Art Appr 14-16

Christianity

¨Christianity was only one of numerous religions in the late Roman Empire, but quickly became one of the most popular and well organized. ¨Attitudes toward this new religion varied. Often, the faith was tolerated, however, sometimes Christians were persecuted officially or by mobs. Christians refused to worship the gods and goddesses of the state religion, including the emperor himself, in addition to their own god. This made them appear to be a threat to the political stability and well-being of the empire.

Christianity in Rome

¨Christianity's situation changed abruptly in 313, Roman emperor Constantine issued an edict of tolerance for all religions. ¨Constantine himself patronized Christianity, as he attributed his success in a key battle to the Christian God. ¨Of the many Christian churches he had built, one of these was Old St. Peter's now in Rome. ¨It was built on the spot where Jesus's first apostle, Peter was thought to have been buried. ¨This structure was demolished in 1506 to build the new St. Peters.

Gothic Characteristics

¨It should appear to reach up to heaven. For this, architects added pointed arches. ¨It should have harmonious proportions. Architects added ribbed vaulting and flying buttresses. ¨It should be filled with light. Architects added huge stained glass windows that filled the space with colored light.

The parthenon

Originally sculptures lined the frieze across the top, however, a British Ambassador named Lord Elgin was given permission to remove them by the occupying Ottomans in 1801. Many of these were destroyed in the process but the finest examples are now in the British Museum in London. These sculptures are collectively known as The Elgin Marbles.

Leonardo Da vinci

Not meant to be a realistic scene, but rather to suggest theological meanings. The three figures form a single unit because they are a single lineage. This shows Sainte Anne, mother of Mary, Mary herself, and Jesus. - The whole scene is bathed in the gentle light of Sfumato- Derived from the Italian word for "smoke". This is Da Vinci's specialty and is achieved by multiple layers of translucent glazes give a hazy atmosphere, softened contours, and velvety shadows.

Sainte-Foy

Pilgrims stopping at Sainte-Foy would have come to see the relics of Sainte Foy herself. -Sainte Foy, known in English for Sainte Faith, was supposed to have been put to death as a young girl for refusing to worship pagan gods. -A reliquary is a container that houses relics.

Merode Alterpiece Campin

Child Carrying Cross flies down at top left of middle panel signifying Jesus entering Mary's womb. -Mouse trap symbolizing Christ's trapping the devil. -White linen and lilies symbolizing purity. -Mary's husband Joseph is at right

Minoan

The Minoans are named after King Mino, whose Queen (in mythology) gave birth to the half bull, half human creature, the Minotaur. - The Minoan culture was centered around the great city of Knossos, on the isle of Crete. - The imagery here is depicting a game in which the participants jump over the charging bull

Animal Style

Typical of work from this time, made by the "barbarians", animal style shows imagery of abstracted animals, as well as an interlacing of ribbons or knot work. -The animals are thought to be influenced by these people's ancestors who were nomadic herdsmen

Romanesque, 1050-1200

¨Romanesque style is based on southern styles of the old Roman Empire, including an overall massiveness, thick stone walls, round arches, and barrel vaulted stone ceilings. ¨Churches were springing up everywhere to accommodate those taking part in pilgrimages which had become very popular. ¨While some made the trip all the way to Jerusalem, most confined their pilgrimages to sites associated with Christian saints in Europe. ¨Romanesque architecture is less ornate than that of Gothic.

Gothic Sculpture

¨Sculpture in the Middle Ages was often created to embellish architecture. ¨Over two thousand carved figures decorate the exterior of the Chartres Cathedral. ¨These figures serve as a sort of "welcome committee" for those entering from the outside world to the sacred space within. ¨Like the architecture, the figures that adorn the buildings were created in different times, and in them we can see the transition from Romanesque to Gothic.

Middle Ages in Europe

¨Sometimes referred to as the "dark ages". ¨Refers to the period between the defeat of the last western Roman emperor in 476 and the beginnings of the Renaissance in the 15th century. ¨To early historians this was a period of ignorance and decline, a middle period between one great civilization and another. ¨Today, we view the middle ages as a fascinating period worthy of study in its own right.

High Middle Ages

¨The high middle ages were a time of intense religious preoccupation in Europe. ¨It was during this era that most of the great cathedrals were built. ¨Art and architecture of the high middle ages are broken down into 2 basic categories, Romanesque and Gothic.

The acropolis, Athens

- In order to reach the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is located, you must climb a steep and winding path to the summit, all the while invaders would have been subject to any number of projectiles from the strategic raised area.

Byzantium Icon

-A characteristic Byzantine art form is the Icon. -Icon: A picture of a sacred subject painted on a wooden panel. -Depicts the crucified Jesus, flanked by the Virgin Mary and disciple John. -The figures do not stand in an earthly landscape but are meant to be in the realm of heaven. This is a painting about ideas, not the actual event.

Illumination

-Among the most important artistic products of the early middle ages were copies of Christian scriptures. In the days before the printing press, each book had to be copied by hand. -During the early middle ages, these copies were made in monastaries, as only monks were literate. -The monks not only copied text but illuminated them, which means that they also illustrated and decorated them. -This image is announcing the beginning of the gospel of Mark. The lion is Mark's personal symbol. Monk's in Scotland could never have seen a lion, however, this image closely resembles the animals on the Sutton Hoo purse cover.

Ancient Greek statuary

-Ancient Greek sculptors were highly influenced by their neighbors, the Egyptians. - You can clearly see the influence at right with the rigid posture and pose.

Sainte- Foy CathedralRomanesque

-Architects modified accepted church plans to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims, but most basilica characteristics remain. -Small chapels radiate from the ambulatory, allowing monks to perform their rites even as pilgrims visited.

Christianity

-In this depiction of Christ, the artist has borrowed attributes of the Greek and Roman god Apollo, who is often portrayed riding a chariot across the sky. - Rays of light emanating from the head are modified to suggest the cross. - The grape leaves depicted are associated with the Greek god Dionysis and the Roman God Bacchus. These are the gods of fertility and wine. Christians appropriated the grape leaf as a symbol, as Christ had spoken of himself as the "true vine". This is another example of how artists used images that they had learned as apprentices and adopted them into Christian themed art.

Michelangelo

-Michelangelo had established his reputation as a great sculptor by the time he was 25. Though a quarter century younger than Da Vinci, he was already thought of as his rival in greatness. - While he certainly gained inspiration from viewing Greek statues, David stands apart because: - Michelangelo, (also Da Vinci) had dissected corpses to study the interior forms where the Greeks only saw the outside. - It has a tension and energy that was missing in Greek art. - The facial expression is significant because Greek statues tended to be calm and even vacant. David is young and vibrant. - David became a symbol of Florence.

The acroplis

-Modern Athens is a city of 4.4 million people, which is roughly 1/3 of the entire population of Greece. -This is the view from atop the Acropolis.

Bellini

-St. Francis was a monk and a preacher, born in the town of Assisi, in the late 12th century. -According to legend, he was able to converse with the birds and animals. -St. Francis was so profoundly good that God bestowed the wounds of the stigmata upon him. -Bellini chose to capture the moment in this image, when he is receiving the stigmata. -Bellini explored color, light and atmosphere

Greece

-The Greeks intended to achieve the highest standards in art and architecture. - The Greeks were excellent in many fields. Their political ideals serve as a model for contemporary democracy. - They were the first to speculate on art, however, they did not call it that. The term was "techne" roughly meaning "things requiring a special body of knowledge and skill to make". From this term we get technology and technique. - The Greek ideal of beauty in art and architecture highly influenced the later Roman civilization. -We assume that Greek painting was equally skilled for ancient historians wrote vividly about it, however almost nothing has survived.

The Parthenon

-The Parthenon was originally built between 447 and 432 bc. -It was built in honor of the Goddess Athena, which is where Athens gets its name. and originally there was a colossal statue of her inside. -Known as a model of perfection in Western architecture, it has been imitated often. -Later Roman architecture relied heavily on the perfection that the Greeks achieved in architecture, and we can see this influence in our own American architecture, most notably in government buildings and courthouses

Egypt

-The principal message in Egyptian art is continuity- a seamless span of time reaching back into history and forward into the future. - The Sphinx is the most important symbol in Egyptian art in conveying this message. It is meant to convey the essence of stability, order, and endurance.

Gothic Style1200-15th century

-The term Gothic derives from the Goths, who were among the many nomadic tribes sweeping through Europe during the 4th and 5th centuries. -It was applied to art and architecture by later critics in the Renaissance, who considered the art and architecture of their immediate predecessors to be vulgar and barbarian.

Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul

-The title that Byzantine rulers inherited was "emperor of all the Romans", even though the empire that they ruled was actually much smaller. -They viewed themselves as the legitimate continuation of the ancient Roman empire, with one important difference, Byzantium was Christian. -While Constantine offered protection to the Christians, the Byzantines actually made it the state religion.

Mycenaean

-This culture formed around the city of Mycenae, and was located on the South coast of the Greek mainland. - Mainly noted for their elaborate burial customs, presumably acquired by Egyptian influence. - They were the only Aegean culture to use gold extensively, presumably supplied by Egypt.

Byzantine

-This is an image of Christ as Pantokrator, Greek for "Ruler of All" -A standard element of later Byzantine iconography, the Pantokrator image emphasizes the divine, awe-inspiring, even terrifying majesty of Christ as opposed to his gentle, approachable, human incarnation as Jesus. This is an example from the interior of the Santa Maria Nuova, a 12th century church in Sicily

Christianity

-Very little art that is specifically Christian survives from the early centuries. -Most early worship took place in private residences. -Some of the earliest surviving Christian art was preserved and found in underground burial chambers that were later forgotten. -These chambers are called Necropolis, which is Greek meaning "City of the Dead". -This mosaic was created around the same time as the Mummy of Artemidoros, so we see a similar mixture of imagery. -Mosaic is when small pieces of colored material are assembled to form an image.

Gothic Architecture

-We are rarely in a position to know with certainty how architecture styles started, however, we do with Gothic. -A powerful French abbot named Suger was inspired by early Christian writings when enlarging his church of Saint-Denis near Paris. -He came to believe that certain characteristics were needed for an ideal church.

Rome

510 b.c.e. is usually cited as the beginning of the Roman era, as this is when the Roman Republic was founded. - Rome came of age during the Hellenistic period, when Greek culture was at its height of prestige. - Many Greek statues were brought to Rome. - Often, copies of Greek statues were made in Rome, which explains the difficulty in verifying a sculpture's origin between Greek and Roman. -There are however, some clues....

Greece-Classical Period the Riace warriors/riace bronzers

Art from the Classical period was believed to be the "finest of the finest". -This is one of two bronze warrior statues discovered in the sea near Riace, Italy. They had been lost at sea in a ship wreck. - Not many bronzes have been discovered because the metal was so valuable for other uses, mainly weapons.

Greek architecture-the parthenon-Athens Greece

Ancient Athens was founded atop a large raised area called the Acropolis, which in Greek means "high city". -For defensive reasons, early people naturally selected high grounds when founding settlements. -As seen here, the Parthenon is located atop the Acropolis.

Rome-the colosseum

As you see here, there was a sub level to the Colosseum- called the hypogeum. -There would have been a wooden floor covered with sand. -Underneath the floor, animals such as lions, bears, and leopards would be caged and winched up by pulley systems to trap doors and spring out to attack. -On special occasions, the entire structure could be flooded for realistic naval battles.

Basilica plan

Basilica: Roman meeting house. -Apse: A curved section at one or both ends of the basilica. - Aisles: Rows of columns that created pathways. - Nave: Open center space that was raised higher than the surrounding aisles - Clerestory: Far upper part of the nave, which had windows or piercings to admit light. Transept: Extensions which are perpendicular to the nave, forming a sort of cross

Giovanni Bellini

Bellini was a Venetian painter. -While the artists of Florence emphasized sound drawing above all other artistic virtues, the artists of Venice became known for their interest in color and light. -The new medium of oil paint was especially good in conveying color and light, so was preferred.

Roman empire

By the year 100, the Roman Empire ringed the entire Mediterranean Sea. It spanned all the way from Spain to England, through Asia Minor and into Mesopotamia, Africa, and Egypt, however, the conquered cultures did not suddenly become "Roman". All of these cultures were under the umbrella of Roman rule and intermingled freely. - This explains why you have a mummified Roman or Greek, as seen at right. After the Romans conquered Egypt in 323, Egypt was ruled by a Greek dynasty called the Ptolomies. While they preserved their own language, they adopted the Egyptian religion, with its comforting belief in an eternal afterlife. - Interestingly, with all these overlapping religions, a completely new religion was taking hold in the empire- Christianity.

Campin

Campin was a Flemish artist (Belgian). -Depicts the same event that we saw by Titian, the Annunciation. -Painted around the time that the principles of linear perspective were discovered in Italy, but would not filter into Northern art for another 75 years. Campin relies on a sort of intuitive perspective, so when closely inspected, the perspective is innacurate. -Full of symbolism, mostly referring to Mary's purity

Algerian rock paintings

Date from the Neolithic or "New Stone Age" period (5000 b.c. in this example but the Neolithic period begins around 9000 b.c.). This is important because this is the time when man learned to cultivate crops and domesticate animals for food. They had moved past the hunter/gather subsistence. - This is important because once one ceases to be nomadic, new technologies are born.

Egypt

Depicts a hunting scene in the Marsh. It is also meant to symbolize a victorious journey into the afterlife. - The marsh in Egyptian culture also was associated with the Goddess Isis preparing her husband Osiris for resurrection, and thus is associated with the beginning of all life. - Aside from the clothing, the coloring of the figures denotes gender. Regardless of actual skin color or complexion, the male is always darker reddish, and the female is lighter and yellowish.

Toward the Renaissance

Duccio was one of the artists that were influential in making the shift from the art styles of the middle ages into that of the Renaissance. -His masterpiece was the Maesta Altar, which was multi sectioned and meant to displayed on the alter of a church. -His use of architecture was almost unprecedented in defining space and directing movement, rather than acting as a simple backdrop.

Changing roles of artists in society

During the Renaissance, the greatest artists were considered a breed apart. They were a separate and elite category, respected not because of who they were from birth, but because of what they could do. They lived in the courts of the nobles and popes. They moved freely in good society Their company was sought after and their services were in high demand.

Lascaux Cave

Found in France. Dates to 13,000 b.c.e., which falls in the later part of the upper paleolithic period. Until the discovery of Chauvet Cave, these were the oldest known paintings in Europe. The images are almost all of animals. While various theories have been proposed as to why the images were made, there is no definitive conclusion.

Giogione

Giorgione was a student of the master Bellini. -We don't know of the specific iconography of this image. -We see the storm in the background, approaching, while the figures are bathed in light. -Whereas earlier painters would paint the figures first, then include the landscape elements, Giorgione has worked in reverse. -We can see several similarities between this work and that of his teacher.

Toward the Renaissance

Giotto was a contemporary of Duccio, and his break with middle age artistic style was even more remarkable. -The Lamentation shows the mourning of the dead Christ. -The scene is composed as though it were on a stage and we are a participating audience. -Space going back from the picture plane seems to be continuous, as opposed to the flattened decorative space seen in middle age painting.

Gothic Vs. Renaisssance sculpture

Gothic Carved what they saw on the surface, face, clothing, limbs, rather than first considering the body's frame. Stylized Renaissance the body provides the framework on which fabric drapes and thereofre must be considered first. use of full contraposto

The Acropolis

Here is the entrance to the Acropolis complex. This is known as the Propylaea, or Sacred Way.

Botticelli

In addition to Christian themes, Renaissance artists also turned to stories of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses for subject matter. - Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. - The Medeci family of Florence probably commissioned this piece. - Such a large scale depiction of the female nude in art had been virtually unknown since classical times.

Mesopotamia

It is no accident that great cities rose up around the great Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Egypt. - Rivers provided water that was both a means of transportation but also allowed the irrigation of crops. - With greater crop production the populations grew. - With the growth of cities came the stratification of society with rulers, priests, nobles, commoners, and slaves.

Greece

Krater- One of the many standard Greek pottery shapes, a krater is a vessel used for wine. -This krater not only depicts a funeral but served as a grave marker itself. - The Greeks did not believe that the afterlife was a luxurious place as the Egyptians did, but that "death was death". They thought that the next world was a gray and shadowy place of little interest.

Sistine chapel

Located in the Vatican, in Rome. Executed in Fresco. Took four years to complete. Organized into squares. Depicts religious themes

Renaissance

Means "Rebirth", and refers to the revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture that is one of the key characteristics of the period. Studying the effects of light, they developed the technique of chiaroscuro. Noting that distant objects appeared smaller than near ones, the developed linear perspective. Seeing how detail and color blurred with distance, they developed atmospheric perspective

Mesopotamia

Nanna Ziggurat, Ur (Present day Maqaiyir, Iraq 2100 b.c.e The first cities in Mesopotamia arose in the southernmost area, a region called Sumer. - The Sumerians left behind not only artifacts but also words. Called cuneiform, they were pressed into damp clay to keep track of inventories.

Egypt

Palette of Narmer, from Hierakonpolis. 3100 b.c.e. Important because it illustrates many characteristics of Egyptian art. -It shows "Narmer", the ruler of Upper Egypt, about to strike an enemy. - When depicting an important person, the Egyptian artist wanted to show each part of the body to best advantage so that it could be "read" clearly by the viewer. Typical of Egyptian art, Narmer's lower body is seen in profile, his torso full front, his head in profile, but his eye front again. - This pose recurs throughout most two-dimensional Egyptian art and is not meant to suggest motion, but order and stability

Rome

Roman sculpture was realistic, not idealized. In Greek sculpture, the sculptor would look to ideal beauty in representation, Roman sculpture showed more individual characteristics. - In Roman sculpture, Age was portrayed accurately, as was physical scarring. For instance, a boxer would not be portrayed forever young and perfect but might be portrayed as the survivor of many bouts, with a body thickening with the onset of middle age.

Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo is the site of a ship burial that was initially excavated in 1938 and yielded among other important middle age artifacts, a fully buried ship that served as a burial chamber for a 7th-9th century anglo saxon king.

Ancient Cultures

The 3 Aegean cultures were the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean.

Roman colosseum

The Colosseum has 3 tiers of arches. - Around the base are 80 arched openings for entry and exit. - It is said that the entire building could be emptied in a matter of minutes.

Rome-the colossiem

The Colosseum was built between 72 and 80 AD -The Colosseum was built for gladiatorial games, and could accommodate some 50,000 spectators. -This is the most famous or recognized structure in Roman architecture and for most travelers is the very symbol of Rome.

Cycladic

The Cycladic culture was found on a small group of islands in the Aegean. - We know almost nothing about the people who made this art. - Almost all of the art found is the simplified, abstracted nude female, as seen at left. -These are presumably fertility figures but they are far less exaggerated than the other Venus's we have seen. - They tend to be sleek, almost modern.

Early and High renaissance in italy

The Renaissance began in Italy. -Scholars have offered many reasons for this: - Italy had been among the first areas to recover economically from the chaos of the early Middle Ages. - The Church, an important patron of the arts, was centered in Italy. - Italians had long lived amid the ruins of ancient Rome, and they viewed themselves as the direct descendants of the citizens of the earlier civilization

So why is so much of the ancient art found the Mediterranean region

The artists worked in durable materials such as stone, metal, and fired clay. 2. The environment is not destructive to artworks. The hot, dry, climate is excellent for preservation of artworks. 3. The culture was highly organized, with stable population centers. 4. The cultures had a tradition of making and storing artworks in places of limited or no accessibility. A large portion of the ancient art that has survived comes from tombs or caves.

Mesopotamia

The first cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world to meet most of these conditions were in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq, Turkey, and Syria), and in Egypt, in northeastern Africa.

Late renaissance in italy

The most significant artistic trend of the late Renaissance in Italy was Mannerism. -Comes from the Italian "Maniera", Meaning "style or stylishness". - In an allegory, all of the figures and objects also stand for ideas or concepts, and are meant to be decoded, and possibly teach a moral lesson. -The allegory here is so obscure that scholars have yet to fully figure it out. -Such obscure subject matter is typical of the Mannerist style and of the sophistic and highly cultivated audience that they painted for. -Typical of the mannerist style, it has a "forbidden" erotic undertone, and an illogical, compressed space packed with and impossible number of people

Sistine chapel creation of adam

The most well known of the Sistine Chapel images. -Depicts the moment of man's creation. -God is presumed to have his arm around Eve, who is yet to be created, and his finger extends to point at the Christ child to come. -The ceiling frescoes were an immediate success

Renasissance 1400-1600

The period of time that we know as the Renaissance, brought about vast changes to the world of art. Among these changes are: The way art looked The subjects it treated The way it was thought about The position of the artist in society The identities and influence of patrons. The cultures that served as points of reference. ALL OF THESE THINGS CHANGED

Algerian rock paintings

These paintings from the Tassili n'Ajjer region of northern Africa are located in the Sahara, the worlds largest desert. - When these paintings were created, the desert had not yet emerged. This was an area of vast grasslands, home to plants, animals, and people as we see here.

Titan

Titian was also a student of Bellini. -This image looks back to the Classical Roman writer "Virgil", whose poems celebrated the pleasures of the country as appreciated by sophisticated city dwellers. -This image celebrates poetic reverie, not an actual event.

Platonian influence

Under the influence of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, beauty became equated with moral goodness. Renaissance artists sought an idealized beauty, so they took the most beautiful features from numerous examples or models and combined them to form an ideal figure. The nude reappeared in art. Artists were no longer mere craft workers, but learned persons whose creations were thought to be almost miraculous

Roman Painting-pompeii

Were it not for the tragedy that occurred in 79 AD., we would know little more about Roman painting than we know of Greek. - In the year 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying the town of Pompeii, about 100 miles south of Rome. The thick layer of ash acted as a sort of time capsule and the town lay undisturbed for more than 1600 years. - Upon excavations in 1748, large frescoes were discovered. - Pompeii was not an important city, so it can be assumed that the most talented painters were not working here. Wall painting, from Villa of the Mysteries, Pompei

were Christians killed in the colosseum

While this is a common thought, the answer is likely no. -In 1749 Pope Benedict XIV (14th) declared the Colosseum a sacred place for Christians martyred here, but there is no evidence that Christians were killed here, however it certainly did take place in other places- such as Gallia. -The official Catholic encyclopedia says "there are no historical grounds for the supposition.

Mesopotamia

Ziggurat- A temple or shrine raised on a monumental stepped base. Located in the southern most area of Mesopotamia, called "Sumer". - Lacking stone, the Sumerians built their cities of sun dried brick. - This Ziggurat was dedicated to the moon god Nanna.

What should a church look like?

¨Most Roman, Greek, and even Egyptian temples had been conceived as dwelling places for the gods they were dedicated to. ¨Priests were allowed inside to perform rites, however the public were not. ¨Christianity from the beginning emphasized congregational worship, and so a fundamentally different kind of building was needed, that could accommodate a lot of people. ¨Roman architects already had a structure in their standard building types, a multi purpose meeting hall called a basilica.

Early Middle Ages

¨The kingdoms of the early Middle Ages in Europe were inhabited by descendants of migratory tribes that had come southward and westward on the continent during the 4th and 5th centuries. ¨Ethnically Germanic, the Romans referred to them as "barbarians", meaning foreigners, and considered them crude. ¨Being nomadic, they had a considerably low level of culture than did the settled citizens of the empire.