Test 2 Flashcards
What is important about the Dominican Monastery of San Marco?
- Built by Cosimo de Medici to repent for usury
- Decorated by Fra Angelico
- Filled communal space and cells with religious scenes
- Angelico was an artist who lived in the monastery and a priest
Who/ when was the Annunciation made?
- Made by Fra Angelico
- 1438/1445
What is important about the Annunciation?
- viewing conditions: First thing up the staircase to the monks cell and extends space of the corridor up the staircase
- viewing conditions: perspective lines accommodate for it
- Announcement is angel Gabriel telling Mary she is pregnant with Christ
- normal visual cues to identify Mary removed because the monks already know who she is
- Mary casts a shadow while angel does not
- Mary is too large for her surroundings just like the monks in the monastery
- the architecture used to separate divine from earthly
Who/ when was the first statue of David made?
- Donatello
- 1440
- Inside Palazzo Medici
What is important about Donatello’s statue of David?
- Semi-public viewing conditions (could see it from the outside even though its located inside)
- shows moment after the victory of David where he stands on Goliath’s head
- First known free-standing nude image (not attached to architecture)
- Bronze medium
- Contrapposto stance (more weight on one foot for more casual appearance)
- Florence identifies with the statue for fighting off Milan
- sword in one hand = military Milan
- rock in one hand = artistic Florence
- hat + boots and feather of Goliath riding up David’s inner thigh brings sensual dynamic
Who/ when was the second statue of David made?
- Michelangelo
- 1504
What is important about Michelangelo’s statue of David?
- marble medium
- commissioned for public viewing conditions because statue placed outside the city hall
- shows moment right before the battle
- contrapposto stance
- the nude figure shows naturalism
- hands too big for torso to accommodate underneath viewing conditions
Who/ when was the Procession of the Magi made?
- Gozzoli
- 1459
What is important about the Procession of the Magi?
- Inside a chapel in Palazzo Medici so the viewing conditions are private for the Medici family and close friends
- Medici and important 15th century inside religious scenes
- humility for these people by riding in on a donkey
- shows 3 kings on their way to see newly born christ
Who is Savanorola?
- convinces the city to exile Medici and fought against humanism
- Bonfire of the vanities to destroy humanist literature and art with fire
- hung and burned in Piazza Dela Signoria in Florence 1498
What is important about the Renaissance in the north?
- Includes Belgium, Netherlands, Britain and France
- Ruled by Dukes of Burgundy
- Dukes moved around from castle to castle and thus art becomes more mobile and smaller
- Most common art piece is the altarpiece
How did Italy do its art compared to the north?
- mostly with tempera on wood
- tempera: method of which color is applied to wood, binding agent is egg yolk
- makes the depth of color very difficult
- north innovates by using oil w/ many layers of glazes and luminosity to allow depth of colour and they used ultramarine which came from lapis lazuli
Who/ When was the Ghent Altarpiece made?
- Hubert and Jan Van Eyck
- 1432
Define Polyptych
- Multi-hinged wood panel
What is important about the outside of the Ghent Altarpiece?
- Commissioned for Cathedral of St. Bano
- Image defines the city
- Very large
- First oil on panel
- the top is representations of people predicting Christ
- they look down at the prophecy before them
- The middle is a scene of Annunciation (Angel Gabriel tells Mary she’s pregnant with Christ)
- Virgin interrupted from reading the Bible, Gabriel holds lilies to symbolize purity
- takes place in a real 15th-century city
- Mary’s response to Gabriel backward and upside down( for god)
- The bottom is 4 figures in niches commissioners kneeled on the outside
- Inside 2 figures are John the Baptist and John the Evangelist
- muted colours and tones to accommodate viewing conditions (grisaille)
Define Grisaille
- Something pictured in gray
What is important about the top half inside of the Ghent Altarpiece?
- detail/ spectacular reveal saved for special occasions
- the theme of the interior is the redemption of Christ’s sins
- Center is god, the father, gold leaf behind him and has to crowns to signify he is the king of heaven and earth
- Virgin Mary left of god, Jon the baptist to the right
- Early example of sympathetic god in human form
- Angels by organ singing
- Adam an even on the edges showing the weakness of mankind
- Adam and Eve look very sad relative to heaven
- bodies look very realistic
- ## Niche’s above them show the story of Cain and Abel
What is important about the bottom half inside of the Ghent Altarpiece?
- Sacrifice of the Lamb in the center
- Lamb is a symbolic representation of Christ
- Shows drinking blood to represent Christ
- Lamb surrounded by Angels holding items related to crucifixion
- whips, crosses, a crown of thorns, the column he was tied to
- 4 panels on the side shows princes and stuff leaning towards Christ
- Over 40 species of plants in piece, background has extreme microscopic detail
- Tension between microscopic and whole represents superior comprehension of god
- Devotional piece
Define Triptych
3 panels that can be opened or closed
Who/when was the Merode Altarpiece made?
- Robert Campin
- 1428
What is important about the Merode Altarpiece?
- Art created in a workshop so not sure how much was done by Campin
- was for sale because middle class was gaining more disposable income
- Made for worship at home
- center panel is annunciation
- location is domestic setting just like it’s viewing conditions, makes it more relatable
- conflation of the holy spirit in the religious light rays
- lack of one point perspective/ delineation of human form
- On the right is Joseph, carpenter iconography
- surrounded by mice trap, shows mercantile life
- alludes to art making
Who/ When was the Deposition made?
- Rogier Van Der Weyden
- 1443
What is important about the Deposition?
- Very big
- Deposition means the removal of Christ off the cross
- scene after this is lamentation
- Christ holding 2 nails from his hand
- feet almost connected together
- no identifiable background
- detail of people’s sadness only possible due to oil
- appeals to great emotion
- Christ pose echoes that of Mary
- Mary faints over the death of her son, this parallels his resurrection
- Bows and arrows in the corner represent the bows and arrows of the guild who commissioned it
- skull on the floor is believed to be adam’s
Who/ When was the Man in the Red Turban made?
- 1483
- Jan Van Eyck
What is important about the Man in the Red Turban?
- Believed to be self portrait
- Asserts individuality of artist
- His eyes demonstrate ability to analyze with the eyes
- Frame is unique to the image
- hat is believed to be artist hat(chaperone)
- In greek lettering his motto is at the top of the frame
- “As I/Eyck Can”
- Saying incorporates monk saying of “I’ve done as I can not as I would”
- On bottom uses roman numerals and arabic numbers
- self reference and comparison of artist to christ
- Inscription is painted
- his signature is on the piece
- specificity of date
- served as advertisement of his work in his studio
- seperates artist from just being a craftsman
Who/ When was The Arnolfini Double Portrait Made?
- Jan Van Eyck
- 1434
What is important about the Arnolfini Double Portrait?
- originally thought to be picture of marriage
- talks about mercantile system of Europe, cloth trading
- Says Jan Van Eyck was here and includes himself in reflection
- wool neck fur of squirrel
- white linen on head
- velvet + straw top hat
- Convex mirror used to show Van Eyck
- used for protections
- mirrors and painters in same guild
Define Retable
- Carved object behind Altar
Define Polychrome
- painted/ coloured in regards to sculpture
Define Book of Hours
A prayer book which specifies time for prayer, mostly for wealthy women
Define Papyrus
material woven from reeds, sensitive to climate
Define Scrolls
earliest printed format
Define Parchment
material from sheep
Define Velum
material from calf
define manuscript
writing on parchment or velum
define codex
technical term for book
define scriptoria
spaces dedicated to copying religious texts
define gutenburg bible
the first books printed by gutenburg’s printing press, made out of velum/parchment
What was important about Colombus rediscovering America?
- people thought he discovered garden of Eden
- People thought judgement day was near
- Similar to Y2k, anxiety at the end of a decade
Who/ when was the garden of earthly delights made?
Hieronymus Bosch
1500
What is important about the garden of earthly delights exterior?
- Oil on panel
- shows up in Henry the 3rd’s home ( could be commissioned?)
- appears as triptych
- potential stories: depiction of creation of world or great flood
- grisaille so colour doesn’t fade
- God on top right and earth in center
- biblical inscription on top
- widely circulated/ well known
- 7x12 ft
What is important about the garden of earthly delights interior?
Left Panel
- garden of eden linked to discoveries of amerias and expansionism
- adam and even marriage with god in the foreground
- made up hybrid creatures and non- european animals
Right Panel
- Shows Hell
- made up creatures/ monsters
- central figure referred to as treeman
- treeman supposed to be self portrait of artist
- representations of punishment for those who go to hell
Middle Scene
- supposed to be garden of earthly delight
- portentially visualization fo when human gains autonomy and will gone wrong
- sexual relations and strange behaviour
- oversized fruit symbolic of various sins
When was the self portrait of Albrecht Durer made?
1500
What is important about the self portrait of Albrecht Durer?
- Oil on Panel
- Genius well trained in many mediums
- Nuremburg people into humanism
- made many trips to study
- Uses Gutenburg press in innovative ways
- Conflates similarities with christ
- Durer has gesture of bennedites and facial expression of christ
- one of the first times artist signs work
- shift to focus on intellect of artist rather than just being a toolsmith
- sold self portraits to people because of how famous he was
Define painting
unique object/ one of a king, making another copy would not result in the same, very time and cost consuming
Define Print
Multiple copies of the same image, more affordable, lower cost, easier to reproduce, print can be woodcut or engraved
What is important about woodcut?
- sketch object, carve away what you don’t want from wood, then use ink overlay to get it on paper
- very time consuming
- produces multiple copies
- have to think about what will be in demand
- wood will collapse under printing press if it is too thin (prevents small precise detail)
Who/ when was the 4 horseman of the apocalypse made?
- Albrecht Durer
- 1498
What is important about the 4 horseman of the apocalypse?
- Woodcut
- Prints based on market demand, taps into fear of turn off century apocalypse
- has Durer insignia on bottom
- scene is reference to apocalypse in bible
What is important about Engraving?
- engraved into metal
- higher cost
- allows for more detail
Define Busin
Special knife for carving, comes in different sizes
Who/ when was Meloncolia made?
- Abrecht Durer
- 1514
What is important about Meloncolia?
- Allegory of Artist (psychological statement on artist not being inspired)
- title essentially means depression
- sadness shown with pose of person
- artist surrounded by art tools but does not make art
- emphasizes need for introspection
- no clear indication of space to show confusion
- magic square in top right
- Ladder cannot tell where it starts or stops
- insignia at bottom
Define Tableau Vivant
a silent and motionless group of people arranged to represent a scene or incident.
Define Cartoon
full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco, oil painting or a tapestry
