In class today, we discussed the difference in Vittore Carpaccio’s Scenes from the Life of St. Ursula and Hans Memlic Shrine of St. Ursula. Specifcally, we dsicussed the difference in the narratives and stories they told. Carpaccio’s piece is seen as a more religious and serious canvas, with more rigid characters and demonstrations of faith. Meanwhile, Memlic’s piece shows different situations of the saint arriving in different cities and how those cities reacted. Since the saint is wearing the same outfit, it adds to the story of his travels across Europe. Overall, since Carpaccio is from Venice and Hemlic from Germany, it continues to highlight the differences in Northern vs Florentine Art. While the florentines focus on religious components more heavily, the Northerners focus on depicting stories and reality.

In class, we discussed multiple altarpieces, however, I found the most interesting part of the class to be our discussion of the background of the reformation. I did not previously know about Martin Luther’s history of being a monk, nor did I realize the level of corruption in this time via indulgences through the church. Our conversation about the doctrine of the original sin from which man can only be freed by faith and grace was interesting as this was an idea I never truly thought in depth about.

In this class, we discussed the role of animals in the Isenheim altarpiece and its symbolic meaning. The different animals with distorted configurations made for an unsettling reaction to it. The whole point was to portray the assault of illness, which riddled Europe at the time, as similar to the assault of animals. This theme continues to be dominant in the pieces we have discovered so far: art was used to depict modern problems. Though the religious undertone everything is strong, there is still secular elements. In incorporating reality to the religious aspect of art, it strays away from the strictly religious paintings we discussed previously.

A piece of work I found fascinating was the Altar of the Holy Blood by Tilman Riemenschneider. I found the combination of carvings both reliefs and in the round to be an effective choice in making the altar seem life-like. Additionally, the carpenter’s choice to carve out completely the area behind the apostles (of the altar) to be “see-through” was a smart decision because the church windows in the background are able to fit perfectly into the arches carved in the altarpiece. Thus Riemenschneider is able to cleverly use the overall church to create a mini-church in the scene.

Furthermore, I found the fact that many artists drew inspiration from prior art pieces also fascinating. Although it makes a lot of sense that artists created works inspired by earlier pieces, I’ve always been surprised because I wasn’t sure how accessible art was centuries ago. Unlike today where we can just google pieces of art, the process was definitely much laborious in the 16th century. This is why it peaked my interest when I discovered one of the relief carvings on the Altar of the Holy Blood, a Northern Renaissance work, was similar to Entry to Jerusalem by Duccio di Buonisegna, an Italian artist from two centuries earlier.

In this class, we continued our discussion of Grünewalds’ Isenheim Altarpiece through its inner panels, which revealed further differences between it and the other altarpieces we have seen. The intense contrast between the clearness and purity of the Ascension and the outer Crucifixion panels make them seem completely opposed to one another. The Temptation of St Anthony adds devilish hybrid animals attacking the saint, which would have helped patients relate their sufferings to the piece. This altarpiece is unlike any others in the ways it contrasts the gruesome or the earthly and the pure or heavenly. The center of the final opening presented gilded wood sculptures of three saints. While we have seen these types of works before, they have often been separate from a painted altarpiece. Riemenschneider’s altarpiece provides an example of an entirely sculptural altarpiece that was not gilded or polychromatic but washed in a natural brown. This type of altarpiece is a departure from the Italian-style works we have seen and is distinctly Germanic. I also found it interesting that the carpenter who worked on the frame received equal compensation to the artist, as this reminded me that people at the time would not have seen the work as art but as a functional object.

Today in class, we discussed the Scenes from the life of Saint Ursula by Carpaccio. This painting was commissioned by the Confraternity of Saint Ursula. I found it interesting due to the fact that rather than being a single scene, the painting has an air of cinematic progression. It flows from left to right, following the viewer’s natural gaze. The artist anticipates the order in which the viewer will view the scenes, and uses that to his advantage in telling a linear story. We get multiple parts of the story within one singular image.

Another way in which Carpaccio directly engaged the viewer with the painting is through visual cues inviting the viewer into the painting itself. On the right, there are steps leading into the bedroom, and in the middle, there is an open gate in the fence. Both the steps and the gate face outwards, almost serving as a bridge between the real world and the world of the artwork. Both of these details allow the viewer to become part of the scene itself. Within a religious context, this link allows the viewer to deepen their worship of St. Ursula by being able to envision themselves within her story.

In this class, we started by talking about the final two layers of the Insenheim Altarpiece and how the context it was intended for shaped the scenes depicted in the piece. My question from my previous post where I questioned the point of representing the skin diseases as evil (with Lucifer) began to make more sense with the revelation of the depiction of St. Anthony’s Temptation. In the inscription on the piece, which included more depictions of skin diseases with one of the hybrids attacking St. Anthony, the statement “Where were you, why did you not appear at once to spare me these moments?” reflected what those in the monastery might be feeling. Additionally, we talked about the belief that people would be tempted by the devil to sin or forsake God in their final moments. With this context, Lucifer’s decaying skin makes more sense, as it could be a reference to this sort of questioning or criticism of God, and a deterrent to do so in the same way as the depiction of St. Anthony’s Temptation. We also talked about relics, which, when given more context about the tourism and very shady side of the relic industry, was a very good lead in to talking about the Protestant Reformation.

Today, we learned about the importance of relics within Renaissance art and religion in general. As a non-religious person, the culture surrounding relics was relatively unbeknownst to me. Relics are sacred and holy pieces connected to Saints and other important religious figures. The esteem that they are viewed in has both positive and negative associations. On one hand, they offer a closer connection to religion. On the other hand, there is a large black market in the production and existence of relics existing as far back as the 12th century. It is interesting to me to consider the importance of relics both in the religious context and artistic one. I feel like there is great power in viewing something that many find incredibly important. For example, even though I am not Muslim, I still deeply enjoyed visiting Mosques throughout Turkey when I visited. However, not everyone is like me, so I think it will be important to balance the cultural and aesthetic contexts in my exhibition.  

In this class, we continued to examine the Isenheim Altarpiece. We examined the scene that depicts Jesus’s ascension back into heaven, skin clear and laceration free. This was supposed to provide hope to the people effected by St. Anthony’s Fire (ergotism) that they will also be seen as pure when they die. We also looked at the Assault of the Monsters. This fantastical work is very exciting to look at, as the hybrids are very dramatic. we also discussed relics and their importance, along with their controversy. Since relics supposedly have such immense power, they are typically utilized to attract tourism and boost local economies

The religious symbolism in the Portinari Altarpiece showed how the divide between the Jews and the Catholics were seen. The artist made the choice to poorly depict the Jews and make the Catholics seen as better. In the work, the Catholics were represented by and Ox and the Jews were were represented by a donkey. One of these animals is seen as more noble and harder working than the other. Outside of religions symbolism, there were also many other symbolic figures in the altarpiece. These include glass vases, to represent the virgins virginity. Flowers are also representative of traits such as royalty, purity, and passion.