fine art- intro to rome

Style:

the manner in which artists express themselves

Medium:

substance an artist uses to create (what is it made of)

Painting Genres: oil based

ÒSuper slow to dry

ÒBecomes very popular in Europe in early 15^th century

ÒVery versatile

ÒCan achieve many color possibilities

ÉChiaroscuro (literally “light-dark”) the use of light and shadow to create more realistic perspective

Johann Vermeer

The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665)

                      Fresco

ÒPigments added to wet plaster

ÒDries and makes the paint part of a wall

ÒVery durable and long lasting, but little room for error

ÒCan be cleaned easily

Giotto

The Arrest of Christ
(aka The Kiss of Judas)
(1305)

“Conway Castle” (1798)

JMW Turner

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1498)

Albrecht Dürer

Photography

ÒTwo main forms:
artistic vs documentary

ÉCamera takes a photo, negative gets developed in chemicals

ÉDigital photography changes the aesthetic

ÒTests boundary of definition

ÉPhotojournalism: a pictorial record of events for antiquity

V-J Day in Times Square

Alfred Eisenstaedt
Aug 14, 1945

Ansel Adams  (1902-1984)

“Grand Tetons Driftwood” (1941)

“Monolith, the Face of Half
Dome, Yosemite Valley” (1927)
Vintage gelatin silver print

“Clearing Winter Storm,
Yosemite Valley, California”
(1944)

ÒPhotographic artist

ÒSaw photography as an interpretive art through “visualizations”

ÉNegative = musical score; print = musical performance

ÒManipulated the negative using filters, lighting, color, or chemicals

ÒWorked for the US Dept of the Interior

ÒKnown for his beautiful photos of the American wilderness

Ansel Adams  (1902-1984)

Ò“Migrant Mother”

by Dorothea Lange
(1936)

ÒDocumentary
Photography:

Frequently used to document social problems, as in photojournalism; Shows a realistic view of the world

ÒLine: point moving in space

ÒForm: shape of an object

ÒSymmetry: balancing of forms and colors

ÒFocal Points: what you notice first

Building blocks of Visual Art

Ò1. Full Round

ÒMeant to be viewed from any angle

ÒFreestanding

ÒSubjects usually people

Gravity and engineering are issues

Gian Lorenzo Bernini,

The Rape of Proserpina (1622)
Borghese Gallery, Rome

Anish Kapoor

(b. 1954) Cloud Gate (2004-2006)
Millennial Park – Chicago, IL

Ò2. Linear

Òemphasizes linear construction

ÉWire twisting

ÉMobiles

ÉNeon tubing

ÉWind chimes

Ò3. Relief

ÉA work attached to a background

É2D quality

ÉWhole scenes

ÉMeant to be viewed from one angle

ÉUsually on the outside of buildings

Bas-Relief:

remove the background

ÒGalleria Romanelli, Medusa Low Relief (2021)

Sunken Relief:

keep the backGround

ÒTemple of Hathor in Egypt

ÒStructure: system of construction

ÒSpace: the design relative to function

ÒBuilding materials: Wood, steel, stone, etc…

ÉTensile strength:
the ability of a material to withstand twisting & bending

ÉCompression strength: ability to resist crushing

ÒFaçade: skin of a building

ÒScale: size relative to human form

ÒProportion: relationship of elements

Context: the environment of a building

Architectural terms

Ò1. Post and lentil

ÉPosts must be made of strong material

ÉExample: Stonehenge, Greek Parthenon.

Frequently used in prehistoric and Classical construction

1. Post and lintel

Aka column and flat roof

Low tensile strength: ability to resist bending or gravity

 

High compression strength: ability to resist crushing

3. Cantilever:

an overhang

4. Bearing Wall:

supports itself

Greek Sculpture 

ÒPrimary artists include Polykleitos, Myron, Phidias,
     & Praxiteles

ÒEffective use of contrapposto:
  Weight is on one primary leg, more stable

ÉAffects hips and angle of chest

ÒPolykleitos wrote a treatise (“The Canon”)on the  mathematical basis for ideal proportions of sculpture.  Had the following rules:  

ÉStatues should be equivalent to 7.5 heads tall,

Éidealized features, cultural standard for beauty

Éfull round nude meant to be seen from one angle

Polykleitos,
The Lance Bearer

This is a Roman marble copy based on a bronze original likely created around 440 BCE

Note the contrapposto stance – all the weight is on one leg.

He would originally have held a lance or spear in his left hand.

May have been a depiction of Achilles.

The Pantheon

Ò(finished ~126 CE)

ÒTemple to the Roman Gods

Completed under the rule of Emperor Hadrian, it was designed by Hadrian and Apollodorus of Damascus

Arch of Constantine (315 CE)

one of the best preserved monuments of Ancient Rome

Trajan’s column

Marble column, 125 feet high, covered in low-relief sculptures
c. 106-113 CE, Trajan’s Forum, Rome

Originally, the sculptural scenes were gilded and painted, and a gilded statue of Trajan sat on top.

Roman Sculpture

ÒSimilar to Greeks with subtle differences

ÒStatues usually clothed

ÒFour main types:

ÉHistorical reliefs

ÉPortrait busts & statues
  (incl equestrian statues)

ÉCopies of Greek works

ÉFunerary reliefs

Augustus of prima porta

•Augustus Caesar – first emperor of the Roman Empire

•Statue created in the 1^st century CE, discovered in 1863

•White marble – Vatican Museums, Rome

bust of Hadrian

Portrait bust of Emperor Hadrian bust wearing a cuirass with a winged Medusa head.

 
Emperor of Rome 117–138 CE

Marble; 36” tall
Braccio Nuovo Gallery, Chiaramonti Museum,
Vatican Museums, Vatican City.

bust of Marcus Aurelius

Portrait of the Emperor as a young man – cut off under the chest and dressed in a tunic and military cloak.

These sorts of portraits were fashionable, inexpensive to produce, and much easier to move than a full statue

circa 140 CE; marble
Capitoline Museum, Rome

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, ca. 176 C.E.

Gilded bronze, now in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Stands approximately 4.24 meters tall

Roman FRESCOES

  - Frescoes decorated walls and ceilings of private homes as a display of familial wealth & status

  - Many remaining Roman frescoes were preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
  in 79 CE, which buried the region in a thick layer of pumice and ash

Roman mosaics

•Intricate mosaics made of stone, marble, and glass or ceramic tiles embedded in mortar decorated the floors and walls of many homes as a display of familial wealth and status

•Scenes could be mythological episodes, portray flora or fauna

Roman GLASS

•Glass was produced for domestic, industrial, and funerary purposes.

•

•Three main varieties of tableware - mosaic, deep monochrome, and naturally-colored translucent glass

•

•Lots of vessels, but glass beads, mosaic tiles and glass windows also produced

ÒAlmost all art is practical

ÒMOST art is religious

ÉSubject matter conveyed through symbolism

ÒLack of realism is intentional

ÉPartly lack of ability

ÉTo display symbolism

ÒWhat survives

: ÉIlluminated manuscripts

ÉSculpture

ÉMosaics 

ÉMetalwork

Stained glass

Tapestries

Few frescoes

The Medieval Period (c. 4^th-14^th Centuries)

Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels

-  contains the first line of the Gospel of Matthew

First page of the Gospel of Luke from the____________, an illuminated
manuscript created
around 700 CE in the
monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland.

Lindisfarne
Gospels

Beginning of the Gospel of Matthew from the Book of Kells

The book was created by Irish monks in the monastery of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland, about 800 CE

embroidered cloth depicting the events that led up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

Ò58 scenes, wool yarn on nine linen panels; Anglo-Saxon art made in England

Partial view of the Bayeux Tapestry:

Byzantine art

ÉByzantine Empire: The Eastern half of the Roman Empire for 1000 years after the fall of Rome

ÉEstablishing Imperial power, Roman & Greek painters, craftsman, scholars went east

ÉByzantine Iconoclasm (730-787; 814-843) two periods with ban on religious images, destruction of items – great big deal

ÒCharacteristics

ÉDerived from Greek and Egyptian styles

ÉAlmost entirely concerned with religious expression

ÉProducts include painting (mostly iconography and frescoes), architecture, mosaics, and jewelry

ÉInfluential across Eastern Europe

Byzantine Architecture

ÉEpitomized in Constantinople (now Istanbul)

ÒHagia Sofia

ÉConstruction completed in 537.  Architecture and mosaics were highly influential

ÉBuilt by order of Emperor Justinian.  Designed by Isadore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles

ÉKnown for its huge flat dome

ÉDedicated to the Wisdom of God

ÉConverted to an Islamic mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935

Romanesque Architecture

ÒRomanesque: “Roman-like” ~ 1000 – 1200 CE

Ð(influenced by the Classical world)

ÒTerm first applied to a style of architecture which used Roman arches and thick heavy walls.  Layout based on Roman basilica.

ÉMassive, static buildings with the floor plan in the shape of a cross, emphasis on fresco

ÉLots of arches, stable construction

ÉSide aisles with galleries above them

ÉThick walls, very few openings – semi-circular arches used for windows, doors, everywhere

ÉTowers: typical shapes square, circular, or octagonal

ÉInteriors were mostly barrel and groin vaults

The campanile
at Pisa

Constructed in three phases, beginning in 1173, completed in 1372.

Originally intended to serve as a city watchtower.

Style: Romanesque architecture

Seven tuned bells in the top

This picture was taken in 2013.