Art History exam #1 monuments

Cimabue, Virgin and Child Enthroned

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Painted for the high altar of the church of Santa Trinita, Florence

• Italo-Byzantine Style

• Iconic subjects

Giotto, Virgin and Child Enthroned

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Painted for the high altar of the church of the Ognissanti, Florence

• Subjects are more human

Giotto, frescoes for the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Narrative scenes

• Chronological Biblical stories

• The Lamentation

Giotto, Lamentation, from the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Christ is being mourned by his mother after the crucifixion

• Emotion in the face

• Naturalism

• Landscape draws eyes to Christ

• Backs of people

Giotto, Crucifixion, from the Scrovegni Arena Chapel, Padua

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Wants to draw the eye to Christ

Duccio, Madonna and Child

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Small, and was housed in a home

• Original frame (damaged from candles burning in front of it)

• Communication of prayer through Mary

Duccio, Maestra Altarpiece

• Painted for the Cathedral of Siena

• Early Italian Renaissance

• Mary’s life on the front, Christ’s life on the back

• Panel painting

• Angles and saints are life size

• Blue paint and gold show wealth, luxury and status

• Light and shadow to indicate folds of clothing

• Emotion (awareness and wisdom)

• Continuous narrative

Madonna Dell’Impruneta

• Early Italian Renaissance

Master of the St. Lucy Legend, Altarpiece with Madonna and Child with Angels

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Paliptych (multiple panels that can be opened and closed)

• Panels

Workshop of Robert Campin, Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece)

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Commissioned for prayer in homes

• Portrays “The Incarnation”

• Oil painting

• The angel Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant

Jan and Hubert van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Panels

• Words backwards and upside down, perhaps because Mary is speaking to God

• Cityscape

• Texture on skin to show age

Rogier van der Weyden, Last Judgment Altarpiece/”Beaune” Last Judgment

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Painted for the chapel of the Hotel-Dieu, Beaune, France

Jan van Eyck, Holy Face (Icon of Jesus of Christ)

• Early Northern Renaissance

• “Johannes van Eyck made and completed me in the year 1438 on January 31”

• Glorified painting of Jesus

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Attention to detail

• Signed “Jan van Eyke was here 1434”

• Wealth is shown through clothing and environment

• Oil paint

• Proportions of the room and figures are not accurate

• Don’t know the context of this painting

• Mirror in the background

Jan van Eyck, Man in a Red Turban

• Early Northern Renaissance

• Self portrait?

• Inscription on the frame “as I can”

• Looks as if he is looking in a mirror

• Wrinkles in his eyes show age

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac

• Italian Renaissance

• Made for a competition for a set of doors

• Represents the “before”

• Attention to anatomy

Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac

• Italian Renaissance

• Competition for a set of doors

• Represents in the moment

• Attention to anatomy

Donatello, St. Mark

• Italian Renaissance

• Commissioned by the linen weavers guild, Orsanmichele, Florence

• Was placed in a grainary that was originally a church

Nanni di Banco, The Four Crowned Martyrs

• Italian Renaissance

• Commissioned by the stone carvers and woodworkers guild, Orsanmichele, Florence

• Shows recognized communication about accepting their own death (mouths are not open but they are sharing glances)

• Ancient Roman individuals

Masaccio, The Tribute Money

• Italian Renaissance

• Brancacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

• Scene that shows three different events

• Linear perspective

• Orthoganals, Vanishing point, Horizontal line, viewing point

Masaccio, Trinity

• Italian Renaissance

• Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

• Trinity: God the Father, The Holy Spirit, The Son (Christ)

• Early use of linear perspective

• Victory of Christianity

Sandro Botticelli, Calumny of Apelles

• Italian Renaissance

• Figures are weightless

• No emphasis on the background

• Venus

• Ancient Roman architecture

• Apelles is known as the best ancient painter

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera

• Italian Renaissance

• Painted for the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici

• Ancient Greek and Roman mythology

• Elongated, weightless figures

• Sense of a halo

• Venus in a sacred grove

Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus

• Italian Renaissance

• Female nude (Venus)…unusual

• Understanding of the human body

• 2 demensional

• Figures occupy the same plane

Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch

• High Renaissance

• St. John on the left is handing Christ a gold finch

• Finch represents Christ’s suffering

• Nature

• Stability and balance, perfect triangle

• Idealization

• Grace and beauty

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

• High Renaissance

• Ambiguous smile

• Bust (waist up)

• Shoulders turned towards viewer

• Hands are included

• Sfumato (soft, smokey outline)

• Made for a private home but Leonardo kept it

• Naturalism

• Physiological presence

Leonardo da Vinci (??), Salvator Mundi

• High Renaissance

• Sfumato

• Portrait like quality

Nicolo Rondinelli, St. John the Evangelist Appearing Before Galla Placidia

• High Renaissance

• Object of holy significance at the altar

• Painting in the style of the time it was painted in, NOT the time of the subject

• Not common to have gold in the background of the Madonna and Child

• To inspire religious devotion

• Madonna and Child was usually found in the home, not the church

Antoniazzo Romano, Icon of the Madonna and Child

• High Renaissance

Michelangelo, Bacchus

• High Renaissance

• Anatomy isn’t as defined

• Early Michelangelo sculpture

• Facial expression isn’t super dramatic

• Posture on one foot (Explains that he is drunk)

Michelangelo, David

• High Renaissance

• Commissioned to decorate the outside of the cathedral

• Weight shifted to the right (contrapposto)

• Tension in his eyes and body position

• Rediscovery of Greek and Roman sculpture

• Over defined features so that they could be seen from far away

• Created the full body even though the back would not be seen

• Captures the moment when David sees Goliath

Michelangelo, paintings for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Rome

• High Renaissance

• Depictions of living bodies and dead bodies

• Art as devine creation

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel, Rome

• High Renaissance

• Defined body

• Parallel to God’s creation

Michelangelo, Pieta

• High Renaissance

• Depicts Mary holding Christ’s dead body

• No sense that the figure has life

Michelangelo, Doni Tondo

• High Renaissance (but also Mannerism)

• Bodily contortions

• Posture is not idealized

• Poses are not natural

• Not balanced like most Manneristic paintings

Jacopo Pontormo, Deposition (aka Entombment), Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence

• Mannerism

• Circular arrangement

• Narrative is confusing

• No clear focal point

• Little background

• Crowded

• Carrying Christ towards the viewer

• Is placed in a chapel burial

Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck

• Mannerism

• Balanced

• Idealized beauty

• Huge lap and legs

• Long fingers

• Christ is unnaturally large

• Unfinished work