AP Art History Test 12/16
David #69
Artist: Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi)
1386-1466; part of the Florentine Arte della Lana family (wool);
Goldsmith training; sculptor
-Date: 1440-1460 CE
-Material: Bronze; 5’
@ Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Content/Context:
1.David and Goliath (Old Testament); David kills
Goliath w/ one stone from a sling and beheads him
2. Florentines identify as David (defeating the army of Milan, w/ God’s guidance)
3. Androgynous, criticized for homoerotic overtones (Donatello’s sexual orientation) vs. (contrast )Michelangelo's version
Formal:
-1st free standing bronze cast of the Renaissance, since antiquity
-Gesture (extreme contrapposto), elegant, feminine (posture, material
Coloration, and facial gestures), calm, downcast glance (humility), negative space, different textures, and angle movement
Function: Private viewing, Medici palace courtyard
Story of David and Goliath:
The Israelites are being threatened by Goliath (over 9 feet tall) and Goliath demands the Israelites send someone brave enough to fight him.
Saul the 1st king of Israel failed/refused to combat Goliath. Instead a young shepherd boy named David volunteers. David is confident in his he can kill Goliath and had faith that the Lord will protect him.
David kills Goliath with one stone thrown from his sling into Goliath's forehead. Then he beheads Goliath.
Pazzi Chapel; Basilica di Santa Croce #67
-Location: Florence, Italy
-Artist- Filippo Brunelleschi (architect)/Masonry 1337-1446
-Date: 1429-1461 CE (completed after his death)
-Pietra Serena- Low value green (greyish) stone
Function: Pazzi Chapel/ Chapter house (meeting place) within Santa Croce for the Franciscan monks (wrapping bench) * Portico/porch may have been designed by Bernardo Rossellino
Patron: Pazzi family; family crest featured within the chapel’s pendentives
Formal:
-Pietra serena stone creates contrast + frames decorative elements within the interior whitewashed walls
-Symmetry/geometry (Roman influenced)
-Dome w/ an oculus (light source)
-2 barrel vaults
*Lucca della Robbia fires/designs roundels (glazes)
Context:
-Brunelleschi travels to Rome and is influenced by the Romans
Palazzo Rucellai #70
Location: Florence (Firenze), Italy
Artist: Leon Battista Alberti (architect from Genoa) 1404-1472
Alberti’s father was from Florence; he created blueprints/guides in architecture + painting that were followed years later; influenced by the Flavian Amphitheater; wrote: On Architecture
Date: 1450 CE
Material: Stone and masonry
Function: Designed for the Rucellai family/ family residence
Content:
Floor plan design:
Ground Floor: Business
1st: Hosting
2nd: Living
3rd: Hidden from the exterior (no windows) for servants
Content: Pilasters Ground Floor (Tuscan; derived from Doric)
1st (Ionic + Alberti design) 2nd (Corinthian)
Formal:
-Delicate flat beveled stoned design (not bulky stone/Medici Palazzo + Early Florentine norm)
-Three horizontal floors (height decreases with each top floor)
-Square and mullion (1st/2nd) window designs
-Pilasters-divide the facade into sections
-Entablature features Medici (feathers and ring) and Rucellai (sail) symbols
Context:
-Alberti references the colosseum for inspiration
-Flat stone design strives to communicate intellect moving towards modernism
The Last Supper #73
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) -Inventor (tank, helicopter, and parachute), scientist, artist, writer, and engineer. Dissections = anatomy studies Date: 1494-1498 Material: Oil and tempera Location: Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy A Dominican order Abbey, interior of refectory
Formal:
-Holy trinity is reinforced in groupings of 3/ windows - Jesus is technically isolated, but creates a triangle shape -Linear perspective = 3D/Scale/Distance -Pediement = halo (humanistic)-Movement/hand gestures + crowded aesthetic -Judas in shadow/traitor; clutches coins, paid by Romans
Context/Material: Fresco painting (wall) completed in a non-conventional method because oil and tempera was used, resulting in paint to peel immediately + 1943 bombing = bad condition
Patronage:Commission- Sforza family of Milan for the refectory (communal meal location)
Content: Painting captures the moment Jesus proclaims “One of you will betray me” = different reactions of Apostles
Narrative: Moment Jesus blesses the bread/wine the Holy Eucharist
School of Athens (Philosophy) #76
Artist: Raphael (1483-1510) born in Urbino, buried in the Pantheon (Rome)
-Painter and Architect; known for crisp/clear works
-Is recruited by Pope Julius II to create works for the church
Date: 1509-1511
Material: Fresco
Location: Vatican Museum; Vatican City
Function: One of four paintings adorning the papal library;
Former papal apartments (Philosophy; opposite wall is
La Disputa (religion based fresco)
Patron: Pope Julius II
Formal:
-Open floor plan w/ negative space
-Repetition in vaulting
-Movement (human interaction-gestures and gazes)
-Color is symbolic
-Perspective/scale
-Symbols: Books, writing instruments, globes….
= profession
Content:
Central Figures: Plato (left) and Aristotle (right)
Plato = Ethereal
Aristotle = Physical
Context:
*Raphael includes himself and paints Da Vinci/Michelangelo
features on other figures; Plato (Vinci) and Heraclitus (Michelangelo)
Sistine Chapel #75
Formal:
-Male and female figures are masculine; every muscle is flexed (females are based off male drawings; only changing the face and adding breast)
-Figures are arranged is expressive poses w/ body arranged in gestural pose + facial expression (embedded within painted architecture)
-Coloration is bold and vibrant (*colorist)
-Sculptural elements help frame figures/architectural frame work
-4 year project
Function/Context:
-Decorating the roof of the Sistine Chapel; attached to the Vatican Museum structure, leading into St. Peter’s courtyard
-The chapel is the location which a new pope is elected (voting time can vary); the public are made aware of a decision based upon the white smoke vs. black smoke
-Allowed an illiterate population understand religious teaching/gospel
Patron Pope: Pope Sixtus IV was The Sistine Chapel’s patron
Context:
Sistine Chapel is painted by numerous artist: Botticelli, Perugino, and Michelangelo (lower panels)
-Panels are aesthetically divided in half, due to sizing application (a result of scaffolding; 2nd half of panels are larger/successful read)
- A total of 300 figures are featured; no pose nor individual is re-featured
Narrative: The book of Genesis is illustrated w/ figures that depict Old Testament attire and sibyls
Sibyls- prophetess in Greek/Roman legend = make predictions
Delphic Sibyl
Material: Fresco; side panel (architectural framework)
Who: One of five sibyls located within the ceiling (prophetesses); prophets are placed in between
Visual Narrative: Foretelling of the coming of Jesus Christ (a combination of Greco-Roman figures)
Formal:
Highly gestural (spine arch + limb placement) in motion /muscular/hand and eye placement are opposite
-Illusion of being seated within an architectural structure
-Limited surrounding color = contrast
The Flood
Formal: Intense emotional narrative (desperation); a cluster grouping format (60 figures are featured); extreme layer read
*Looking up narrative is hard to read
-Scale/horizontal vs. angular/coloration = good vs. evil
Function/location: Sistine Chapel Scene
Narrative: The Book of Genesis: Details the story of Noah and his family escaping the floodwaters
-Noah’s Ark is the only source of safety
-“Survivors” find safety on the mountain top, yet everyone is destined to death; except passengers of the ark
The Last Judgement #75
Date: 1536-1541
Formal: A vertical narrative (Blessed and Damned), documenting destiny (mimicking Dante’s Divine Comedy; Inferno/Paradiso physical travel)
-One panel read; no dividing architectural elements
-M incorporates Mannerism stylization = elongating figures (proportions)/small heads/ugly
Function: Stabilize the public's moral (Sack of Rome 1527)/Protestant Reformation
Patron: Pope Paul III
Key Figures:
“The Damned Man” displays intense psychological intensity/reflection = knows his destiny = us the viewer
St. Bartholomew (apostle) holds his flayed skin and knief in which he was martyr (alive); M. paints his facial features on the skin (aware of his destiny/moral)
Charon- Dante’s character within Inferno, who harvested the souls; physically pushes the damned into hell
-Holy spirit---> Christ-----> St. Bartholomew---> The Damned Man---> Hell
4. Bottom: Left-Blessed; the dead are rising/ Right- Damned (Hell); delivered to hell
3. Angels awakening souls (trumpets); physically saving them/Punched by angels into hell
2. Individuals risen to heaven surrounding Jesus
1. Top/lunettes arch is adorned w/ angels + cross, crown made of thrones, and column
AP Title/Scene:Entombment of Christ #78
Title: The Deposition from the Cross
Artist: Jacopo da Pontormo 1494-1557
Student of Da Vinci, studied Duer = design/ornate based style; friends w/ Michelangelo = sculpture influence
H.Renaissance -to- Mannerism = beautiful linear rhythms, restless movement, ambiguous space, and pastel vivid colors
Date: 1525-1528 CE
Material: Oil on wood
Location: Florence; Capponi Chapel inside Santa Felicita Church
Function/Content: Entombment or Deposition of Christ is questioned (evidence = dueling titles) because Pontormo rejects symbols/objects which are the norm in Renaissance art. P. painting adoring the interior of Santa Felicita small chapel.
Formal:
-No ground level/line; environment info. is lacking (intentional)
-Linear design ?
-Outlining of clothing/twisted bodies
-All clustered within the same space
-Bright (high-key) colors/pastels; not earthy tones
-Elongated bodies + helps direct eye up, towards a “vertical perspective”
-Small hands/feet (broken)
-Emotional; lacking
-Everyone has a confused expression and in distress (interacting yet disconnected)
Context:
-The Entombment of Christ is depicted, however Pontormo does not include a tomb. His composition is stage like, imaginative, and synthetic.
-Jesus’s lifeless body is being carried and curvature of his body created a circular center framing hand gestures/expressions; Linear vs. curvature
-The chapel is designed by Brunelleschi (traditional design) vs. Pontormo’s earlier fresco “The Annunciation” and this piece
Venus of Urbino #80
Artist: Titian Tiziano Vecelli 1488-1576 (Venetian)
-Trained w/ Bellini
-Known for portraits that convey a sense of mystery; Pope Paul III/ Emperor Charles V
Date: 1538 CE
Material: Oil on Canvas
Located: Uffizi in Florence
Formal:
-Direct eye contact w/ viewer
-Glaze application technique = rich color and skin luminosity
-Reads sensuous not due to nudity, but skin tone treatment/application (realistic)
-Placement of figure in the foreground + mid/background = a complex interior arrangement; the window, 2 servants, trunks, and plants do not disengage the viewer
-Venus title makes nudity accepted; roses Venus symbol
-Strong horizontal and vertical line work (contrast)
Symbols: Dog = marital fidelity
Cassoni (chest) = traditional wedding gift
Content:
Unknown portrait of a reclining nuede safeguarded with the title Venus (mythology) making the content/pose acceptable for the time.
Context:
-Titian reclining nude pose impacts art history, a tradition of female nudes in this pose continues to contemporary art in the 21st century.
-Female-Unknown?; makes eye contact w/ viewer = her lover/partner possibly…
-Young bride theory due to cassoni + dog symbols/clues