment in the narrative in which one of Christ's disciples, Judas, betrays him for a bag of gold. In Giotto's depiction, the scene is charged with emotional impact, achieved through composition and color. There is a sense of movement, a flurry of engagement and violence; an angry, chaotic tumult. Giotto makes the scene into an extension of the viewer's space (the figure whose back is turned, wearing blue, includes us in the scene, making the ground seem to extend out into our viewing space).On the back wall, where the doorway into the chapel is located, the final scene shows the Last Judgment. It is here that the sin of usury is most pointedly reframed to the family's advantage. Far from being on the side of the damned (a la Dante's inferno characterization), Reginaldo appears on Christ's right, among the saved. Judas and the usurers are shown receiving extraordinary punishment in hell, another indication of the atonement being made by the Scrovegni family. The entire chapel shifts the guilt onto Judas and distances the Scrovegni family from the sin of usury.

Albrecht Durer, Self-portrait, 1500, oil on panel, Germany

Another very important figure who contributed to a shift in the perception of the artist was the German painter and print maker, Albrecht Durer. After turning eighteen, Durer embarked on a series of journeys both in Germany and to Italy. He studied the art and ideas of Italian artists. One thing he absorbed from this was the sense that art could and should be an intellectual enterprise and that artists in Italy had a higher status than in Germany where they were still considered mainly artisans. He embarked on a life long project to elevate the status of the artist. He also began to sign and often date his works. His sense of himself, firmly rooted in his idea of the Italian artist, shows up in this self-portrait of 1500. Durer portray himself as serenely confident, romantically handsome, and in the iconic pose of Christ as the Salvator Mundi. He is careful not to be blasphemous--the gesture of the hand is not an exact replica of the benedictio given by Christ in icons for instance. But the painting may also reflect the Imitatio Christo tradition that was prevalent in Germany at the time—the idea that man achieves salvation through imitating Christ. Durer saw his own quest as an artist as a result of the divine inspiration bestowed on him by God. n this portrait we see Durer's acute attention to details. The fur trim is delicate, the hair meticulously delineated—each lock shining and curled. The attention to the hand is probably meant to draw a focus to it as a creative instrument. However, to avoid the associations of art to manual labor, Durer does not show himself painting. Instead, he presents himself as an intellectual, one whose hand is divinely inspired.

Pieter Aertsen, Butcher's Stall, 16th c., oil on panel, Netherlands

As with Flemish painting of the 1400s, attention is paid to textures, reflections on surfaces such as metal or glass, and to the individualized features of different objects, but now without the overt religious iconography. This painting by Pieter Aertsen, who worked in Antwerp, focuses on a seemingly mundane scene--a butcher's stall in the market. The painting lovingly details the various kinds of meat sold in the stall--the calves and pig heads, sausages, ham, pigs trotters, chickens, larges sheets of white lard, and meat pies. But what seems mundane also conceals moralizing content that dovetails with Protestant ethics. The image of meat calls up allusions to gluttony and pleasure—this overabundance of food seems to point to the outsized and uninhibited appetites that crave it. The very realism of the depiction of meat underscores its excess—it seems like you can reach out and touch it, or you can smell the odor of slightly decaying flesh, or the waft of herbs used in the sausages. On the left is the Holy family escaping to Egypt, and the Virgin offers alms to people who are standing in line for church. To the right several men and women carouse in a tavern. This might be a reference to the "prodigal son a parable told by Christ. In the parable, a man gives an inheritance to his younger son, who the spends it all on gambling and women. When he returns home, penniless and repentant, his father forgives him (the story warns about the sins of profligacy, while espousing the virtue of forgiveness). The theme became very popular in Northern painting after the Protestant Reformation because it depicts the teaching of Christ without depicting him. The painting has other moral lessons. We see a butcher's boy emptying a bucket while surrounded by discarded oyster shells that signify gluttony. Other signs promise redemption. For instance, the crossed fishes on the plate allude to the fish consumed at Lent, and the pretzels and flagon of wine hanging in the rafters, refer to the Eucharist and Lent. We might call this approach a vanitas--it reminds the us of the vanity of life, the futility of human pretensions and desires, and the necessity of salvation in the face of death. We are shown that food and appetite is fleeting, while the spiritual food offered by Christ is permanent

Donatello, St. Mark, 15th c., marble, Orsanmichele, Florence

By 1406 most of these niches had still not been filled. Tired of seeing them empty, the Florentine commune placed a 10 year statute of limitations on those guilds that had purchased the niches, requiring them to fill them with sculptures. One by one, the niches were filled with life size, 3-D sculptures. One of these, the statue of St. Mark, commissioned by the linen weaver's guild, was by a sculptor named Donato di Niccolo Bardi, known as Donatello. The work was in many respects, revolutionary for its time. For instance, one new detail that Donatello added was contrapposto (counter-posed)—the depiction of a weight shift to one leg, associated with classical, Greco-Roman sculpture. Contrapposto provides the illusion of imminent motion and making the sculpture appear more lifelike. Donatello's work more consciously employs an increased naturalism. St. Mark's robe falls straight down, modeling the standing leg, and revealing the bent left knee underneath, exposing the weight shift of contrapposto. St. Mark's body under the drapery appears to be solid, weighted and very human. The weightedness of the figure is enhanced by the fact that he stands on a pillow, which shows the indentation of his feet. The face also emphasizes the humanness of the evangelist. Rather than present an idealized visage, the face is old, with a wrinkled brow, receding hair line, and craggy beard—a lined and elderly face with a very serious expression, and deeply undercut eyes that stare out toward the street below. This is why St. Mark and other Orsanmichele sculptures were referred to as "speaking statues" in the Renaissance. They mimed life so well, that they appeared to reach out and talk to those who passed by.

Masaccio, Tribute Money, 15th c., fresco, Florence

Clients began to attach value to the idea of "skill" in the late 15th century. Contracts begin to reflect the idea that some artists may produce work that is more valued than that of other artists, and that these same artists demonstrate new skills that are prized above even materials, and are, in themselves, worth paying for. One technique that clearly indicated both skill and novelty was what we now call linear perspective. Masaccio contributed to the development of perspective. This fresco by Masaccio shows how the painter began to use the geometric techniques of perspective to create a rational space in which to place his figures and explore narrative themes. This painting is in a small chapel in Florence and depicts a scene described in the gospel of Matthew in which Christ and his apostles are stopped by a Roman tax collector in front of a temple in Capernaum. Christ directs Peter to go fish in the sea, and look in the mouth of the fish that he catches. Peter does this, and miraculously finds a coin. Christ then gives this coin to the tax collector, saying "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Masaccio places this scene in a landscape marked by an architectural structure that extends back into the distance. The figures appear in proportion to the architecture as well as to each other, receding back into the landscape. The painting is organized in a continuous narrative, focusing on the psychological states of the primary figures, and makes use of observed natural phenomena like cast shadows. the painting is illuminated as if from the right side, which corresponds to the placement of the actual window in the chapel. So the shadows in the painting imitate the shadows cast by viewers on the floor of the church itself. The Giotto-esque figure of tax-collector, whose back is turned to us, creates a sense of continuum between the space of painting and space of viewer. Masaccio experiments with optical effects that were clearly based on observation.

nude/ignudi

Contorted, twisting male nudes in a painting or sculpture. ex: The statue of David by Michelangelo that serves as a colossal nude sculpture that emulates antique prototypes. It was a monumental and heroic nude, the likes of which had not been seen before in the Renaissance. Michelangelo has chosen to depict the moment of readiness before David kills Goliath and the work is less focused on the biblical story and more focused on the idea of David as an archetype--a youthful hero who exhibits strength, courage, intelligence--he embodies the moral perfection of classical forms.

Robert Campin, Mérode Altarpiece/Annunciation triptych, 15th c., oil on panel, Flanders

Domestic altarpieces like this one by Robert Campin, give us a sense of the tastes and needs of the burgher class. A typical work of art that was sought by this class of patrons was a small, private devotional altarpiece created for the home. Biblical events are portrayed in familiar domestic surroundings--it is as if to say that the patrons of these works were recipients of religious mysteries in their own homes. The paintings characterize religious scenes in terms of the familiar and every day. In this case, the scene depicted is the Annunciation in which the Virgin Mary receives notice from the Angel Gabriel that she will bear the son of God. In the Campin Annunciation, there is a precipitously raked interior setting, one that recedes into depth but does not conform to one point perspective. Instead, it forces the objects and figures down toward us, bringing our attention to the detailed description of a typically 15th c., Flemish room and its objects. The space of the Annunciation is an extension of our space, although it is presented more as a scene for us to view--the table is tipped up so we can see the objects on it, the Virgin and the Angel are pushed out toward us so that we can see them in close detail, and the features in the background are painted in a crystal clear style so that we can identify them immediately. This includes the vivid landscape behind Joseph (who makes mousetraps alluding to Christ making a trip for the Devil) on the right side, which is depicted in minute detail. The setting is particular and specific, filled with objects that would have been familiar to a 15th c. middle-class burgher/merchant in a Flemish town. The objects details seem like individual signs that are meant to be read like texts. The process of figuring out what they might mean is a technique of interpretation called iconographical analysis. Keys to iconographical meaning are often sought in sources such as religious and humanistic texts. The detailed objects reveal a whole litany of important theological concepts-- each one represents an idea about the nature of the Virgin--the stem of lilies and polished pot in the background refer to her purity, the snuffed candle on the table to the moment of the Incarnation when she becomes pregnant with Christ, the violets and rosebushes outside in the garden refer to the "enclosed garden," an image that stands for the Virgin's humility, as does the fact that she sits on the floor rather than on a chair. The scene is depicted in the most literal detail possible, such that even the incarnation itself comes in the form of a tiny crucified Christ arriving on a ray of sunlight.

Albrecht Durer, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 16th c., woodcut, Germany

For prints made on a press, the technique requires an artist to sort of think in reverse, to remove unwanted parts of the block in order to leave behind a raised area (or relief) that will be inked and pressed to paper to make an imprint. artist has to think about what to remove in order to leave an image behind. Durer was an early practitioner of woodcut printing, producing some of his finest work before 1500. He expanded the pictorial possibilities of this early and brand new form of visual art. Durer was a master of this incredibly difficult medium. In 1498 he produced a series of illustrations for The Apocalypse from the Book of Revelations that secured his fame as the foremost artist in Germany. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalpyse are Death, Famine, War, and Plague (or Pestilence). The lines in this print are the raised parts left behind after Durer removed what he didn't want. He achieves an incredible delicacy of line and detail. Motion and violence infuse the scene because of his subtle manipulation of the woodcut. He uses repeated parallel lines to give the figures and horses a strong forward diagonal thrust.

guild

Guilds were civic, economic organizations made up of men who practiced the same profession or artisanal skill. Guilds controlled training and apprenticeships, collected fees, and set prices for goods and services, sort of like unions now. Ex: the Orsanmichele guild niches were sections of the building that were offered to guilds to make a sculpture that represent their profession. Like the sculpture of St Mark by Donatello that represented the linen weavers guild or St John the baptist that represented the wool merchants guild. These statues were in contrapposto that associated with classical Greco Roman sculpture and provides the illusion of immanent motion and making the sculpture more life like.

Filippo Brunelleschi, Duomo (dome), 15th c., main cathedral, Florence

In 1418 the overseers of the cathedral held another competition, but this time to solve a problem— the large crossing of the main cathedral (Santa Maria dei Fiori) had never been covered by a dome. Part of the reason was structural—the drum was too big for conventional engineering supports (scaffolding that could support the structure as it was raised) and nobody was sure how to build a dome that could span the space, while also not collapsing from the weight of its masonry. After losing the Baptistry door competition, Fillippo Brunelleschi went to Rome and spent a few years studying ancient Roman buildings. He returned to Florence and entered the dome competition. Drawing on the experience he had gained from observing Roman construction techniques, Brunelleschi submitted a model proposing a dome constructed of two shells, one on the interior with sixteen ribs and one on the exterior dome with eight ribs—this would considerably lighten the structure considerably, and the ribs would be anchored (preventing them from popping outward) by a heavy lantern, placed at its apex. He also solved the problem of the scaffold, proposing to build the dome in successive horizontal layers, using a herringbone brick pattern to build up the thin scrim wall between the layers—each layer was then bonded to the previous one in such a way that they would hold fast without support. Winning the competition, Brunelleschi built the biggest dome since the Pantheon.

Quentin Massys, Money Changer and his Wife, 16th c., oil on panel, Flanders

In 16th c. Flanders, in the wake of iconoclastic suspicion of images, a moralistic form of painting emerged that passed judgment on certain kinds of activity. This work is not a portrait, but depicts moneychangers in a typical burgher's home, filled with objects that convey their material comfort, but the tone is disapproving. The wife has a bible, but seems much more interested in the gold counted by her husband: i.e., more focused on material goods than spiritual rewards. In the back, two men engage in the sin of idle gossip. In the tiny convex mirror, the reflection shows the obverse —a man is actually reading a bible or psalter. An inscription on the original frame read: "Let the balance be just and the weights equal."

Anonymous, Human Sacrifice, Women in Indigenous Dress, Quetzalcoatl, Codex Vaticanus A, 16th c., post-conquest Mexico

In the early 16th century, a group of early Spanish conquistadors were sent by King Charles I of Spain to the areas of the Americas that are now the Caribbean and Mexico. Both voyages resulted in a number of objects filtering back into Europe that had been produced by the civilizations that Grijalva and Cortes encountered, the Mixtec and Aztec. These objects are referred to as pre-Columbian because they represent indigenous cultural objects that were produced before contact with Europeans. The appeal of these objects is clear--they are made of materials that Europeans prized and considered luxurious, materials such as gold and turquoise. There were other objects that appeared in collections and were of interest to Italian collectors. Europeans regarded books and the written word as hallmarks of European civilization. They were clearly surprised and intrigued to find objects that were recognizable by European standards as books or something like books. Screenfold books were long, accordion segmented foldout books made of a bark-based paper. Most pre-conquest screenfold books produced by the Aztecs were destroyed, because they were considered pagan. But they were also put to work making versions of their own traditions for Europeans audiences. This is what we see in Codex Vaticanus A--it is an example of a translated screenfold book, one that explains and represents native customs to a European audience. Codex Vaticanus A, is a post-conquest book and represents a European view of Aztec beliefs, ritual, customs and knowledge. Here is an example of how Vaticanus A changed the way in which the gods were depicted. Vaticanus A divides the calendar into discreet sequential units and then rearranges them out of order. The images have been reduced and moved up to make room for written commentary below. Attention is now on the individual figures instead of the integration of the attributes of the god into the divinatory ritual. The original's use has now been obscured by the explanatory text and separation of images. The annotator and compiler makes a hash out of the calendar, splitting it up so that the normal sequences of days marking feasts and divinatory rituals are divided inappropriately. Some of the written observations are quite acute and informative. The writer is clearly trying to understand Aztec religious customs. But the book also adds images that are not part of the original. The book is meant to serve the taste of collectors so it focuses on what would have been seen as strange and fascinating customs of the indigenous peoples, such as sacrifices and bloodletting rituals. Interest in these elements reflected both a horror at "barbarian" practices and a desire to set this strangeness into a Christian framework. The annotator surmises that the Aztecs are descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel, but then says that Aztec priests reveal the depths of depravity to which this lost tribe has sunk. According to the annotator, we can see this reflected in dirty and dark complexions of the Aztec--attributing their darker skin to their sins. In contrast, European priests who worship the "true god" are without stain or filth and are thus whiter than milk. But the annotator wavers again, drawn to what he sees as fortuitous comparisons to Christianity, but also to the interesting details of what is actually a quite alien religion. He explains that this is a god, gives his name (Quetzalcoatl), lists his items (thorn and incense burner), his temples (house of communal fasting, house of fear, prison of sadness). Then the text goes on to draw correlations to Christian practices "the Quetzalcoatl ... seeing that the sins and sufferings of the world were not ceasing, they say was the first to begin to invoke the gods and to make sacrifices to them. Thus also he was the first to do penance in order to appease the gods in order that his people might be pardoned. they say that he sacrificed himself, drawing his own blood with thorns and other forms of penance." Quetzalcoatl is here imagined as a Christ-like figure.Other images added to the book, however, are entirely different in character. Here we see typical costumes of indigenous peoples that are systematically annotated in Italian, with observations and commentary meant to illuminate customs and religious practices. There is an interest in translating not just customs but a whole culture. These are fledgling efforts at what we might call ethnography—the science of observing and recording the habits and customs of different peoples and cultures. That is, they show an interest in cataloguing the experiences and habits, the clothes, the rituals of another people, and in this case, there is far less judgment than what we see in the blood letting images. Here instead is a curiousness, an attention to detail, a desire to record the individuality and uniqueness of foreign but interesting alterity.

Jan van Eyck, Madonna and Chancellor Rolin, 15th c. oil on panel, Flanders

In the north, painters seem intent on impressing viewers with the reality and truth of the scenes by making them very detailed. Nominalism was fashionable in the Flanders and was based on drawing​ parallels between daily life and religious stories. The artist Jan Van Eyck depicts the chancellor kneeling before the Virgin and Child dressed ostentatiously in gold brocade and furs like a prince, betraying his desire to be seen as a high-ranking court dignitary. The Virgin is seated on a marble throne wearing a full, embroidered cloak adorned with precious stones. The entire picture is composed as a "holy conversation" (a scene that brings saints and donor together). This work reveals an approach to painting that spans the width between a kind of microscopic view, i.e. an attention to the minutest details from up very close (the rug, the hair, fabric) and a telescopic view, i.e. an attention to describing in detail even those things that are farthest away (the tiny city in the landscape out the window, which seems to be a contemporary Flemish city, but may also be intended to refer to the New Jerusalem).

Vitruvian man

Leonardo da Vinci's own reflection on human proportion and architecture made clear through words and image. The purpose of the illustration is to bring together ideas about art, architecture, human anatomy and symmetry in one distinct and commanding image. Ex: Vitruvian Man

Agnolo Bronzino, Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 16th c., fresco, Florence

Martyrdoms of saints were understood by the Trent Council as particularly important kinds of religious works, because they could inspire piety, devotion, and empathy in the viewer, without verging into the sin of idolatry. This work by Bronzino, however, shows a number of nudes in contorted and varied poses, displaying the artist's technical mastery. It also quotes Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling—St. Lawrence is in the pose of Adam, and the nude at the bottom right is a pagan embodiment of the River Tiber and also an intentional homage to a fragment of ancient Greek sculpture, the Torso Belvedere, beloved by Michelangelo for its articulation of male musculature. This concentration on nudes in a variety of poses, twisting and turning even if the subject itself does not call for it, often based on direct quotes from Michelangelo, and comprising complex compositions filled with figures that are extraneous to the narrative, this is a style referred to as Mannerism. The Council of Trent, in its directives about art, seems to respond to this kind of art and intends to steer the church away from these types of representations, sticking to the literal subject matter of the Bible, and removing nudes and other figures that might prove a distraction to pious reflection.

Albrecht Durer, Melencholia I, 16th c., engraving, Germany

Melancholy was connected in medieval medicine to the fours humors that were thought to dominate human health and character. In the Renaissance it was associated with black gall, and the astrological sign of Saturn which was connected to the idea of creative genius. Melancholy was thought to dominate creative personalities because it caused both creative visions and depression when those visions could not be realized. We can see this print as a kind of self-portrait by Durer that expresses some of these ideas about the relationship between creative impulses and melancholy. The winged personification of Melancholy is seated with her head resting on her hand, a gesture of consternation or futility. She holds a compass uselessly in her hand and is surrounded by other tools associated with geometry (the complex polyhedron and the sphere), one of the seven liberal arts that underlies artistic creation—and the one through which Dürer claimed intellectual justification for his work. The objects of intellectual rigor associated with geometry are shown unused or useless, fruitless objects of the artist's pursuit. The hourglass behind her has almost run out, indicating the futility of artistic creation and the temporal restrictions on creative genius. While all seems depressing and suicidal, there is the burst of light in the far distant sky, a sign that maybe a more positive form of enlightenment is on the way.

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel ceiling, early 16th c., Rome

Michelangelo was conscripted by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Sistine Chapel was a small chapel built by Pope Sixtus IV and squeezed between Old St. Peters and the papal palace. It was where the College of Cardinals met to elect a new pope, and was used for ceremonial purposes. The ceiling frescoes depict scenes from the Old Testament, beginning with Genesis. The ceiling had to fit in with the overall theme of the chapel decorations, which has a complicated set of references to papal authority and the history of the church, and an elaborate concordance between the Old and New Testaments. This central scene expresses the central idea of the overall church program: the idea that whatever sins man committed in the Old Testament, will be overcome by the redemption promised by the New Testament. Adam was often represented as a precursor to Christ--having known no sin, Adam fell from grace as the son of god, and the sins of his children would be redeemed by Christ, the son of God. The spark of life passes from God's fingertip to Adam's. It is a very human gesture that physically shows the connection between Adam's divinity and his ultimate and inevitable humanity.

Michelangelo, Last Judgment, 16th c., fresco, Sistine Chapel, Rome

Michelangelo's last work in the Sistine Chapel became the focus of scrutiny after the Council of Trent. Michelangelo had already painted the Sistine ceiling, finishing in 1512. Originally the altar wall of the Sistine was to depict a Resurrection, but in 1534 Pope Paul III changed the subject to the Last Judgment and conscripted Michelangelo once again to paint it. The fresco demonstrates Michelangelo's dedication to the heroic, idealized male figure exemplified by Christ who was originally entirely nude. Michelangelo doesn't seem to be exploiting the nude here for anything other than a powerful religious effect. Nudity becomes a vehicle to express vulnerability before God. The overall effect of the fresco is a violent and moving evocation of Christ's compassion and Old Testament style retribution. A powerful figure, Christ is the central axis of movement for the whole work, his twisting pose and commanding gesture capturing our gaze as he sends unfortunate souls to hell. In many ways, the fresco provides visual ballast for the positions taken by the Catholic church in the Counter-Reformation. It was finished a few years before the first meeting of the Council of Trent, but it emphasizes many of the key doctrinal issues that would drive the council. For instance, the Last Judgment is a large-scale visual expression of the idea that the church rightfully serves as intercessor between man and God. This would be a central issue for the Council of Trent. Peter, to Christ's right, holds the keys to the Kingdom. He the largest figure in the fresco, slightly larger even than Christ, and he represents the papacy and the church and their rightful and divinely appointed roles on earth. On Christ's right is the Virgin. In the Renaissance, she symbolically represented Ecclesia, a Latin word that means "church." The Virgin not only embodies the church, but she is also one of the prime intercessors between man and god, the saint closest to Christ. Gilio de Fabriano was a priest who wrote "Errors of Painters" made some criticisms about the painting but his main one was that strayed from the literal visual translation. Other criticisms were that the angels didn't have wings, the draperies looked as if they were blowing in the wind when the day is supposed to be still, and the angels aren't supposed to be together when they need to be at the 4 corners of the world. Also, some dead are skeletons and others aren't when the general Resurrection will take place instantaneously. And Christ is shown standing instead of on a throne of glory. Michelangelo shows Charon, the gatekeeper to Hades in Greek mythology, because it is a reference to pagan antiquity and thus doesn't belong in a religious work of this sort. And the last problem concerns the issue of decency and nudity. Gilio considers the dilemma of showing nude figures and decides that even when from the biblical narrative makes it is clear that the figures should be naked (as they are thus described in the Last Judgment)

perspective (atmospheric)

Observation allowed for the recognition of the haziness and flattening tonality of color (the greying of tone) that occurs when we look out at landscapes that are far in the distance. Ex: Mona Lisa Leonardo DaVinci

oil painting

Oil allows for far more mixing and a greater range of color tonalities, and allows for far greater detail and precision. ex: Oil painting was used on domestic altarpieces like the one by Robert Campin, give us a sense of the tastes and needs of the burgher class. A typical work of art that was sought by this class of patrons was a small, private devotional altarpiece created for the home. The Merode triptych represents an approach that was common in 15th century Flanders. Biblical events are portrayed in familiar domestic surroundings--it is as if to say that the patrons of these works were recipients of religious mysteries in their own homes. The paintings characterize religious scenes in terms of the familiar and the every day. In this case, the scene depicted is the Annunciation in which the Virgin Mary receives notice from the Angel Gabriel that she will bear the son of God.

Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano, 15th c., tempera on panel, Florence

Paolo Uccello was a Florentine artist who became became obsessed with perspective to the extent that for several years he did nothing but experiment with it. A 16th c. biography of the artist recounts a story in which Uccello's wife yelled at him to come to bed, and he brushed her off, muttering about his mistress "la dolce prospettiva" or "sweet perspective." Although he never produced a treatise on painting or perspective, he did leave behind a legacy of complex drawings and studies of how to foreshorten objects in perspective. The works of his that survive display an extreme deployment of perspective, bordering on the absurd and fanciful. Such is the case in the Battle of S. Romano. In a war between Florence and Siena in 1432, Florentine forces were led by a hired mercenary soldier, Niccolò da Tolentino (in the red hat). Here we see that Uccello has lined up all the staffs and fallen lances to mark out a perspective grid under the horses' hooves. Even dead bodies have fallen in accordance with this grid. Uccello was especially interested in figuring out how to transform many-sided objects into foreshortened representations using perspective. Niccolò's hat, called a mazzochi, is one of these complex objects, and Uccello made several drawings of it, reducing it to its geometric quantities.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, early 16th c., Florence

Poetry, aligned with the liberal arts, was generally thought to be both the better and higher art form because it could evoke all cerebral aspects of man and nature. Leonardo actively engaged in the paragone debate. He claimed that painting could surpass poetry in invoking nature because painting could make what was absence seem like it was present. Mona Lisa is a portrait of a woman named Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant. The picture never went to the merchant who commissioned it. Instead it stayed in Leonardo's possession. Perhaps one reason for this is that Leonardo saw it as a culmination of his quest in the paragone to produce a work so beautiful it would finally prove the preeminence of painting over poetry. Leonardo claimed that painting had more power than poetry to evoke the presence of, for instance, a beloved. In his paintings of women, he struggled​ to produce life-like representations that would so convincingly substitute for the absent beloved that they would appear to the feverish lover as if they were living and breathing. Part of Mona Lisa's mystique comes from the fact that she has a barely perceptible smile that plays across her lips and face —this imbues the painting with a sense of liveliness and vivid expressiveness. Her direct gaze out towards us and her expression seem to indicate that she is inwardly telling a joke at our expense. We may feel the need to kiss her, as did some Victorians who were overcome by her sensuality, or talk back to her in a regular conversation. In this sense then, Leonardo uses the female portrait to demonstrate the power of painting itself. A portrait of a beautiful woman comes to stand in for the evocative power of painting and its ability to conjure up what isn't there.

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, 15th c., oil on panel, Flanders

Portraits become a vital genre in the North as a way of communicating status, identity and other important details of lived life. These are secular in content, although often they incorporate religious allusions. One example is this portrait by Jan van Eyck of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, Giovanna Cenami. Arnolfini was an Italian merchant/banker from Lucca who lived and worked as an agent of the Medici family in the town of Bruges. Like the Merode altarpiece, every detail in this work appears to carry a specific meaning and creates a complex iconography. And, in fact, what becomes apparent is that the painting is more than just a portrait. It is intended to be documentary, to record details that are meaningful when juxtaposed. Together they say something about not simply the relationship between the couple, but about their lives outside the picture. The couple is joined in the center of the picture, holding hands, and Giovanni raises his other hand in what appears to be a significant gesture. The whisk broom is a sign of domesticity, and the finial on the bedpost depicts St. Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth. The discarded clogs in the foreground indicate that this is sacrosanct ground of matrimony but also the distinct realms of men vs women. The oranges on the windowsill may refer to fertility. The dog in the front is an emblem of Fido (fidelity), a conventional sign of marital fidelity. Because it depicts the couple in a bedroom, it would seem that the picture is intended to depict the marriage. And in fact, in the mirror we see the two figures, plus two more reflected, and above the mirror is the inscription: "Jan van Eyck was here." Erwin Panofsky suggested decades ago that this painting was intended to document the performance of a marriage and the mirror reflects Jan van Eyck's role as witness. Margaret Carroll, on the other hand, argues against this interpretation. Instead of a marriage, she believes that this work shows Arnolfini investing his wife with something like power of attorney for those times when he is gone. Giovanna is being is entrusted with the family business, and his trust in her is attested to by all of the various material things contained in this room. What is interesting here is the idea that the work of art serves as a contract or a document that authorizes the relationships between the people represented. This indicates a transition from the idea that the work of art simply records what is seen to the idea that the work of art becomes the physical demonstration of contract and authority. We also see here a statement about gender relations—the prescribed roles of husband and wife are such that he and only he can invest her with authority, because without his permission, she cannot act because her identity and sex prevent her from doing so.

Rogier van der Weyden, Deposition, 15th c., oil on panel, Flanders

Rather than being a court painter he was member of a guild. He apprenticed to the painter Robert Campin, who was the head of the painters guild in Tournai. Campin elevated van der Weyden to Master when he himself was arrested for public indecency and lost credibility and felt compelled to turn over his studio to other hands. This work, the Deposition, was one of the most famous and influential paintings in all early Netherlandish art. It was a central panel from a larger diptych commissioned by the guild of cross bowmen for the Church of Notre Dame hor- les-murs. The work is quite different from Jan van Eyck's in that it has none of the telescopic/microscopic effects, nor the great depth and space. Instead, the figures are crowded into a very shallow space, pushed out toward the viewer in a flat, frontal plane that is exacerbated by the shallow niche—like setting and the gold background. Instead of concentrating on the texture, light, space and form of individual objects, van der Weyden exploits the high intensity and emotional impact of the moment when Christ's body is lowered from the cross. The figures closest to us show the stresses of emotional turmoil and compassion. Real tears are seen streaming down the Virgin's face in an open display of grief. We are given access to this compassion through the Virgin Mary, who is collapsed in an S-curve that pre-figures the form Christ's body will take when she holds him on her lap in the pieta. The suffering of Mary had become an important theme from the 13th century on, when the cult of the Virgin began to grow in Europe.

macrocosm/microcosm

Southern Renaissance Art that was focused on man as the microcosm that represents the macrocosm that is God ex: Durers Self portrait from 1500 displays this. Durer portrays himself as serenely confident, romantically handsome, and in the iconic pose of Christ as the Salvator Mundi. He is careful not to be blasphemous--the gesture of the hand is not an exact replica of the benediction given by Christ in icons for instance. But the painting may also reflect the Imitatio Christo tradition that was prevalent in Germany at the time—the idea that man achieves salvation through imitating Christ. In his notes on the arts, Durer wrote: "The more we know, the more we resemble the likeness of Christ, who truly knows all things." Thus Durer compares his own quest as an artist to the search for divine inspiration.

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent decreed that religious art should be used as a tool to instruct and cultivate piety among the lay worshippers. Paintings should follow the scriptures exactly since the​se works should be considered, "the bible of the illiterate." Ex: The Council of Trent, in its directives about art, seems to respond to this kind of art and intends to steer the church away from these types of representations, sticking to the literal subject matter of the Bible, and removing nudes and other figures that might prove a distraction to pious reflection. In Bronzino's work of the Martyrdom of St Lawrence was approved by the Council of Trent. Martyrdoms of saints were understood by the Trent Council as particularly important kinds of religious works, because they could inspire piety, devotion, and empathy in the viewer, without verging into the sin of idolatry. This work by Bronzino, however, shows a number of nudes in contorted and varied poses, displaying the artist's technical mastery. It also quotes Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling—St. Lawrence is in the pose of Adam, and the nude at the bottom right is a pagan embodiment of the River Tiber and also an intentional homage to a fragment of ancient Greek sculpture, the Torso Belvedere, beloved by Michelangelo for its articulation of male musculature.

Mattias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, 16th c., church of the hospital of St. Anthony, Germany

The Isenheim Altarpiece consists of a carved wooden shrine with nine panels and two sets of movable painted wings. Thus, it can be opened to achieve three separate views. Grünewald's paintings on these large wing panels consist of the following. The first set of panels depicts the Crucifixion, the Lamentation, and portraits of St Anthony and St Sebastian. The second set focuses on the Virgin Mary, with scenes of the Annunciation and a Concert of Angels and Nativity, and the Resurrection. The third set of wings focuses on St Anthony, with St Anthony and St Paul in the Desert and the Temptation of St Anthony. The interior of the altarpiece depicts a crucifixion in which Christ's body appears in an advanced stage of decay, sagging and greenish colored, covered with sores—the monastery hospital treated patients who suffered from a terrible disease called St. Anthony's Fire, caused by fungus that causes feverish convulsions and gangrenish sores. The expressive effect is heightened by the distended fingers of Christ, as though in advanced rigor mortis, echoed by the gesture of Mary Magdalene below who keens in sorrow, while St. John the Baptist is accompanied by the inscription "He must increase and I must decrease." Below the Lamb of God holds a cross, and pours its blood into a chalice, a reminder that the physical body is only temporary and salvation comes through death. On the second level of panels, when doors are partly closed, we are shown scenes that celebrate the redemption of man. These include the Heavenly Concert, The Nativity, and Christ Resurrected. The portrayal of Christ resurrected in a halo of reddish gold, triumphant, risen and offering the promise of salvation is almost blinding. His body shows none of the signs of suffering or disease, he escapes from the carnal shell, which is disappearing in an apotheosis of flames, to be communicated to those poor suffering patients whose death is immanent.

terribilità

The Italian word associated with Michelangelo meaning a fearsome strength of character, will and determination. ex:???

Mannerism

The concentration on nudes in a variety of poses, twisting and turning even if the subject itself does not call for it, often based on direct quotes from Michelangelo, and comprising complex compositions filled with figures that are extraneous to the narrative. ex: The Council of Trent, in its directives about art, seems to respond to this kind of art and intends to steer the church away from these types of representations, sticking to the literal subject matter of the Bible, and removing nudes and other figures that might prove a distraction to pious reflection. Martyrdoms of saints were understood by the Trent Council as particularly important kinds of religious works, because they could inspire piety, devotion, and empathy in the viewer, without verging into the sin of idolatry. This work by Bronzino, however, shows a number of nudes in contorted and varied poses, displaying the artist's technical mastery.

Franz Hogenberg, Dutch Calvinist Iconoclasm, 16th c., engraving, Germany

The doctrine of sola fide by Luther had crippling implications for the church because it challenged its long-standing role as intercessor between man and God. In Lutheran doctrine any man could attain salvation simply by believing, and all men could have equal access to the works of God. Luther supported the vernacular translations of the bible, issuing his own edition of the Old and New Testaments in German in 1522-23. Eventually he called for the abolition of monastic vows and advocated clerical marriage. One other very important part of Luther's denunciations of the church involved what he saw as the idolatrous nature of the mass and the worship of saints. Although Luther himself was not necessarily an iconoclast, his ideas led to hostility to images among growing Protestant sects. In the 16th c. there were periodic iconoclasms, in which images deemed idolatrous were stripped from churches. The print depicts the ideas of John Calvin, leader of another protestant sect. According to Calvin, images held no religious relevance. Worse, images could lead to idolatry, the worship of the picture rather than the thing that it represented. In 1566, spurred on by the sermons of Calvinist preachers, mobs descended on churches in the Netherlands, destroying their imagery.

Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, triptych, 16th c., oil on panel, Flanders

The painter Hieronymous Bosch, named after the town of - Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc) in northern Brabant, where he lived and worked throughout his life. He was a devout Catholic, a member of a lay brotherhood or confraternity devoted to religious observance. His painting has almost nothing in common with that of either Jan van Eyck or Roger van der Weyden, except for the attention to minute detail. Bosch's works are imbued with a sense of the grotesque, the fantastical--they neither call up a world of familiar domestic surroundings like van Eyck, nor do they draw on the viewer's empathy like those of van der Weyden. Bosch has been characterized as a: bitter social polemicist, a heretic who dealt with witchcraft, alchemy and astrology, a punster on words and folklore, a provincial madman and fanatic, and a highly intellectual painter of puzzling and erudite pictures for learned, secular patrons. The Garden of Earthly Delights is definitely a private work, not intended for public consumption. It seems to modern eyes to be among the most scandalous and possibly heretical of paintings produced in the 16th c. The problem of interpreting this triptych starts when it is closed. The outside depicts an apparently transparent orb containing a vast scene of water and land in grisaille, a technique of painting in greyish monochrome tones, often to imitate stone. Without color, it appears bleak and mysterious. On the one hand, many have interpreted it as the depiction of the flood that God unleashes on the world in the time of Noah. The scenes inside the triptych might be read as a depicting the unregulated desires that ran rampant in the world before the flood. An alternate interpretation is tied to the inscription written across the top of the panels: "He spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created." Taken from Psalm 23, and coupled with the tiny figure of God, holding a book in his hand, who appears enthroned at the upper left outside the orb, seems to indicate this is the creation of the world. When opened, the left panel seems to depict God creating Eve (from Adam's rib) in the Garden of Eden. Eve's creation leads eventually to Adam and Eve's fall from Paradise and their experience of shame and lust. Paradise is populated by animals both common and exotic. Behind Eve are rabbits, a common symbol of sexual fecundity. The presence of an elephant and giraffe in the background appears drawn from contemporary travel literature of the period and may be intended to appeal to a humanistic and aristocratic viewer. The central panel is spring break, girls and boys gone wild: couples, threesomes, orgies of figures are engaged in creative erotic activities. The wages of sin receive their punishment in the third panel. In hell, a glutton has to vomit eternally, a miser defecates coins, a spider fondles a promiscuous woman. And a man has to withstand the attentions of a pig dressed in a nun's habit. Scenes like this that have led some art historians to see this work expressing dissatisfactions with the church emerging in northern Europe.

Masaccio, Trinity, 15th c., fresco, Florence

The painting by Masaccio that seems most explicitly to reflect the theories of Brunelleschi, and also to demonstrate a geometric codification of perspective, is the Trinity in Santa Maria Novella. The theme of the work is the idea that God is manifest in a holy triumvirate: Christ, God the Father and the Holy Ghost. At the base of the crucifix are the figures of the Virgin and St. John and below them are two donor figures, kneeling in prayer to the Trinity. These are probably Domenico Lenzi and his wife. The work presents us with a painted, fictive chapel covered by a coffered barrel vault, which seems to extend from the real space of the church nave. The entrance to the vault is framed by a classical arch supported by two Ionic columns, and these in turn are framed by two Corinthian pilasters, surmounted by a classical pediment, reflecting a marked interest in classical architecture. The viewer's approach to the work is at the level of the skeleton, which serves as a kind of memento mori (a reminder of death). The vaulted space of the fictive chapel conforms to a highly geometric, perspective scheme, meaning that there is in fact a principal point (what we now call a vanishing point) that corresponds to the spectator's ideal point of view, and all lines in the work converge toward this point. The effect of the perspective is that the viewer is positioned as if looking up at a scene taking place in a chapel that extends off the nave above the viewing point. 'The Trinity is positioned in a realm separate from the viewer's space, but one that appears to be an extension of the church's actual interior.

Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, late 15th c., fresco, Milan

The theme of the Last Supper was fairly common for the refectories (dining halls) of monasteries because of its obvious connection to a meal which is central to Christian theology and doctrine. The Last Supper was the last meal shared by Christ and his disciples before the Passion and Crucifixion. Two important things happen during the Last Supper. Christ announces to his disciples that one of them will betray him and he establishes the sacrament of the Eucharist--at one point he points to the bread and wine at the dinner and tells his disciples that they will continue to share a meal after his death, and this meal will consist of his own body, the bread, and his blood, the wine. Monks and nuns were reminded of the Eucharistic meal every time they ate or had an actual meal. Rather than placing Judas in an isolated part of the fresco, he is now included with the other apostles, but marked by the shadow that falls over his face. Leonardo focuses on the intensity of Christ's revelation and isolates Judas by giving him a sense of psychological distance from the other figures. Leonardo has used the dramatic moment of Christ's announcement to show the confusion and variety of reactions experienced by the Apostles as they talk to one another. At the same time that Christ seems to be announcing the betrayal, he also seems to be revealing the Eucharist. With his left hand he points to some bread on the table, and with his right he gestures toward a glass of wine. So Leonardo is showing us the two moments together: the simultaneous announcement of the betrayal and the miracle of the Eucharist. Placed above eye level, Leonardo has created a space that is both an extension of the refectory, and a divine world that exists beyond it. The perspective lines disappear into a vanishing point centered in Christ's head. In addition, the windows that illuminate the landscape beyond serve to provide a natural halo for Christ.

Johannes Cocklaus, Luther with Seven Heads, 16th c., engraving, Germany

The use of prints and broadsides was not one-sided, however. A number of prints circulated from Catholic centers depicting Luther as the anti-Christ for instance. Around 1530 a Lutheran caricature circulated that represented the papacy as having "seven heads" consisting of the pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests; the sign on the cross in the image read "for money, a sack full of indulgences"; and a devil is seen emerging from an indulgence chest below. Here we have an anti-Reformation pamphlet that is a response to the Lutheran's caricature. It depicts Luther with seven heads. The number seven points not only to the seven deadly sins, but to the beast in the Revelation of St. John the Divine 13,1 with its seven heads and their "blasphemous names." These heads show Luther among others to be a hypocrite, a fanatic, and "Barabbas"—the thief who should have been crucified instead of Christ.

Paolo Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi, 16th c., oil on canvas, Venice

There are other instances in which the strong arm of the church was brought to bear on artists and their works. One very famous case occurred in Venice and concerned a painter named Veronese. Veronese painted this large scale work for the refectory of a Dominican monastery in Venice. It appears to depict Christ at a long table sharing dinner with assorted apostles, but placed in a Renaissance-style loggia (an architectural porch) and surrounded by a multitude of other figures. The monks of the monastery accepted the final painting without comment, or were not apparently concerned with it. However, in 1573, Veronese's painting had attracted the unwelcome attention of the Inquisition and he was called to a tribunal in July of that year to answer questions about the painting. The Inquisition was intended to eradicate heresy as part of the Counter-Reformation. The Inquisition enforced the Index of Forbidden Books, which informed all Catholics of works which were heretical and thus forbidden to read. These included works of poetry, literature and science, and not just theology. In the case of Veronese's painting, however, it wasn't the abbot of the order who was called before the Inquisition, but the painter himself. This was an extraordinary step in that it revealed the extent to which the church wanted to control the production of images, starting with artists themselves. It was the details of the work that proved most unnerving and offensive. The judges did not like: 1) the fact that Veronese included a man with a bloodstained handkerchief, or another man picking his teeth and 2) the fact that he included a dwarf and a dog in the frontal plane of the picture. These images were seen as suspicious and inappropriate for the depiction of the Last Supper. The judges wanted the artist to replace some of those things to truly depict the scene correctly without the drinking germans or dwarfs present. Veronese defends himself by saying that it was the custom of the masters to fill their paintings with figures that contribute to "the beauty and ornament of the table." Regarding the architecture, he claims that it is the duty of art, even in a religious context, to entertain the eye, to exhibit virtuosity and technique. Although the tribunal directed Veronese to change the scene to make it more befitting a depiction of a Last Supper, Veronese eluded this requirement by simply changing the name of the work, renaming it Feast in the House of Levi. To make this point clear and evident to the viewer, Veronese added an inscription that explained how Christ sat among all sinners in order to convert them.

Hans Memling, Adoration of the Magi, 15th c., oil on panel, Flanders

Throughout the Renaissance, there is a failure to distinguish between different parts of Africa, or even to differentiate between Africans and native peoples from other areas. What seemed to count, in terminology, was the color of skin, and not the cultural distinctiveness or origins of the person in question. There was a dual nature to the view of Black Africans. On the one hand, they were classified as barbarous and less human, subject to savage sexual urges, and on the other, they were associated with a freer, more childlike closeness to original man. The dual nature of this fascination with Black Africans has a long history in the depiction of one singular Christian subject: the Adoration of the Magi. The story of the Magi, which coalesced in the fifth century after Christ's death, focused on the idea that Christ represented a universal God accepted by the whole known world. The Magi embodied the idea of conversion in foreign lands and therefore were one justification for colonization and Christian conversion. Representing Melchior, the youngest Magi as a Black African emerged as a pictorial motif in the early 15th c. In the Memling, the Black Magi is set apart, both in terms of dress and ornament—he is depicted with an earring, marking him as exotic and foreign in a way that the two other white Magi are not. He stands outside the crèche where the Virgin, physically and socially separated from the two white Magi who are depicted contained inside the circle marked by the Virgin and child. His distinguishing features, blackness, kinky hair, specific physiognomic facial features, telegraphed foreignness to a European audience. While many medieval images vilified black-skinned figures, the Magi images seem to be doing something else. The idea that Africans were spiritually closer to the ideal of Adam, less worldly and inhibited and more childlike, made the idea of conversion seem more powerful. In addition, the darkness of the Magi is contrasted with the image or idea of revelation coming in the form of light. The darker the receptor, the brighter the light of conversion. Africa was also associated with the cult/fantasy of Prester John, a story that first came to light in the 13th c. during the crusades. He was described as a powerful Christian priest-king of black African ancestry, who, ruling vast lands to the east of Europe, might be brought into Christendom's struggle against Islam. The third Magi was often intended to call up this association with Prester John.

Peter Breughel the Elder, The Blind Leading the Blind, 16th c., oil on panel, Netherlands

While Brueghel often depicted proverbs which had a secular origin, he also produced similar paintings that were nevertheless based more specifically in religious traditions. For instance, he often illustrated the proverbs of Christ. These were convenient ways of conveying religious and moral points, without invoking the more dangerous charge of idolatry by depicting Christian subjects. This work, The Blind leading the Blind, refers to Christ's parable concerning the Pharisees (Matthew 15:14): "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." In this parable, Christ illustrates a spiritual condition: inner blindness to true religion.Brueghel shows us a procession of six blind men who clutch each other, each passively following the equally blind man in front. The first man is shown falling into a pond, while behind him the second man realizes he is falling too. He is unable to see (his eyes are vacant), and yet his face registers terror as he faces an unknown danger. In contrast to this line of clumsy and foolish men, a church is the focal point of the distant landscape. In the form of masonry and architecture, the church stands for a secure, physical foundation that represents the strength of faith and its true vision. Through the narrative of the parable and the satirical edge that he gives to these kinds of pictures, Brueghel makes fun of human mistakes, while also promoting a certain notion of Christian morals.

contract

Written agreements between the painter and patron on how to produce a painting or artwork. ex: According to Baxandall, in the first half of the 1400s, contracts focused on materials, the quantities and quality of ultramarine and gold, and the type and cost of the frame. The altarpiece of Gentile da Fabriano exhibits many characteristics described in contracts in the early part of the 15th century. It is lushly ornamented with gold leaf and an ornate, gothic style frame. The scene is used as an excuse to depict the richness and variety of the cloth and foregrounds the youngest Magi in the front, who is sumptuously dressed and crowned. Not only is there gold everywhere, but the Virgin's robe is of the highest grade of ultramarine blue.

ultramarine

a deep, rich saturated blue color that was an expensive material to use in painting the the early 15th century. ex: Early 1400s panel paintings and altarpieces in Florence were often created in International Gothic style. In part, this was because it was style that carried prestige, and was favoured by elite patrons. This altarpiece, by the Florentine artist Gentile da Fabriano, is a good example. It depicts the Adoration of the Magi (or three kings) and was commissioned by Palla Strozzi, head of a wealthy banking family that was very powerful in Florence up to 1434. The altarpiece exhibits many characteristics described in contracts in the early part of the century. It is lushly ornamented with gold leaf and an ornate, gothic style frame. The scene is used as an excuse to depict the richness and variety of the cloth and foregrounds the youngest Magi in the front, who is sumptuously dressed and crowned. Not only is there gold everywhere, but the Virgin's robe is of the highest grade of ultramarine blue. Due to the color having value, it alluded to the Virgin being the most valuable icon in the altarpiece.

perspective (geometric)

a drawing method by which it is possible to depict a three-dimensional form as a two-dimensional image that closely resembles the scene as visualized by the human eye. ex: This can be seen in Masaccio's "Tribute to Money."This fresco by Masaccio shows how the painter began to use the geometric techniques of perspective to create a rational space in which to place his figures and explore narrative themes.This painting is in a small chapel in Florence and depicts a scene described in the gospel of Matthew in which Christ and his apostles are stopped by a Roman tax collector in front of a temple in Capernaum. Christ directs Peter to go fish in the sea, and look in the mouth of the fish that he catches. Peter does this, and miraculously finds a coin. Christ then gives this coin to the tax collector, saying "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Masaccio places this scene in a landscape marked by an architectural structure that extends back into the distance. The figures appear in proportion to the architecture as well as to each other, receding back into the landscape.

indulgence

a kind of promissory note that the church dispensed that purportedly reduced one's time in purgatory. By purchasing an indulgence, one could gain remittance from sins and lessen one's time in purgatory. ex: This can be seen in the German broadside showing Johan Tetzel selling indulgences from a box that reads "As soon as gold in the basin rings, Right then the soul to heaven springs." In the early 16th century, the Renaissance popes encouraged the sale of indulgences because they needed money to fund a series of wars and restore Rome to its former glory. A Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel was the commissary of indulgences in the German provinces. He maintained that the purchase of indulgences could provide remittance even for sins that had not been committed yet

Reformation

a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church that cause iconoclastic periods and the stripping of images in a church. Ex: This can be seen in the painting of Brueghel's The Land of the Cockaigne. Painted after the Revolt of 1566, many have interpreted this work as Brueghel's ironic and veiled allusion to the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. The three men represent the different orders involved in the conflict, military, peasant and merchant: while the fourth, the nobility, is depicted as a roasted duck. This seems to allude to the impotence of the nobility to either meet the needs of the lower classes or take leadership of the situation. In the meantime, all participants are represented as giving into their baser instincts, preferring sin over virtue.

Nominalism

a religious philosophy that maintains that the universe can only be understood through direct experience rather than through speculations about the ideal or abstract nature of things. ex: In the north, painters seem intent on impressing viewers with the reality and truth of the scenes they were representing by conveying them with the most detailed visual descriptions possible. Campin was a proponent of telling religious stories in contemporary settings. This mirrors another important devotional current that was fashionable in the Flanders and was based on popular devotional literature that exhorted the devout to draw parallels between daily life and religious stories. Such an approach to detail can be seen here in the Madonna and Chancellor Rolin. The artist Jan Van Eyck depicts the chancellor kneeling before the Virgin and Child dressed ostentatiously in gold brocade and furs like a prince, betraying his desire to be seen as a high-ranking court dignitary. The Virgin is seated on a marble throne wearing a full,embroidered cloak adorned with precious stones. The entire picture is composed as a "holy conversation" (a scene that brings saints and donor together).

portrait (self-portrait)

a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Ex: This can be seen in the self portrait of Durer in 1500. He was a very important figure who contributed to a shift in the perception of the artist was the German painter and print maker, Albrecht Durer. After going to Italy to study the art there, he absorbed the sense that art could and should be an intellectual enterprise and that artists in Italy had a higher status than in Germany where they were still considered mainly artisans. He embarked on a life long project to elevate the status of the artist. Durer saw his own quest as an artist as a result of the divine inspiration bestowed on him by God. In this portrait we see Durer's acute attention to details. The fur trim is delicate, the hair meticulously delineated—each lock shining and curled. He depicts his own hand in vivid detail, the long fingers, and pale skin. This attention to the hand is probably meant to draw a focus to it as a creative instrument. However, to avoid the associations of art to manual labor, Durer does not show himself painting. Instead, he presents himself as an intellectual, one whose hand is divinely inspired.

usury

a sin of the collecting of interest on money loaned. Ex: On the back wall of the Scrovegni Chapel, where the doorway into the chapel is located, the final scene shows the Last Judgment. It is here that the sin of usury is most pointedly reframed to the family's advantage. Far from being on the side of the damned (a la Dante's characterization), Reginaldo appears on Christ's right, among the saved. Judas and the usurers are shown receiving extraordinary punishment in hell, another indication of the atonement being made by the Scrovegni family. The entire chapel shifts the guilt onto Judas and distances the Scrovegni family from the sin of usury.

fresco

a technique in which pigment (colors) are added to wet plaster to create a painted surface. In essence, the painting becomes a part of the wall, incorporated directly into the architecture. Ex: The last Judgement in the sistine chapel by Michelangelo. Michelangelo was criticized by Gilio de Fabriano because he included things, not in the biblical description: Angels should have wings, they should be dispersed to the four corners of the world, there should be no wind, no pagan figures, all bodies are resurrected enfleshed (not in parts), and nudity does not fit the requirement of decorum.

St. Anthony's Fire

a terrible disease caused by fungus that grows in grain, and causes feverish convulsions and gangrenish sores. ex: The interior of the Isenheim altarpiece depicts a crucifixion in which Christ's body appears in an advanced stage of decay, sagging and greenish colored, covered with sores—the monastery hospital treated patients from the terrible disease Like the plague, it was a disease that reappeared repeatedly in Europe—the 17th c. writer Félibien mentions it in his History of Paris: "'The victims' blood was affected by a poisonous inflammation which consumed the whole body, producing tumors which developed into incurable ulcers and caused thousands of deaths." The expressive effect is heightened by the distended fingers of Christ, as though in advanced rigor mortis, echoed by the gesture of Mary Magdalene below who keens in sorrow, while St. John the Baptist is accompanied by the inscription "He must increase and I must decrease." Below the Lamb of God holds a cross, and pours its blood into a chalice, a reminder that the physical body is only temporary and salvation comes through death.

still life

a type of paint where there was an arrangement of objects that overwhelmed the depiction of another subject, or was removed from narrative altogether ex: This painting by Pieter Aertsen, who worked in Antwerp, focuses on a seemingly mundane scene--a butcher's stall in the market. But what seems mundane also conceals moralizing content that dovetails with Protestant ethics. The image of meat calls up allusions to gluttony and pleasure—this overabundance of food seems to point to the outsized and uninhibited appetites that crave it. The very realism of the depiction of meat underscores its excess—it seems like you can reach out and touch it, or you can smell the odor of slightly decaying flesh, or the waft of herbs used in the sausages. In the back there are tiny, distant scenes that seem to tell another story. On the left is the Holy family escaping to Egypt, and the Virgin offers alms to people who are standing in line for church. To the right several men and women carouse in a tavern. This might be a reference to the "prodigal son", a parable told by Christ. In the parable, a man gives an inheritance to his younger son, who spends it all on gambling and women. When he returns home, penniless and repentant, his father forgives him (the story warns about the sins of profligacy, while espousing the virtue of forgiveness).

genre painting

a type of painting that epict subjects that may have a moral subtext, but are not explicitly religious. ex: a genre painting would be the one by Quentin massy's of "the money changer and his wife." In 16th c. Flanders, in the wake of iconoclastic suspicion of images, a moralistic form of painting emerged that passed judgment on certain kinds of activity. This work is not a portrait, but depicts moneychangers in a typical burgher's home, filled with objects that convey their material comfort, but the tone is disapproving. The wife has a bible, but seems much more interested in the gold counted by her husband: i.e., more focused on material goods than spiritual rewards. In the back, two men engage in the sin of idle gossip. In the tiny convex mirror the reflection shows the obverse —a man is actually reading a bible or psalter. An inscription on the original frame read: "Let the balance be just and the weights equal."

satirical broadside

cheap woodcuts or engraved prints on single pages that could be bought and distributed like fliers). The prints satirized the pope and the clergy, alluding to demonic possession and scandalous behavior, in clever and often shocking graphic terms. ex: This can be seen in the caricature of luther with seven head by Johannes Cocklaus. The use of prints and broadsides was not one-sided, however. A number of prints circulated from Catholic centers depicting Luther as the anti-Christ for instance. Around 1530 a Lutheran caricature circulated that represented the papacy as having "seven heads" consisting of the pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests; the sign on the cross in the image read "for money, a sack full of indulgences"; and a devil is seen emerging from an indulgence chest below. Here we have an anti-Reformation pamphlet that is a response to the Lutheran's caricature. It depicts Luther with seven heads. The number seven points not only to the seven deadly sins but to the beast in the Revelation of St. John the Divine 13,1 with its seven heads and their "blasphemous names." These heads show Luther among others to be a hypocrite, a fanatic, and "Barabbas"—the thief who should have been crucified instead of Christ.

woodblock printing

earliest printing technique for images. It involves cutting away unwanted areas with a tool--the raised area left behind (the relief) is inked and pressed to paper to make an image. ex: Durer was an early practitioner of woodcut printing, producing some of his finest work before 1500. He expanded the pictorial possibilities of this early and brand new form of visual art. Durer was a master of this incredibly difficult medium. In 1498 he produced a series of illustrations for The Apocalypse from the Book of Revelations that secured his fame as the foremost artist in Germany. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalpyse are Death, Famine, War, and Plague (or Pestilence). The lines in this print are the raised parts left behind after Durer removed what he didn't want. He achieves an incredible delicacy of line and detail. Motion and violence infuse the scene because of his subtle manipulation of the woodcut. He uses repeated parallel lines to give the figures and horses a strong forward diagonal thrust.

engraving/intaglio

engraving is the reverse of woodblock. Intaglio process: 1. Lines that mark intended image are cut directly into a metal plate. 2. The plate is inked and then wiped, so that the ink stays only in the incised lines. 3. Paper is laid on top and the plate is put into a press to draw the ink up out of the lines onto the paper. Ex: Melancholy was thought to dominate creative personalities because it caused both creative visions and depression when those visions could not be realized. We can see Durers Melencholia as a kind of self-portrait by Durer that expresses some of these ideas about the relationship between creative impulses and melancholy. The winged personification of Melancholy is seated with her head resting on her hand, a gesture of consternation or futility. She holds a compass uselessly in her hand and is surrounded by other tools associated with geometry, one of the seven liberal arts that underlies artistic creation—and the one through which Dürer claimed intellectual justification for his work. The objects associated with geometry are shown unused or useless, fruitless objects of the artist's pursuit. The hourglass behind her has almost run out, indicating the futility of artistic creation and the temporal restrictions on creative genius. While all seems depressing and suicidal, there is the burst of light in the far distant sky, a sign that maybe a more positive form of enlightenment is on the way.

sola fide

faith alone could gain you the remittance of God. ex:

melancholy

in art it was linked through the sign of Saturn with creativity and genius in the Renaissance. ex: Melancholy was thought to dominate creative personalities because it caused both creative visions and depression when those visions could not be realized. In Durers engraved work of Melencholia, we can see this print as a kind of self-portrait by Durer that expresses some of these ideas about the relationship between creative impulses and melancholy. The winged personification of Melancholy is seated with her head resting on her hand, a gesture of consternation or futility. She holds a compass uselessly in her hand and is surrounded by other tools associated with geometry, one of the seven liberal arts that underlies artistic creation—and the one through which Durer claimed intellectual justification for his work. The objects associated with geometry are shown unused or useless, fruitless objects of the artist's pursuit. The hourglass behind her has almost run out, indicating the futility of artistic creation and the temporal restrictions on creative genius. While all seems depressing and suicidal, there is the burst of light in the far distant sky, a sign that maybe a more positive form of enlightenment is on the way.

skill

in contracts, skill became a valued asset to painting that showed new abilities such as perspective. ex: Skill can be seen in Massacios Tribute to Money. This fresco by Masaccio shows how the painter began to use the geometric techniques of perspective to create a rational space in which to place his figures and explore narrative themes. This painting is in a small chapel in Florence and depicts a scene described in the gospel of Matthew in which Christ and his apostles are stopped by a Roman tax collector in front of a temple in Capernaum. Christ directs Peter to go fish in the sea, and look in the mouth of the fish that he catches. Peter does this and miraculously finds a coin. Christ then gives this coin to the tax collector, saying "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." Masaccio places this scene in a landscape marked by an architectural structure that extends back into the distance. The figures appear in proportion to the architecture as well as to each other, receding back into the landscape.

screenfold book

long, accordion segmented foldout books made of a bark-based paper. The elaborateness of the images and the sense that these books contained a language, something like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Ex: Codex A and B

humanism

term coined in the 19th c to identify the curriculum called studia humanitatis taught by late medieval professional teachers—this curriculum was neither theology nor what we might call natural science, but was instead focused on the equivalent of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy. ex: Can be seen in DiVincis Vitruvian man that shows how men increasingly began to see themselves as masters of themselves, as individuals who were capable of unique achievements through education/learning. This is sometimes described as a shift from a Medieval, God-centered world view to a Renaissance, man-centered world view, although that can also be reductive.

sprezzatura

the ability to do many things well, and make them all look entirely effortless. ex:???

Counter-Reformation

the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation.

horizon-line isocephaly

the principle is "in churches we see the heads of men walking about, moving at more or less the same height, while the feet of those further away may correspond to the knee-level of those in front of them." Ex: Masaccio's "tribute to money" where he translates these observations into his painting, showing the feet of his figures moving up the picture plane, while the heads all stay at the same level.

iconography

the study of the symbolic content of art—a method for interpreting the meaning of what appear to be symbols—and was developed in the twentieth century specifically to interpret northern Renaissance art. Ex: this can be seen in Robert Campin's Merode Altarpiece that depicts the annunciation in a domestic setting. The detailed objects reveal a whole litany of important theological concepts-- each one represents an idea about the nature of the Virgin--the stem of lilies and polished pot in the background refer to her purity, the snuffed candle on the table to the moment of the Incarnation when she becomes pregnant with Christ, the violets and rosebushes outside in the garden refer to the "enclosed garden," an image that stands for the Virgin's humility, as does the fact that she sits on the floor rather than on a chair. The scene is depicted in the most literal detail possible, such that even the incarnation itself comes in the form of a tiny crucified Christ arriving on a ray of sunlight.

sfumato

the technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms. ex: This can be seen in Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Leonardo began to soften the edges of his forms, erasing hard outlines to create the illusion of roundedness and three-dimensionality and make the transitions from light to shadow less rigid and distinct.