venice cases Flashcards
1
Q
San Michele in Isola - context
A
- commissioned by Abbey church of the Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine order- hermits who wore white robes to symbolise spiritual purity
- barco and flat wooden roof air acoustics
- stylistic association with early, purer days of christianity - simple interior
- andrea de nicolo loredan was a wealthy venetian ambassador, and one of the main benefactors, and consequently was granted the use of the chancel for his family burial chapel
- church is dedicated to Saint Michael, holder of the scales on judgement day, therefore appropriate to the islands function as a cemetery and the church’ function as a mortuary chapel
- first renaissance style church in venice, after the dominance of byzantine and gothic forms and features- less ornamentation and grandeur, focus instead on organisation, simplicity, strength
2
Q
San Michele in Isola - description
A
- plan is a tri-lobed longitudinal basilica, no transept
- barco / raised monks choir
- interior has a nave with simple columns supporting an arcade, supporting clerestory with large walls and flat roof
- carving of interior column capitals are detailed, each pari is different
- use of white istrian stone throughout
- facade is tri-partite design with an attic storey crowned by a huge semi-circular lunette with egg & dart and dentil mouldings, flanked by convex curves with shell motifs
- attic storey has one main oculus and four little oculi
- ionic pilasters on each storey
- rustication of the lower story
- motif of bold roman lettering on frieze above channelled rustication
- central door has a triangular pediment
- round- headed windows mark the aisles
- lower story below cornice is equal in height to the upper storey and lunette
- nave bay is twice the width of the aisle bays and the same height as the pilasters, forming a central square under the entablature
- use of white istrian stone, inlaid with grey marble - reflects water of lagoon, sheen, opulence
3
Q
Ca d’Oro - description
A
- 3 stories
- loggia opening out onto the canal, composed of corinthian columns supporting one central semicircular arch and two lancet arches on each side
- upper two stories composed of corinthian columns supporting cusped or scalloped lancets and quatrefoil tracery, balustrades, windows immediately flanking them
- contarini arms displayed on upper storey facade and held by lions on the corner of the roofline (lions for St Mark)
- istrian white stone, red verona marble, lapis lazuli, gilding and opulent decoration, robust oil paints
- fenestration for lots of light
4
Q
Ca d’Oro - context
A
- hybrid of styles- venetian gothic, including gothic, byzantine, classical, reflecting venice’s position as geographical and commercial crossroads
- gilding and opulent decoration shows close historical, political and economic connection beterrn venice and byzantine empire (cultural connection to roman antiquity via the eastern, not classical western roman empire) (associated with the byzantine basilica of st mark’s)
- similarity in style and use of materials to doge’s palace- showing political importance of the contarini family
- commissioned by marino continari, a wealthy merchant from one of venice’s most noble families
- magnificent display of social prestige
- for receiving shipments of goods via the grand canal
5
Q
San Zaccaria altarpiece - description
A
- St Peter holds keys to heaven
- St Catherine holds palm frond, symbolic of martyrdom, and wheel on which she was martyred
- St Lucy holds palm frond, and a crystal for the blind
- St Jerome wears cardinal red and holds a book showing he translated the bible into latin
- angel playing a small archaic instrument, violin like, music symbolising harmony
- Mary and Christ sitting on a throne, head of King David
- beneath a dome- golden mosaic so byzantine
- open- blue sky and trees around them
- chiaroscuro in folds of drapery
- shadow in left hand side, lighter on opposite side
- transversals and orthogonal on chequerboard floor
6
Q
San Zaccaria Alterpiece - context
A
- commissioned by Benedictine nuns of San Zaccaria Church
- golden mosaic and oil painting showing off pigments- Byzantine influence through trade
- colore (light and colour) Flemish oil paint influence
- amplifies illusion with the real light of Venice- positioned to match up to the cast shadows in the painting, integration of the real architecture of the frame in which its painted, trompe l’oeil, like its extending out from the space in which it was painted
- reflective surface, mellowness and richness of colours, supernatural light sense
- sacre conversazione
7
Q
Sacred and Profane Love - description
A
- two women, of identical features, and cupid around a sarcophagus with landscape scenes in the background
- woman on the left is clothed in heavy, tailored dress, gloved hands clutching roses and a vessel
- woman on right nude and with loose drapery, moving with wind, holding up an oil lamp with ascending smoke, pose in much lighter as if pushing off, looking slightly down at the other
- landscape on the left is a castle, fortress, symbolic of protected chastity
- landscape on right has a church, aerial perspective so can see further- more open, free, simpler, marriage allowing mating after
8
Q
Sacred and Profane Love - context
A
- neoplatonic ideology- material world of physical possessions, tangible objects, empirical, versus world of forms, the truer, purer nature of everything, more beautiful, nudity as was allowed before the fall
- commissioned by Niccolo Aurelio as part of a chest, and a marriage gift for Laura Bagarotto (reminder of virtuousness and procreation, potentially erotic imagery for husband) has both of their family arms
- new venetian interest in landscape, making it a far more important subject can it had been, using imagery to convey meaning indirectly
- colore, full exploitation of the capacities of oil paint, 30-40 glazes making tones and hues rich and deep, subdues harsh contrasts between tones and hues, unifies painting’s palette
- silk road (oil paints, accessible pigments), flemish painting
- rising status of artist - exploitation of oil paint
9
Q
Tympanum of the Scuola della Misericordia - description
A
- mother mary with mandorla of baby christ with his hand hand up, tying her robe together, she is holding the robe out, covering crouching and praying people below with it
- around her, in low relief, are people and trees, prophets holding scrolls and kings wearing crowns- tree of Jesse
- white and black for prophets scrolls
- blue paint as background for tree of Jesse- azurite and lapis lazuli
- oil gilding for branches and leaves of trees and for virgin’s mantle
- gold and istrian stone for the mantle
- mary used to have a metal crown
- authority and status, kingliness of Christ, mercy
10
Q
Tympanum of the Scuola della Misericordia - context
A
- commissioned by Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a charitable lay confraternity
- would have been above the main portal of the Scuola’s old meeting house, also a hospital and almshouse for elderly brothers, those receiving charity would have passed under it
- istrian stone, coloured paint, gold and oil for vibrant polychromy
- hieratic scale, christ as that which holds everything together, in his own divine space
11
Q
Gattamelata - description
A
- monumental bronze sculpture of man on top of horse
- horse balance left front foot on a cannonball
- man holding baton and reins at the same time
- plate armour, stirrups, sword
- plate armour with relief sculpture of Hypnos, showing sleep or death, classical greco-roman armour
- looking straight ahead- control, balance, skill
- no beard, like ancient portrait bust of Julius Caesar
12
Q
Gattamelata - context
A
- Erasmo di Narni, condotierro or hired soldier who fought for Florence and Venice and was the podesta of Padua from 1437
- commissioned by his family and authorised by a Venetian senate to erect it outside St Anthony’s basilica
- civic pride, humanism, military prowess, rise of individual achievements
- marcus aurelius, hippodrome’s war horses, expressing inheritance from eastern-roman antiquity
- large equestrian sculptures were very rare - first since antiquity that is not a pop/emperor
- possibly made from a death mask. highly naturalistic, showing the long, tough life experiences, accentuated features
