Author: Grace Yang (Page 1 of 3)

During today’s class, there was an emphasis placed on Michelangelo and his works. One of the first things we talked about was his sculpture of David. This sculpture was originally going to be placed in a high up area and was meant to be looked up at which is why the head can look slightly disproportionate from a full on frontal view. However, it was due to its magnificence that it was instead placed in a spot of attention and replaced the statue of Judith. This switch itself was rather interesting because Michelangelo’s David and Judith were both depictions of triumph or success. The only difference was that David was about a man who defeated somebody in a straightforward manner while Judith was a woman that defeated a man through deception.

We also discussed Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines which was an introduction to the idea of art for art’s sake. Giambologna wanted to prove that he was able to create life size sculptures so he decided to go the extra mile and create a sculpture that depicted three full size bodies of different types. He also placed them in an amazing composition that twisted up on top of each other. It was because this sculpture was made to prove his prowess that not much meaning went into the making of the sculpture and it was only after it got popular that it was given its meaning and name.

During today’s class, we spent a lot of time talking about Colby’s spatial organization. We discussed how it appears like it was built from Miller out and creates a scenic view that could be seen atop the steps of Miller. However, we also discussed the not so great parts of the spatial organization which was that it felt much larger in one direction than the other which could cause struggle when walking around. The odd placement of the chapel was also discussed due to it being hard to reach despite it being the location of events like concerts.

Another interesting thing we discussed today were the “competition panels” because like the name suggests, they were made for a competition. They had created a competition to see who would make the new doors for the Baptistery by having them create panels for the doors. Ultimately it came down to Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti and although their panels were similar, Ghiberti’s idealized depiction of Isaac and having him in contrapposto allowed him to win.

During today’s class, we mainly discussed Antwerp and the artists that were based there. Antwerp itself was interesting to learn about because it was there that art started to be made for the market and not just commissions and patrons. Having such a market gave artists more creative freedom because their paintings were no longer being dictated by patrons. However, art meant for markets were also a gamble because it was not confirmed that their artwork would get bought. It was because of this that artists would fight or compete for sales but it was in an attempt to avoid such competition that artists would often try and find a niche that they could then refine. It was also during this time that name started to become more important because it was an identifier in the marketplace. One of the artists that resided in Antwerp and thrived in the market was Pieter Bruegel. Bruegel found his niche in that he would try and feature moral lessons in his paintings. For instance, his painting that is referred to as Fall of Icarus used Icarus’ status as a symbol of hubris to depict a lesson. At one point, Bruegel even included 126 Netherlandish proverbs into a single painting. It was also in this new marketplace that copies would appear. Bruegel, for example, copied his own composition in order to sell more copies because it was popular. Even his son would copy his composition and sell it and people had no problem with this. Copies often times would be created by the artist themselves, their workshop, or just other artists that may have liked the composition.

During today’s class, the first thing that we discussed was the Studio Palazzo ducale from Gubbio. This space was designed in a way that made it attractive in the eyes of humanists. For instance, they used intarsia to decorate the walls. Intarsia is when different colored or types of woods are cut with great precision and are then arranged in a seamless way. There are even words on top of the woodwork that there there to describe the Duke. You can also see that the letters mimicked ancient letters in the way that they use V for the letter u which adds to the idea that this space was for humanists. The room also appears larger than what it actually is because it adds depth to the walls by looking like cabinets that contains items. This type of illusion was possible thanks to perspective and works best when observed from a height of 175 cm because that is the height of the Duke that this space was personalized for. There were even cast shadows in the wood that were made after determining the light source. In addition to this, although all the objects look basic at first glance, when looked at closer, you can see that they are all tools of measurement.

We also looked at Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera today. This one was also interesting due to the meaning that each of the figures had. especially Mercury. Although he is not the center figure, Mercury plays an interesting role in this painting. The reason is because of his caduceus which is now the symbol of doctors. This can be connected to the Medici who commissioned this painting because Medici is plural for physician and their coat of arms even has round pills, creating an intriguing connection between the patron and the painting.

During the lecture, we finished the section on women in the Renaissance. Because of this, we discussed many paintings and portraits that featured and highlighted women, but what stood out to me the most in this lecture were the little dolls of Christ that were mentioned near the end. This was because these dolls were meant for nuns that lived almost separately from the male dominated society. These little dolls of Jesus Christ were usually given to nuns when they took their vows. This was because nuns are unable to have children due to the value they place on chastity but it is because of this that they take on the role of being like a mother of baby Jesus. These dolls served as a way to do this and they were actually encouraged to play with the baby Jesus dolls to further portray and take on this role. They would dress their dolls up and some even chose to place them in cribs as ways of showing their devotion to Christ.

During today’s class, we focused on women in the Renaissance. In general, women only had power when the husband died and it would only be that way if the heir was too young and the woman had to fulfill that role, in other words, widows had some power. In addition to widows, nuns also had power in the sense that they were women that removed themselves from a male society and had their own specific hierarchy. It was with these ideas that we started talking about portraits featuring females.

The first portrait we discussed was Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of a Woman Inspired by Lucretia. This painting depicts Lucretia Vallier holding an image of her namesake, Lucretia to show her as a model for her way of life which is supported by the note on the side. However, ancient Lucretia is often depicted differently than how she was in this painting because often times she is portrayed very sensually and erotically.

Another portrait we discussed was Titian’s Venus of Urbino. What was interesting about this artwork is that, like other works during the Renaissance, there was no official title. Venus of Urbino was a name given to the work later on in order to be able to reference it. This particular name was also to hide or distract from the fact that it is an erotic image by saying that it is the goddess Venus which shows how prude the times were when they gave this portrait this name. The question then was, if not Venus, who was she? It was believed that the lady depicted was either his mistress or even a courtesan because Venice at the time were known for their amazing courtesans. This portrait was also known to be an erotic image, almost pornographic with some people calling it obscene due to the way the woman is portrayed. It is also because she is naked that details about time have to be found in the background. For example, the structures, the clothes of the girls in the background, and her hair and jewelry all allude to the fact that she is a contemporary lady. The dog that lies next to her also alludes to fidelity but the sleeping of the dog can be interpreted as cheating happening.

The lecture we had to watch was filled with a lot of interesting information but what stood out to me the most was the presence of disguised symbols in portraits. This is because when I think of portraits, typically all that comes to mind is faces. Because of this, I did not stop to think of the symbolism that could be incorporated into portraits. For example, van Eyck’s painting of Giovanni Arnolfi and his wife included a lot of symbols such as the patten on the ground that represented that what they were standing on was sacred ground. The dog was also a symbol for fidelity and it was because of this positive image that it had that it was placed on the center axis to bring attention to it. The peaches on the windowsill were also there to represent fertility, something that was desirable to the woman. There was also meaning behind where they stood because Giovanni stood by the window because that was where he was connected to through work while his wife stood next to the bed because she was connected to housework and the domestic life. All the symbolism in Hans Holbein’s painting of the ambassadors was also very interesting, especially the items that stood between the two. The two shelves, for example, represented the heavenly and earthly realm and were represented by the globes that were placed there. The upper shelf represented the heavenly realm and therefore had a globe that showed the skies. The lower shelf represented the earthly realm and had a globe of the Earth. The tools places on each shelf only added to these meaning as the ones on the upper shelf were all tools used to measure the heavens while the ones on the lower shelf were earthly pursuits. Such symbols, rather than taking away from the face, give context to the people present in the portraits and gives a kind of story to the art that adds to their viewing experience.

In today’s class we continued our discussion on portraits. We started with Robert Campin’s Portraits of a Man and a Woman. What made this one stand out was its plain black background. Backgrounds done this way were called amorphous backgrounds. It was this type of background that let Campin place an emphasis on the faces with intense close ups.

The next artist we discussed was Jan van Eyck and his portrait of what is believed to be Cardinal Niccolo Albergati. We were able to use this artwork to see how portraits were painted since it would not be possible to ask the sitter to pose for the painting for hours upon hours. The way they avoided this was through silver point drawings that were done using a literal silver stylus and parchment coated in a specific material that when touched by silver oxidizes leaving marks. They would use these tools to create a sketch of the person and the pose they are in as well as take notes on the different details and colors so that they would be able to paint it later.

While van Eyck included a lot of details into his faces, Petrus Christus focused more on expressing the character of his subjects as seen in his paintings Portrait of a Carthusian and Edward Grymeston where details about their personalities are evident through pose, accessories, and clothes.

We concluded our class today with a discussion on the differences between the Southern/Italian way of drawing portraits versus the Northern way. The difference was that Southerners aimed to show perfection to the point that they would not draw some features of people in order to get a more perfect looking face. Northerners were more interested in showing reality how it was which is why they aimed to capture every detail of a person realistically in their portraits.

The first thing that we did in this class we finish our discussion on Petrus Christus’ Exeter Madonna. This artwork also implemented eyeballed perspective meaning that the perspective lines did not line up completely and only appear to. This was a less rigorous way of doing perspective that contrasted the precise way Italians used. Northerners like Petrus Christus also often used rising perspective in their paintings. Rising perspective is a construction that allows more details to be shown. This was unique to the Northerners where detail was considered crucial compared to the Italians that placed more emphasis on the big picture. The Exeter Madonna painting also gave us an example of aerial (or atmospheric) perspective. This perspective showed how air or atmosphere changes how things look when further away because you cant see something objects as well because of the bits of suspended water in between you and the further away object.

We also discussed a lot about disguised symbolism which is when objects are symbols but also are at home where they are. With this topic in mind, we looked at Robert Campin’s Merode Triptych which depicted a completely domestic image. This triptych also featured a rising perspective to show everything on the table tops. Campin also makes a conscientious decision not to include halos in order to make the Saints feel more like regular people. One of the disguised symbols present in this artwork was the open door. This door was meant to show that the annunciation was the beginning of the process that would unlock the gate of heaven. Another symbol was the vase on the table that is decorated with what looks like Hebrew letters. This was a reference to the Old Testament. Another reference to the old testament is the book that is placed over the scroll. This showed that the book, the more recent version, is taking over what was used in the past, scrolls. White lilies in the annunciation were also representative of Mary. In this one particular, two are bloomed and one has not yet. The unopened bloom is for Jesus who had not been born yet. This is not all there is and there are in fact many more symbols in this painting however what ties them all together and makes them disguised symbolism is the fact that the objects do not look out of place.

During today’s class, we discussed Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It started with a discussion of how Leonardo experimented with the way he did this fresco because he used tempera to paint it which is why it cannot really be called a fresco. Along with this, it focuses on the moment when Christ announces that someone in that room will betray him which is what creates the reactions and expressions of the people around him. However, something that we focused on today was perspective and how it was used in different paintings. In The Last Supper, Leonardo is able to create depth which allows the plane of space the painting represents to be shown properly. On top this, the panels on the side of the walls converge at Christ’s eye which shows that it is the vanishing point, placing him at a sort of focus.

Perspective was also shown as one point perspective in The Holy Trinity. This artwork takes advantage of what perspective suggests in order to get across its message. Aside from perspective, this artwork is also a symbolic representation of the trinity despite it showing a crucifixion because it does not actually depict the scene of the crucifixion. Like stated, this artwork instead explores a Throne of Mercy trinity.

Going back to the idea of perspective, we also discussed how Italian art used perspective more rigorously with set constructions and rules. Northerners were looser with these constructs and would often use a rising perspective that cause the scene to be tilted up and give more room to fill up with stuff.