Study Questions - Europe 1400 - 1500

1. How did the introduction of oil-based media change the way painters created their works? Who is traditionally given credit as being the first to use oil-based media?

• takes a lot more time to dry (60 - 80 years)

• need for more layers, it was more transparent

  • can do more; dont need to wait for glaze; rich colors; easier

• Jan Van Eyck is credited

2. Which work contains “the first snowscape in Western Art”?

January and Febuary

Limbourg Brothers: Tres Riches Heures

Calendar Pages

3. Describe basic engraving techniques and the use of a burin. What is “hatching” and “cross-hatching”?

• process of cutting groves in a hard surface with a hard sharp steel tool (burin)

Hatching is when the lines are very close together and cross hatiching is when they goa cross each other

4. The Medici were a powerful and influential family in Florence; in what business did they flourish?

banking and wool merchants — the leading bankers of the republic of florence

5. Why was the east door considered the prime location for competitive works on the Florence Baptistery?

The East door is the one that actually face the cathedral and thats what made it the most important,]

6. Why was canvas as a support such a “radical” idea for major artworks?

the concept of a portable painting had never been considered before— canvas can be taken from place to place easier

What was the first major work that used canvas as a support?

Botticelli: “Little Barrel”

7. Michelozzo’s Palazzo Medici-Riccardi uses several architectural techniques to show power and stability. How does he do this?

He creates a palace which is a statement, it has a rusticated bottom (symbol of wealth during this time) that is bumpy and rough but it is sturdy and smoother textures towards the top (to look taller) were techniques to show power and stability of the medici familiy. He is saying i have money and i am making a statement about it and i am important.

8. Which artist recognized the properties of air and how air affects perception of distance? In which artwork does he show this?

Masaccio

tribute money

9. Masaccio’s Holy Trinity and Robert Campin’s Merode Altarpiece were completed in the same year (1428). How do they show differences between Italy and the North?

North — microscopic realism, everyday domestic scenes, and early adoption of oil paints

Italy —- classical themes and humanism, tempera paints, commissioned by the wealthy, linear perspective and idealized human anatomy

10. What is one of the monuments found by the “Monuments Men”?

Ghent Altarpiece — Jan van Eyck

11. What did van Eyck mean by making the Arnolfini couple shoeless and including a dog?

The lack of shoes meant that it was a holy place and the dog showed fidelity and trust

12. What images/scenes are required for a Lamentation, Annunciation, Crucifixion, Deesis, and Pieta?

Lamentation — the collective, passionate grieving over Jesus’s lifeless body after he is taken down from the cross

Annunciation — the moment archangel Gabriel announces to Mary she will conceive the Son of God

Crucifixion — Jesus dying on the cross at Calvary

Deesis — must represent christ as the ultimate judge and have him central and rasing his hand in blessing

Pieta — Mary cradling the dead body of jesus

13. Which two printmakers discussed signed their works with monograms?

Master E.S ; Martin Schongauer