In Tuesday’s class we discussed urban planning in the context of Colby’s campus and the city of Florence. Within Florence, we talked about the city hall and the Duomo. I learned that the city hall was built before the Duomo and that it was built on the spot where the homes of the Uberti family used to stand. This was done as a show of dominance by the Guelphs over the losing Ghibellines. The building borrows details from defensive architecture, including the use of pietra forte, crenellations, and battlements. What is interesting is that this building did not need this kind of protection at the time it was built, as indicated by the trefoiled arched windows. All of these defensive details were added for the symbolism, not for protective purposes. The Duomo is a landmark of Florence and is not far from the city hall. The Cathedral is a massive architectural achievement and was designed by Brunelleschi. The dome of the cathedral is the largest built since the pantheon, and this one has a unique octagonal shape that was inherited from the original floor plan. I was also interested to learn that the building had both religious and civic meaning—a child being baptized in the Duomo represented them entering the church and Florentine society.

In the first part of our class today, we focused our discussion on the spatial organization of Colby’s campus and then extended to spatial organization colleges in general. It was interesting to think about how much spatial organization influences the overall feeling of the college. I would have never thought about the idea that MIT’s modern campus reflects their values. I also thought it was interesting to talk about how Colby’s new art center and the new athletic center are placed on the outskirts of campus and are accessible to the general public. Though this could be because it is easier for parking, I believe placing these impressive buildings near the college’s entrance provides a first impression for visitors of Colby’s wealth and commitment to improvement.

In this class, we focused on the region of city- sates that comprises modern- day Italy. We discussed how Italian cities were arranged, often drawing upon ancient Roman models. All of these cities had tow main roads that intersected, the Cardo and Decumanus. The town square was also vital, especially in places such as Florence. Typically, the Duomo, or the Cathedral, was the focal point of an Italian city, rising to prominence above the city with both its bell tower and dome.

In this class, we talked about Master of Frankfurt, Portrait of the Artist and his Wife, 1495. Oil on panel, 38×26 cm 1496. Antwerp: Museum of Fine Arts. We noticed that the Bull is a symbol of Saint Luke and discussed the format of portraits. Traditionally, the man always goes on the left and the women on the right of the portrait. The artist showed off on this work, trying to fool the audience by placing a fly on the wife in the portrait. Additionally, we talked about Nicola Pisano, Fortitude, 1259-60, Pulpit, Pisa, Baptistery and its importance as the first nude. This work also strongly reflects the idea of humanism.

Last class, we looked at several works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Prior to this class, I was only familiar with the Peasant Wedding, a painting which I had always been a fan of. It is interesting to see how versatile of an artist he was, in that he painted narrative scenes, landscapes, and scenes depicting everyday life in the villages. This stands out especially since, as we discussed, Bruegel painted in an era where artists began to specialize in certain subject matter. One thing i’ve noticed is that Bruegel’s paintings are not focused on a particular subject, instead they depict a scene in its entirety where each of its elements are equally important.

This week I found the shift in art purchasing patterns to be fascinating. The Renaissance brought a new way in which patrons bought work. In particular, the market became more open, allowing for more artistic freedoms. Furthermore, the name of the artists started to be valued higher, which in turn led to an increase in competition between rivals. This shift marks the beginning of the modern age of art purchasing, as there are many similarities to how we buy art today. As the stakes increased in the market, artists also felt pressure to differentiate themselves from each other. Therefore, they began to specialize in different areas. This phenomenon was quite popular in the region of the Netherlands, as artists began to find their own niche. 

This class explored the emergence of the art market in the Low Countries. Increased competition and the freedoms an artist had when not bound to a contract led to the need to specialize or improve their work. The artist’s name became important, tied to their creations, and widely known. Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings, for example, depict tales and sayings with strong morals. His Fall of Icarus conveys the message of that myth by embedding it into a much larger landscape scene, thereby enhancing its moral significance. Netherlandish Proverbs similarly represents common sayings embedded in everyday life. This painting would make a great conversation piece for anyone familiar with those proverbs, mostly for comedic value. This is very different from the works we examined at the beginning of the term. I found it interesting how series became extremely popular at this time. It makes sense on reflection that purchasing a series could decorate an entire room with a theme, but I hadn’t thought of that previously. For example, Bruegel the Elder’s seasons series of four paintings fit together very well. Finally, the reference to van Eyck in Massys’ Money Changer and his Wife was interesting because it shows a deference to and recognition of van Eyck’s influence on other artists.

In class on Tuesday, we discussed the shift of artwork from personalized commissioned artwork to art made for the open market. Art made for the open market meant that there was more competition because not only were there more buyers there were also a lot more artists. This meant artists had to specialize their craft to appeal to a niche group of buyers. One artist that created art for the open market was Pieter Bruegel the Elder who created a series of 120 Netherlandish Proverbs. In this series of artwork, Bruegel painted several works of art that have warnings against being hubris and too prideful. These types of works of art are most relatable to ordinary people which opens up another category of paintings: genre paintings. The rise of genre paintings allowed for not only biblical figures and the wealthy to be painted, but also people of lower class and such as in Ill Matched Lovers by Quentin Massys. Furthermore, although the art produced is not strongly religious there are still similar themes such as self-reflecting and not being vain. These messages are loosely consistent with the depictions of the Last Judgement where a person’s character is being judged and serves as a warning to people still alive to not be too full of themselves.

In Thursday’s class we discussed the shift in the art world at around the start of the 17th century to the open market. This change allowed artists to have more freedom in what they painted and how, since they were no longer making art under the specific terms and conditions of a contract. The birth of the open market in art also led to the idolization of specific artists, and forced artists to “make a name for themselves” in order to sell their work. To do this, many artists carved out their own specific niches in the market and started to specialize in order to survive the market competition. Artists also began to emphasize virtuosity in their work to make them stand out. This means that if multiple artists were doing the same technique or communicating similar ideas, each of them worked to be the best at that technique. We also talked about how this open market led to a large number of copies of art appearing in the marketplace. Professor Plesch noted that the copies were not stigmatized in the way they are today (considered fake) because often the copies would be the artist (or sometimes even their children) recreating his or her own work if it was received well.

On Thursday’s class, we took a look at a number of different works that were specifically for the domestic sphere. They fell into a number of new genres and some of the genres we discussed were genre, landscape, and still life. Although the works were not all from the same time period, it shows the progression away from contracted artworks to the use of art dealers and clientele. There was much more freedom in the work that could be produced because the artist would be searched out for a specific style or niche they did very well. With the increased freedom, there was also increased competition and specialization because the artists had to set themselves apart in order to get attention on the scene. An interesting outcome was the collecting of a specific work for an artist instead of a scene or subject matter, like “A Monet” or “A Van Gogh”.

We looked at a number of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s works. A good number of the works had to do with morals, so the paintings would have a hidden lesson behind them instead of just being a scene.