Author: Nora Callanan (Page 3 of 3)

In today’s class, we began discussing the artistic developments occurring in northern Europe during the 15th century. Artists in the north were particularly concerned with realism and reflecting reality, in a way their Italian counterparts were not yet. Not only did they want to depict life in their works, but they also wanted them to convey meaning. They did this through the use of “disguised symbolism” which involved placing small, ordinary objects in the background of the scene that would convey a certain meaning. They wanted these objects to blend into the rest of the scene, but a trained eye could spot them and get at what the artist was trying to say in this piece.

This is seen best of all in Jan van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Portrait“. This work has a number of disguised symbols throughout the piece. One example is the two pairs of shoes visible on the ground. This is supposed to represent that a sacramental moment is taking place, or that they are standing on holy ground. There is a small dog, which is not only meant to represent loyalty but also the exotic breed of the dog is meant to show the wealth of the couple. There is also a bowl of fruit sitting by the window that represents fertility. There are many other symbols in the work and they are all meant to represent the qualities of an idle marriage – loyalty, prosperity, dedication, and so on.

Today in class we continued our discussion of 13th and 14th-century Italian art, beginning with Cimabue’s Enthroned Madonna and Child. This work reflects the growing focus on Mary as the mother of God – the Theotokos. This image shows her as the queen of heaven and of the Church as an institution. Below Mary are the four prophets of the Old Testament that predicted the coming of Jesus. They are literally the foundations of the Church in this image. The style Cimabue paints is abstract in the sense that he does not aim to depict reality, but representations.

We then compared this work with Giotto’s Madonna Enthroned, which drew direct inspiration from Cimabue’s earlier painting. Giotto renders space in a much more natural way. The figures are not floating as in Cimabue’s, but clearly anchored in space. Overall Giotto’s work is much more naturalistic than Cimabue’s showing artists’ desire to be constantly improving art. We also talked about Giotto’s other famous work the Scrovegni Chapel. The interior of this building contains numerous scenes from Jesus’ life and other biblical scenes. As in his Madonna Enthroned, Giotto uses vibrant colors and very realistic figures. He can convey immense emotion in his depiction of the Lamentation, and he really aims to place the viewer in these scenes.

We looked at a third depiction of the Madonna Enthroned by Duccio, which is a part of the Maesta altarpiece. While stylistically similar to Cimabue in many of the figures’ faces and poses, it is significantly more dynamic. This work is extremely detailed and has a complex composition with figures on different plains. This panel is only one part of a larger, elaborate altarpiece of the Chapel of Siena.

I really enjoyed today’s class and was excited that we got to jump into some of the course material. I had taken an art history course in high school so I thought I knew a fair amount about the Renaissance, but I was shocked by how much of the information we discussed today was entirely new to me. In class today we began with the role of the “campanile”, or bell tower, and how that was a symbol of identity for inhabitants of a city-state, and citizens would be reminded of their pride for their city by looking at these towers. We proceeded to talk about the Palazzo dei Priori and how it was a structure built to be a reminder of the power of the government. The building is the town hall of Florance and its out-of-place military architecture style in the middle of the town center is meant to emphasize the strength of the city’s government. I was particularly interested in our discussion of the St. Francais Alterpeice since I had never fully internalized and understood the role of the altarpiece, beyond decoration. Talking about how it interacted with the mass, and how the evolution of churches brought about the need for such an item was fascinating. I really enjoy learning about this period of art and can’t wait to discuss it further in later classes!