Chapter 23 Art History
-maintained that for Christianity to be restored to its original purity, the Catholic church needed cleansing and all doctrinal impurities that had collected through the ages -bible is the source of all religious truth -Cranach close to Martin Luther: illustrated the vernacular bible and joined forces with Martin Luther's satisfaction/salvation of Christ -the bible had the sole scriptural authority and was the word of God, which did not exist in the Church's councils, law, and rituals -Luther facilitated the lay's public access to biblical truths by publishing the first translation of the bible in vernacular language -
Martin Luther + Cranach
-on the occasion for his marriage -purely political -perfect expression of power and authority -almost square, his body fills out the square -horizontality of shoulders -sense of absolute presence -shoulders slightly tilted back, little animation in the body, looks directly at us -date written in gold horizontal letters, read across and focus our attention -clothing with beautiful details, embroidery, jewels, folding -circular necklace and halo like thing above his head -he has a sense of being divine: white of feathers, hat, gold, pearl; gold clothing, purely formal way -circular forms, very geometric -the background is simple, deep acqua -face is broad and plain just like the background, contrasting colors again -authority represented in one clutching with right hand, thumb hooked around belt holding scabbard -posture and pose makes him look important an accentuates his power
23-11A HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER, Henry VIII, 1540. Oil on wood
-shows the idea of the Vitruvian theory of human proportion based on artihmetic ratios: the perfect man and woman -perfects texture; background shows forest showing images of animals and trees -tension between the cat and mouse symbolizes Adam and Eve at the crucial moment in the fall of man -contrapposto poses -gnarled bark of trees and feathery leaves authenticate the scene as do the various creatures skulking underfoot -the animals populating the print are symbolic -The choleric cat, the melancholic elk, the sanguine rabbit, and the phlegmatic ox represent humanity's temperaments based on the four humors which are in balance
Adam and Eve. Albrecht Dürer. 1504 C.E. Engraving.
-best known for his printmaking skills -originally trained as a goldsmith before studying painting and printmaking -he created book illustrations and circulated and sold prints in single sheets -this allowed ordinary people to buy and build his audience -he also became wealthy with help from an agent from selling these prints -the first artist to bring lawsuit for his artistic copyright
Albrecht Dürer.
-visual expression to the doctrinal differences between Protestantism and Catholicism -centrally placed tree that has leafy branches only on the Protestant side -left half: judgement day has arrived as represented by Christ's appearance at the top of the scene -hovering amid a cloud and accompanied by angels and saints -Christ raises his left hand in the traditional gesture of damnation and a skeleton drives off a terrified person by angels and saints -this person tried to live a good and honorable life but despite his efforts he fell short -Moses holds the talbets of the law: the 10 commandments, which Catholics followed in their attempt to attain salvation -far left: Adam + Eve whose original sin necessitated Christ's sacrifice
Allegory of Law and Grace. Lucas Cranach the Elder. c. 1530 C.E. Woodcut and letterpress. (Catholic side)
-emphasized God's grace as the source of the redemption -God showers the sinner in the right half of the print with grace, as streams of blood blow from the Crucified Christ -lower right corner: Christ emerges from teh tomb and promises salvation to all those who believe in him -religious social commentary
Allegory of Law and Grace. Lucas Cranach the Elder. c. 1530 C.E. Woodcut and letterpress. (Protestant side)
-overlapping -allusion of space -medieval qualities -idealization and naturalism -knight; soldier of god -death= hourglass
Dürer, Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513
-trained by his father -incorporate ideas about monumental composition and sculptersque form -immediate threat of a religious war: erasums suggested that Holbein leave for England and gave him a recommendation to Thomas More, Chancellor of England under Henry VIII -became the king's painter and produced numerous to Henry VIII
Hans Holbain the Younger
-Ardent humanists stand at opposite ends of a side table covered with an oriental rug and a collection of objects reflective of their worldliness and their interest in learning and the arts -these interests include mathematical and astronomical models and implements, a lute with a broken string, compasses, a sundial -long gray shape that slashes diagonally across the picture plan and interrupts the stable, balanced, serene competition: anamorphic image, a distorted image recognized only when viewed from a special device or when viewing from an acute angle -artists incorporated skulls into their pieces as a reminder of mortality -depicted a skull on the meta medallion Dinteville's hat -portrait of two ambassadors may also allude to the growing tension between secular and religious authorities -interest in humanism: objects that relate to humanistic values
Hans Holbein the Younger, The French Ambassadors, 1533
-large triptych on display in the palace of Count Henry III of Nassau Bred no later than 7 years after its creation -central themes of sex and creation; commemorates a wedding -left panel: God presents eve to Adam in a landscape, presumably the Garden of Eden -Boscho's wildly imaginative setting includes an odd, pink, fountainlike structure in a body of water and an array of fanciful and unusual animals, including a giraffe, elephant, and winged fish -central panel = continuation of paradise, sunlit landscape filled with nudge people, including exotic figures of African descent who frequently appear in the Renaissance paintings both North and South of the Alps -Youths exuberantly stand on their hands or turn somersaults -Numerous fruits and birds in the scene are fertility symbols and suggest procreation
Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1505-1510
-Large painted and gilded statues of Saint Anthony Abbot, Augustine, and Jerome in the main zone -Smaller statues of Christ and 12 apostles in the predella -painted movable wings that open at the center; hinged at the sides, one pair stands directly behind the other
Isenheim altarpiece. Matthias Grünewald. c. 1512-1516 C.E. Oil on wood. CLOSED
-placed in the choir of a church adjacent to the monatery's hospital -Saints discovered with miraculous cures such as Saints Anthony and Sebastian appear prominently -specifically addresses the themes of fire, illness, and miraculous healing; emphasize the suffering of the order's patron saint, Anthony Abbot -painted images are warnings, encouraging increased devotion from monks and hospital patients -Also functioned therapeutically by offering some hope to the afflicted -Saint Anthony's legend emphasized his dual role as vengeful dispense or justice and benevolent healer
Isenheim altarpiece. Matthias Grünewald. c. 1512-1516 C.E. Oil on wood. CONTEXT
-polyptych -lamb= symbol of son of God -wound spurts blood into the chalice on the crucifixion on the exterior of the altarpiece -created for the monastic hospital order of Saint Anthony of Ishenheim -exterior panels of the first pair are crucifixion in the center, Saint Sebatsian on the left, Saint Anthony Abbot on the right, lamentation on the predella
Isenheim altarpiece. Matthias Grünewald. c. 1512-1516 C.E. Oil on wood. ClOSED
-Francis commissioned portraits of himself to assert his authority -painted a decade after he became King -Presented the French monarch as a worldly ruler, magnificently bedeckedin silks and brocades, wearing a gold chain with a medallion of the order of saint Michael, a french order founded by Louis XI -Francis appears suave and confident with his hand resting on the pommel of a dagger -elegantly formalized quality, the result of Clouet's suppression of modeling, which flattens features seen particularly in Francis's neck -Disproportion between the king's small head and his broad body: swathed in heavy layers of fabric, adds to the formalized nature -Francis: a great patron of sculpture and the decorative arts -A passionate collector of paintings, especially those of Italian masters, and a builder on a grand scale
Jean Clouet, Francis I, ca. 1525-1530
-It is a Netherlandish tendency to inject reminders about the spiritual well being into paintings of everyday life -this is a genre scene (painting of everyday life) -Pieter Aertsen became a master in Antwerp's guild of Saint Luke in 1535 and a citizen of his adopted city in 1542 -He turned to Amsterdam in 1557 and worked there until his death two decades later -array of meat products, a side of hog, chickens, sausages, a stuffed intestine, pig's feet, meat pies, a cow's head, a hog's head, hanging entrails -fish, pretzels, cheese, and butter also are visible -Joseph leads a donkey carrying Mary and the Christ child; the holy family stops to offer alms to a beggar and his son -the people behind the holy family wend their way toward a Church -the crossed fishes on the platter and the pretzels and wine in the rafters on the upper left all refer to "spiritual food" -Accentuated these allusions to salvation through Christ by contrasting them to their opposite, a life of gluttony, lust, and sloth -represented this degeneracy with oyster and mussel shells scattered on the ground on the paintings right side along with the people seen eating and carousing nearby under the roof -Placard at right advertising for land sale: moralistic reference to a recent scandal involving the transfer of land from an Antwerp charitable institution to a land speculator
Pieter Aertsen, Butcher's Stall, 1551
-series of six paintings he produced in Brussels illustrating seasonal changes -with each paintings representing not a season but a pair of months -the series grew out of tradition of depicting months and seasons in books of hours -The painting (December/January) shows human figures and landscape locked in winter cold, reflecting the particularly severe winter of 1565 -Weary hunters return with their hounds -Women build fires, skaters skim the frozen pond, and the town and its church huddle in their mantle of snow -Bruegel rendered the landscape in an optically accurate manner -Develops smoothly from foreground to background and draws the viewer diagonally into depths, starting with the row of bare trees in the left foreground -supreme skill in using line and shape -his subtlety in tonal harmony makes this one of the great landscape paintings in art
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow, 1565
-chose not to incorporate classical elements into his paintings -painted years after the artist returned to Antwerp from Italy -depicts a Netherlandish village populated by a wide range of people -Encompassing nobility, peasants, and clerics -mesmerizing array of activities reminiscent of the topsy turvy scenes of Bosch -purpose of anecdotal details are clear, whereas Bosch's are difficult to interpret -Man in blue gnawing on a pillar "he who bites a church pillar": religious zealot engaged in folly -at right a man "beats his head against a wall" a frustrated idiot who had attempted something impossible -one man "shoots an arrow out for another but hits nothing" -in the far distance, near the bursts of sunlight "the blind lead the blind" -vast cast of often comical characters in Bruegel's Netherlandish proverbs fill the panel so much that the artist almost shut out the sky
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559
-Antwerp's growth and prosperity along with its wealthy merchant's propensity for collecting and purchasing art attracted artists to the city -Massy's became Antwerp's leading master after 1510 -Explored styles and modes of a variety of models -Professional man transacting business -He holds scales, checking the weight of coins on the table -The artist's detailed rendering of the figures, setting, and objects suggests a fidelity to the observable fact -Provides insight into developing commercial practices -Money Changer and his wife is also a commentary on Netherlands values and morals -Highlights the financial transactions that were an increasingly prominent part of the 16th century secular life in the Netherlands and that distracted Christians from their religious duties -The banker's wife shows more interest in watching her husband weight money than in reading her prayer book -Massy's incorporated numerous references to the importance of a moral, righteous, and spiritual life, including a carafe with water and a candlestick, traditional religious symbols -The couple ignores them, focusing solely on money -Right: an old man talks with another man, a references to idleness and gossip -The reflected image in the convex mirror the counter offsets this image of sloth and foolish chatter -A man reads what is most likely a bible or prayer book; behind him is a church steeple -An inscription on the original frame read, "let the balance be just and weight equal" an admonition that applies both to the money-changer's professional conduct and eventually to judgment day
Quinten Massys, Money-Changer and His Wife, 1514
-at right wing -viewers must search through the inky darkness to find all of the fascinating through repulsive details that bosch recorded -Beastly creatures devour people while other condemned souls endure tortures tailored to their conduct while alive -Traditionally interpreted as a warning to viewers of the fate awaiting the sinful, decadent, and immoral, but as a secular work -May have been intended for a learned audience fascinated by alchemy- the medieval study of seemingly magical chemical changes -Details throughout the triptych are based on chemical appartus of the day, which boscho knew well because his in laws were pharmacists -No two couples doing particular activity
image of hell Hieornymus Bosch Garden of Earthly Delight