Art History Notes
Poliklet's Canon and Its Influence
Poliklet Doriforos and Diadumenos: Marble copies of bronze originals, circa 440 B.C.E.
Poliklet's statues established a canon, a set of rules defining the ideal proportions of the human body.
Lisip's elongated figures show an intent to alter Poliklet's canons.
Skopas sought to breathe inner life into his sculptures by adding grimaces to the faces.
Hellenistic Period
The Hellenistic era, the final phase of Greek art, is sometimes viewed as a decline from the sculpture of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.E.
However, there were innovations: larger sculptural groups, genre scenes, and portrait sculpture.
Materials and Techniques
Elite Greek sculptures were made from high-quality marble found in the Aegean region.
Sculptors were highly skilled in casting bronze figures.
Greek Painting
Greek paintings (mosaics, murals, easel paintings) have largely disappeared.
Historical accounts of painters like Apolodor, Zeuksis, Polignot, Mikon, and Apeles suggest their artistic quality was equal to that of sculptors.
The evolution of Greek painting can be traced through the themes on surviving ceramic vases.
The oldest style of vase painting is known as geometric because the painted decoration is limited to geometric ornaments.
Over time, this ornamentation incorporated human and animal figures.
Initially, black figures were painted on a red background, but later, red figures were painted on a black background.
Roman Art and Architecture
The rise of Roman civilization on the Apennine Peninsula began in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.E.
The Romans, an Indo-European people formed through a symbiosis of Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan ethnic groups, created a powerful, militarily organized state.
The Roman state alternated between republican and monarchical systems of government.
The city of Rome grew into a metropolis with over a million inhabitants, serving as the political, administrative, cultural, and spiritual center of a vast empire.
At its peak, the Roman Empire included the Apennines, Germanic territories, Gaul, the British Isles, the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkans, the Aegean, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Black Sea region.
In art history, the Romans are considered successors to Greek creativity.
While they adopted many Greek methods, they made significant contributions to architecture and sculpture.
*A notable example of Roman architecture is the Pont Du Gard aqueduct in Nimes, France, from the 1st century B.C.E.Roman architecture prioritized functionality, ensuring beauty and elegance through skillful construction systems.
Cities, including Rome and many provincial centers, were built according to precise urban plans.
Romans used various types of bricks and cement, a material previously unknown in construction.
Basing their constructive systems, besides the pillar, on the use of the arch and vault, they were abel to build entire cities full of elite buildings, such as squares, temples, palaces.
Roman Architecture
Temples dedicated to Roman gods (Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Mars) resembled Greek temples but had steeper roofs and used Corinthian-style elements.
The Romans also built circular temples (rotondas), with the Pantheon being a prime example.
In civil engineering, Rome introduced grand structures: villas, imperial palaces, thermal baths (terme), aqueducts, triumphal arches and columns, and developed types of basilicas and amphitheaters.
Roman baths (terme) were complexes with vaulted halls adorned with columns, sculptures, and murals.
Amphitheaters, combining two theaters, served as prototypes for modern stadiums and were used for mass entertainment and gladiatorial combats.
The most well-known building of this kind is the Colosseum, with a capacity of 50.000 spectators.
Triumphal columns were decorated with reliefs spiraling from base to top, honoring Roman emperors.
Triumphal arches, similar to Etruscan arches, were built to honor Roman military leaders, with facades covered in historical reliefs and topped with a chariot and a statue of the celebrated leader.
Aqueducts used a system of arches to transport water.
Roman basilicas, similar in form to Greek ones and used as courtrooms, were notable for their spacious three-aisled interiors.
The Romans improved transportation infrastructure with paved streets, roads, and milestones.
The building of these cities was based on the use of cement.
A perfect example of the Romans' idea of artwork: Portret Rimljanina Palata Tarlonija Rim.
The constant need across the Roman Empire led to a high demand for sculptures.
Roman Sculpture
While largely imitating Greek sculpture, Roman sculpture achieved originality through portraiture.
Roman sculptors focused on realism, highlighting the characteristics of the subject rather than ideal beauty.
Decorative relief sculpture with historical and religious themes was less original, drawing from the Hellenistic period.
Decorative sculptures like >>Ara pacis«< demonstrate high qualities with its tecnique in their performance.
Roman Painting and Mosaics
Roman art included numerous murals. A fresco from Pompeii depicts a scene from the Dionysian Mysteries.
Roman wall painting reveals aspects of lost Greek painting, which it emulated.
Mosaics were commonly used to cover floors in temples and public buildings.
Applied Arts
The wealth of the Roman aristocracy led to the production of applied art, including statuettes, ceramics, artistic glassware, jewelry, and silverware.
Early Christian Art
As the Roman Empire transitioned into the late antique or early Christian era, early Christian art emerged.
Initially persecuted, Christianity began to produce art in the catacombs.
Catacomb murals featured symbolic images: the cross, palm, fish (symbol of Christ), and anchor (symbol of salvation).
Later, figural representations of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, and scenes appeared.
Stone sarcophagi reliefs sometimes demonstrated high-quality Roman relief techniques.
In 313, Emperor Constantine granted Christians the right to practice their religion. In 330, he established Constantinople, marking the end of Rome's history and the beginning of a new era dominated by Christianity.
Medieval Art
Medieval art spans roughly from the 6th to the 15th century, with the most significant developments occurring in Byzantium and related cultural spheres in Southeastern Europe.
Western Europe saw notable medieval artistic cultures develop in Italy, France, England, Germany, and Spain.
Byzantine Art
Byzantine art, rooted in the Eastern Roman Empire with its center in Constantinople, is characterized by the dominant role of religion.
The Eastern Orthodox Church prescribed strict canons for artists, viewing them as intermediaries between the devout and the divine.
While church canons directed art toward propaganda to teach and glorify Christianity, Byzantine artists sometimes created masterpieces rivaling those of the West.
Two forms of art were differentiated since the beginning: The Court Style and the Monastic Style.
Byzantine art saw the elimination of monumental sculpture in favor of small-scale works in precious metals, ivory, and wood.
Byzantine Architecture
Byzantine architecture introduced new types of churches with complex structural systems, favoring colorful facades and interiors over sculptural decoration.
Key features included the transition from square or rectangular vaulted spaces to domed systems and the use of brick.
Domes were achieved using pendentives and trompes.
Walls were adorned with colorful brick patterns or alternating stone and brick.
Interiors featured mosaics or murals, with the naos (nave) separated from the altar area by an iconostasis.
Constantinople was embellished under the care of Constantin and the church of Saint Sofia was built under his orders.
Byzantine architecture also included cross-in-square and trefoil-shaped churches, as well as opulent imperial palaces.
Byzantine Painting
Painting was a central art form, expressed through mosaics, frescoes, and icons.
Theologians dictated artistic principles, emphasizing spirituality over sensory appeal.
Byzantine images were devotional objects, not mere representations, de-emphasizing natural poses, volume, perspective, and classical composition.
Backgrounds were often covered in gold or dark blue, suggesting abstract space.
Landscapes and architecture served as decorative elements rather than realistic depictions.
Miniature painting was practiced for illuminating manuscripts.
Byzantine Applied Arts
Byzantine applied arts, including carvings, metalwork, textiles, enamels, and small sculptures, were highly esteemed.
Romanesque Art
Western European medieval art, while also governed by church canons, developed differently.
The Romanesque period (10th to 12th centuries) was preceded by pre-Romanesque art, including Merovingian and Carolingian periods.
Pre-Romanesque art is best known for its applied arts, especially jewelry.
Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque architecture is exemplified by basilical cathedrals, typically three-aisled with a transept forming a Latin cross.
A хора (choir) with an apse was surrounded by an ambulatory; crypts were common beneath the choir.
High square bell towers were characteristic.
Wooden ceilings were gradually replaced by stone vaults.
Stone cathedrals featured thick walls, often reinforced with buttresses.
Romanesque Sculpture
Monumental sculpture was revived, subordinated to architecture as integral components.
Romanesque capitals displayed diverse forms and figural motifs.
Portals were covered with reliefs according to the "law of the frame," filling all available space with figures, often disproportionate.
This could result in disproportionate figures, but also spontaneity and expression.
The Romanesque period introduced the "pillar figure," connected to the column surface, sometimes resembling sculpture in the round.
Painted wooden sculpture, such as crucifixes and Virgin Mary figures, was also common.
Romanesque Painting
Wall paintings, executed "al seco," were less preserved than Byzantine works, adopting a coarser style.
Narration overshadowed aesthetics.
Easel painting, similar to Byzantine icons, included altarpieces arranged in polyptychs.
Miniature painting flourished in manuscripts, and stained glass techniques were practiced.
Romanesque Applied Arts
Romanesque applied arts produced elaborate reliquaries.
Gothic Art
The 12th and 13th centuries saw increased trade in Western Europe due to the Crusades, leading to urbanization.
Artistic development shifted from monasteries to cities, with the Gothic style superseding Romanesque from the mid-12th century.
Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is defined by grand cathedrals, considered masterpieces of world architecture.
Gothic cathedrals featured the form of a Latin cross.
Advanced structural systems allowed for taller buildings.
Key features included ribbed vaults, skeletal construction, buttresses, and flying buttresses.
Interiors had three zones: large arcades, triforium galleries, and high windows.
Facades included portals, rose windows, and gables.
High towers symbolized aspiration toward heaven.
Gothic arches were more pointed than Romanesque arches.
Civil architecture, including town halls, bell towers, fortifications, and hospitals, flourished.
Gothic Sculpture
Sculpture became more detached from architecture, displaying a trend toward three-dimensionality.
Portal compositions were closer to ancient models, with anatomically correct figures.
A tendency toward naturalism was evident.
Gothic Painting
Stained glass replaced murals.
Stained glass windows allowed Gothic painters to realize rich iconographic programs with a tendency towards realism, also drawing from classical art.
Easel painting on polyptychs and manuscript illumination also developed.
Gothic Applied Arts
Applied arts, including church embroidery, tapestries, woodcarving, metalwork, and glassmaking, flourished.
Renaissance Art
Gothic sculpture showed a trend toward realistic representation, moving away from mysticism and toward classical values.
Advances in science and technology and the rediscovery of ancient monuments led to a rejection of medieval stereotypes.
The Renaissance, marking the beginning of the modern era, began in Italy in the 14th century, emphasizing classical artistic achievements.
The Renaissance sought harmony and ideal beauty, drawing inspiration from nature and humanity.
Artists moved from being viewed as craftsmen to recognized creative personalities.
Classical theater, secular prose, poetry, music, and scientific disciplines stimulated new artistic ideas.
Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance architecture replaced Gothic cathedrals with churches featuring symmetrical facades and limited sculptural decoration.
Renaissance architecture utilized cupolas.
Secular architecture also featured simplified designs.
Key architects included Brunelleschi, Alberti, and Bramante.
Renaissance Painting
In the Renaissance period, painting came to the fore.
Renaissance painters, initially using tempera, increasingly adopted oil painting techniques.
Early Italian painters like Giotto, Duccio, Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers explored volume, anatomy, and perspective.
Influenced by classical antiquity, mythological themes were in vogue during the Renaissance.
Renaissance masters developed theoretical literature outlining techniques for creating harmonious and aesthetically perfect images based on observation of nature and humanity.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Renaissance painting introduced a humanist mindset to European culture.
Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rafael or Michelangelo represent just a few of all the important figures.
Renaissance Sculpture
Renaissance sculpture was inspired from previous ancient times.
Renaissance sculptors reached new heights in both form and anatomical precision.
Sculpture in Northern Europe was not as advanced as in Italy.
The most important names are Pizano, Banko, Giberti, Donatelo. Mikelanđelo contributed mostly too.
Renaissance Graphics
The invention of the printing press in the 15th century led to the rapid development of graphics.
German artists such as Schongauer and Dürer achieved remarkable success.
Renaissance Applied Arts
The rise of Western European cities and the decline of feudalism led to a high production of applied arts.
Mannerism
In the 16th century, Mannerism emerged as a transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
As the Renaissance reached its peak, with artists seeking to emulate Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael, younger artists began to question Renaissance artistic language.
Mannerist artists experimented with deconstructing Renaissance compositions, emphasizing psychology, and exploring new color schemes.
Key figures included Rosso Fiorentino, Romano, Parmigianino, Tintoretto, Veronese, Bassano, and Bruegel.
Baroque
The complex nature of mannerism and historical events, such as the rise of Protestantism, contributed to its decline.
The Catholic Church sought to create new artistic concepts to promote Catholicism, leading to the Baroque period.
Baroque Architecture
Baroque architecture emphasized grandiose facades, sculptural decoration, and dynamic elements.
Baroque interiors featured paintings, sculptures, stucco work, gilding, and colored marble.
Secular architecture, including palaces and fountains, also adopted opulence.
Baroque Painting
Baroque painting emphasized emotion and religious fervor.
Asymmetry, disharmony, dynamic movement, and exaggerated gestures replaced Renaissance harmony.
Baroque painting saw the works of numberus masters and different techniques: svetlo-tamno (light and dark).
Prominent Baroque artists included Caravaggio, the Carracci brothers, Cortona, Poca, Reni, Guercino, Rubens, El Greco, Velázquez, Murillo, Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer.
Baroque Sculpture
Baroque sculpture emphasized visual appeal through combinations of materials, contrasting textures, and virtuoso techniques aimed at pathetic effectiveness.
Bernini was a central figure, influencing numerous sculptors.
Rococo
The second part of the Baroque age, the 18th century is remembered as the art of Rokoko.
Rococo, dominant in 18th-century France, reflected the tastes of the aristocracy under Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Buildings, furniture, sculptures became more complex, ornate, and decorative.
Rococo painting focused on idyllic scenes and gallant festivities with lighter shades, painted by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and Chardin.
Baroque and Rococo Graphics and Applied Arts
Graphics became increasingly important, with the invention of color graphics allowing for better reproductions of original works.
Baroque and Rococo periods experienced a large production of luxurious applied artworks.
Neoclassicism
The Rococo began to bore society, so at the end of the 18th century entered an era based on the Greek and Roman art.
Neoclassicism, from the word's etymology, is based on ancient forms such as pillars, tympanums, triumphal arches and so on.
Neoclassical art highlighted sculpture, emulating the forms and ideas of Greek and Roman sculptors, such as Canova and Thorvaldsen, with a marble technique.
Neoclassicism, in terms of painting, valued design over colour pallete.
Romanticism
Romanticism, emerging in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, emphasized national identity, exoticism, and individuality rooted in literature, history, and orientalism.
Romanticism valued colour over outline drawing, contrasted with Neoclassicism.
In Germany or Spain, Romanticism also represented visionary or expressionist themes.
*Key figures of this period:Delacroix, Corot, Turner, Constable. Goja contributed mostly too.
Modern Art
Modern art, spanning the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, was characterized by urbanization, capitalism, industrial revolution, and new mediums such as photography and film.
Modernism rejected strict evolutionary processes and focused on individual artistic endeavors.
In this period it's a bit complicated to classify many techniques and ideologies. Many types of art was born: Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism etc.
Van Gog for istance, started his new era through the pointillism of painting
Realism
Realism emerged in the mid-19th century as a reaction to Romanticism with a focus on contemporary life and social commentary.
Impressionism
In the 70's, the French started expressing the value of light in terms of painting with techniques known as >plener<. Mane, Monet, Sisler and Degà are examples of this ideology.
Post-Impressionism
As a reaction to Impressionism, Post-Impressionism gave birth to painters like Lotrek, Sezan, and so on.
From XX secole came new painters like Matis, Kandisnki who broke every law of shape and colours.
Cubism
One of the most prolific forms of art, with key members like Picasso and Brak.
From this moment began the >>ready made<< idea.
Abstract
This kind of art reached the climax in the first decades of the XX century with the works of Kazimir Malevich and his "Black Square".
Montenegrin Art History
Montenegro, situated in southeastern Europe, is a region with a rich artistic culture influenced by both East and West.
Prehistoric Heritage
The earliest evidence of artistic expression in Montenegro comes from the Paleolithic site of Crvena Stijena, a cave near Nikšić.
Neolithic cultures in Montenegro are still understudied in terms of their artistic manifestations with objects primarily of practical use, there is simple beauty.
Ancient Heritage
The Illyrians, known in Montenegro from the first population, formed a state from the 5th to 2nd century B.C.E., after which the Montenegrin territory became part of the Roman province of Prevalis.
Roman settlements such as Budva, Ulcinj, Duklja, Médun, Risan, and Kotor flourished with temples, thermae, luxurious villas, and basilicas.
The marble portrait of Emperor Domitian from Kumbor and mosaics from Risan are significant examples of Roman art.
Late antique heritage from the 4th to 6th centuries includes churches in Duklja and Doljani, trikonhos structures, and “Podgorica glass.”
Medieval Art
Medieval art in Montenegro, developed after the Slavic settlement, combines Byzantine and Western European influences.
Medieval architecture includes both Romanesque and Gothic elements.
Coastal towns like Ulcinj, Bar, Budva, Kotor, and Herceg Novi, now walled-in cities of stone, transformed; churches and public buildings were built in place of villas and Roman temples.
The most important example of Romanesque style is the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Kotor (1166), while the remains of the Cathedral of Saint Mary in Svač represent Gothic elements.
Byzantine architectural techniques appear in the churches of Saint Peter in Bijelo Polje, the Đurđevi Stupovi Monastery near Berane, and the Morača Monastery.
On the islands of Lake Skadar, monasteries with characteristic trikonhos structures were established by the Balšić and Crnojević rulers.
Early medieval painting was influenced by Romanesque styles, as seen in fragments of frescoes from the Church of Saint Michael in Ston.
Painting activities can be traced back to the late 12th century when the Nemanjić dynasty ruled Zeta.
The Kotor school of painting, known as “Greek painters,” was particularly famous.
Lovro Dobričević, a Gothic-Renaissance painter from Kotor, is known for the icon “Our Lady of Škrpjel.”
During the Middle Ages, the coastal areas of Montenegro had thriving sculptural workshops.
Stone decorations on portals, capitals, and tombstones display Romanesque and Gothic sculpture.
The ciborium of the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon is an important sculptural work.
The primorska ( coastal towns ) started with arts like weaving etc. Great and luxurious books are an important part of the country ( famous Miroslavljevo jevanđelje).
The New Era
After the fall of the Nemanjić dynasty, Montenegro was ruled by the Balšić and Crnojević dynasties.
Turkish conquests and Venetian administrations influenced the development of art.
Post-Byzantine art was present, showcasing works reflective of the era.
The Husein Pasha Mosque in the Pljevlja is an important cultural building.
Modern Montenegrin Art
The modernization process of Montenegrin art around the world had effects with their pieces.
The european style started growing back and forth thanks to artist from there.
With the arrival of names such as Milos Milunovic started a growing chain of modern art