ART HISTORY FINAL

Monastic orders

A group of people living under religious rule

International style

A style in European art of the 14th and early 15th centuries marked by sinuous line, rich color, and decorative surface detail

Triptych

A work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open.

Maya city. Dominating the main northern plaza is a gigantic pyramidal stepped platform crowned by a temple to Kukulcan the feathered serpent god. Solar connections abound in Maya architecture, and during the winter and summer equinoxes the sun's rays create the illusion of the serpent-god on the pyramid's steps. Also holds the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. There athletes competed in ball games that often resulted in the sacrifice of captives forced to play and always lose.

Aerial view (looking southwest) of the Maya city of Chichen Itza, Mexico

Atop the structure is a templed dedicated to Kukulcan the maya equivalent of Quetzalcoatl. Design is tied to the solar year. The north side has 92 steps and the other three sides 91 steps each for a total of 365. At the winter and summer equinoxes the sun casts a shadow along the northern staircase of the pyramid. Bc of the pyramid's silhouette and the angle of the sun, the shadow takes the shape of a serpent that slithers along the pyramid's face as the sun moves across the sky

Aerial view of the Castillo (looking southwest)

Example of adobe (sun-dried mud brick) architecture. Has a large courtyard in front of a roofed prayer hall, emulating the plan of many of the oldest mosques and the qibla wall faces mecca as in all mosques. The facade however is unlike any in the middle east and features soaring adobe towers and vertical buttresses resembling engaged columns that produce majestic rhythm. The many rows of protruding wooden beams further enliven the walls but also serve a practical function as perches for workers undertaking the essential recoating of sacred clay on the exterior that occurs during an annual festival.

Aerial view of the Great Mosque, Djenne, Mali

Bodhisattva

An enlightenment being (Buddha prior to enlightenment) someone who refrains from reaching nirvana to alleviate the suffering of others

International style --> appealed to the aristocratic taste for brilliant colors, lavish costumes, intricate ornamentation, and themes involving splendid processions. The angel gabriel has just alighted, the breeze of his passage lifting his mantle, his iridescent wings still beating. The gold of his sumptuous gown signals he has descended from Heaven to deliver his message. The virgin shrinks in his presence. Mary draws about her the deep blue, golden-hemmed mantle, colors befitting the queen of heaven. Between the two figures is a vase of white lilies symbolic of the virgin's purity

Annunciation altarpiece, from Siena Cathedral Late Medieval Italy

Densely packed large scale figures of the individual panels seem to derive from the compositions found on Roman sarcophagi. Depicts scenes from the infancy cycle of Christ including annunciation, nativity, and adoration of the shepherds. The focus is of the reclining Virgin of nativity whose posture and drapery are reminiscent of those of the lid figures on Etruscan and Roman sarcophagi. The face types, beards, and coiffures as well as the bulk and weight of Nicola's figures also reveal the influence of classical relief sculpture

Annunciation, Nativity, and adoration of the Shepherds Late Medieval Italy

Son of the guy who did the previous one. Striking contrast to father's thick carving and placid, almost stolid presentation of the religious narrative. Arranged figures loosely and dynamically. They twist and bend in excited animation and the deep spaces between them suggest their motion. The Virgin shrinks from the angel's sudden appearance in a posture of alarm touched with humility. The same spasm of apprehension contracts her supple body as she reclines in the center. The drama's principals share in a peculiar nervous agitation as if spiritual passion suddenly moves all of them. Only the shepherds and the sheep do not yet share in the miraculous event. The swiftly turning, the draperies, the slender figures they enfold, and the general emotionalism of the scene are features not found in the father's. Father worked from classical tradition, son derived from French Gothic.

Annunciation, Nativity, and adoration of the Shepherds Late Medieval Italy

Display's emperor's style as both calligrapher and painter. Thin strokes, and each character is meticulously aligned with its neighbors to form neat vertical rows. The painting depicts cranes flying over the roofs. It is a masterful combo of elegant composition and realistic observation. The painter carefully recorded the black and red feathers of the white cranes and depicted the birds from a variety of viewpoints to suggest they were circling around the roof. Was a propaganda piece commemorating the appearance of 20 white cranes at the palace gates during a festival. The chinese regarded these cranes as an auspicious sign, proof that heaven had blessed H's rule.

Auspicious Cranes

Clay structure. Traces of blue remain on the man's belt --> "Maya blue" a combo of clay and indigo to paint ceramics and murals. Portrayed wearing heavy protective clothing and kneeling poised to deflect the ball. Although widely enjoyed as a competitive spectator sport, not solely for entertainment --> the ball for example may have represented a celestial body such as the sun, its movements over the court imitating the sun's daily daily passage through sky.

Ball player, from Jaina Island, Mexico

Mendicants

Begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers who rely exclusively on charity to survive.

Many early African cultures maintained trade networks that sometimes extended well beyond the continent. The exchange of goods also brought an exchange of artistic ideas and forms. One example is Lalibela, ethiopia. Christianity arrived in Ethiopia and the king wished to transform his city into a new jerusalem, a pilgrimage site for ethiopian christians. Cut in the form of a greek cross, revealing familiarity with contemporaneous byzantine architecture.

Beta Giorghis

Under the Zhou the development of markets and the introduction of bronze coinage brought heightened prosperity and a taste for lavish products. The manufacture of jade objects for the dead reached a peak of technical perfection. Most common finds in tombs were bi disks thin flat circular pieces of jade with a hold in the center which may have symbolized the circle of heaven. Bi disks were status symbols in life as well as treasured items the dead took with them to the afterlife. The chinese believe jade possessed magical qualities that could protect the dead. Thought dragons inhabited the water and flew between heaven and earth bringing rain so they became symbols of good fortune. They also symbolized the rulers' power to mediate between heaven and earth. Required hours of grinding, piercing, engraving, and polishing to produce.

Bi disk with dragons Zhou dynasty

More early Buddhist than Hindu art has survived in India bc the Buddhists constructed their monasteries with durable materials such as stone and brick. But in the Gupta period, Hindu stone sculpture and architecture began to rival the Buddhist monuments. The oldest Hindu cave temples are at Udayagiri. Architecturally simple and small but the site boasts monumental relief sculptures showing an already fully developed religious iconography. Shows a 13 foot Vishnu in his incarnation as the boar Varaha. The avatar has a human body and a boar's head. Vishnu assumed this form when he rescued the earth- personified as the goddess Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk-- from being carried off to the bottom of the ocean. Vishnu stands with one foot resting on the coils of a snake king. Multiple hoods behind his human head --> represent the conquered demon that attempted to abduct the earth. Rows of gods and sages form lines to witness the event. The relief served as a political as well as a religious purpose. The relief served a political as well as a religious purpose. The patron of the relief was a local king who honored the great Gupta king C in a nearby inscription. Many believe the local king wanted viewers to see C as saving his kingdom by riding it of its enemies in much the same way Varaha saved the earth.

Boar avatar of vishnu

Nasca style emulated Paracas style. Known for they pottery and ceramic vessels that survive. These usually have round bottoms, double spouts connected by bridges, and smoothly burnished polychrome surfaces. The subjects of their painted decoration vary greatly, but plants, animals, and composite mythological creatures, part human and part animal, are most common. Nasca painters often represented ritual impersonators some of whom like the Paracus flying figures (18-22) hold trophy heads and weapons. On the vessel illustrated here there are two costumed flying figures. The painter reduced their bodies and limbs to abstract appendages and focused on the heads. The figures wear a multicolored necklace a whiskered gold mouthpiece, circular disks hanging from the ears, and a rayed crown on the forehead. Masks or heads with streaming hair, possibly more trophy heads, flow over the impersonators' backs, increasing the sense of motion.

Bridge-spouted vessel with flying figures

The Olmec also made paintings in caves, fashioned ceramic figurines and carved sculptures in jade, a prized, extremely hard, dark green stone they acquired from unknown sources far from their homeland. Sometimes the Olmec carved jade into ac-shaped polished forms art historians call celts, which they then buried under their ceremonial courtyards or platforms, perhaps in connection with rites associated with maize agriculture. The subjects represented include figures combining human and animal features and postures such as the were-jaguar which may be a maize deity. The Olmec human-animal representations may also refer to the belief that religious practitioners underwent dangerous transformations to wrest power from supernatural forces and harness it for the good of the community.

Ceremonial ax in the form of a were-jaguar, from La Venta, Mexico

Dancing the cosmic dance, 18 arms swinging rhythmically in an arc. Some of the hands hold objects, and others form prescribed mudras. At the lower right, the elephant headed Ganesha tentatively mimics Shiva. Nandi, Shiva's bull mount stands at the left. Artists often represented Hindu deities as part human and part animal. Such composite and multilimbed forms indicate the subjects are not human but superhuman gods with supernatural powers. Shiva is the Destroyer.

Dancing Shiva

Stupa was not a tomb but a monument housing relics of the Buddha. The dome shape represents the world mountain with the cardinal points marked by toranas, or gateways. The harmika, positioned atop the stupa dome, is a stone fence or railing that encloses a square area symbolizing the sacred domain of the gods. At the harmika's center, a yasti, or pole, corresponds to the axis of the universe, a motif already present in Ashoka's pillars. Three chatras or stone disks, assigned various meanings crown the yasti. The yasti rises from the mountain dome and passes through the harmika thus uniting this world with the heavenly paradise. A stone fence often encloses the entire structure clearly separating the sacred space containing the Buddha's relics from the world outside.

Diagram of the Great Stupa

Protected civilization against forces of evil. Rides on the back of a lion, leading an army of chubby dwarfs against human bodied demon Manisha. Symbolizes battle between good/evil and order/disorder. Buffalo demon is giant Durga is elegantly dressed with 8 other stretching her bow to launch the arrow. Fearsome despite her appearance. The demon recoils. The victory of the goddess conveys the message that when Hindu faithful good will triumph over evil. The horizontal format of the relief the piling up of figures over the surface and the dramatic and effective way the scepter has communicated the chaos of hand to hand combat all recall late antique roman sarcophagi.

Durga slaying the Buffalo Demon Manisha

Tang dynasty--> golden age of Chinese Figure painting. Masterpiece of line drawing and colored washes long attributed to Yan Liben. Born into an aristocratic fam and the son of a famous artist Y was prime minister under the emperor as well as a celebrated painter. This hand scroll depicts 13 chinese rulers from the han to the sui dynasties. Its purpose was to portray these historical figures as exemplars of moral and political virtue, in keeping with the Confucian ideal of learning from the past. Each E stands or sits in an undefined space. The E's greater size relative to his attendants immediately establishes his superior stature. Represents E Xuan of the Chen dynasty seated among his attendants two of whom carry the ceremonial fans that signify rank and focus the viewer's attention on him stands out bc of dark robes.

Emperor Xuan and Attendants

Chakra

Energy points or knots in the subtle body (hindu)

Hinduism and Buddhism

Founder of Buddhism= Buddha who advocated the path of asceticism or self discipline and self denial as the means to free oneself from attachments to people and possessions, thus ending rebirth. Buddhists call the escape from the cycle of birth death and rebirth nirvana, Hindus call it moksha. Both use images of gods and holy persons in religious rituals

Tiwanaku was an important ceremonial center. Gateway of the Sun --> huge monolithic block of andesite pierced by a single doorway. Moved in ancient times from its original location within the site, the gateway now forms part of an enormous walled platform. Relief sculpture crowns the gate. The central figure is a Tiwanaku version of the Chavin staff god. Larger than all the other figures and presented frontally, he dominates the composition and presides over the passageway. Rays project from his head. Many terminate in puma heads, representing the power of the highlands' fiercest predator. The staff god -- possibly a sky and weather deity rather than the sun deity the rayed head suggests-- appears in art throughout the Tiwanaku horizon, associated with smaller attendant figures. Those of the Gateway of the Sun are winged and have human or condor heads. Like the puma, the condor is an impressive carnivore, the largest raptor in the world. Sky and earth beings thus converge on the gate, which probably served as the doorway to a sacred area, a place of transformation.

Gateway of the sun

Depict deities, ritual activities and processions of priests, warriors, and even animals. Applied pigments to a smooth lime plaster surface. Polished the surface to a high sheen. This one depicts earth or nature goddess. Some think she was the city's principle deity. Always shown frontally covered by a jade mask. Dwarfed by large feather headdress. The stylized human hearts flanking the frontal bird mask reflect the ancient Mesoamerican belief that human sacrifice is essential to agricultural renewal.

Goddess, wall painting from the Tetitla apartment complex at Teotihuacan, Mexico

The unifying characteristic of this age of regional dynasties in South Asia was the patronage of Buddhism. Important Buddhist monastery founded during Ashoka's reign is at Sanchi. Solid earth and rubble dome. Worshipers enter through one of the gateways, walk on the lower circumambulation path, then climb the stairs on the south side to circumambulate at the second level. Carved into different parts of the stupa are inscriptions of donors to the project. The reliefs on the four toranas depict the story of the Buddha's life and those of his past lives. Also carved on the tirana is a sensuous woman called yakshi. These goddesses worshiped throughout India, personify fertility and vegetation. Shown reaching up to hold a mango tree while pressing her left foot against the trunk which causes the tree to flower --> associations of procreation and abundance --> later used to represent Buddha's mother.

Great Stupa, Elephants and yakshi

Lavish burials. Shaped like a covered gravy boat, used in sacrifices to ancestors and in funerary ceremonies. In some cases families erected shrines for ancestor worship above the burial places. Shang artists perfected the casting of elaborate bronze vessels decorated with animal motifs. The animal forms real and imaginary are probably connected with the world of spirits addressed in rituals.

Guang, probably from Anyang China Shang Dynasty

Mudras

Hand gestures conveying fixed meanings. Dhyana (meditation) mudra with the right hand over the left, palms upward, the bhumisparsha (earth-touching) mudra, right hand down reaching to the ground, calling the earth to witness the Buddha's enlightenment, the dharmachakra (wheel of the law or teaching) mudra, a two handed gesture with right thumb and index finger forming a circle and the abhaya (do not fear) mudra, right hand up, palm outward, a gesture of protection or blessing

Best earliest example of a Buddhist stupa hall. Has a pillared ambulatory (walking path), enabling worshipers to circumambulate the stupa placed at the back of the sacred cave. The hall also has excellent acoustics for devotional chanting. Elaborate capitals atop the rock cut pillars depict men and women riding on elephants. Outside, amorous couples (mithunas) flank the entrance --> like the yakshis symbolize the creative life force.

Interior of the chaitya hall

Boldly foreshortened angels, seen head on with their bodies receding into the background and darting about in hysterical grief, a congregation mourns over the dead Savior just before his entombment. Mary cradles her son's body, while Mary Magdalene looks solemnly at the wounds in Christ's feet and Saint John the Evangelist throws his arms back dramatically. Shallow stage for the figures bounded by a thick diagonal rock incline defining a horizontal ledge in the foreground. Ledge provides firm visual support for the figures. Steep slope leads the viewer's eye toward the picture's dramatic focal point at the lower left. Combination of naturalistic representation, compositional complexity, and emotional resonance. He shaded his figures to indicate both the direction of the light illuminating their bodies and the shadows thereby giving the figures volume

Lamentation, Arena Chapel Late Medieval Art

Maurya ruler Ashoka --> converted to Buddhism and spread the Buddha's teaching throughout and beyond India. Formulated a legal code based on the Buddha's dharma and inscribed his laws on enormous monolithic columns set up throughout his kingdom. They were the first monumental stone artworks in India. 7 foot high capitals --> earliest works of monumental sculpture in South Asia. Stylistically the lion owes much to ancient Mesopotamia and Persia, but its iconography is Buddhist. Two pairs of back to back lions (texts often refer to Buddha as the lion) stand on a round abacus decorated with four wheels and four animals symbolizing the four quarters of the world. The lions once carried a large stone wheel on their backs referencing the wheel of the law but also indicating Ashoka's stature as holder of the wheel or a universal king. The open mouths of the four lions facing the four quarters of the world may signify the worldwide announcement of the Buddha's message.

Lion capital of the column set up by Ashoka Maurya period

Religious system --> shinto, traces its origin to Shinto the sun goddess Amaterasu. This is her shrine. Reflects the form of early Japanese granaries which were among the most important buildings in Japan's early agrarian society. The three main structures of the inner shrine convey some sense of Japanese architecture before the introduction of Buddhism and before the development of more elaborately constructed and adorned buildings. Aside from the thatched roofs and some metallic decorations, the sole construction material at Ise is wood, fitted together in a mortise and tenon system in which the builders slip the wall boards into slots in the pillars. Highlights the connection between nature and spirit which was central to Shinto --> not only are the construction materials derived from the natural world but the shrine also stands at a location where builders believed a kami had taken up residence.

Main hall (looking northwest) of the Ise Jingu

Sharply projecting tiled roofs resting on a framework of timber posts, lintels, and brackets. This construction method typifies much of Chinese architecture even today. Descriptions of Han palaces suggest they were grandiose versions of the type of house represented in this model but with more luxurious decoration, including mural paintings and walls of lacquered wood. Chinese building have two major distinguishing features- the carving silhouettes of their roofs and their method of construction- used wood

Model of a house Han Dynasty

Dharma

Natural law --> following the path of enlightenment

Historical narrative painting. The scroll depicts some civil war battles at the end of the Heian period. The section reproduced here represents the nighttime attack on the Sanjo palace during which the retired emperor Goshirakawa was taken prisoner and his palace burned. Swirling flames and billowing clouds of smoke dominate the composition. Below soldiers on horseback and on foot do battle. As in other Heian and Kamakura scrolls, the artist represented the buildings from above at a sharp angle. The painter's brushwork and vivid flashes of color beautifully capture the drama of the event.

Night attack on the Sanjo Palace, from Events of the Heiji Period

Fragment of what was originally a full figure. The heads are disproportionately large compared with the bodies. The head shown here has an expressive face with large alert eyes, flaring nostrils and parted lips. The pierced eyes, mouth, and ear holes are characteristic of Nok sculpture and probably helped to equalize the heating of the hollow clay head during the firing process. The coiffure with incised grooves, the raised eyebrows, the perforated triangular eyes, and the sharp jaw line suggest the sculptor carved some details of the head while modeling the rest. The function of the Nok terra-cotta's is unclear but the broken tube around the neck of the Rafin Kura figure may be a bead necklace an indication the person portrayed held an elevated position in Nok society.

Nok head, from Rafin Kura

The turbulent politics of the Italian cities-- the violent party struggles, the overthrown and rein-statment of governments--called for solemn reminders of fair and just administration, and the city hall was just the place to display these allegorical paintings. Shows the urban and rural effects of good government. Panoramic view of Siena which its clustering palaces, markets towers, churches, streets, and walls, reminiscent of the townscapes of ancient Roman murals. Dancers serve as a metaphor for a peaceful commonwealth but also were regular features of festive springtime rituals.

Peaceful city, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country Late Medieval Italy

Bird's eye view of the undulating Tuscan terrain with its villas, castles, plowed farmlands, and peasants going about their occupations at different seasons of the year. One of the first appearances of landscape in Western art since antiquity. An allegorical figure of security hovers above the hills and fields, unfurling a scroll promising safety to all who live under the rule of law. But Siena could not protect its citizens from the plague sweeping through Europe in the mid 14th century. The black death killed thousands of Sienese.

Peaceful country, detail from Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country Late Medieval Italy

Conveys important aspects of Maya court life. Shows warriors surrounding captives on a terraced platform. The figures have naturalistic proportions and overlap, twist, turn, and gesture. The artists used fluid lines to outline the figures working with color to indicate both texture and volume. Relate the events and ceremonies welcoming a new royal heir. They include presentations, preparations for royal fete, dancing, battle, and the talking and sacrificing of prisoners. On all occasions of state, public bloodletting was integral part of Maya ritual. The torture and execution of prisoners served both to nourish the gods and to strike fear into enemies and the general populace.

Presentation of captives to Lord Chan Muwan

The life of Buddha

Prophecy said he would grow up to be either a world conqueror or a great religious leader. Was sheltered by his father and groomed him for kingship. When he was older left to encounter for himself the pain of old age, sickness and death. Searched for knowledge through meditation --> reached enlightenment. Then known as Buddha. Preached first sermon- 4 noble truths- 1. life is suffering 2. the cause of suffering is desire 3. one can overcome and extinguish desire 4. the way to conquer desire and end suffering is to follow Buddha's eightfold path of right understanding --> nirvana. Continued to preach until his death

Medieval traditions --> the recoil arches and the lions supporting some of the columns but also incorporated classical elements --> the large capitals with two rows of thick overlapping leaves crowning the columns are a gothic variation. The arches are round as in Roman architecture rather than pointed like in gothic. Each of the large rectangular relief panels resembles the sculptured front of a Roman sarcophagus

Pulpit of the baptistery Late Medieval Italy

Represents a figure called the staff god. He appears in various versions from Columbia to northern Bolivia but always holds staffs. Very elaborate --> god gazed upward, frowns and bares his teeth. His elaborate headdress dominates the upper two thirds of the slab. Inverting the image reveals that the headdress consists of a series of fanged jawless faces each emerging from the mouth of the one above it. Snakes are represented everywhere. Upside down, the god's face turns into two faces. The ability of gods to transform before viewers' eyes is a core aspect of Andrean religion

Raimondi Stele

Buddhism gradually declining in medieval India and the various local kings vied with one another to build glorious shrines to the Hindu gods. Freestanding temple carved out of granite boulder. Called "rathas" or chariots (the vehicles of the gods). Illustrates the variety of temple forms at this period, based on earlier wooden structures, before a standard masonry type of temple became the rule in southern India. Dedicated to Shiva, early example of the typical southern style temple with stepped pyramid vimana. The tower ascends in pronounced tiers of cornices decorated with miniature shrines. The lower walls include carved columns and figures of deities inside niches. The Bhima ratha to the right, dedicated to Vishnu has a rectangular plans and a rounded roof; the next ratha is a smaller example of the southern Indian type.

Rock-cut rathas, Mamallapuram, India

Rock art. The painter depicted a running woman with convincing animation and significant detail. The dotted marks on her shoulders, legs, and torso probably indicate she is wearing body paint applied for a ritual. Her face is featureless, a common trait in the earliest of Europe as well as Africa. The white parallel patterns attached to her arms and waist probably represent flowing raffia decorations and a raffia skirt. Horns are also part of her ceremonial attire -- shown as typically in prehistoric art in the twisted perspective or composite view. The artist painted this detailed image over a field of much smaller human beings, an example of why it is often so difficult to date and interpret art on rock surfaces, as subsequent superimpositions are frequent. Some argue this woman could be an honored deity.

Running woman, rock painting

Scarification

Scratching, etching, burning / branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification

In the arts associated with Buddhist practices, Japan followed Korean and Chinese prototypes very closely. Bronze Buddha. According to the inscription on the Buddha's halo, Empress Suiko commissioned the work as a votive offering when her nephew, Prince Shotuku Taishi, the leading champion of Buddhism and Confucian principles of governance fell ill. When S died the empress dedicated the triad to the prince's well being in his next life and to his hoped for rebirth in Paradise. The central figure in the triad is Shaka, seated with his right hand raised in the abhaya mudra. The flaming mandorla that forms a backdrop to the historical Buddha incorporates small figures of other Buddhas. The sculptor was a descendant of a Chinese immigrant and the Horyuji Buddha triad reflects the style of the elongated heads and elegant drapery folds forming gravity defying swirls.

Shaka triad

Period of disunity --> buddhism begins to flourish with help of silk road. Bronze to fir the description of Buddha as golden and radiating light. Recalls its presumed South Asian models in the flat, relief like handling of the robe's heavy concentric folds, the ushnisha (cranial bump) on the head and the cross-legged position. So new were the icon and its meaning however that the Chinese sculpture misrepresented the canonical dhyana mudra. Here the Buddha clasps his hands across his stomach. In South Asian art, the Buddha turns his palms upward, with thumbs barely touching in front of his torso.

Shakyamuni Buddha Period of Disunity Later Zhou dynasty

Shiva as Mahadeva there "Great God" or Lord of Lords. Mahadeva appears to emerge out of the depths of the cave as worshipers' eyes become accustomed to the darkness. This image of Shiva has three faces each showing a different aspect of the deity. The central face expresses Shiva's quiet balanced demeanor. The clean planes of the face contrast with the richness of the piled hair encrusted with jewels. The one on the right is female with framing hair curls. The left face is a grimacing male with a curling mustache who wears a cobra as an earring. The female indicates the creative aspect of Shiva. The male represents Shiva's destructive side. Shiva holds these two opposing forces in check and the central face expresses this balance. The faces also represent the cyclic destruction and creation of the universe.

Shiva as Mahadeva

Portable objects play an important role in Hinduism. Bronze statuette. Here Shiva dances as Nataraja Lord of the Dance by balancing on one leg atop Apasmara, the dwarf of ignorance which the god stamps out as he dances. Shiva extends all four arms two of them touching the flaming nimbus encircling him. These two upper hands also hold a small drum and a flame. Shiva creates the universe to the drumbeat's rhythm. The small fire represents destruction. Shiva's lower left hand points to his upraised foot, indicating the foot as the place where devotees can find refuge and enlightenment. The god's lower right hand, raised in the abhaya mudra, tells worshipers to come forward without fear. As shiva spins his matted hair comes loose and spreads like a fan on both sides of his head. When using this to worship worshipers cover it with jewels and garland it with flowers only bronze part visible is the face marked with colored powders and scented pastes. Considered the embodiment of the deity the image is not a symbol of the god but the god itself. All must treat the image as a living being. Worship of the deity involves caring for him as if he were an honored person. Given food and clothes and taken on outings also receives gifts and songs.

Shiva as Nataraja

28 bronze panels for the doors, each cast separately of which 20 depict episodes from the life of Saint John the Baptist to whom the Florentines dedicated their baptistery. Eight panels represent personified Christian virtues. French gothic sculpture influence --> quatrefoil frames and figures with flowing robes

South doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni Late Medieval Italy

Buddha represented in art

The earliest depictions of the Buddha in human form show him as a robed monk. Artists distinguished him from other by lakshanas, body attributes indicating the Buddha's superhuman nature. These distinguishing marks include an urna, or curl of hair between the eyebrows, shown as a dot; an ushnisha, a cranial bump shown as hair on earliest images but later as part of the head and less frequently, palms and soles imprinted which a wheel. Artists also depicted B with elongated ears --> heavy royal jewelry in his youth. Sometimes shown with halo or sun disk behind his head. Episodes from the Buddha's life are most popular to represent in art

One of the earliest pictorial narrative cycles of the Buddha's life. From left to right Buddha's birth, enlightenment, first sermon, and death.

The life and death of Buddha, frieze

Hinduism in art

Unlike Buddhism recognizes no founder or great prophet. A religion of many gods and the deities also have various natures and take many forms. Three most important are Shiva and Vishnu and the goddess Devi.

Continued to support Buddhism and to sponsor great monuments for Buddhist worshipers. Relief carved into the face of a cliff. Features a central figure of the Buddha. Flanking him are two of his monks, attendant bodhisativas, and guardian figures all smaller than the Buddha. Represented Buddha in serene majesty an almost geometric regularity of contour and smoothness of planes emphasize the volume of the massive figure. The folds of his robes fall in a few concentric arcs. The artists suppressed surface detail in the interest of monumental simplicity and dignity.

Vairocana Buddha Tang Dynasty

Northern style. Vishvanatha meaning Lord of the World is another of the many names for Shiva. Three towers over the mandalas, each rising higher than the preceding one, leading to the tallest tower at the rear, in much the same way the foothills of the himalayas shivas home rise to meet their highest peak. The mountain symbolism applies to the interior as well. Under the tallest tower the shikhara is the garbha griha the small and dark inner sanctuary chamber which houses images of the deity --> temple symbolizes constructed mountains with caves. Not intended to appear natural but rather are perfect mountains designed using ideal mathematical proportions.

Vishvanatha Temple (looking north)

Benin art. Ivory head of a woman which a benin king almost certainly wore at his waist. Naturalism. On the crown are alternating bearded Portuguese heads and mudfish, symbolic references respectively to Benin's trade and diplomatic relationships with the portuguese god of the sea, wealth, and creativity. The mudfish also symbolized the dual/divine aspect of the ruler.

Waist pendant of a queen mother

Sculptor favored greater anatomical definition and shape revealing drapery than did the other triad. The statues of the attendant Bodhisattvas Nikko and Gakko especially reveal the long stylistic trail back through China (614) to the sensuous fleshiness and outthrust hip poses of Indian sculpture (157,1513)

Yakushi triad