ARTH 26 (CH 18, 20, 21)

18-7 Giotto di Bondone Scrovegni (Arena) chapel 1305-1306. Frescos

context: chapel was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni. [made money by charging interest when loaning money: sin] He called Giotto & giovanni Pisano to decorate his chapel. to express his power, sophistication, prestige, and atone his sins. -Giotto covered entrance wall w last judgement, sanctuary wall w 3 highlighted scenes from life of christ. -compostions & color arrangement of 2 scenes create symmetrical pairing that encourages viewers to relate them, comparing the ill-gotten financial gains of Judas (reference to Scrovegni's usury) to miraculous pregnancy that brought promise of salvation. -individual scenes & overall program display giotto's genuis for distilling complex stories into series of compelling moments. -human dimensions of unfolding drama-form touches of anecdotal humor to expressions of profound anguish-rather than on its symbolic or theological weight.

18-5 Cimabue, Virgin and Child Enthroned, c. 1280 High altar of church of santa trinità, Florence tempera and gold on wood panel

hierarchically scared figure of mary holds jesus on lap. looking at viewer while gesturing at son. > Path of salvation. popular in Byzantine iconography since 6th century. -huge throne: resembles gilded bronze with gems. -highlights on Mary's drapery, Jesus and angels -spatial ambiguties, subtle asymmetries within centralized composition. - light to dark modeling to stimulate 3D form. Naturalistic warmth to human figures.

18-14 Andrea di Cione Enthroned Christ with Saints from Strozzi Altarpiece 1354-1357. tempera and gold on wood

mid 20th centuery, art historian Millard Meiss said that black death had impact on development of italian art in midd 14th century. -pointing to what he saw as a reactionary return to hieratic linearity in religious art, Meiss theorized that artists had retreated from the rounded forms that thad characterized the work of Giotto to old- fashioned styles, and that this artistic change reflected a growing reliance on traditional religious values in the wake of disaster that some interpreted as God's punishment of a world in moral decline. -Altarpiece by Cione (Orcagna) under patronage of Tommaso Strozzi is what led Meiss to his interpretation. -- dominated by central figure of Christ enthroned, but without an actual seat, evoking image of the judge at the Last Judgement, outside time and space. --silhouetted outlines of standing and kneeling saints emphasize surface over depth.; the gold floor beneath them does not offer any reassuring sense of spatial recession to contain them and their activity. --line and color are more prominent than form. -clear relationship of works such as the Strozzi altarpiece with death and judgement, sanctity, and the promise of salvation- themes also suggested in the narrative scenes on the predella.

18-3 Andrea Pisano Life of St. John the Baptist South doors, Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence 1330-1336, Gilded Bronze

overall effect: 2D and decorative -grid of 28 rectangles with repeated quatrefoils. with graceful, patterned poses of delicate human beings -within quatrefoil frames, figural compositions created illusion of 3D forms moving within natural & architectural space.

18-8 Giotto di Bondone, Marriage at Cana, Raising of Lazarus, Lamentation, and Resurrection/Noli Me Tangere North wall of Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua 1305-1306. Fresco

prodigious narrative skills [top left] Jesus's first miracle: changing water into wine. wine steward looks like the wine jar. [to the right] Raising of Lazarus. -boldly modeled and individualized figures twist in space. -through postures and gestures, react to human drama by pleading for Jesus' help or by expressing either astonishment at the miracle or revulsion at the smell of death. -jesus is separated from the crowd. his transforming gesture is highlighted agaisnt the dark blue background, his profile face locked in communication w the similarly isolated Lazarus, whose eyes-still fixed in death- let us know that miracle didnt happen yet. [lower register] Jesus' followers lament over His dead body. Giotto portrays palpable human suffering, drawing viewers into circle of personal grief. (bc of the two figures w their backs to us, it makes us seem like we are with them) -Giotto links this scene to mourning of Lazarus in the upper register by using the continuous diagonal implied by the sharply angled hillside behind both scenes, and the rhyming repetition of mourners in each scene- facing in opposite directions- who throw back their arms to express emotional state. -viewers would know that the mourning in both scenes is resolved by resurrection portrayed in last scene of this set. following traditional medieval practice, fresco program is full of scenes and symbols that are intended to be seen as coordinated or contrasting juxtapositions. this direct emotional appeal not only allows viewers to imagine the scenes in relation to their own life experiences, it also embodies the new Franciscan emphasis on personal devotion rooted in empathetic responses to scared stories.

21-2 Leonardo da Vinci The virgin of the rocks 1485. oil on wood panel (now transferred to canvas)

- contacted with confraternity of the immaculate conception to paint an altarpeice for their chapel in the church of san francesco grande in milan. known as the virgin of the rocks. -the contrast stipulated a painting of Virgin and child with angels, but Leonardo added a figure of young john the baptist, who balances the composition of left, pulled into dialogue with his younger cousin Jesus by the long, protective arm of the virgin. -she draws attention to her child by extending her other hand over his head, while enigmatic figure of the angel- who looks out wo actually making eye contact w the viewer- points to the center of interaction. -stable, balanced, pyramidal figural group- a compositional formula that will become a standard feature of high renaissance classicism- is set against an exquisitely detailed landscape that dissolves mysteriously into the misty distance. -to assure dominance in pic, leonardo picks out four figures with spotlights, creating strong chiaroscuro that enhances their modeling as 3D forms. -sfumato there are subtle, almost imperceptible, transitions between light and dark in shading. sfumato becomes a hallmark of leonardo's style, although the effect is artificially enhanced in this painting by yellowing of its thick varnish, which masks original vibrancy of its color.

20-20A Perugino Christ giving the keys to St, peter. Vatican, Rome 1480-1482. fresco on the right wall of Sistine chapel

-Perugino's painting is a representation of Alberti's ideal city, described in De Re Aedificatoria as having a 'temple' (church) at the very center of a great open space, raised on a dais and separate from other buildings that might obstruct it. - 15th century italian artists developed a system known as linear, or mathematical, a perspective that enables them to represent 3D on a 2D surface, stimulating the recession of space in the visible world. -alberti, in one point perspective a pic's surface was conceived as a flat plane that intersected the viewer's field of vision at right angles. from this single fixed vantage point, eveything would appear to recede into distance at same rate, following imaginary lines called orthogonal that met at single vanishing point on the horizon. By using orthogonals in concert with controlled diminution of scale as forms move back toward vanishing point, artists could replicate optical illusion that things appear to grow smaller, rise higher, and come closer together as they get farther from us. -linear perspective is no the only way to stimulate spatial recession in two dimensions. -in atmospheric perspective, variations in color and clarity convey feeling of distance: objects and landscape are portrayed less clearly, and colors become grayer, in the background, imitating natural effects of a loss of clarity and color when viewing things in distance through an atmospheric haze.

21-4 leonardo da vinci the last supper refectory (dining hall) of the monastery of santa maria delle grazie, milan. 1495-1498. tempera and oil on plaster

-at duke ludovico sforza's request painted last supper. -jesus and his disciples are seated at a long table placed parallel to picture place and to the monastic diners who would have been seated in the hall below. -jesus' meal with his disciples prefigures the daily gathering of this local monastic community at mealtimes. -stagelike space recedes from the table to three windows on back wall, where vanishing point: 1-pt linear perspective is behind jesus head. -stable, pyramidal jesus at the center is flanked by his 12 disciples, grouped in 4 interlocking sets of 3. -leonardo painted a story- it captures the individual reactions of apostles to jesus's announcement that one of them will betray Him. -- leonardo observed human behavior well, and his art captures human emotions with compelling immediacy. -also a symbolic evocation of jesus coming sacrifice for the salvation of humankinda, the foundation of the institution of the mass. -da vanci breaking the traditional representations of the subject to create compositional clarity, balance, and cohestion, leonardo placed the traitor Judas- clutching his money bad in shadows- within the first triad to jesus's right, with john the evangelist, and elderly peter, rather than isolating judas on opposite side of table. Judas, john, peter played an important role in jesus's mission: judas set in motion the events leadind to jesus sacrifice; peter led the church after jesus's death; john, the visionary, told the second coming and the last judgement in the book of revelation. -careful geometry, convergence of perspective lines, stability of its pyramidal forms, and Jesus's calm demeanor at the mathematical center of all commotion, work together to reinforce the sense of gravity., balance, and order. Clarity and stablity: high renaissance style.

20-35 Sandro Botticelli Birth of Venus 1484-1486. tempera and gold on canvas

-central image represents Neoplatonic idea of divine love in from of nude venus. -botticelli's classical goddess of love and beauty, born of sea foam, averts her eyes from our gaze as she floats ashore on a scallop shell, carefully arranging her hands and hair to hide- but actually drawing attention to- her sexuality. -graceful composition with decorative use of line.

21-15 Michelangelo David. Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence 1501-1504. Marble

-cut from an 18 foot tall marble block. -began with small model in wax, sketched contours of figure as they would appear from front on one face of marble. -chiseled in from the drawn on surface, as if making a figure in very high relief. -completed statue took 4 days to move on three-trunk rollers down the narrow outside of florence from cathedral workshop to its location outside of palazzo della signoria. -although in its muscular nudity Michelangelo's david embodies antique ideal of the athletic male nude, the emotional power of its expression and its concentrated gaze are entirely new. -unlike donatello's david, this is not a triumphant hero w a trophy head of goliath under his feet. > slingshot over his shoulder and rock in his right hand, michelangelo's david knits his brow and stares into space, seemingly preparing himself psychologically for the danger ahead, a mere youth confronting a gigantic experience warrior. -this david stands for the supremacy of right over might- a perfect emblem for the florentines, who had recently fought the forces of milan, siena, and pisa and still faced political and military pressure.

20-15 Donatello, Equestrian Statue of Erasmo da Narni Piazza del Santo, Pauda 1443-1453. bronze

-first life-size bronze equestrian portraits of Renaissance.- commemorating the Paduan general of the Venetian army, Erasmo da Narni. -viewed from a distance, Donatello's man-animal juggernaut, installed on a high marble base in front of the church of Sant' Antonio in Padua, seems capable of thrusting forward at the first threat. -but up close, the man's sunken cheeks, sagging jaws, ropy neck, and stern but sad expression suggest a warrior grown old and tired from the constant need for military vigilance and rapid response.

21-3 Leonardo da Vinci, The vitruvian man 1490. ink

-geometric shapes and mathematical proportions to seek ideal representation of the human form. -da vinci equated the ideal man with both circle and square. -Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo added his own observations in reversed writing he always used in his notebooks when he created his well-known diagram for the ideal male figure, called vitruvian man. -focal point: navel -2 sets of limbs, one touching square, other circle.

21-10 Raphael the school of athens 1510-1511. fresco in the stanza dell segnatura, vatican, rome

-here, he summarizes the ideals of the renaissance papacy in a grand conception of harmoniously arranged forms in a rational space, as well as in the calm dignity of the figures that occupy it. -greek philosophers plato and Aristotle take center stage.- placed to the right and left of the vanishing point- silhouetted against the sky and framed under three successive barrel vaults. -surrounding plato and Aristotle are mathematicians, naturalists, astronomers, geographers, and other philosophers debating and demonstrating their theories with and to onlookers and each other. -scene takes place in an immense interior flooded w clear, even light from a single source. -grandeur of building is matched by monumental dignity of philosophers themselves, each whom has a distinct physical and intellectual presence. -composition: variety and energy of their poses and gestures creating dynamic unity that is prime characteristic of high renaissance.

21-18 Michelangelo Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel Ceiling 1511-1512. fresco

-in his design, an illusionistic marble architecture establishes a framework for the figures and narrative scenes on the vault of chapel. -running completely around the ceiling is a painted cornice w projections supported by pilasters decorated with "sculptured" putti. -between the plasters are figures of prophets and sibyls (female seers from classical world) who were believed to have foretold jesus's birth -creation of adam: where michelangelo captures moment when god charges the languorous Adam- in a pose adapted from the roman river-god type- with the spark of life. -as if to echo biblical text, adam's heroic body, outstretched arm, and profile almost mirror those of God, in whose image he has been created. Emerging under God's other arm and looking across him in direction of her future mate is the robust and energetic figure of Eve before her creation.

21-1 Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa 1503-1506. oil on wood panel

-mona lisa portrays lisa di antonio maria gherardini, wife of florentine merchant francesco del giocondo. -after da vinci's death in 1519, king purchased mona lisa for fountainebleau. Louis XIV moved it to Versailles, and Napoleon hung it in his bedroom in Turileries palace. it now hangds at the Louvre. -unusual portrait for its time. Da vinci abandoned long-standing italian tradition of painting wealthy wives in profile view, wearing sumptuous clothing and jewelry that showed their status and their husband's wealth. -mona lisa seems to be likeness of a specific woman who turns with calm assurance to engage viewers, hands relaxed on lap. expression called enigmatic. hides her thoughts and personality, and lacks the warmth one expects in her eyes, which have shifted to the side to look at us. -blend of naturalistic description and classicizing idealism, and clarity and balanced structure of the pyramidal composition that gives stability to monumentally sculptural human form.

21-30 Titian Venus of Urbino. Galleria degli uffizi, florence 1538. oil on canvas

-no photographs can convey the vibrancy of titian's paint surfacesm which he built up in layers of pure colors,, chiefly red, white, yellow, and black, on his canvases. -he ground his pigment much finer than had earlier, wood-panel painters. -complicated process began with a charcoal drawing on the prime coat of lead white that was used to seal the pores and smooth the surface of the rather coarse Venetian canvas. -the artist then built up forms with fine glazes of different colors, sometimes in as many as 15 layers. -paintings of nude, reclining women became esp popular in court circles, where men could appreciate the "venuses" under the cloack of respectable classical mythology. -"Venus" was delivered to Guidobaldo della Rovere, duke of Urbano. -beautiful venetian courtesan with deliberately provocative gestuers, stretching languidly on her couch in a spacious palace, her glowing flesh and golden hair set off by white sheets and pillows. --but for its oirignal audience, art hisotrian rona goffen argued, the painting was more about marriage than mythology or seductiveness. -matrimonial references include the pair of cassoni where servants are removing or storing the womans clothing in background, the bridal symbolism of the myrtle and roses she holds in her hand, and even the spaniel snoozing at her feet- a traditonal symbol of fidelity and domesticity, esp when sleeping so peacefully. -titian's picture might be associated with duke guidobaddo's marriage in 1534 to the 10 year told guilia verano. 4 years later, when this painting arrived, she would have been considered an adult rather than a child bride. -it seems to represent either a roman goddess nor a venetian courtesan, but a bride welcoming her husband into their lavish bedroom.

20-16 Lorenzo Ghiberti, "Gates of Paradise" (east bapistery doors) 1425-1452. gilt bronze

-the door panels, commissioned by the wool manufacturers' guild, depict 10 scenes from the Hebrew Bible beginning with the Creation the the upper left panel. the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain, follows in the upper right panel, succeeded in the same left-right paired order by the Flood and the drunkenness of Noah, Abraham sacrificing Isaac; the story of Jacob and Esau, Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers; Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law, Joshua and the fall of Jericho; and finally David and Goliath, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Ghiberti placed his own portrait as a signature in the frame at the lower right corner of the Jacob and Esau panel. He wrote in his Commentaries (c. 1450-1455) -the bronze doors produced for Florentine Baptistery after winning his famous competition with Brunelleschi in 1401 were such a success that in 1425 he was awarded the commission for yet another set of bronze doors for the east side of the baptistery, facing the doors the cathedral; his first set of doors was moved to the north side. The new door panels, funded by the wool manufacturers' guild, were a significant conceptual leap from the older schemes of 28 small scenes employed for Ghiberti's earlier doors and those of andrea pisano in the 14th century. -he departed from old arrangement, producing a set of ten scenes from the hebrew bible-from the creationto the reign of solomon-composed in rectangular fields, like a set of framed paintings. michelangelo reportedly said the results, installed in 1452, were worthy of the "Gates of Paradise'- name by which they are now commonly known. -he organized the space in 10 sqaure reliefs either by a system of linear perspective with obvious orthogonal lines. -foreground figures are grouped in the lower third of each panel, while the other figures decrease gradually in size to map their positioning in deep space. -use of a system of perspective, with clearly differentiate background and foreground, also helped Ghiberti combine a series of related events, separated by narrative time, within a single pictorial frame.

21-32 Tintoretto The last supper. church of san giorgio maggiore, venice 1592-1594. oil on canvas

-tintoretto's goal, declared on a sign in his studio, was to combine Titian's coloring with the drawing of Michelangelo. -instead of da vinci's frontal view of a closed and logical space with massice figures reacting in individual ways to jesus statement, Tintoretto views the scene from a corner, with a vanishing point on a high horizon line at far right. -the table coffered ceiling, and inlaid floor all seem to plunge dramatically into the distance. the figures, although still large bodies modeled by flowing draperies, turn and move in continuous serpentine line that unites apostles, servans, and angels. -used two internal light sources: one real and the other supernatural. light streams from the oil lamp, with angels swirling out from the flame and smoke. second light emanates from jesus and is repeated in a glow of the apostles' haloes. -intensely spiritual, otherworldly mood is enhanced by deep colors flashed with dazzling highlights on elongated figures, consistent with mannerist tendencies. -homey details like the still life on tables and the car in the foreground connect with viewer's own experiences. -narrative emphasis has shifted da vinvi's more worldly study of personal betrayal to Tintoretto's reference to the institution of the Eucharist.

20-34 Sandro Botticelli Primavera 1482. Tempera on wood panel

Botticelli painted sculptural figuers that were modeled by light from a consistent source and placed in a setting rendered illusionistic by linear perspective. -often included recognizable contemporary figures among the saints and angels in religious paintings. -primavera recalls Flemish tapestries which were popular in italy at the time. -subject is highly complex allegory (a symbolic illustration of a concept or principle) interweaving Neoplatonic ideas with esoteric references to Classical sources. - Neoplatonic philosophers and poets conceived Venus, goddess of love, as having two natures. -the first ruled over earthly, human love and second over universal, divine love. -philosophers could argue that venus was a classical equivalent of the virgin mary. -theme of primavera suggests love and fertility in marriage, and paining can be read as lyrical wish for a similar fecundity in union of Lorenzo and Semiramide- a sort of highly refined fertility dance.

20-14 Donatello, David 1446-1460. Bronze Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence (first recorded as being in courtyard of Medici Palace in 1469)

Donatello- attentive exploration of human emotions and expression, and ability to solve technical problems posed by various media- from lost-wax casting in bronze and carved marble to polychromed wood. -DAVID- first life-size, free standing nude since antiquity- (nothing is known about the circumstances of its creation) so it has been subject of continuing inquiry and speculation. -- some art historians stress an overt homoeroticism, esp in the openly effeminate conception of David and the way a wing from the helmet of Goliath's head brushed the young hero's inner thigh. --others have seen in David's angular pose and boyish torso a sense that he is poised between childish interests and adult responsibility, and image of improbable heroism. --potent political image in Florence- a symbol of citizen's resolve to oppose tyrants regardless of their superior power, since virtue brings divine support and preternatural strength.

20-18 Masaccio Trinity with the Virgin, St John the Evangelist, and Donors church of santa maria novella, florence 1425-1427-28. fresco

Masaccio established a new direction in Florentine painting much as Giotto had a century earlier. -by integrating monumental and consistently scaled figures into rational architectural and natural settings using linear perspective. -his fresco was meant to give the illusion of a stone funerary monument and altar table set below a deep aedicula (framed niche) in the wall. -effect of looking up into a barrel-vaulted niche was made plausible through precisely rendered linear perspective. -eye level of male adult standing within church determined the horizon line on which vanishing point was centered, just below the kneeling figures above the altar. -painting demonstrates not only Masaccio's intimate knowledge of Brunelleschi's perspective experiments, but also his architectural style. -painted architecture= unusual combo of classical order. -"source" of consistent illumination of the architecture lies in front of picture, casting reflections on the coffers, or sunken panels, of the ceiling. -figures are organized in a measured progression through space.

21-14 Michelangelo Pietà. St. Peter's, Vatican, Rome 1500. Marble

Michelangelo grew up in florence and at 13 he was apprenticed to ghirlandaio. learned technique of fresco painting and studied drawings of classical monuments. -joined households of lorenco the magnificent, head of ruling medici family, where he came contact with Neoplatonic philosophy and family's distinguished sculpture collection. -Pieta was commissioned by a french cardinal and installed as a tomb monument in old st peters. -theme (in which virgin supports and mourns the dead jesus in her lap) long popular in northern europe, was unusual theme. -choice of his marble was important bc he envisioned his sculpture as already existing within the marble, needing only his tools to set it free. - virgin is a young woman of heroic stature holding the unnaturally smaller, lifeless body of her grown son. -inconsistencies of scale and age is forgotten, however, when contemplating the sweetness of expression, technical virtousity of the carving, and smooth interplay of the forms. -his compelling vision of beauty was mean to be seen up close so that viewer can look directly into jesus's face.