Quote of the DayQuote of the DayThe progress of an artist is a The progress of an artist is a

continual self-sacrifice, a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of continual extinction of

personality personality

T.S. T.S. EliotEliot

If it looks like art, chances are it’s somebody else’s art.

Chuck Close

Giotto Tricks his Master

It is said that Giotto, while working in his boyhood under Cimabue, once painted a fly on the nose of a figure that Cimabue himself had made, so true to nature that his master, returning to continue his work, set himself more than once to drive it away with his hand, thinking that it was real, before, he perceived his mistake.

Vasari, Lives, 1568

I don’t paint things; I paint the difference between things.

Henri Matisse

Art is only work open to people who can’t get along with others and still want

to be special.

Alasdair Gray

Donatello under Pressure

Donatello was making a bronze statue of Captain Gattamelata; and since he was constantly goaded to hurry with it, he took a hammer and crushed the head of the statue. When the Signori of Venice heard about this, they asked him to come in and, among other threats, they told him that they would bash his head in just as he had done to the statue.

Michelangelo’s “David”It happened at this time that Piero Soderini, having seen it in place, was well pleased with it, but said to Michelangelo, at a moment when he was retouching it in certain parts, that it seemed to him that the nose of the figure was too thick. Michelangelo noticed that the Gonfalonier was beneath the Giant, and that his point of view prevented him from seeing it properly; but in order to satisfy him he climbed upon the staging, which was against the shoulders, and quickly took up a chisel in his left hand, with a little of the marble-dust that lay upon the planks of the staging, and then, beginning to strike lightly with the chisel, let fall the dust little by little, nor changed the nose a whit from what it was before. Then looking down at the Gonfalonier, who stood watching him, he said, ‘look at it now.’ And so Michelangelo came down, laughing to himself at having satisfied that lord, for he had compassion on those who, in order to appear full of knowledge, talk about things of which they know nothing.

Florence, Italy Summer 2008

Study Abroad Fair ,Tuesday, September 11, 2007 from 11:00 - 3:00 p.m. in the Potomac Lounge of the University Union

STUDY ABROAD, FLORENCE, ITALY SUMMER, 2008Call the Study Abroad Office at 410-704-4703

Email: Professor L. Mooney lmooney@towson.edu

ART HISTORY II

Leonardo, Vitruvian Man c. 1490

The Renaissance:The Four Major Breakthroughs

• Oil on Stretched Canvas• Perspective• The use of light and dark ( Chiaroscuro)• Pyramidal Configuration

Oil on Canvas: Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife, Giovanna Cenami, 1434, Oil on wood panel

Perspective: linear or geometric

Masaccio, Trinity with the Virgin, Saint john the Evangelist, and Donors, fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1425-1427/28

Masaccio, The Trinity, detailed use of linear perspective

Linear Perspective • Linear perspective is based on the observation that 1. all parallel lines which recede into the distance at the same

angle (orthogonals) appear to converge toward a single point (vanishing point)

2. this point appears along a plane (horizon line) which corresponds with the point of view of the observer.

• By using this system Masaccio has presented a convincing illusion of depth and created a strong compositional focus.

• In the Trinity, Masaccio has used linear perspective, but he has placed the vanishing point beneath the base of the Cross which corresponds to our actual vantage point in viewing the work.

Perspective: atmospheric or aerial

Masaccio, Tribute Money, fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence 1427

• The representation of spatial effects which are caused by the interposition of the atmosphere between the viewer and distant objects.

• These effects include blurring of outlines, loss of detail, alteration of hue toward blue, and diminution of color saturation, and value contrast.

• Atmospheric perspective became another important tool for Renaissance artists to create the illusion of depth.

Atmospheric/Aerial Perspective

Chiaroscuro

The Virgin and Child, St. Anne and the Infant St. John (detail),Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1498, charcoal heightened with white on brown paper

• Chiaroscuro, which means "light-and-dark" in Italian.

• It referred to the new technique for modeling forms in painting by which lighter parts seemed to emerge from darker areas, producing the illusion of rounded, sculptural relief on a flat surface.

• It gives form to a three-dimensional body through the relationship of light and shadow.

• The forms no longer stand abruptly side by side as they did in the works of previous artists where the figures were simply drawn and painted, but now seem unified in a single lighted space.

Chiaroscuro

Pyramidal Configuration

Leonardo, Mona Lisa, 1503

Leonardo, Last Supper, 1495

The Renaissance:The Four Major Breakthroughs

• Oil on Stretched Canvas• Perspective• The use of light and dark ( Chiaroscuro)• Pyramidal Configuration

What were the differences between the Northern and Italian Renaissance?

1. Geography aside, the North held on to Gothic art and architecture with a tighter, longer grip than did Italy.

2. The Northern Renaissance artists were scattered about and few in number initially ( very unlike their Italian counter parts).

3. The North had fewer centers of free commerce than did Italy.

4. The Burgundian Dukes were excellent patrons of the arts, but the art they sponsored was different from that of their Italian counterparts. Their interests were along the lines of illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, and furnishings. In Italy the patrons were more interested in paintings, sculpture and architecture.

5. The social changes in Italy were inspired by HUMANISM. The Italians were driven to study Classical Antiquity and explore man’s supposed capacity for rational choice. In the North, because of a lack of works of antiquity from which to learn, change was brought about by a different rationale.

6. Thinking minds in the North were more concerned with religious reform. Art took more a decidedly secular turn.

7. Renaissance artists in the North took a different approach to composition

than the Italian artists

a. Italian artist were apt to consider scientific principles behind composition ( proportion, anatomy, perspective).

b. Northern artists were more concerned with what their art looked like. Color was the key importance, above and beyond form. And the more detail a Northern artist could cram into a piece, the happier he was.

8. Northern artist enjoyed different geophysical conditions. Fore example, there are more stained glass windows in northern Europe.

9. Italy, during the Renaissance produced some fabulous egg tempura paints and frescoes along with glorious marble statuary. The north is NOT known for it’s frescoes because the climate isn’t conducive to curing them and the same with egg tempera on wood.

10. The North developed the chemistry of oil paint as a medium that would dry slowly and last. Italy has marble quarries. Whereas, Northern Renaissance sculpture, is by and large, worked in wood.

Early Renaissance Europe

Renaissance Art in the North

When we talk about the Northern Renaissance, what we actually mean is "Renaissance happenings that occurred within Europe, but outside of Italy." Because the most innovative art was created in France, the Netherlands and Germany during this time, and because all of these places are north of Italy, the "Northern" tag has stuck.

Limbourg Brothers, January, The Duke of Berry at Table, Trés Riches Heures, 1411-1416

Paul, Herman, and Jean Limbourg, Page with February, Tres Riches Heures , 1411-1416

International Gothic Style

Had its origin in the illuminated manuscript, transferring to the panel picture the:

• brilliant color

• the fine detail

• the rich sense of pattern

• the individual characterization of the painters of miniatures in manuscripts.

Claus Sluter, Well of Moses, detail of Moses and David, from the Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon France 1395-1406

Melchior Broederlam, Annunciation and Visitation (left), Presentation in the Temple and Flight into Egypt ( right) wings of an altarpiece for

the Chartreuse de Champmol 1393-1399 Oil on wood panel

Annunciation, (detail), Altarpiece for the Chartreuse de Champmol, 1393

Visitation, Altarpiece for the Chartreuse de Champmol, 1393

Presentation, Altarpiece for the Chartreuse de Champmol, 1393

Flight into Egypt, Altarpiece for the Chartreuse de Champmol, 1393

Robert Campin, Merode Altarpiece c. 1425-1428

Merode Altarpiece, Patrons , left panel

Merode Altarpiece, Annunciation scene, detail central panel

Merode Altarpiece, Joseph in his workshop, left panel

Jan and Hubert van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece ( open) Adoration of the Mystic Lamb - 1432

Jan van Eyck, Man in a Red Turban, 1433

Jan van Eyck, Double Portrait , Traditionally known as Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami, 1434 ( oil on wood panel)

Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, detail, 1434

Rogier van der Weyden, Deposition, from an altarpiece commissioned by the Crossbowmen’s Guild, Belgium, c. 1435-1438 ( oil on wood panel)

Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1455 ( oil and tempera on wood panel)

Hugo van der Goes, Portinari Altarpiece ( open) c. 1474-1476

Renaissance Art in Fifteenth Century Italy

Renaissance Art of Italy •Much of the power and art patronage was in the hands of the wealthy families: the Medici in Florence, the Visconti and Sforza in Milan, the Gonzaga in Mantua, the Este in Ferrara, and the Montefeltro in Urbino.

•Money conferred status, and the shrewd business or political leader could become very powerful.

•Patronage of the arts was an important public activity with political overtones.

•Cosimo de’Medici the Elder founded an academy devoted to the study of the classics, especially the works of Plato and his followers, the Neoplatonist.

•Interest in the ancient world rapidly spread beyond the Medici circle to artists and craftspeople, who sought to reflect the new interests of their patrons in their work. Gradually, artists began to see themselves as more than artisans and society recognized their best works as achievements of a very high order.

•Despite an interest in antiquity, 15th century Italian painting and sculpture continued to be predominantly Christian.

•Secular works were rare until the second half of the century, and even these were chiefly portraits.

•Allegorical and mythological themes also appeared in the latter decades as patrons began to collect art for their personal enjoyment.

•The male nude became an acceptable subject in Renaissance art, mainly in religious images- Adam, Jesus on the Cross, and martyrdoms of saints such as Sebastian.

•Other than representations of Eve or an occasional allegorical or mythological figure such as Venus, female nudes were rare until the end of the century.

•Italian painters and sculptors moved gradually toward a greater precision in rendering the illusion of physical reality.

Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1402 Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1402

Brunelleschi, Dome of Florence Cathedral, 1417-1436

Brunelleschi, Dome of Florence Cathedral, dome scaffolding

Brunelleschi, Foundling Hospital, Florence, Italy, 1419

Foundling Hospital, Florence, loggia, 1419

Della Robbia, Rondels detail, Foundling Hospital, Florence

Brunelleschi, Nave, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence c. 1421-1428

Plan and Nave, San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy c. 1442

Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici- Riccardi, Florence, Begun 1446

Courtyard with sgraffito decoration, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence begun 1446

Alberti, Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, Italy ( left five bays 1455-1458); later extended but never finished

Alberti, Façade, Church of Sant’Andrea, Mantua, designed 1470

Alberti, Plan and Nave, Church of Sant’Andrea

Nave, Church of Sant’Andrea Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome

Brunelleschi, San Lorenzo Alberti, Sant’Andrea

Orsanmichele, Florence

Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Martyrs, Orsanmichele, Florence

c. 1409-1417

Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Martyrs, predella detail, Orsanmichele, Florence

Lorenzo Ghiberti, gates of Paradise ( East doors), Bapistry of San Giovanni, Florence 1425-1452

Ghiberti, Jacob and Esau, panel of the Gates of Paradise c. 1435

Donatello, David, c.1446-1460

Donatello, Mary Magdalen, 1450s,

Masaccio, Trinity with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist, and

Donors, fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1425-1427

Interior left wall of the Brancacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, with fresco by Masaccio and Masolino ( 1426-1427) and

Filippino Lippi (c. 1482-1484)

Masaccio, Tribute Money, fresco in the Brancacci chapel, c. 1427

Masaccio, Adam and Eve, Expulsion from Paradise, 1427

Van Eyck, Adam and Eve, Ghent Altarpiece, 1432

Fra Angelico, Annunciation, fresco in north corridor , Monastery of San Marco, Florence, Italy c. 1438-1445

Piero della Francesca, Two views of the Bacci Chapel, Church of San Francesco, Arezzo, 1454-1458

Piero della Francesca, Recognition and Proving of the True Cross

1450s

Ghirlandaio, View of the Sassetti Chapel, Church of Santa Trinita, Florence, frescos of scenes from the Legend of St. Francis;

altarpiece with Nativity and Adoration of the Shepard. 1483-1486

Ghirlandaio, Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds, Sassetti Chapel Panel, Altarpiece 1485

Piero della Francesa, Battista Sforza (left) and Federico da Montefeltro (right). 1474

The portrait of Battista Sforza, the wife of Federico da Montefeltro, is identified by an inscription on the base; her features are also recorded in the profile painting by Piero della Francesca. The bust may have been posthumous (she died in 1472 in childbirth)

and modeled on a death-mask.

Fernando Botero, Battista Sforza (after Piero della Francesca), 1998

Triumph of Frederico and Battista

Botticelli, La Primavera, c. 1482, Tempera on wood panel

Boticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1484-1486 Tempera on canvas

Botticelli, Mystic Nativity. 1500 Oil on canvas

16th Century Art in Italy

Major Characteristic of Europe in the 16th century

•Humanism slowly gave way to a spirit of discovery that led to new ideas, the natural world and lands unknown to them.

•The use of the printing press caused an explosion in the number of books available broadening education and ability of people to learn to read.

•Travel became more common, artist and their work become mobile

•Artistic styles became less regional and more “international”.

•Charles V, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519.

•Italian states, Habsburg Spain, France, and the papacy warred against each other in shifting alliances for much of the century.

•The popes’ incessant demands for money aggravated the religious dissent that had long been developing north of the Alps, and contributed to the rise of Protestantism.

•Sack of Rome, May 1527 under Pope Clement VII (Medici)

•Alexander VI ( Borgia) papacy 1492- 1503

•Julius II ( della Rovere) papacy 1503- 1513

•Leo X ( Medici) papacy 1513-1521

•Clement VII ( Medici) papacy 1523- 1534

•Paul III ( Farnese) papacy 1534- 1549

Great Papal Patrons of the 16th century

The Changing Status of Artists

•Many artist began to record their activities in private diaries, notebooks, and letters.

•Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors- the first art history biographies – appeared in 1550.

•Painters and sculptors became entrepreneurs, selling prints of their works on the side.

•Artists argued that the conception of a painting, sculpture, or work of architecture was a liberal-rather than a manual- art that required education in the classics and mathematics.

•Newly elevated status of the artist worked against women’s participation in the visual arts because genius was then believed to be reserved for men.

•Few women had access to the humanistic education required for the often esoteric subject matter used in paintings or to the studio practice necessary to draw nude figures.

Three Great Artists of the Early 16th Century

•Michelangelo Buonarroti ( 1475-1564)

•Leonardo da Vinci ( 1452- 1519)

•Raphael [ Raffaello Sanzio] ( 1483- 1520)

Leonardo da Vinci, 1452- 1519It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and

let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.

Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. People who study his notebooks have long been puzzled by something else, however. He usually used "mirror writing", starting at

the right side of the page and moving to the left. Only when he was writing something intended for other people did he write in the normal direction.

Leonardo’s drawings from his Notebooks

Burial site of Leonardo da Vinci

Saint Hubert Chapel of Chateau d’ Amboise, Amboise, France

Leonardo, The Last Supper, refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy 1495-98 tempera and oil on plaster

Leonardo, The Last Supper, 1495-1498

Leonardo, The Last Supper, detail, 1495-1498

Leonardo, Mona Lisa, c. 1503 , oil on wood panel

Leonardo, Mona Lisa (detail), c. 1503

Raphael ( Raffaello Santi or Sanzio) 1483-1520

Raphael, Stanza della Segnatura, 1510-1511, fresco Vatican, Rome

Raphael, School of Athens, fresco in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Rome, c. 1510-1511

School of Athens, ( detail)

Plato (left) holds his book Timaeus- in which creation is seen in terms of geometry, and humanity encompasses and explains the universe. Points to the heavens as the ultimate source of his philosophy.

Aristotle (right) with his outstretched palm down seems to emphasize the importance of gathering empirical knowledge from observing the material world.

School of Athens (detail)

Euclid (right) shown inscribing a slate with a compass was a portrait of Bramante

School of Athens (detail) image of Raphael listening to a discourse by the astronomer Ptolemy.

School of Athens (detail)

Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling when Raphael was painting his fresco. He is in a pose reminiscent of the

figures of sibyls and prophets on his great ceiling.

Michelangelo Buonarroti Born: March 6, 1475 Died: Feb.18, 1564 I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

                                                                  —Michelangelo

Caprese, Italy, birthplace of Michelangelo , March 6, 1475

This is the earliest work of Michelangelo (1490-92). We see the influence of Greek "stela". The Madonna's face is in classical profile and she sits on a square block, Michelangelo's hallmark. He chose not to show the Child's face but placed him in an odd position, either

nursing or sleeping and encased in drapery, suggesting protection. In the background, four youths handle a long cloth, identified either as the one used to lower Christ from the cross

or a shroud.

Portrait of Vittoria Colonna

Tomb of Michelangelo, Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

Vesperbild, Middle Rhine region, Germany c. 1330

Michelangelo, Pieta, c. 1500

Michelangelo, Pieta, (detail) c. 1500

Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504 height 17’

Interior, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Rome built 1475-1481, ceiling painted 1508-1512, end wall 1536-1544

Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling c. 1508-1511

Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Creation of Adam, c. 1508- 1512

On the main doorway of San Petronio in Bologna, the sculptor, Jacopo produced a series of extremely monumental relief figures that made a deep impression on the

young Michelangelo.

Moses is the centerpiece of the tableau for monument to Julius II; flanking are Jacob's wives, Michelangelo's last completed statues; others are works of

Michelangelo's students

The Moses was executed for Michelangelo's second project for the tomb of Julius II. Inspired perhaps by the medieval conception of man as microcosm, he brought together the elements in allegorical guise: the flowing beard suggests water, the wildly twisting hair fire, the heavy drape earth. Conceived for the second tier of the tomb, the statue was meant to be seen from below and not as it is displayed today at eye-level.

Michelangelo, New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence, 1519-1534

Tomb of Giuliano de’Medici (detail)

Tomb of Giuliano de’Medici- Allegorical figure of Night,

Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici, allegorical figure of Day

Filarete Door- 1443-1445 (Detail of Martyrdom of St. Peter)

Central Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

Bramante, Tempietto, Church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome 1501-1510

Architecture and Painting in Northern Italy

Giorgione, The Tempest, 1506

Titian and Giorgione, The Pastoral Concert, c. 1510

Titian, Pesaro Madonna, 1519-1526 Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

Titian, Venus of Urbino, c. 1538

Titian, Isabella d’Este 1534-1536

60-62 years old

Michelangelo, Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, 1536-1541

Italian Mannerism

•Began in Rome and Florence about 1520

•From the Italian maniera, a word used in the 16th century to suggest intellectually intricate subjects, highly skilled techniques, and art concerned with beauty for its own sake.

•Irrational spatial effect

•Figures with elongated proportions

•Exaggerated poses

•Enigmatic gestures and expression

Brunelleschi, Capponi Chapel for the Barbadori family, Church of Santa Felicita, Florence 1419-1423

Pontormo, Entombment, 1525-1528

Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck, 1534- 1540

Veronese, Feast in the House of Levi, 1573

Tintoretto, The Last Supper, 1592-1594 Oil on Canvas

Palladio, Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, plan 1565; construction 1565-1580; façade, 1597-1610; campanile 1791

Paladio, Villa Rotunda ( Villa Capra), Vicenza, Italy 1560s

Sixteenth –Century Art in Northern Europe

Hagenauer, Saint Anthony Enthroned between Saints Augustine and Jerome, shrine of the Isenheim Altarpiece c. 1500 , Painted and gilt limewood

Grunewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (closed) central panel c. 1515

Grunewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, first opening. C. 1510-1515

Albrecht Durer, Self-portrait, 1500

Albrecht Durer, Four Apostles, 1526

El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586 Oil on Canvas

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Return of the Hunters , 1565, Oil on wood panel