In this class, we first took a look at the technic called Intarsia, which uses varied shapes, sizes, and species of wood fitted together to create a mosaic-like picture with an illusion of depth. By adding a sense of depth to the walls, the room is visually enlarged, and the application of lines in mathematical and geometric rules makes the scene looks real. Notice the objects inside the cabinet are all for measurement and are depicted proportionally following the mathematical truth. It is also interesting to learn that the scene is depicted from a perspective of a 175cm tall male–the height of the dude, which shows how the patron and the artwork are connected.
Then we moved to Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera. A pattern of fire is depicted both on the clothing of Venus and Mercury. Some domestic objects are also introduced, such as cassone, an elaborately decorated piece of furniture of the Renaissance, which appears in Titian’s Venus of Urbino. The birth trap is also an interesting domestic object, where people’s hope for a healthy male baby from the bride is embedded. In Bartolomeo di Fruosino’s Birth tray with seated nude boy, the baby depicted wears a coral necklace, a symbolic object to avoid the demo. That the boy is peeing reminds spectators of the narrative that “a child pees silver and gold” for a Renaissance family, as a newborn male child will continue the family line and inherit the family’s wealth. In Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Madonna and Child, the Virgin is depicted more and more like a mother with tenderness, and the Jesus Child also behaves like a normal cute babe, so that audiences will erose their emotion to connect with the sculpture. In short, from the study of Renaissance artworks so far, we learn that marriage in Renaissance is more like a business arrangement with a huge emphasis on reproduction. We see that social life and contemporary notions can be revealed by such an art study and investigation.