Art

WELCOME TO ON-LINE ART HISTORY 2

WEEKLY NOTES - August 31, 2005

YOU MADE IT!!!

Please keep in mind that if you have difficulty with any of the course materials, you should contact your study group first. If you can't reach a solution among you, then please don't hesitate to contact me. I will do everything I can to remedy the situation, if at all possible. Remember, notes will be posted each and every Wednesday. The notes will be available through the following Tuesday. You should read through the notes and familiarize yourselves with the information contained therein. Make sure you can identify the noted images and that the concepts discussed are clear. For those of you who are concerned about your writing style regarding your projects, these websites might be of use to you:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/about.html

www.mhhe.com/socscience/art/write.htm

They will help you address the issues of writing about art. Now, let's get busy...

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE EARLY RENAISSANCE

Humanism - a new way of thinking based on the revival of the Ancient Greek maxim "Man is the measure of all things." We are coming out of the period identified as the Middle Ages. During that time, the primary preoccupation was with religion, especially Christianity. The Renaissance (which means rebirth) was an attempt at integrating individual progress and concerns into their Christian life. Religion does not disappear during the early Renaissance... it simply becomes somewhat less central. What is being reborn is an interest in classical antiquity.

Florence Baptistery Doors - competition was great but to receive this commission could make an artist's career. Here, the church serves as art patron (meaning they foot the bill!) Before long, individuals become art patrons and the whole art game changes!

IMAGE: Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-02

IMAGE: Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-02

Compare these two images and note the distinctions, rather than the similarities! Ghiberti is ultimately awarded the commission. Can you see how his is a superior work? Look, for example, at the angels. Remember, the rules of perspective were just being defined so, subtle changes made a world of difference to the Renaissance viewers. Also, notice how Brunelleschi's angel physically touches Abraham? This doesn't work with the new Renaissance interest in realism!

Brunelleschi & Architecture - Although he lost to Ghiberti above, Brunelleschi went to study Ancient Roman architecture. Soon, he abandoned sculpture and was receiving architectural commissions of his own! As a matter of fact, he was heralded for solving a major problem at Florence Cathedral... the dome!

IMAGE: Florence Cathedral (dome), c.1294-1446

WEBSITE: http://gallery.euroweb.hu/database/churches/duomo.html

Lines of Vision - pay special attention to the information contained in this section! It was during the Renaissance that artists began to understand how to represent 3-dimensional images on a flat 2-dimensional surface. Linear Perspective & Vanishing Points were key in developing these theories.

IMAGE: Mantegna, Dead Christ, c.1500 (a.k.a. Foreshortened Christ)

IMAGE: Ghiberti, Meeting of Solomon & Sheba, Florence Baptistery, 1450-52

WEBSITE: http://www2.evansville.edu/studiochalkboard/lp-intro.html

Fifteenth Century Painting - you can almost see these artists thinking. Their works are so formulated and controlled that they often seem stiff and unnatural.

IMAGE: Masaccio, Holy Trinity, c.1425

Notice the patrons (donors) kneeling piously just outside of the sacred space in the painting? This is one way the artist would show thanks to their patrons. (Today, we usually name buildings after our patrons!)

IMAGE: Masaccio, Tribute Money Fresco, Brancacci Chapel, c.1425

Masaccio was one of the first to address narrative art. Narrative art occurs when an artist includes a visual representation of a story with a clear beginning, middle, & end. In order to show the beginning, middle, and end of the Tribute Money story, Masaccio had to break some of the rules of realism. (Note how the tax collector is shown twice and St Peter is shown three times?)

A Distant Haze (atmospheric perspective) - another way to extend the illusion of reality. Things at a distance appear less clear. This is an actual phenomenon that you can observe but this is the first time artists began using it in their work.

Early Fifteenth-Century Sculpture - Donatello revives making life-size figurative nudes, which had been lost since antiquity (Ancient Rome.)

IMAGE: Donatello, David, c.1430-40

(Is the homoeroticism in this work obvious to you? The author of our text certainly thinks so!)

Equestrian Portraits - another artistic form revived from Ancient Rome! It was as if the Middle Ages were bypassed artistically and much of what was happening in Ancient period was continued and/or renewed in the Renaissance.

Oil Painting - everybody thinks oil paint has been around forever. It was developed here, in the Renaissance. It is composed of tiny pigments of color suspended in slow-drying oils. (Walnut oil, poppy oil, motor oil, etc... okay, maybe not motor oil. I was just seeing if you were paying attention!) Oil paint has an inherent luminosity and richness that other painting media do not allow.

Andrea Mantegna's Illusionism - notice how he pushes the limits for spatial representation? Mantegna is a definitive master of the technique. (...and one of my favorites!)

IMAGE: Mantegna, ceiling oculus, Ducal Palace, 1474

Botticelli's Mythological Subject Matter - mythological subjects had been lost through the Middle Ages and were now revived by the master painter.

IMAGE: Botticelli,