unit 3 art history: the one where nobody likes this class, the sequel's sequel

yeah this class is the worst. oh well can't fail quite yet need to do apps first. time to speedrun.

Sarcophagus of the Spouses (Etruscan, painted terracotta)

• animated, archaic smiles — liveliness to contrast with their death

• unusual to the greek due to the intimacy of the spouses

Tomb of Triclinium (Leopards) (Estrucan, Fresco)

• tone is joyful, not somber about death. celebrates the afterlife

• banqueters holding eggs represents fertility and renewal

• scenes of hunting and fishing echo egyptian tombs

house of vetti (early roman, stone/fresco)

3 main ideas here:

1. house was meant to impress

   • openings in atrium (compluvium and impluvium)

   • open space = impressive

   • fresco of gods of hearth, asserting power. snake = continuousness

2. meant to scare

   • small paintings of hercules, holding a snake (“weak are strong too”)

   • tablinum (room where clients were received) was not present, just a room with frieze od cupids acting like slaves (brothers laughing at the poor)

3. lowborn taste

   • dicks everywhere. like actually. priapus weighs his dick against gold

   • pornographic images everywhere,

   • men are gross and have no taste

head of a roman patrician (republican rome, marble)

wrinkled face, showing age and wisdom

• unemotional face. there use to be color but patrician wasn’t preserved

• works were in cupboards of homes

temple of minvera/athena (Etruscan, terracotta/wood/mud-brick)

portonaccio temple dedicated to minvera/athena

• similar to greek/roman temples, featuring their deities/heroes

• BUT no classical orders. used deep square porches, and had figure lines instead of pediments

• figure lines enacted scenes

• 2 parts: deep front porch with wooden colums and a back portion with a triple cella

  • divine triad: menva, tinia, uni

• terracotta, not stone, statuaries on roofs

pantheon (roman, brick and concrete)

used to be for gods, then became a church

• oculus: circular opening at the top, referencing sol invictus aka the sun. had coffers & bronze rosettes (‘stars in the sky’)

• front has corinthian columns, making it traditional

• very geometric — radial with central plan. repeating square aganist circle (heaven = circle) (square = earth)

augustus of primaporta (early imperial roman, marble but bronze OG)

goal of thie piece is to assert POWER

• shows military might as he address troops (contrapasto pose)

• eagle on bottom right and left shows parthian returning to standard aka peace

• conquered terriotories looksed happy bc they got a ‘good life’ (sure…)

• pax romana= peace of rome

• calm youthful face depite hsis ag

• patrician haircut to show ‘humility’

• aeneas/cupid all there to link to divinity + bare feet

colosseum (imperial rome, concrete/marble)

used to be on an artificial lake of the old empreor

• barrel/groin vaults to make the building strong af — had statsues of gods/emperors

• velarium: awning to protect ppl

• columns had 3 classic orders = tied greece/rome

• named after sun god

• execution, hunts, gladiators all featured

forum/column of trajan and markets (rome, marble)

commerates trajan 2 conquests over dacians

• basilica law court plan = roman law and civility, vs barbarism of dacaism

• emperor is shown on horseback bc he fought too!

• columns show narrative of campaigns and power

• ppl of diff ethnicity shown bc #diversity

• temples of trajan behind all this ^^^^ = divinity

• roman ingenuity = ability to build into hills w arches (markets there)

• classical columns = order and balance

ludovisi battle sarcophagus (late imperial roman, marble)

roman v goths (#emo #dhmu #brocken)

• romans won, shown in the light with ideal features, while goths were emo (weird expressions and barbaric)

• hora vaculi: fear of empty spaces — everyone is packed together

• sarcophagus = tomb, belonged to someone who was RICH and POWERFUL

• during political changes and instability bc it’s less elegant

catacomb of priscilla outside rome (late antique, fresco)

3 theories

1. imagery is from classical sources to help romans be more comfy w christianity

   • roman buried in family tombs, in loculi/cubculum

   • art was educational

   • frescos show apollo, hermes, and orpheus in religious contects

2. meant to comfort ppl mourning the dead

   • lunettes show story of jonah (dude who’s in a whale stomach for 3 days) — ideas is that rebirth is good!

   • eating bread and wine i mean skin and blood of jesus is also renewal

3. women were impt in early church

   • Priscilla is getting married and giving birth

   • frescos of women having meals

   • mary is also here for the first time

santa sabina (late antique, mosaic//stone/marble)

plain outisde bc christians are humble on the outside

• inside is fancy af bc christians have a sacred interior

  • basiclia plan (same as column of trajan) bc day of judgement is important

  • reused columns bc it saved money but also tied greco-roman past

  • clerestory helped light come in aka the will of god

  • mosiacs everywhere to help educate converts

vienna genesis (late antique, calfskin, gold’silver)

purple vellum was expensive af so it was royal. also silver makes it FANCY PANCY

• no grammar on texts (lmao real im so dyslexic) so images wee important

• scroll to codex (basically books)

  • but!! books were new! so the person had to curve the image LMAOOOO

• rebecca and jacob is shown in the pic

  • rebecca walks down a lonely road to a water nymph (familiarity + christianity to help convert)

• didactic meaning - message received in simple and efficient fomrs

the treasury (nabatean, cut rock)

most likely a momenutnal tomb, due to no altar or religious sites

• nabatean were RICH bc of incense

• traditional aspect; pediment

  • hellentic style from alexandria influence (broken pediments + corinthian columns)

  • castor and pollux feature! protected the dead on their journeys

• holes bc ppl would shoot this looking for treasure ☹

• basically nabatean knew everyone and this reflects that influence

hagia sophia (byzantine, brick/mosaic)

3 theories

1. place of worship + political power display

   • purple was the imperial power and there was a lot of this + gold

   • justinian columns shows how strong and manly he was

   • there’s a theater so ppl can worship

2. center of Christian world

   1. pendentives make dome look like it’s resting on light

   2. collection of relics/artifacts

3. grandeur of ancient world

   1. marble is fancy af, comes from a word meaning sea so it reflects energy of water

   2. columns came from egypt

   3. figures of mary/christ shows divinity to rule

also minarets are VERY byzantine … so ya.

san vitale (byzantine)

central plan w dome and rotuna — diff religion to hagia sophia, very byzantine!

• has ambulatory: semicircular or polygonal aisle

• mosaics used to create beauty and awe

• outside is plain af bc #humility

mosaics depicting Justinian and Theodore in San Vitale (Byzantine, mosaic)

split between church and state

• feet overlapping show’s who’s on TOP.

• bishop’s feet overlapping the rest, so is justianian (who is shown through nimbus and purple clothes and being in the middle)

justin my boi is holding bread bowl, connecting him to christ

byzantine art has 3 f’s

• front, floating, flat

shield connects justin and constantiople

• army is on right, theodora has her own nimbus

virgin and child between saints theodore and george (byzantine, encaustic on wood)

• shows religious importance of these ppl

• christ is on theotokos (virgin) lap, as he prests scroll

• icons were super important during this time