ART HISTORY 2 Test 2 review

1. TEST 2 REVIEW

2. High and Late
Renaissance
Florence and Rome
1495-1520
The notion of “fine arts” and the
exaltation of the artist genius
originates.
“All good poets compose their
beautiful poems not by art, but
because they are inspired and
possessed…For not by art does the
poet sing, but by power divine”-
Plato
Artists begin to give form to ideas
that shape the larger cultural
movement, and are indespensible
to this project of transformation.

3. High and Late
Renaissance
Visual Arts achieve status formerly
held only by poetry. Artists become
international celebrities.
Artists socialize with popes and
kings, no longer anonymous
craftsmen.
Birth of the idea of the “brooding”
artist genius.

4. Leonardo Da Vinci
Born in Vinci (near Florence)
Studied under Verrocchio
The definition of Renaissance Man
Insatiable curiosity-an expert an
many areas:
Botany, geology, geography,
cartography, zoology, military
engineering, animal lore, anatomy,
physical science, hydraulics,
mechanics, optics.
Tried to discover the laws underlying the
flux of nature, but believed that reality in
an absolute sense is inaccessible and
known only through change.
View of the world logical and empirical.

5. Leonardo Da Vinci
Eccentric, Mysterious Personality:
Vegetarian
Purchased caged birds to release them
Highly secretive
Possibly celibate (never married)
Closets relationships with pupils
Gian da Oreno (Salai)

6. Left behind 10,000+ pages of drawings,
ideas, and notes
All written in mirror image, left
handed
Drawing more common in Renaissance-less
expensive paper available (previously
parchment made from skins of young
animals)
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7. Direct observation of nature, a search for observable,
empirical truth.

8. Leonardo in Milan
Trained in Florence, but offers services to
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.
In letter to the ruler, advertises his
expertise as a military engineer and only
briefly mentions his skill in art.

9. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Leonardo
da Vinci, Madonna of the Rocks
• Altarpiece for Confraternity of
Immaculate Conception (Milan).
• Madonna, Christ, infant John
the Baptist, angel, fleeing
Massacre of the innocents.
• Builds on Masaccio’s use of
chiaroscuro (subtle play of light
and dark)
• Pyramidal composition-UNITY
is a theme of High Renaissance
• Atmospheric perspective and
direct observation of nature
evident in mysterious setting
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10. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Leonardo
da Vinci, Madonna of the Rocks
• “Madonna of Humilty”
• Mary is seated on the ground
not a throne
• Natural world is more exalted
Interlocking gestures, emotionally
compelling, visually unified
Bodies move in very graceful and
complex ways. Characteristic of
High Renaissance.
Protected garden metaphor for
purity. Cave as womb ?
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11. Mysterious “grotto” . Accuracy of nature reflects Leonardo’s varied interests.

12. Mary’s right hand guides John the Baptist towards Christ. Left hand foreshortened, protects the
space Christ exists in. Infant Christ gestures upwards to heaven. Empty space of Mary’s womb.

13. Pool of water emphasizes Mary’s purity and foreshadowing of Baptism of Christ by
John. Chasm between the painting and the viewer emphasizes mystery, remoteness.

14. Drawing as a complete work of art
(no perforations for tracing)-although
unfinished.
Sfumato, gradual gradations
Integration of figures into whole
(stability is characteristic of High
Renaissance)
Eternal and spiritual and human
intimacy integrated.
Rhythm of knees almost musical.
Drapery recalls ancient Greek
Sculpture.
Gestures lead to heaven.
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15. LEONARDO DA VINCI,
Last Supper
• Refectory (dining room) for Santa
Maria delle Grazie
• “One of you is about to betray me”
Matt. 26:21
• Moment of reaction after
announcement
• AND first Ceremony of the
Eucharist.
• Experimental painting technique
lead to fast deterioration.
• Most recently restored in 1999
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16. LEONARDO DA VINCI,
Last Supper
• Jesus head is focal point of all
converging lines.
• Simplifies setting to focus on
figures and gestures.
• Disciples configured in 4 groups of
3.
• Numerous preparatory studies
with live models-each figure
meant to communicate a specific
emotion.
• Several moments in same story
• Sense of divine eternal importance
(not just 13 people having supper)
without obvious symbols of divine.
• Separation of our world and
pictorial world with barrier of table.
• Christ is calm eye in the center of
emotional hurricane.
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17. Christ is the calm divine center to the hurricane of human worries and concerns. Uniting the
earthly and the divine.

18. Drama and tension between emotional responses of all the figures.
Three windows, four groups of three. (Trinity).

22. Christ identifies the betrayer as the person who dips with him in a bowl. “He that
dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me” (Matthew 26).

23. The expressions of the body reveal the soul (one’s internal nature).

24. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Mona Lisa
• Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini- wife of wealthy Florentine
Francesco del Giocondo
• Mona Lisa- ma donna, “my lady”
• Pyramidal composition
– Originally in a “loggia” (balcony) that framed the
scene
– Removed at some point but partial columns at base
remain
• Psychological intensity
– Engages the viewer directly (unusual for a woman)
• Mysterious background creates enigmatic mood
– Atmospheric perspective
– Sfumato (misty haziness)
– Blurring of precise planes

25. Engages viewer directly with mysterious smile (Frued: mothering and seductive simultaneously).
No eyebrows.

26. sfumato
A painting technique using an imperceptible, subtle transition from light to dark, without any clear break or line. The
theory was developed and mastered by Leonardo da Vinci, and the term derives from the Italian word fumo,
meaning vapor, or smoke.
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27. Copy found in the Prado (Spain) made at the same time as Leonardo painted by
assistant. How are they different emotionally ?

28. The art of portraiture confirms the
values of humanism’s emphasis on
the individual and was more and
more popular during the
Renaissance.

29. Initial portraits painted in profile,
later Northern European artists
experiment with ¾ view in
believable spaces.
Note the different emotional impact.
Oil rather than tempera paint gives it
more life.

30. Stolen August 1911 by Italian
handyman Vincenzo Peruggia
Recovered in 1913. Hid overnight in
a closet and walked out the door
with it the next day. Arrested when
he tried to sell it 2 years later.
Painting becomes famous.

31. Leonardo’s Death and
the Changing Status of
the Artist
Spent the last years of his life in
France working for King Francis I-
often visited by the King (remember
that the artist was considered only
a skilled artisan in the Middle Ages
and for much of the Early
Renaissance).
In the High Renaissance, we find
that artists are considered
intellectuals, and that they keep
company with the highest levels of
society.
Said to have died in the arms of the
king.

32. Raphael
Raffaello Santi
Talented, popular, and beloved artist who died
young at 37 after excessive partying.
(entombed in the Pantheon)
His style combines the sculptural aspect of
Michelangelo and the feeling of Leonardo and
the detail and light of his teacher (Perugino).
Master of balance, clarity and harmony
Won a commission to paint frescoes in the
papal apartments:
• Stanza della Segnatura: Theology
(Disputà), Law (Justice), Poetry
(Parnassus), and Philosophy (School of
Athens)
• Paintings symbolize and sum up
Western learning during the
Renaissance

33. Raphael
Personality:
Good looking, charming, cultured,
accessible (unlike Leonardo,
Michelangelo).
Tremendously successful very early.
Preferred light over dark. Clarity and
calm over struggle and tension.
Ladies man. Died at 37 from
“excessive partying”

34. Madonna of the
Meadow
• Adopted Leonardo’s pyramidal
composition, modeling of faces
in subtle chiaroscuro.
• Landscape reflects Perugino’s
lighter tonalities and blue skies.
• Preferred clarity over obscurity-
not fascinated with mystery like
Leonardo.
• Quickly achieved fame for his
Madonnas.
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35. RAPHAEL, Philosophy (School of
Athens)
• Julius II awarded decoration of the
Papal apartments in Vatican.
Stanze della Segnatura (Room of
the Signature)-the Papal Library
and office.
• Four walls symbolize 4 branches of
human knowledge: Theology, Law,
Poetry, Philosophy.
• Philosophy (School of Athens)-
congregation of great philosophers
and scientists from Ancient world.
• Set in vast Roman style coffered
hall with statues of Apollo and
Athena (deities of Art and Wisdom).
• Plato and Aristotle are the central
figures. Other figures share
gestures and glances like
Leonardo’s Last Supper.
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37. Theology given equal billing as philosophy- a very liberal moment in Church history- a far cry
from Christianity of the Middle Ages. Classical learning united with teachings of the church.

38. Plato vs. Aristotle
• Plato holds Timaeus, points to
Heaven, source of inspiration.
• Aristotle holds Nichomachean
Ethics, gestures towards the earth,
from which observations of reality
sprang.
• Philosophers concerned with
ultimate transcendent mysteries
stand on Plato’s side. On Aristotle’s
side are thinkers concerned with
nature and human affairs.

41. Discovered laws of harmony in music in mathematics- there is a reality that transcends the
reality that we see. (music of the spheres).

42. Euclid- Geometry. Interested in measure, the practical.

43. Bramante: architect of new St. Peters

44. • Raphael includes himself amongst intellectual…artist no longer anonymous craftperson.

47. Music, poetry
(Plato’s side)

48. God of War and
Wisdom
(Aristotle’s side)

49. Michelangelo
• “Il Divno” (the divine one)
• Architect, poet, engineer, sculptor…..reluctant
painter
• Sculpture superior to painting because of it’s
divine power to “make man”
• The “idea” is the reality the artist’s genius
must bring forth-the absolute idea is beauty
and originates in the divine.
• Mistrusted application of mathematics to
proportion (unlike Leonardo)-measure and
proportion should be kept in the eye and the
hands.
• Asserted the artists authority over the patron-
bound only by the idea. (artistic license)
• Ultimate Humanist artist-a style of vast,
expressive strength, complex, titanic forms
with tragic grandeur.
• Studied under Ghirlandaio but claims to be
self-taught.
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50. Personality:
A complex, brooding genius. Solitary,
tempestuous, willful….Michelangelo casts the
mold for the persona of the Artist in Western
Civilization.
Famous for battles of will with Pope Julius II.
Abstemoious (lived like a poor man despite
great wealth). Rough, uncouth, dirty,
melancholy, unsociable.
Devout Catholic
Homosexual, wrote love poems to Tommaso
dei Cavalieri
Crummy father, wanted son to be a lawyer.
Not impressed by fame, and asked son for
money. (Daddy Issues ?)

51. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Pieta
• Commissioned by French Cardinal
for Rotunda in Old St. Peters
• “pity” or “compassion”
• Created at age 23
• Michelangelo had dissected
cadavers, shows knowledge of
human body
• Mary’s has not aged, seems younger
than Christ (should be 50).
• Christ has drifted into peaceful sleep,
we feel the weight of his body pulled
downward
• Notice the odd proportions-Mary
would be giant if she stood up.
• Beautiful polish, luminosity- incredible
transformation of stone into lifelike
flesh.
• Mary’s gesture-appears to offer her
son as a sacrifice-the path to
salvation.
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52. Weight of Christ lifeless body
expressed in stone
"It is certainly a miracle that a
formless block of stone could
ever have been reduced to a
perfection that nature is scarcely
able to create in the flesh.”-
Vasari

53. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI,
David
• “David” remained important symbol of civic pride
and renewed Republic of Florence (Medici family
had become too powerful and were recently
usurped)-
• Commissioned by Florence Cathedral building
committee
• Used a giant 18” block of marble that other
sculptors had abandoned.
• David shown before confrontation over Goliath.
• First colossal nude since ancient times.
• Career making piece for 26 year old artist.
• Embodies Humanist ideas- celebration of the
individual, and celebration of the artist as creator
of divine works.
• Contrapposto (of course)
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54. David turns to look at Goliath.
Doubt and fear.
Moment between choice and
action.
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55. • 3 times the size of average
human (17”)
• Involves the spectator by
implying sculptural arena
beyond the pedestal
• Colossal size communicates
heroic importance of mans
actions
• Potential rather than
accomplishment. Looking
towards challenge of the future
• A celebration of mankind, here
and now. The ultimate
monument to HUMANISM.

56. • Original plan called for it to be
placed in a high niche in the
Florence Cathedral.
• Michelangelo adjusted the
proportions of the head and
the hands to be more visible
from great distance.

57. Florentines loved so much they placed in front of the Signoria
(government building) rather than the Cathedral. Potent symbol of
civic pride-republic of tyranny.

58. Pope Julius II
The “Warrior Pope”
Chose the name Julius after Julius Caesar
Commanded armies of the Papal
State
Taste for the colossal
Huge art patron
Large scale projects required a lot of $$$,
and many Church members saw this as
indulging papal art, architecture, and lavish
lifestyles
Used the visual imagery for propaganda
• Commissioned work to represent
his authoritative image and
reinforce the primacy of the
Catholic Church
• Sistine Chapel ceiling, his tomb,
decorating of papal apartments
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59. Tomb of Julius II
• First papal commission for
Michelangelo
• Original design called for two
story structure with 28 statues
(unprecedented size)
• Project interrupted due to lack
of funds
• Completed with 1/3 of planned
figures- (Julius would’ve been
very disappointed)

60. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Moses, from
the tomb of Pope Julius II
Tablet of the Law (Commandments)
under one arm.
Appears angry, almost in motion-pent
up wrath at Israelites for worshipping
the Golden Calf.
Musculature expresses energy and
might. Strong influence from
Hellenistic sculpture.
The "rays of light" that were seen
around Moses' face after his meeting
with God on Mt Sinai were commonly
expressed as horns. (mistranslation
of Hebrew word for “rays”).
Seated “contrapposto”
“terribilita” (awe inspiring grandeur)
Swirling beard and drapery full of
energy
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61. Originally intended to add 20 statues of captives (slaves) in various
attitudes of revolt and exhaustion to Pope’s tomb.
Figures embody powerful emotional states. Violent contrapposto
conveys frantic but impotent struggle.
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62. Neo-Platonic Interpretation:
1.Trapped in matter-the individual
struggling to be free from the earthly
realm and re-united with the divine
spiritual one (GOD).
2.For Michelangelo-also an allegory
for sculptural form struggling to be
free from inert stone to embody the
platonic idea locked within as a
divine work of ART.
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63. Mirrors our
desire to break
free of the
cares and
concerns of this
earthly realm.
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64. • Pope Julius II convinced
Michelangelo to work on despite
protestations.
• 5,800 sq ft, 70 ft high, 300 figures
(completed in 4 years)
• Biblical narrative of Genesis, (9
scenes) Creation to Adam and Eve,
Life of Noah
• Old Testament scenes placed in
pendentives (David, Judith, Haman,
Moses, Brazen Serpent).
• Other figures: Ancestors of Christ,
Sibyls, Prophets, nude youths.
• THEMES: Chronology of
Christianity, conflict of good and evil,
energy of youth and wisdom of age.
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66. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Creation of
Ada.
Includes Unborn Eve
God’s arm leads to an infant Christ
(second Adam)
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67. Creation of Adam
Expresses the Humanist concept of God:
an idealized, rational man who actively
tends every aspect of human creation
and has a special interest in humans.
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68. Detail of the Azor-Sadoch lunette over one of
the Sistine Chapel windows at the beginning
(left) and final stage (right) of the restoration
process.
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70. REFORMATION and
COUNTER-REFORMATION
Reformation
• Led by Martin Luther and John
Calvin
• Disgruntled Catholics voiced
concerns about sale of
indulgences (pardons for sins),
nepotism, and wealthy church
officials
• Break away from Catholic church
establish Protestantism
• Personal relationship with God
not mediated by church
Counter-Reformation
• Led by Paul III, numerous
initiatives (Council of Trent)
• Art as a tool for persuasion central
to plan of action

72. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Last
Judgment.
• Commissioned by Pope Paul
III as part of the Counter-
Reformation
• Christ as Stern Judge
• Terrifying vision of damnation
goes beyond Signorelli
• Saint Bartholomew (self-
portrait?)
• Purposeful lack of beauty in
many figures
• Rises on left, descends on
right
• Unlike other sacred narratives,
which portray events of the
past, this one implicates the
viewer. It has yet to happen
and when it does, the viewer
will be among those whose
fate is determined.
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73. Avarice, pride, lust

74. King Minos
or
Biagio da Cesena ?
Pope’s Master of Ceremonies
Biagio da Cesena: "it was mostly
disgraceful that in so sacred a
place there should have been
depicted all those nude figures,
exposing themselves so
shamefully," and that it was no work
for a papal chapel but rather "for
the public baths and taverns,"
Michelangelo worked Cesena's
face into the scene as Minos, judge
of the underworld (far bottom-right
corner of the painting) with Donkey
ears (i.e. indicating foolishness),
while his nudity is covered by a
coiled snake.
It is said that when Cesena
complained to the Pope, the pontiff
joked that his jurisdiction did not
extend to hell, so the portrait would
have to remain.
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76. Two decades after the fresco was
completed, the decrees of the Council
of Trent urged restraint in religious
imagery.
The genitalia in the fresco were
painted over with drapery after
Michelangelo died in 1564 by the
Mannerist artist Daniele da Volterra

77. The Venetian School
• In the sixteenth century, artists such as
Giorgione and Titian preferred a gentler,
more sensuous approach to oil painting
than had been adopted by the Florentine
School. The Venetians used warm
atmospheric tones.
• Distant from the influence of the Papacy,
Venetian artists did not shy away from
controversial (erotic/pagan) themes.
• Poetic (poesia)
• Both Classical and Renaissance
poetry inspired Venetian artists
• This makes understanding the
subject matter difficult
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78. GIOVANNI BELLINI, Saint Francis in the Desert,
ca. 1470–1480. Oil and tempera on wood.
• Saint Francis in ecstatic
moment
• BUT-No more “stage props”
of divinity (gold rays,
angels)
• Naturalism (beautiful details
on rocky ledge, landscape)-
borrowing from Northern
European artists.
• Miraculous stance, but
everyday life continues.
• Landscape emerges as
great theme.
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79. GIOVANNI BELLINI and TITIAN, Feast of
the Gods, from the Camerino d’Alabastro,
Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara, Italy, 1529
• Bellini painted figures, Titian (his
student) completed landscape
after his death.
• “Arcadian” landscape
(Arcadia=idyllic, peaceful rustic
place of simplicity)
• Duke of Ferrara (Alfonso d’Este)
commissioned for his private
room the Camerino d’Alabastro
(White Room). Preferred
mythological subjects.
• Scene from Ovid’s Fasti
• Some amorous activity hinted at,
pagan sensuousness, never-
ending pleasure. Bacchanalia.
(Ancient Gods on Spring Break)
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80. Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, 1510.
Invented the “Recumbent Nude”
Nude mirrors landscape- sleep suggests the world of dreams.

81. GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO, The
Tempest.
• Mysterious and inscrutable
• Adam and Eve banished from
the Garden?
• Changes in painting revealed by
X-ray suggest that no definitive
narrative was planned.
• Uncertainty contributes to
enigma.
• Painting almost more about
transient effects of weather-
figures seem tacked on as an
excuse
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82. GIORGIONE DA CASTELFRANCO (and/or
TITIAN?), Pastoral Symphony.
Venetian painting:
• “poesia”-painting as poetry
• Focus on lyrical and sensual
• Concrete narratives often elusive
• Giorgione-died young from plague
(33) but developed poetic manner
• Aristocratic artists make music and
poetry
• Nude women represent Allegorical
muses drawing water from the well
of inspiration
• “Wandering shepherd” symbolizes
the poet.
• Landscape eminent
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83. Titian
• (Tiziano Vecelli)
• Extraordinarily prolific painter and a supreme colorist
• Establishes oil on canvas rather than wood panel as the
norm.
• Believed color and mood were more important than line
(design) and science
• Would paint entire canvas red first
– Using brushstrokes to create a textured surface

84. TITIAN, Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne, from
the Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo Ducale,
Ferrara.
• Another commission for Alfonso
d’Este’s Camerino d’Alabastro
(White Room)-”pleasure chamber”
• Ancient Latin poem by Catallus
• Bacchus (God of Wine and
Intoxication), arrives on island of
Naxos where Ariadne has been
abandoned by Theseus (slayer of
the Minotaur).
• Rich luminous colors, sensual
appeal
• Based one figure off of recently
unearthed Laocoon
84

85. TITIAN, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas,
3’ 11” x 5’ 5”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
• Commissioned by Duke of
Urbino (Guidobaldo II)
• Borrows from Giorgione
• Sensual Italian Courtesan
elevated allegorically to Roman
Goddess of love by title
• Composition divided in two,
clever recession of space into
smaller units.
• Suggestive gaze and hand
• Lapdog in place of Cupid
• “Venetian Red”- Bed sheets
echo the maid
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86. 86

87. Venice
– Poetry of senses
– Nature’s beauty
– Pleasures of Humanity (Eros)
Florence & Rome
– Esoteric, intellectual themes
– Conceptions of religion
– Grandeur of the ideal

88. Mannerism
1525-1600
All problems of representing reality
had been solved and art had
reached a peak of perfection and
harmony – Now what?
Answer: replace harmony with
dissonance, reason with emotion,
and reality with imagination
A reaction to the classical rationality
and balanced harmony of the high
Renaissance.
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89. Mannerist Painting
Highly subjective, arbitrary light
Unusual color
Dramatic composition – often with
vacant centers
Writhing/twisting/elongated bodies:
Figura Serpentinata
Less emphasis on balance,
symmetry, and rational
composition (values of High
Renaissance)
89

90. Rosso Fiorentino, Deposition.
Unnatural colors
Composition is mainly around the edges
Figures seem frozen in time

91. 91

92. JACOPO DA PONTORMO, Entombment of
Christ.
• Characteristic Mannerist colorations
(odd pinks, greens and blues)
• Omits cross and Christ’s tomb
• Creates void (symbol of loss and grief)
in center of composition, accentuates
group of hands filling the hole
• Anxious glances cast in all directions
• Includes bearded self-portrait
• Athletic bending, twisting, distortions,
odd figural placements and spaces
• Elastic elongation of limbs
• Small, ovular heads
92

93. Parmigianino self-
portrait age 21
Young prodigy from
Northern Italy
93

94. PARMIGIANINO, Madonna with the Long
Neck.
• Embodies elegant stylishness that
was principle aim of Mannerism
• Sinuous, swaying elongation,
Attenuation and delicacy-marks of
Aristocratic taste
• Enigmatic capital (Painting is
actually unfinished (has to flee
Rome-Charles V invades)
•
• Enigmatic figure with a scroll
• Madonna’s neck compared to
ivory column
• Figural distortions and crowded
composition
• Reference to Michelangelo’s Pieta
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95. BRONZINO, Portrait of a Young Man,
• Cool sophistication and
detachment
• Hyper-articulate elegance
• Very “posed” and obvious
artificiality
• Identity is understood as a
performance
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96. BRONZINO, Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time.
• Learned allegory with lascivious
undertones
• Cupid fondles Venus (mother), Folly
is about to shower with Rose petals.
Both attempt to steal from the other.
• Time draws back the curtain to
reveal the transgression.
• Temptation appears as a snake with
girls head holding honeycomb in
switched hands.
• Masks represent deception.
• Other figures represent Envy and
Oblivion.
• A dark statement on the pitfalls of
Romantic love.
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97. TINTORETTO, Last Supper, 1594.
Mannerism in Venice
• Spiritual, visionary forms, swirling
clouds, fitful, phantasmagoric light
• Shimmering halos, odd perspective
• Servants largest figures
• Imbalanced composition, willful
complexity
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98. PAOLO VERONESE, Christ in the House of
Levi.
• Originally titled “Last Supper”
• Christ sits in the center of the
splendidly garbed elite of Venice
• Holy Office of Inquisition accuses
Veronese of Impiety
• First ever trial of the right to artistic
expression
• Veronese simply changes the title
rather than the image
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