1
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TITLE: “Nativity”
ARTIST: Nicola Pisano
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1260, Gothic period
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Pisa Baptistry, Italy
MEDIUM: Marble
CONTEXT:
- moumentality and central position evoke Mary’s connections with the earth goddesses of antiquity
- reminiscent of imperial Roman reliefs
- good example of Roman heritage in Italian medieval art
2
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TITLE: “Madonna Enthroned”
ARTIST: Cimabue
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1280-90, Gothic period
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Tempera on wood
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria degli Uffizi
- shows Byzantine influence in Italy
- four prophets at the foot of the throne embody the Old Dispensation as the foundation of the New
3
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TITLE: “Madonna Enthroned” (Ognissanti Madonna)
ARTIST: Giotto
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1310, Gothic period
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Tempera on wood
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria degli Uffizi
- this is the only painting unanimously attributed to artist Giotto
- this piece was commissioned for the Church of Ognissanti (All Saints) in Florence
- Giotto was more interested than Cimabue in the reality of childhood
4
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TITLE: “Nativity”
ARTIST: Giotto
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1305, Gothic period
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Arena Chapel, Padua.
MEDIUM: Fresco painting
CONTEXT:
- illustrates Giotto’s reduction of form and content to its dramatic essence
- combines two, rather than 4, events in a single space (the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Nativity)
5
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6
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TITLE: “Last Judgement”
ARTIST: Giotto
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1305, late Gothic
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Arena Chapel, Padua
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- fufills the prophecy of Christ’s second coming
- the finality of that event corresponds to its placement in the chapel. it is the last image viewers see on their way out
6
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TITLE: “Last Judgement” (close up section of the painting)
ARTIST: Giotto
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1305, late Gothic
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Arena Chapel, Padua.
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- Enrico Scrovengi (placed on the side of the saved) lifts up a model of the Arena Chapel and presents it to the Virgin and two other figure
- such a portrayal of the donor within the work of art was to become characteristic of the Renaissance
7
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TITLE: “Kiss of Judas”
ARTIST: Duccio
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1308-11, late Gothic
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Siena, Italy
MEDIUM: Tempera on panel
CONTEXT:
- located in Museo dell’Opera Del Duomo
- represents the moment when Judas identifies Jesus to the Romans with a kiss
- exemplifies a significant current in the early-fourteenth century Italian painting
- Duccio was more closely tied with the Byzantine tradition
8
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TITLE: “Kiss of Judas”
ARTIST: Giotto
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1305, late Gothic
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Arena Chapel, Padua
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- exempifies a significant current in the early 14th century Italian paintings
- Giotto more steeped in the revival of Classical antiquity
- in its convergence of artisitic forms, Giotto signals both the violence of Jesus’ death and his ultimate triumph
9
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TITLE: “January”
ARTIST: Limbourg brothers
DATE/PERIOD: 1413-16, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
MEDIUM: Illuminated manuscript
CONTEXT:
- located in Musee Conde
- shows the days when gifts were exchanged at the court of Berry
- the depiction of precise details is typical of the artists, the Limbourg brothers
10
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TITLE: “Holy Trinity”
ARTIST: Massacio
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1425, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Santa Maria Novella, Florence
MEDIUM: Fresco painting
CONTEXT:
- shows the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit occupying the higher space
- by his death, Masaccio had become one of the most powerful and innovative painters of his generation
- painting uses new perspective system and new architectual forms established by Brunelleschi
- the donors of the painting occupy a transitional space between the natural world of the observor and the spiritual, timeless space of the painted room
- orthogonals present
11
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TITLE: “Dead Christ”
ARTIST: Andrea Mantegna
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1500, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Milan, Italy
MEDIUM: Tempera on canvas
CONTEXT:
- located in Pinacoteca di Brera
- artist used prespectival theory to achieve radical foreshortening
- this idealization of the body and mastery of perspective creates a haunting psychological effect
12
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TITLE: located in Brancaccai Chapel; “Expulsion from Eden”, “Saint Peter in Prison”, “Tribute Money”
ARTIST: Massacio
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1425, Early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- divided into three scenes, organized narrative so that the point of greatest dramatic conflict (Jesus and Peter) occupies the largest and most central space
- Massacio uses both linear and aerial/atmospheric perspective
- left: Peter, retrieving a coin from a fish.
- center: Jesus; faces the viewer, surrounded by apostles and Roman tax collector
- right: Peter, paying the tax collector.
13
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TITLE: “David”
ARTIST: Donatello
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1430-1440, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Bronze
CONTEXT:
- located in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello
- the pose of David was influenced by Classical statue poses Donatello had seen in Rome while studying ancient ruins
- revolutionary depiction of the nude
- revival of antique forms as well as having egnimatic character and complex meaning: David and Goliath
- David and Goliath were used as Christian types for Christ and Satan, and David’s victory was paired with the moral victory over the Devil
14
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TITLE: “The Youthful David”
ARTIST: Andrea del Castagno
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1450, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection, Washington, DC
MEDIUM: Tempera on leather mounted on wood shield
CONTEXT:
- David’s role was a symbol of Florence, and the theme preoccupied Italian artists throughout the Renaissance
- the shield was probably ceremonial
- depicts two separate moments in the narrative
- use of temporal condensation; allows viewers to speed up their vision and grasp of the narrative, so that they may see the middle and the end of the episode at the same time
15
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TITLE: “David:
ARTIST: Andrea del Verrocchio
DATE/PERIOD: early 1470’s, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Bronze
CONTEXT:
- located in Museo Nazionale del Bargello
- Verrocchio was the leading sculptor of the second half of the 15th century
- artist transformed graceful curves of Donatello’s David into an angular adolescent
- the modeling of the torso and arms express a different facet of adolescent arrogance
- the general effect of the sculpture is that of a slightly gawky, outgoing, and energetic boy
16
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TITLE: “Sir John Hawkwood”
ARTIST: Paolo Uccello
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1436, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence Cathedral, Italy.
MEDIUM: Fresco transferred to canvas
CONTEXT:
- enormous fresco on the north wall of the cathedral
- honors Sir John Hawkwood, an English soldier of fortune who led the Florentine army in the 14th century
- artist constructed a double perspective system in order to accomodate the viewpoint of the observer; condenses two narrative moments within one frame
17
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TITLE: “Battista Sforza” and “Federico da Montefeltro”
ARTIST: Piero della Francesca
DATE/PERIOD: 1475, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Oil and tempera on wood panel
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria degli Uffizi
- Federico da Montefeltro, a successful condottiere, and his wife were leading patrons of the arts and presided over one of the most enlightened humanist courts in teh 15th century
- artists, scientists, and writers all came from various parts of Europe to work for Federico
- iconography is inspired by Roman portraits (busts)
- such formal parallels between rulers and landscape signified the relationship between them and their territories
- the artist’s construction. which makes the background smaller than the figures, denotes the greatness of the ruler and the expanse of his duchy
18
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TITLE: “Annunciation”
ARTIST: Piero della Francesca
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1450, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- architectural metaphor for Mary’s pregnancy through the miraculous Incarnation of Christ
- Mary’s formal relationship with the architecture confirms her symbolic role as the “House of God”
- contains several allusions to the miraculous nature of Mary’s impregnantion
- one of the leading stylistic trends in the mid-fifteenth century
- one of the many individual pictures in the Dominican monastery of San Marco (St. Mark) in Florence
- good example of the artist’s interest in combining Christian iconography with geometry and the Classical revival
19
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TITLE: “Annunciation”
ARTIST: Fra Angelico
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1440, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: San Marco, Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- the purpose of this piece is related to its location in the cell of a Dominican friar in the monastery of San Marco
- on the left, just outside the sacred spot of the Annunciation stands the 13th century Dominican saint, Peter Martyr, who devoted his life to converting heretics to orthodox Christianity
- Peter Martyr was a daily inspiration to the friars of San Marco
20
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TITLE: ceiling tondo of the “Camera Picta” (Camera degli Sposi)
ARTIST: Andrea Mantegna
DATE/PERIOD: finished 1474, early Renaissance*
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Ducal Palace, Mantua
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- painted to resemble an architectural oculus
- painted on ceiling to be difficult for casual observers to identify the boundaries between reality and illusion
- mantegna’s humor shows through the painting
21
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TITLE: “Birth of Venus”
ARTIST: Sandro Botticelli
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1482, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: Tempera on canvas
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria degli Uffizi
- one of a series of mythological pictures executed for the Medici family
- it was the Medici’s interest in classical themes and the revival of Plato’s philosophy that led to the founding of the Platonic Academy in Florence in 1469
22
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TITLE: “Merode Altarpiece”
ARTIST: Robert Campin (Master of Flemalle)
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1425-1430, early Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
MEDIUM: tempera and oil on wood, central panel
CONTEXT:
- example of triptych
- the artist, Campin, was a master painter in the painters’ guild in Tournai from 1406, as well as being active in the local gov.
- he was married, but convicted of living openly with a mistress. he was banned from Tournai, but punishment was later commuted to a fine.
- called the Merode Altarpiece after the 19th century family that owned it
23
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TITLE: “Arnolfini Portrait”
ARTIST: Jan van Eyck
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1431, early renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: National Gallery, London, England
MEDIUM: Oil on wood
CONTEXT:
- unique subject in Western art
- lots have been written about this piece, and many scholors have proposed numerous interpretations
- has Christian significance
- “Jan Van Eyck was here” is written on the wall
- her presence recalls the traditional parallel between God, as Creator of the universe, and the mortal artist, who immitates God’s creations in making works of art
24
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A
TITLE: “Embryo in the Womb”
ARTIST: Leonardo da Vinci
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1510, high Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, Royal Library, England
MEDIUM: Pen and brown ink
CONTEXT:
- depicts an opened uterus, a fetus in breeched position, and the umbilical cord
- reflects passionate interest in the origins of life and in discovering scientific explanations for natural phenomena
- many renaissance artists studied human anatomy, but Leonardo went far beyond artistic concern with musculature and studied the digestive, reproductive, and respiratory systems
25
TITLE: "Last Supper"
ARTIST: Leonardo da Vinci
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1495-98, high Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
MEDIUM: oil and tempera on plaster
CONTEXT:
- represents a series of moments following Jesus's announcement that one of his apostles will betray him, each react according to their personality
- leonardos single most mature work
- became an icon of Christian painting and one of the most widely recognized images in Western art
- success came from conveying character and dramatic tension and integrating these qualities with an imposing and unified architectural setting
- this had negative and positive results
26
TITLE: "Mona Lisa"
ARTIST: Leonardo da Vinci
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1503-5, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
MEDIUM: oil on wood
CONTEXT:
- subjects of volumes of scholarly interpretation
- smile revoked dimly remembered smile of Leonardo's mother
- Leonardo was unwilling to part with the picture and took it with him when he died
- became part of the French royal collection
27
TITLE: "David"
ARTIST: Michelangelo
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1501-4, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: marble
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria dell'Accademia
- the symbol of Florentine republicanism
- originally destined for the exterior of the cathedral, but since it was such a political piece, placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in 1504, the government seat of Florence
28
TITLE: ceiling of the Sistine chapel
ARTIST: Michelangelo
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1508-12, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Vatican, Rome
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- none of the characters or scenes are from the New Testament
- but has typological intent, all referring to christian future
29
TITLE: "Creation of Adam"
ARTIST: Michelangelo
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1510, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Nippon Television Network Corportation Tokyo?
MEDIUM: ?
CONTEXT:
- example of Michelangelos figures having exaggerated contrapposto
- monumental image in western art
30
TITLE: "School of Athens"
ARTIST: Raphael
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1509-11, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome
MEDIUM: Fresco
CONTEXT:
- located in Stanza della Segnatura\*
- generally considered the represent the culmination of Raphael's classical harmony
- included portraits of his contemporaries among philosophers
- the room was known as the Stanza dell Segnatura because it was the place where the Signatura Curiae met
- Signatura Curiae- division of the supreme papal tribune
- Raphael was commisioned by Julius II to decorate the room with frescos of classical and christian subjects
31
TITLE: "Sleeping Venus"
ARTIST: Giorgione
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1509, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Dresden, Germany
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
CONTEXT:
- unfinished at artists death, compleyed by Titian
- erotic painting (hand placement, upraised right arm, silver drapery)
- woman is identified as Venus by the presence of a Cupid at her feet, visible with x-ray analysis+
32
TITLE: "Entombment"
ARTIST: Jacopo da Pontormo
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1525-28, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Capponi Chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- painting was commissioned for the alter of the Capponi Chapel
- pairs Christ's incarnation and death
- the placement of this painting on the altar was the visual reminder of Eucharist
33
+
TITLE: \*"Madonna and Child with Angels"\*/"Madonna of the Long Neck"
ARTIST: Parmigianino
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1535, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- located in Galleria degli Uffizi
- example of figura sepentinata
- the artists perverse nature is evident in this painting; undercurrent of sinister, lascivious eroticism consistent with Mannerist tastes
- the artist was apparently crazy
34
TITLE: allegory called "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time"
ARTIST: Agnolo Bronzino
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1545, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: National Gallery, London, England
MEDIUM: oil on wood
CONTEXT:
- illustrates the Mannerist taste for obscure iconography with erotic undertones
- incestuous transgressions between Venus and Cupid
- no consensus on the overall meaning of this painting
35
TITLE: "Mercury"
ARTIST: Giambologna
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1576, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Florence, Italy
MEDIUM: bronze
CONTEXT:
- located in Museo Nazionale del Bargello
- shows the increasing importance of open space in Mannerism
- identified as the god of speed
36
TITLE: "Burial of the Count of Orgaz"
ARTIST: El Greco
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1586-88, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Church of Santo Tome, Toledo, Spain
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
CONTEXT:
- for the burial chapel of Gonzalo Ruiz
- divided into two levels: the earthly and the heavenly
- El Greco was the most mystical and was therefore well suited to the fervent religious atmosphere of Counter-Reformation Catholic Spain
37
TITLE: Villa Rotanda
ARTIST: Andrea Palladio
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1566-70, high renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Vicenza, Italy
MEDIUM: domestic architecture,
CONTEXT:
- purely a recreational building, used exclusively for entertaining
- offers views of the surrounding landscape in four different directions
- the buildings strict symmetry was both a classical and renaissance characteristic
38
TITLE: _"The Garden of Early Delights" triptych_; "Garden of Eden" left, "World before the Flood" center, "Hell" right
ARTIST: Hiernonymous Bosch
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1510-15
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Madrid, Spain
MEDIUM: oil on wood
CONTEXT:
- artist was the most important Netherlandish artist at the turn of the 16th century; created some of the most original and puzzling pieces of art
- huge, complex, and controversial triptych
- difficult to decipher the meaning; work is interpreted in a number of ways
39
TITLE: "Self-Portrait"
ARTIST: Caterina van. Hemessen
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1548
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Switzerland
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- the use of colors and textures to emphasize how serious the artist took her profession, even at a young age
- she was 20 when she painted this
- her identification with her work is shown by the matching of the colors on her palette and her clothing
40
TITLE: "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"
ARTIST: Pieter Bruegel the Elder
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1554-55
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Brussels, Belgium
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- his father made him wings out of feathers held together by wax, and warned his son not to go to close to the sun
- Icarus did not listen, the sun melted his wings, and he drowned in the Aegean Sea
- Icarus is seen flailing around in the water below the large ship on the right
- artists vision of humanity in nature is shown by the intense relationship between the peasant pushing his plowshare and the land
- also added the Christian moralizing tradition of Northern Europe; depicts the dangers of unrealistic ambition
41
TITLE: "Netherlandish Proverbs"
ARTIST: Pieter Bruegel the Elder
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1559
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Berlin, Germany
MEDIUM: Panel
CONTEXT:
- outdoor scene with hundreds of figures, whose activities exemplify moral principles
- no one is certain of the artists political views, but it is certain that he is a humanist
- creates a synthesis of Christian genre and Classical imagery, which is moralizing and satirical
42
TITLE: "Self-Portrait"
ARTIST: Albrecht Durer
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1498
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Madrid, Spain
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- reveals the influence of Leonardo, whom Durer greatly admired
- displays the artists confidence in himself through posture, clasped hands, and clothing- also reflection of social status
- Durer became one of the most important artists in the transition from late Gothic to Renaissance style in Northern Europe
43
TITLE: "Melencolia I"
ARTIST: Albrecht Durer
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1514
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: ? Madrid, Spain?
MEDIUM: engraving
CONTEXT:
- female winged genius is meant to represent Durer himself
- depicting an idle, uninspired creator, unemployed genius looking for inspiration and cannot find it
- early example of tradition of portraying artists as having a melancholic personality
44
TITLE: "Erasmus"
ARTIST: Albrecht Durer
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1526
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: ? Madrid, Spain?
MEDIUM: engraving
CONTEXT:
- Erasmus writing in his study, surrounded by books that denote his substantial intellect and scholarship
- flowers refer to love of beauty and modesty
- signed with Durers monogram and dated in roman numerals, the engraving also reflects humanist characteristic of artist
- massive sleeves and bulky angular folds exemplify renaissance naturalism
45
TITLE: The Isenheim Altarpiece CLOSED: "Crucifixion with Saint Sebastian" (left), "Saint Anthony" (right), and "Lamentation" (below)
ARTIST: Matthias Grunewald
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1510-15
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Colmar, France
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- monumental polyptych
- people prayed before it to atone for their sins and to effect a cure
- commissioned for the hospital chapel of the monastery of St. Anthony in Isenheim
- hospital specialized in skin diseases, particularly ergotism, known as St. Anthony's fire
- exterior of doors depicts the crucifixion
- features Jesus, John the Baptist, Mary Magdalen, John the Evangelist
- Saint Anthony: associated with healing
- Saint Sebastian: known as a plague saint because of his sores, caused by being shot through with arrows and bubonic plague
- Lamentation: mourning over Jesus after he has been taken down from the cross. it is set against snowy, alpine background, metaphor for Jesus's death
46
TITLE: Isenheim Altarpiece OPEN; "Annunciation", "Virgin and Child with Angels", and "Resurrection"
ARTIST: Matthais Grunewald
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1510-15
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Colmar, France
MEDIUM: Oil on Panel
CONTEXT:
- monumental polyptych
- altarpiece was opened on Sundays to reveal an interior transformed by bright colors
- right panel: Jesus attains a new, spirtiual plane of existence
- Christ-as-sun is juxtaposed with the Roman soldiers, whos sinful ignorance causes them to stumble in a rocky darkness
47
TITLE: "Crucifixion"
ARTIST: Lucas Cranach the Elder
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1503
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Munich, Germany
MEDIUM: Panel
CONTEXT:
- Lucas Cranach the Elder was a German humanist and admirer of Martin Luther
- two thieves hung on left, more idealized Jesus hangs on right
- Mary and John are together before Jesus morning
- the turbulent sky denotes the death of God's son
- responsiveness of nature to human events is both part of Christian tradition and relection of Cranach's humanism
48
TITLE: "Henry VIII"
ARTIST: Hans Holbein the Younger
DATE/PERIOD: c. 1540, high Renaissance
COUNTRY/ORIGIN: Rome, Italy
MEDIUM: oil on panel
CONTEXT:
- last great German painter of the High Renaissance was Hans Holbein the Younger; synthesized German technique w/ 15th century Netherlandish taste
- pose exudes power, self-confidence, and determination; face reflects intelligence and political acumen
- conveys overpowering force of the kings personality through proverbial bulk, spacial setting, fine textures, & stance
- surface patterns are calcuated to remind viewers of Henry's wealth
