Art History - Quiz 1

Byzantine

Medieval art influenced by the Byzantine Empire; Christian devotional art typically featuring gold backgrounds, flattened space, abstract 2D subjects, and sharp contours

Altarpiece

A large, religious artwork decorating the altar of a Christian church

Diptych/triptych/polyptych

Usually an altarpiece consisting of 2, 3, or multiple panels joined together by hinges

Humanism

A system of thought inspired by Ancient Greece and Rome that praised humanity’s capacity to achieve greatness through knowledge and free will

Naturalism

Depicting a subject, like the human figure, so that it resembles how we see that subject in the real world

Foreshortening

A technique that creates the illusion that an object is receding or projecting into space

Chiaroscuro

A technique which contrasts light and dark colors to suggest depth or volume

Patron

An individual who commissions work from and financially supports an artist

Duccio, Maestà, . 1285 (late medieval)

• Work made as thank you to Virgin Mary for helping Siena win battle

• Miracle-making artwork

• Figures slightly more realistic - Virgin still large, gold background

• Lapis lazuli - expensive - expensive materials show wealth/power of Siena

Duccio, Siena Cathedral Maestà, 1308-11 (late medieval)

• Break away from Byzantine styles - creates space (foreshortening)

• Bodies a little more realistic, volume in fabric, sense of depth

Cimabue, Maestà, 1306-10 (late medieval)

Giotto, Maestà, 1306-10 (late medieval)

• experiments with space, overlapping features, not everyone’s full face is visible (more realistic), recession of steps to throne, detail (marble)

• Faces turning to look at Virgin Mary (thinking about what real people would do)

• More human, worldly body of Mary in this one (highlights to indicate her breast - humanism)

Giotto, Kiss of Judas in the Arena Chapel, 1305 (late medieval)

• Also called Betrayal of Christ

• Less central grouping (more bodies), torches pointing to focal point, emotion, use of chiaroscuro, foreshortening (in people’s feet)

Giotto, Lamentation in the Arena Chapel, 1305 (late medieval)

• More playful with colors, theatrical, facial expressions, active narrative, humanizing to Virgin Mary, angels have emotion

• Depicting Christ as dead - humanizes him

• Use of line - leading viewers eyes to Mary + Christ

Line

Used to define shapes and figures, but also to indicate motion, emotion, and other elements; can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or curvilinear

Shape

A property of a 2-D form; can be geometric or organic

Form

A 3-D shape or the illusion of dimensionality; can also be geometric or organic

Space

How an artist creates depth on the picture plane; often created through perspective

Color

Used to mimic reality, create atmosphere, highlight importance, or symbolize something else

Facture

The character or quality of the artists’s brush/pencil stroke or sculptural style; how an artist handles materials

Takeaways from Sep. 5

1. Siena and Florence were rival cities with differing approaches to depiction

2. Sienese artists, like Duccio, clung to Byzantine styles because they aspired to make Christian devotional art with a civic function (religious art that protected Siena)

3. Florentine artists, like Giotto, introduced naturalism and realistic space into their works in response to new ideas about humanism.

Classical antiquity

Ancient period in Greek and Roman history

Lorenzo Ghiberti Sacrifice of Isaac - 1401 - Gilded bronze

• Abraham slaughters Isaac to appease God but God says no stop don’t do it

• Bodies are frontally facing viewers - Ghiberti won competition against Brunelleschi

Gilded

A panel painting or sculpture that is covered in thin, flattened sheets of pure gold leaf

Relief

In sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background. (two types of relief)

Linear perspective

A way to depict 3D space on a 2D plane that was invented in Florence in the early 15th century

Drawing method that shows the recession of space; things get smaller as they get further away and converge toward a single “vanishing point” on the horizon line

Massaccio, Holy Trinity - 1425-1428 fresco in the church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

• Used one-point or linear perspective

• Used diagonal lines to converge where viewers would be kneeling so it looks realistic looking up at Christ

Fresco

A method of painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet lime plaster on a wall or ceiling (two types of fresco)

Giornata

From the Italian, “a day’s work”; the section of a fresco that is completed in a single day

Masaccio, Tribute Money - 1425-1426 in the church of Santa Maria de Carmine

• in church in Florence - Roman tax collectors told Jesus to pay - Jesus told Peter to open a fish’s mouth for money

• Masaccio put all 3 scenes in the same picture

• Used linear perspective - all diagonal lines converse onto Jesus

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus - 1485-1486

• Venus rising from Ocean, modeled after the “Medici Venus” so similar body position - took Christian subject matter and transformed into mythological

• Goddess of love, idealism, celebration of beauty, humanism

Donatello, David - 1440

• Commissioned from Medici’s; depicts image of David + Goliath from Bible - David defends his people from Goliath with slingshot and stone

• David becomes symbol of Florence

• sassy, naturalistic, nude to equate to Greek God (shows his power because he is nude), early work of homoerotic art

Contrapposto

Placing one’s weight on one foot, allowing opposite hip to rise; creates a relaxed curve to the body

Takeaways from Tuesday Sep 10

• While Florence was the birthplace of the Italian Renassance art, art theory, and literature, the “Renaissance” was a global phenomenon

• Artists and authors alike turned to art and texts from Classical Antiquity as inspiration. They used the classical past as a template to redesign and reimagine their Christian present

• One-point or linear perspective was invented during the Renaissance, but it was not the only way to depict space (think Sienese art)

Northern Europe

A term referring to modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France, and Germany

Northern Renaissance

A period of artistic innovation beginning in the 15th century, influenced by Protestantism, the development of a middle class, trade, and exploration/colonialism

Oil painting

Form of painting that uses pigment suspended in oil (not water or egg white); easier to manipulate, creates more vibrant colors

Realism

Depicting subjects faithfully, accurately, and in great detail without idealizing them

Secular

Not religious; refers to images that depict scenes from everyday life or non-religious figures

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

• Dress tailored for pregnancy - green symbolizes fertility - hope that women will be pregnant

• Secular imagery

• Orange symbolizes wealth, dog shows loyalty

Merchant

Someone who works as a trader of foreign commodities

Symbolism

Giving a real-world object an abstract meaning; x symbolizes y.

Heironymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490-1500

• 3 scenes, Garden of Eden, Garden of Earthly Delights, Hell

• Work intended as a reminder of where sin gets you - sin now will have bad consequences later

Printmaking

The process by which image or text is transferred from a “matrix” to a “support”, usually paper. Allows for multiple exact copies.

Durer, The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse, 1498

• Depicting scenes from New Testament as world is ending

• Woodcut image

• Representations of death, famine, war, and plague

Durer, Melancolia, 1514

• Depicts his own emotional state

• Our body was controlled by four humors - excess of black bile causes melancholy

• People who were melancholic were likely to go insane (but could also be geniuses)

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious reform movement centered in Northern Europe; denounced the Catholic Church’s corruption and idolatry.

Theodore de Bry, Christopher Columbus arrives in America, 1594

• Shows importance of bringing Christianity to the new world

• Created works to show that the Natives needed “saving” and help to justify colonizing America

• Prints were widespread