16thc. Italy Questions Flashcards
Describe Stanza Della Segnatura
Raphael. 1510-11. Vatican, Rome.
- Room of the Signature
- intended to be Pope Julius II’s library and study.
- based mural on traditional organization of library into theology, philosophy, the arts, and justice. created allegories to illustrate these themes.
- one wall, churchmen discussing sacraments represent theology.
- ancient philosophers debate in the School of Athens, led by Plato and Aristotle
- on window wall, Justice, holding sword and scales, assigns each his due.
- arts represented by Apollo and the Muses.
Describe The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci. 1495-98. Tempera and oil on plaster. Wall painting in refectory of Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie
- Jesus and disciples seated at long table.
- stagelike space recedes to three windows at back
- vanishing point lies behind Jesus’s head
- Jesus forms an equilateral triangle.
- scene captures moment of Jesus saying who will betray him.
- Judas recoils, clutching his money bag in shadows to left of Jesus.
- vivid and expressive human emotions
- symbolic of Jesus’s coming sacrifice for salvation and institution of ritual of mass.
- Judas placed with John and Peter. Judas sets in motion events leading to Jesus’s death. Peter leads Church after Jesus’s death. John foretells Second Coming and Last Judgment in Apocalypse.
- four groups of three = numeric symbolism
- sense of gravity, balance, and order
Describe Virgin and Saint Anne with the Christ Child and the Young John the Baptist
Leonardo. 1500. Charcoal heightened with white on brown paper.
- may be model for painting
- Mary sits on knee of mother, Anne, and turns right to hold Christ, who strains to reach towards John.
- created illusion of high relief by modeling figures with strongly contrasted light and shadow (chiaroscuro)
- carefully placed highlights create interlocking circular movements. underscore individual importance of each figure while making each an integral part of the whole
Describe Mona Lisa
Leonardo. 1503. Oil on wood panel.
- subject may have been Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, wife of prominent merchant
- remarkably, she has no jewelry
- solid pyramidal form of half-length figure is silhouetted against distant mountains, reinforces mysterious atmosphere
- gentle smile not accompanied by warmth in eyes
- fashion of plucked eyebrows and shaved hairline to increase height of forehead adds to her arresting appearance
- unsettling is bold and slightly flirtatious way her gaze has shifted towards right to look straight out at viewer
Describe Vitruvian Man
Leonardo. 1490. Ink.
- diagram for ideal male figure
- based on Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius’s stuff.
Describe The Small Cowper Madonna
Raphael. 1505. Oil on wood panel.
- named for a modern owner
- delicate tilt of heads and tranquil mood
- pyramid with child’s twisting shape
- solidly modeled forms are softened by clear, even light of outdoor setting
- Domed Church of San Bernardino painted in background.
Describe School of Athens
Raphael. Fresco in Stanza della Segnatura.
- summarizes ideals of Renaissance papcy in harmoniously arranged forms in rational space and calm dignity of figures
- viewed through trompe l’oiel arch, Plato and Aristotle silhouetted against sky
- Plato gestures upward, indicating “ideal” as impossible to obtain on earth
- Aristotle, with outstretched hand, emphasizes importance of gathering knowledge from observing material world
- statues of apollo and minerva look down from niches
- around them are mathematicians, naturalists, astronomers, etc. debating and demonstrating their theories to each other.
- scene flooded with single light source takes place in immense barrel-vaulted interior
Describe Pope Leo X with Cardinals Guilio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi
Raphael. 1517. Oil on wood panel.
- facing the pope is cousin, Guilio.
- behind pope stands luigi.
- pope looks up from manuscript that he was examining with magnifying glass
- they dont look at each other
- uneasy mood; disconnected.
- clearly depicted contrasting textures and surfaces including visual distortion caused by magnifying glass on book page.
- polished brass knob on pope’s chair reflects window and painter himself.
Describe Miraculous Draft of Fishes
Shop of Pieter van Aelst. 1515-16. Tapestry, wool and silk with silver-gilt wrapped threads.
- two boats make friezelike composition and huge straining figures remind of Raphael’s competition with Michelangelo.
- Christ’s face copied from 15thc. bronze copy.
- landscape behind includes crowd on shore, and city of Rome with walls and churches.
- three cranes in foreground = ever-alert and watchful pope.
Describe Pieta.
Michelangelo. 1500. Marble.
- commissioned by French cardinal and installed as tomb monument.
- very young Virgin of heroic stature holding smaller body of Christ.
- inconsistencies of age and size forgotten in sweetness of expression, finely finished surfaces, and softly modeled forms.
Describe David
Michelangelo. 1501-04. Marble.
- originally planned to be placed high atop buttress of Cathedral, but placed at eye-level in square instead.
- became reminder of Florence’s republican status, briefly reinstated after Medici’s expulsion.
- embodies athletic ideal of antiquity and emotional power of expression and concentrated gaze is new.
- frowns and stares into space. implies heroic qualities
- represents supremacy of right over might
Interior, Sistine Chapel
1475-81. Vatican, Rome.
- Michelangelo objected to pope’s original plans
- illusionistic marble architecture establishes framework for figures on vault of chapel
- around ceiling is painted cornice supported by short pilasters with putti
- Seated on cornice are heroic figures of nude young men
Describe Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo. 1511-12. Fresco
-moment when God gives Adam life.
Adam’s pose matches God’s.
-below Adam is ignudo grasping oak leaves and giant acorns, refers to Pope Julius’s name or to passage in OT.
Describe Moses
Michelangelo. 1513-16. Marble. Tomb of Julius II
- gigantic muscular figure, in great sheets of drapery, seated in restless contrapposto that strains against confines of niche.
- hand tugging at beard signifies tour de force
Describe New Sacristy (Medici Chapel)
Michelangelo. 1519-34. Church of San Lorenzo
- each of two monuments has idealized portrait of deceased
- men dressed in 16thc. classical armor above pseudoclassical sarcophagi.
- on top of sarcophagi are male and female figures representing times of day
- Giuliano represents Active Life, and his sarcophagus figures represent Night and Day.
- huge mask behind Night may allude to Death
- Lorenzo represents Contemplative Life, supported by Dawn and Evening.
- pierta serena pilasters and architraves
Describe The Great Grotto, Boboli Gardens
1583-93.
- recess constructed of irregular stones and shells covered with foliage and slime to suggest natural cave
- contained four marble captives by Michelangelo
Describe Tempietto, Church of San Pietro in Montorio
Donate Bramante.
- “Little Temple”
- combined principles of Vitruvius and Alberti
- Vitruvius advised that Doric order be used for temples to gods of forceful character
- centralized plan and tall drum
Describe Palazzo Farnese, Rome
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo. 1517-50.
- main facade faces public square
- task of rebuilding into largest, finest palace in Rome
- massive central door emphasized by elaborate rusticated stonework
- piano nobile, first floor (2nd floor)