Quiz 1: 1400s-1500s

Question 1

Answer 1

Jan van Eyck, Double Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, 1434, oil on wood panel.

1. dog represents fidelity
2. artist inscribed his name above mirror
3. Painting inspired Las Meninas.

Question 2

Answer 2

Workshop of the Masters of Flemalle, Merode Altarpiece, 1425-1430s, oil on wood panel

1. We don’t know exactly who painted it.
2. The biblical scenes take place in a typical Dutch home.
3. It is currently on display in the cloisters in Manhattan.

Question 3

Answer 3

Rogier van der Weyden, Deposition, possibly c. 1435-1438, oil on wood panel

1. The artist was part of the crossbows guild.
2. The deposition is the moment Christ is taken down from the cross.
3. During this time, it was common for people to dramtically reenact Jesus’ passion during holy week.

Question 4

Answer 4

Martin Schongauer, The Temptations of St. Anthony, 1470-1480, engraving

1. Martin Schongauer learned engraving from his goldsmith father.
2. The original biblical meaning of temptation is physical assault.
3. St. Anthony was one fo the first monks.

Question 5

Answer 5

Filippo Brunelleschi, Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, 1420-1436, Florence

1. The cone shape provided greater structural stability than a semi-sphere.
2. There are two domes-one inner and one outer.
3. The dome was achieved by building in sccaffolding that stayed in the finished dome.

Question 6

Answer 6

Filippo Bunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-1402, bronze with gilding

1. This was created as part of a contest for a new set of doors for the Florence Cathedral.
2. Brunelleschi was actually an architect.
3. The image is in a quatrifoil frame, consisting of four semi circles.

Question 7

Answer 7

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401-1402, bronze with gilding

1. Apparently, Ghiberti beat Brunelleschi in the contest.
2. gilding is just a layer that makes the entire work look like gold.
3. Ghiberti’s work was less expensive than Brunelleschi’s.

Question 8

Answer 8

Donatello, David, 1446-1460, bronze

1. Based on the biblical story of David and Goliath.
2. Nude sculptures were not common in medieval art.
3. The sculpture was displayed in the Medici home.

Question 9

Answer 9

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacob and Esau, Panel of the “Gates of Paradise”, 1435, gilded bronze

1. These were part of the East Doors of the Florence baptistry.
2. The sculpture is a low-relief, meaning it barely pops out, almost looking like a painting.
3. All of the frames in the Gates of Paradise depicted Old Testament scenes.

Question 10

Answer 10

Masaccio, Trinity with the Virign, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors, 1425-1428, fresco

1. Frescos are the painted on wet plaster, so they must be done quickly.
2. The fresco is 22 ft. high by 10.5 ft. wide.
3. Depth was created using one point perspective, with a vanishing point.

Question 11

Answer 11

Fra Angelico, Annunciation, 1438-1445, fresco

1. Fra Angelico was a Dominican monk.
2. The Latin at the bottom directs the monks to say a hail mary when they pass by it.
3. The ionic columns on one side with the corinthian columns on the other was a new building technique by Brunelleschi.

Question 12

Answer 12

Piero della Francesca, Baptism of Christ, 1450, tempera on wood panel

1. Piero used diagonals toward a vanishing point to create scale.
2. He wasn’t recognized until the 19th century because Piero did not come from an artistic center
3. Piero was one of the few practicing artists that also wrote books on theory.

Question 13

Answer 13

Antonio del Pollaiuolo, The Battle of the Nudes, 1465-1470, engraving

1. Engravings could be carved on a metal plate, and then transferred to paper.
2. This work became a sort of study guide for people who wanted to create nude forms in different positons.
3. This engraving reflects two Renaissance scholars’ interests: Classical sculpture and anatomical research.

Question 14

Answer 14

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, 1482, tempera on wood panel

1. The painting does not tell one specific mythological story.
2. Hanging outside the bedroom of a Medici couple, it was meant to symbolize love and fertility in marriage.
3. Flora, in the flowered dress, was the goddess of spring, or primavera.

Question 15

Answer 15

Giovanni Bellini, St. Francis in Ecstasy, 1490s, oil and tempera on wood panel

1. This painting is currently in the Frick collection in NYC.
2. The skull on the desk in the painting symbolizes human mortality.
3. St. Francis received the stigma (Jesus’ wounds) in real life, and they are depicted in the painting.

Question 16

Answer 16

Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks, 1485, oil on wood panel, now transferred to canvas

1. The positoning of Mary, John, and Jesus create a triangular composition.
2. Da Vinci rarely finished any of his paintings.
3. He utilizes chiaroscuro by creating contrast between light and dark elements of the painting.

Question 17

Answer 17

Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1490, ink on paper

1. The body is drawn in perfect proportions and can be broken into even segments.
2. Da Vinci was trying to improve on nature, by drawing the perfection that nature couldn’t create.
3. Da Vinci wrote a series of books on math because he believed that everything had a mathematical basis, such as proportions.

Question 18

Answer 18

Raphael, The Small Cowper Madonna, 1505, oil on wood canvas

1. Raphael’s paintings were known for elegance, charm, and grace.
2. Mary is looking down and away which was proper behavior for women at that tiime.
3. Raphael came from the court center in Urbino.

Question 19

Answer 19

Raphael, The School of Athens, 1510-1511, fresco

1. This was painted in the Pope’s main library.
2. Raphael painted artists’ faces on the bodies of known philosophers.
3. Raphael was suggesting that art is an intellectual pursuit.

Question 20

Answer 20

Michelangelo, Pieta, 1500, marble

1. Michelangelo’s family did not support him in becoming a sculptor.
2. The Pieta is a medieval idea of Mary holding her adult son on her lap.
3. Mary has the face of a young woman because she is a symbol of grace.

Question 21

Answer 21

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1511-1512, fresco

1, This was part of a series of paintings that show the creation of the world.

2. This painting is directly in the center of the ceiling because this is the foundational moment in our human story.
3. Adam’s outstretched arm mirrors that of God because he was created in his image.

Question 22

Answer 22

Donato Bramante, Il Tempietto, Church of San Pietro in Montorio, 1502-1510, Rome

1. This was commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabel of Spain.
2. It is built on the spot St. Peter was crucified.
3. Lack of funds prevented them from building a courtyard that mirrored the chapel.

Question 23

Answer 23

Giorgione, The Tempest, 1506, oil on canvas

1. No one really knows what this is a painting of or what it means.
2. Giorgione died young from the plague.
3. Giorgione created poesie, or painted poems.

Question 24

Answer 24

Titian, “Venus” of Urbino, 1538, oil on canvas

1. The Duke of Urbino referred to this painting as La Donna Nuda.
2. This takes place in the Duke’s wardrobe.
3. This painting was done when the Duke’s wife was 14, and might have served as inspiration for her.

Question 25

Answer 25

Pontormo, Deposition, 1525-1528, oil and tempera on wood panel

1. This is an example of mannerism in which the figures seem artificial or unnatural.
2. Even though this is the Deposition, there is no cross in the painting.
3. Mannerism comes from the Italian word, “maniera” meaning style

Question 26

Answer 26

Benvenuto Cellini, Saltcellar of King Francis I of France, 1540-1543, gold and enamel

1. Salt and pepper were precious commodities back then.
2. The male figure is Neptune, God of the sea, where salt comes from.
3. The female figure is Terra, the goddess of earth, the source of pepper.

Question 27

Answer 27

Michelangelo, Last Judgement, Sistine Chapel, 1536-1541, fresco

1. This painting is 48’x44’ and covers the wall above the Sistine Chapel altar.
2. Michelangelo painted his own face on St. Bartholomew’s flayed skin.
3. After Michelangelo’s death, conservative clergy ordered that more of the nude figures be clothed.

Question 28

Answer 28

Albrecht Durer, Self Portrait, 1500, oil on wood panel

1. In this portrait, Durer is supposed to be idealized and Christ-like.
2. This is the last of three self-portraits.
3. The inscriptions on the painting are in Latin.

Question 29

Answer 29

Nikolaus Hagenauer and Matthias Gruenwald, Isenheim Altarpiece, 1500, painted and gilt limewood (sculptures) and oil on wood panel (paintings)

1. This was originally made for religious hospitals.
2. Jesus is depicted with a skin affliction that many of the hospital patients had.
3. Hagenauer’s sculpture was resersved for the feast of St. Anthony.

Question 30

Answer 30

El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586, oil on canvas

1. El Greco signed his name on his son’s hankerchief in the painting.
2. El Greco and his son are the only figures looking forward in the painting.
3. The painting reflects the story that Count Orgaz’s soul was seen ascending into heaven when his body was lowered into its tomb.

Question 31

Answer 31

Hieronymous Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1505-1515, oil on wood panel

1. The left panel represents the garden of Eden, the middle is humans sinning on Earth, and the right represents hell, or the consequences of sin.
2. The creatures, especially the toads in the painting represented evil and vices.
3. The pig in the nun’s habit and the man with indulgences was a commentary on the current state of the church.

Question 32

Answer 32

Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors, 1533, oil on wood panel

1. The floor design was from the Westminster Abbey.
2. The globe and other instruments symbolize the men’s world knowledge.
3. The skull represented mortality and that death was everyone’s fate, even if it tried to disguise itself or you tried to ignore it.