Exam #1 14th Century Flashcards
The 14th Century
Guilds
Expanding class of wealthy merchants due to economic growth. They supported artists as Patrons.
- supervised education of young artists
- provided competition among artists
Had their own saints and chapels
Guild of doctors and apothecaries
* apothecaries mixed their own paint * artists bought their pigments from apothecaries
Economic Growth
Due to economic growth:
- extreme population growth
- shortage of food which led to famine
- The Black Death
a. Bubonic plague
b. killed 40% of Europe’s population
c. basic societal structures collapsed - Hundred Years’ War (conflict between France and England)
What is usury and it’s connection to Giotto’s frescos in the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel?
Usury: the sin of charging interest on loaned money.
The frescos in the chapel were commissioned by Scrovegni as repentance for his and his fathers sin of practicing usury. This would allow him to get closer to heaven. He hired Giotto and Giovanni Pisano to decorate, indicating his wealth and prestige.
Building was simple, barrel-vaulted in shape, broad walls, box-like.
Used faux marble and grisaille (monochrome paintings in shades of gray) to paint the Virtues and Vices.
Scenes were more emotional (showed expression and imagination) rather than symbolic.
Scenes in the fresco's:
Lamentation (Raising of Christ)
* emotions: dramatic, surprise
Marriage at Cana
Raising of Lazarus
* facial expressions
* disgust from the smell or surprise
Resurrection
* scenes set within a landscape
* viewer connect with scene
* clear cut imagery, no symbolism
Kiss of Judas
* important moment
* golden robe envelops Christ, central figures
* layers
* enhanced by vertical elements
* Jesus calm, crowd is wild
* Saint Peter cutting off an ear
Florentine vs. Sienese paintings.
Florence and Sienna were rivals
* Each had a school of painting
* "Greek style" maniera greca influenced both
a. dramatic pathos
b. narrative iconography
c. stylized features like:
* gold for drapery folds
* contrasts of highlights and shadows
Florentine
* Emotion (early Byzantine influence)
* Expression of emotion
* Giotto: condenses religious content and focuses on emotion. Focuses on Human dimensions rather than symbolic or theological weight.
Sienese
- empahsis on decoration of narratives
- emphasis on relations
- gold, elegant, refined, jewel-like colors, elegantly posed figures
- influenced by Byzantine art
- Duccio: more emotion, dramatic
Virgin and Child in Majesty, Duccio
- Virgin and child in foreground flanked by 20 angels and 10 saints, and four patrons
- Last days of the life of the Virgin
- Infancy of Christ
- Artist signature and “Holy Mother of God, be thou the cause of peace for Siena and life to Duccio because he painted thee thus.”
Virgin and Child Enthroned, Giotto
- great spatial consistency
- Able to see human body underneath the drapery
* architectural theme - gothic style
- symmetrical, balanced composition
Raising of Lazarus
Duccio:
* shading, 3 dimensionality
* rythmic patterns made by crisp outlines of the jewel-colored shapes created by their clothing, gestures.
* graceful figures, but convey a dramatic urgency such as Christ
Giotto:
* facial expressions
* disgust from the smell, surprise etc.
Kiss of Judas
Giotto:
* important moment
* golden robe envelops Christ, central figures
* layers
* enhanced by vertical elements
* Christ is calm, crowd is wild
* Saint Peter cutting off a soldier’s ear
Duccio:
* more expansive pictorially
* several moments in the narrative
* Jesus in center, dark clock with gold trim stands out from the colored robes of the others.
* Judas approaches on the left, heads touch.
* Left side: apostle Peter lunges to sever an ear of a soldier.
* Right side: fearful apostles run away, abandoning Jesus.
* Expresses emotional charge of the pivotal moments through postures and facial expressions.
Illuminated Manuscripts
Book of Hours
- private prayer and devotional books
- handwritten, colored and illustrated
- wealthy owned, highly prized
- specific prayer to be said for 8 hours
- psalms, calendar of feasts and holidays, prayers etc.
Illustrations:
The Kiss of Judas
Annunciation
* Christ’s body in an S curve mimmicked by Mary’s S curve
* architectural setting
Jeanne D’Evreux praying for a fruitful marriage for a male heir
grisae: shades of gray
Below the Kiss of Judas
- critique of soldiers who captured Jesus
- soldiers riding goats
- kids playing tag, depicts Judas betraying Jesus.
English Embroidery (opus anglicanum)
opus anglicanum (“English work”)
- worn by a priest during Mass
- images formed by subtle gradations of colored silk
- The Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Coronation of the Virgin
- garments very heavy
- English were well known for their pictorial needlework.
- detailed
- narrative
- rivaling manuscripts
Life of the Virgin * reflects the beauty of holiness * seed pearls * silk and metallic thread * luminous Scenes: Annunciation the Adoration of the Madgi Coronation of the Virgin
scenes separated by gothic archways
Gabriel and Mary
3 Kings
Crowning of Mary
Decorated Style of Architecture
Exeter Cathedral, 14th Century, Devon, England
- decorated style
- based on gothic characteristics, more decorated
- small columns, columests
- ribbing meets vaults w/bosses (decorative knob like elements)
History:
- Developed in England
- King Henry III wanted to outshine his brother in law in France, King Louis
- interior is the focus
- work stopped after Black Death, caused a mix of gothic and decorative styles.
- Perpendicular style: rectangular patterns, angular shapes, simplified, windows, balance and regularity.
Andachtsbilder and Vesperbild
Influenced by famines, wars and plagues
Andachtsbilder
* devotional images
* contemplated Jesus’ first and last hours
* mystical religious movement in Germany
* extreme emotions (joy, sadness etc.)
* hoped to understand the divine and union with God
* Vespers: evening prayers
* devotional, private use
Vesperbild (Pieta) 1330
- Mary mourning her son
- communion wafers stored in the spear wound
- Christ is bleeding, dead
