ARTH 9/15 Lecture
Course Administration and Google Doc Setup Guidelines
Rationale for Strict Submission Procedures:
Technology issues waste significant time that could otherwise be spent grading student work.
Following directions precisely prevents the instructor from having to email students regarding unviewable or inaccessible work.
Work that cannot be accessed or viewed by the instructor due to improper permissions or file formats may receive a score of .
Platform and Continuous Document Requirements:
All connection assignments for the entire semester must be housed within a single, continuous Google Doc.
Alternative cloud platforms—such as Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint—are strictly prohibited.
Students must create their own Google Doc by copying and pasting the provided template text or making a direct copy of the template document.
Sharing and Access Settings:
Sharing permissions must be configured so that "Anyone with the link" can open the document.
User role permissions must be explicitly set to "Editor" to allow the instructor to insert inline comments directly inside the document.
Canvas Submission and Semester Schedule:
Students submit only the shareable URL link to their Google Doc on Canvas.
A total of connections must be completed across the semester.
The deadline for Connection is set for Friday at .
Question Selection and Tracking Mechanics:
The master template includes a total of questions.
Students select and respond to of these questions over the semester, leaving questions unanswered.
Question Restriction: Question requires comparing an artwork from the first half of the semester with an artwork from the second half of the semester. This question is off-limits until October . The remaining questions are available immediately.
Strikethrough Rule: Once a question is selected and answered, the student must apply a strikethrough line to that question in the master list at the top of the Google Doc. This ensures clear tracking for both the student and the instructor within a single document.
Document Structure: Responses must be written directly beneath pre-formatted headings provided in the template (e.g., Connection , Tuesday/Friday, September ).
Art Historical Concepts: Nudity vs. Nakedness in Donatello's David
Linguistic and Conceptual Distinction:
Nude: Art historical term associated with formal artistic representation, idealization, and intentional display of the human form.
Naked: Concept associated with vulnerability, exposure, "nothingness," and the psychological state of lacking physical protection (e.g., a recurring nightmare of standing unclothed before a group).
Visual Analysis of Donatello's David:
Attire and Accessories: David is depicted wearing only boots and a hat, remaining otherwise completely unclothed.
Impact of Accessories: Retaining boots and a hat draws attention directly to the absence of body armor, amplifying the sense of physical vulnerability.
Youth and Proportions: David is portrayed as extremely young and slender rather than as a heavily muscled, mature warrior, emphasizing that he is an unlikely victor and an underdog against Goliath.
Theological and Biblical Context:
In the biblical narrative, David explicitly declines physical armor offered to him, declaring that God serves as his protection.
Donatello visually translates this theological principle by stripping David of physical armor, leaving his unclad body to demonstrate that his protection is spiritual rather than physical.
Civic Provenance and Shifting Political Meanings of Donatello's David
Original Location and Inscription:
First documented in the open courtyard of the Palazzo Medici in Florence, displayed atop a high pedestal.
Pedestal Latin Inscription: "The victor is whoever defends the fatherland. God crushes the wrath of an enormous foe. Behold, a boy overcame a great tyrant. Conquer, o citizen."
Initial Political Context (Medici Ownership):
David served as an allegorical representation of Florence as an underdog state.
The "enormous foe" / "great tyrant" allegorically represented the Duchy of Milan in Northern Italy (ruled by a Duke), which repeatedly threatened the Republic of Florence.
Goliath represented Milan, while David represented Florence, victorious through divine intervention. The sculpture emphasized civic responsibility and highlighted the Medici family's contributions to Florentine defense.
Post-1492 Political Reinterpretation:
In the year , Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) died, leading to the expulsion and exile of the Medici family from Florence.
The statue was relocated from the private Palazzo Medici to the seat of Florentine municipal government (the city hall / Palazzo della Signoria).
Although the statue retained its original pedestal and Latin inscription, the political interpretation inverted completely within approximately years.
Under the Florentine Republic, the "great tyrant" mentioned in the inscription was reinterpreted as the exiled Medici family themselves, transforming a Medici-commissioned work into an anti-Medici republican monument.
Northern Renaissance Geography and Regional Terminology
Geographic Distinctions:
Southern Renaissance: Refers to the Italian Renaissance occurring in Southern Europe.
Northern Renaissance: Refers to artistic developments occurring in Northern Europe (north of the Alps, distinct from Northern Italy).
Flanders and Flemish Art:
Flanders: Historical region corresponding roughly to modern-day Belgium.
Flemish: The official adjective used for art, culture, and objects originating from Flanders.
Chronology: Flemish panel painting underwent major development starting around the period of 1420\text{--}1430$.\n\n# Material Properties: Oil Painting vs. Tempera in the Mérode Altarpiece\n\n- **Attribution and Terminology**:\n - **Title**: *Mérode Altarpiece*.\n - **Attribution**: Workshop of Robert Campin (indicating execution by assistants or associates within Robert Campin's studio rather than by Campin alone).\n - **Altarpiece Formats**:\n - **Triptych**: A three-panel hinged altarpiece.\n - **Polyptych**: A multi-panel altarpiece containing more than three panels.\n\n- **Medium and Support**:\n - Executed in oil paint on wood (oak) panels.\n\n- **Technical Comparison: Oil Paint vs. Egg Tempera**:\n - **Drying Time**: Egg tempera dries very rapidly, limiting blending. Oil paint dries slowly, allowing artists to manipulate and rework passages over extended periods.\n - **Viscosity and Glazing**: Oil paint can be applied thickly or diluted into thin, translucent glazes.\n - **Luminosity and Reflection**: Light passes through translucent oil glazes and reflects off underlying layers, producing deep color saturation and intricate reflections (e.g., specular highlights on metallic spouts, copper vessels, jewels, and wood grain).\n\n# Formal Analysis and Iconography of the Mérode Altarpiece\n\n- **Perspective and Spatial Construction**:\n - Does **not** utilize true Italian single-point linear perspective.\n - Lines along the ceiling, bench, and windows do not converge at a single vanishing point.\n - **Proportional Discrepancies**: The figure of Mary seated on the floor is scaled so large that she could not fit on the bench or stand upright within the room.\n\n- **Divergent Regional Priorities**:\n - **Italian (Southern) Renaissance**: Prioritizes mathematical spatial unity, single fixed linear perspective, and overall spatial geometry.\n - **Northern European (Flemish) Renaissance**: Prioritizes microscopic fidelity, intricate surface textures, light reflection, and exacting realism made possible by oil paint.\n\n- **Setting and Donor Iconography**:\n - **Contemporary Domestic Interior**: The Annunciation is set inside a contemporary 15 ext{th}-century Flemish home complete with water-stained wood doors, rusted iron hinges, and contemporary household goods (such as a copper pot in a wall niche).\n - **Function of Modernization**: Translating sacred biblical events into contemporary settings made divine narratives accessible and relatable to modern viewers.\n - **Left Panel (Donors)**: Shows the patrons kneeling in an enclosed garden, peering through an open door into the Annunciation chamber. Their personal piety and tithing grant them spiritual access to this vision.\n - **Depiction of Mary**: Uniquely shows Mary seated near, rather than actively wearing, her traditional blue mantle.\n\n- **Dimensions and Private Devotional Use**:\n - **Central Panel Size**: 2 ext{ feet} imes 2 ext{ feet}24 ext{ inches} imes 24 ext{ inches}).\n - **Function**: Compact and highly portable private devotional object. Unlike large church altarpieces exceeding 10 ext{ feet}$$ in height, its small scale enabled owners to fold the wings (protecting the painted surfaces) and carry it between personal residences or set it up in private home chapels.
Structural Mechanics and Iconography of the Ghent Altarpiece
Attribution and Location:
Created by the Van Eyck brothers (Hubert and Jan van Eyck).
Located in St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Flanders.
Format: Massive multi-panel polyptych fitted into an elaborate wooden frame.
Liturgical Schedule and Display States:
Closed State (Monday through Saturday):
Displayed closed during regular weekdays.
Exterior Panels: Features an exterior Annunciation scene across the upper register with Archangel Gabriel and Mary, including a copper basin in a niche similar to the Mérode Altarpiece.
Inscribed Dialogue: Gabriel's greeting reads "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." Mary's textual response is painted upside down so that it can be read from above by God.
Open State (Sundays and Holy Days):
Opened on Sundays for the celebration of Mass, as well as on major saints' feast days and liturgical holidays.
Opening the altarpiece reveals a magnificent explosion of luminous, saturated oil color intended to elevate the celebration of the Eucharist.
Interior Iconographic Registers:
Central Upper Register: Depicts God the Father (or Christ in Majesty) flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist (clad in a hair shirt).
Outer Wings: Features detailed, anatomically realistic depictions of Adam and Eve displaying bodily shame and modesty.
Angel Choirs and Liturgical Sensory Detail: Panels show choirs of angels singing and playing musical instruments alongside liturgical details, such as an altar server swinging an incense censer. The visual composition conveys physical movement (the tension and abrupt snap of the chain at full extension) while evoking auditory (choral singing) and olfactory (incense) senses during Mass.