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AP Art History Study Guide
Unit One: Prehistoric Arts
- Apollo 11 Stone (Namibia. 25000 B.C.E Charcoal on stone)
- Context:
- Found in the Hun's mountains of Namibia
- It was founded along with 7 other tablets that contained animal figures
- Founded during the Apollo 11 moon landings hence the name
- Content:
- Cave stones with animal-like figures with human legs
- Thought to be a Therianthrope. Animals resembles a feline body and human hind legs
- Form:
- Made out of charcoal on cave stone
- Maybe used mineral based pigment bc they found ostrich egg painted
- Function:
- Unknown but it is small enough to be carried in one’s hand
- Great Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux, France. Paleolithic Europe. 15000-13000 B.C.E. Rock painting)
- Context
- Stone Age
- Dordogne, France , Cave- 250 meters long, Hunter and gatherer lifestyle
- Content
- Animals that were of importance (bulls, horses, cattle, deer)
- Human vs animals
- Form
- Charcoal and ochre on nonporous rock
- Hierarchical scale
- Patterns were prominent (could tell us about our past)
- Only one human painting
- Function
- Shows the importance of survival
- Used for religious rituals, storytelling and preserving the history
- Camelid Sacrum in the Shape of a Canine (Tequixquiac, central Mexico. 14000-7000 B.C.E. Bone)
-
- Prehistoric-no written record
- Lost to scholars for about 60 years. It was privately owned
- Spiritual significance of sacrum. Pelvic bone is the fulcrum of the body & central to internal organs.
- Could be a symbol of fertility or connection to ancestry and posterity
- Content:
- Head of Canine, natural shape of sacrum bone probably suggested image of canine to the carver
- Nostrils, mouth
- Form:
- Made from the now fossilized remains of the sacrum-triangular pelvic bone of a camelid (now extinct)
- Function:
- Unknown but prehistoric artisans drew/painted/carved sculpted what they saw in their everyday life, so choice to render image of a canine makes sense
-
- Running Horned Woman (Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria. 6000-4000 B.C.E. Pigment on Rock)
- Context:
- Hunter & gatherer society
- Thousands of paintings were found in the area
- Found in Algeria, Africa
- Content:
- White dots- body paint
- A horned woman running with arm and shin guards
- People running along with the horned woman
- Form:
- Hierarchical scale
- Pigment on rock
- Illusion of movement
- Profile perspective
- Function:
- Emphasized importance of survival
- Recognition of the importance animal and human relationship
- Beaker with Ibex Motifs (Susa, Iran. 4200-3500 B.C.E. Painted terra cotta)
- Context:
- Belong to the susa people
- Content:
- Central ibex (mountain goat)
- Running greyhound like animals
- Diamond shapes at the top of the beaker
- Birds encircling the top of the beaker
- Form:
- Painted terra cotta
- Geometric lines & shapes
- Function:
- For funerary practices
- Anthropomorphic Steele (Arabian Peninsula. 4th millennium B.C.E. Sandstone)
-
- Pre-Islamic Northern Saudi Arabia
- Found with 60 other steeles
- Fertile ground and area
- Content:
- Represent a human
- Trapezoid head with a horizontal necklace along with an awl
- The waist has a belt with two daggers
- Form:
- Made from sandstone
- Carvings are not intricate
- Bas-relief carving
- Function:
- Steele - a vertical stone monument or marker often inscribed text or relief carving
- Shows the importance of human figure
-
- Jade Cong (Liangzhu, China. 3300-2200 B.C.E. Carved Jade)
- Context:
- Farming society
- Content:
- Square hollow tube
- Represents dead ancestors
- Lines and circles = animals, humans, and monsters
- Form:
- Made from jade
- Precise engravings (created from sanding the jade)
- Bas relief
- Function:
- Show power and wealth
- Protect in afterlife, Found in graves, Connections to nature, rectangle= earth, circle= heavens of the sky
- Stonehenge (Wiltshire, UK. Neolithic Europe. 2500-1600 B.C.E. Sandstone)
- Context:
- Founded in Salisbury Plain England
- 1st phrase started around 3100 B.C.E. (this would be be concurrent w/ first dynasties of ancient Egypt)
- Construction continued the next 500 years. Building the structure would require precise planning and massive amount of labor
- Used machinery to get the lintel stones on top of the post stones
- Long term communal effort, shows that they are sophisticated
- Content:
- 3 Phases (Constructions), Before pyramids
- Huge pits dugged which allows stones to stay upright
- Form:
- Made mainly of bluestone which is very durable
- Post and lintel construction
- Monolithic Stones
- Function:
- Evident that the 2nd stage of construction, Stonehenge was used as a burial site (all Burials were males aged 20-50 important figures)
- Horseshoes of trilithons frames mark both mid-summer solstice and midwinter sunset (longest/shortest day of the year)
- The Ambum Stone (Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. 1500 B.C.E. Greywacke)
- Context:
- Settled communities which allowed more time for sculpture
- Greywacke: Really hard to carve long lasting and durable; valuable
- Content:
- Most likely a depiction of an Echidna, which is an egg-laying mammal that’s native to the New Guinea region
- The Ambum stone’s rounded belly provides balance and allows it to be a freestanding sculpture
- Form:
- Used substances carving techniques which means they subtracted a certain amount of greywacke stone to create they floaty neck
- Function:
- Unknown. But easy to pass around. Perhaps some religious purpose, buried w/ dead people
- Tlatilco Female Figurine (Central Mexico, sites of Tlatilco. 1200-900 B.C.E. Ceramic)
- Context:
- Appears to have come from graves
- Content:
- Figure of female form
- Elaborate style hair and lively expression
- Deformities: lack of defined hands and feet, 2 faces (may symbolize duality: yin/yang or evil/good)
- Form:
- Balanced through symmetry textured hair, heavy bottom
- Rarely depicted males but when they are they are often wearing masks/costumes
- Function:
- May have been part of a burial process
- Terra Cotta Fragments (Lapita. Solomon Islands, Reef Islands. 1000 B.C.E. incised)
- Context:
- Was discovered in New Caledonia islands ~about 85,000 indigenous people lived on these islands
- Content:
- Clear anthropomorphic figure depicted
- faces=highly geometric, large,
- Different groups have specific designs in their pottery.
- Form:
- Made from molded terra cotta , a reddish, brown, unglazed type of clay
- Used method called dentate stamping involves carving designs into existing natural materials
- Function:
- Fragments are from a pot used to store food
- Could have been a form of reverence for ritualistic/religious usage since pottery was a large part of Lapita Culture
- Pottery was exchanged within this group: this shows trade and communication
Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean
- White Temple and its Ziggurat (Uruk [modern Warka, Iraq]. Sumerians. 3500-3000 B.C.E. Mud Brick)
- Context:
- Content:
- 40 feet tall
- Tripartite plan
- Rectangular central hall
- Three entrances
- White temple
- North, west and east entrances
- Chambers with northeast with wood shelves
- North end contained a podium and altar
- Found lion & leopard bones
- Ziggurat
- Raised platform with sloping sides
- Has a stairway and has
- Form:
- Made out of mudrock and asphalt top
- Whitewashed
- Function :
- For government and religious purpose
- Rituals & sacrifices ( dedicated to Anu)
- Palette of King Narmer (Predynastic Egypt. 3000-2920 B.C.E. Greywacke.)
- Context:
- Found in the temple of Horus
- Made during the unification of lower and upper Egypt
- For King Narmer
-
- Contains The head of goddess Bat
- King Narmer with a bull tail and a lower Egpytian custom (kilt)
- Enemies decapitated and castrated
- Bull (King Narmer) knocking down walls
- Form:
- Carved from a grayish siltstone
- 2 feet long
- Function:
- Used for grinding up makeup (ex: Eye makeup and lipstick)
- Ceremonial; dedicated to a god
- Was also an object placed in graves
- Statues of Votive Figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) (Sumerians. 2900-2600 B.C.E. Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone)
- Context:
- Aspects of Mesopotamia religion is the votive figures
- Worshippers set up statues so that the statues would worship in place of the owners when owners leave the shrine
- Content:
- Figure of male and female donors
- Eyes are larger than hands (hierarchical scale)
- Form:
- Alabaster
- Pedestal
- 1 feet 3 inches
- Individualistic characteristics
- Eyes made of lapis lazuli-
- V-shaped bodies
- Brows - dark shells, limestone,bitumen
- Function:
- Portable
- Stand- in worshipper
i.
ii. iii.
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ii. iii.
iv.
- Context:
Depicts a seated scribe Scribes were the one of the few people that could write and read Egyptian Scribes were used to write down history and records
- Content:
Scribe holds a papyrus scroll Tranquil face = wisdom Scribe at work Sitting = position of royalty or respect
- Form:
- Body is limestone
- Nipples are made of wood
- Individualistic features
- The scribe would have been placed on a description
- Function:
- For funerals
- Created due to the respect the scribe had in society
- Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at UR (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq). (Sumerian. 2600-2400 B.C.E. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone)
- Context:
- Found in south Iraq
- Prosperous and fertile grounds
- Found in the graves of Ur (one grave contained 74 sacrifices)
- Content:
- Another side is the war
- Enemies of war- naked and bleeding given to the king
- Divided into 3 registers
- Hierarchical scale King is larger than others to show importance
- Talons folding an arrow- symbol of war
- Olive branch - symbol of peace
- Form:
- Mosaic tiles made from shells (from Persia), red limestone (from India), blue lapis lazuli (from Afghanistan)
- Small; portable
- Function:
- Mostly unknown
- Possibilities
- Music box
- Commemoration art
- A wallet (something to hold currency)
- Standard was a flag brought into battle (maybe held a flag in the past)
- Great Pyramids of Giza (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx (Giza, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. 2550-2490 B.C.E. Cut Limestone)
- Context:
- Tallest things for over 4000 years
- People were buried with all the things they need in life
- Cosway=elevated road led to nile-river
- When dead=boat arrive up cosway funeral temple taken to pyramid
- Pyramid of Khufu:
- Tallest of the 3 (481ft), 2300000 blocks over 50 tons
- king/queen chamber
-
- 2nds tallest but looks tallest because it’s on higher grounds
- Contains a Sphinx: carved into the bedrock, symbol of royal power.
Lion with the head of Khafre
- Pyramid of Menkaure:
- Smallest (213 ft)
- Most complex chambers of the 3
- Held Menkaure’s black stones
- Held many statues of the king
- Content:
- 3 major pyramids for 3 rulers over 3 generations
- Representations of the passages of the dead
- Pyramids = close to cities
- Form:
- Bedrocks, corestones, Tura limestone, casing red granite, mortar, edges = aligned with cardinal points
- Function:
- Burial sites for kings
- Royal mortuary complex
- Social structure
- Reflect solar cycle
- King Menkaura and Queen (Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. 2490-2472 B.C.E. Greywacke)
- Context:
- During the old kingdom during fourth dynasty
- Menkaure was the son of Khafre
- Content:
- Depicts Egyptian king Menkaure and his wife(unsure who it is)
- Wears traditional fake beard and headdress
- Both are stepping forward with left foot shows stepping into the afterlife
- Individualized & young facial and body characteristics
- Menkaura is slightly taller than his wife
- Both have nude upper bodies and wearing a skirt
- Form:
- No inscription
- Made out old greywacke (hard to carve)
- Rigid postures
- Function:
- Communicates the divinity of the pharaoh
- Memorial structure
- Used to make sure the pharaoh would reach the afterlife
- The Code of Stele of Hammurabi (Babylon [modern Iran]. Susian. 1792-1750 B.C.E. Basalt)
- Context:
- Babyloain kingdom
- King Hammurabi came into power
- Content:
- Laws written in cuneiform
- small register (showing right to be king)
- Over 300 laws that governed Babyloian society
- Law and punishments were severe
- Form:
- High relief
- 7.4 ft tall
- Basalt rock
- Function:
- To show the laws and punishments that will be enforced by Hammurbi
- Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall (Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th and 19th Dynasties. Temple: 1550 B.C.E.; Hall: 1250 B.C.E. Cut sandstone and mudbrick)
- Context:
- Heavily used New Kingdom
- Temple: 1550 B.C.E.
- Hall: 1250 B.C.E.
- Certain areas = restrictive and only able to be accessed by elite
- Currently in poor state due to lack of preservation
- Content:
- Pharaohs continued to add to it overtime
- Clerestory lighting = natural and coming from opening above
- Existed in Karnak, near Luxor.
Egypt
- Obelisk and sphinx make it Egyptian
- Form:
- Made of cut sandstone and mudbrick
- Axis designed and created on the 4 cardinal direction points, had a both a north/south and an east/west axes
- Hypostyle = columns hence the name one of the largest temple construction
- Axial temple: longitudinal split symmetry
- Pylon-long gate way/courtyard
- Function:
- Center of god Amun-Re
- Also honors several Egyptain gods and goddess
- Also known as the most select of places
- Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (Near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. 1473-1458 B.C.E. Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite)
-
- Hatshepsut = woman pharaoh
- New kingdom
- Hatshepsut wanted to prove that she was chosen to be Pharaoh
- Content:
- Kneeling statue of Hatshepsut - shows the masculine features of past Pharaohs (fake beard, deemphasized breast, and headdress) - 9 ft tall
- Temple had a relief carvings and statues of the Pharaoh with the gods
- Form:
- Temple cut from a cliff side
- Kneeling statue - made from granite
- Temple had a colonnade terrace (aligned with the winter solstice )
- Function:
- Funerary temple to Pharaoh Hatshepsut
-
- Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters (New Kingdom [Amarna], 18th Dynasty 1353-1335 B.C.E. Limestone).
- Context:
- Akhenaton changed the kingdom to only worshipping one god (Aten, the sun god )
- Akhenaton and Nefertiti made themselves the representative of Aten iii.
- Content:
- Aten is represented by a sun in the center
- Ankhs (symbol of life) radiate from the sun toward the family
- Shows family is connect to Aten
- Form:
- Bas - relief carving
- Limestone
- Disproportionate bodies
- Softer body positions (sloping and relaxed forms)
- Around 32 cm. high
- stylistic
- Function:
- Meant to be apart of house altar
- Iconography - depicts a god
- Tutankhamun’s Tomb, innermost coffin (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. 1323 B.C.E. Gold with inlay of enamel and semi precious stones)
- Context:
- Tut is the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti
- Content:
- Inner coffin was made out of solid gold
- Outer coffins had gems like lapis lazuli and turquoise
- Had a death mask
- The pharaoh held a crook and flail (symbols of the Pharaoh’s right to rule)
- Had depictions of Nekhbet (a vulture) and Wadjet (cobra)
- Back of death mask is covered in a spell to help the Pharaoh get to the afterlife
- Wore a fake beard
- Form:
- Innermost coffin was made out of gold
- Gold with many different gems
- Function:
- Meant to protect the body of the pharaoh
- Help the pharaoh reach the afterlife
- Last judgement of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb. Book of the Dead (New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty. 1275 B.C.E. Painted papyrus scroll)
- Context:
- Book of Dead = text with spells, prayers and inscriptions that helped the dead in the afterlife
- “Coffin Text’ instructions written on coffin
- Founded buried with HuNefer
- Horus 4 children are responsible for carving for Hunefer’s internal organs, represent 4 cardinal points
- Art contains Egyptian conventions
- Content:
- Depicted in white robe
- Led by Anubis=jackal- headed god who is carrying
an Ankh-symbol of eternal life
- Anubis = seemed with a scale, weighing Hunefer’s heart with a feather, from Ma’at (associated with living an ethical, ordered life). If feather weighs more = ethical life. If heart weighs more=beast Ammit (crocodile lion, hippo beast) will devour, Hunefer’s heart = unethical life
- Horus (a falcon head son of Osiris) hold an ankh introduces film to Osiris wife and Neftis (Osiris sister) stand behind ostris and join him in making judgment on Hunefer
- Form:
- Drawing/ painting on papyrus scroll
- Function:
- To prove Hunefer had lived an ethical life and deserved to enter the afterlife
- Lamassu from the Citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad. Iraq) (Neo- Assyrian. 720-705 B.C.E. Alabaster.)
- Context:
- Mesopotamia was often in war and being conquered by different people
- Palace of Sargon
- Founded the capital in modern day Khorsabad
- Content:
- Human headed winged bull (protective genies called Lamassu) guarded entrances
- Carved from a single block
- The Lamassu has five legs
- Curly long tail
- Expressive eyes
- Has a crown, detailed wings, double horns,decorations, beard, earrings
- Looked as if it is moving forward if seen from the side
- Form:
- High relief
- 13.9 ft tall
- Function:
- A spiritual guardian figure of city and important places
- Symbol of the kings power
- Held up the citadel
- Athenian Agora (Archaic through Hellenistic Greek. 600 B.C.E.-150 C.E. Plan)
- Context:
- Citizens (male Athenians) were able to participate in government
- Meritocracy and equality before the law
- Content:
- The stoa - government, business
- Athena -patron goddess
- Form:
- Buildings were made out of marble
- Function:
- Originally a burial ground during the Bronze and Iron ages
- Started as a market place then transformed into a government building
- Progressed into a sacred temple dedicated to Athena
- Anavysos Kouros (Archaic Greek. 530 B.C.E. Marble with remnants of paint)
- Context:
- During the Archaic period
- First obtained iron tools
- Found in a cemetery Anavysos
- Grave marker for Krisos
- Content:
- Young naked male
- A little bit larger than life size
- Kouros - youth
- Set up by an aristocratic family
- Form:
- Idealized male body- strong and lean
- Stiff body posture - influenced by egyptain art
- Naked body
- Neatly braided hair
- Function:
- It was very popular
- Used as grave markers
- Offerings to a god
- Peplos Kore from the Acropolis (Archaic Greek. 530 B.C.E. Marble, painted details)
- Context:
- Created in 530 BCE
- Content:
- Young maiden
- A peplos robe
- Arm extended while holding something
- Rigid stance - Eqytian influence
- Facial expression - transcendent & wise
- Form:
- Once brightly pigmented ( red hair colored eyes)
- Missing left arm
- Tightened wrist
- Wearing a dress
- Neatly braided hair
- Function:
- To honor or depict a goddess
- Placeholder in front of a temple
- Physical representation of a goddess
- Sarcophagus of the Spouses (Etruscan. 520 B.C.E. Terra cotta)
- Context:
- Found in Etrusan tomb
- Made in 520 BCE
- Etrusan women held a higher importance
- Content:
- Deceased woman and man together in intimacy
- Archaic smile
- Both people are reaching out
- The sarcophagus takes form of a bed
- Form:
- Painted terra cotta
- High-relief
- Relaxed figure
- Function:
- Grave marker
- Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes (Persepolis, Iran. Persian. 520-465 B.C.E. Limestone)
- Content:
- 72 columns, each 24 meters tall, extremely intricate
- Columbs capitals = animals: bulls, eagles, lions, all symbol of royalty
- 2 monuments of staircases
- The walls were carved with illustrations of hundreds of figures bringing offerings to the king from all the states conquered by Persian Empire
- Form:
- The carvings on the wall were bas-relief
- Display the importance and authority of King
- Column capital = high relief
- Hall = hypostyle architecture
- Function:
- Represents the expensive
nature of the Persian Empire and emperor’s power
- Ceremonial Hall
- Served as the center of Persian Empire’s capital
- Temple of Minerva (Veii, near Rome, Italy) and sculpture of Apollo (master sculptor Vulca. 510-500 B.C.E. Original temple of wood, mudbrick, or tufa [volcanic rock]; terra cotta sculpture)
- Context:
- Found in Ertuscan
-
- Long deep tufa - block foundations
- Square footprint
- Triple cellar (Three-room configuration)
- Temple held masks, antefixes, decorative details
- Terra cotta statues were once placed on the edge of the roof
- Which was set up in a horizontal register
- Form:
- Terra cotta
- Tufa - a porous rock similar to limestone
- Doric columns
- Stone foundations
- Wood, mudbrick, terra cotta superstructure
- Split into two
- Deep front porch with wide space Tuscan columns
- Triple cella
- Back portion has triple cella
- High podium
- Function:
- Dedicated to Minerva
- Shows Etruscan assimilation of Greek gods
- Values of the gods and goddess changed slightly for Etrucsan
- Tomb of the Triclinium (Tarquinia, Italy. Etruscan 480-470 B.C.E. Tufa and Fresco)
- Context:
- Iron Age - peak of Etrsucan culture
- Iron from Greece and north Africa
- Etruscans believed that the afterlife will be like life on Earth
- Funerary customs
- Did not bury people
- Intricate funerals for members of the elite
- Funerals had games, banquet, music and dancing
- Tombs had furniture
- Carved the deceased into the sarcophagus
- Had a triclinium - three couched dining room
- Tomb found in Tarquinia
- Content:
- Tomb has chambers
- Painted fresco walls
- Left wall - four dancers and a male musician
- Right wall has a similar painting
- One fresco painting is faded most likely had 3 couches with recliner diners and 2 attendants
- Animals under couches
- Men dressed in robes
- Trees and shrubs
- Nude cup bearer
- Tomb ceiling is checkered
- Form:
- Fresco paintings
- Cambers cut out of subterranean rock
- Stylistic depictions
- Angular and stiff postures
- Gender depiction
- Men - darker skin tone
- Women - lighter skin tone
- Function:
- For funerary rituals
- Contained the deceased and offerings to God
- Shared a final meal with the deceased
- Proportion of meal was left in
- Reinforce social economic
- Niobides Krater (Anonymous vase painter of Classical Greece known as the Niobid Painter. 460-45- B.C.E. Clay, red-figure technique [white highlights])
- Context:
- Methods: Throwing clay is centered or rotating wheels. While rotating, the potter pulls up the clay and forms it to desired shape. Turning and joining: Trimming superfluous and uneven clay to refine the shape of a vase/reduce the thickness walls. Burnishing: used to create smooth surfaces
- Each period of time had it’s own techniques
- Geometric period: geometric patterns
- Orientalizing period: animals professions and near eastern motifs
- Archaic and Classical Periods: vase displays human and mythological activities.
- Content:
- 2 sides
- Front: Niobe: 14 kids and bragged about it
- Leto = mother of Apollo and Artemis. They got revenge for their mother by killing Niobe’s kid
- Perfect profile
- Artemis = reaching quiver for another arrow
- Apollo = drawing his bow back
- Niobe kids = more frontal
- Back: Hercules holding club and wearing lion skin
- Athena = left
- Maybe it's not a painting of Hercules, maybe Greek soldiers are coming to honor him and ask for protection
- Form:
- Figure = stiff, early classical period, severe style. Made of clay
- Function:
- Type of Vessel = calyx-krater
- Large purch bowl
- Used to mix water and wine
- Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) (Polykleitos. Original 450-440 B.C.E. Roman copy [marble] of Greek original [bronze])
- Context:
- Found in palestra (place for athletes to work in) in Pompeii
- One of the most copied sculpture in Greeks
- Created at time when Greeks were in awe of the mathematics of perfection of human body
- Manipulated symmetry
- Content:
- Celebrates the human body, it's beauty, and strength
- Earliest examples of contrapposto: s-shaped curve off his spine, better balance, weight on his right foot, more naturalistic, tilted life-like appearance
- Strong sense of harmony: Left arm/ right leg=relaxed, right arm/left leg=tensed
- Broad shoulders/thick torso, muscular
- Hold an iron spear
- Depicts everyone ideal self
- Form:
- White marble
- Subtractive sculpture
- Life size=84 inches
- Function:
- People can learn from it
- Understand proportions
- Canons - a set of guidelines, outlining the ideal man based on ratios and measurements
- Showcase the beauty
- Acropolis (Athena, Greece. Iktinos and Kallikrates. 447-410 B.C.E. Marble.)
- Context:
- has been ransacked and burnt, blown up, etc multiple times
-
- there are multiple buildings most notably the Parthenon, Temple of Nike, old Temple of Athena, Altar of Athena Polias, Rome and Augustus altar, Athena Promachos, Erechtheion, and Propylaea. All with unique detail and purpose.
- Form:
- Extremely large, classical period
- Function:
- Most important religious center in Greece
- Grave Stele of Hegeso (Attributed to Kallimachos 410 B.C.E. marble and paint)
- Context:
- Diphlon cemetery in Athens
- Not citizens of Athens
- Women were defined by their relationship to men
- noble , her father grave plot was super magnificent
- Attributed to the sculptor Kallimachos
- Content:
- Relief sculpture of Hegeso and servant girl
- Servant holds jewelry box and Hegeso holds and look at a necklace (dowry)
- Drapery: elaborate forms and swirls, very close to her body
- She does not touch the ground: her foot is on a pedestal
- Inscription says Hegeso, daughter of Proxenos
- Form:
- Stele 5’2”
- Detailing of drapery: naturalistic, follows fold of body
- Function:
- Grave stones
- Winged Victory of Samothrace (Hellenistic Greek 190 B.C.E Marble)
- Context:
- Stands on the prow of a huge marble ship to spread the messages
- Had huge impact on the traditions of western art that followed
- Louvre in Paris, France
-
- Depicts Nike = goddess of victory
- Missing her head and both arms but used to hold a trumpet or cupping her hand around her mouth to announce a naval victory
- The way her body is sculpted=creates a spiraling effect: her wings reach back her chest forward, her feet down
- Wet drapery technique
- Form:
- Over 9ft tall
- Made of Thasian and Parian marble
- Was found in temple complex on the island of Samothrace called sanctuary of the Great Gods
- Function:
- statue=ex-voto (offering to deity) most commemorate a naval victory
- The offering would serve to gain the deities favor protecting sailors and armies against storms and enemies.
- Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon (Asia Minor [present day Turkey]. Hellenistic Greek. 175 B.C.E. Marble [architecture and sculpture])
- Context:
- Geographically desirable
- Pergamon Museum: tried to recreate it
- Content:
- Athena
- Fights Alkyoneus, main giant, as his mother looks in horror
- Appears triumphant as she fights
- Being crowned by winged Nike
- Uses battle shakes to aid in defeating the Giants
- Gigantoleira= slayer of the giants.
- Zeus:
- Battles 3 giants at once with help of an eagle (above) and his lightning bolt
- Cloaked in realistically ruffled robes
- 2 of 3 giants he had already defeated
- Form:
- 35.64×33.4 metres
- High relief sculpture
- More prominent gods and figures=higher relief
- Function:
- Worship of Greek gods
- Representation of Greek power
- Sacrifices=made on top of stairs
- House of the Vettii (Pompeii, Italy. Imperial Roman. Second century B.C.E.; rebuilt 62- 79 C.E. Cut stone and fresco)
- Context:
- House owned by Aulus Vettius Conviva and his brother, Aulus Vettius Restitutus
- Conviva= Augutalis- a position at the highest civic office a freeman could attain
- Content:
- 4th style wall painting=expansive
- Contains large central Halls (Atria)
- Largest of room opening on peristyle contains painting in red/black
- Mythical winged gods of Love
- Impluvium (water basin) lies at center of atrium for collecting rain
- Increasingly sexual nature of paintings and artwork marks a decline in Pompeii moral standards
- Phallic figures god priapus, females being sexual, and depictions of nude males symbolizes fertility
- Painting depicts Cupid collecting grapes
- Form:
- Covers 1,100 sq meters
- Demonstrates Pompeii’s late artistic and architectural style
- The house paintings=indicate a theme of forward-thinking
- Function:
- 2 lockrooms for storing valuables were displayed proudly in the vestibulum
- The brothers went from freedmen to very wealthy
- Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii (Republican Roman 100 B.C.E. Mosaic)
- Context:
- Found in the city of Pompeii which was preserved in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
- It was found in the House of Faun, named after the bronze statue of a faun found there
- The Battle of Issus (333 BC) which was a turning point in ancient history because the ruler of Persia (Darius III) is ordering a retreat of his troops
- Darius has a look of desperation and history says that Alexander pitied his family and let them live
- Content:
- Depicts the Battle of of Alexander the Great and Darius III
- Very dramatic and chaotic scene with a sense of mentum as the massive chariot is turning around
- Excellent use of foreshortening in the horse
- Alexander breastplate has Medusa’s head, which was used as a magical protection spell from evil, it also symbolizes divine birth
- Form:
- Floor mosaic, 2.72 by 5.13 meters
- Made from more than one million and a half pieces of stones and glass
- Possibly based on a wall painting done in 315 B.C.E. hellenistic period by a greek artist named Philoxenos because it matches a description of the painting written by Pliny
- Function:
- Found in the House of Faun which was the nicest mansion found in Pompeii which means it was piece of art aristocrats would have invested in for perhaps their own enjoyment and for the enjoyment of guests
- Seated Boxer (Hellenistic Greek. 100 B.C.E. Bronze)
- Context:
- Breaking away from the traditional idealized, heroic male nude
- Content:
- The humanity found in this work creates a sense of presence
- Muscular, powerful, and defeated
- Covering his head and face is bits of copper which posed next to the bronze resembles blood, covering his face and hands with wounds
- Form:
- Lost wax casting (hollow cast)
- Seated posture
- Made in different sections that were welded together
- Broken nose and shattered teeth
- Function:
- Attributed with healing powers
- Represents the cultural shift of the Hellenistic period
- Could have been a votive statue dedicated to a boxer
- Identifying him as the boxer of Quirinal
- Could be made to represent the culture of boxing in Ancient Greece.
- Head of a Roman Patrician (Republican Rome 75-50 B.C.E. Marble)
- Context:
- Patricians= worked in senate, wealthy and educated
- Male gaze
- Content:
- Wrinkled and toothless with w/ sagging jowls
- Wrinkles and other sign of ageing on this portrait serve to point out his admirable qualities of experience, seriousness and determination
- Form:
- Otricoli, head
- 1’2” High
- Marble
- Polychromed (painted in several colors)
- Terracotta was used and then painted with encaustic (otherwise referred to as a hot wax process)
- Veristic style=verism
- A form of realism (hyper-realistic)
- Over exaggerated
- Influenced by the tradition of ancestral imaginations. Death wax masks of notable ancestors were kept and display by the family
- Function:
- Displays respect
- Symbolizes wisdom, determination, experience, valor, and strength of Roman Republicans
- Augustus of Prima Porta (Imperial Roman. Early first century C.E. Marble)
- Context:
- Augustus claims to be reestablishing the senate but in reality is stabilizing Rome so he can be Rome first real emperor
- Utilize canon of proportions
- Cupid rides a dolphin and symbolizes Augustus win in battle of Actium
- Cupid=show Augustus ancestors=Aeneas and Caesar
- Content:
- Political significance, filled with Roman political ideology
- Idealized statue of him, very young and attractive
- Cupid is pulling down his garment at his ankle symbolizes his own divine lineage
- Sun God and Sky God (Sol and Caclus) are at top of Cuirass and shines down on all part of the Empire
- Form:
- Found in the villa of Livia (his wife) at Prima Porta
- Free standing, sculpture in the round
- Bas Relief carving on breast plate
- Standing contrapposto
- Function:
- Propaganda: the statue shows the positive qualities wanted to portray himself to the people in godlike way
- Demonstrating Augustus military power
- Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) (Rome. Italy. Imperial Roman. 70-80 C.E. Stones and concrete)
- Context:
- Original called Flavian Amphitheater
- Named after the family who paid for the Colosseum
- Later was referred to as the Colosseum
- Vespasian built this as a gift to the Greek people
- Showed the social statues based on where a person was sitting
- Content:
- Had vaults and arches
- Oval shaped
- Four amin levels
- 1-3 levels had arched windows
- 4 levels had no solid wall no windows( for slaves foreigners and women)
- Flat stage with sand in the center
- Sand was to absorb blood and bodily fluids
- The hypogeum
- The underground part of the colosseum
- Had animal pens, trap doors, and a network
- Level 1 - tuscan
- Level 2 - ionic
- Level 3 - Corthian
- Velarium
- A retractable awning that was used as shade for onlookers
- Form:
- Oval Amphitheater (stadium)
- To Greek theaters put together
- Inner ring made from concrete
- Outer ring made from Travertine ( limestone)
- Held 50,000 -80,000 people
- Covers 6 acres
- 50 meters high
- 189 meters long
- 156 meters wide
- Function:
- Public entrainment
- Battles and swordfights
- Forum of Trajan (Rome, Italy. Apollodorus of Damascus. Forum and markets: 106-112 C.E.; column completed 113 C.E. Brick and concrete [architecture]; marble [column].)
- Context:
- Fora- open city
- Were found in any Roman city at the heart
- Always included a temple
- Trajan had expanded the Roman Empire to all over the Mediterranean
- Content:
- Commemorate the Trajan’s victories
- Shows his proud military acts
- Full of Greek and Roman literature
- Form:
- Apollodorus of Damascus was the engineer
- Had a massive entrance way
- Column of Trajan 1.
- Past the forum was Basilica Ulpia
- Was filled with structures, carving
- Laid the foundation of modern cruciform church
- Function:
- Commemorate the victories and accomplishments of the Trajan
- Solidified power and greatness
- Worked as civic, ceremonial space
- Pantheon (Imperial Roman. 118-125 C.E. Concrete with stone facing)
- Context:
- Commissioned by Hadrian
- Most influential building in the Renaissance
- Inscription above doorway, reads tribute to Marcus Agibba
- Content:
- Fitted in bronze, pediment-sculpture that acted out the battle of titans, 8 arches=housed statues of deities & emperors,
- Statues of Augustus & Agrippa stood in Apse at the end of colonnaded side aisles of entrance
- Huge amount of geometric representation, floor=concentric circles/squares
- Almost all of it's mathematically proportioned
- Hole in the Dome=oculus
- One great window, when it rains water comes in
- Form:
- Reflects the movement of the heavens because of how sharp circle of light moves across building
- porch = rectilinear, upon entry the space opens up into a curvilinear, radial interior
- Structural system looks like it is based on a series of interesting arches-8 in total all where deities would have been housed on the interior
- Lighter materials used at the top of the dome
- 141 feet tall
- Function:
- Originally used as a temple to the gods, then made into a church
- Hadrian would hold court
- Pope used as a Catholic Church
- Expression of Hadrian wealth
- Oculus’s light functions as sundial.
- Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Late Imperial Roman 250 C.E. Marble)
- Context:
- Sarcophagus start to appear more commonly in the beginning of 2nd century
- Found near a tomb near porta tiburtina (gate in the Aurelian walls of Rome)
- More focus on interaction between the people
- Typical style of Late Imperial rome=emotional subject matters
- Borrows from Greeks in battle from art. Depth of imagers actions and interactions departure from Greek Arts
- Content:
- Roman=good guys in this piece, idealized, confident, young looking
- The goths=Barbarians/Gauls (western Europe)=enemy, portrayed disdainfully
- Movement is key in this piece
- Narrative piece
- Form:
- Very high relief
- Detailed carving, at some point the piece has 4 layers of figures on top of one another
- The figures along bottom are physically smaller, makes viewer feel like they are looking down upon them
- Uses contrast of light and darkness to guide a viewer’s eye
- Function:
- Created to mark the grave of a rich, unidentified Roman
Unit 3: Early Europe & Colonial Americas:
- Catacomb of Priscila (Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe 200-400 C.E. Excavated tufa and fresco)
- Context:
- Underground, in the north of Rome
- A place where the earliest Christians were buried
- Content:
- 10km or more than 5 miles wide
- At least 40,000 tombs
- Multiple sarcophagus for family members
- Scenes from the bible are depicted on the wall
- Book of Daniel
- Form:
- Cubiculum
- Passageways are stacked on top of each other
- Roman first style painting: Building up of plaster on wall to look like marble
- Function:
- Burial location for the actual members of Priscilla’s family
- Not a place for worship
- Santa Sabina (Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe 422-432 C.E. Brick and Stone, wooden roof)
- Context:
- In Rome, atop a hill
- Example of an ancient Constantinian basilica
- Roman Chrisitians chose it as the basis of their new churches
60a174e467e8ec74d0a64d6a_SS-AP-Art-History-part-2
- Content:
- Windows made of selenite
- Colonnade with side aisle on each side
ii. Walls broken up into entablatures
i
i
v. Clerestory windows line the upper entablatures of the nave
- Form:
- Spacious longitudinal nave
- Lights from windows manipulated to create a spiritual effect
- Function:
- Early Christian church
- To impress the view and inspire them to follow Chrisitianity
- Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from the Vienna Genesis (Early Byzantine Europe. Early sixth century C.E. Illuminated manuscript [tempera, gold, and silver no purple vellum])
- Context:
- Early Byzantine
- Iconoclast controversy (726-843)
- Content:
- Between realistic and abstract
- Patrons value of symbolism and abstraction
- Written in Greek
- Calls back to Romanesque
- Typical Byzantine art
- Form:
- Continuous narrative
- Animal skin pages
- Manuscript of the first book of the Bible
- Function:
- Probably read by a royal individual
- Not only aimed to depict stories of the Bible but also be symbol of the owners piety
- San Vitale (Ravenna, Italy. Early Byzantine Europe. 526-547 C.E. [Brick, marble, and stone veneer, mosaic])
-
- Built after the split of the Roman empire
- Made under the rule of Ostrogoths
- A place of worship
- Content:
- Focus on the center of the central plan
- Lots of Christian iconography and symbols of Christs
- Form:
- Centrally planned basilica
- Windows for lighting
- Ambulatory
- Byzantine church
- Function:
- Primarily to worship the Christian god
- Glorify the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora
- A reminder of the power of the Byzantine empire
-
- Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Constantiople (Istanbul) Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus 532-537 ce Brick and ceramic elements with stone and mosaic veneer)
- Context:
- Commissioned by Emperor Constantine
- Iconoclasm
- Content:
- Longitudinal and centrally planned Basilica
- Dome is on top of a square
- This is called a pendentive
- Four Minarets
- Mihrab
- Arabic calligraphy
- Form:
- Two floors centered on a giant nave with a great domed ceiling, along with smaller domes
- Centrally and longitudinally planned Basilica
- Function:
- Cathedral
- Mosque (1453)
- Museum (1934)
- Merovingian Looped Fibulae (Early Medieval Europe. Mid-sixth century C.E. [Silver gilt worked in filigree, with inlays of garnets and other stones])
- Context:
- Fibulae are brooches that were made popular by Roman military campaigns
- Became popular in the early Middle Ages and commonly found n barbarian grave sites
- Cultural exchanges occurred after antiquity and both groups (Barbarians and Romans) copied and shared similar works
- Content:
- Cloisonne: technique is inlaid semi-precious stones (popular in barbarian art)
- Ends of Fibulae: the shape of Eagle heads
- Garnets: used to decorate the eyes of the eagles
- The main body of the brooch: little fish
- Gems and semi-precious stones: used to decorate the rest of the fibulae
- Form:
- Stylized variation of the crossbow fibula (remember diverse ethnics groups all had their own spin to their fibulas!)
- Function:
- A brooch or a pin for fastening clothing (safety pin)
- Expensive objects to the commission: the owners wanted these objects to resonate with their identity
- Buried with the dead: showed their status and who they were as people
- Virgin (Theotokos) and Children between Saints Theodore and George (Early Byzantine Europe. Sixth or Early seventh century C.E. Encaustic on Wood)
- Context:
- A transitional piece
Byzantine Chrisitianity
- A mix of Greek/Roman aesthetics with the emerging Byzantine aesthetics
- Created in the era in which Constantinople restored and created dozens of churches
- Content:
- Spatial ambiguity makes the piece feel otherworldly and divine
- Subjects = the Virgin, the Christ child, Saint Theodore, Saint George, two angels, God
- The Virgin
- Center of the icon
- Seated on a throne elevated
- No eye contact with viewer
- Highlighted by Heaven’s light (connected to God)
- The Christ Child
- In the Virgin’s lap
- No eye contact like his mother
- The Saints
- St. Theodore = on the left; St. George = on the right
- Flank the Virgin on either side
- Front of the frame (closest to our world of all the subjects)
- Emotionless and erect (stare directly at the viewer)
- Feet slightly lifted off the ground (mark of divinity)
- The Angels
- Above and between the Virgin and the soldier saints
- Looking directly upwards to the hand of God
- Dressed in all white and have slight halos
- Highest in the frame and furthest back
- God
- Represented by hand emerging from the center
- His power is seen through the light emanating from his hand
- The light mostly lands upon the Virgin
- Form:
- An encaustic icon painting
- Encaustic = a painting technique that uses wax as a medium to carry the color
- Uses gold leaf
- Function:
- A private devotional object (to help them express their appreciation for God and enhance their spirituality)
- Lindisfarne Gospels (Early medieval [Hiberno Saxon] Europe 700 C.E. illuminated manuscript)
- Context:
- Illuminated by the bishop Eadfrith; made to honor God and St. Cuthbert
- Lindisfarne = island off the coast of Northumberland in England
- Produced in the British Isles 500- 900 C.E.
- Made in Italy
- Codex- bounded book
- Matthew= human (animal symbol)
- John=eagle (animal symbol)
- Mark= lion (animal symbol)
- Content:
- St. Matthew Page
- Straightforward
- A series of repetitive knots and spirals
- Ribbons are contained of abstract animals twisted
- Centrally located cross
- Stacked wine glasses coming together into a cross
- Luke’s page
- Abstract animals (snakes)
- Spiraled forms and swirling vortexes
- Gold letters: NIAM
- Luke’s portrait page
- Curly haired evangelist (Luke) sitting on a red-cushioned stool
- Luke holds a quill in hand
- Feet hover over a tray
- Wearing purple robe with streaks of red
- Gold halo shows divinity
- Above his head a flying calf clasping a green parallelogram=reference to gospel
- Eyes turned toward the viewer
- John’s cross carpet page
- Interplay of stacked birds
- One bird has blue and pink stripes (stripes = chaos in medieval)
- Form:
- Ink pigment and gold vellum
- Function:
- Some are Introduction pages of next content (John’s cross carpet: introduction to John’s gospel)
- Visual representation of people from the Bible
- Great Mosque (Cordoba, Spain. Umayyad 785-786 C.E. Stone masonry)
- Content:
- Large hypostyle prayer hall
- Interior space seems magnified by its repeated geometry
- Sense of awe and monumentality
- Mihrab
- Focal point in the prayer hall
- Framed by a famously decorated arch called the horseshoe arch
- Ribbed dome
- Above the mihrab
-
- Demonstrated the mathematical and architectural accomplishments if the Islamic civilisation
- Lavishly covered with gold mosaic in a radial pattern
- A courtyard with a fountain in the center
- A minaret (now encased in a square, tapered bell tower)
- Minaret = tower used to call the faithful to prayer
- Minbar
- Used to stand by the mihrab as the place for the prayer leader & a symbol of authority
- Repeating elements (columns, arches, voussoirs)
- The structural repetition suggests the same kind of repetition in prayer
- Mosaics
- Inscriptions from the Quran
- Intricate patterns/designs formed by the tesserae (tiles within a mosaic)
- Context:
- Multi-cultural influence seen in the art
- Ancient Roman columns in a hypostyle prayer hall
- Horseshoe arches
- Roman & visigoth architectural structure
- Islamic architecture characteristic
- Began as a Roman temple
- Temple converted into a church by the visigoths
- Umayyad conquerors converted the church into a mosque
- Site was practical and symbolic
- Islamic civilization
- Caliphates had classical Latin works translated into Arabic
- Gained mathematical knowledge from India
- Learned the invention of paper from China
- Form:
- Mosque - place of Islamic worship
- Function:
- To represent the presence of the Umayyads in Cordoba
- Place of worship
- Followers pray towards the mihrab (which faces Mecca)
- Represents a fusion of cultures & religions
- Pyxis of al-Mughira: (Umayyad 968 C.E. Ivory)
- Context:
- Best example of tradition of carved ivory in Islamic Spain
- Comes from the royal workshop of Madinat al-Zahra
- Currently located in the Louvre
- Content:
- The pyxis is decorated with four eight-lobed medallions
- Each medallion has princely iconography
- Humans and animals play a big part in their iconography
- Form:
- Carved ivory from an elephant tusk
- Ivory was durable, smooth, and easy to carve (made it desirable to make into pyxides)
- Inlaid jade and other precision stones
- Highly portable (most often given as gifts)
- Function:
- Were given to members of the royal family
- Specifically given on memorable days such as marriage, birth, or coming of age
- Later they were given to important allies they claimed their allegiance to the Umayyads
- Its technical function was carry perfumes and other cosmetics
- Church of Sainte-Foy Conques, (France. Romanesque Europe. Church: c. 1050–1130 ce; Reliquary of Saint Foy: ninth century ce, with later additions)
- Context:
- Pilgrims went to receive a blessing; their visitation = demonstration of piety
- That church was also an abbey: it was part of a monastery where monks lived, prayed, and worked
- A church had stood on the spot since the 600s
- Content:
- Barrel-vaulted nave, with arches on the interior
- Prominent transept
- Elaborately carved Tympanum on the South Portal of Christ and the Last Judgement
- Christ sits enthroned at the center
- His right hand gestures up, towards heaven, on the side of the saved
- His left hand gestures down, towards hell, on the side of the damned
- Below the saints on Christ's right: an arcade covered by a pediment, symbolizing the House of Paradise
- Houses the blessed/saved; people who will live with Christ forever
- Abraham is seated at the center
- Above Abraham, the Hand of God reaches out to a kneeling Sainte Foy (Saint Faith)
- On the pediment's opposite side, right under the enthroned Christ's feet, angels open and release souls from their graves to be weighed/judged by God to determine if they're going to Heaven or to hell.
- A large doorway leads to paradise
- A gaping mouth leads to hell
- Clear divide in faith
- Pediment of the Lower register of Hell
- Centrally-seated Devil sits, grinning, surrounded by tortured, screaming souls
- Figures in intense pain, panic, chaos, and cruelty surround him
- All represent some capital sin (adultery, gluttony, arrogance, misuse of church offices)
- Devil sits enthroned like Christ: he has the power to Judge and decide punishments for the damned
- On the Devil's left: a hanged man, representing Judas
- He hanged himself after he betrayed Christ
- Form:
- Romanesque pilgrimage church
- Cruciform plan
- Cross commemorates Christ's sacrifice
- Helped crowd-control
- Pilgrims traveled around the ambulatory and radiating chapels, paying homage to saints' shrines
- Function:
- To host pilgrims on their journey to Santiago de Compostela in Spain
- To bless its visitors, demonstrate their piety, and help them be saved on Judgment day
- To inspire (or scare) Christians into behaving in a holy manner that would ultimately lead them to Heaven
- Reminder to both pilgrims and monks/clergymen
- There was a lot of misuse of church offices at the time (even though it was a sin)
- To venerate Christ, and commemorate his sacrifice on the cross as a second chance for mankind's salvation
- Bayeux Tapestry (Romanesque Europe (English or Norman). c. 1066–1080 ce. Embroidery on linen)
- Context:
- Shows the Battle of Hastings in 1066
- But begins with events leading up to it
- Shows William of England, the Duke of Normandy, and Harold, the Earl of Wessex that occurred in 1066
- Tapestry created in Canterbury 1070
- Believe that the patron was Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William’s half brother
- Tapestry depicts Normans nicely in the events
- Inscriptions has Odo
- Content:
- 75 scene with Latin inscriptions
- First meal
- Calvary and foot soldiers
- Form:
- Not a true tapestry because it's not woven into the cloth: high quality of the needle work suggests Anglo-Saxon embroiderers
- Eight colors
- Unrealistic: 1d, flat, no depth or space perception, splits into 3 sections (thin top and bottom and larger middle section) in an attempt to show depth/foreground and background)
- Top and bottom also function as borders
- Function:
- To commemorate the win of the Normans
- And to give a (semi) accurate depiction of the war
- Chartres Cathedral (Chartres, France. Gothic Europe. Original construction c. 1145–1155 ce; reconstructed c. 1194–1220 ce. Limestone, stained glass)
- Context:
- Long history of use as a Christian space: used for Christian worship
- Associated with the worship of the Virgin Mary
- The Romanesque church on the original site burned down in 1194–but the tunic was found three days later, unharmed
- The people of the town took this as a divine message that they should rebuild the church so that it would be as grand and beautiful as possible, deserving to be the worship place of Mary
- Content:
- Everything about the church was chosen by architects in the effort to create “heaven on Earth”
- One of the best examples of Gothic cathedrals
- New focuses on more airy, open spaces; thinner walls, and geometry
- People used the perfect proportions of geometry to try to simulate and bring to mind the balance, harmony, and beauty of the world that God had created
- Jamb figures
- The relief figures that are carved into either side of the portals/doorways
- Kings and queens of the Old Testament
- Carved in Gothic style
- Representations of spiritual beings
- They seem to levitate
- Their drapery obscures their bodies
- Gothic emphasis on stained glass
- Large windows
- “Floating planes of light”
- Light was seen as a divine symbol because it was beautiful and immaterial
- Vivid, rich colors used in the glass
- Large rose window in the north transept
- North transept portal has intricate jamb figures
- Relief archivolt sculptures protrude many feet from the side of the church, almost forming their own chapel
- The chancel screen (aka a screen separating the area around the altar from the larger nave) once sported an astrological clock that told the day of the week, the month of the year, the time of sunrise and sunset, the phase of the moon and the current zodiac sign
- Form:
- The formal plan of the Church is a Latin cross with three aisles, a short transept, and an ambulatory
- Three part elevation of nave arcade, triforium, and clerestory
- Uses pointed arches and ribbed vaults inside the body of the church, which is very typically Gothic
- Everything was meant to move the eye upward
- The radiating chapels were integrated into the larger area of the church, which allowed for light to permeate all parts of the church
- Based on a cruciform basilica plan, with a transept intersecting the nave being added after the fire
- Transept provided an extra entrance/exit, which was good for the flow of people
- Chartres has nine portals
- Function:
- Hugely popular pilgrimage site
- People could walk all the way around the church, see the relic, and exit
- Embarked on pilgrimages in order to gain health, divine goodwill, or to ensure their place in heaven during the afterlife
- Many components, such as the guardian jamb-figures and the stories told in the stained glass, were constructed to aid in the pilgrims' journey; the jamb figures reminded the pilgrims of the ever-present merciful eyes of God and the angels
- The first cathedral in which the flying buttresses determined the overall exterior aesthetic plan of the building
- Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France, Scenes from the Apocalypse from Bibles moralisees (Gothic Europe. c. 1225–1245 ce. Illuminated manuscript)
- Context:
- In 1226, the French king died and the queen was left to rule until their son became the age to rule
- Moralized bibles were often made for royalty
- Content:
- Depicts the Queen Blanche of Castile and her son Louis IX and a cleric and a scribe around shown below them
- sophisticated, urban setting
- Illustrated the New and Old Testament
- Included explanatory text about the Bible and Biblical events
- Was used to teach Louis IX about moral obligations and religion
- In the upper register the king and queen wear a Fleur-de-lys (a stylized iris or lily flower)
- The Queen wears a white widow’s wimpled and raises her hand towards Louis IX
- The Queen’s gesture - shows link between Heaven and Earth( similar gesture of Mary to Christ)
- The ceric wears a sleeveless robe (a sign of divine services)
- Tilts his head forward
- Points his finger toward the artist
- The artist wears a blue surcoat and a cap while sitting on the couch
- Has a knife in one hand and a feather in the other
- Form:
- Gold background
- Stylized and colorful buildings shown towering above the Queen’s and her son’s head
- Gold, lapis lazuli, green, red, yellow, grey, orange, and sepia
- Function:
- Used to teach Louis IX moral obligations and religious events
- Was delicate to him
- Shows right to rule through divine right
- Rottgen Pieta (Late medieval Europe 1300-1325 C.E painted wood)
- Context:
- Depictions of Christ on the cross would demonstrate the Christus triumphans
- Greco Crucifixion showed suffering
- Reflects mysticism as it is a holy object that would have been prayed to
- Was common in German abbeys
- Content:
- Spirituality, mysticism, and pure emotion is shown in Mary’s face as she hold the beaten and tortured Christ
- Sharp crown of thorns
- 3D blood and wounds (very violent and gruesome)
- Mary draped in heavy fabrics suffering
- Extremely skinny and contorted body of Jesus
- Form:
- Painted wood
- Damage (worm holes in Mary’s head and less pigment)
- Function:
- Used to force the viewer to examine the emotion
- Would have been on an altar
- Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel including lamentation (Padua, Italy Unknown architect Giotto di Bondone (artist) Chapel 1303 C.E. Fresco 1305 C.E. Brick architecture and fresco)
- Context:
- Called the arena chapel because it is close to arena
- Patrons were the Scrovegni family
- Private devotional art
- Painted by Giotto
- Content:
- Narrative scenes
- 3 registers of narrative
- Top: Yoakim and Anna’s (Christ’s grandparents) and the birth and life of Mary
- Middle: scenes of Christ’s life
- Bottom: passion
- Wall fresco : Last Judgement
- The lamentation
- Apart of the passion scenes
- Transitory work
from middle ages to renaissance
- Illusionism - having architectural elements- for an earthly, not the typical gold background
- Humanism- figures interacting with each other (ex: kissing and crying)
- Lamentation
- Christ being mourned by his followers and Mary
- Mary holding her dead child in her arms
- She is extremely sad and upset
- Angels mourning too (tearing at clothes and hair)
- All eyes lead to Christ
- The hill is straight line to christ
- Symbols
- Dead tree- will grow again
- Mary Magdalene at Christ’s feet with her red hair
- Form:
- Fresco, Illusion of space, Chapel covered fresco, Flat figure, Fake marbles panels
- Uses lapis lazuli
- Secco fresco
- Foreshortening is used
- 3D figures
- Pre linear perspective
- Function:
- Atone for the sin of usurer
- Bankers were considered ursarers
- Private devotional art
- Golden Haggadah (Late Medieval Spain. C.1320 CE. Illuminated manuscript (pigments and gold leaf on vellum)
- Context:
- Painted in Barcelona
- Jewish art and Christain influences
- It was forbidden to depict images like this at that time
- Content:
- Haggadah means narration
- The history of Passover
- Salvation from slavery from Egypt
- Form:
- Illuminated manuscript
- Gold lead of vellum
- Golden background
- Christian gothic influences
- Long following bodies
- Function:
- Depicted the story of Passover to be read at seder
- Used mostly at owner’s house
- Showed the wealth of the owner
- Significance of of Jewish culture
- Alhambra (Granada, Spain Nasrid Dynasty 1354- 1391 C.E. Whitewashed adobe stucco, wood, tile, paint and gliding)
- Context:
- Alhambra is abbreviation of Qal’at Alhambra
- Built by the Nasrid Dynasty (the last Musliums to rule Spain)
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf created the Nasrid Dyansty
- The Palace of Lions was created by Muhammad V
- Content:
- The hall of two sisters
- 16 windows at the top of the hall
- Honeycomb stalactites
- Was used for receptions and music
- Has a palace of lions
- Contains different palaces, gardens, wtaerpools, fountains and courtyards
- Palace of lions
- Separate building that was connected later
- Arched over patios that encircles a marble fountain
- Contained resident halls with star motifs
- The Partal Palace aka the Portico
- Portico in the center of the arcade and at the edge of the pool
- Comares Palace
- Arched grill allows light in
- Walls have inlaid tile with geometric pattern
- Salon de Comares (hall of ambassadors)
- Jannat alafia (means paradise and garden)
- Vegetables and ornamental objects in the garden
- Form:
- Covered with decorations
- A lot of rhombus geometric forms and calligraphy
- Fake arches
- Rich ceramics and plasterwork
- Intricate carved wooden frames
- Murqunas holding up the ceiling Hall of kings
- Mocrabe vault can be seen in the Hall of two Sisters
- Ornamental elements
- Carved stucco decoration
- Reflecting water
- Shaded patios
- Courtyards and gardens
- Function:
- Palace for the Nasrid Sultans
- Medina (city)
- Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece) (Tournai, South Netherlands. c. 1427-32 CE. Made by the Workshop of Robert Campin. Oil on oak)
- Context:
- Campin was a successful painter in Northern Europe
- Annunciation was painted first then the side doors were added
- Content:
- Center scene is Mary and Gabriel
- Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her about her becoming pregnant with Christ
- The drapery has sharp folds fell onto unseen bodies and floor
- Shiny pot = Mary’s virginity
- Many object representing incarnation
- The holy spirit coming to the window holding the cross
- The patrons (husband and wife) are on the left of the painting kneeling in a wall garden (also a
representation of Mary’s virginity)
- Joseph on the right making tools in a workshop
- Form:
- 25 ⅜ x 46 ⅜ - overall
- Attention to detail
- Shin nail
- Rust
- Shadows
- Realism
- Not in perspective
- Not mathematically correct
- The table shows double perspective
- Oil on oak
- Function:
- Can be folded and carried
- To aid in private devotion
- Pazzi Chapel (Basilica di Santa Croce. Florence, Italy. Filippo Brunelleschi (architect) 1429-1461 C.E. Masonry)
- Context:
- Part of the basilica di Santa Croce
- Mostly centrally-planned space
- Reminiscent of the Pantheon floor plan
- Inspired by Roman temples b. Content:
- Corinthian columns
- Fluted pilasters
- Pendentives with roundels
- Small barrel vaults
- A dome that has a halo of windows and a oculus
- Form:
- Uses the Pietra Serena Stone
- Perfect geometry
- Very orderly
- Function:
- A chapter house = a meeting for monks
- A burial site for Pazzi family
- A representation of the power and devotion of the Pazzi family
- The Arnolfini Portrait (Made by Jan van Eyck. c. 1434. Oil paint on oak panel)
- Context:
- Made during the Northern renaissance and Italian Renaissance
- Made by Jan van Eyck
- Content:
i.
ii. iii. iv.
v.
vi. vii. viii.
One candle in the chandelier is a symbol of God’s presences dog= a sign of fidelity Man raises hand as in swearing to an oath Shoes were removed Jan Van Eyck signature
- Acting like a witness
- Mirror reflection of serval human figures in a doorway
- Double portrait of an already married couple
- Shows off their wealth
- Oranges
- Expensive furs
- Carpet
- Gathered skirt - women is not pregnant
- Form:
- Lacks perspective
- Glazing
- Greater attention to detail
- Function
- Documentation of a wedding
- David (Donatello 1440-1460 C.E. Bronze)
- Context:
- During the Middle Ages: had not seen human-scaled bronze figures until the David=first free-standing nude figure since classical period
- Middle Ages: a period when the focus was on God and the soul and didn't create nude art
- It was place in a niche high up in the buttresses of the Cathedral of Florence
- It depicts the bible story of David and Goliath, from the old Testament
- Content:
- 5 feet tall, bronze
- Contrapposto: natural stance similar to the Greek/Roman
- Free standing: detached from architecture, gives it freedom to move in the world, show expression, and communicate with you+contrapposto=humanistic
- Shows both thoughtful/Pride emotions
- Form:
- Downcast eyes+the lids are half closed=not an expression of victory
- Subtle pride: the facial muscles are relaxed, the mouth is slightly closed+smile small
- Right hand holds the sword that he used to cut off Goliath’s head
- Function:
- Represent the story of David and Goliath
- Tells Christian followers that God’s might will help you through any challenges you face
- Palazzo Rucellai (Florence, Italy. Leon Battista Alberti(architect) 1450 C.E. Stone Masonry)
- Context:
- Constructed as part of the “building boom” after the Medici family built their own
- The Palazzo was never actually finished- only ¾ of the original plan was constructed
- Partly based on the Medici Palace (and it’s three facade design)
-
- Includes the Rucellai family seal (a diamond ring with three feathers coming out of it)
- Nearly every piece of Palazzo’s design is pulled from ancient Greek and Roman architecture
- Has: cross-hatching, large blocks of stone, post-&-
Lintel portals, rectangular windows, all straight lines
- The Loggia: Caddy-cornered to the Palazzo Rucellai
- A large open space, with rounded archers, corinthian capitals, colonnades, pilasters
- Form:
- Emphasis measure and harmony
- All about horizontality: the higher the floor the more intricate and fancy it becomes
- Building has 4 floors
- Function:
- Created to house the Rucellai family
- It depicts the physical representation of the family’s wealth, status, power, and importance
- Madonna and Child with Two Angels (Fra Filippo 1465 C.E. Tempera on wood)
- Context:
- The Medici family commissioned it
- Florence was rich during
- Growing middle class
-
- Very simple halos (thin white/ yellow circle)
- Mary
- Sculptured face, fair, blonde hair, small mouth
- Translucent headpiece
- Green dress with ruffles and button
- Sits on ornate furniture
- Jeweled crown
- Angles
- Playful
- Angel foreground smiling
- Angels holding up Christ as he kneels
- Wings = seem wooden
- Golden hair (similar to Christ)
- Christ
- Small, chubby baby
- Kneeling on angels
- Fair and blond
- Arms stretching towards Mary
- Wearing a cloth
- Frame of window becomes frame of painting
- Form:
- Playful - no gold, not solemn and not traditional medieval
- Function:
- Medici family paid for this art to show poetry, wealth
- Also used as a reminder of Christ’s story
- Birth of Venus (by Sandro Botticelli. c. 1482-6. Tempera on canvas)
- Context:
- The painting depicts Venus, the Roman goddess of Love
- Content:
- Venus is standing atop of a white shell, golden hair, pale skin, entirely nude but covering her lower body to incite modesty
- Venus is accompanied by an attendant with a cloth to cover her (Far right)
- Zephyr and Aura, wind sprites, blowing wind from the far left
- Form:
- She stands casually
- Flexible, skeletal structure (her body)
- Lots of folds and lines that intersect with one another: waves, seashells, clothes
- This indicates movements
- Function:
- Served a 2 purposes:
- Mythical and educational
- Artist revealed in his own creation
- Last Supper (Lenordo da Vinci 194-1498 C.E. Oil and tempera)
- Context:
- Da Vinci was born in Florence, Italy
- Painted this during high Renaissance time
- Missing halos which was popular at that time
- Narrative of a Biblical event
- Content:
- Christ tells the 12 apostles sitting with him that one of them will betray him during a seder at passover
- The apostles have extreme reactions
- Chaos erupts
- One apostle remains calm and collected showing his divinity
- Jadus looking down ashame as he reaches the same bowl as Christ
- Peter rushes to defend Jesus with a knife against the betrayer
- John closes his eyes
- Phillp points to himself in grief
- James tries to calm down everyone
- 3 windows, 4 groups of 3 apostles
- Form:
- Oil and tempera and lead white
- Double layer of dried plaster
- Uses linear perspective
- Strong sense of depth
- The vanishing point is behind Christ’s head
- Chirst’s body is a triangle shape
- Individualized facial features and characteristics
- Sfumato technique- use of glaze in slightly different tones to depict light and dark)
- Function:
- Monks would eat slightly in front of the painting for contemplation
- Shows the flaws of humanity
- Adam and Eve (Albrecht Durer 1504 C.E, Engraving)
- Context:
- Albrecht
- Born in1471 in Francnian city of Nuremberg
- Revolutionized print making
- Christian
- Content:
- The two figures (Adam and Eve) nude
- Four animals in left corner symbolizing Phlegmatic (ox), Sanguine(rabbit), Melancholic (elk), and Choleric(cat) ( the four Humors)
- Showed the connection between humans and animals
- The figures are setting off into the woods with plants and animals
- Adam holds a mount of ash (the tree of life)
- Eve picks an apple from the tree with fig leaves
- The serpent gives the forbidden fruit into Eve’s hand
- Opposed by a parrot (symbol of wisdom and virgin birth of Christ)
- Mouse =male weakness
- Mountain goat= lust and damnation
- serpent= evil
- parrot=salvation
- Form:
- Woodcut engravings
- Proportional bodies
- Vitruvius: the proportions of the face (the distance from forehead to chin)
- Contrapposto
- Naturalism
- Nearly symmetrical poses
- Function:
- Story telling of the story of Adam and eve from the bible
- Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall Frescoes (Vatican City, Italy. Michelangelo. Ceiling Frescoes : 1508-1512 C.E. altar frescoes : 1536-1541 C.E)
- Context:
- Michelangelo started the mosaics and frescoes in 1508
- Worked on it for 4 years
- The chapel went through controversial cleaning of soot and grime iv.
- Content:
- The ceiling
- Figure were large in size and presences
- Influence of Greek and ancient Roman styles
- Richly colored
- 9 Biblical scenes in chronological order placed horizontally
- Noah is drunk, The great flood, Noah and his family make a sacrifice after the flood, Adam and Eve are tempted, God creates Eve, God creates Adam, God divides the water from the Earth, God creates the Sun and the planets, God divides light from darkness
- Scenes are covered with prophets and sybils (pagan soothsayers that foretold the coming of Christ)
- Scenes of the salvation of Israel
- The four architectural corner of nine biblical scenes are nude male figures called iguni
- The Delphic Sibyl
- Her body has a circular composition (shows grace and elegance and harmony)
- Looks as if she is coming out of the wall
- Idealized body
- The Deluge
- The physical space between water and the sky (separated into 4 narratives)
- Used to make viewers question why God killed the whole population of Earth except for Noah and his family
- Shows group of people finding shelter
- A small boat
- Men working to build an ark
- Form:
- Every surface (floor, ceiling, and walls) are covered with mosaics
- Very realistic figures and idealized beauty
- Emphasis of muscular autonomy
- Function:
- Where the College of Cardinals determines the next pope
- Story telling of the biblical events
- Schools of Athens (Stanza della Segnatura, the Vatican, Rome, Italy. c. 1509-1511. fresco)
- Context:
- A few years before the Protestant Reformation (which brought uncertainty about salvation)
- Was originally named Philosophy because of the bookshelf that held Julius II’s collection of philosophy books
- Drew inspiration from Ancient Roman architecture
- Content:
- The four walls show the four branches of human knowledge (Philosophy, Theology, Poetry, and Justice)
- The ceiling is model after the Sistine chapel ceiling
- All of the great thinker are gathered together (ex: Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Baramate)
- The central vanishing point of the painting is the space between
- Has sculpture of Apollo and Athena
- Heraculities writing on tilted rock
- Form:
- Raphael added a left and right vanishing point
- Linear perspective
- Use orthogonals in the pavement
- Function:
- A tribute to famous philosophers and thinkers in Rome
- Also a payer that their knowledge will be passed down to the pope
- Isenheim AltarPiece (Matthias Grunewald 1512-1516 C.E. Oil on wood)
- Context:
- Isenheim hospital was run by Brothers of St. Anthony
- Predella - the bottom part in the altarpiece
- Content:
- The left picture:
- Left side - red robe figure standing next to the crucifixion
- Middle -
- Christ is centered and crucified ( very dramatic)
- Hanging down from the cross
women wearing white
- On the right of Christ - red robed man and a dog
- Right side- red and blue robed bearded, old man carrying a staff
- Pradella
- Jesus’s dead body being held up by other people next to a grave
- The right picture
- Left picture: a woman looking up at a robed figure
- Middle:
- Left side: woman wearing pink dress playing a guitar
- Right side: Mary and Christ (as a child) in a landscape (blue sky and orange sun)
- Left picture: panel is closed
- The virgin is swooning into the arms of St. John, John the baptist motions towards Christ, Lamb of God is shown, Mary Madelgane is crying, St.
Sebastian and St. Anthony
- Right picture: open
- Annunciation, Virgin and child, Resurrection (fireball)
- Angels playing music for Christ’s birth
- Form:
- 9 ½” x 10 9” ( just central panel)
- Oil on wood
- Function:
- Object of devotion
- Fully opened on special occasions
- Entombment of Christ (Jacopo da Pontormo. 1525-1528 C.E. Oil on wood)
-
- Placed in the church entrance way above the altar
- Early mannerist style
- Mannerist style- after the Renaissance and before Baroque period
- In the Capponi chapel of Santa Felicita, Florence
- Protestant Reformation
- Content:
- Mournful atmosphere
- The fresco beside it shows the annunciation; this shows the end
- Mostly people
- Unnatural body positions
- Exaggerated emotions and facial features
- A lot of movement
- Form:
- Oil on wood
- Elongated figure
- Function:
- Altar piece
-
- Allegory of Law and Grace (Lucas Cranach the Elder. c. 1529. Woodcut and letterpress)
- Context:
- Located in Germany
- Made during Northern Renaissance
- Influenced by the Lutherian reformation
- Content:
- explain s the Lutherian ideas
- Heaven is reached through faith and god’s grace
- Luther rejected the idea of Catholicism where good deeds got you to heaven
- Two nude figures on both sides of a tree
- Law (left) = dying tree
- Gospel (right)=living tree
- Six columns of of Bible citations
- The Law side:
- Law & judgement - man being forced into hell by Death(skeleton) and Satan (demon)
- Moses delivering the ten commandments (holding a white tablet)
- White tablet stands out against the orange rope and green tree
- Held by Luther
- Christ sitting in judgement
- Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit
- Motifs - law alone, without gospel cannot get you to heaven
- Right Gospel side
- Grace and gospel with Christ’s cross crushing Death and Satan
- John the Baptist directs a naked man to Christ on the cross in font of a tomb
- People covered in the blood of Christ
- Nude figure wishing not to follow the law of judgement
- Law paves the way for salvation
- Judge (condemns human sins)
- Show mercy and forgiveness
- Includes events from the Old and New Testament
- Form:
- Woodcut and letterpress
- Oil on wood
- Function:
- To spread Lutheran Reformation
- Venus of Urbino (Titan 1538 C.E. Oil on Canvas)
- Context:
- Perfect Ventian Art: the movement of art in Venice was shown with it's deep rich colors and use of shadows and use of light. Glazing techniques were used to create subtle changes in gradient and level
- Venice during this time was a stable republican government that allowed lots of trade and had the ability to invest in artists
- Content:
- Venus was a symbol of beauty, Venus has very small and unrealistic feet
- dog symbolizes fidelity
- Child and maid - motherhood
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Layers of oil paint to show shade and lighting
- Function:
- Duke Urbino Guidobaldo II Della Rouvre gave this as a gift to his wife
- The painting reflect how the wife should be to the husband (sexually and respectful
- Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza (Viceroyalty of new Spain 1541-1542 C.E ink and color on paper)
- Context:
- The codex contained information about the Aztec Empire and the lords of Tenochtitlan
- Frontispiece- an illustration facing the title of the book
- Antonio de Mondoza commissioned the codex
- Tenoch, ruler of the Mexicas, died in 1363
- Content:
- Frontispiece
- Schematic diagram of Tenochtitlan (place of the prickly pear cactus and stone)
- Showed city divided into four parts - aligned with the cardinal sign (north, south, east, west)
- City made of canals
- Aztec myth of the hummingbird (Huitzilopchtli): a deity that told aztec ancestors to move from Aztlan (the original
home of the Aztecs) and to find a place with an eagle on top of a cactus growing out of a rock when they see this settle and build a city
- Center:
- The eagle sitting on a cactus growing out of a rock
- Under cactus and rock is a war symbol
- Above the eagle is the symbol of a temple (might be templo Mayor)
- Next to eagle (the right)= a skull rack (Tzompantli) this was found near Templo Mayor
- Maize was important to the Aztec people
- Tenoch:
- 10 men, wearing white garments and top knots, depicted in the four quadrants
- The men who lead the island
- Name glyphs attached them to pre-Columbian manuscripts
- Priest:
- Seated on the left side of the eagle
- Has gray skin and red marks on face
- Name glyphs identifies him as “tenoch”
- Has a speech scroll coming out of his mouth( represents to listen to him because he speaks the word of god) and he is sitting on a woven mat
- Bloodletting from ear for the gods
- All around the page has year glyphs ( total of 50)
- Year marked for fire ceremony
- Twenty - six years after Tenochtitlan creation marked
- Two scenes of military conquest
- Obsidian bladed swords ( macana)
- Burning of temples of the Colhuacan and Tenayuca who were defeated
- Form:
- Ink and color on paper
- Function:
- Emphasized the power of the Aztecs
- Tribute to the aztecs
- II Gesu, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling Fresco (Rome, Italy. Giacomo da Vignola, plan (architect); Giacomo della Porta, facade (architect); Giovanni Battista Gaulli, ceiling fresco (artist). Church: 16th century ce; facade: 1568–1584 ce; fresco and stucco figures: 1676–1679 ce. Brick, marble, fresco, and stucco)
- Context:
- Gesu is the french name for mother church
- Designed by Giacomo da Vignola and Giacomo Della
- Saint Ignaticus of Loyola, the founder of the newfound Jesuit religion, needed a church to serve as the religion’s center
- Content:
- Single aisle church
- Church is in cruciform plan ( the transept is not that long)
- The church has a dome over intersection of the large nave and transept
- Dark interior
- Dependent in natural light from
- Mix on rational and Baroque style focused on altar
- Renaissance columns
- Corinthian columns
- spolia
- Form:
- Brick, marble, fresco, and stucco
- Function:
- Served as the original church for Jesuits
- Illustrated the beliefs of the Jesuits
i.
ii. iii.
i.
- Context:
A secular painting One of six works in a series called Months of the Year Northern Renaissance
- Content:
ii. Homogenized figures
- Hunters return from an unsuccessful hunt (sulky faces)
- Despair mood in the foreground
- Aerial perspective
- Form:
- Contrapposto
- Contrasting colors
- Sharp forms
- Little bit of atmospheric perspective
- Function:
- Represents both the hardships and the enjoyments of winter
- Showcases everyday activities
- Mosque of Selim II (Edirne, Turkey. Sinan (architect). 1568–1575 ce. Brick and stone)
- Context:
- Patron: Sultan Selim II
- During the classical Ottaman period
- Sinan was the chief court architect
- Content:
- Two symmetrical square madrasas
60a174e467e8ec74d0a64d6a_SS-AP-Art-History-part-3
- The ethereal dome- floating in the prayer hall
- Grand dome rest on eight murquanas
- Qibla- the wall that faces Mecca, that projects forwards
- Buttress supporting the east and west piers( holds the weight of the dome)
- Muzzin platform:placed under the center
dome ( where the leaders lead the worshippers in a chant) not the traditional place
- Painted interior, iznik tiles, chinese cloud art, polychrome
- Squinches- construction filling in the upper angles of a square room, base for a octagon or spherical dome
- Has shops( arasta) and a recitation school
- Minarets
- Abundance of windows
- Form:
- 190x 130 meters
- Made out of stone, brick, and marble
- Function:
- Made to show the greatness and wealth of the Ottoman Empire
- Calling of Saint Matthew(Caravaggio. c. 1597–1601 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- The Counter-Reformation
- The Catholic Church reacted against the Protestant Reformation
- The Baroque Style
- Theatrical action
- Diagonal lines
- Gritty realism
- Content:
- Biblical story of the calling of Saint Matthew
- Takes place in a tavern or pub like environment
- Characters dressed in contemporary clothing of that time period
-
- Creates an ethereal glow
- The light follows from Christ’s fingers
- Second Adam?
- Jesus’s hand mimics the Michelangelo’s hand of God in “The Creation of Adam”
- Jessu is sometimes referred to as “the second Adam”
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Located in the Contarelli chapel, Rome
- Function:
- Didactic element
- Portrays the story of The Calling of Saint Matthew
- Taught from the catholic perspective
- Makes the viewer experience the painting (“Catholic Way”)
- Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici from the Marie de’ Medici Cycle (Peter Paul Rubens. 1621–1625 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- Inspiration : Titan from the Renaissance period
- Known for painting the body in dramatic and contorted positions
- The 6th painting in a series of 24 paintings
- King Henry IV was assassinated in 1610
- Led to the rule of Louis XIII
- Marie was exiled in 1617
- Divisions in the french court
- Marie had these paintings do for propaganda
- Marrie and Henry’s actual marriage was filled with cheatings/infidelities
- Henry IV was under attack by the Catholic church
- Henry IV was in debt to the Medicis
- Content:
- Winged Gods of marriage ( hymen which is on the left) and Love (cupid on the right)
- Cupid motions toward Marie and praise her beauty/worth
- Henry IV looks at her adoringly
- Jupiter and Juno look down in approval holding hands and surrounded by their animal symbols ( eagle with a thunderbolt - Jupiter & peacock- Juno)
- Personification of France behind Henry encouraging him to marry Marie( for politics)
- France looks on with approval
- Lady France wears a plumed helmet and blue robe with fleur- de-lys
- Lady France whispers into Henry’s ear
- Telling him to ignore his battles and to marry Marie for political reasons
- Henry obliges
- The remains of Henry’s battle is a burning town which lies in the background
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Strong vertical axis running through the painting from Juno( Hera) to Marie de’Medici
- Classical style
- Function:
- Propaganda idealizes Marie’s actual life
- Political reasons
- Religion reasons
- Self-Portrait with Saskia (Rembrandt van Rijn. c. 1636 C.E. Etching)
- Context:
- Rembrandt was a famous etchere during his time
- He was a very experimental artist
- His style changed throughout art career
- Content:
- Is a portrait of Rembrandt and his wife Saskia, two years after they got married
- It seems to be an intimate moment
- Has two circles in the background
- Form:
- Used a copper plate eroded by acid
- Etching plate
- Illusion of depth with body placement
- Function:
- Private artwork
- San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane(Rome, Italy. Francesco Borromini (architect). 1638–1646 ce. Stone and stucco)
- Context:
- Baroque style: undulating movements and sculptural effects, eliminated the corner in architecture
- Borromini built it for free
- Commissioned in 1634
- Built from 1638-1646
- Borromini was an Italian architect who suffered from melancholia (a type of depression with ill-founded fears)
- Content:
- Center is oval shaped, held up by asymmetrical placed angels
- Upper facade completed after Borromini’s death
- Lower stories consist of 2 outer concave and convex center
- Connected with an entablature
- Has a central niche above one portal
- Has a statue of St. Charles Borromeo which was created by Antonio Raggi
- Beside the statue are the founders of Trinitarian order (St. John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valios)
- Dome
- Windows at the base
- coffering= circles with octagonal molding, unequal hexagons, and Greek crosses
- Contains tall columns and small niches
- Convex and concave structures
- Paradox of imagination ( emotion vs. intellect)
- Symmetrical decorations
- Numerous carvings
- Cherubs
- Form:
- Facade with 3 Bays
- Plan
- A diamond inscribed into a oval
- Intersecting circles
- Numerous curves ( no right angles)
- Stacking three distinct units
- Middle zone is an original Greek cross plan
- Combination of precedent and novelty
- Oval dome
- Illusionistic effects
- Function:
- Dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo and the Holy Trinity
- Ecstasy of Saint Teresa(Cornaro Chapel, Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. Rome, Italy. Gian Lorenzo Bernini. c. 1647–1652 ce. Marble (sculpture); stucco and gilt bronze (chapel))
- Context:
- Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Location: Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria
- Baroque period
- Religious
- About Saint Teresa of Avila (who lived in the 16th century)
- Content:
- Golden arrow pointed at the heart of Saint Teresa
- Rays of sun (holy light of God)
- Saint Teresa with an angel
- St. Teresa body’s contorted, twisting feet and hands
- Rocks surrounding the base to support and add a buffer
- Expressive folds of fabric
- Form:
- White marble that was carved with a chisel
- Realistic
- Wet drapery look
- Expressive and emotional
- Function:
- Virtual representation of Saint teresa when she was brought to god
- Angel with Arquebus, asiel Timor Dei (Master of Calamarca (La Paz School). c. 17th century ce. Oil on canvas. )
- Context:
- Created after the first missionizing period( forcing indigenous people to convert to Christainity)
- Most likely apart of a series
- Content:
- Depictions of androgynous angel waering stunning clothes holding a harquenas (a type of gun)
- Harquenas is a gun with a large barrel
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Function:
- Made to represent celestial, aristocratic and military beings all at the same time
- Used to represent the power, connection to god, and political power of the Spanish government
- Las Meninas (Diego Velázquez. c. 1656 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- Used to be housed in the royal palace called Royal Alcazar of Madrid
- He was inducted into the Catholic organization called the Order of Santiago
- To compensate for the family’s incest he put them in elaborate clothes
- Velazquez was the court artist
- Content:
- The characters stare into the eyes of the viewer
- Painting of Ovid’s the metamorphosis hangs in the background ( story of gods wrestling with mortals)
- Illusion of space, depth and perspective
- In the center is the princess, maids of honor, palace of official, chaperone, dog, dwarf (hired to be friends with the
children), and other attendants
- The painting is set in his studio
- Paints a palette with raw paint
- Form:
- 318x 276 cm
- Oil on canvas
- Currently located in Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
- Uses loose brushstrokes
- Uses scientific and aerial perspective
- Many light sources are shown in painting
- Function:
- Made for the King and queen to view
- To show ethereal perfection, wealth, but showed some informal aspects
- Woman Holding a Balance (Johannes Vermeer. c. 1664 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- Baroque period
- The origins of the painting is linked to Pieter de Hooch’s Gold weighter
- Vermeer trained with a master painter that was apart of the Guild of Saint Luke
- The painting takes place in 17th century
- 1664 was the year before the second Anglo-Dutch war
- Content:
- She is apart of the upper merchant class
- Wearing a fur trimmed jacket
- Opposite side of her is a window with golden curtains and a mirror
- Right hand has a balance
- There is nothing on the balance
- There are boxes on the table in front of her
- One is open (most likely had been containing the balance)
- A box with a string of pearls
- One with coins (indication of wealth)
- Behind her is a painting of Christ during the Last Judgement ( serves as judge over souls)
- Her head divides the blessed ( the light side of her head)and the people that are doomed to go to hell ( the dark side of her head)
- Light give sense of motion
- Dark gives sense of stillness
- She is not pregnant just bulky clothing
- Form:
- Her pinky is the vanishing point
- Center of the painting =center of the balance
- Has a lot compositional control ( in color means)
- Soft swirl painting style
- Muted colors
- Function:
- Showed wealth and piety (worldly possessions and Christ in the back)
- Sign of self knowledge and truth
- The Palace of Versailles(Versailles, France. Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart (architects). Begun 1669 ce. Masonry, stone, wood, iron, and gold leaf (architecture); marble and bronze (sculpture); gardens.)
- Context:
- Construction began in 1661 completed around 1682
- The staff:
- Louis le Vau - chief architect
- Built the Grand facade and the Queen and King apartments
- Built the park’s Orangerie and Menagerie
- Adopted the italian “invisible roof” hidden by trophy- adorned balustrade
- Balustrade- a railing supported by ornamental parapets
- Andre le Notre - landscape designer of the gardens
- Charles le Brun- interior decorator and painter
- Jules Hardouin Mansart -favorited architect did later construction
- Jean- Baptiste Colbert- principal advisor of the KIng
- Hyacinthe Rigaud: Painter to the French King
- Pierre Puget: Sculptor; his works are in the King's Gardens
- Louis XIV patron
- Content:
- Satellite city to the East of the palace
- Housed a court and government officials, military and guard detachments, courtiers, and servants
- Hall of mirrors ( a.k.a Galerie des Glaces)
- Had gold and silver furniture
- Walls inlaid with mirrors
- Used for festivals and parties
- Gardens
- Visible from the Hall of mirrors( central axis lined with trees, terraces, pools, and lakes)
- Formal gardens served as a transition from the ordered, man- made palace to natural gardens
- Change depending on the seasons and location
- Very neat and organized
- City’s 3 main avenues axis converged at the King’s bedroom
- So he can keep an eye on high ranking officials
- The king’s bedroom was an informal audience room
- Form:
- Stone, marble, glass, gold, silver, wood, gardens
- Palace consist of 700 rooms
- 2153 windows
- 2000 acres of garden
- Function:
- Emphasized the importance and power of King Louis XIV
- Used to host parties and military agreements
- To compared the king’s wisdom to the God, Apollo
- Symbolized power of the absolute monarch
- Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and Hunting Scene (Circle of the González Family. c. 1697–1701 ce. Tempera and resin on wood, shell inlay)
- Context:
- Spanish piece
- Commissioned by Jose Sarmiento de Valladares
- Content:
- Depicts the Battle of Belgrade (1688)
- A hunting scene in nature
- Influenced by Japanese folding screens (New Spain was in trade with Japan)
- Form:
- Style: Spanish Colonial, Flemish, Dutch
- Function:
- To be placed in the viceroy's palace as a decorative piece
- Intended to be viewed by two different audiences
- The Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe) (16th century, oil and possible tempera on maguey cactus cloth and cotton. Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City)
- Context:
- Found everywhere in Mexico
- Made during Spanish colonization and missionary period
- Content:
- May represent Mary because of grey skin color
- The virgin of Guadalupe was thought to have stopped the flooding of Mexico city
- Has a mass in her honor on december 12
- Paid her reverence
- It is a replica
- Enconchado- mother in pearl inlaid ( for this artwork wood)
- Has an iridescent surface ( suggest heavenly and the divine)
- Sunlight beams behind her
- There are stars in her cloak ( that image comes from the book of revelation)
- Below her, she is being supported by an angel
- The virgin appear before a man Jaun Deigo ( an indigenous man) and tells him to go to bishop and put a shrine to her on the hill where they met ( Hill of tepeyac)
- Form:
- Oil and maybe tempra on cactus cloth and cotton
- Function:
- For religious purposes and dedication
- Fruit and Insects (Rachel Ruysch. 1711 ce. Oil on wood.)
- Context:
- During renaissance
- First successful female artist during the Baroque period
- She specialized in still life
- Content:
- A still life of fruits, vegetable and insects
- In the Autumn
- Grapes =blood of christ
- animals= naturalism
- Illusion and realism throughout painting
- Form:
- Oil on wood
- Still life painting
- Realistic
- Vibrant colors
- Uncommon subjects
- Function:
- For Rachel Ruysch Cosimo II = a sign of friendship and commonwealth
- Was sold
- Painting was for widening merchant class
- Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo(Attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez. c. 1715 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- Metizo- a person of European and Indigenous descendant ( most types with father and idigenous mother)
- Casta painting- focus on bad living conditions for families that are mixed racially
- Also appear darker as they become more racially mixed,
- Content:
- Spanish father and Indigenous mother with a boy
holding their child ( the boy that is holding the child is not a son of the two adults)
- Indigenous mother wearing a huipil( a traditional dress worn by indigenous women) lace sleeves and jewelry
- Spanish husband wearing french style clothes
- Hand on baby’s head or wife’s arm
- The boy(servant ) holding the baby looks upward at Spaniard
- Family looks calm
- Form:
- Oil painting
- Function:
- Discourage racial mixing because dark skinned people were considered dirty, unattractive and less civilized
- Tries to show European blood is superior
- The Tete a Tete, from Marriage a la Mode(William Hogarth. c. 1743 ce. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- The second of six painting that make coherent,meaningful story
as Marriage a la mode)
- Set in the mid 18th -century ( the industrial revolution)
- Aristocracy lost some power to merchants
- Content:
- Translates to face to face
- Shows the young couple after the forced marriage
- The husband(Viscount Squanderfield) slouching in a chair
- Possibly drunk
- Has a mark of syphilis on his neck
- Likely has returned form having sex with a woman
- A dog sniffing at a bonnet in his pocket ( sign of fidelity in Renaissance)
- Viscountess Squaderfield
- Flirtatious
- Top of bodice is unbutton( sign that she was inmate with another man)
- She holds a mirror in right hand above her head
- She has a stain on her dress
- Sitting with legs apart
- The guy(pious Methodist) in the middle looks fed up with couple,existing
- Instrument on floor that has fallen out of the case( music was played for sex and sensuality )
- Classical structure with broken nose
- Painting of cupid in ruins
- Painting covered up by curtain
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- 69.9×90.8 cm
- Composition
- Few objects in foreground- the area of the picture/painting nearest to the viewer immediately behind the picture plane
- Central figure in the middle ground
- The background consist of a seperate room, architectural features, paintings
- Area of emphasis - cluttered mantlepiece
- Vertical( edges of painting and columns) and curvy lines(mostly in arches) throughout painting
- Function:
- Satirical commentary
- Appeal to middle class
Unit 4: Late Europe and Americas
- Portrait of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (Miguel Cabrera 1750 C.E Oil on Canvas)
- Context:
- Neoclassical art
- Sor Juana is labeled as the first Feminist in the Americas because she pursued her owned interest to become a nun
- Often engaged in debate with philosophers and scientist
- Drew concern from the church for outspokenness about the rights of the women
- Died of a disease
- Content:
- Portrait of a catholic nun and sister of jeronimite order in New Spain
- Red curtains were common in paintings of the elite
- Wore religious garments - showed devotion to religion and god
- Books beside her to show her intellectual interest
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Function:
- Was just a portrait of Sor Juana
- A philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery (Joseph Wright of Debrey 1763- 1765 Oil on Canvas)
- Context:
- Made during the enlightenment movement
- Joseph wright became the unofficial artist of that time period
- He is known for use of chiaroscuro
- Made in england
- Content:
- Shows a scientist, a note-taker, and children around a central Orrery
- Meant to be real people but we do not know their names
- The scientist in red is giving a lecture about, what is believed to be,a model to had inspiration by Issac Newton’s Lunar society of Burnigham
- Strong internal light source(the sun
model)- also symbolizes the enlightenment rational thinking
- Painting also has women and children in the background
- Form:
- Naturalistic
- Red coat - suggest great influence
- Heavy contrast between light and dark
- Function:
- Show the curiosity and knowledge gained
- The Swing (Jean-Honore Fragonard. 1767 C.E. Oil on Canvas)
- Context:
- Wealthy and lavish living
- Women were major patrons of the arts
- Art became exclusive to the rich
- Content:
- Depicts a lady on a swing above her lover and a s bishop
- Nature scene = dense garden with flowers and cupid status
- Form:
- Epitome of Rococo
- Realism and Naturalism
- Use of soft colors
- Ornate details
- Lighting = woman bathed in sunlight
- Function:
- For ownership of the rich
- Monticello (Virginia, US. Thomas Jefferson [architect] 1768-1809 C.E.)
- Context:
- Thomas Jefferson hated British architecture and loved french architecture
- He studied at William and Mary but had no formal training to become an architect
- Made in virginia
- Content:
- Basilica plan
- Used inspiration from classical and neoclassical french art
- Remodeled the two- story pavilion based on Hotel de Salm
- West garden
- A deep two column portico with doric columns that support a triangular pediment which is decorated with a semicircle window
- Has colonnades
- Has pediment
- Has dome
- Perisan windows
- transept
- Steps
- gardens= french inspiration
- Form:
- Greek marble looking portico
- Marble fencing
- Long, rectangular windows
- Symmetrical around central axis
- Made out of brick, glass, stone and wood
- Function:
- Meant to be a home
- The Oath of the Horatii (Jacques-Louis David. 1784 C.E. Oil on Canvas)
- Context:
- The patron: the French royals
- Made in France
- French Neoclassical
- Legend Horatti ( conflict between Rome and the city of Alba)
- Instead of battles they sent the 3 horatii to Alba to settle dispute
- Content:
- Deception of a Roman myth
- Three sons swearing their swords to their father
- Women sitting in to right grieving
- People were placed in a column
- Form:
- Simplistic and symbolic
- Organized and structured
- Men- geometrical shapes
- Women - organic shapes
- Function
- George Washington. (Jean-Antoine Houdon. 1788–1792 C.E. Marble)
- Context:
- Made after the American Revolution
- It was a popular time to commission
- Sculpted = French Artist
- Content:
- Marble sculpture of George Washington
- Form:
- Neoclassicism
- White marble
- Contrapposto
- Symbolic details
- Form
- Symbolized power and authority as holds his sword
- Function:
- Sculpture
- Self-Portrait. (Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. 1790 C.E. Oil on canvas)
-
- During Rococo movement
- Not a lot of female painters during the time
- Le Brun worked for the crown of France specifically Marie Antionette
- Le Brun became very rich due to her job
- Close to the French Revolution
- She had to leave France because she worked for the crown
- Content
- Self portrait of Elisabeth Louise Vigee le brun
- She is wearing a traditional black dress with a red sash
- She is painting something in the painting
- Painting in the painting might be Marie Antionette
- Form:
- Naturalism
- Oil on canvas
- Elisabeth in a natural position
- Function:
- Shows freedom, intelligence and greatness of the artist
-
- Y no hai remedio (And There’s Nothing to Be Done), from Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), plate 15. (Francisco de Goya. 1810–1823 C.E. (published 1863). Etching, drypoint, burin, and burnishing)
- Context:
- Goya was a painter for the French and Spain royalty
- His work was often labeled as controversial
- Went deaf and went recluse
- The french were pushed out after the Peninsular war
- Apart of the 82 paintings that was used to protest against The French occupation by Napoleon Barnaparte
- Napoleon tricked the king of Spain into letting his troops cross the border which led him to upsurge the king and his brother from the throne
-
- Man wearing light-colored/white tied to a pole by his hands behind his back(Alter Christus)
- He is blindfolded
- Landscape shows depth and the scene is dark
- A firing squad is behind the central figure facing similarly bounded
- On the central figure’s right side, contorted,bloody, grotesque dead on the floor
- Rifle barrels pointed at the central figure , the people holding it are occluded
- Alter Christus - other Christ
- First plate - effect of conflict
- Second plate- effect of famine
- Last plate- disappointment and demoralization of Spaniard
- Form:
- Etched plates- cover the metal plate with wax, carve out the shapes, dip in acid, melt off the wax and the incisions remain
- Black and white
- Drypoint - scratch lines on the surface with a stylus
- Artist then pours ink on plate and wipes it off only remains where the acid burned or the etched
- Put a moist paper on the plate when running through the press
- Function
- Protest against French occupation
- La Grande Odalisque. (Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres. 1814 C.E. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- French
- Eroticisim and nudist paiting
- Peacock fan
- Turban
- Enormous pearls
- A hookah
- Wearing Kente Cloth
- Interwoven silk and cotton fabric
- Ghanan
- Various dates and artists
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Function:
- Used in an oriental style to stay within the eye of the public
- Liberty Leading the People. (Eugène Delacroix. 1830 C.E. Oil on canvas.)
- Context:
- Romanticism
- Based on July Revolution of 1830
-
- Personification of Liberty (central figure)
- Marching over dead bodies
- Leading the way to freedom
- Carrying flag of revolution and a musket in her hands
- Boy holding two pistols
- Represents sacrifice
- Upper-class gentleman in a top hat, holding a rifle
- Represents the rich inability to stay out of the war
- Form:
- Realistic but with dramatic lighting
- Soft, rounded lines
- Depth and foreground but little to no background
- Function:
- Glorification of everyday people
- Acknowledgment of sacrifices
- The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm). (Thomas Cole. 1836 C.E. Oil on canvas.)
-
- Untouched land
- Artist: Thomas Cole
- Content:
- View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton,
-
Massachusetts
- Untouched nature
- Hudson river
- Tree bent over ( nature being at mercy of its own self)
- River and clouds(stormy) in the foreground
- References the bend in the Connecticut river
- White and clear sky in background which is enhanced by the stormy clouds
- Form:
- Realistic but cartoon ( exaggerated)
- Warm hues for nature
- Cool hues for weather
- 130.8 x 193 cm
- Oil on canvas
- The diagonal line the artist used from lower right to upper left to divide the composition
- Function:
- humanity’ s insignificance in the grand scheme of things compared to nature
- Westward expansion
- Still Life in Studio. (Louis- Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. 1837 C.E. Daguerreotype)
- Context:
- Daguerreotype accompanied the invention of photography
- Less than 25 of his picture survived a fire in 1839
- Content:
- Autonomy of Daguerreotype
- A handful of still- lifes , parisian views, and portraits
- Form:
- Silver plated sheets of copper
- The sheets were sensitized with iodine vapors, exposed in a large camera box
- Very detailed
- The sheets were then developed in mercury fumes
- And stabilized with salt water
- Function:
- Duality and artistic expression
- Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). (Joseph Mallord William Turner. 1840 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- Made by Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Trans -atlantic slave trade
- Content:
- A slave ship going into a storm abandoning the slaves that were thrown overboard
- Fiery sunset, writhing foam and waves
- Fish chopping at the slave chained limbs
- A wall of water and grey clouds( as punishment and vengeance for throwing the slaves overboard to die)
- Form:
- Abstract
- Fabricated quality
- Function:
- Wanted to protest slavery
- Wanted to prevent slavery from becoming a new normal
- Purpose was to shock the audience and make them question why they support such an immoral act
- Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament). London, England. Charles Barry and Augustus W. N. Pugin (architects). 1840–1870 C.E. Limestone masonry and glass.
- Context:
- Gothic style
- Created by Charles Barry and Agustus Pugin
- Built during early victorian era
- Content:
- Among the houses of parliament in London
- Interior designs
- stained glass
- Form:
- In the style of Late Medieval
- Function:
- Serves as a House of Parliament
- To reinforce traditional values
- Today as the seat of government
- The Stone Breakers. (Gustave Courbet. 1849 C.E. (destroyed in 1945). Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- Painted one year after the published Communist Manifesto
- Went against normal french techniques which was refined during this time
- Content:
- Two figure(one very old and one very young) breaking stone with different tools
- Breaking stone for rubble to be used as pavement
- Both wear tattered clothing( symbol of poverty )
- Form:
- Rough brushwork
- The artist did not worry too much about the accuracy of the human figures
- Lacks aerial perspective
- Function
- Symbol of the deprivation of the agriculture french people
-
- Context:
- Nadar was famous for taking aerial photos of Paris
- By Honore Daumier
- Content:
- Ironic artwork ( held to the same status of high art)
- Nadar taking an aerial picture of paris
- Form:
- Lithograph- the process of printing from a flat surface treated so that it repeals ink except where it is wanted
- realism
- Function:
- Used to mock Nadar
- Tried to show how ridiculous and dangerous Nadar art was
- Olympia. (Édouard Manet. 1863 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- A salon painting or a academic painting
- During the time of the industrialization
- Received backlash from it because a naked white woman and a black maid were seen as animalistic sexaulity and inferior( was seen as disrespectful)
- Model (white naked lady) :Victorian Meurent
- Olynpia was a common name for prostitutes
- Manet was considered the father of impressionism
- Content:
- a nude white woman (prostitute) sitting on a chaise lounge with a black cat at her feet
- Stares at viewer coldly and indifferently
- Black woman servant behind her giving her a gift sent from a client
- Stark contrast against the black woman’s dark skin and the white woman’s white skin
- Depicts the world of Parisan prostitution
- Form:
- Flat tones
- Not a lot of depth
- Function:
- Commentary on racial divisions
- Depicted harsh realities of Parisian life
- The Saint-Lazare Station. (Claude Monet. 1877 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- Impressionism
- He lived in rural Paris iv.
- Content:
- Train station
- A locomotive train pulling up into the station
- Trees frame the center of the painting
- Diagonal lines from the roof recede backwards into the painting
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Function:
- Wanted to show industrialization and modernization of Paris
- To show the beauty in the busy , urban life in Paris
- The Horse in Motion. (Eadweard Muybridge. 1878 C.E. Albumen print)
- Context:
- Taken at a horse racing track
- Content:
- 4 by 4 column and rows of photos
- 16 photos in the series
- They are in profile
- A lot of movement
- Form:
- Realism
- Used a zoopraxiscope
- Photograph
- Series of photographs
- Function:
- Motion study of a running horse and a jockey
- Wanted to establish expressiveness
- The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel (El Valle de México desde el Cerro de Santa Isabel). (Jose María Velasco. 1882 C.E. Oil on canvas)
-
- Velasco was a astamed landscape painter
- Content:
- Mountains,lakes, trees, clouds, waterfalls, blue skies and tiny human figures
- All seen from a point on the mountain
-
top that overlooks the valley of Mexico and the village
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Realism
- Atmospheric perspective
- Viewer stands above the mountains
- Function:
- Wanted to show the beauty of Mexico
- The Burghers of Calais. Auguste Rodin. 1884–1895 C.E. Bronze
- Context:
- Content:
- 6 burghers(middle class people) that are from the burgh/village
- Burghers promised their life to the English king( so that the king will save their village from occupation during the Hundred years’ war)
- The english king made them wera sacks and carry a key to Calais
- All of them are weak
- Central character- Eustache de Saint- Pierre
- Swollen hands with a noose around his neck
- Ready for execution
- Form:
- Bronze
- All figures are individualized
- Details were reduced by Roden to emphasized the depravity of the 6 burghers
- Function:
- Symbolizes the severity of the Hundred Years’ war and French occupation
- The Starry Night. Vincent van Gogh. 1889 C.E. Oil on canvas.
- Context:
- Created by Vincent Van Gogh
- Had a various amount of mental illnesses
- Painted a lot during his time at the mental hospital (st. Remy)
- Painting followed a mental breakdown which had damaged his ear
-
- Landscape view from artist point of view( the hospital room in St.Remy)
- Mountains in the distance
- Sleepless exaggerated in the moon
- Wave like-movements flow left to right
- Cypress trees are a symbol of death of eternal life and it is reaching up into the sky
- It is of the night sky
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Composite landscape
- Short, thick brushstrokes
- Parts of the canvas can be seen through the paint
- Function:
- Landscape study or night sky study
- Expression of the artist mental illness
- The Coiffure. Mary Cassatt. 1890–1891 C.E. Drypoint and aquatint.
-
- De- eroticizes nakedness
- Global influences
- Created by Mary Cassatt
- Europe was fascinated by Japan
- Content:
- Naked woman sitting in a chair facing a mirror
- Fixing her hair
- Asian influence in background( decorative prints)
- Shows what is considered a femine moment
- Form:
- In the style of japanese prints
- Light brushstrokes
- 2-Dimensional
- Sketch
- Reproducible print
- Function:
-
- The Scream. Edvard Munch. 1893 C.E. Tempera and pastels on cardboard.
- Context:
- Shows synthesia
- Synthesia is the synthesis of the senses
- Ex. relating a associating a color with a smell
- The Scream’s swirls reflects understanding of synthesis
- Content:
- Two figures seem to be walking on the bridge
- Sea blends into the sky
- Form:
- Vibrant color contrast
- Skewed proportions (everything swirls into itself)
- Movements of uncertainty
- Function:
- Semi-autobiographical
- Refers to an experience or event that Munch had with friends
- Usage of different mediums
- Part a study in a series called “The Frieze of Life”
- To test out different techniques and mediums to create the art piece
- Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (Paul Gauguin. 1897–1898 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
-
- Colors play an important role
- 2-dimensional
- Expressive, non- naturalistic
- r
-
- Content:
- Tahitian natives depicting scenes of the stages of life (birth,adulthood,etc)
- Figures are partially clothed
- Form:
- Continuous narrative (friezes)
- Multi-perspective view in the background
- Function:
- Multiple interpretations (enigmatic)
- A private work for Gaugin
- Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building. (Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Louis Sullivan (architect). 1899–1903 C.E. Iron, steel, glass, and terra cotta)
- Context:
- Diverging from a traditional vertical effect when depicting a skyscraper
- Art Nouveau
- Industrial materials reflect organic forms
- Content:
-
- Open and accessible ground level
- Infinite number of levels
- Distinct attic line
- Highlights the ground floor
- Ground floor has large windows to emphasize space
- Form:
- Steel-frame skyscraper
- Art Nouveau decorative program
- Cast-iron ornamentation covers the entryway and ground level
- floral , intricate designs
- Function:
- Department store
- Highlights the ground level entryway to entice shoppers into the building
- Mont Sainte-Victoire. (Paul Cézanne. 1902–1904 C.E. Oil on canvas)
-
- A part of a series
- Adopted impressionism
- Paul Cezanne bought a few arces on the hill of Les Lauves
- Content
- Has a limestone mountain (1011 meter high)
- The hometown of Paul Cezanne down below
- Heightened lyricism
- View point from the hill of Les Lauves which is located north of the Aix
- Divides painting into three horizontal parts
-
- Form:
- Rough patches yellow, emerald, and viridian green
- In contrast blues, violets, grey
- Did subtle adjustments
- Has flatness and depth
- Function:
- Wanted to capture the beauty of the mountain from close to where he lived
-
- Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. (Pablo Picasso. 1907 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- Often called a creative vacuum - cleaner because he used inspiration from many arts styles
- Made during the twentieth century
- Mask inspired by african mask worn by women
- Had a fear of disease(especially syphilis )
-
- Naked women with stiff postures
- Geometric shapes
- Sees women in an analytical sense and sees them as an object of desire
- Women looking outwards
- Two masked figures ( refers to Picasso’s fear of disease)
- The middle figure relates to Matisse’s canvas
- The still fruit is a symbol of sexaulity
- Supposed to be from the male gaze
- Form:
- Oil on canvas
- Function
- Expression of his desire and fear
- The Steerage. (Alfred Stieglitz. 1907 C.E. Photogravure)
- Context:
- Photograph was just becoming its own art form
- Focused on the composition rather than the subjects in the piece
- Influences by cubist artists
- Content:
- Diagonals and framing effects of ladders,pipes, frames etc.
- Depicts the poorer travelers on the ship from the US to Europe
- Steerage = reserved for passengers with the cheapest tickets
- Form:
i. Photograph
- Function:
- To show the social divisions between the upper class,middle class, and lower class
- Showcase photography as an art form
- The Kiss. (Gustav Klimt. 1907–1908 C.E. Oil and gold leaf on canvas)
- Context:
- Art Nouveau
- To eliminate separation of mediums and combine them all into one
- During Modernization of the city of Vienna
- Content:
- A kissing couple
- Her face is calm and passive
- His bowed neck shows a sense of desire and passion
- Big intricate patterns on the clothing
- Male is rectangular while the women is more circular
- Reminds the viewer of religious symbolism and byzantine art because of the excess gold
- Form:
- Oil on canvas with gold leaf
- Function:
- To show all consuming love and passion
- The Kiss. (Constantin Brancusi. Original 1907–1908 C.E. Stone)
- Context:
- Cubism- breaking down the human form into angles and shapes
- Brancusi was a romanian born french sculptures
- Romania had a long tradition of stone/wood carving
- Intertwined figures
- Woman on the right
- Slightly thinner
- Eyes slightly smaller
- Bulge suggest breast
- Two eyes become one
- Raw surface and archaic
- Intimate moment
- Form:
i. Primitive form
- Rejected the academy
- Limestone
- Function:
- To Express a subject in its pure form
- The Portuguese. (Georges Braque. 1911 C.E. Oil on canvas)
- Context:
- Analytical cubism
- First phrase of cubism
- Highly experimental
- Worked with Picasso
- Fractured form
- Nearly monochrome
- Exploration of shapes
- Not portrait of portuguese musician
- Form:
- Jagged edges
- Sharp and multifaceted lines
- Function:
- Experimental art
- Non-naturalistic
- Goldfish. (Henri Matisse. 1912 C.E. Oil on canvas)
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- Fauvism
- Famous for expressive forms and bold color
- One of the biggest artist during his time
- Content:
- Still life painting of goldfish in a tank
- Goldfish - symbol for paradise list
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