Art History Exam #2

Temple of Portunus

Temple of Portunus

Date: Officially built in 3rd or 4th century BCE; rebuilt between 120-80 BCE

• uses the Greek architecture plan of peristyle (perimeter columns with some open space)

• copies the porch style of steps going to the temple

• to honor the god of harbors and ports, since during this time markets and wealth came from ports and sailing

• In the 9th century, transformed into a Christian church

• dedicated to either the worship of Fortuna Virilis or Portunus

• Pseudoperipteral

  • Roman practice of covering a building with veneer or stucco

Dionysian Mystery Cult Villa of Mysteries

Date: 70-60 BCE

• believed to depict a rite associated with a mystery cult of Dionysus or Bacchus

  • the god of win, fertility, threatre, madness, and ecstasy

• Dionysiac frieze scene runs around continually around three walls

• creates a sense of depth, everyone is standing a blue ledge

  • people are standing, sitting, or resting

  • figures act as if on edge

• rich color to resemble exotic stone

• initation of womanhood or marriage

Arch of Titus

Date: 81 CE

Artist: Domitian, after the death and deification of his brother, Titus

• 2 reliefs that depicted the Triumph of Titus and the Spoils of Jerusalem

• one barrel vault

• engaged Corinthian columns

• to celebrate the victories Titus had in the Jewish war Judea

• shows the earliest examples of columns of the composite order

• the sculpture attempted to create an illusion of depth/ space

• made out of marble

Basilica

• secular buildings used as law courts and markets and for public assemblies

Mosaic

• the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials

Pantheon

Date: 118-125 CE

• the only dome-shaped building that remained intact in Rome

• had 16 columns that stood at 40 geet tall

• built on specific ratios that equaled 12 to honor the 12 different Gods

• Oculus=eye

  • the dome was open to the skt

• building served as a sundial

• building is a combination of a circle and a rectangle

• rotunda dome

• dome ceiling is astronomically aligned

  • on April 16th the sunlight hits the door exactly to honor the founding of Rome

• the oculus let in ambient light and spotlights

  • represents the merging of the earth and the heavens

Colosseum

Date: 70 CE

Built by: great emperor Vespasian and was completed after his death by his son Titus

• the Vespasian commissioned the Colosseum to gain back the support of the Roman people after the reign of Nero

• used as a showcase for exotic wild animals from all corners of the Roman empire

  • staged reconstructions of famous Roman battle victories encouraging Roman patriotism

  • used for entertainment to glorify Rome as it replaced Nero’s Golden House

• created a diversion for the poor

• seated 50,000 people

• Seating in 4 levels with 80 entrances

  • 4 entrances were for imperial family

• awnings could be rolled out to protect people from the sun

Sanctuary of Fortuna

Date: 110 BCE

• Made of mixture of limestone and volcanic ash called pozzolana

• one of the most important pilgrimage sites in ancient Rome

• reflected the colossal design of Greek Hellenistic style

• converted entire hillside into the man-made temple

• way to show the Roman assertion of power and domination over nature

Trajan’s Forum

Date: 112 CE

Artist: Apollodorus of Damascus

• functioned as the center of commerce and politics for the Roman Empire

• made out of brick and concrete and marble for the columns

• to commemorate Trajan’s victory

• built with riches collected from Trajan’s victory over the Dacians

• originally held an equestrian monument dedicated to Trajan in center

• a public square in Roman city

Trajan’s Column

Date: 113 CE

Artist: Apollodorus of Damascus

• commissioned by the Emperor Trajan

• depicting his victory against Dacia (now Romania)

  • spiral narrative

  • stacking so they could fit more people

  • depicts 2 epic battles and campaigns against the Dacians

• about 39 meters high including the basement and statue

• made with 10 blocks of stone one on top of the other

• propaganda piece

Fragments of Constantine

Date: 312-315 CE

• made of Parian and Carrara marble

• include the head and neck, the right leg from the knee to the foot, the left leg below the knee and the left food, part of the right arm and the right hand

• the long face, neatly arranged hairstyle, and clean-shaven appearance of the head are deliberate attempt to evoke memories of earlier rulers

• style differs from earlier roman royal art because it is abstract and simplified

  • it is similar because it is still a recognizable portrait

• perhaps meant to convey the transcendence of the other worldly nature of the Emperor over the human sphere

• placed in the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine

• made of marble

• originally 40 feet high

Nave, Santa Croce

Date: 1294-1442 CE

• nave finished 1385

Architect: Arnolfo di Cambio

• place where Florentine greats are buried

• place where a tomb is found for Dante

• largest Franciscan Basilica in the world

• uses wooden trusses to span the nave while French Gothic churches would have uses moldings to support the vaulted ceiling

Baptistery, Florence

Date: 1128 CE

• baptistery- part of a church used for baptism

• octagonal shape

• there is a north, south, and east door

  • each with a different design made from different artists

• until 1935, the only place where Florentines were baptized

• east door was made by Lorenzo Ghiberti and labeled the door “Gates of Paradise”

• north doors were also made by Lorenzo Ghiberti

• dedicated to Florence’s Saint Jogn

Pisano, South Doors

Date: 1330-1336 CE

• commissioned from Pisa by the guild of wool importers

• cast of bronze and gilded, 28 separate panels across the two panels of the door

• mostly represent scenes from the life of john the baptist

• each vignette is framed by gothic quatrefoil

Palazzo della Signoria

Date: 1299 CE

• holds a copy of Michelangelo’s David statue

• known as the Old Palace

• most important historic government building in Florence

• increasing open civic space symbolic of increasing power of civic government

• surrounds a loggia and Palazzo Vecchio (city hall) so it makes its claim as the political hub of Florence

Giotto Madonna Enthroned

Date: 1280 CE

Artist: Cimabue

• shows the Virgin Mary with Christ Child on her lap with angles and saints surrounding them

• east church influence

• tempera panel

  • tempera is made from a mixture of water, plaster, and egg yolk so it would sick on panel give it a more vibrant color

• this painting marks the end of medieval painting in Italy and the beginning of a new naturalistic approach to art

• forms are foreshortened and modeled in light and shade to create figures that sculptural solidity and weight

Robert Campin Merode Triptych

Date: 1427-1428

• full of hidden symbols meant to lead the viewer into deep reflection on the mysteries of the Incarnation, or God taking on a human form in the person of Jesus

• reflects the emerging merchant class and new wealth

• oil on wood

• everyone is in the lower half of the image

• left side are the donors, the people who commissioned it

Jan Van Eyck Arnofino Portrait

Date: 1434 CE

• medium- oil on canvas

• the surplus of cloth implies Mrs. Arnolfini is soon to be pregnant

  • further affirmed through the ripening oranges and the pinnacle on the bed post being the patron saint of child birth

• the dog was originally viewed as a symbol for loyalty and fidelity

Brunelleschi Dome, Florence Cathedral

Date: 1420-1436 CE

• the largest dome of its time and still the largest brick dome in the world

• the creation of the dome, baptistery doors , the ox hoist were competed over between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi

• dome was transformed into a sundial by Paolo Toscanelli

• painting on the inside of the dome painting on the inside of the dome is The Last Judgment

• estimated weight is 36,000 tons

• started working on in the 1296 to show off Florence because it was one of Europe’s economic and culture capitals

Ospedale delgi Innocenti

Date: 1419-1424 CE

• “hospital of the innocents”

• originally a children’s orphanage

• publicly commissioned by the Seta Guild

  • guild of silk merchants and goldsmiths

• first hospital for foundling children in the world which was not run by the church

• the function of the building suggests the idea of civic responsibility and sense of pride amongst the cities people

• considered the first clean break from the Gothic style

  • first Renaissance building

nave of San Lorenzo

Date: 1421 CE

Architect: Brunelleschi and Michelozzo

• the only church with an unfinished facade

• no oculus or lighting at dome

  • very dark and does not quite match classical styles

• flat coffered ceiling over nave

• emphasis on proportionality perspective

• classical details represented all’antica (ancient-inspired) style common in Florence

• the Medici family church

• one of the first centrally planned churches of the Renaissance

Alberti, facade, Santa Maria Novella

Date: 1458-1470 CE

• the first pediment supports a broad band of decorated squares

• used gothic forms of older parts of building in order to reconstruct the older style

• became a prototype repeated by Renaissance designers

• contains motifs of temple front and has 3 opening arches referencing Triumphal Arch

Ghiberti Gates of Paradise

Date:

• called the Gates of Paradise because of its remarkable beauty and grandeur

• made after a prestigious competition arranged by the Calimala guild to make a new set of doors for the Baptistery’s north entrance in Florence

  • competition between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti

  • after winning and making the north door he was commissioned to do create the East door

• worked on the door for 27 years

• compromised of 10 panels from the Old Testament in chronological order

  • started with the creation of Adam and Eve and ending with the meeting between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

• Used a lost bronze wax technique to make the door 

  • Made a wax mold of the door and then poured melted bronze into the molds and then wax was peeled off and added to the door and painted with a small amount of gold and mercury

Masaccio Holy Trinity

Date: 1427-1428 CE

• took 28 days to make

• have to look up at the painting

• is directly above the entrance to the Cathedral

• God is actually represented as a human in this painting

• Jesus looks realistic with anatomical accuracy and application of gravity

• color palette is Earth bound colors, natural, more relatable for people of all classes

• had cloth down far enough to show his pubic hair to show that he was also human

• under the painting there is an inscription that states “As I am now, you shall be”

• uses invisible geometry

  • there are upward and downward pointing triangles

    • upward triangles represent teh humanities desire to ascend to god

    • downward triangles represent the spiritual descent down to the physical world

Micelozzo Medici-Ricardi Palace, Florence

Date: 1459

• widely considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance

• placed in the center of Florence as it was a focus of the community

• three levels

• the lower level was made of rustication of bricks with big arched openings

• middle level has less roughness of bricks with windows with double arches forms, bifore windows

• high level has perfectly smooth surface and bifore windows

• first palazzo of Renaissance period that stands alone in its context to show Medici power

Donatello bronze David

Date: 1440 CE

• symbolizes Florence’s triumph over Milan and the Medici family’s connection to the city’s greatness

• first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance

• first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity

• made by using the lost wax technique

• represented in heroic classical nudity

• very effeminate especially compared to Michaelangelo’s David

Botticelli Primavera

Date: 1477-1482 CE

• one of the most written about, and most controversial paintings in the world and one of the most popular paintings in Western art

• central theme is love and marriage, sensuality, and fertility

• illustrated the renewed interest in Greek and Roman mythology

  • shows mythological, Roman Gods/Goddesses and characters but not from any particular story

• can assume by the three women’s beauty, dancing, and number that they are the Three Graces

• central figure is an idealized beauty, lovely curvature to form, emphasizes femininity

Aqueduct

an artificial channel for conveying water

ashlar masonry

a type of stone construction where all stones are dressed or cut to a uniform shape, size, and surface appearance

atrium

• entrance hall

• where patron greets people

• needs to represent owner’s status

• an inner courtyard

  • often at the entrance of a public building

coffer

a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault

• sunken panel in a ceiling

• rectangular indentations in the dome that decrease its thickness

• used to lighten the load at the top

• considered of the Column of Trajan, Basilica Ulpia, and Markets

cubiculum

• bedrooms

  • normally very simple because they were only for sleeping

• a small cubicle or bedroom that opened onto the atrium of a Roman house

• a chamber in an Early Christian catacomb

roundel, spandrel, Dayton

• roundel- a picture which is round in format

  • small circular decorative plate used extensively in Renaissance courtyards and arcades

• spandrel- a triangular space enclosed by the curves of arches

apse, ata, attic

• apse- a large semicircular or polygonal niche protruding from the end wall of a building

  • arched or with a domed roof

    • in Christian church, contains the altar

• attic- a storey or low wall above the corince of a classical facade

caryatid

female figure used in a place of a column as an architectural support for a porch or entryway

colonnade, cupola, plasters

• colonnade- a series of columns in a straight line carrying an entablature

• cupola- a small, dome-like structure on top of a building, crowning a roof or dome

• plasters- a soft mixture, generally composed of lime, and mixed with sand, and other substances

oculus

the round central opening of a dome

quadriga

a two-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses harnessed abreast

tesserae

a small block of stone, tile, glass, or other material used in the construction of a mosaic

frigidarium

the cold room of an ancient Roman bath complex

fresco, buon and secco

• buon- painting technique in which water-based pigments are applied to a surface of wet plaster

• secco- technique where tempera is applied to plaster that has been allowed to dry first

chiaroscuro

means “light-dark”

• clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted

sfumato

the smoky quality which blurs contours so that figures emerge from a dark backgroud by means of gradual tonal modulations without any harsh outlines

• technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms

impasto

describes paint, usually oil paint, applied very thickly

tondo

a circular painting, relief carving, plaque, or mural design

sprezzatura

a certain nonchalance so as to conceal all art and make what one does or say appear to be without effort

campanile

bell tower usually built beside or attached to a church

• a free standing tower which is adjacent to a church or abbey

palazzo

means “palace”

• a large building in the city, regardless of whether it functioned as a governmental or institutional facility, a private residence, or both

• refers to an architectural style of the 19th-20th centuries based upon the palazzi (palaces) built by wealthy families of the Italian Renaissance

foreshortening

technique of depicting an object or human body in a picture so as to produce an illusion of projection/extension in space

linear perspective

a system of creating illusion of depth on a flat surface

vanishing point

point at which the orthogonals meet and disappear in a composition done with scientific perspective

• the central feature of scientific perspective: a single point towaeds which any set of parallel lines will seem to converge

orthogonals

imaginary lines which are parallel to the ground plane and the line of sight of the viewer

transversals

lines parallel to the picture plane (horizontally) that denote distances

cartoons (sinopia)

a red to reddish-brown earth pigment used by the ancients that depends for its color on its content of red ferric oxide