Essay art hist 2
Last week we worked on formal analysis of ONE artwork. However, a major part of Art Historical analysis involves the COMPARISON of TWO or more artworks. By COMPARING artworks, we can increase our understanding of each individual work.
Please select ONE artwork from last weeks 14th century powerpoint, and ONE artwork from this week’s 15th century powerpoint . In an essay, you will compare these two objects. You will create a thesis statement that proposes the reason for one significant similarity OR difference between your two objects. As you will see, your choices should have ONE OBVIOUS SIMILARITY OR OBVIOUS DIFFERENCE.
FORMAT OF THE ESSAY:
PARAGRAPH ONE: Introduce your objects and state your thesis. Your thesis will explain the REASON for one similarity OR one difference between your art objects. Your reason will be SPECULATIVE (because we have no written sources for prehistoric art; we must rely upon visual evidence).
BODY PARAGRAPHS (between 3 and 6 paragraphs): Each body paragraph will describe BOTH objects in terms of ONE category of formal analysis (line, shape, texture, etc.)
SYNTHESIS PARAGRAPHS (between 2 and 4 paragraphs): You will propose a reason for the significant visual similarity or difference between your objects. Remember, your thesis will be SPECULATIVE and RELY ON THE VISUAL APPEARANCE OF BOTH OBJECTS.
SUMMARY PARAGRAPH: RESTATE your thesis.
Papers must be double-spaced in 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Acceptable formats are PDF and Word documents.
Fourteenth-Century Art in Europe
Module 2 Part 1
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Frescos of the Sala dei Nove (Or Sala della Pace). 13381339. Length of long wall about 46.
Life in the 1300s in Europe
-A new and growing group of wealthy merchants supported the arts
Artists and other professionals organized into GUILDS
However, there were problems too:
Famine
Black Death
Hundred Years War between France and England (1337-1450)
The Church in disarray (Great Western Schism)
Art and Artists in the Fourteenth Century
Still connected to patrons (but now both religious and secular)
Art both religious and secular
Began to see themselves, however, as artists in the modern sense
Interest in naturalism
Late Medieval City-States:
Each city known for its own style
Florence naturalistic, bold, experimental
Siena graceful, conservative, jewel-like
Europe in the Fourteenth Century.
Piazza della Signoria with Palazzo della Signoria (Town Hall) 12991310, and Loggia dei Lanzi (Loggia of the Lancers), 13761382.
Medieval Italian city-state: walled citadel on hilltop
Andrea Pisano. Life of John the Baptist.
13301336. Each panel 19 1/4 17.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Baptistery+of+St.+John/@43.7722189,11.2556234,17z/data=!4m6!1m3!3m2!1s0x132a54012042ae35:0x9fbc6971f8e3906d!2sPiazza+della+Signoria!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x074a3341bfd1857d
Andrea Pisano. The Baptism of the Multitude. 13301336. 19 1/4 17.
Illusion of
Space
Gracefulness
Cimabue. Virgin and Child Enthroned. c. 1280. 12 7″ 7 4.
Florence
Byzantine Influence
Giotto di Bondone. Virgin and Child Enthroned. 13051310. 10 8″ 6 8 1/4.
Buon Fresco.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/altarpieces-in-context
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Conjectural Reconstruction of the Front of the
Maest Altarpiece. 13081311. Main front panel 7 13.
Interior, Siena Cathedral
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Conjectural Reconstruction of the
Back of the Maest Altarpiece.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Raising of Lazarus. 13081311. 17 1/8 18 1/4.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Betrayal of Jesus. From the back of the Maest altarpiece, made for Siena Cathedral, 1308-11. Tempera and gold on wood, 57.2 x 101.6 cm.
Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi. Annunciation. 1333. 10′ 8 9.
Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, detail, Annunciation, Siena Cathedral, 1333,
tempera and gold leaf on wood, center panel 101 x 1 8 .
Image Source: http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/annunciation-by-simone-martini-and-lippo-memmi/
26 Fifteenth-Century Art in Northern Europe
Module 3 Part 1
15th Century Art in Northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula
1400-1500
Where?
Flanders (Belgium), Holland, Germany, and France
Social Overview Northern Renaissance
The rise of the self-made man
Art as a way to express, literally and figuratively, spiritual and material wealth
An interest in the natural world
Power shared among nobles, Church and merchants
Art Overview Northern Renaissance
Attention to earthly detail exact description
Intuitive perspective, modeling with light and shadow
Atmospheric perspective for landscape
Artist identity, subject identity of utmost importance
Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France
Philip the Bold of Burgundy (French Duke) founds Carthusian Monastery c. 1385
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/altarpieces-in-context
The Altarpiece
Melchior Broederlam. Annunciation, Visitation, Presentation in the Temple, and Flight into Egypt, exterior of the wings of the altarpiece of the Chartreuse de Champmol, 1393-1399, Oil on wood panel, 1.67 x 1.25 m.
International Gothic
Originated with the Avignon Papacy in the late 14th century, spread throughout Northern Europe
Slender, graceful figures
Rich materials, brilliant colors (oil)
Contrast of intense detail with miniaturized elements of landscape and architecture
Diminution, tilting and atmospheric perspective
January (L) and February (R) pages from the Calendar of the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, France, 141316, Illuminated manuscript.
https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/labors-of-the-months-from-the-tres-riches-heures/
Mary of Burgundy Painter, Mary at her Devotions, Hours of Mary of Burgundy, before 1482. Colors and ink on parchment, size of image 19.1 x 13.3 cm.
