16 Light and Colour: Venice and northern Italy, early sixteenth century Flashcards
Identify, date, describe
Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Jacopo Sansovino, 1536.
Lower story –doric, upper ionic. Like Colosseum, only added pilasters to upper Ionic storey.
Garlands and sculptures give sense of rich tracery used on Gothic facades of Venice.
Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio described it as “il più ricco ed ornato edificio che forse sia stato da gli Antichi in qua”
Giovanni Bellini dates?
Late 1400s, early 1500s
1431-1516
Identify, date, describe
Madonna with Saints, San Zaccaria altarpiece, Giovanni Bellini, 1505, Venice.
Jesus blesses worshippers. St Peter with key and book, St Catherine with palm of martyrdom and broken wheel, St Lucy and St Jerome.
In Byzantine tradition, Virgin is often flanked by saints. Called a Sacra Conversazione. Here turned into living beings without divesting them of holy dignity. Seem to belong to more serene and beautiful world.
Focus on richness of colour typical of Venetian art.
Who was St Catherine?
Fictitious 4th century young woman from Alexandria. Denounced Emperor Maxentius (306-312AD) during pagan rituals in Alexandria. He called 50 pagan philosophers to debate her; she converted them all.
Sentenced to be executed on a spiked wheel, Catherine touched the wheel and it shattered. She was beheaded.
Often depicted with wheel –and palm of martyrdom.
Devotion to her spread in Crusades. Patroness of students, teachers, librarians and lawyers.
Her cult suppressed by Holy See in 1969.
What do palm fronds symbolise?
Martyrs–the palm represents the victory of spirit over flesh.
In Gospel of John, Jesus is greeted when enters Jerusalem by people with palm fronds.
Bellini belonged to same generation as _______, ________ and _________. And like them was master to more famous painters, _________ and _________.
Bellini belonged to same generation as Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio and Perugino. And like them was master to more famous painters, Titian and Giorgione.
Identify, date, describe
The Tempest, Giorgione, 1508.
Subject unknown. Woman since 1530 identified as Gypsy. Baby in odd position to emphasise woman’s pubic area.
Stork on roof – can symbolise love for children.
Innovation that all elements of picture are blended into a whole. Landscape is not just a background –real subject of painting.
Not drawn objects and figures to then place in space, but thought of nature, city and humans as one.
In September, 1943, Professor Pasquale Rotondi hid it under bed from German troops.
Lord Byron’s favourite painting because ambiguity allowed viewers to make up their own tale.
Giorgione dates?
Turn of 16th century
1478-1510
Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) dates
1485-1576
Identify, date, describe
Madonna with Saints and members of Pesaro family, Titian, 1526, altar painting, oil on canvas.
Token of thanksgiving by Venetian nobleman Jacopo Pesaro for victory over Turks. Standard bearer, possibly St George, drags Turkish prisoner behind him.
Saints, Peter and Francis, recommending donors to Christ. Heavenly figures fluid and in movement; earthly figures static.
Christ left foot stepping forward –like step out of the tomb (cf Mantegna).
Form of flag counterbalances virgin. Flag carries papal coat of arms.
Bold innovations of composition – Virgin moved from centre of painting, saints on steps of throne as active participants of scene, rather than symmetrically on either side.
Meant to be seen from angle, hence Madonna offset to right.
Vivid colour, gold and red of robes.
Identify, date, describe
Titian, portrait of young Englishman, 1545.
Seems simple and effortless compared with other portraits. Shift away from minute modelling of Leonardo.
Rough outlines, but detail where required –in lace cuffs and in piercing eyes.
Identify, date, describe
Pope Paul III with Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese, 1546, Titian.
Pope depicted with two grandsons. Alessandro, a cardinal, holds knob of Paul’s backrest, to indicate his papal ambition. Ottavio is poised to kiss the Pope’s feet.
Clock placed on table serves as momento mori.
Divided by diagonal into two bands of colour.
Painting was unfinished and left unframed in cellar of Farnese family for 100 years.
Correggio dates
Early 1500s
1489-1534
Correggio, the most daring innovator of the whole period, led a lonely life in the small Italian town of _______.
Correggio, the most daring innovator of the whole period, led a lonely life in the small Italian town of Parma.
Identify, date, describe
Correggio, The Holy Night, 1530.
Innovator in Chiaroscuro treatment of light.
Creates a lot of negative space emphasising central figure.
Staff of the shepherd directs gaze towards angels, which in turn point to angels.
Identify, date, describe
Assumption of Virgin, Correggio, 1530, Parma Cathedral.
Story from Golden Legend: Apostles miraculously transported to Virgin’s home at her death. Performed Last Rites and placed her body in a tomb. Three days later she, like Christ, was assumed into heaven.
Virgin ascends on cloud into heaven, carried by angels. Jesus awaits in centre of scene.
Decoration of the squinches of dome base figures four protector saints of Parma: St. John the Baptist with the lamb, St. Hilary with a yellow mantle, St. Thomas (or Joseph) with an angel carrying the martyrdom palm leaf, and St. Bernard, the sole figure looking upwards.
Four apostles ring the dome in between windows.
New view of heaven –hosts with legs hanging downwards was objectionable to some at the time. “Frog leg stew,” said 18th century priest.
