Going for Baroque-- class Sep 21

Let's see if we can pick up the pace and cover the Sistine Chapel, Titian's Venus of Urbino, and Botticelli's Birth of Venus,  plus begin to dive in on all 6 the key works for today -- it's too much for today, but it may be that we are all in the mood to cover more quickly than we were Thursday the 17th!! 

It's too much, and if we dive too deeply into some key works I will cut the others from your 'to do' list. 

Transition comparison and contrast-- Renaissance to Baroque: 

Left: Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch, 1505–6, oil on panel, 42 x 30 " Uffizi, Florence; right: Peter Paul Rubens, Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 1626, oil on panel, 16 feet  x 12'cm, High Altar of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium

Baroque: first truly global style. As a result of colonization, the spread of Catholicism, and trade, materials, objects, and artists moved across distant geographies yet were more interconnected than ever before.... yes, but

Baroque A style characterized by realism, dramatic light/dark contrast, and complex compositions. It affects the emotions and activates the viewer’s space.

    Traits: drama, movement, energy, complexity, return to the horror vacui / “ornamental fervor.” recognizable in Byzantine art

Baroque: 17th and much of the 18th centuries in a broad range of geographies across the globe

(barrôco in Portuguese, barrueca in Spanish) describing a specific type of irregular pearl: in other words, a natural but artificial-looking, precious but misshapen object.

17th century fascination with science and discovery led to many varied 'advances' -- maybe rapid transformations is a more helpful term-- in painting in particular. Emphasis on close observation. and new tools to enhance that capacity-- lenses and cameras, for example-- changed the kinds of realism that painters sought. 

"Musei Wormiani Historia", the frontispiece from the Museum Wormianum depicting Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities

A corner of a cabinet, painted by Frans II Francken in 1636, reveals the range of connoisseurship of a Baroque-era virtuoso.

Other terms: 

Genre, genre painting, portrait, still-life, history painting, chiaroscuro, tenebrism, theatricality, cabinet of curiosities (wunderkammer)

Week 4

6 Additional Key Works for Monday, 9/21–just begin to sketch notes on these; I understand that they  may not be complete in your notebook All key works are discussed in the reading for Monday which is here.  

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, Las Meninas, c. 1656, oil on canvas, 125 1/4 x 108 5/8″ genres: portrait, genre, still life, history painting, Order of Santiago

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620–21, oil on canvas, 162.5 x 199 cm

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622–25

(just a preview! we will discuss this on Monday the 28th together with Caravaggio!)
Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance, 1664, oil on canvas, 42.5 cm × 38 cm
Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Chinese Bowl, Nautilus Cup and Other Objects, 1662, oil on canvas. 79.4 x 67.3 cmRembrandt, Self-portrait of the artist in his Studio, c. 1629, oil on canvas,  (9.8 in × 12.5 in) 

Velasquez's painting is 10' tall. Rembrandt's is 1' tall

Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1633, oil on canvas, 74.6 x 65.1 cm

Source-- more great images

 

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647–52 (Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome)

Saint Teresa was born a Spanish Aristocrat She experienced spiritual visions, which she described in detail in her  autobiography The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus.  She became a religious reformer and founded the Discalced Carmelites order. 

Venetian Cardinal Federico Cornaro (1579–1653) commissioned the sculpture in the burial chapel of church home of an order of Discalced Carmelites. 

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa depicts the vision where her heart was pierced with an arrow by an angel with an arrow. She wrote that she saw an angel close by her on her left side, in bodily form. “He was not large, but small of stature, and most beautiful–his face burning, as if he were one of the highest angels, who seem to be all of fire; they must be those whom we call cherubim."  

“I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.”  

The sculpture exists today as a beloved and despised emblem of the Baroque era. 

Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross, from Saint Walburga, 1610, oil on wood, center panel: 15′ 1-7/8″ x 11′ 1-1/2″ (now in Antwerp Cathedral)

Incan Potato Varieties

Basilica of Saint John of God in Granada was built in the mid-1700s (1737-1759) during the height of the Spanish Baroque period

Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew, 1599–1600

Left: Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1598–99, oil on canvas,  Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620–21, oil on canvas, 

Cabinet of Curiosities-- and The Fig as an Example toward Theme Research Presentations

curiosity

pretty

dreams

power dynamics/politics

postmodernism

mythology, nature and how elements can have personality

how gods' traits developed

portraits/self-portraits

sacred/mystical and how it can divide or unite

soulhood

fake/realism/illusionism and the few marks needed to make something appear real, perspective

Architecture?

Vis ARt in relationship to interior design and architecture

Color- use of color

Greek & Roman Art

religious iconography

AI/tech

street art, esp. during wartime

 

Ficus carica, or, llustrating your Theme Assignment with a fruit that happened to come up on day 1. 

Trew, C.J., Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini, in hortis curiosorum nutrit, vol. 8: t. 73 (1771), drawing by G.D. Ehret Source: wikipedia. Art or not art? 

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Clara Peeters, Mesa, Flemish, 1611 (seventeenth century still life), oil on panel, ~ 20" x 29"

I was well aware that the fig appeared in a lot of mediterranean art, and had loved on some flemish still lives with dried figs.... which offers some clues into trade, wealth, diet, desire, and representation (and probably much more that I need to think about and research. 

Yesterday gave me a first glimpse at the Fig's fruit as a theme in art history that can help me understand an element of cultural significance. 

Nebamun’s garden, Tomb-chapel of Nebamun, c.1350 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty, paint on plaster, 64 cm high, Thebes, Egypt © Trustees of the British Museum

Ishtar took the form of the divine fig tree

Figs are often linked with female sexuality

Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment under a Ficus religiosa, 

Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment (bodhi) after meditating underneath a Ficus religiosa, which produces small purple fruit, and has significance in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism

In Islam

Sura 95, "the Fig" in the Qur'an, opens with an oath on the fig, 

"In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.

By the fig and the olive.

 And Mount Sinai.

And this safe land.

We created man in the best design.

 Then reduced him to the lowest of the low.

 Except those who believe and do righteous deeds; for them is a reward without end.

So why do you still reject the religion?

Is God not the Wisest of the wise?

In Judaism and Christianity, well, what did Eve and Adam do to after eating from the tree of knowledge (which some figure as a fig) We could go on at length here.... figs in Christian art.... what do you know or can you guess?

Artist unknown, "The Monkey Escapes to the Safety of the Fig Tree", illustration from a book of fables,  Kalila wa Dimna, traced to a late medieval Islamic kingdom in India, the Sultanate Gudjarat. 

Hildegard of Bingen freely prescribes figs for the infirm, but restricts their consumption by the healthy. The warning she appends to her discussion may derive from the fig’s association with temptation and sin in the Christian Middle Ages:

The fruit of this tree is not good for a person who is physically healthy to eat, since it affords him pleasure and gives him a swelled mind. He will seek honors and tend toward greed, and will have changeable morals, so that he does not remain in one state of mind. . . . It irritates his humors to evil, as if it were their enemy. . . . If a healthy person wishes to eat it, he should first soak it in wine or vinegar, so that its inconstancy is tempered. He should then eat it, but in moderation. (Physica, XIV)

(For more information on Hildegard of Bingen and Physica, see “Mutter Natur,” October 10, 2010.)

Peter Paul Rubens, Romulus and Remus, (whom farmers found under a fig tree), 1615-1616, oil on canvas, (83 in × 83 in) Location Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome

Pierre Bonnard, Plate of Figs, ~1923

Albert Kechyan, Figs, 2019

 

The Renaissance in Italy, An Introduction

 Italian and Northern Renaissance HW. 

1st-- classwork will probably run a little bit behind homeowkr until week 5, because we spend so much time on Art Historical Methods early on. We will catch up with ourselves and the syllabus! 

Thusday, Sept 10 we will start with discussion on the two major Key Works from the Kingdom of Benin-- the Ivory Mask of an Iyoba and the so-called Benin Bronzes.  I'd like you to think about how the multiple contexts (so far) for the bronzes add to and shift their meanings. 

1. Hung in chronological sequence in the the courtyard of the palace of the Oba (the King)
2. Removed from the courtyard and preserved inside that palace by later rulers
3. Distributed to global museums-- mainly the British Museum -- after the punitive looting of the palace in 1897 by British armed forces

Above, visitors consider some of the "Benin Bronzes" in the British Museum. Parts of this collection can also be seen all over the world, which is very important to what they have come to symbolize.
Where  can they be seen? In Nigeria objects from the Kingdom of Benin are housed in the collections of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM)(Opens in new window), and some are displayed in the national museums in Benin City, Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna and Jos. However, the majority of the objects are in institutions around the world with the British Museum and the Ethnologisches Museum(Opens in new window), Berlin, having the largest collections. The following European and UK museums also have important collections, some of which have now been legally transferred to Nigerian ownership, though most remain physically in Europe: Weltmuseum(Opens in new window), Vienna, Austria; Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,(Opens in new window) Cambridge, UK; Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum(Opens in new window), Köln, Germany; Museum für Völkerkunde(Opens in new window), Dresden, Germany; Museum am Rothenbaum(Opens in new window), Hamburg, Germany; GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig(Opens in new window), Leipzig, Germany; Linden-Museum(Opens in new window), Stuttgart, Germany; Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen(Opens in new window), Netherlands; Pitt Rivers Museum(Opens in new window), Oxford, UK; National Museums Scotland(Opens in new window), UK; Statens museer för världskultur(Opens in new window), Stockholm, Sweden. In the USA there are significant collections in Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington and Philadelphia. (from the British Museum website)

The Art and Artists of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1700

Next-- we dive into the Italian Rennaissance. It's impossible to know too much about this time because that time and place established: 

1. what art history is

   

   Jacopo Zucci, Portrait of Giorgio Vasari, ~1572

   Vasari was the author of the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the methodological and ideological foundation of much of Western and even global art-historical writing
   
   
2. the definitions of art, artists, modernism, and illusionism that we impact global art history today,
3. classical compositional forms, which define the ways people study in conservatories,
4. the foundations of how we look at and talk about painting, sculpture, and architecture, 
5. a set of works and ideas that govern many people's definition of excellence today, and more. 

Three introductory essays that will set up our discussion of Renaissance Art in Italy 

You might consider reading straight through them for the 10th, then go back to skim aspects parts you want to remember in preparation for the 14th and 17th. 

A Primer for Italian Renaissance Art

Art of the Italian Renaissance Republics

Art of the Italian Renaissance Sovereign States

Important terms definitions: 

Renaissance: a period of re-awakening in history, with the 14th-17th European Renaissance being a uniquely self-aware reinstitution of Greek and Roman arts, literature, and aesthetics emerging in Italy and spreading a studia humanitatis aimed at teaching the ethics and values that they believed would lead to a virtuous, active, civic life, work, and system of governance. 

Renaissance Humanism: the educational, intellectual and more rarely spiritual program of the Renaissance Humanists believe in the value of classical learning and of individual humanity. 

Patron

Connoisseur(ship)

Key Concepts regarding the Renaissance

Who: Humanists: 

• turn to the scientific method when seeking understanding of how the earth and universe work
• make decisions based on reason and concern for humanity
• believe in the inherent value of humanity. 

Artist/Artisan/Craftsperson

In Europe, until the time of the Renaissance, a career making visual art cast the makers in a lower class than, for example, poets, musicians, scientists, philosophers as well as the merchants and leisured aristocrats; art-makers made things with their hands, rather than their minds or pocketbooks, and thus were craftspeople.  Our colleagues in D&P, say, in scene painting, might really understand this-- as surely do some parts of filmmaking. 

 

Giovanni Bellini, San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505, oil on wood transferred to canvas, 16 feet 5–1/2 inches x 7 feet 9 inches

The definition of art as separate, and of artists as thinkers, innovators, even creative geniuses, came about in part because of some potent lobbying on the part of folks like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as well as Alberti and Vasari who recorded their histories. 

What? painting, sculpture, architecture- 

     many artists did all three

    what's missing from this list? 

iconography- religious, secular (new genres, classical subjects, contemporary subjects) 

style

interpretation

When

1. 600 B.C.E.–400 C.E. Ancient Greece and Rome (also known as the classical past or classical antiquity, this 1,000 year span of time is itself broken by historians and art historians into smaller designations, such as archaic, high classical, hellenistic, etc.)
2. 400–c. 1400 the Middle Ages (c. 1200–1400 is often called the Late Middle Ages)
3. 1400–1600 the Renaissance

Where? Western Europe

TRANSITIONS

Byzantine in Ravenna

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th C. Byzantine or late Antique

Ravenna, Basilica of San Vitale, apse vault, mosaic of Christ Pantokrator, Saint Vitalis of Milan, Bishop Ecclesius, and two angels (completed 547)  Byzantine Period

Ravenna, Basilica of San Vitale, apse vault, mosaic of Christ Pantokrator, Saint Vitalis of Milan, Bishop Ecclesius, and two angels (completed 547) 

Byzantine Period

The Hospitality of Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac

Byzantine Period

Ceiling mosaic above the presbytery with the Lamb of God in its centre. source. 

Many formal values that-- whether we want them to or not-- govern the ways we look at art in the US emerged in the European Renaissance, and prove tricky to escape! For example, "Linear perspective, volumetric figures rendered with anatomical precision, emotionally charged expression, and visual naturalism are formal elements popularized in the Renaissance. This was especially true of art in Italy where ancient Roman art demonstrating many of these traits was abundant (such as Roman relief sculpture and architecture)." Smarthistory We are so familiar with these capacities defining what makes good art that it can be difficult to pick up different measuring sticks. Is this still true? 

Qualities of Byzantine Art: brick or stone exteriors; Glittering, complicated, detailed, ornamental, fantastic, organic Interiors. 

Qualities of Renaissance Art: Restraint, unity, balance, proportionality, illusionism, harmony, individuality, humanity

Donato Bramante, Tempietto, c. 1502, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome

Giotto-- Scrovegni Chapel, Arena Chapel

The Scrovegni Chapel  also known as the Arena Chapel, is a small church in Padua, Northern Italy, commissioned by wealthy banker Ernesto Scrovegni in early 1300's proto-Renaissance

'

View towards the Apse and Altar, Scrovegni Chapel, frescos by Giotto. 

proto-Renaissance

'

Scrovegni Chapel, detail illustrating some of the 3-register frescos by Giotto di Bondone; top register showing The Life of the Virgin Mary, middle: Life of Christ; bottom: Passion (or the series leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ) and the 7 virtures. The total wall sequence is 38 fresco panels; the chapel interior is 68.5 ft long, 27.6 ft wide, and 41.5 ft high

vocab: 

• fresco, 
• register, 
• Giotto, 
• Renaissance naming traditions; 
• image naming standards (Artist or Author, Title, date, period, possibly location and materials)
• Byzantine, 
• proto-Renaissance, Renaissance in European Art History, 
• Linear perspective, 
• volumetric figures rendered with anatomical precision, 
• emotionally charged expression, and 
• visual naturalism
• Renaissance generally, 
• features of modern art already visible in European art, leading to it often being known as the beginning of the 'Early Modern Period' in global art history

Vasari, author of "Lives of the Artists", relates that when the Pope sent a messenger to Giotto, asking him to send a drawing to demonstrate his skill, Giotto drew a red circle so perfect that it seemed as though it was drawn using a pair of compasses and instructed the messenger to send it to the Pope. The messenger departed ill pleased, believing that he had been made a fool of. The messenger brought other artists' drawings back to the Pope in addition to Giotto's. When the messenger related how he had made the circle without moving his arm and without the aid of compasses the Pope and his courtiers were amazed at how Giotto's skill greatly surpassed all of his contemporaries

9 ⁄ 75 More details Padua: Scrovegni Chapel. Giotto frescoes in 38 panels with stories of Mary and Christ. 1, Expulsion of Joachim from the temple; 2, St. Joachim shelters among the shepherds; 3, The angel announces to St. Anne that she will be a mother; 4, The angel announces to St. Joachim, the sacrificant, that his prayer will be answered (the composition repeats, placed outdoors with a shepherd replacing the maid); 5, St. Joachim's dream; 6, Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem; 7, Nativity of Mary; 8, Presentation of Mary at the temple; 9, Delivery of rods to St. Simeon; 10, Prayer for the flowering of the rods; 11, Marriage of Mary; 12, Wedding procession of Mary; 13, God the Father entrusts the Annunciation to Mary to the Archangel Gabriel; 14, Annunciation; 15, Visitation; 16, Nativity of Jesus; 17, Adoration of the Magi; 18, Presentation of Jesus at the temple (on the left, Fanuel's daughter with prophecy scroll); 19, Flight into Egypt; 20, Massacre of the Innocents; 21, Jesus among the doctors; 22, Baptism of Jesus; 23, Wedding at Cana; 24, Resurrection of Lazarus; 25, Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; 26, Expulsion of merchants from the temple; 27, Judas receives the price of betrayal; 28, Last Supper; 29, Washing of the feet; 30, Judas kiss; 31, Jesus before Caiaphas; 32, Coronation with thorns; 33, Ascent to Calvary; 34, Crucifixion; 35, Deposition; 36, Resurrection; 37, Ascension; 38, Pentecost. In Guida Rossa Veneto Touring Club Italiano

Giotto di Bondone,  Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1305, fresco,  Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy

Giotto di Bondone,  Joachim among the Shepherds, 1305, fresco,  Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy 

Giotto di Bondone,  Crucifixion, 1305, fresco,  Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy

Betsy Giotto

Aiden Ghiberti

Sam Perugino

Bella Botticelli

Mercy Leonardo; Mercy Michelangelo

Akarsh Donatello & Michelangelo

Sam Raphael 

Betsy Sistine Chapel

Kaitlin  Raphael Galatea and popes

Betsy: Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel frescos Annunciation and Lamentation; Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling1508-1512

Betsy: Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel frescos Annunciation and Lamentation; Michelangelo, Sisting Chapel Ceiling

Aidan Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise Links to an external site., 1425-1452  (Aidan you just get one work because it has so many elements to consider it should count as several! (web gallery of art- alternative readingLinks to an external site.) 

Sam Raphael, School of Athens Links to an external site. 1509-1511 and hereLinks to an external site.& Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. PeterLinks to an external site.: (web gallery of artLinks to an external site.- alternative reading) 1481-2

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (c. 1484–1486). Tempera on canvas. 

 (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Uffizi, Florence

 

Bella Botticelli, Birth of Venus Links to an external site. 1480's or hereLinks to an external site. & 

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1534 oil on canvas

Titian, Venus of Urbino

Links to an external site. or hereLinks to an external site.1534 

Mercy, Leonardo, Links to an external site.Madonna of the RocksLinks to an external site.  ~ 1490 or hereLinks to an external site. & Michelangelo, Links to an external site.PietaLinks to an external site. 1490's or hereLinks to an external site.

Akarsh Donatello, David Links to an external site. 1440's or hereLinks to an external site. & Michelangelo, David Links to an external site. or hereLinks to an external site.1501-4

Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo II, 1511

 

Raphael, Portrait of Pope Leo X, 1518-1520

Kaitlin  Raphael, Links to an external site.Galatea Links to an external site. or hereLinks to an external site. 1512 & RaphaelLinks to an external site., portraits of pope leo Links to an external site.x or hereLinks to an external site. and pope julius IILinks to an external site. or hereLinks to an external site.

Raphael, School of Athens, fresco, 1509–11 (Stanza della Segnatura, Papal Palace, Vatican; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Michelangelo, Self Portrait as Heraclitus (the classical philosopher), 1508-12

Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508–12, fresco (Vatican City, Rome) 

Chapel Prior to painted ceiling. Google Maps Sistine Ceiling. 

The Sistine chapel is 68' high,134 feet long and 44 feet wide.  
 .    Here are some fun facts, collected by Tanya Möderscheim. 

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508–12, fresco 

Michelangelo, Libyan Sibyl, c. 1511, fresco, part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling (Vatican Museums

Michelangelo, Temptation and Expulsion, 1508-1512, sistine chapel ceiling.