love and sexuality

fresco of disputa

Name of the Artist: Raphael 

Title of the work: Fresco of the Disputa 

Approximate date: 1512

Patron (if known): Julius II 

Original or current location: Stanza Della Segnatura in the vatican (library)

ormal and contextual analysis: 

(Historical and cultural context, patronage and intended function, iconography and subject matter, stylistic features and visual language, relevant conceptual insights derived from lectures and readings)

• Raphael painted 4 allegories that represent the main fields of study in renaissance 

• By looking at the wall you would know where the books are as the painting is located in the study room of the pope 

• This is the wall of theology 

• The protagonist is God (the father)

• Underneath him is Christ (his son) and the holy ghost 

  • The holy trinity 

• Immediately below is an instrument made of gold that is supposed to represent the body of Christ 

• Other figures are present → the virgin mary, moses, st peter and four angels holding the gospels 

• Immediately below them are those who expanded the biblical structures (theologians) and can identity them by looking at the name over their heads 

  • Asserting the monotheistic religion is the truth 

• Christ is standing on the clouds and the sun rays illuminate with gold 

  • The angels looks like they are moving toward the audience

  • Christ is standing with open arms looking forward as if this is given truth 

school of athens

Name of the Artist: Raphael 

Title of the work: Schools of Athens 

Approximate date: 1512

Patron (if known): Julius II 

Original or current location: Stanza Della Segnatura 

Formal and contextual analysis: 

(Historical and cultural context, patronage and intended function, iconography and subject matter, stylistic features and visual language, relevant conceptual insights derived from lectures and readings)

• Protagonists 

  • Plato (left); Aristotle (right) 

  • Plato is pointing up (transcental) and aristotle is pointing down/forward (scientific) 

• This is the way early modern christian represented them 

• Platonic philosophy → about the ideal, archetype 

  • Idea of beauty 

  • Idea of love 

• Plato is viewed to have prepared the path for christianity and invited the coming of christ 

• The renaissance mind was saving plato 

• Aristotle is reminding to stay down to earth 

  • The renaissance is not only reviving them but reconciling them 

    • The renaissance reinjected ideas of plato and aristotle back into the world? 

• Raphael included himself 

• Michelangelo is in the shape of one of the people in the sistine chapel

• Antiquity vs christianity

  • Christ is waiting for plato and aristotle the way philosophy is incorporated in christian society 

  • The painting of theology and philosophy are interconnected 

• Early modern period 
  

sistine cieling the creaiton of adam, the creation of eve, the original sin and expulsion

artist: michelangelo Date: 1508-12

Patron: Pope Julisus the Second

Original or current location: Sistine Chapel in Rome

9 narrairves
Mike was a young man and in his early 30’s 

-orginally he rejected the offer because he is not a painter (only did one painting before)

-but the Pope was insistent and confiscated his documents so he couldn’t go back to Florence (his hometown)

-which is why he completed this in only 4 years 

-he suffered a lot because he had to wait long times for materials for paint such as blue, paper was also not that easy to get and worked with candles at night where he almost went blind because drops of color would enter his eyes

COA: god left hand embrassing women an baby (jesus and mary new adam and eve), christ looking outside , looks like human brain

COE: adam in lethargic stance embrassing dead tree (jesus’ cross)

Origina sin +expulsion: sexual arosal eve + head

contropposto

Contrapposto (Italian pronunciation: [kontrapˈposto] 'counterpoise'), in the visual arts, is a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane”

-Eve screaming and covering herself in shame: Adam is also covering his consciousness in shame genitals are shown ostentatiously is to represent how sin is going to spread around humanity through procreation: OSTENTATIOUSLY: in a pretentious or showy way designed to impress

-Adam and Eve have aged and they are embarrassed, covering themselves with fig leaves

- Since their genitals betray their will, Adam and Eve learn what betrayal is about 

-Lapius (fall), pre-lapisian (before the OG sin) and post-lapisian (after the OG sin)

annuciation

Name of the artist: Fra Angelico

Title of the work: Annunciation 

Approximate date: 1449

Patron (if known)

Original or current location: setting in Palestine? 

Formal and contextual analysis, including:

Historical and cultural context:

-The Arch Angel Gabriel visits a virgin reading the bible and during that visit he told her she was going to conceive the son of god, Christ

Patronage and intended function:

Iconography and subject matter:

Stylistic features and visual language:

-Holy ghost and the hands of God in the form of a dove

-Mary conceiving Christ in her womb and Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden (long period of time in between but one is related to the other) - Mary is the new Eve conceiving the new Adam 

-God is called the word, and the word is turning flesh in Mary’s womb 

-Eve was instructed by the Devil and Mary is being instructed by angel but it is the word always that is activated- with Adam and Eve in the background being expelled this conceptually shows the start of salvation 

-God is looking down and the words coming out of Mary’s mouth are reversed because they are being seen by God - it's about words written in gold 

-Adam and Eve are fully dressed cause this is in an older people and nude was not acceptable anymore

annunciation ear

Filippo Lippi

Title: Annunciation 

Date: 1450The annunciation is happening through the ear: holy ghost is speaking to Mary directly through the ear: this is resemblance of how the conception of Christ was discussed (she remained a virgin cause she conceived of Christ by listening)

• ^^ the incarnation of god is the word that turns into flesh

• (sometimes the annunciation is shown in a bedroom, the place where children are conceived and yet Christ is conceived through the ear)

Annunciation bedroom

Name: Rogier Van der Weyden

Title: Annunciation 

Date: 1455Historical and cultural context:

-vists the virgin mary in her bedroom (an intimate space)

-the book the virgin mary is holding is bigger to show that the virgin Mary knew how to read (this was important for the time because it showed that if the Virgin Mary read than women should read and should learn) - lead to the legitimacy - to literacy 

-Her mother taught her how to read which lead wealthy women who knew how to read and write passed their knowledge to their daughters 

-becomes symbolic because she is reading the old testament as she begins the new testament 

Patronage and intended function

Iconography and subject matter:

Stylistic features and visual language:

-the bed, the curtain and how its placed is almost in a knot (an allegory of conception)- the only literature they had about conception was the rediscovery of Aristotle (compared it to the making of cheese- milk from cheese) - the enzyme turns the milk into cheese - believed that women’s blood would have transformed the seed of a man

-the holy ghost is entering through the window and almost trespassing (like an enzyme through milk, turning that milk into a substance)

annunciation outside

Name: Leonardo

Title: Annunciation 

Date: 1475Iconography and subject matter:

-the womb of the virgin is emphasized here 

annunciation 2 part

 Giovanni de Magistris 

Title: Annunciation 

Date: 1540

Patron:

Original or current location: Castello di Bracciano 

Stylistic features and visual language:

-the first word that comes out of the angels mouth is AVE and in the reverse that means EVE

-the virgin Mary is introduced with the reverse of EVE because she is the reverse of EVE

-interesting how the bedroom of the virgin Mary is actually a library 

-the closed closest is the old testament and the open one is the new testament 

-(the patrons of paintings could be a nun, that could want to empower women and other nuns)

-giving her lily which is the symbol of purity and in the process of bloom (it is the idea that the virgin Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after the conception of Christ)

 Pisa Polyptych and San Giovenale Altarpiece 

 Masaccio, Pisa Polyptych and San Giovenale Altarpiece 

Title: Pisa Polyptych and San Giovenale Altarpiece 

Date: early 15th century 

Christ in both pieces is eating (grapes, red grapes): vs. Adam eating apples: red grapes are the symbol of blood a symbol that he will redeem the gesture of Adam eating the apple 

-the body of Christ is completely naked and one of the first examples of Christ’s genitals (part of the early theology and painting)

-Eve and Adam when they eat the forbidden fruit is ingesting sin (one of the sins is also gluttony) - the gesture of eating is also similar to the gesture of blessing (ICONOGRAPHY)

tondo Doni

round painting Name: Michelangelo

Title: Tondo Doni

Date: 1503-1507

Patron: The Doni Family

-Tondo means round shape painting - commissioned as a gift for the wife when she had her first child 

-Tondo pieces are gifts usually for wives when they are pregnant- trays used to serve a women after giving birth and also used sometimes to place the child over the tray immediately after the birth (a blessing so the woman and child will survive) - these are domestic paintings bought by aristocratic families  

Patronage and intended function:

The Doni Family: Angelo Doni and Mattienla Doni

Iconography and subject matter:

-The virgin Mary in the foreground holding her son and there is an old man (maybe Joseph?) the husband of Mary but not the father of Christ 

-Jospeh is standing in a higher position of Mary and Christ (Mike always leaves room for speculation- is this really Joseph?) 

-Mary seems to be emphasizing the genitals of Christ (shows the incarnation and shows that these genitals are in a prelapsian state) (Christ unlike everyone else did not contract sin because his father was God but his mother is without the stain of procreation) 

-Mary is without the stain of procreation because her mother was sterile and she conceived of Mary when she was 60 so she was conceived by means of a miracle (divine intervention) (god was the creator)

-By showing the genitals the theological perspective is that this is a prelapsian representation of sexuality 

-Christ is playing with a pomegranate: (an apple with seeds): apple is a symbol of the tree of knowledge and the seed is the symbol of his blood 

-To show that Christ is the new Adam, that he is complete in all his parts, and his genitals have not contracted the original sin

litta madona

da vinci

Date: 1490

-breastfeeding was more public than it is today 

-you would have seen woman breastfeeding everywhere (breastfeeding adoption)- The Madonna is the human side of Christ and the human side of Christ is going to lead him to his suffering 

-this painting shows that he was breastfeed like all the other babies but at the same time when you realize that Christ is human, you reflect that he will die on the Christ (legs point to the fact that they will be crossed on the cross, Mary holding his side of the body where he was pierced- foreshadowing)

-playing with a bird (ROBIN), a robin is supposed to have a red dot, like Christ when pierced 

Circumcision

Name: Giovanni Bellini

Title: Circumcision

Date: 1500Iconography and subject matter:

-the first drop of blood, that he will accept the circumcision and he will accept the sacrifice of the original sin

-shows that he is conscious, suffering the pain of a wound

-gentials explain a lot about the theology of Christ

Adoration of Magi

Name: Gentile da Fabriano

Title: Adoration of the Magi

Date: 1423-1423: The three kings came in the 6th of January came to visit the place where Christ was born 

-Christ seems to invite the first king to look at his genitals to check that he is the son of god and that he was complete in all parts 

-The genitals of Christ are represented in a theological way (the only representation of genitals in this time period)

-Confession is an important tool in the church: the real you finds a voice to come out but in the past it was consolation cause you could be yourself in that moment

-pivotal expressions of identity of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period 

Sacra Conversazione

Raphael, Ansidei Maddona 

Title: Sacra Conversazione 

Date: 1500

-this painting is called the Holy Painting 

-Christ child and the virgin Mary 

-Saint Augustine and Saint John 

-the way a worshipper will pray in front of this painting, I will ask a saint to recommend my soul to Christ and the Virgin Mary

-they are there to converse with us 

-Christ is reading and is sitting more maturely for his age of a few months with the mother emphasizing his genitals 

-Augustine says regular babies are so imbued with sin that they cannot stand still and him standing still and standing shows a baby who is conscious and reading about his death 

-with crossed legs 

crucifixion

Giotto

1320

his is the moment that Christ is promising the possibility of salvation of the original sin

-the wound on his chest by the spear from Roman soldier St. Longinus 

-the blood descends and touches the ground in Jeresulam 

-the moment Christ’s blood touched the scalp of Adam, Adam’s sin was redeemed 

deposition

Van der Weyden

1435

skull next to a crucifixion means Adam and the pouring of the blood from the new Adam

David

michelangelo 1504

originally made for florence on top of the duomo

looking to the river the protector of florence

larger hands and head to enphasize strenght an dpower

santa cicilia

stefano maderno

1600

basilica of santa cicilia

she was decapitated and body found intact inthe catacomes

doesnt matter that we cant see the beauty of her face bc god can

her hands show 3 and 1 (3 in 1= the father, the son, and holy spirit)

Ludovica Albertoni

Bernini

Albertoni Altieri Chapel, San Francesco a Ripa, 1671

-she could not be nominated as a saint bc she was married 1520

-she was widowed and became a franciscan nun dedicated her life to the poor of treatevvere 

-she hid her moment in food 

-the family sponserd a poet to dedicate poetry to her “flights of love” 

• Christ resided in her bosom 

• Draperet that surrounds her 

• -levitating goijg towards good/ Christ 

Nuns well cultivated /could read

Primavera,

Sandro Botticelli, 1482? patron: Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Medici

intertextuality

-epithalamium: poem read on wedding day

florence city of flowers

emphasis of fertility and uterus

zephr wind god and chloris/flora spring god, venus , the 3 graces beauty, chastity and pleasure

birth of venus

boticelli:

Venus Anadyomene), 1485

first femal nude since antiquity

ideolized body—> model perpitrated throughout western world associated with lackof biologyu

venus and mars

Botticelli, Venus and Mars, 1483, Vespucci Family?

post sex

Saint Francis in Ecstasy

Bernini, Raimondi Chapel, (by Baratta), 1640

Rimonde family acquire a private chapel in Rome a Franciscan church 

Sistine chapel comodo sby sisxtus the 4th

Two windows above the alter 

Rey’s of light from either side 

Laverna is where Francis had ibis vision —> LA and SF remnents 

Out of body experience > annulled consciousness > received stigmata 

Pathology or miracle 

Subject to overwhelming God 

risen christ

Michelangelo, Two Versions of the Risen Christ, Santa Maria sopra Minerva and in San Vincenzo in Bassano Romano, c. 1520, Metello Vari

Sacred and Profane Love

Titian, e, 1514 originally for Niccolo Aureli and Laura Bagarotto

Galatea,

Raphael, Villa Farnesina, 1512

Gale tea inspired by birth of venus

Polythemus falls in love with her 

Galetea I. Love with someone else

Polythemus kills her lover bc jealous 

Considered Mona Lisa of Rome 

Rafael wrote letter to Balthazar Castile one (he invented gender norms told them how to dress)

Polyphemus,

Sebastiano del Piombo, Villa Farnesina, 1512

Polythemus red her like Key G parolee story to the rejection of his first love

Ceiling of Loggia of Love and Psyche,

School of Raphael, Villa Farnesina, 1517

Loga of Cupid and syche 

Completely open to the elements 

Iconography 

Inspired by antiquity antique text called the golden ass written by apoleus love story about Cupid and syche a mortal - tappresties of earthly scenes are lost -schye most beautiful women in earth 

Cupid wounded himself with his own arrow and he fell in love with her instead of killing her

Problem created tormpil among gods if sche can overcome trials to become god —she did it 

Love conquers all including the gods Jupiter 

Same time her married his wife who entered the society of Rome 

Cucumber being pointed at (festoons) Augustino presenting himself of a fertile man ready to elevate status 

Part of self fashioning of augustino cegee

Social mobility and metinorfesoud is possible 

Money was the shit of the devil banker had to prove their intelligence 

Voluptuous is the kid born form Cupid and syche 

Room of Alexander the Great (Alexander and Roxane)

Sodoma, , Villa Farnesina, 1518

The sack of Rome Charles the 5th mercenary soldiers from Switzerland they destroyed Rome to punish it bc they called it a curripted Babylon due to revival of antiquity

Martin Luther + general of Augustinian theologian Martin Luther split form

Rome and feared protostant ism =counterreformation 

Sodema small room based on a drawing provided by Rafael 

Alaxabder the great pictured 

Marriage between alaxabder the great and Roxanne 

Soldiers burned furniture and paintings in 1528

Elphrasis : descriptions of paintings 

Room of Illusion,

Pavement continues in painting terraces 

Metimorfisoud of Ovid 

Daphne loves Apollo but has been wounded be arrow of hate and asked to be transformed into loro Tree 🌲 Apollo became poet due to his unrequited love 

Metimorfusous ans paining based on disre

Peruzzi, , Villa Farnesina, 1518