Unit17 34 by Christian Nguyen

Romanesque Architecture

Charlemagne • Charlemagne (“Charles the Great”) became king of the Franks in 768 (inherited from his father) • On Christmas day in 800 CE (Rome), Pope Leo III (not to be confused with the Byzantine emperor Leo III who began iconoclasm) crowned Charlemagne the first Holy (Christian) Roman Emperor. • Fittingly, Charlemagne was coronated in Old St. Peter’s basilica in Rome, built by Constantine (first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity). • Charlemagne consolidated the Frankish kingdom he inherited, and defeated the Lombards in Italy to lay claim to reviving the glory of the Roman Empire. • Charlemagne admired classical Roman art and literature, and sought to create a classical revival.

The Carolingian Empire at the death of Charlemagne in 814

Charlemagne • In addition to architecture and artworks, Charlemagne sought to restore and copy many classical texts, as well as the Bible (which had been re-translated and copied so many times that the interpretation had become corrupted). • Charlemagne’s scribes developed a new, more compact form of lettering called Caroline miniscule (similar to what we use today).

Equestrian Statue of Charlemagne • Charlemagne greatly admired Theodoric (the first Germanic ruler of Rome), and ordered an equestrian statue of Theodoric be moved from Ravenna to his capital in Aachen. • The statue of Theodoric (or the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, then believed to be of Constantine) may have been an inspiration for the bronze statuette at right of a Carolingian ruler on horseback. • Most scholars believe the image to be of Charlemagne, but it may also be his grandson, Charles the Bald. • In this statuette, the rider is proportionately larger than the horse, in order to draw the focus of the viewer to the rider. • The rider is holding an orb, representing world domination. • Instead of raising his arm in a gesture of clemency (like Marcus Aurelius), this figure appears to be proudly on parade. • Wears imperial robes and a crown, rather than a general’s cloak, although his sheathed sword is visible.

Equestrian Statue of Charlemagne (or Charles the Bald) Metz, France, c. 800. Bronze (originally gilt), 9.5” high

Monastic Life

Examples of cloisters

• Monastic life during Carolingian rule was affected by the “rule” written by Benedict of Nursia (St. Benedict), who founded the Benedictine Order in 529. • Benedict taught that idleness and selfishness in the clergy had lead to corruption. He believed the cure for this was communal association in an abbey under the absolute rule of an abbot or abbess. • The abbot or abbess would ensure the clergy spent each hour of the day in useful work and in sacred reading, instead of meditation or austerity, a significant change in philosophy. • This emphasis on hard work changed the negative stigma associated with manual labor (previously thought of as low-class) into a positive moral ethic (“work ethic”). • The ideal abbey or monastery was centered around a cloister (a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnaded walkway) in which only clergy was allowed. • Around the cloister were all the essential buildings for daily life: a dormitory, refectory (dining room), kitchen, storage rooms, infirmary, school, bakery, brewery, workshops, church, etc. This kept the monks separate from the public. • Because monasteries were the sole source of knowledge and literacy, they were also the only schools.

Ottonian Art • After Charlemagne’s death in 814, his empire quickly dissolved. His successors fought amongst themselves, and eventually signed an agreement (the Treaty of Verdun) to split the Carolingian empire into three sections (see map). • Once divided into smaller, weaker sections, they were less effectual in fending off invaders (such as Vikings to the northwest and Saracen Muslims along the Mediterranean). • Within about thirty years, the Carolingian rule was over. • In the mid-10th century, the eastern part of the former empire consolidated under the rule of a new Saxon line of German emperors called the Ottonians. • The Pope crowned the first Otto (r. 936 – 973) in Rome, and Otto assumed the title Emperor of Rome. • The Ottonian line ended in 1024 with the death of Henry II. • The Ottonians preserved and continued the Carolingian culture and traditions. • They also lead a great monastic reform in the 10th century to combat the disorganization and corruption that had been happening in the Church.

Romanesque • Time period from approximately 1000 – 1150 CE, so-called because of the revival of the use of stone sculpture and stone vaulting (as opposed to timber roofing) in ecclesiastical (churchrelated) architecture made it appear “Roman-like.” • In the early middle ages, a feudal system was in place in which land-owning liege lords allowed vassals to work the land around their manor in exchange for military service and protection. • By contrast, in the Romanesque period, a sharp increase in trade encouraged the growth of towns and small cities, slowly displacing feudalism. • During the 11th and 12th centuries, thousands of religious buildings were remodeled or newly constructed, due in part to the newfound wealth of the new cities, and the relief felt by Christians that the world had not ended in the year 1000. • Pilgrims were a major source of income for churches as well as their surrounding towns, leading churches to vie for the best relics, and to build the most elaborate reliquaries to hold them.

Romanesque • Typical Romanesque architecture: large-scale, heavy, dark, thick piers, stone vaulted (round arch) ceilings, radiating chapels, carved stone decorations, fewer paintings/mosaics.  Influenced by leftover stone Roman architecture (bridges, aqueducts, etc.) Stone barrel vaults for ceiling: - Pros: more fire resistant than wood, good acoustics - Cons: outward thrust of arch required heavy buttressing. This meant thick walls and few windows, leading to an overall dark, mysterious interior.

The Way of St. James • Also known as El Camino de Santiago, the Way is the path taken by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, where the tomb of St. James is located (much more do-able than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem). • Along the way, pilgrims visit many other Christian relics and shrines, and stay in hostels for pilgrims. In the middle ages, this created an economic incentive for the villages along the Way. • The main symbol of the pilgrimage is a scallop shell, because pilgrims would take home a scallop shell as a souvenir of their pilgrimage. The shell also is a visual metaphor for the many pilgrimage paths which all lead to Compostela, and for the guidance of pilgrims by God’s hand, as seashells are guided to shore. • Another symbol is a field of stars, as the remains of St. James were legendarily found by a man who followed an unusually bright explosion of stars. The Way also parallels the Milky Way. • The Way was dangerous, as many robbers sought to take advantage of the pilgrims, and the path lead through difficult forests and mountains. • Pilgrims made the pilgrimage as a sign of penance, to prove their faith and thus increase their chances of getting into heaven. Some pilgrims also sought to be miraculously cured of their health problems.

Cathedral of St. James • The Cathedral of St. James holds the body of St. James, and is thus a major pilgrimage site. • Cathedral of St. James is a pilgrimage church, with radiating chapels that enabled pilgrims to move through the church and venerate the relics without disrupting the services within the main space. • To increase space, the architect added radiating chapels, small apselike protrusions in the walls of the transept and ambulatory. • The apse-end of the church is more than just an apse; it’s as if half of a central plan church were added to the end of a basilica. • Highly symmetrical and proportional. Used a modular plan in which sizes of different parts of the building were based on the size of one module, in this case the crossing square (for instance, the width of one of the arches in the nave was half the width of the crossing square). Typical layout of a pilgrimage church

Cathedral of St. James, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Cathedral of St. James • The galleries above the side aisles provided more space for worshippers on special occasions. • Light entered through side windows and through an octagonal lantern tower, located over the crossing to spotlight the glittering gold and jeweled shrine of the principal relic at the high altar. • The western portal was reserved for ceremonial processions. Pilgrims entered through doors in the ends of the transepts.  The large, westward facing façade of Romanesque and Gothic churches (usually featuring 1 or 2 towers) is called the westwork.

westwork

lantern tower Cathedral of St. James, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Cathedral of St. James • The piers (thick structural supports) are decorated with engaged columns. • Piers that are decorated with engaged columns are referred to as compound piers. The engaged columns reach up to the vaults’ springing (the lowest stone of an arch) and continue across the nave as transverse arches (an arch separating one vaulted bay from the next).  Each of these transverse arches protrudes from the rest of the vault, and is thus also considered a rib. • This creates a sense of repetition and segmentation. Each segment is called a bay. • Light entered through side windows and through an octagonal lantern tower, located over the crossing to spotlight the glittering gold and jeweled shrine of the principal relic at the high altar.

Compound pier

Cathedral of St. James, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

springing

rib

Cathedral of St. James

Jamb figures

The cupola (dome)

Botafumeiro (thurible – a censer suspended from chains)

Abbey Church of Ste. Foy Conques, France

Abbey Church of Ste. Foy • Pilgrimage church (including radiating chapels) on the way to Santiago de Compostela. Monastery. • Featured three towers: one over the crossing, and two in the westwork (either side of the entrance portal) • Pilgrims entered through westwork portal, circled through the northern side aisle, through the ambulatory around the apse (visiting relics in radiating chapels), then exited through southern transept. • Housed the (stolen) reliquary containing the skull of the child Ste. Foy (Saint Faith). • Made of locally quarried sandstone. •Buttresses on the outer perimeter reinforced the barrel vaulted nave and quadrant-arched (half a barrel vault) side aisles.  The “e” at the end of “Sainte” (in French) is feminine… used when the saint is female.

Abbey Church of Ste. Foy • The lantern tower over the crossing contains a clerestory and rests on squinches. • Barrel vault over nave • Compound piers • Cruciform floor-plan • Note the lack of surface decoration. Why didn’t they add more mosaics and frescoes? • What is the overall tone/mood of this church? How would it make a visitor feel?

Abbey Church of Ste. Foy Conques, France

Ste. Foy Tympanum During the Romanesque era (and the later Gothic era), it was common to add bas relief decorations on the tympanum, the halfcircular area above a doorway.  On pilgrimage churches, a popular theme above the main entrance was the Last Judgment, where Christ judges mankind during the end times prophesied in the Book of Revelations.  This particular scene would remind the pilgrim, as they entered the church, of the joys of Heaven and torture of Hell, underscoring the purpose of their pilgrimage.  Let’s look more closely…

tympanum

What do you see/recognize?

Saints

Peter Mary

Abraham House of Paradise, the saved

Satan (enthroned)

Jesus

Glutton being tortured. Different sins represented.

Judas (hanged)

Inclusion of knights and clergy show that upper classes are not exempt from Hell.

Reliquary of Ste. Foy • Sainte Foy (Faith) was a child in the 4th century Roman-occupied France who refused to pay homage to the Roman gods, and was subsequently martyred. • The skull of Ste. Foy was originally housed in the French abbey of Agen, but was stolen by a monk and taken to Conques (c. 880). • The monks justified the act as furta sacra (holy theft), claiming Saint Faith herself wanted to move. • The skull is kept in this lavishly decorated reliquary, made of a wooden core covered in gold and silver, and encrusted with inset gemstones and cameos (gemstones carved with tiny reliefs). • The gemstones were donated by worshippers and attached to the reliquary over many years. • The headpiece worn by the figure is a ceremonial parade helmet (worn by soldiers on special ceremonial occasions) and a martyr’s crown. • The backside of the throne depicts an image of the crucifixion, engraved in rock crystal, creating a parallel between Christ’s martyrdom and Ste. Foy’s.  B/c it was so beautiful, some worried it crossed the line into idolatry.

Reliquary of Sainte Foy c. 1100. Sainte-Foy, Conques, France Gold, silver gilt, jewels, and cameos over a wooden core. 2’ 9.5” tall.

cameo

Pisa Cathedral • The baptistery and bell-tower buildings are separated from the church (unusual). • Large size of baptistery = Pisan emphasis on baptismal rites. • Funds for the complex were gotten from the spoils of a naval victory over the Muslims off Palermo in Sicily in 1062. • Dome over the crossing • Apses included at the end of each transept • Where is the campanile? • The arcades on the baptistery and the bell tower, plus their similarly round exteriors, unite them. • The “Leaning Tower” of Pisa leans because of the settling of the foundation beneath it. It even began leaning before they were done building it. It is currently about 15 feet out of plumb at the top. • Scientists have begun removing soil from underneath the high side of the building to level it out. So far, they have brought the tower an inch closer to vertical and ensured its stability for another 300 years (but they have no plans to make it completely vertical again, due to the tourist draw the tower has).

Pisa Cathedral Pisa, Italy

Pisa Cathedral

Inside the Pisa Baptistery Inside the Pisa Campanile

Grotesques/Gargoyles • During the Romanesque period, artists began decorating cathedrals with grotesques and gargoyles (although they became the most popular during the Gothic period). • Grotesques are decorative sculptures on the outside of a building, usually of an animal or fantastical creature. • Gargoyles are similar to grotesques, except they are also a water spout (usually designed with a water channel up the back and out the mouth). They function to help rainwater flow away from the building, so that it does not weather the stone. Grotesques (above), gargoyles (below)

Romanesque Portals

voussoirs

archivolts

• In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, rich ensembles of figural reliefs began to appear again, most often in the grand stone portal area around the door through which the faithful would pass. • Tympanum – the prominent semicircular lunette above the doorway proper, comparable in importance to the triangular pediment of a Grecian temple. • Voussoirs – the wedge-shaped blocks that together form the archivolts of the arch framing the tympanum. • Lintel – the horizontal beam above the doorway. • Trumeau – the center post supporting the lintel in the middle of the doorway. • Jambs – the side posts of the doorway. • Any or all of these parts could be decorated with relief sculpture.

tympanum

lintel t r u m e a u

jamb

Vezelay, France • Location from where the Second and Third Crusades began. • Tympanum above the central portal of the narthex • Depiction of Christ giving the power of the Holy Spirit to the apostles on the Pentecost (7th Sunday after Easter), so that they could go forth into the world and spread the Gospels. • Light rays emanating from Christ’s hands represent the Holy Spirit. • The heathens of the world appear on the lintel below, and in eight panels above the central scene. • The depictions of unconverted races of people include people with giant ears, pig snouts, dog heads, and flaming hair. • Also included are images of human suffering (people who are hunchbacked, mute, blind, and lame), awaiting the salvation to come.

Tympanum relief from the church of La Madeleine, Vezelay, France c. 1120

The Morgan Madonna • Large scale sculpture in the round was still rare, but small figures of the holy family or saints were commonly placed on altars to be venerated as a symbol of the person they depicted. • This sculpture is called the Morgan Madonna because it was once owned by American financier J.P. Morgan. • This image is similar to the Byzantine Theotokos images of Mary as mother of Christ. • Here, Jesus holds the bible in his left hand, and makes a gesture of blessing with his right hand (now broken off). He is the embodiment of the divine wisdom contained in the holy scriptures. • This style of sculpture is known as the “throne of wisdom”. Christ, as the Son of God, is Wisdom incarnate. Mary, who carried Christ in her womb and who holds him on her lap serves as his seat, or throne. • From the 1100s, Mary was increasingly revered as a nurturing, merciful intercessor. Such statues were used as devotional objects, and were carried in church processions. This image might have also functioned as a container for holy relics, since it has a cavity located behind the Virgin's shoulder. • Originally brightly painted (polychrome).  Note the elongated forms and linear folds of cloth.

The Morgan Madonna c. 1150 Auvergne, France Painted wood, 2’ 7”

Christ in Majesty • This apse fresco was once located in a church in northern Spain, but has been moved to a museum in Boston. • What is the name of the shape surrounding Christ? • What are the four symbols surrounding Christ? • The seven hanging lamps (one is partially lost) represent the seven Christian communities where St. John addressed his revelation (the Apocalypse) at the beginning of his book. • The apostles stand below, paired off in formal frontality. • The drapery falls in stiff folds, creating a sense of rhythm. • The formality, symmetry, and placement of the figures are influenced by Byzantine art. • The figures are again elongated and stylized.

Christ in Majesty, Apse, Santa Maria de Mur. Fresco, c. 1150. 24’ high.

Bayeux Tapestry • Embroidered on linen, not woven. • Only about 1.5’ high, but almost 230’ long, it is a continuous narrative (in 75 scenes) of a crucial moment in England’s history: the defeat of the Anglo-Saxons by the Normans (lead by William the Conqueror) in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, uniting all of England and much of France under one rule. • Commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William. • The story: When the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor died, it was believed he intended for William the Conqueror to be the next king of England. The Anglo-Saxon nobleman Harold (Edward’s brother-in-law) initially swore his feudal allegiance to William, but later betrayed his feudal vows, accepting the crown of England for himself. • Harold is a heroic figure at the beginning of the story, but then events overtake him. After his coronation, cheering crowds celebrate, until Halley’s Comet crosses the sky, portending disaster. Upon hearing the news, Harold slumps in his throne. He foresees the ghostly fleet of Norman ships already riding the waves. William assembled the last great Viking flotilla on the Normandy coast, and crushes Harold’s forces.

First Meal and Cavalry Attack sections of the Bayeux Tapestry c. 1080. Bayeux Cathedral, Bayeux, France. Embroidered wool on linen. 1’ 8” tall x 229’ 8” long

Bayeux Tapestry • The main events of the story are contained within the larger middle zone. - The upper and lower zones contain images of animals and people, scenes from Aesop's Fables, and scenes of husbandry and hunting. - At times the images in the borders interact with and draw attention to key moments in the narrative (as in the image above of the battle).  William's tactical use of cavalry is displayed in the “Cavalry” scene. The cavalry could advance quickly and easily retreat, which would scatter an opponent's defenses allowing the infantry to invade. It was a strong tactic that was flexible and intimidating. Although foot soldiers are included in the tapestry, the cavalry commands the scene, thus presenting the impression that the Normans were a cavalry-dominant army.  Depicts many details of life from the period, including dining habits, armor and weaponry types, and architecture.  Believed to be embroidered by Anglo-Saxon needle-workers, and the style based on Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts.

Durham Cathedral • British Romanesque is called Norman. • Large, simple pillars ornamented with abstract designs (diamond, chevron, and cable patterns, all originally painted) alternate with compound piers that carry the transverse arches of the vaults. • Design is typically English with its long, slender proportions. • In the western portion, the rib vaults have slightly pointed arches, bringing together for the first time two key elements (rib vaults and pointed arches) that determined the structural evolution of Gothic architecture. • The quadrant arches above the gallery are precursors to the Gothic flying buttress.

Durham Cathedral Durham, England

Winchester Psalter • Depiction shows the gaping jaws of Hell, a traditional AngloSaxon subject. • Inscription at the top reads: “Here is Hell and the angels who are locking the doors.” • The ornamental frame that fills the page represents the door to hell. • The last Judgment has ended, and the damned are crammed into the mouth of hell, the wide-open jaw of a grotesque doubleheaded monster. • Sharp-beaked birds and fire-breathing dragons sprout from the monster’s mane, while hairy, horned demons torment the lost souls who tumble around in the darkness. • Among the souls are kings and queens with golden crowns and monks with shaved heads, a daring reminder to the clergy and the wealthy of the vulnerability of their own souls.

Page with Hellmouth, Winchester Psalter Winchester, England, c. 1150. Ink & tempera on vellum, 12” x 9”

Eadwine the Scribe

Eadwine the Scribe at Work, Eadwine Psalter, By Eadwine the Scribe c. 1150. Ink & tempera on vellum. 15.5” x 11.5”

• The Eadwine Psalter was made by an English monk known as Eadwine the Scribe, and consisted of 166 illustrations. • The last page presents a rare picture of a Romanesque artist at work. • The patterning of the drapery, while still firm, falls more softly and follows the movements of the body beneath. • However, although the artist has yielded to the need for a more naturalistic representation, the instinct for decorating the surface remained, as is apparent in the gown’s lightly-painted whorls and spirals. • Although this is a portrait of Eadwine, it is probably a generic type and not a true likeness. • Although the true author of the Psalter (the Psalms) is King David, Eadwine exaggerated his importance by likening himself to an evangelist writing his Gospel, and by including an inscription calling himself “a prince among scribes.” • Eadwine declares the excellence of his work will cause his fame to endure forever, and consequently he can offer his book as an acceptable gift to God. Although he is concerned with fame, it is less to do with himself as a great artist, and more to do with ensuring his place in God’s favor.

Copy of Hildegard’s Vision Liber Scivias, by Hildegard of Bingen Bingen, Germany, c. 1150

Hildegard’s Vision • Hildegard of Bingen was born into an aristocratic German family. Like many women of her class, she entered into a convent at a young age, where she proved a capable administrator and scholar, and eventually became leader of the convent. • Since childhood, she had been subject to what she interpreted as divine visions, and in here forties, with the assistance of the monk scribe Volmar, she began to record them. • Her book, Liber Scivias (from the Latin scite vias lucis, “know the ways of the light”), records her visions. • In this copy of the original (the original was lost), Hildegard is depicted receiving a flash of divine insight, represented by the flames encircling her head. She records her visions on a tablet while Volmar waits in the wings. • Many leaders (both political and religious) sought Hildegard’s divine insight. • In addition to her book of visions, Hildegard also wrote a treatise on the natural world as well as a medical book.

Romanesque Sculpture, Illustrations, and Paintings

Romanesque Portals • In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, rich ensembles of figural reliefs began to appear again, most often in the grand stone portal area around the door through which the faithful would pass. • Tympanum – the prominent semicircular lunette above the doorway proper, comparable in importance to the triangular pediment of a Grecian temple. • Voussoirs – the wedge-shaped blocks that together form the archivolts of the arch framing the tympanum. • Lintel – the horizontal beam above the doorway. • Trumeau – the center post supporting the lintel in the middle of the doorway. • Jambs – the side posts of the doorway. • Any or all of these parts could be decorated with relief sculpture.

Tympanum relief from the church of La Madeleine, Vezelay, France c. 1120

St. Pierre at Moissac, France

Tympanum relief at St. Pierre Moissac, France

• This tympanum depicts the second coming of Christ as king and judge of the world in its last days. • Christ is large and centered, flanked by the four symbols for the evangelists and attendant angels holding scrolls to record human deeds for judgment. • The smaller crowned musician figures are the 24 elders who accompany Christ as the kings of this world and make music in his praise. • Wavy horizontal lines (representing the clouds of heaven) separate the elders into tiers. • By making a large Christ figure the central focus of the tympanum relief, the message is sent that Christ is the door to salvation. • Figures are elongated (tall and thin) • The trumeau below this tympanum features a prophet (perhaps Jeremiah or Isaiah), who displays a scroll bearing his prophetic vision. This again pairs Old and New Testament themes.

The Morgan Madonna • Large scale sculpture in the round was still rare, but small figures of the holy family or saints were commonly placed on altars to be venerated as a symbol of the person they depicted. • This sculpture is called the Morgan Madonna because it was once owned by American financier J.P. Morgan. • This image is similar to the Byzantine Theotokos images of Mary as mother of Christ. • Here, Jesus holds the bible in his left hand, and makes a gesture of blessing with his right hand (now broken off). He is the embodiment of the divine wisdom contained in the holy scriptures. • This style of sculpture is known as the “throne of wisdom” (sedes sapientiae in Latin), in which Mary, seated on a wooden throne, is herself the throne of wisdom because her lap is the Christ Child’s throne. • Originally brightly painted (polychrome).

The Morgan Madonna c. 1150 Auvergne, France Painted wood, 2’ 7”

Christ in Majesty, Apse, Santa Maria de Mur. Fresco, c. 1150. 24’ high.

Reliquary of Ste. Foy • Sainte Foy (Faith) was a child in the 4th century who refused to pay homage to the Roman gods, and was subsequently martyred. • The skull of Ste. Foy was originally housed in the French abbey of Agen, but was stolen by a monk and taken to Conques (c. 880). • The monks justified the act as furta sacra (holy theft), claiming Saint Faith herself wanted to move. • The skull is kept in this lavishly decorated reliquary, made of a wooden core covered in gold and silver, and encrusted with inset gemstones and cameos (gemstones carved with tiny reliefs). • The gemstones were donated by worshippers and attached to the reliquary over many years. • The headpiece worn by the figure is a ceremonial parade helmet (worn by soldiers on special ceremonial occasions) and a martyr’s crown. • The backside of the throne depicts an image of the crucifixion, engraved in rock crystal, creating a parallel between Christ’s martyrdom and Ste. Foy’s.

Reliquary of Sainte Foy c. 1100. Sainte-Foy, Conques, France Gold, silver gilt, jewels, and cameos over a wooden core. 2’ 9.5” tall.

cameo

Bayeux Tapestry • Embroidered on linen, not woven. • Only about 1.5’ high, but almost 230’ long, it is a continuous narrative of a crucial moment in England’s history: the defeat of the Anglo-Saxons by the Normans (lead by William the Conqueror) at Hastings in 1066, uniting all of England and much of France under one rule. • Commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William. • The story: When the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor died, it was believed he intended for William the Conqueror to be the next king of England. The Anglo-Saxon nobleman Harold (Edward’s brother-in-law) initially swore his feudal allegiance to William, but later betrayed his feudal vows, accepting the crown of England for himself. • Harold is a heroic figure at the beginning of the story, but then events overtake him. After his coronation, cheering crowds celebrate, until Halley’s Comet crosses the sky, portending disaster. Upon hearing the news, Harold slumps in his throne. He foresees the ghostly fleet of Norman ships already riding the waves. William assembled the last great Viking flotilla on the Normandy coast, and crushes Harold’s forces.

Bayeux Tapestry c. 1080. Bayeux Cathedral, Bayeux, France. Embroidered wool on linen. 1’ 8” tall x 229’ 8” long

Page with Hellmouth, Winchester Psalter Winchester, England, c. 1150. Ink & tempera on vellum, 12” x 9”

Eadwine the Scribe

Eadwine the Scribe at Work, Eadwine Psalter, By Eadwine the Scribe c. 1150. Ink & tempera on vellum. 15.5” x 11.5”

Copy of Hildegard’s Vision Liber Scivias, by Hildegard of Bingen Bingen, Germany, c. 1150

Gothic

Architecture and Sculpture

Gothic Context • As in the Romanesque period, the innovations of the Gothic age were in large part the outgrowth of widespread prosperity. • As people continued to move into towns, those towns developed into large urban centers, further freeing people from the feudal system of old. • Within these cities, prosperous merchants formed guilds (professional associations), scholars founded the first modern universities, and vernacular (in the local language) literature (especially courtly romances) became popular.  Several centuries of peace enabled architects and stone sculptors to build ever more elaborate, monumental buildings. • Although the church was still extremely powerful, the secular (not tied to any exclusive religion) nations of modern Europe were beginning to take shape, such as England, Spain, and France.

Europe around 1200 CE

Gothic Styles • The Gothic era varies depending upon country, but it is divided roughly into three periods: - Early Gothic (1140 – 1194) - High Gothic (1194 – 1300) Orvieto, Italy - Late Gothic (1300 – 1500)

Paris, France

Strausbourg, Germany

Pointed Arches! YEAHHH!!!

• One of the most significant technical innovations to influence architecture was the invention of the pointed arch (possibly introduced by the Islamic archt. in Spain). • Unlike the rounded arches of old, the pointed arch sent the thrust of the roof more directly downward, instead of outward, and thus needed less buttressing. • Downward thrust = less buttresses = thinner walls, thinner columns, more windows, more LIGHT!

• The pointed shape of the pointed arch also draws the eye upward, creating the illusion that the vault is taller, even when it is not. • Furthermore, the height of a rounded arch is dictated by its width, so the height of the transverse arches across the nave were always higher than the height of the arcades down either side of the nave. • By contrast, an architect could change the height of a pointed arch to any height by altering how quickly it tapered up to the top point. This enabled the architect to make all of the arches in the nave (both transverse, diagonal, and side arcade) equal in height, raising the total height of the nave.

Gothic Architecture 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Pinnacle – A sharply pointed ornament capping the piers or flying buttresses; also used on facades. Flying buttress – Masonry struts that transfer the thrust of the nave vaults across the roofs of the side aisles and ambulatory to a tall pier rising above the church’s exterior wall. Vaulting web – The masonry blocks filling the area between the ribs of a groin vault. Diagonal rib – In plan, one of the ribs forming the X of a groin vault. Transverse rib – A rib crossing the nave or aisle at a 90-degree angle. Springing – the lowest stone of an arch. In Gothic vaulting, the lowest stone of a diagonal or transverse rib.

Gothic Architecture 7. Clerestory – The windows below the vaults in the nave elevation’s uppermost level. By using flying buttresses and rib vaults on pointed arches, Gothic architects could build huge clerestory windows and fill them with stained glass held in place by ornamental stonework called tracery. 8. Oculus – A small, round window (not to be confused with a rose window). 9. Lancet – A tall, narrow window crowned by a pointed arch. 10. Triforium – The story in the nave elevation consisting of arcades, usually blind arcades but occasionally filled with stained glass. 11. Nave arcade – The series of arches supported by piers separating the nave from the side aisles. 12. Compound pier (cluster pier) with shafts (responds) – A pier with a group, or cluster, of attached shafts, or responds, extending to the springing of the vaults.

St. Denis, Paris

St. Denis (Abbey Church) Near Paris, France

• At the time, the French kings only truly ruled an area called the Île-de-France (the area within about 100 miles of Paris), but they had pretensions to rule all of France. • St. Denis Church - burial place of most French kings since Merovingian times. Rebuilding the church would help to increase the prestige of the monarchy. • Originally a Carolingian church, St. Denis was remodeled under the supervision of Abbot Suger (SOO-zhayr), who was the abbot (leader) of the abbey at the time, as well as an advisor to the French Kings Louis VI and VII. • The new renovations included pointed arches, equalized ceiling heights, and stained glass windows, which is why the new St. Denis is considered the first truly Gothic structure. • The abbey is named for Saint Denis who brought Christianity to Gaul in third century, and was martyred. According to legend, after his execution, Denis miraculously stood up and marched to his grave, carrying his severed head in his hands. The abbey houses his tomb.

St. Denis, Paris • The features of the new structure included: - A remodeled choir and ambulatory, surrounded with seven consecutive radiating chapels. The use of pointed arches enabled higher ceiling height and thinner piers, making the ambulatory seem more connected to the choir as one large room. - Extensive use throughout of large, stained glass windows, which Abbot Suger believed let in lux nova (“new light”). - A taller nave and tower which used pointed arches with ribbed vaulting, creating a greater sense of heavenly lift. - An array of gem-encrusted and golden furniture, most importantly the main altar in front of the saint’s tomb. • In Suger’s eyes, his splendid new church, permeated with light and outfitted with gold and gems, was a place halfway between Heaven and Earth. • He regarded a lavish investment in art as a spiritual aid, a vehicle to help a worshipper reach the transcendant, not as an undesirable distraction for the pious monk. This set the stage for the proliferation of costly and elaborately decorated cathedrals in the Gothic age.

The Rise of Paris

Notre Dame on the “Île-de-la-Cité” Paris, France

• French capital moved to Paris by Louis VI in 1130. • Around 1200, Philip II Augustus, who was at the time experiencing success in expanding French territories, made significant improvements to Paris by paving the streets, building its walls, and constructing the Louvre as his palace (which is today a famous museum). He became known as the “maker of Paris.” • Construction of the University of Paris attracted the best thinkers in Europe, making Paris the intellectual center of the West (although Rome remained the religious center). • A group of thinkers known as Schoolmen developed a philosophy called Scholasticism. They were introduced to the teachings of Aristotle by the Arabic scholars of Islamic Spain, and sought to use Aristotle’s method of logical inquiry and argument to prove the central articles of Christian faith. • Peter Abelard (1079-1142)- the most influential early Schoolman who helped develop Scholasticism. • Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)- Italian monk, moved to Paris, taught at University of Paris, and wrote Summa Theologica, a model of Scholastic approach to knowledge with five ways to prove the existence of god by argument. Later made a saint.

Notre Dame, Paris • After Louis VI moved to Paris, the city needed a major cathedral. This cathedral replaced a previous Merovingian basilica. • Notre Dame is French for “Our Lady,” and is a name given to several Gothic cathedrals due to the rise in popularity of the Virgin Mary at the time. We will distinguish between the various Notre Dames by their cities of location. • Built on an island in the Seine river that flows through Paris known as the Île-de-la-Cité. • Built in parts over the course of about 100 years. The choir and transept were finished in 1182, but the façade was not done until about 1250 or 1260. • First use of flying buttresses on a major urban cathedral. • Oculus windows over each of the clerestory lancets. • Spire was added much later. • Sexpartite vaulting on ceiling. Notre Dame Paris, France

Notre Dame, Chartres • The original cathedral at Chartres was built around 1145 in the Early Gothic style, but much of it burned down in 1194. • The westwork and the crypt (which housed the cathedrals most precious relic, the mantle of the Virgin Mary) remained, but the rest of the church was rebuilt in the new High Gothic style. • The west portal, part of the original structure, is known as the Royal Portal (because of the sculptures of kings and queens that adorn it). • The north and south portals (on either end of the transept) are part of the new structure, and are stylistically different from the west portal.

Royal Portal, Chartres • Royal Portal named for the kings and queens on either side of the door jambs. • Central tympanum depicts the second coming of Christ. He is surrounded by the signs of the 4 evangelists. The 12 apostles are on the lintel below, and the 24 elders on the archivolts. • Left tympanum depicts Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, surrounded by signs of the Zodiac in the archivolts, symbolizing the cosmic and earthly worlds. • Right tympanum depicts the Virgin with the infant Jesus in her lap. She maintains a central role due to the popularity of the Cult of the Virgin, who held her in high esteem and saw her as the kindly Queen of Heaven, standing compassionately Royal Portal between the last judge and the horrors of Hell, interceding for West façade, all her faithful. Notre Dame of Chartres • The term Marian is used to describe things relating to Mary (for example, devotion of Mary could also be called Marian devotion).

Royal Portal, Chartres • The capitals are decorated with scenes from the life of the Virgin and Christ, creating a kind of frieze that unites the three doorways visually and iconographically. • The taller figures are the royal ancestors of Christ, although some people may have regarded them as the kings and queens of France (which was the motivation for the damage done to the similar figures at St. Denis during the French revolution). • They are different from classical caryatids in that they are merely attached to the columns behind them, they are not themselves the columns. • Style: The figures stand rigidly upright, arms held in tightly, linear folds of their garments and their elongated proportions (inherited from Romanesque style) echoing the verticality of the columns behind them. Ethereal, weightless. • Faces appear more naturalistic than Romanesque faces. Kindly facial expression. Welcoming viewers into the church (and, metaphorically into a heavenly realm). • Originally brightly painted (polychrome – painted wood or stone sculpture or architecture). Jamb figures, Royal Portal, Notre Dame, Chartres c. 1150

Jamb Figures, South Transept • Although still attached to columns, the jamb figures on the south transept (built after the fire) are less column-like in their pose, and project further out from the wall. • Faces are more expressive and individualized, and robes are more natural than the Early Gothic style. • St. Theodore, depicted on the Porch of the Martyrs, stands with his head turned to the left, and his hips to the right, creating a sense of curved classical contrapposto (recalling Polykleitos’ Spear Bearer). • Theodore is dressed as an idealized, youthful Christian knight, clad in the chainmail of the 13th century crusaders, with one hand resting on his decorated shield, and the other his spear. • Transition from Early to High Gothic style was similar to transition from Archaic to Classical Greece.

St. Theodore, Porch of the Martyrs, Jamb Figures, Porch of the Confessors South Transept Notre Dame, Chartres c. 1230

Chartres’ New Nave • After the fire of 1194, the nave and transept of Chartres was rebuilt. It had several distinctive changes in style, which is why it is considered the first example of High Gothic architecture. • It was the first cathedral to have the flying buttresses included in its original inception, allowing the architects to remove the gallery from the nave elevation (which used to serve as part of the buttressing). • The removal of the gallery left only 3 levels (nave arcade, triforium, and clerestory), instead of the Early Gothic four. • The nave ceiling was divided into rectangles that only spanned one bay, instead of the previously typical two bays. • Each ceiling rectangle was simple in design, consisting of only four parts instead of six (compare plans to the right). This helped to unify the interior.

Chartres Plan

Laon Plan

Nave Interior, Notre Dame, Chartres Begun 1194

Making Stained Glass • Stained glass was first used in the fourth century, but it was during the Gothic era that it became the most popular. • Stained glass is made by following a number of steps, involving several people: - First, a master designer draws the design on a wooden panel, indicating all the linear details and noting the colors for each section. - Glass-blowers provided flat sheets of colored glass to glaziers (glassworkers) who cut the glass into the various shapes. - Painters added details (such as on the face on the right) with enamel on the glass, using the designer’s wooden panel underneath the glass as a guide. The glass pieces were heated in a kiln to fuse the enamel. - Glaziers then joined the glass panels together using thin, flexible strips of lead. The leading held the glass pieces together, and served to separate the colors to heighten the effect of the design as a whole. - Finally, the glaziers strengthened the completed window with an armature of iron bands, which in the 12th century formed a grid over the entire design. In the 13th century, the bands followed the outlines of the medallions and surrounding areas.

Chartres Stained Glass • The stained glass windows at Chartres were paid for by workers’ guilds and royalty. • The lancet window referred to as Our Lady of the Beautiful Windows was one of the originals to survive the fire of 1194. • The central section, with the red background, depicts the Virgin Mary enthroned, holding the Christ child on her lap. The dove of the Holy Spirit is above. • The surrounding angels (blue backgrounds) are not originals; they were added when the window was reinstalled in the choir after the fire. • How is this depiction of Mary with a baby Jesus similar or different from some of the others we have seen? • “The glass windows in a church are Holy Scriptures, which expel the wind and the rain, that is, all things hurtful, but transmit the light of the True Sun, that is, God, into the hearts of the faithful.” - William Durandus, bishop of Mende (c. 1250)

Our Lady of the Beautiful Windows (Notre Dame de la Belle Verriére), Detail of a window in the choir of Chartres Cathedral, FR c. 1170 with 13th century side panels

Chartres Stained Glass

Rose window and lancets North transept, • This window is from the 13th century, after the fire. Notre Dame Chartres, FR • Because the builders of the new nave planned from the outset to c. 1220 use flying buttresses, they were able to also include plans for

expansive stained glass windows (this one is 43’ wide). • This rose window and its lancets were commissioned by Queen Blanche of Castile, around 1220. • Reflecting the royalty of the patron is the inclusion of the yellow castles and fleur-de-lis (a three-petaled iris flower that was a symbol for French royalty as well as the Virgin Mary, and later the Holy Trinity).

Chartres Stained Glass • In the roundel in the middle is another enthroned Virgin Mary, again holding the Christ child. • Above her are four doves, and below are eight angels. • Twelve square panes contain images of Old Testament kings, including David and Solomon. These are the royal ancestors of Christ.

Rose window detail North transept, Chartres

Chartres Stained Glass • The central lancet below the rose window depicts Saint Anne and the baby Virgin. • Flanking St. Anne are four of Christ’s Old Testament ancestors: Melchizedek, David, Solomon, and Aaron. • Almost the entire mass of wall opens up into stained glass, held in place by intricate stone tracery. The designers tried to subtract as much stone as possible, just short of destabilizing the building, which has proven itself successful by lasting over 800 years so far.

Lancet detail North transept, Chartres

Bibles Moralisées  Moralized bibles, made expressly for the French royal house, include lavishly illustrated abbreviated passages from the Old and New Testaments. Explanatory texts that allude to historical events and tales accompany these literary and visual readings, which convey a moral.  French King Louis VIII died of dysentery after only 3 years reign, leaving his widow, Blanche of Castille (patron of this artwork), as queen regent until their son, Louis IX was old enough to rule.  Rebelling barons were eager to win back lands that her husband’s father had seized from them. They rallied troops against her, defamed her character, and even accused her of adultery and murder. However, she negotiated and fought her enemies so that her son inherited a relatively peaceful kingdom.  Who is depicted in this image?  What is added decoratively above them? What does it symbolize?  After his death, Louis IX was made a saint. Dedication Page with Blanche of Castile and King Louis IX of France Bibles Moralisées. French Gothic. C. 1245 CE Illuminated manuscript (ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum).

Bibles Moralisées  How can we tell they are monarchs? How can we tell they are FRENCH monarchs?  Blanche wears a white widow’s wimple under her crown  Considering the purpose of a Bibles Moralisees, what is the meaning of the interaction between these two?  The golden disc Louis IX holds could represent the 13 gold coins given to the presiding bishiop of Reims during the mass that followed a coronation (French kings were traditionally crowned at Reims).  This could reference Louis’ coronation (3 weeks after his father’s death), suggesting a probable date of 1226 for this bible’s commission (remember, it would still have taken around ten years to complete).  Image may echo popular images of Christ crowning his mother Mary as queen of heaven, a popular image on Gothic French tympana.

Bibles Moralisées  In a Moralized Bible from the 1200s, the biblical text was accompanied by commentary, explaining the moral.  Each biblical passage is accompanied thus by a biblical illustration, a commentary (explanation), and a second moralizing illustration of the commentary.  Eight miniatures are displayed on each page, illustrated in bright colors and a golden background.  This page is from the Book of Revelations.  In addition to the use of gold and brilliant inks, the large size of the manuscript and the lavishly applied colors (which show through the page, allowing the scribe to only use one side of each page, thus using more materials) added to it’s cost.

Scenes from the Apocalypse Bibles Moralisées. French Gothic. C. 1245 CE Illuminated manuscript (ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum).

Golden Haggadah The book used to tell the story of Passover around the seder table each year is a special one, known as a haggadah (haggadot, pl. meaning “narration”).  What is Passover? What event does it recall?  The Golden Haggadah is one of the most luxurious examples of these books ever created. Although the Golden Hagaddah has a practical purpose, it is also a fine work of art used to signal the wealth of its owners.  A hagaddah usually includes the prayers and readings said during the meal and sometimes contained images that could have served as a sort of pictorial aid to envision the history of Passover around the table.  Although the 2nd Commandment forbids idolatry, haggadot are seen as educational and therefore exempt.

The Plagues of Europe The Golden Haggadah Late Medieval Spain c. 1320 CE Illuminated manuscript (pigments and gold leaf on vellum)

Golden Haggadah

Preparation for Passover The Golden Haggadah Late Medieval Spain c. 1320 CE Illuminated manuscript (pigments and gold leaf on vellum)

The preparation for the Passover festival: - upper right: Miriam (Moses' sister), holding a timbrel (like a tambourine) decorated with an Islamic motif, is joined by maidens dancing and playing contemporary musical instruments - upper left: the master of the house, sitting under a canopy, orders the distribution of matzoh (unleavened bread) and haroset (a sweet made from nuts and fruit) to the children - lower right: the house is prepared for Passover, the man holding a candle searches for leavened bread on the night before Passover and the woman and girl clean - bottom left: sheep are slaughtered for Passover and a man purifies utensils in a cauldron over a fire.  Jewish art was influenced by Christian and Islamic styles, and vice versa. How is the style of this imagery similar to the Gothic manuscripts such as Blanche’s Bibles Moralisees?

Golden Haggadah The plague of the first-born: in the upper-right corner, three scenes: an angel strikes a man, the queen mourns her baby, and the funeral of the first-born  Upper left: Pharaoh orders the Israelites to leave Egypt, the Israelites, holding lumps of dough, walk with hands raised illustrating the verse: “And the children of Israel went out with a high hand“  Bottom right: pursuing Egyptians are shown as contemporary knights led by a king  Bottom left: the Israelites' safely cross the Red Sea, Moses takes a last look at the drowning Egyptians.

Scenes of Liberation The Golden Haggadah Late Medieval Spain c. 1320 CE Illuminated manuscript (pigments and gold leaf on vellum)

Reims Cathedral Reims, France, c. 1225-1290

Notre Dame, Reims

• Reims is pronounced like “rance” or “rass” • Architects: Gaucher de Reims and Bernard de Soissons • King’s gallery located above the rose window and placed in taller and more ornate frames. • Generally, the components of the façade are similar to Amiens, but “stretched” taller. • Rose window set in a pointed arch. • Pinnacles above the portal tall and elaborate. • Stained glass windows in the tympana. • Statues and reliefs on the west façade focus on the Virgin Mary. • Paid for in part by indulgences – indulgences were pardons for sins committed that could be purchased (with money) from the clergy. Christ crowns Mary as the Queen of Heaven in the Coronation sculpture above the central portal. Notre Dame, Amiens

Annunciation and Visitation • The columns are of decreased significance and size, serving to detach the sculptures from their architectural background. • The pair to the left depict the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel visits Mary to announce to her that she will bear a child. • The pair to the right depict the Visitation, wherein Mary visits her older cousin Elizabeth (who is pregnant with John the Baptist) to inform her of the news. • These sculptures were made over a period of about 25 years, and involved several different sculptors. • Compare the right pair with the left pair. How are they stylistically different? What artistic period were the sculptors of the pair on the right more familiar with and how can you tell? • In the pair on the left, how is Gabriel stylistically different from Mary?

Annunciation (left) and Visitation (right) Jamb statues on the right side of the central doorway of the west façade, Reims Cathedral, France, c. 1230

Sainte-Chapelle, Paris

Sainte-Chapelle, Ile-de-la-Cite, Paris, France c. 1245

• Built by Louis IX as a chapel joined to the royal palace as a repository for the crown of thorns and other relics of Christ’s passion he had purchased in 1239 from his cousin Baldwin II, the Latin emperor of Constantinople. • A masterful example of the Rayonnant (“radiant”) style • Stained glass makes up 75% of the structure. • Suffered some damage (now restored) during the revolution • Although most of the windows depict scenes from the Old Testament depicting the royal ancestors of Jesus, there is one window depicting scenes from the life of Louis IX. • “Sainte-Chapelle” translates as “Holy Chapel” • Louis IX (ruled 1226-1270) was considered an ideal king, revered for his piety, justice, truthfulness, and charity. He was famous for his diplomacy, and under his rule France was peaceful and prosperous. He lead two unsuccessful crusades, and died during the second. He was made a saint less than thirty years after his death.

The Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreaux

Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux St. Denis, France, 1339 Silver gilt and enamel, 2’ 3.5” high

• Much smaller in scale than the Virgin of Paris . • Wealthy patrons would commission statuettes of religious figures such as this one for private worship, or to donate to churches. • This statue was commissioned by the French queen Jeanne d’Evreaux, and donated to the abbey of St. Denis. • Mary stands on a rectangular base that is decorated with enamel scenes of Christ’s passion. • Despite the subject matter depicted on the base, Mary does not appear to mourn. Instead, she gazes tenderly at Jesus, who playfully reaches up to touch her face. • Originally depicted with a crown, a sense of royalty is also communicated through the scepter shaped as a fleur-de-lis (a symbol of the French monarchy). • The statuette is also a reliquary. The scepter contained several hairs believed to be from Mary’s head. • As with the Virgin of Paris, Mary stands with an exaggerated Scurve pose.

The Castle of Love • During the Gothic period arose the popularity of the courtly romance, in which a brave, honorable knight politely courted a virtuous lady. • The secular theme of the courtly romance was often incorporated into private artworks, such as this jewelry box lid. Items such as this might have been given by a suitor to his lady of interest. • This jewelry box was based off of an allegorical poem called the Romance of the Rose. • On the lid, knights are laying siege to a castle of maidens by shooting flowers from their bows, and hurling baskets of flowers over the castle walls with catapults. • In the central panel, two knights joust as the maidens look on over the castle wall. • On the right, a knight receives his reward: a bouquet of roses from a chastely dressed maiden on horseback. • The side of the box includes the legend of the unicorn, a medieval allegory of female virtue (only a virgin could attract the unicorn, thereby proving her moral purity.

Castle of Love Jewelry box, From Paris, FR c. 1330-1350 Ivory and iron 4.5” x 9.75”

English Gothic

Salisbury Cathedral, England

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury, England 1220-1258

• By the second half of the 13th century, the French Gothic style was spreading throughout western Europe. • Because each area had its own style of Romanesque architecture, each area then blended its local style to the French Gothic style to create its own variety of Gothic architecture. • The English Gothic style emphasized linear pattern and horizontality instead of the French structural logic and verticality. • Salisbury was begun the same year as Amiens. • The façade includes some French Gothic features (such as pointed lancet windows) but is structurally just a flat, wide screen for the nave. The levels do not match the interior levels. • Instead of emphasizing the height of the façade, the focus is on the great crossing tower (added around 1330). • Only a few flying buttresses, and an unusual double-transept. • The pier responds stop at the springing of the nave arches, and do not continue upwards to the vault ribs. • Contrast between the light stone of the walls and vaults and the dark marble used for the moldings.

Chapel of Henry VII, England • Since Romanesque times, the use of elaborate architectural pattern for its own sake had been a distinguishing characteristic of English architecture. The use of patterns became increasingly complex, culminating in what is known as the Perpendicular style. • The Perpendicular style takes its name from the emphasis on verticality of its decorative details, in contrast with earlier English Gothic churches such as Salisbury. • A late example of the Perpendicular style is the Chapel of Henry VII, adjoining Westminster Abbey in London. • Architects: Robert and William Vertue • Use of fan vaults (vaults with radiating ribs forming a fanlike pattern) and large hanging pendants. • • • Chapel of Henry VII Westminster Abbey London, England c. 1500

Holy Roman Empire Gothic

Strasbourg • Located in present-day France, but at the time was part of the German Rhineland part of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by Ottonian successors. • The apse, choir, and transepts were begun in 1176, and completed by 1230. Stylistically, these sections are Romanesque, but the decorations, especially the portals of the south transept, are markedly Gothic. • Of all buildings built entirely within the Gothic period, this cathedral is the tallest one still standing.

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg, France c. 1230

Dormition of the Virgin, Strasbourg • The tympanum of the left doorway of the south transept is an example of the classical revival style of the French Gothic era that had spread to the Rhineland. • It depicts Mary on her deathbed. The 12 apostles gather around Mary, forming an arc of mourners well-suited to the semicircular frame. • At the center, Christ receives his mother’s soul (depicted as the doll-like figure in Christ’s hands). • Mary Magdalene crouches in front of the deathbed in sorrow. • The figures express profound sorrow through dramatic poses and gestures. • The sculptor’s objective was to imbue the sacred figures with human emotions and to stir emotional responses in observers. • The figures wear rippling drapery, with deeply incised folds. • The figures on the edges are smaller, and those in the back of the crowd do not have feet.

Dormition (or Death) of the Virgin Tympanum of the left doorway of the south transept Strasbourg Cathedral, Strasbourg, France c. 1230

Naumburg Cathedral • Although he is not the patron of the whole Naumburg Cathedral in northern Germany, Bishop Dietrich II of Wettin did commission the western choir, and oversee the completion of the building. • The bishop built the choir as a memorial to the twelve donors of the original 11th-century church. • The artist who oversaw the team of sculptors responsible for building the choir screen is known as the Naumburg Master. • In the center of the screen is the crucified Christ. On either side are the grieving John the Evangelist and Virgin Mary. • John weeps openly, unable to look at Jesus. Mary also does not look at Jesus, but instead gestures towards the worshippers of the church, seemingly offering to intercede on their behalf at the last judgment. • Continues the emphasis on heightened emotion. • Figures retain their original paint, giving a sense of what the outdoor sculptures (also typically painted) would have originally looked like.

Crucifixion Naumburg Cathedral Naumburg, Germany c. 1250 Figures are painted limestone

Ekkehard and Uta, Naumburg • Within the choir are statues of the original donors, carved again by the Naumburg Masters’ workshop of sculptors. • Two of these figures are the military governor Ekkehard II of Meissen and his wife, Uta. • The statues are attached to columns and stand beneath architectural canopies, following the pattern of French Gothic portal statuary. • Ekkehard appears as an intense Christian knight. Uta, by contrast, is aloof yet beautiful, pulling her cloak partially in front of her face. The sculptor has convincingly indicated the form of her arm and hand underneath her cloak. • The realistic draping of the clothing as well as the individualized expressions and features imply that the sculptor probably viewed a live model (since Ekkehard and Uta would have died several hundred years before these statues were made, and thus could not have posed for the sculptor themselves).

Ekkehard and Uta Naumburg Cathedral Naumburg, Germany c. 1250 Painted limestone 6’ 2” high

Röttgen Pietà • The confident 13th-century portraits at Naumburg contrast greatly with the haunting 14th-century German painted wooden statuette of the Virgin Mary, holding the dead Christ in her lap. • “Pietà” is Italian for pity or compassion, and is the word used to describe an artwork that depicts Mary cradling the dead body of Christ. • Named after an art collector, not the original patron. • The artist has stylized the bodies to emphasize the level of emotional suffering. Christ’s body is twisted and full of gaping wounds, his head thrown back with an expression of pain. Mary leans forward to cradle him, an expression of anguish on her face. • The artist made the heads disproportionately large to accentuate the emotions on the faces, as well as to make Christ’s body seem even more emaciated by contrast. • The work seems to challenge the viewer to compare their own suffering to the suffering of Mary and Christ.

Röttgen Pietà Rhineland, Germany c. 1300 Painted wood 2’ 10.5” high

Cologne Cathedral, Germany • Original Architect: Gerhard of Cologne • Although Gothic style sculptures could be found earlier, it was not until the mid-1200s that the French Gothic style found its way into the architecture of the Holy Roman Empire. • Construction of this church lasted over 600 years. • Work halted entirely from the mid-16th to the mid-19th centuries, when church officials unexpectedly discovered the 14th-century design for the façade. Gothic Revival architects then completed the building according to the original plans, adding the nave, towers, and façade to the east end, which had stood alone for several centuries. • Large in size, the nave is 422 feet long, and the choir is 150 feet high (based on the design for Amiens). • The structural strength of the building was proven during World War II, during which there was severe aerial bombing in Cologne. Aside from the windows blowing out, the church suffered no other damage.

Cologne Cathedral Cologne, Germany Begun 1248 Nave, façade, and towers completed 1880

Shrine of the Three Kings • Artist: Nicholas of Verdun, the leading Mosan artist (from the Meuse River valley in present-day Belgium), known for his work in precious metals and enamels. • Patron: Philip von Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne, commissioned the shrine to contain relics from the three magi. • The relics of the magi had been acquired by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the conquest of Milan in 1164. Possession of the magi’s relics gave the Cologne archbishops the right to crown German kings. • It is a large reliquary at six feet long, and is made of silver, bronze, enamel, and various gemstones. • Overall shape is that of a basilican church. • Repoussé figures of the Virgin, the three magi, Old Testament prophets, and New Testament apostles in arcuated frames. • Deep channels and tight bunches of drapery folds are hallmarks of Nicholas’ style.

Shrine of the Three Kings Nicholas of Verdun Cologne Cathedral Germany c. 1190 5’ 8” x 6’ x 3’ 8” Silver, bronze, enamel, gemstones

15th Century Context • Great Schism still in effect until 1417, separating France (pope in Avignon) and Italy (pope in Rome). • Hundred Years War (1337-1453) between England and France • Dukes of Burgundy – annexed the regions of modern day Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of France to become the most wealthy/powerful region in N. Europe. • New economic system emerging: early stage of European capitalism, involving new financial regulations of trade, and new credit and exchange systems.  Like Florence, cities in N. Europe (Bruges, Ghent and then later Antwerp and Brussels) became rich industrial and banking centers and this allowed a large merchant-class to flourish. • More individuals with wealth = more varied patrons of the arts, including royal, ducal, church, guild, and private patronage. • Oil paint becomes popularized in N. Europe first.  Not as influenced by classicism as Italy. (Why?) Instead of anatomy & proportion, focused more on material textures & light. • Invention in 1456 of the printing press/moveable type by Gutenberg, lead to greater production of books. • Notable integration of religious and secular concerns.

Europe c. 1475

Oil Paint vs. Tempera • Although invented in the 8th century, it was in the early 1400s that oil painting became widespread. • Tempera = pigment (color) mixed with egg yolk.  Oil paint = pigment mixed with oils. • Tempera has a matte (not shiny) finish, whereas oil paint has a glossy sheen. • Tempera dries within only a few minutes, whereas oil paint dries very slowly (anywhere from days to weeks, depending upon the color). This allowed artists more time to blend colors and rework areas until they were perfect. • Oil colors are richer, deeper, and more vibrant. • The paintings in this chapter are all oil on wood, unless otherwise noted.

Glazing with Oil Paint • Tempera paint cracks when applied too thickly, so artists can add very few layers. Oil paint is more flexible when dry, so artists can build up many layers. • When building layers, artists can add extra oil to oil paint to make it transparent (see-through), a technique called glazing. • Adding thing layers of glazing resulted in a more photo-realistic effect. As a result, artists began to move away from the flatness of the Middle Ages, creating well-modeled, 3D looking forms.

The Mérode Altarpiece

The Mérode Altarpiece Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle) Oil on wood, c. 1425. Center panel 2’ 1” sq.

• Example of the integration of secular and religious concerns – the Annunciation is shown taking place in a Flemish house. • The altarpiece was intended for private household prayer. • The patrons of the work (Peter Inghelbrecht, a wealthy merchant, and his wife Margarete Scrynmakers) kneel outside, watching the event through the open doorway.

• The book, extinguished candle, lilies, copper basin, towels, fire screen, and the closed garden outside all symbolize the Virgin’s purity and her divine mission. • Joseph makes two mousetraps, symbolic of the concept that Christ is bait set in the trap of the world to catch the Devil.

Ghent Altarpiece (closed) Hubert and Jan Van Eyck St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. Oil on wood. 11.5’ high

Ghent Altarpiece (closed) • Jan van Eyck was one of the pioneers of oil painting. He became the court painter of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, in 1425, and moved his studio to Bruges in 1432, where the duke lived. • This retable (another word for altarpiece) is a polyptych that was commissioned by Jodocus Vyd (a diplomat), and his wife Isabel Borluut for a chapel they built in the Saint Bavo Cathedral. • Both the inside and outside were painted (as was typical). Usually, the altarpieces would be opened on Sundays and holidays, but kept closed otherwise. • The patrons are shown kneeling on the outside, praying towards the illusionistically painted “sculptures” of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the patron saints of the city of Ghent. • The annunciation is depicted in the upper register. • The uppermost arched panels depict the prophets Zachariah (left) and Micah (right), with sibyls (Greco-Roman mythological female prophets whose writings the Christian Church interpreted as prophecies of Christ) in the center.

God (the Father)

Angels

Virgin Mary

John the Baptist Angels

Adam

Eve

Judges (Justice)

Knights (Fortitude)

Confessors

Lamb

Virgin Martyrs

Prophets

Fountain Of Life

Apostles & Martyrs

Pilgrims (Prudence)

Hermits (Temperance)

Ghent Altarpiece (open) Hubert and Jan Van Eyck St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. Oil on wood. 11.5’ high

Ghent Altarpiece (open) • The interior of the Ghent altarpiece depicts humanity’s redemption/salvation through Christ. • God the Father wears the pope’s triple tiara on his head, and has a worldly crown at his feet. • Mary as queen of Heaven wears a crown with 12 stars. • The message: Even though humans (represented by Adam and Eve) are sinful, they will be saved because God, in his infinite love, will sacrifice his own son for that purpose. • The bottom panels depict the altar of the lamb, which symbolizes the sacrificed son of God, whose heart bleeds into a chalice, while into the fountain spills the “pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1). • The altarpiece celebrates the whole Christian cycle from the fall of man to the redemption, presenting the Church triumphant in heavenly Jerusalem.

Depth of Field • One of the hallmarks of early Northern Renaissance painting is a high level of detail. • The extreme level of detail was made possible by the reworkability and layering possibilities of oil paint. • When we look at things in real life, our eye can only focus on one area at a time; all else appears blurry/out of focus. • If we focus on something up close, that which is far seems out of focus, and vice versa. This is referred to as depth of field (in other words, how deep into your field of vision you choose to focus your eye… the more of an image is in focus at once, the greater its depth of field). • However, since a painting is actually flat, artists are able to create a vivid illusion of everything being in focus at once, regardless of how near or far it appears to be in the painting. • This attention to the large (macro) and the small (micro) at the same time correlates to religious beliefs at the time. God was thought to be in the whole world, but also in a tiny drop of water.

The Arnolfini Portrait • Emerging capitalism = more bourgeois (middle class) art patrons = more inclusion of patrons into art = more portraiture • This image of a financier and his new wife is secular, but with religious undertones (integration of secular and religious). • One interpretation is that the image records the couple taking their marriage vows. Another is that the image records Giovanni conferring legal privileges on his wife to conduct business in his absence. In both cases, the artist functions as a witness (he is seen in the mirror, and the words above it say “van Eyck was here.” • Iconography: -Cast aside clogs = event taking place on sacred ground -Dog = fidelity (faithfulness) and wealth (“Fido”) -Carving on bedpost of St. Margaret, patron saint of childbirth. -Whisk broom = domesticity The Arnolfini Portrait Jan van Eyck, c. 1434. -Oranges = wealth or temptation 2’ 9” x 1’ 10.5” -Single candle = all-seeing eye of God -Medallions around mirror = scenes of the Passion of Christ = God’s promise of salvation for the couple -Figure placement – woman stands further in the room (domestic) and the man stands near the window/outside world.

Detail images from Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride

Man in a Red Turban • As artists and patrons became more interested in reality (both physical and psychological), privately commissioned portraits became more common. • Patrons wanted to memorialize themselves in their dynastic lines and to establish their identities, ranks, and stations with more concrete images than a coat of arms. • Portraits also served to represent state officials at events they could not attend. • This painting was unusual because it was the first known Western painted portrait in a thousand years where the subject looks directly at the viewer. • The painter created the illusion that from whatever angle a viewer observes the face, the eyes return that gaze. • The image is realistic, including wrinkles, veins in the eyes, and stubble, and is intended to be a “true” portrait. • The image may be of van Eyck himself. If so, it was probably used to show clients the levels of realism of which he was capable. • The frame is inscribed “As I can” in Flemish, but using Greek letters (top), and “Jan van Eyck made me” and the date in Latin (bottom). The use of Greek and Latin may suggest the artist’s view of himself as a successor to the fabled painters of antiquity.

Man in a Red Turban Jan van Eyck 1433. 1’ 1” x 10”

Portrait of a Lady Rogier van der Weyden c. 1460. Oil and tempera On wood panel. 14” x 10.5”

Portrait of a Lady • Rogier van der Weyden was probably a student of Campin. • Van der Weyden’s workshop was in Brussels. • He was known for balancing the detailed individuality popular at the time with a flattering idealization of the features of men and women. • The portrait expresses the complex and often contradictory attitudes of the new middle-class patrons of the arts, who balanced pride in their accomplishments with appropriate modesty. • She is pious and humble, wealthy but proper and modest. • Features half-length pose, turned to three-quarters view, as well as high-waisted dress popular at the time.

Deposition Rogier van der Weyden From an altarpiece in Louvain, Belgium. c. 1442. Oil on wood panel. 7’2” x 8’7”

Deposition • This panel was the center panel of a triptych commissioned by the archer’s guild of Louvain for their church. Note the crossbow (the guild’s symbol) shaped tracery in the upper corners. • Figures are compressed into a shallow stage with a golden background. • The sideways tilts of the figures’ heads, as well as the expressions of grief, unify the group. • Mary, ashen and fainting as her son is removed from the cross, resembles her son in pose. This reflects the belief that Mary suffered the same pain at the crucifixion as her son. Their postures also vaguely resemble the shape of a crossbow. • Which figure is Joseph of Arimathea? How can you tell, based on your knowledge about him? • What is on the ground?

Last Judgment Altarpiece (open) Rogier van der Weyden C. 1443. Oil on wood panel. Open 7’4” x 17’ 11”. Beaune, France.

• Rogier’s largest and most elaborate work was created for a hospital in Beaune that was funded by the chancellor of Burgundy. How is the theme relevant to the hospital location? • Rogier may have been influenced by a recent trip to Rome. • Jesus (upper center, in red) presides over the archangel Michael (center, lower, in white) as he weighs the souls during the last judgment. Virgin Mary and John the Baptist kneel at either end of the rainbow.

The Last Judgment

• Behind Mary and John on each side are a row of six apostles, then women (on the right) and men on the left). • The cloudy gold background signifies a heavenly realm. • Across the bottom, men and women climb out of their tombs to be weighed. The good have lighter souls and weigh less than the bad, who then throw themselves into Hell. • Gabriel welcomes the good into Heaven on the left.

A Goldsmith in his Shop • This image, by Petrus Christus, depicts St. Eligius, who was a master goldsmith before committing his life to God, sitting in his shop, conferring with a young couple. • One interpretation of this painting is that the couple (perhaps the patrons) is picking out wedding rings. The bride’s betrothal girdle lies on the table as a symbol of chastity. The scales that Eligius uses to weigh the gold rings represents the weighing of souls, a reminder to not put materialistic desires over religion. • Another interpretation is that this painting was commissioned by the goldsmith’s guild of Bruges (of which Eligius was the patron saint) to decorate the guild chapel adjacent to their meetinghouse. • Historical records show that the reconsecration of the chapel took place in 1449, the same date as the Christus painting, which seems to support the theory that it was commissioned for the goldsmith’s guild. • Christus included a variety of objects that served as advertisement for the goldsmith’s guild, such as the raw materials (precious stones, beads, crystal, pearls) and finished products (rings, buckles, brooches). These items attest to the importance of goldsmiths in the making of secular and sacred objects. • Mirror in bottom left reflects the street behind the viewer.

A Goldsmith in his Shop Petrus Christus, c. 1449. Oil on wood. 3’3” x 2’10”. Original location: Bruges

Last Supper • Dirk Bouts of Haarlem painted this depiction of the Last Supper as the central panel of an altarpiece commissioned by the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament (a group dedicated to the worship of the Eucharist) for Louvain’s town hall. • One of the earliest examples of a vanishing point, where all of the orthogonal (converging diagonal) lines meet. • However, the horizon of the town outside the window is not level with the vanishing point, and the back room has its own vanishing point. • Bouts does not focus on the biblical narrative itself (such as Judas’ betrayal or Christ comforting John), but instead presented Christ in the role of a priest performing a ritual from the liturgy – the consecration of the Eucharistic wafer. • The two standing servants, and the two figures in the window, are depictions of members of the Confraternity who commissioned the artwork.

The Last Supper Dirk Bouts, c. 1465. Center panel of the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, St. Peter’s, Louvain, Belgium.

Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Limbourg Brothers, c. 1413 Colors and ink on vellum, 9” x 5”.

Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry • During this time, the French illuminated manuscripts began to depict more 3-dimensional scenes (similar to paintings). • This manuscript was illustrated by the Limbourg Brothers (Pol, Herman, and Jean). They were from the Netherlands, but moved to Paris around 1402. • The Limbourg Brothers worked in Paris and Bourges for Jean, duke of Berry and brother of the French King Charles V of France. The duke ruled the regious of Berry, Poitou, and Auvergne. • Jean, duke of Berry, commissioned the Limbourg Brothers to create a Book of Hours, which was a type of prayer book that contained prayers to be read at specific hours of the day. • The title of this work translates to “The Very Sumptuous Hours of the Duke of Berry” (sumptuous = lavish, magnificent) • The eventual popularity of these books amongst well-off citizens lead to the decentralization of religious practice that was one factor in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. • The centerpiece of a Book of Hours was the “Office [prayer] of the Blessed Virgin,” which contained liturgical passages to be read privately at set times during the day. • An illustrated calendar containing local religious feast days usually preceded the Office of the Blessed Virgin.

Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Limbourg Brothers, c. 1413 Colors and ink on vellum, 9” x 5”.

Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry • The full-page calendar illustrations in Les Trés Riches Heures represent the twelve months in terms of the associated seasonal tasks, alternating scenes of nobility and peasantry. • Above each picture is a lunette in which the Limbourgs depicted the zodiac signs and the chariot of the sun as it makes its yearly cycle through the heavens. • The book also visually captures the power of the duke and his relationship to the peasants. • The pleasant way in which peasant life was depicted flattered the duke’s sense of himself as a compassionate master. • The growing interest in naturalism is evident in the carefully depicted architectural details of the Louvre and the shadows cast by the figures in the image on the left. • As a whole, Les Trés Riches Heures reinforced the image of the duke of Berry as a devout man, cultured bibliophile, sophisticated art patron, and powerful and magnanimous leader. • Furthermore, the expanded range of subject matter, especially the prominence of non-religious subjects in a religious book, reflected the increasing integration of religious and secular concerns in both art and life at the time.

th 16 Century

Northern Renaissance

Context • In 1477, the Duchy of Burgundy dissolved, and the land it occupied was absorbed mainly by the Holy Roman Empire (which was ruled by several regional leaders), and to a lesser degree, France. Spain became a major power. • In 1456, Gutenberg invented the printing press, and began publishing the Bible. By 1500, the Bible was available printed in vernacular, making it more accessible to the middle class. • To accompany the mass production of books, artists developed printmaking techniques, enabling the mass production of illustrations. This promoted the wide dissemination of artistic ideas. • The illustrations in books, as always, made them more accessible to those who could not read. • The accessibility of information, especially the Bible, was a major contributing factor to the Reformation.

Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation • Martin Luther was a monk and theologian • In 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses, on the church doors in Wittenburg, condemning some of the Catholic Church’s practices. • He disputed the sale of indulgences by the church as a way to buy God’s favor. • He believed that salvation was not earned through good deeds, but was instead a free gift given by God’s grace through baptism and faith in Jesus Christ. • Luther’s teachings spread quickly, due to the recent invention of the printing press. • Luther encouraged the printing of the Bible in local languages (specifically German) to make it more individually accessible • He advocated a direct relationship with God, challenging the idea of having a priest or saint as an intermediary.  Political support: Prot. Ref. was supported in the north because northern leaders were anxious to take the opportunity offered by the Reformation to weaken the power of the papacy and increase their own power in relation to the Church in Rome.

Martin Luther

The Reformation • The major tenets of Luther and the Reformation: 1. “Justification by faith” – salvation was given freely by God. Faith in God earned a person’s place in heaven, not good works. 2. Individual conscience was the ultimate moral authority – a priesthood of all believers 3. Through prayer, each person could address God directly without priestly/saintly intercession 4. Translation of scriptures into native languages so people could interpret Bible for themselves 5. Learning to read and understand became the necessary prelude to faith and salvation (education for the populace) 6. Psychological impact of Lutheranism lay in shifting the burden of thinking to the individual

Martin Luther

Catholic Reaction: Counter-Reformation • Between 1545 and 1563, several separate sessions were convened by the Catholic Church, known as the Council of Trent, to address Protestant criticisms and reaffirm Catholic ideology. The purpose of the council was: - To condemn the principles and doctrines of Protestantism, and to clarify the doctrines of the Catholic Church on all disputed points. - To effect a reformation in discipline and administration (correcting corruption/nepotism within the church) - The Church is the ultimate interpreter of Scripture. - The Bible and Church Tradition were equally authoritative. - Both faith and good works required to get into Heaven (opposing Luther’s “justification by faith alone”) - Reaffirmation of indulgences, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary (while forbidding abuses of them, such as the sale of indulgences) - Issuance of decrees concerning sacred music and religious art (forbidding anything indecent, profane, or lustful, and forbidding the worship of the object itself).

The Council of Trent

Impact of the Reformation on N. European Art Architecture: - patronage diminishes from the Church for architectural projects/decorations - Churches become much simpler in decoration and design (focus on pulpit) Sculpture: - Less three-dimensional sculpture (thought to be too close to idol worship) - destruction of church art during the 16th century (iconoclasm)

Printmaking: - artist’s prints allow for artistic ideas to be more accessible to more people further away, and results in dissemination of ideas and fame of the artist.

Impact of the Reformation on N. European Art Painting: - new themes and new iconographic traditions emerge (before, emphasis on historical paintings, mainly biblical and mythological subjects) - new categories of subject matter develop, such as: 1. portraiture: Luther’s reorientation of religion toward subjective, personal, individual 2. genre: telling of everyday experiences, personal feelings and reactions 3. landscape: nature an expression of God’s creation/confirmation of rational universe 4. still-life: middle class life with moral message – subject matter has symbolic meaning

Printmaking Processes • Printmaking can include any artwork made by creating a design on one object (usually called a plate or block), then applying ink to that object and using that it to print an image onto another object (typically, a piece of paper). • There are two main categories of printing techniques: intaglio and relief • In relief printing, the artist carves their design onto their plate (traditionally a woodblock), then uses a roller to apply ink to the raised areas of the block. The block of wood works as a stamp. The carved out areas remain blank.  Woodblock printing is usually characterized by thicker, bolder lines.

Printmaking Processes • In intaglio printing (the “g” is silent), the artist etches or engraves lines into a plate (usually metal). When preparing to print, the artist forces ink down into the carved grooves, and wipes any excess ink off of the surface of the plate. The plate is then laid on the paper, and fed through a high-pressure printing press, which forces the paper down into the grooves, where it comes in contact with the ink. • Engraving is a form of intaglio printing in which the artist scratches their design into the plate with a sharp tool. • Etching is a form of intaglio printing in which the artist uses acid to carve their lines into a metal (usually zinc or copper) plate. - First, the artist covers the plate with a waxy material that will resist the acid, called ground (usually tar/bitumen). - Second, the artist creates their design by using a sharp tool to scratch the ground off - Third, the artist places the plate in an acid bath. The acid eats away at the areas that do not have ground, creating deep grooves. - After cleaning the plate, the artist is ready to print.

Printmaking Processes • In intaglio printing, the artist etches or engraves lines into their plate (usually metal). When preparing to print, the artist forces ink down into the carved grooves, and wipes any excess ink off of the surface of the plate. The plate is then laid on the paper, and fed through a high-pressure printing press, which forces the paper down into the grooves, where it comes in contact with the ink. • Engraving is a form of intaglio printing in which the artist scratches their design into the plate with a sharp tool. • Etching is a form of intaglio printing in which the artist uses acid to carve their lines into a metal (usually zinc or copper) plate. - First, the artist covers the plate with a waxy material that will resist the acid, called ground (usually tar/bitumen). - Second, the artist creates their design by using a sharp tool to scratch the ground off - Third, the artist places the plate in an acid bath. The acid eats away at the areas that do not have ground, creating deep grooves. - After cleaning the plate, the artist is ready to print.

Allegory of Law and Grace

Allegory of Law and Grace Lucas Cranach the Elder. c. 1530 CE. Woodcut and letterpress.

Designed by Cranach in consultation with Martin Luther (who felt that some religious imagery was ok, if it taught the right messages – did not support total iconoclasm).  This image shows Luther’s belief in “justification by faith” – Heaven was reached by faith and God’s grace, not through doing good deeds.  This was originally a painting, but was reproduced widely as a printed woodcut, influencing huge numbers of people.  At the bottom are six panels of Bible citations.  The left side of the image is the “Law” side, depicting God in the role of judge.  The right side of the image is the “Grace” side, depicting God showing mercy.  On the one hand, God judges and condemns human sin; but on the other hand, God also shows mercy and forgiveness, granting unearned salvation to sinful believers.  Although the sinner could not earn salvation against the judgment of God (Law), it was still needed to help them recognize sin and the need for mercy (Grace).

Right (Grace) side: John the Baptist directs viewer towards Christ on the cross and the risen Christ on top of the tomb. Nude figure does not hope to present a tally of his good deeds on the judgment day. He stands passively, stripped down to his soul, submitting to God’s mercy.  Left (Law) side: What people do you recognize? What else is happening? What representations of “law” are shown? How is Christ depicted?  Taken together, these motifs demonstrate that law leads inescapably to hell when mistaken for a path to salvation, as the damned naked man demonstrates.

 Two nude male figures appear on either side of a tree that is green and growing on the Grace side, but dead on the Law side.

Isenheim Altarpiece

Isenheim Altarpiece • The German (which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire) painter Matthias Grunewald painted the Isenheim altarpiece to fit around a carved wooden shrine, which was carved by Nikolaus Hagenauer in 1505. • The painted altarpiece contains two sets of doors. • The painting was commissioned by the Hospital of St. Anthony, and was placed in the hospital’s chapel. • As such, Grunewald focused on the themes of disease, and saints associated with disease or miraculous healing. • On the left panel (detail next slide), St. Anthony is visited in the blasted-out wilderness by St. Paul (the first hermit of the desert)— the two are about to be fed by the raven in the tree above, and Anthony will later be called upon to bury St. Paul. The meeting cured St. Anthony of the misperception that he was the first desert hermit, and was therefore a lesson in humility.

Isenheim Altarpiece Matthias Grunewald Hospital of St. Anthony Isenheim, Germany, c. 1510

The carved sections feature gilded and polychromed statues of Saints Anthony, Augustine, and Jerome in the main zone, and smaller statues of Christ and the 12 apostles on the predella.

Isenheim Altarpiece • On the right innermost door, there is a scene depicting the Temptation of St. Anthony, in which St. Anthony is attacked by the five temptations, depicted as monsters. • The demons torment Anthony’s waking and sleeping hours, mirroring the physical AND mental suffering of the hospital’s patients. • In the lower left is a man stricken with disease, most likely ergotism (a disease caused by ergot, a fungus that grows on rye), which caused hallucinations, central nervous malfunction, gangrene, and death. Ergotism was commonly called “St. Anthony’s Fire” and was one of the major diseases treated at the hospital. • Anthony was also patron saint of skin disease sufferers.

Angelic Concert

• Keeping in mind the patron and location of the artwork, what was the purpose of these panels?

Isenheim Altarpiece, closed

Isenheim Altarpiece • When closed, the altarpiece depicts Saint Sebastian on the left, the Crucifixion in the center, Saint Anthony Abbot on the right, and the Lamentation on the bottom. • Saints Anthony and Sebastian are both saints associated with disease and miraculous healing. • The gangrene associated with ergotism often resulted in the amputation of limbs. Grunewald may have alluded to amputation in his off-center depictions of Christ. When opened, the upper panel would appear to sever Christ’s arm, and the predella would appear to sever his legs. • This panel juxtaposes the suffering of Christ with the rewards of faith depicted on the interior panels. • The artist further enhanced the contrast of horror and hope through his use of color.

Self-Portraits Albrecht Dürer 1498 (left) and 1500 (below) Oil on wood

Albrecht Dürer • Dürer was the dominant artist of the early 16th century Holy Roman Empire. • Originally from Nuremberg, Dürer travelled widely throughout the Holy Roman Empire and to Italy. • Because of his travels to Italy, Dürer was exposed to the ideals of the Italian Renaissance, and was the first northern artist to incorporate ideas of scientific observation, human proportion, and perspective into his artwork. • Dürer wrote theoretical treatises on a variety of subjects, and also kept a record of his life through correspondence and a detailed journal. • After his first trip to Italy, Dürer painted a portrait of himself in the Italian style, turned in ¾ pose, with a landscape in the background. • Two years later, he painted a second self-portrait. In this portrait, Dürer deliberately depicted himself as a Christ-like subject, both in hair-style and frontal pose. This depiction is influenced by the humanist Italian Renaissance view of the artist as a divinely inspired genius. • His hand gesture resembles (but not copies) Christ’s gesture of blessing, and also alludes to its function as the artist’s instrument.

Fall of Man (Adam and Eve) Albrecht Dürer 1504. Engraving. 8” x 7.5”

Fall of Man • Albrecht Dürer became internationally famous as well as wealthy through the sale of his prints. Because duplicate prints could be made cheaply, they were accessible to purchase by a wider range of people, increasing his fame. • Dürer hired a manager to aggressively market his prints, and sued another artist for copying his work (considered the first copyright infringement lawsuit in history). • The engraving on the left depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. • This artwork represents the first result of his studies of the Vitruvian theory of human proportions (a theory based on math ratios) that Dürer learned about in Italy (also based on Apollo Belvedere). • The figures are Dürer‘s “ideal” male and female proportions, and stand in classical contrapposto poses (Dürer may have seen renderings of classical Greek statues). • Dürer tempered the idealism of the figures with naturalism (based on observation) in the background. • The animals represent the four humors (bodily fluids based on theories by the Greek physician Hippocrates): choleric (yellow bile, spleen) cat, the melancholic (black bile, gall bladder) elk, the sanguine (blood) rabbit, and the phlegmatic ox. A&E had perfect balance of humors until the fall. • Equilibrium before the fall: cat does not yet chase the mouse. • 4 yrs to complete. Advertised his skill far & wide, even to India.

Melencolia I Albrecht Dürer 1514 Engraving • Durer revisited the idea of the four humors for this engraving, which depicts the winged personification of genius, stricken by a 9.5” x 7.5”

Melencolia I

bout of melancholy (a metaphor for Dürer’s own psyche). • It was believed at the time that artists suffered from an excess of black bile, which accounted for their alternating states of artistic frenzy and depression. • There were three identified types of “melencolia” (spelled “melancholia” in English), of which artistic melancholy was type one (hence the title). • The child figure depicts Dürer as an avid young student. • What about the figure suggests a melancholic state? • What items surround the figure? • What is the meaning of the event in the distance?

The Four Apostles

The Four Apostles Albrecht Dürer 1526 • Dürer produced this painting without commission, and donated Oil on wood it to the city fathers of Nuremberg in 1526 to be hung in the city 7’ x 2.5’ per panel hall.

• From left to right: John, Peter, Mark, Paul • This painting showcases Dürer’s support for Martin Luther through his positioning of the figures. • Dürer placed John the Evangelist, who was held in especially high esteem by Martin Luther for his emphasis on Christ’s person in his Gospel, is placed in front of Peter. • What does Peter represent? Why? • Both John and Peter read from the Bible, which Luther believed to be the single true source of religious truth. • This belief is underscored by the passage that the two men read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). • At the bottom of the panels, Dürer included quotations from the four apostles’ books, using Luther’s German translation of the New Testament.

The French Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger 1533. Oil & tempera on wood. 6’ 8” x 6’ 9”

The French Ambassadors • Hans Holbein was from Basel (in modern day Switzerland), and was trained by his father in traditional 15th century Flemish portraiture technique. • He left Basel to escape a brewing religious civil war, and moved to England, where he soon became the court painter under Henry VIII. • Holbein’s paintings were known for their glossy, lustrous surfaces, rich color, exquisite attention to detail, and realism. • This painting depicts the French ambassadors to England. • The ambassadors, both ardent humanists, are surrounded by objects reflective of their worldliness and their interest in learning and the arts. • Notice the strange diagonal object on the floor, which interrupts the otherwise symmetrical balance of the painting. What is it?

The French Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger 1533. Oil & tempera on wood. 6’ 8” x 6’ 9”

The French Ambassadors • The object on the floor is an example of an anamorphic device, an object which is distorted so that it can only been seen with a special curved lens, or from an acute angle. • It is a skull. • Skulls were often included in paintings as reminders of death (memento mori). Coupled with the partially visible crucifix in the upper left corner, it could be a reminder to viewers of death and the resurrection. • It could also symbolize growing tension between secular and religious authorities, as one of the ambassadors was a titled landowner, whereas the other was a bishop. • The lute with a broken string, a symbol of discord, is placed next to a copy of Martin Luther’s translations of religious texts, which may subtly refer to growing religious tension.

Henry VIII Hans Holbein the Younger 1540. Oil on wood.

Henry VIII • As court painter, Holbein produced numerous portraits of Henry VIII. • Although initially a vocal opponent of Martin Luther, Henry VIII was instrumental in breaking England from the Catholic church. • Henry VIII strongly wanted a male heir. When his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, failed to produce one, he sought to annul his marriage to her. • When the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine, Henry VIII broke with the Catholic church and established the Church of England, of which he himself was the head. • Henry had his marriage annulled, and shortly thereafter married Anne Boleyn. • Anne Boleyn had several miscarriages, and eventually Henry again became anxious. If he got out of his marriage with Anne, he would have to go back to Catherine. • When Catherine of Aragon died shortly thereafter, Henry saw that if Anne was also dead, he would be free to marry anew. He falsified charges of adultery against Anne, and had her beheaded. • Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, finally produced a male heir, but died shortly thereafter. Henry went on to marry three more times.

Money Changer and his Wife Quentin Massys Oil on wood. 2’ 3” x 2’ 2”.

Money Changer and his Wife • Quentin Massys was a leading Antwerp (Netherlands) painter in 1510. At the time, Antwerp was a major trading hub for England, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and Portugal, and housed many wealthy private patrons of the arts. • This painting depicts a professional man weighing money on a pair of scales, a scene which reflects the growing commercial nature of Antwerp. • This image communicates Massys’ concern that the increasingly prominent focus on money was a distraction from religion. • The wife, although sitting in front of an open prayer book, is focused more on watching her husband weigh money. • In the background, two men gossip outside the window, symbolic of idleness and sloth. • In contrast to the background, the convex mirror in the foreground reflects the image of a man reading the bible, with a church steeple behind him. • The inscription on the original frame (now lost) read, “Let the balance be just and the weights equal” (Lev. 19:36), an admonition that applies both to the money-changers professional conduct and the eventual final judgment.

Hunters in the Snow • Another Netherlandish painter, Pieter Bruegel, was known for his landscape paintings that focused on human activities. • Although Bruegel studied for two years in Italy, he did not adopt classical themes into his work as Durer did. • This image is one of a series of six paintings (there may have originally been twelve) that depict seasonal changes. • These paintings were based on the tradition of calendar paintings from Books of Hours, which depicted peasant life during different times of year. • This painting reflects the particularly harsh winter of 1565. • The weary hunters return with their hounds, women build fires, and skaters play on the ice below. • What techniques is Bruegel using to create a sense of depth?

Hunters in the Snow Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1565. Oil on wood. 3’ 10” x 5’ 4”.

Netherlandish Proverbs • In this bird’s-eye view of a village, Bruegel has illustrated over one hundred proverbs (metaphorical sayings that express a truth). • The villagers (including nobility, peasants, and clerics) cleverly act out the proverbs, which would have been recognizable to viewers at the time. • Some examples of the proverbs included: - On the bottom left, a man in blue “bites the column” (an image of hypocrisy - To his right, a man “beats his head against a wall” (an ambitious idiot) - On the roof a man “shoots one arrow after the other, but hits nothing” (a shortsighted fool) - In the far distance, the “blind lead the blind” • This painting illustrates a deep understanding of human nature.

Netherlandish Proverbs Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1559. Oil on wood. 3’ 10” x 5’ 4”

• During the Reformation, France remained a predominantly Catholic country, and eventually outlawed Protestantism in 1534. • The king of France, Francis I, built several estates known as châteaus. A château served as vacation palaces and hunting lodges, where the king could entertain important guests. • The Chateau de Chambord was remarkable for its unusual architecture, which was a cross between the Renaissance styles of the time and medieval castles (it even featured a purely decorative moat and outer wall). • The layout featured rooms organized into self-sustaining suites (as opposed to corridor based medieval rooms). Château de Chambord Chambord, France Begun 1519

Château de Chambord • In the center, lit by an open skylight, was a double-helix staircase. • The regularity of the outer walls contrasted with the hodgepodge roof, which was said to resemble the skyline of Constantinople. • The chateau was unfurnished; upon visits, Francis and his party of around 2000 would bring their own food and furniture.

Florentine (Early) Renaissance Quattrocento Italy

Gutenberg and his press

Causes of the Renaissance • Greater individual wealth (merchant and artisan class replaced feudal lord/serf system) • Lower population (due to previous plague years) lead to little competition for resources • Printing press and printmaking techniques lead to greater availability of education and spread of ideas. Removed power from clergy. Re-exposure to literature and philosophy of ancient Greece. • Increased international trade lead to growth of cities, and increase in the number of very wealthy individuals • Wider variety of art patrons lead to wider variety of art subjects.

Italy c. 1400

Power in Quattrocento Italy • In the 1400s, Italy was still divided into politically volatile citystates, with shifting power relations among them. • Some regions were republics, while others (such as Milan and Naples) were ruled by individuals. • The city-states of this time that were ruled by an individual are referred to generically as princely courts, for though they were ruled by rulers with various titles (such as duke, marquis, count, cardinal, pope, or condottiere [mercenary warlord]), all them had the imperial powers of a monarch. • These “princes” often appointed a court painter. At the time, most artists were still considered middle-class craftsmen. Being appointed the court painter was a significant elevation of social status (in addition to providing a steady income). • Princes selected their court painters carefully, as the quality of work done by their painter reflected upon their own reputation. • In addition to portraits, sculptures, and frescoes, court painters were in charge of the tapestries, costumes, masks, and decorations for the frequent lavish social functions of court life.

Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci

Humanism • Florence (a republic) survived multiple attacks by other monarchical city-states in the early 1400s. They saw this as an assault on their individualism, and their survival as a sign of God’s approval of their political system that emphasized the rights of the individual. Thus, they fancied themselves the “new Rome” (focus on freedom/liberty, civic duty, and a classicized artistic style). • Renaissance-era Humanism: 1. Discover the beauties of life in the here and now (not the hereafter) 2. Reaffirmation of man “nothing more wonderful than man” 3. Invention of the printing press in 1440 leads to the spread of ideas from the people, to the people 4. Investigation of ancient texts and writers from Classical Greece and Rome (i.e. Plato, Aristotle, Ovid, etc) 5. Promoted a revival of interest in the affairs of the everyday world, such as science, engineering, mathematics, and medicine 6. Reassertion of the faith of men and women in themselves 7. Reinforce the role of individuals in all spheres 8. Emphasis on individual improvement and excellence rewarded with fame and honor. 9. Emphasis on civic duty

The Medicis • By the time of his death in 1429, the Florentine banker Giovanni di Bicci de Medici had established a vast family fortune. • His son, Cosimo de Medici, was a great patron of the arts and of learning in the broadest sense (in one example, he spent the equivalent of $20 million on the first library since ancient times). • He funded a Florentine chapter of the Neo-Platonic Academy, which sought knowledge using the teachings of Plato. • Florence was supposedly a republic, but in fact it was ruled indirectly by Cosimo. Although he did not hold public office, he used his wealth to control politics through bribery and threats. • Cosimo’s son, Piero, was in perpetually ill health, and only ruled for five years after his father before his own death. • Piero’s son Lorenzo was was a member of the Platonic Academy of Philosophy, and gathered about him a variety of artists and gifted men in all fields. He spent lavishly on buildings, paintings, and sculptures. • Although Lorenzo continued to rule Florence in the same style as his grandfather Cosimo, Lorenzo was not as gifted at banking as his forefathers, and the family business shrank dramatically under his tenure.

Cosimo “the Elder” de Medici

Piero “the Gouty” di Cosimo de Medici

Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de Medici

Teachings of the Neo-Platonic Academy 1. The eternal absolutes of truth, goodness, and beauty existed only in the divine mind. 2. Such absolutes are not wholly within human grasp. 3. Mortals, by learning, observation, and creativity, could catch occasional glimpses of the absolutes 4. TRUTH could be obtained by pursuing scientific knowledge 5. GOODNESS could be obtained through performing and observing good deeds and through the experience of love, first physical then spiritual 6. BEAUTY could be obtained through nature and experiencing great works of art The Platonic Academy was funded by Cosimo and Lorenzo Medici.

Plato and Aristotle

Florence Cathedral, Italy

Florence Cathedral Florence, Italy, c. 1300

• Primary architect: Alfonso di Cambio • Florence Cathedral is also called Santa Maria del Fiore (Italian for Holy Mary of the Flower). • The cathedral was intended to be the most beautiful church in all of Tuscany, and it reveals the competitiveness Florentines felt with cities such as Siena and Pisa. • Outer surface decorated with geometric marble-encrusted designs. The revetment (decorative wall panels) was designed to match the revetment of the 11th century baptistery of San Giovanni in front of it. • The campanile (bell tower) is free-standing. • The emphasis is on horizontality, not verticality like the Gothic churches of France. • The façade was not completed until the 19th century, and then in a form altered from its original design. Italian builders had little concern for the facades of their churches, because they considered the façade to be a decorative screen, instead of an integral part of the architecture.

East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni (Florence Cathedral) • In 1401, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral) held a competition to design the new East doors of the baptistery (the south doors were done by Andrea Pisano in 1330). • The artwork would be commissioned by the wool merchants guild. • Each prospective artist had to submit a relief panel depicting Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac in a similar French Gothic quatrefoil frame. • This scene is a metaphor for God’s sacrifice of his son, Christ. • It also represents covenants (binding agreements between God and humans). Baptism (in the baptistery) initiated a person into these covenants. • It may also represent the sacrifice of the civic duty to protect the city to ensure freedom, as Florence was at the time under siege by Visconti, the duke of Milan.

North (originally East) Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Lorenzo Ghiberti Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy Gilded bronze. 1401-1402.

Sacrifice of Isaac Lorenzo Ghiberti

Ghiberti vs. Brunelleschi

Sacrifice of Isaac Filippo Brunelleschi

Sacrifice of Isaac Brunelleschi

Ghiberti

• Ghiberti’s panel won out for a number of reasons: 1. It was cast in only two pieces of bronze, whereas Brunelleschi’s was cast in several pieces. This meant lighter doors, less materials expense, and better durability against the elements of weather. 2. Brunelleschi’s depiction emphasizes movement and passion, whereas Ghiberti’s depiction is more contemplative and graceful. 3. Ghiberti’s composition has a greater sense of depth 4. Ghiberti’s depiction of Isaac recalls the nudes of Classical Greece (as does his acanthus leaf decoration of the altar Isaac kneels on).

Gates of Paradise East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni Lorenzo Ghiberti Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy Gilded bronze. 1425.

• In 1425, Ghiberti’s patrons moved his original doors to the north entrance, and commissioned him to make a second set of doors, completely gilded, for the east entrance. • The artist Michelangelo later described these new doors as being “so beautiful that they would do well for the gates of Paradise,” and the nickname Gates of Paradise stuck. • Ghiberti’s rival, Brunelleschi, had recently developed the system of linear perspective, which Ghiberti adopted in these panels. • Ghiberti abandoned the quatrefoil frame of the previous doors, and made ten larger panels, instead of 28 smaller ones. • The panels depict episodes from the Old Testament. • In addition to linear perspective, Ghiberti used depth of relief to create a sense of depth (closer objects are in higher relief, whereas further items are in shallower relief). Bronze Doors of St. Michael’s Hildesheim, Germany (Ottonian)

Isaac & His Sons • This is one of the panels from Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise. • Instead of the panel serving as an architectural space, Ghiberti depicted architecture in the background. • The elegant architectural elements in the background lend a sense of dignity and importance. • Synoptic narrative – the same characters appear several times within the same frame to depict the story. - Left: Women attend the birth of Esau (EE-saw) and Jacob - Center: Isaac sends Esau and his dogs to hunt game - Right: Isaac blesses the kneeling Jacob as Rebecca looks on • Sense of realistic space enhanced by showing some figures from behind.

Isaac & His Sons Lorenzo Ghiberti East doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy Gilded bronze. 1425.

Dome of the Florence Cathedral

Dome of the Florence Cathedral Filippo Brunelleschi c. 1430. Stone masonry.

• After losing the commission of the bronze doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni to Ghiberti, Filippo Brunelleschi turned his interest towards architecture (although he did continue to do some sculptural works as well). • In 1402, he travelled with his friend, Donatello, to Rome, where he was captivated by its ruins and ancient architecture. • His understanding of architecture helped him develop his system of linear perspective. • Earlier generations of architects made plans to add a dome to the crossing of the Florence Cathedral, but it was Brunelleschi who had the technical skill to make it happen. • The dome has two layers. The outer layer is based on a Gothic pointed arch, using ribs to support the vault. It is supported by an octagonal drum at its base, and topped with an oculus and lantern. • The inner structure is comprised of vertical marble ribs and horizontal sandstone rings, connected with iron rods. The inner and outer shells were connected with a series of arches. • The structure reinforces itself, and requires no external buttressing.

Pazzi Chapel

Pazzi Chapel Brunelleschi Santa Croce, Florence, Italy. Circa 1450.

• Although wealthy families could build their own chapel as a side-arm within their church, the wealthiest families built their family chapel as a complete, stand-alone building next to their church (this is next to Santa Croce). • The families endowed chapels to ensure the wellbeing of the souls of family members. The chapels served as burial sites and as spaces for liturgical celebrations and commemorative services. • The popularity of such chapels increased after the pope recognized the existence of Purgatory in 1215. • The loggia in front was probably added after Brunelleschi’s death to accommodate more Franciscan monks, who used the chapel as their chapter house (meeting hall). An oculus pierces the top of the dome.  What ancient Roman building did Brunelleschi study before designing this building?

Pazzi Chapel What is the overall effect or mood of the architecture?  How does it differ from Gothic architecture?  What does it reflect about Renaissance values? • Contains aspects typical to Brunelleschi, such as modular plan, petra serena & white stucco, and pendentives. • The roundels on the pendentives are glazed terra cotta by Lucca della Robbia (uncle of Andrea), and depict the four evangelists. The tondi on the pilaster-framed wall panels depict the apostles. Although it is designed to feel like a central-plan church, it is slightly longer in one direction than the other.  Brunelleschi aimed to create a harmonious, perfect space using simple geometry and “uncluttered” walls.  Circle = heaven (unending, eternal), rectangle = gravity of world.

Loggia of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents) Brunelleschi. Florence, Italy. Begun 1418.

Ospedale degli Innocenti • Ospedale degli Innocenti means Hospital of the Innocents, and was a hospital for orphans and foundlings (abandoned children). • The Guild of Silk Manufacturers and Goldsmiths commissioned Brunelleschi to design and build the hospital/orphanage. • As was traditional with charitable buildings, a loggia was built out front to provide shelter. • Brunelleschi designed the loggia to be light and airy, with an arcade supported by smooth, Corinthian-capped columns. • Each bay in the arcade was as wide as the 20-foot supporting column was tall, creating a pleasing geometric harmony. • The ceiling of the portico was a series of pendentive domes, which were half as high as the columns. • The bays on each were slightly wider, creating a frame. • The glazed blue terracotta medallions depicting children were added later by Andrea della Robbia. The medallions are a reminder of the human side of humanism – the most powerful and wealthy guild of the city cared for the most helpless members of society. • The hospital/orphanage was located next to the church of the Santissima Annunziata (Holiest Annunciation), which housed a miracle-working painting of the Annunciation.

Santo Spirito

Santo Spirito Brunelleschi. Florence, Italy. Designed 1436. Begun 1446.

• One of two basilican churches designed by Brunelleschi (the other is San Lorenzo). • This cruciform building is designed using modules based on the size of the dome-covered crossing square. The repetition of a standard unit created a sense of rhythm and harmony. • The aisles, subdivided into small squares covered by shallow, saucer-shaped vaults, run all the way around the flat-roofed central space. • The church was not completed until after Brunelleschi’s death, and the subsequent architects made a few changes to Brunelleschi’s original design. - The aisle was originally intended to cross in front of the entrance, but it would have required four doorways, instead of the traditional and symbolic three. - Successor builders also modified the appearance of the exterior walls by filling in the recesses between the projecting semicircular chapels, to make the wall appear flat. • Height of nave = 2x width. Arcade = clerestory in height. • Decorated with Brunelleschi’s trademark use of dark stone (“petra serena”) and white stucco walls. No space left for frescoes to detract from the austere clarity of the design.

San Lorenzo • This is the other basilican church designed by Brunelleschi. • For the Medici family, Brunelleschi worked on their parish church of San Lorenzo, building a sacristy (room for keeping ceremonial attire and vessels) as a burial chapel for Giovanni de Bicci de Medici (now known as the Old Sacristy), and rebuilding the basilican nave. • Like Santo Spirito, Brunelleschi designed this nave on a series of regular modules. • The columns are similar to the Hospital of the Innocents, smooth with a Corinthian style top. Above the capital, Brunelleschi added an impost block before the springing of the archway. • The arcade is also repeated on the arched openings of the side chapels, as well as the lunettes above them. • Again, Brunelleschi decorated the church simply, using the contrasting dark gray stone and white stucco walls.

San Lorenzo Brunelleschi. Florence, Italy. C. 1440.

Or San Michele • The Or San Michele was an early 14th century building that connected the Palazzo della Signoria (seat of the Signoria, Florence’s governing body) and the cathedral. • At various times, Or San Michele housed a church, a granary, and the headquarters of Florence’s guilds. • City officials had assigned niches on the building’s four sides to specific guilds, instructing each guild to place a statue of its patron saint in its niche. • After nearly a century, only five of the fourteen niches were filled, so city officials issued a mandate requiring the guilds to comply. • The niches house sculptures by some of the leading artists of the 1400s, including Ghiberti and Donatello.

Or San Michele Florence, Italy

Four Crowned Saints • Commissioned by the Florentine guild of stone- and wood-cutters. • The sculpture depicted the four patron saints of the guild, who were sculptors that refused to sculpt a Roman god for the Roman emperor Diocletian (ruled 284-305), and were subsequently put to death. • At the time, Florence was under siege by King Ladislaus of Naples. These saints were the perfect role models for 15th century Florentines whom city leaders exhorted to stand fast in the face of Ladislaus’ armies. • The recessed niches of Or San Michele allowed di Banco to face the figures towards each other, making it seem as though they are interacting and sharing the same unified space (as opposed to previous jamb figures, which all faced the same direction). • As the man on the right speaks, the two men on the left listen closely, and the third man looks into space, pondering the meaning of the man on the right’s words, creating a psychological unity. • The emotional intensity of the two inner figures is based on third century Roman emperor portrait busts. • The bearded heads of the outer saints reveal a familiarity with secondcentury imperial portraiture.

Four Crowned Saints Nanni di Banco Or San Michele, Florence, Italy c. 1410

Saint Mark • One such niche sculpture is the depiction of Saint Mark by the sculptor Donatello (full name Donato di Noccolo Bardi) • Commissioned by the guild for linen makers and tailors. • Donatello utilized the classical contrapposto pose • The folds of St. Mark’s robes seem to flow with the movement of his body, giving the sense that the figure is a nude human wearing clothing, not a stone statue with arbitrarily incised drapery. • The robe does not conceal but rather accentuates the movement of the arms, legs, shoulders, and hips. • The focus on the flowing drapery is appropriate given the guild for whom the work was commissioned. • The life-like statue almost seems ready to move out of the niche.

Saint Mark Donatello. Or San Michele, Florence, Italy. c. 1411. Marble, 7’ 9”.

St. George • This statue was commissioned by the guild for armorers and sword-makers. • It originally had a bronze helmet, and held a bronze sword (both fashioned by guild members). • The figure appears tense, ready to defend Florence against invading armies. • Below the statue, Donatello installed a relief depicting St. George fighting a dragon. The background details are lightly incised lines, creating an sense of depth similar to atmospheric perspective.

Saint George Donatello Or San Michele, Florence, Italy c. 1410

Mary Magdalene • Also known as Penitent Mary Magdalene • Depicts an aged and withered Mary Magdalene, clad in nothing but a garment of her own hair. • Was probably originally commissioned by and housed in the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence. • Was remarkable for its physiological realism and heightened emotionalism.

Mary Magdalene Donatello Wood, 6’ 2” c. 1455

David Donatello c. 1440 Bronze 5’ 2”

Donatello’s David • Commissioned by the Medici family for display in their courtyard. • Donatello revived the free-standing nude sculpture, which had been considered indecent and/or idolatrous during the middle ages. • Instead of a Greek god, Donatello depicted David, the young biblical hero who slew the giant Goliath. • In the story, David refuses to wear armor, believing God’s protection to be all he needs. This was a suitable pretext for Donatello to depict David in the classical, heroic nude style. • David was seen as a symbol for Florence, which had survived several sieges by outside forces. • The Medici either identified with Florence, or saw themselves as responsible for its prosperity, and that is why they commissioned a statue of David. • The incorporation of the classical contrapposto pose and proportions would have appealed to the Medici, as humanists.

David Andrea del Verrocchio c. 1465 Bronze 4’ 1”

Verrocchio’s David • Verrocchio was a prominent sculptor as well as painter. • His version of David (also commissioned by the Medici family) is less classically idealized than Donatello’s. • Verrocchio’s David is a sturdy, wiry young apprentice clad in a leather doublet who stands with jaunty pride over the head of Goliath. • The easy balance of the weight and the lithe, still thinly adolescent musculature, with prominent veins, show how closely Verrocchio read the biblical text, and how clearly he knew the psychology of brash young men. • The Medici family later sold Verrocchio’s David to the Florentine government for placement in the Palazzo della Signoria.

Gattamelata Donatello. 12’ 2”. Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy. Bronze. C. 1445.

Gattamelata • The most expensive sculptures of the era were the larger-thanlife equestrian bronze statues. • This statue depicts a recently-deceased Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narni, nicknamed Gattamelata (“honeyed cat”). • The family of Gattamelata commissioned the piece to be made by Donatello. • The Venetian senate formally authorized its placement in the square in front of the church of Sant’Antonio in Padua, Gattamelata’s birthplace. • Donatello likely studied the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, but Donatello did not make the horse disproportionately small. Gattamelata dominates the horse through character and will instead of size. • The sculpture was elevated on a high platform. • This image shows the ideal Renaissance individualist – intelligent, courageous, ambitious, and frequently of humble origin, who could, by his own resourcefulness and on his own merits, rise to a commanding position in the world (represented by the orb below the horse’s foot).

Equestrian Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni Andrea del Verrocchio Campo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Italy. c. 1480. Bronze. 13’ high.

Bartolomeo Colleoni • Another condottiere who fought for the Venetians was Colleoni, who wished to have an equestrian statue of himself to rival the fame of Gattamelata, and left funds in his will to pay for the commission. • The artist Verrocchio presented a different interpretation of a military leader. • Placed on a pedestal even taller than Gattamelata’s. • The horse appears mid-stride, leaning forward with one foot in the air. • Colleoni twists his torso and seems to stand up in the stirrups of the saddle. • Both horse and rider are depicted with an exaggerated tautness – the animal’s bulging muscles and the man’s fiercely rigid body together convey brute strength. • Donatello’s Gattamelata depicted grim wisdom; Verrocchio’s Bartolomeo Colleoni is a portrait of merciless might.

Artist copying a master painting in the Louvre (Paris).

Painter Training • In Renaissance art, certain themes, motifs, and compositions appear with great regularity, fostered by training practices that emphasized the importance of tradition. • Although many artists developed their own individual styles, tradition and convention still dominated. • Aspiring artists began their training by copying master paintings (imitation). They would closely study works by the greatest artists, and repeatedly copy them to learn their style and techniques. • Once an artist developed their technical skills, they stopped copying artworks exactly, and began making their own compositions. However, they would still incorporate stylistic elements and techniques learned from the great artists (emulation). • Although imitation still provided the foundation for the practice of emulation, an artist used features of another’s art only as a springboard for improvements or innovations. • Thus, developing artists went beyond previous artists and attempted to prove their own competence and skill by improving on established masters (in effect “competing” with the masters). • Eventually, artists would develop their own distinct style.

Tribute Money • The young artist Masaccio (who unfortunately died at age 27) painted a series of frescoes for the Brancacci family’s chapel. • In Tribute Money, Masaccio used synoptic narrative to show the story of a Roman tax collector asking for tribute money (center), Jesus instructing Peter to check inside the mouth of a fish, where he finds a coin (left), and then pays the tax collector (right). • Although similar to Giotto’s style, Masaccio improves upon Giotto by lighting the entire scene with a consistent light source. The light is to the right, and hits the figures at an angle, creating a strong sense of three-dimensional form. • Instead of having the figures all lined up in the same plane, the figures circle around Jesus, and Peter with the fish appears further back into space. • The landscape itself is spacious in its depth (use of atmospheric perspective). • Masaccio used linear perspective in the building on the right, and located Jesus’ head on the vanishing point. • The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden is another fresco from the Brancacci family chapel.

Tribute Money, Masaccio. Brancacci chapel Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, c. 1425. 8’ 4” x 19’ 7”.

Frescoes • Artists in the late medieval period typically favored buon fresco over fresco secco. • There are several steps to preparing a wall for a buon fresco. The artist only preps the amount of wall he believes he will be able to paint in a single day. As such, each section of a buon fresco is called a “giornata” meaning “a day’s work.” • To prep the wall for a buon fresco, an artist followed these steps: -First the wall was prepared with a rough, thick undercoat of plaster known as the arriccio. -When the arriccio was dry, assistants copied the master painter’s composition onto it with reddish-brown pigment or charcoal. These underdrawings are called sinopia. -The giornate were irregularly shaped, conforming to the contours of major figures and objects, not a grid. Their size varied depending upon their complexity/difficulty. -An assistant would coat that day’s section with a thin coat of very fine plaster, the intonaco. -When the intonaco was set but not dry, the artist began painting with pigments mixed only with water, working from the top down so that any drips would fall upon unfinished portions.

This chapel contains 852 giornate.

Holy Trinity • Vanishing point is at Christ’s feet, about 5 feet off the ground and at eye level to the viewer. • God the Father presents Jesus to the viewer, with the dove of the Holy Spirit in between, and the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist on either side. • The two outer figures are the donors who funded the painting (Lorenzo Lenzi & his wife). • The scene takes place under an illusionary triumphal arch • Below is painted a tomb with a skeleton and the inscription, “I was once what you are, and what I am you will become.” • By placing the vanishing point at the viewer’s eye level, the illusion is more convincing. The tomb seems to jut out towards the viewer, and the barrel vault seems to recede into space. • The ascending pyramid of figures leads viewers from the despair of death to the hope of resurrection and eternal life through Christ’s crucifixion. Holy Trinity Masaccio. 1425. Santa Maria Novella, Florence. 21’ 10’ x 10’ 5”

Annunciation. Fra Angelico. San Marco, Florence, Italy, c. 1440. Fresco, 7’1 x 10’ 6”.

Annunciation altarpiece Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi Siena Cathedral, c. 1333. Tempera and gold leaf on wood.

Annunciation • This fresco was painted with a simple clarity by the monk Fra Angelico (“fra” = brother). • This was painted in the Dominican monastery of San Marco in Florence. It was located at the top of the stairs leading up to the monks’ cells. • Dominican monks devoted their lives to prayer and work, and their abbey was mostly spare and austere to encourage the monks to immerse themselves in their devotional work. • This painting is appropriately simple in nature, and includes the admonition, “As you venerate, while passing before it, this figure of the intact Virgin, beware lest you omit to say a Hail Mary,” to remind the monks not to be distracted. • The two figures appear on a plain loggia (an architectural feature that refers to a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall), resembling the portico of the abbey’s cloister.

Madonna & Child with Angels • Also painted by a monk, Fra Filippo Lippi. Patron unknown. • Fra Filippo Lippi was an orphan, raised in the monastery adjacent to the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, where he was exposed to Masaccio’s frescoes. • He was unsuited for monastic life, and indulged in misdemeanors ranging from forgery and embezzlement to the abduction of a petty nun, Lucretia, who became his mistress and the mother of his son. Only the intervention of the Medici family on his behalf saved him from severe punishment. • Compare this image of the Madonna with previous ones. • He became known for his linear style, which emphasized the contours of his subjects. • This later work of his depicts Mary as a beautiful young mother, seated in prayer in an elegant Florentine home. • The realistic landscape includes recognizable features of the Arno valley. • The figures all reflect a level of personality that indicates they were likely based on live models. Madonna and Child with Angels Fra Filippo Lippi c. 1460. Tempera on wood 2’ 11” x 2’ 1”

Birth of the Virgin • Domenico Ghirlandaio was renowned for his opulent depictions of wealthy Florentine life. • This fresco was one of a cycle of frescoes depicting scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist for the choir of Santa Maria Novella. • In this fresco, St. Anne reclines in an ornately decorated palace, while ladies in waiting wash the newly born Mary. • To the left, a somber procession of women approaches, lead by a female member of the powerful Tornabuoni family (probably Ludovica, the daughter of the work’s patron, Giovanni Tornabuoni). • As with the Northern Renaissance, it was common for patrons to be depicted in artworks, along with important religious figures. • However, unlike the humble depictions of Northern patrons, Italian patrons were often depicted in the center of the artwork, stealing the show from the saints. • Each fresco in the cycle contains a prominently placed female member of the Tornabuoni family, representing their important role in society.

Birth of the Virgin Domenico Ghirlandaio. Capella Maggiore, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy. c. 1490. Fresco.

Giovanna Tornabuoni • This image probably depicts Giovanna Tornabuoni, wife of Lorenzo Tornabuoni. • It was painted after her death (she died during childbirth in 1488), indicated by the epitaph in the background which quotes the ancient Roman poet Martial. • The depiction shows a proud but sensitive and beautiful young woman, dressed in elegant fabrics. • This portrait tells viewers much about the advanced state of culture in Florence, including the breeding of courtly manners, the value of beauty, and the importance of classical literature. • The quote behind her reads: “If art could depict character and soul, no painting on earth would be more beautiful.” Giovanna Tornabuoni (?) Domenico Ghirlandaio. Oil & tempera on wood. 1488. 2’ 6” x 1’ 8”.

Battle of San Romano Paolo Uccello c. 1455. Tempera on wood. 6’ x 10’ 5”.

Battle of San Romano • This painting was one of three acquired by Lorenzo de Medici for his bedroom chamber. Documents have suggested that only one of the paintings was commissioned by Lorenzo, and the other two were bought already painted. As such, the exact date of this painting is unclear. • The painting depicts the 1432 Battle of San Romano, during which the Florentines were victorious over the Sienese. • The man on the white horse is Niccolo da Tolentino, a friend and supporter of Cosimo de Medici. • The fruit in the upper left are “mela medica” (medicinal apples), which represent the Medici family (as “Medici” means “doctors” in Italian). • Uccello was trained in the International Style, which is evident in the processional style of this work. • However, he was also interested in the new development of perspective, and used linear perspective to create a sense of depth (observe the fallen soldier and spears that follow the orthogonal lines to the vanishing point). • In the distance, rolling hills rise up to reach the top of the picture frame.

Birth of Venus

Birth of Venus Sandro Botticelli c. 1485. Tempera on canvas. 5’ 9” x 9’ 2”.

• Botticelli was a student of Fra Filippo Lippi, and his style reflects the elegant, curvilinear style of Lippis. • Commissioned by the Medici family. Based on a poem by Angelo Poliziano, a leading humanist of the day. • Zephyrus (the west wind), carrying Flora (goddess of springtime and flowers), blows Venus, born of the seafoam, to the shore of her sacred island, Cyprus, where the nymph Pomona runs to meet her with a brocaded (decoratively woven) mantle. • The movement of the wind is felt in the lightly flowing fabrics and hair, rippling water, and falling flowers.  What patterns do you see in the painting?  Although background shows deep space, figures are all pushed forward to the front.

Birth of Venus • A depiction of a nude female Greek goddess would have been unacceptable during the medieval era, but in the humanist Renaissance, under protection of the Medici family, it was not. • Neo-Platonists believed that those who embraced the contemplative life of reason would immediately contemplate spiritual and divine beauty whenever they beheld physical beauty, thus making the subject matter acceptable. • How is this influenced in different ways by medieval and classical stylistic conventions?

Birth of Venus Sandro Botticelli c. 1485. Tempera on canvas. 5’ 9” x 9’ 2”.

Primavera Sandro Botticelli c. 1482. Tempera on wood. 6’ 8” x 10’ 4”.

Primavera • Commissioned by the Medici family (represented again by the apples). Primavera is Italian for Spring. • Venus stands at center, encircled by a halo-like opening in the trees behind her. • To the left are the dancing Three Graces, part of Venus’ entourage, clad in thin garments. They were minor goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, creativity, and fertility. Popular amongst Ren. artists because they allowed the artist to depict the human form from 3 angles. • To the far left is Mercury, who turns away from the others to point upwards with his staff, the caduceus. Above him are clouds, which he may be pointing to or pushing away. • To the far right is Zephyrus, in ice-cold blue, abducting the nymph Chloris (flowers spilling from her mouth), whom he transforms into Flora, the goddess of springtime (wearing a floral gown).  Cupid is blindfolded above.

Primavera Sandro Botticelli c. 1482. Tempera on wood. 6’ 8” x 10’ 4”.

Primavera • The following all suggest the occasion for the painting was the wedding of Lorenzo de Medici’s cousin in May 1482: -The sensuality of the representation, and use of gauzy, see-through drapery - The appearance of Venus in springtime - The metaphor of fertility of nature - The abduction and marriage of Chloris • The painting also shows the Neo-Platonists’ view that earthly love is compatible with Christian theology: Venus as the source of love provokes desire through Cupid. Desire can lead either to lust and violence (Zephyrus) or, through reason and faith (Mercury), to the love of God. • This painting reminds the newlyweds to seek God through love.

Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter Perugino. Located on the north wall of Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, Italy. 1483. Fresco. 11’ 5” x 18’ 8”.

Christ Delivering the Keys… • The remaining paintings in this slideshow are NON-Florentine Italian Renaissance of the 1400s. • This was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV of Pietro Vannucci, who was known as Perugino after his birth city of Perugia. • This event was the basis for the papacy’s claim to infallible control over the Catholic church. • In the background is a central plan temple in the middle, and triumphal arches on either side. The arches are based off the Arch of Constantine. • Although anachronistic, the arches serve to connect St. Peter to Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, and builder of the great basilica over St. Peter’s tomb. • The figures in the foreground are an imaginary mix of apostles and Renaissance contemporaries. • Perugino used linear perspective to create a sense of depth (vanishing point is in the doorway of the central plan temple).

Damned Cast Into Hell • Commissioned by Pope Alexander VI • Saint Michael and the hosts of Heaven hurl the damned into Hell, where, in a dense, writhing mass, they are vigorously tortured by demons. • Signorelli was a master of foreshortening the human figure and depicting bodies in violent movement. • Each individual figure was based on a study of a model, but Signorelli was able to incorporate all of them together in a convincing group. • The skin of the demons is painted in greens and blues, signaling the putrification of flesh.

The Damned Cast Into Hell Luca Signorelli. C. 1500. San Brizio chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy. Fresco. 23’ wide.

Camera Picta • The Camera Picta (meaning “painted chamber”) is a room in the ducal palace of Mantua. • Like other “princes” of princely courts, the duke of Mantua (Ludovico Gonzaga) believed an impressive palace was an important expression of his authority. • In the Camera Picta, Mantegna created the first completely consistent illusionistic decoration of an entire room. • Trompe l’oeil – (pronounced “tromp loyee”) French for “deceives the eye”. A painting intended to create the optical illusion of threedimensionality or space. • Similar to the Second Style of ancient Roman wall painting (as in Pompeii). • Even the ceiling has a tromp l’oeil oculus, which includes putti and a peacock looking down upon the people in the room. • The peacock was a symbol of Juno (Hera), and oversaw all legal marriages (the room was also known as the Room of the Newlyweds).

Camera Picta Andrea Mantegna Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy. c. 1470. Fresco.

Dead Christ • Like the Camera Picta, this painting shows off the artist’s mastery of perspective, and his enjoyment of challenging himself with difficult perspective problems. • Although the painting seems to be a strikingly realistic study in foreshortening, in actuality the feet have been reduced in size, so as not to block the view of the rest of the body, and the head has been enlarged. • Tempering naturalism with artistic license, Mantegna presented both a harrowing study of a strongly foreshortened cadaver and an intensely poignant depiction of a biblical tragedy.

Dead Christ or Foreshortened Christ Andrea Mantegna. C. 1500. Tempera on canvas. 2’ 2” x 2’ 7”.

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi • Palazzo = palace • The commission for the Medici palace was awarded to Michelozzo di Bartolommeo instead of Brunelleschi, as Brunelleschi’s proposal was deemed too ostentatious by Cosimo, who preferred to rule from “behind the scenes.” However, Brunelleschi’s stylistic influence on Bartolommeo is evident. • The palace was later bought by the Riccardi family in the 1700s, hence the hyphenated name. • The outer wall features rusticated masonry on the ground floor, to emphasize its strength and associate it visually with the Palazzo Vecchio, the main governmental building (also has the same windows). • Each story decreases in size and roughness, making it seem lighter as it goes up. • The building is capped with a large, heavy cornice. • Although his design incorporates ancient Roman elements, it combines them in a way that is innovative and new. • How does the interior court show Brunelleschi’s influence? • How is this building different from Gothic architecture?

Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi Bartolommeo Florence, Italy Begun 1445.

Palazzo Rucellai Palazzo Rucellai. Florence, Italy. C. 1470. Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino.

• Alberti was the first Renaissance architect to study Vitruvius, an ancient Roman writer who wrote a major and influential treatise on architecture. • Alberti wrote his own treatise called On the Art of Building. • He disliked the combination of the column and the arch. He believed an arch was a wall opening, which should be supported by a section of wall (pier), not a separate sculptural element. • Alberti designed the Palazzo Rucellai for the wealthy merchant Rucellai family, and his pupil Bernardo Rossellino constructed it from his sketches. • Crowned by a classical cornice, each story is defined by pilasters with a different order of capital.  Height of each tier (& its blocks) decreases from bottom to top. • The flat, low profile pilasters emphasize the flatness of the building (as opposed to the deep roundness of the famous building off which this building is based).  Benches at the bottom provide a place for the public to rest.  Consider how it is different from Gothic architecture. What message does the design of this building send to onlookers?

Palazzo Rucellai Palazzo Rucellai. Florence, Italy. C. 1470. Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino.

There are actually FOUR floors: - the first was where the family conducted their business - the second floor was they received guests - the third floor contained the family’s private apartments - a hidden fourth floor, which had few windows and is invisible from the street, was where the servants lived. In addition to the façade, Alberti may have also designed an adjacent loggia (a covered colonnaded space) where festivities were held. The loggia may have been specifically built for an extravagent 1461 wedding that joined the Rucellai and Medici families.  The loggia was probably influenced by Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti.  Because Bartolommeo used the medieval Palazzo Vecchio as a model, whereas Alberti looked to ancient Rome, the Palazzo Medici is not truly Humanist in its conception and lacks the geometric proportion, grace, and order of the Palazzo Rucellai.  The Roman basis of design may also symbolize Giovanni Rucellai’s claim to be descended from a Templar (prestigious order of medieval knights), as Rome was the seat of the papacy.

Santa Maria Novella • The Rucellai family also commissioned Alberti to design the façade of the 13th century Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. • Alberti styled the building after an Italian Romanesque church, with a small, pediment capped temple front supported by a pilaster framed arcade. • However, he also strongly believed that harmonic numerical ratios were the source of beauty, a more Renaissance notion (which he shared with Brunelleschi). • The building is the same height as it is wide. The cornice across the middle divides the building perfectly in half, making the bottom half twice as wide as it is tall. The upper structure is ¼ the size of the total façade, and the entire façade could be fit perfectly into a square. • This façade is the first instance of the use of the scrolls that simultaneously unite the broad lower and narrow upper levels and screen the sloping roofs over the aisles.

Santa Maria Novella Leon Battista Alberti. Florence, Italy, 1470.

Sant’Andrea Alberti. Mantua, Italy c. 1470.

Sant’Andrea in Mantua • The Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga (a famed condotierre, who ruled Mantua, a “princely court”) heard of Alberti’s work in Florence, and commissioned him to redesign and replace the 11th century church of Sant’Andrea. • The façade Alberti designed combined two major ancient Roman architectural motifs: the triumphal arch, and the temple front. • Alberti’s concern for proportion led him to equalize the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the façade, leaving it considerably shorter than the church behind it. • Even so, the façade does match the architecture behind it in some ways: the pilasters are the same height as those on the nave’s interior walls, and the large barrel vault over the central portal, with smaller barrel vaults branching off at right angles, introduces on a smaller scale the arrangement of the church’s nave and chapels. • The pilasters on the façade run uninterrupted through the levels. • Alberti criticized the use of colonnades to mark off the side aisles of churches, as the colonnades blocked the view of the ceremonies for worshippers in the side aisles. He instead made one large open nave, with private side chapels branching off at right angles.

Cinquecento Italy • Although other city-states remained outside of the control of the Pope, in the Papal States (incl. Rome), the Pope increased in power. • The brief period at the beginning of the century, between approximately 1495 and 1527, is known as the High Renaissance. • The end of the High Renaissance is brought about by two factors: -The deaths of Leonardo (1519) and Raphael (1520) - The invasion of Rome in 1527 by troops made up of an alliance between France, Florence, Milan, and Venice. • Beginning of the notion of the “artist-genius” who was divinely inspired (an idea originating with Plato). • Interest in classical culture, perspective, proportion, and human anatomy. • Although these interests continued through the rest of the century, the High Renaissance style was replaced by Mannerism around 1530.

Renaissance Era Rome

Materials • With the invention and proliferation of the printing press in the 1500s, bookmakers began to develop paper made from wood pulp. • Before the invention of paper, drawings were done on parchment or vellum, coated in a white ground (such as gesso). This was expensive, so artists’ drawings were very carefully rendered. • The artist used a technique called metalpoint, in which a small piece of soft metal (most often silver, referred to as silverpoint) was attached to a wooden handle, making a stylus that was the earliest precursor to the modern pencil. • As the artist drew, the metal would rub off, making a line. • Silverpoint drawings are not erasable. They begin greyish in color, but oxidize over the course of 6-12 months to brown. • Paper was a much cheaper material to draw on, freeing artists to sketch more loosely and prolifically, using materials such as metalpoint, chalk, charcoal, ink, brush, and pen. • Disegno – the Italian word for drawing, which also became the basis for the modern word design. During the Renaissance, a new level of importance was placed on drawing and design – it was believed that drawings were external manifestations of internal ideas.

Metalpoint Styluses

Leonardo da Vinci • Born in Vinci, a small town near Florence, Italy (1452-1519). • Trained by the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. • “Renaissance man” who was an artist and scientist • Kept a detailed journal of sketches, including studies of botany, geology, geography, cartography, zoology, military engineering, animal lore, anatomy, hydraulics, and mechanics. • Believed in close scientific observation, stating that his scientific investigations made him a better painter. • Believed that reality in an absolute sense is inaccessible and humans can know it only through its changing images. • Believed the eyes were the most vital organs and sight the most essential function.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Sketches c. 1510

Leonardo in Milan • In 1481, Leonardo chose to leave Florence, possibly due to political instability in Florence at the time. • He wrote a letter to Ludovico Sforza, the son of the Duke of Milan, offering his services. • In his letter, Leonardo emphasized his skill and experience as a military engineer, as illustrated in the picture on the right. He only briefly mentioned his abilities as a sculptor and painter. • This emphasis of his military engineering skills underscores the importance of defense in the politically unstable climate of the time. • Sforza accepted Leonardo’s help, and Leonardo moved to Milan for the next 20 years. Eventually, he moved back to Florence, then spent his final years in France, painting for the French king Francis I.

Scythed Chariot Leonardo da Vinci

Madonna of the Rocks • Leonardo believed that there were two objectives to painting: to depict man and the intention of his soul. He believed the subjects “soul” could be depicted through their gestures and movement. • In this way, he finally united the intense spirituality of the Medieval era with the realism of the Early Renaissance.  This is obvious in the painting he did with his teacher, Verrocchio. Verrocchio asked him to add one of the angels to a painting of Jesus’ baptism. One angel looks like an ordinary child (Verrocchio’s Early Ren style), and one looks like a divine being. Which is which?  Leonardo's angel is ideally beautiful and moves in a graceful and complex way, twisting her upper body to the left but raising her head up and to the right. Figures that move elegantly and that are ideally beautiful are typical of the High Renaissance.

Baptism of Christ (detail) Andrea del Verrocchio (with Leonardo), 1470-75, oil and tempera on panel, 70” x 60”.

Madonna of the Rocks • Madonna of the Rocks is the central panel of an altarpiece that Leonardo made for the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in San Francesco Grande shortly after he moved to Milan. • Leonardo also used chiaroscuro (the play of light and dark to create form) to model the figures and create mood/emotion. • Leonardo’s interest in atmosphere is evident in the gentle, dim light that envelopes his figures, revealing and obscuring them at the same time, and creating a sense of unity. • Figures are arranged in a pyramidal grouping • Figures are connected through a series of gestures and glances Why is Mary depicted seated on the ground, instead of on a throne?  What other traditional element is missing from this image of divine persons? How does Leonardo get away with that?

Madonna of the Rocks Leonardo da Vinci. Began in 1483. San Francesco Grande, Milan. Oil on wood.

Madonna and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John • This is an example of a cartoon, or a preliminary drawing done to prepare for a painting. • The robust figures resemble Greek statues, such as on the Parthenon (although he never visited Greece, he had probably seen Roman copies of Classical Greek statues). • Figures are organized with an intellectual pictorial logic, and lit with a gentle light to create a sense of form. • Some areas are left incomplete.

Madonna and Child with St. Anne & Infant St. John Leonardo da Vinci. C. 1505. Black & white charcoal on brown paper. 4’ 6” x 3’ 3”.

Last Supper • Commissioned by the church of Santa Maria delle Grazzie in Milan (for the refectory). • Portrays the moment at the Last Supper when Jesus reveals to the 12 disciples that he knows one of them will betray him, and the disciples react in shock, asking, “is it I?” • Jesus appears calm and isolated from the turmoil around him. • Jesus’ head is the vanishing point of the 1 pt perspective.

The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci. C. 1495. Oil and tempera on plaster. 13’ 9” x 29’ 10”.

• The window behind Jesus, with its arched pediment and diffused light, acts as a halo. • Disciples are arranged in four groups of three. Outermost disciples are calmest, to create a sense of framing. • Judas’ face is in shadow, his right hand clutches his money purse, his left reaches out on the table. • Leonardo attempted to make this fresco more like an oil painting by mixing oil and tempera, and painting on top of dried plaster, hence the deterioration.

Mona Lisa • The identity of the woman is not known for sure, but Leonardo’s biographer asserted she was Lisa di Antonio Maria Gherardini, hence Mona (a contraction of ma donna “our lady”) Lisa. • This is a portrait of an individual, not an idealization. • She wears no jewelry or symbol of wealth. • However, she does gaze out toward the viewer, a sign of self-assuredness in a time when etiquette dictated that a woman should not look directly into a man’s eyes. • The combination of a self-assured young woman without the trappings of power but engaging the audience psychologically is thus remarkable. • Example of Leonardo’s sfumato (“smoky”) technique, in which he gently blurred the edges to create a sense of atmosphere. • Seated in front of a mysterious landscape background (originally was seated in a loggia, but a later owner had the painting trimmed, so that only the bottoms of the columns are still visible).

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. C. 1505. Oil on wood. 2’ 6” x 1’ 9”.

Michelangelo • Michelangelo Buonarroti was an architect, poet, engineer, and painter, but he considered himself first and foremost a sculptor. • He believed that sculpture was better than painting because the sculptor shares in the divine power to “make man.” • He believed that the sculptor needed to find the image trapped in the stone, then remove the excess stone to reveal the form within. • Michelangelo did not believe in using mathematical formulas to achieve the “perfect form.” Instead he believed the artist’s own eye was the best judge of proportion and beauty. • Michelangelo felt that the artist must not be bound by traditional rules, but should have freedom of self-expression. • Michelangelo’s earlier years were spent in Florence, training and making artworks for the Medici family. He later went to Rome, where he completed projects for the papacy.

Pietá Michelangelo. C. 1500. Marble, 5’ 8” high. St. Peter’s, Vatican

Pietá • Commissioned in Rome by the French cardinal Jean de Bilheres Lagrualas for the rotunda attached to the south transept of Old Saint Peter’s, in which he was to be buried. • Pietá images were popular in France and Germany, and the cardinal probably chose the subject. • Upon the unveiling of the sculpture, the youthfulness and beauty of Mary was controversial. Michelangelo explained that her ageless beauty was integral to her purity and virginity. • Christ also seems youthful and beautiful. Michelangelo minimized the appearance of his wounds. He seems almost to have drifted to sleep. • The textures of skin, hair, and fabric are part of what made this statue so famous. The glossy polish on the skin makes the figures seem almost radiant.

David Michelangelo c. 1504. Marble. 17’ high Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

David • After finishing the Pieta, Michelangelo returned to Florence, where the Florence Cathedral building committee invited him to create a statue of David for the front of the Palazzo della Signoria (city hall), to accompany those of Donatello and Verrocchio. • Michelangelo’s David stands 17’ tall, and was referred to as the Giant by Florentines. • Instead of showing the moment of David’s victory, Michelangelo shows him just before the fight, sternly watching his enemy approach, his muscles tense in anticipation. • Although this statue recalls the proportions and contrapposto of Classical Greece, the psychological intensity and attention to an outside presence are more Hellenistic. • David’s rugged torso, sturdy limbs, and large hands and feet alert viewers to the triumph to come. • In this statue, Michelangelo presented towering, pent-up emotion, rather than calm, ideal beauty.

Moses Michelangelo c. 1515. Marble. 7’ 8” high Tomb of Pope Julius II, Rome, Italy

Moses • Pope Julius II associated himself with the humanists and with Roman emperors. As such, when he saw Michelangelo’s David, he decided to commission him for many projects. • His first commission was for his own tomb, which was to be placed in St. Peter’s. The original plan was a huge monument, which included 28 statues. • Unfortunately, the project was halted (to divert funds to the rebuilding of St. Peter’s), and gradually diminished in size, until it had only 1/3 of the original number of statues. It was ultimately placed, not in St. Peter’s, but San Pietro in Vincoli, where Julius II had served as cardinal. • This statue of Moses was originally planned to be a part of a larger cluster of statues, and seen from below. • He is depicted with horns (a misinterpretation of “rays”), the stone tablets under one arm, and his hands gathering up his long beard. • As with David, he appears to suddenly turn his head to look at something, his tense expression and taut muscles expressing a swelling anger. His legs appear to move, as if he is about to rise. • Not since Hellenistic Greece was so much energy and emotion shown in a seated statue.

Bound Slave • The original design for the tomb included over 20 slaves or captives, in various stages of revolt and exhaustion. • Although traditionally, historians have believed this statue to have been one of the slave statues intended for the tomb, the truth is unclear. • Regardless, the statue is an example of Michelangelo’s ability to create figures that embody powerful emotional states. • This figure’s violent contrapposto is the image of frantic but impotent struggle.

Bound Slave (Rebellious Captive) Michelangelo c. 1515 Marble, 7’ high From the tomb of Pope Julius II, Rome, Italy

Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici • After Pope Julius II died, his successor Leo X decided to not let Michelangelo Michelangelo finish Julius’ previously planned tomb. Instead, Leo c. 1525 commissioned Michelangelo to build for him a tomb in the New Marble. Central figure is Sacristy of San Lorenzo. 5’ 11” high • Unfortunately, Michelangelo also did not finish this tomb, and his New Sacristy original plans for the tomb are the subject of debate. (Medici Chapel), • Some scholars believe he intended to place a pair of recumbent San Lorenzo, river gods at the bottom of the sarcophagus, balancing the pair Florence, Italy

Medici Tomb in New Sacristy

above. • Each level of figures would have represented the soul’s ascent through the Neo-Platonic universe: - River gods (not completed) = underworld of brute matter, evil - 2nd level = human world of time. Left figure = night, right figure = day. Depicted chained into never relaxing tensions. Night represents sleep, but seems troubled. She is surrounded with an owl, poppies, and an ugly mask representing nightmares. The figures allude to the life cycle and the passage of time leading to death. - Upper figure is Giuliano de’ Medici, seated above worldly matters. Clad in Roman emperor armor and holding a commander’s baton. He is not a true likeness, but an idealized figure representative of an active life.

Plans for St. Peter’s • In 1506, Pope Julius II decided to demolish Old St. Peter’s, which had been built by Constantine in the fourth century, and had been the most important sacred site in Europe. • Julius commissioned Bramante to design the new church. • Bramante’s design was a central plan Greek cross, with four equal length arms crowned with one large dome, which symbolized the perfection of God. • In 1513 and 1514, Julius and Bramante died (respectively).

• Successive plans by Raphael and Antonio da Sangallo changed it to a Latin cross (one arm longer than other 3 to make a nave). • Michelangelo returned the plan to a Greek cross in 1546. • In the early 1600s, the Counter Reformation emphasized communal worship, and so they needed more space for people. • Pope Paul V in 1606 commissioned architect Carlo Maderno to extend one side, creating a Latin cross shape with a nave and a new façade.

Dome of St. Peter’s Michelangelo & Giacomo della Porta Vatican City, Rome, Italy, c. 1546-1590.

Dome of St. Peter’s • In 1546, Michelangelo became in charge of the building of St. Peter’s. He shared Bramante’s belief that a central plan church was ideal. • As a sculptor, he believed that architecture should follow the form of the human body, with units symmetrically arranged around a central axis, as the arms relate to the body. • Michelangelo’s design was a Greek cross inscribed in a square, with a double-colonnaded portico in the front. • Used the “colossal order” of pilasters in which the pilasters stretched over several stories (similar to Alberti’s Sant’Andrea) to create a sense of cohesion. • Michelangelo’s initial design for the dome was for it to be based on an ogival arch (pointed arch). However, he later chose to use a hemispherical dome instead, to create a greater sense of balance between the lower and upper portions of the building. • After Michelangelo’s death, Giacomo della Porta took over the project, and chose to instead use Michelangelo’s earlier ogival dome, creating the sense that the dome seems to rise from its base, rather than rest firmly on it.

Sistine Chapel • After Julius II stopped production on his tomb, he offered the bitterly disappointed Michelangelo the job of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo accepted in the hopes that work on the tomb would eventually begin again. • The project was challenging for several reasons: - Large size (total size of the ceiling is 128’ x 45’) - Height (ceiling is 70’ off the floor) - Challenging foreshortening problem caused by the curvature and pendentives of the ceiling - Michelangelo was inexperienced at frescoes • The central panels are broken into three sets of three scenes to tell the story of the creation of humankind (story of Noah & the flood, Story of Adam/Eve/Eden, and story of God’s creation of the world) • The most famous panel is Creation of Adam, in which Adam, who, unanimated, is still part of the earth, receives the spark of life from God, who rises above the earth. • Woman under God’s left arm is either Eve or Mary (with Jesus) • Exemplary of Michelangelo’s style: 1. large, muscular bodies and 2. diagonal, twisted poses. The eye follows the implied line across the arms of Adam and God to off-center focal points.

Creation of Adam, detail from the Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo Vatican City, Rome. 1508-12. Fresco. 9’2” x 18’ 8”.

Last Judgment • Pope Leo X was succeeded by Pope Clement VII, who was succeeded by Pope Paul III in 1534. • By this time, the Reformation that started in the North had become widespread, and the Catholic Church began taking measures to counteract it, known as the Counter-Reformation. • During the Counter-Reformation, popes such as Paul III commissioned artwork as propaganda for the Church. • One such artwork is Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, which Pope Paul III commissioned for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. • In the center, Christ judges humankind, raising his hand in a gesture of damnation. • Although a few righteous people ascend to Heaven, most tumble towards Hell, where grotesque demons attack them. • In the bottom left, the dead come to life. • The figure to the bottom right of Jesus is St. Bartholomew, who was martyred by being skinned alive. He holds the skin (which is also a contorted self-portrait of the artist), as well as the flaying knife.  Originally intended only to be viewed by elite clergy (popes, cardinals, bishops).

Last Judgment by Michelangelo Altar wall of Sistine Chapel, 1526-1541. Fresco, 48’ x 44’.

Last Judgment Criticism  Many were scandalized by the nudity, despite its accuracy, for the resurrected would enter heaven nude, as created.  Critics also objected to the contorted poses (some resulting in the indecorous presentation of buttocks), the breaks with pictorial tradition (the beardless Christ, the wingless angels), and the appearance of Greek mythology (the figures of Charon and Minos) in a scene portraying sacred history.  Critics saw these embellishments as distractions from the fresco’s spiritual message. They accused Michelangelo of caring more about showing off his creative abilities than portraying sacred truth with clarity and decorum.  However, it was designed for an elite audience of cardinals. This audience would understand and appreciate his figural style and iconographic innovations.  The educated would recognize the mythological figures from Dante, and the beardless Christ as the Apollo Belvedere, a famous classical statue of Apollo.  The sheer physicality of these muscular nudes affirmed the Catholic doctrine of bodily resurrection (that on the day of judgment, the dead would rise in their bodies, not as incorporeal souls).

Unfinished Pietá • In his seventies, Michelangelo set a new challenge for himself: to surpass the sculptors of Laocoön by carving four figures out of a single block of marble. He intended the statue for his own future tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore. • Unfortunately, Christ’s now missing left leg broke off due to a flaw in the marble. Enraged, Michelangelo gave up on the project, and began to smash the marble. • His assistants intervened, and eventually began to repair and finish the statue in part. • This grouping is technically a deposition group, as it also includes Mary Magdalene (left) and Nicodemus (top). • Mary Magdalene does not directly make contact with Christ’s flesh, underscoring the sacredness of his body. Nicodemus, however, does. Since Nicodemus is also a self-portrait of the artist, this direct concept would have been heretical in CounterReformation Italy (another possible reason the statue was not completed). • A more vertical composition than most Michelangelo artworks.

Unfinished Pietá Michelangelo c. 1550 Marble 7’ 8” high

Tempietto Bramante San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, Italy

Tempietto • Tempietto means “Little Temple” as it is designed after ancient Roman temples by Donato d’Angelo Bramante, who was originally trained as a painter before becoming an architect. • King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain commissioned the temple on the Janiculum hill overlooking the Vatican, which was the presumed location of St. Peter’s crucifixion. • Although the Tempietto is now located in the rectangular cloister of the church of San Pietro in Montorio, Bramante’s original design was for it to be surrounded by a circular colonnaded courtyard, with columns aligned to the columns on the Tempietto. • One of the main differences between the Early and High Renaissance styles of architecture is the former’s emphasis on detailing flat wall surfaces versus the latter’s sculptural handling of architectural masses. • Tuscan order columns • Decorative niches in upper drum create a visually interesting interplay of light and shadow. • This building ushered in the High Renaissance style, which was more similar to classical Greece/Rome.

Campidoglio • In 1537, Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to redesign the Capitoline Hill, or Campidoglio. • In ancient times, the Capitoline Hill housed the greatest temple to Jupiter in the Roman Empire. • The challenge was that he had to work around two existing buildings: the Palace of the Conservators (south) and the Palace of the Senators (east), which opposed each other at an awkward 80 degree angle. • Using his belief that architecture should be symmetrical like the human form, Michelangelo chose to build a third building, on the north side of the square, which would mirror the Palace of the Conservators, thus creating a symmetrical group. • In the center, Paul III placed the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was by then correctly identified as Marcus Aurelius, but still carried an association with Constantine. • Façades feature the giant/colossal order pilasters, which serve as sturdy structural support for the buildings. • The fourth side of the square was left open, leaving a view across the roofs of the city to the Vatican.

Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio) Michelangelo Designed c. 1537. Rome, Italy.

Marriage of the Virgin • Raphaello Santi, or Raphael as he is now known, was from a small town near Umbria, and was taught the basics of painting by his father, and later joined the studio of Perugino in Florence. • This early painting was done for the chapel of St. Joseph in the church of San Francesco in Citta di Castello, SE of Florence. • According to the Golden Legend, a 13th century collection of stories about the lives of the saints), Joseph competed with other suitors for Mary’s hand. The high priest was to give the Virgin to whichever suitor presented to him a wooden rod that had miraculously bloomed. • Joseph holds his blooming rod in his left hand, and a wedding ring in his right, which he places on Mary’s finger. • Other virgins are on the left, and other suitors are on the right. • Space is idealized, harmonious, balanced

ABOVE: Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter, Perugino

Marriage of the Virgin Raphael. Chapel of St. Joseph, San Francesco, Citta di Castello, Italy, 1504. Oil on wood. 5’ 7” x 3’ 10”.

Madonna of the Goldfinch 1506. Oil on wood. 4’ 6” x 2’ 5”.

Madonna of the Goldfinch

The Small Cowper Madonna

Madonna in the Meadow

• Raphael lived in Florence between 1504 and 1508, where he was introduced to the work of Leonardo. • During this period, Raphael made a series of Madonna paintings, where he blended the styles of Leonardo and Perugino. - Leonardo: draperies, triangular arrangement of figures, robust figures, interlocking gazes - Perugino: lighter colors, feathery background trees, imaginative landscape setting • In Madonna of the Goldfinch, Raphael used a parting of clouds to emphasize the centralized placement of Mary. • The shallow cup on John the Baptist’s belt symbolizes his role as a giver of baptisms. • The goldfinch in John’s hand was a symbol for Christ’s death on the cross, explaining his pose of retreat to the security of his mother’s lap. • What compositional elements are being used to create a sense of the divine or the eternal? How is this different from a Medieval depiction of Mary?

Philosophy (School of Athens) • Raphael was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II to paint frescoes in some of the rooms of the Vatican Palace. • On each of the four walls in the Stanza della Segnatura (“Room of the Signature,” a library in which the pope signed documents), Raphael painted images symbolizing the four branches of human knowledge and wisdom under the headings Theology, Law (Justice), Poetry, and Philosophy (also commonly called School of Athens). These were the learning required of a Renaissance pope. • The fresco depicts a congregation of the great ancient scientists and philosophers, discussing their famous ideas under the coffered barrel vaults which recall the ancient Roman Basilica Nova. • Many of the ancient philosophers are also portraits of Renaissance artists and architects, equating the greatness of the Renaissance luminaries with the ancient thinkers they so admired. • In the center are Plato and Aristotle. Plato points upward to the realm of ideas and pure forms that were at the center of his philosophy. Aristotle gestures to the world around them, signifying the empirical world that for him served as the basis for understanding.

Philosophy (School of Athens) Raphael. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Palace, Rome. 1510. Fresco, 19’ x 27’.

Statues of Apollo & Athena Raphael’s self portrait is next too Ptolemy (geographer, holding a terrestrial globe) and Zoroaster (astronomer, holding a celestial globe).

Pythagoras writes as a servant holds up the harmonic scale.

Philosopher Heraclitus is shown brooding, and is also a portrait of the stormy-tempered Michelangelo, who was painting the Sistine Chapel next door. His stonecutter’s boots signify him as a sculptor more than a painter.

Diogenes, another ancient Greek philosopher, who founded the Cynic philosophy. Rejected cultural conventions and lived in poverty to attain virtue.

Euclid, father of geometry, bends over a slate with a compass, and is also a portrait of Bramante, the architect who was at the time working on rebuilding St. Peter’s.

The crowd around Euclid represent the stages of understanding: literal learning, dawning comprehension, anticipation of the outcome, and assisting the teacher.

Galatea, by Raphael. Sala di Galatea, Villa Farnesina, Rome. C. 1513. Fresco, 9’ 8” x 7’ 5”.

Galatea • Agostino Chigi, a wealthy banker who managed the Vatican’s financial affairs, commissioned Raphael to decorate his palace with scenes from classical mythology. • Based on Stanzas for the Joust of Giuliano de’ Medici by Angelo Poliziano, whose poetry also inspired Birth of Venus. • Galatea flees on a shell drawn by dolphins to escape her uncouth lover, the cyclops Polyphemus (painted on another wall by a different artist). • The painting praises human beauty and zestful love • Compositionally, Raphael enhanced the liveliness of the image by placing the sturdy figures around Galatea in bounding and dashing movements that always return to her as the center. • How is this stylistically different from Botticelli’s Birth of Venus? • To which period of ancient Greek art is this most stylistically similar?

Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi. Raphael. c. 1517. Oil on wood. 5’ x 3’10”.

Pope Leo X • Succeeding Julius II as Raphael’s patron was Pope Leo X. • Leo, whose name before becoming pope was Giovanni de’ Medici, was the second son of the famous Lorenzo de’ Medici. • Leo became pope just after the Medici family returned to Florence after twenty years of exile, and he used his power to advance their interests. • The cardinal on the left is Giulio de’ Medici, who became “Pope Clement VII, and the man seated behind Leo’s chair is Luigi de’ Rossi, Leo’s cousin on his mother’s side. • The pope is depicted seated at a table in his study, with an illuminated 14th century manuscript (the detail of which is so accurate that it can be identified as folio 400 verso of the Hamilton Bible), with a magnifying glass and an engraved bell, items signifying him as a man of learning and collector of beautiful objects, rather than as head of state. • The three men do not look at each other or the viewer, but look outward in different directions, as if lost in thought. • How is this painting similar to earlier Netherlandish painting, such as those of Van Eyck?

Baldassare Castiglione • Most of Raphael’s portraits are of the wealthy members of Pope Leo X’s court, such as Count Baldassare Castiglione. • Castiglione was an author and philosopher, who wrote the Book of the Courtier, a treatise on what it meant to be the perfect gentleman. • The book depicts a series of conversations, which take place over four days among a group of wealthy people at a princely court. The book is Castiglione’s argument that the “perfect gentleman” should be well-learned in the philosophies of the ancients, instead of being a brutal warrior or a chivalrous but illiterate knight. • Raphael’s portrait is posed in half-length and ¾ view, as made popular by the Mona Lisa. • Raphael sought not only to depict Castiglione realistically, but psychically as well. What about this painting conveys Castiglione’s role as a philosophical author?

Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael. c. 1514.

Palazzo Farnese • Before he became Pope Paul III, the then Cardinal Alessandro Farnese commissioned Antonio da Sangallo the Younger to design a lavish private palace, the Palazzo Farnese. • After Antonio’s death in 1546, the Pope gave the remainder of the project to Michelangelo. • Antonio, the youngest of a family of architects, went to Rome in 1503 and became Bramante’s assistant and draftsman. • Corners of the building and doorway are rusticated masonry. • Large entrance with balcony and coat of arms cartouche above create a vertical central axis, which indicates the interior central corridor axis running through the entire building to the garden beyond, with rooms branching off the sides. • 2nd story windows alternate triangular and curved pediments. Window frames protrude, creating sense of three-dimensionality. • Interior courtyard features arcades separated by columns (inspired by Colosseum), and pilasters on the top story. • Building designed to convey wealth, power, intimidation, and familial identity.

Palazzo Farnese Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (completed by Michelangelo) Rome, Italy 1517-1550

Venetian (Late) Renaissance

Context • The Italian city of Venice was a trade and maritime power that reached its apex in the 1400s. By the 1500s, its stronghold on trade between Europe and the Middle East began to slip. • Although Venice managed to retain its sovereignty for the duration of the 1500s, it was constantly under threat. • The Turks of the Ottoman Empire to the east took control of Constantinople in 1453, and became a constant threat to and competitor with Venice for eastern trade. • Although not a military threat, the Netherlands developed ports that directly competed with Venice for trade. • To the west, Venice was coveted by Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Papal States (who at one point, in an alliance known as the League of Cambrai led by Pope Julius II, even attempted to take control of Venice). • Other European nations, such as Spain, had recently sent explorers to the New World, and were reaping the benefits.

Spread of the Ottoman Empire

Library of Saint Mark’s • Jacopo Sansovino was from Florence, and originally trained as a sculptor. In 1518, he went to Rome, and was influenced by Bramante. In 1527, he fled Rome (under attack) to Venice. • Sansovino’s most important buildings were the rusticated, fortress-like Mint, and the State Library in the heart of the island city. What nearby buildings can you identify? • Bottom floor of the Library has smooth Tuscan order columns topped with a Doric frieze, creating a plain but solid base. • Second story features the lighter and more decorative Ionic order columns. Inside this floor was the reading room, which housed manuscripts (and kept them safe from frequent floods). • Second story also has smaller colonnettes inside each arch, which are 2/3 the size of the main columns, and accentuate the springing of the arches and the verticality of the building. • Putti holding garland decorate entablature • Design echoes the Gothic Doge’s Palace in matching spacing of lower arcade, decorative second stories, and softened roof. • Top is capped with a balustrade decorated with finial sculptures.

Library

Mint

The State Library, Jacopo Sansovino, 1536. Piazzo San Marco, Venice, Italy

Villa Rotonda • Andrea Palladio (born Andrea di Pietro of Padua) derived his name from Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom. • Palladio was the chief architect of Venice from 1570-80. • He began as a stonemason, but turned to architecture at age 30. He visited Rome to study buildings and the writings of Vitruvius. Used striking facades to interest viewers. • In 1570 he published his own treatise on architecture, The Four Books of Architecture, which also influenced England and American plantation architecture. • He built many countryside villas for aristocrats whose declining fortunes lead them to develop their swampy country properties into productive farms. • The Villa Rotonda, however, was built for a retired monsignor (paolo Almerico) who wanted a villa for social events (urban residence placed in the countryside). • It is a belvedere (“beautiful view,” house on a hill with a view) • Central plan. All four sides have identical Roman ionic temple façade, allowing views in all four directions. • Similar to the Pantheon and Tempietto. • Palladio was able to design a serene, sophisticated construction by emphasizing balance, visual clarity, and uniformity, using simple geometric shapes (circle/square). Message for the patron?

Villa Rotonda Andrea Palladio Vicenza, Italy, c. 1550-1570.

San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore Andrea Palladio Venice, Italy Begun 1566

• Located on a small island across the Grand Canal from Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark’s Plaza) • Palladio attempted to integrate the high central nave with the lower aisles into a unified façade by superimposing a tall and narrow classical porch on a low broad one. • This combination was visually irrational and ambiguous, consistent with the contemporaneous Mannerist architecture. • His design created the illusion of depth through the strong projection of the central columns, and the shadows they cast. • The play of light and shadow across the surface of the building, and the contrast of bright white against the blue of sea and sky create a vivid, colorful effect. • The interior of the church is crisp, symmetrical, logical, and rooted in High Renaissance style.

Venetian Painting Style • The Venetian trade networks with Egypt and the Byzantine (later Ottoman) Empire helped to shape local painting practices. Ships from the East brought new, exotic pigments, while traders from Northern Europe imported the new technique of oil painting. Giovanni Bellini combined the two by the 1460’s-70’s. • Oil paint allowed for a wider range of color than tempera or fresco, as well as softer edges. • Venetian artists began painting on canvas, as the humidity of Venice caused wood panels to warp and crack. • Venetian artists focused on conveying the warm, glowing light of their city, even sometimes adding ground glass to their paint to help reflect the light. • Central Italian artists focused more on carefully prepared designs and preliminary drawings (disegno), whereas Venetian artists focused on color and the process of paint application. • Venetian artists developed a particularly Venetian style of painting characterized by deep, rich colors, an emphasis on patterns and surfaces, and a strong interest in the effects of light. • Influences: reflections of light off watery canals and marble buildings, glittering Byzantine mosaics of St. Mark’s.

Sunset in Venice

Madonna and Child with Saints, San Zaccaria Altarpiece Giovanni Bellini 1505. Oil on wood transferred to canvas. 16’ 5” x 7’ 9”. San Zaccaria, Venice.

St. Francis in the Desert Giovanni Bellini. 1480. Oil & Tempera.

Madonna and Child with Saints • Bellini was trained by his father Jacopo (a student of Gentile da Fabriano) in International Style, and was also influenced by his brother in law, Andrea Mantegna. • In the late 1470s, he learned how to mix oils with tempera from Antonello de Messina, who trained in Naples and learned from the Flemish painters. • He then left the linear style of Mantegna and developed a sensuous coloristic manner, first seen in his painting St. Francis in the Desert. • A trend at this time was to paint saints from different eras in the same painting, called a sacra conversazione (sacred conversation). • Here Mary and the Christ child are flanked by four saints, each with their symbol (Peter with a key and book, Catherine with the palm of a martyr and broken wheel, Lucy with a tray holding her plucked out eyes, and Jerome, with the bible he helped translate). An angel plays a viol below. • Sense of serenity and calm is created by the soft, gentle colors that create a radiant atmospheric haze that softens or erases any hard outlines.

Feast of the Gods, by Bellini and Titian Camerino d’Alabastro, Palazzo Ducale, Ferrara, Italy. 1529. Oil on canvas, 5’ 7” x 6’ 2”.

Feast of the Gods • 25 years after the San Zaccaria altarpiece, Bellini collaborated with his greatest student, Titian. • Commissioned by the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d’Este for the Alabaster Room, a private apartment in the Palazzo Ducale. • Originally, Alfonso hired four painters (Bellini, Titian, Raphael, and Fra Bartolommeo), one to paint each wall, but Raphael and Bartolommeo died before completion. Each wall was to convey a classical theme chosen by humanist scholar Mario Equicola, and all involved depictions of Venus (love) and Bacchus (wine). • Arcadian background borrowed from Giorgione (Arcadia is a rural area of southern Greece; Arcadian came to mean an idyllic place of rustic serenity). • This painting depicts the gods, dressed as peasants, enjoying an afternoon picnic, waited on by satyrs and nymphs (based on Roman poet Ovid’s Fasti, which described gods banqueting). • Warm afternoon light falls softly across the figures. • The cooler tones in the background make it appear to recede into the distance.

The Tempest • Painted by the short-lived Giorgione da Castelfranco (died in 1510 at age 33). • Giorgione was a student of Bellini, and a renowned musician (lute and singing). • Giorgione was interested in depicting Arcadian landscapes. After Giorgione’s death, Bellini adopted Giorgione’s style to the background of the Feast of the Gods. • This painting is an example of poesia, a painting meant to operate in a manner similar to poetry, with a focus on the lyrical and sensual, without a concrete narrative. • Venetian artists were influenced by both classical and Renaissance poetry. • Although the lush setting seems tranquil, storm clouds threaten in the distance. • In the foreground, a man with a halberd (spear-ax) and a nursing woman and child wait mysteriously. • X-rays of the painting show that originally the woman was placed in the bottom left where the man is now.

halberd

lute

The Tempest by Giorgione da Castelfranco. c. 1510. Oil on canvas. 2’ 8” x 2’ 4”.

Pastoral Symphony • Tiziano Vecelli, called Titian in English, was a younger peer of Giorgione (both were students of Bellini). • Although this painting was originally accredited to Giorgione, most scholars now believe it is an early work by Titian. • As with the Tempest, the narrative is unclear. Two nude women are accompanied by two men in an Arcadian landscape, with a shepherd and villa in the background. • Titian, a supreme colorist and master with oil paint, cast a mood of peaceful fun and dreaminess over the entire scene, evoking a lost but not forgotten paradise. • The shepherd symbolizes the poet; the pipes and lute symbolize his poetry. • The two women may be thought of as their invisible inspiration, like muses. One woman turns to lift water from the sacred well of poetic inspiration. • The full bodies of the women communicates their personification of nature’s abundance, and became the standard in Venetian art.

Pastoral Symphony Titian, c. 1510. Oil on canvas. 3’ 7” x 4’ 6”.

Assumption of the Virgin • After Bellini’s death, Titian became the official painter of Venice, and was soon given the commission to paint a monumental altarpiece for the Franciscan basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (or “the Frari” for short). • In this image, Mary ascends to heaven, borne aloft on a cloud held up by cherubs. God the father waits above, while the apostles witnessing the event react below. • Titian conveys light through color, adding yellow to the areas that are being directly illuminated by the golden heavenly light. • After his death, Titian was interred in the Frari. Assumption of the Virgin Titian 1515. Oil on wood 22’ 7” x 11’ 10”. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.

Madonna of the Pesaro Family Titian. c. 1525. Oil on canvas. 15’ 11” x 8’ 10” Pesaro Chapel, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.

Madonna of the Pesaro Family • Commissioned by Bishop Jacopo Pesaro, who presented it to the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari church. • Bishop Pesaro was commander of the papal fleet and had led a successful expedition in 1502 against the Turks during the Venetian-Turkish war, and he commissioned this painting in gratitude. • Mary, with St. Peter by her feet, receives Bishop Pesaro (kneeling bottom left) in heaven. A soldier, possibly St. George, holds a banner bearing the Bishop and the Pope’s coats of arms. • In the bottom right, other male members of the Pesaro family kneel reverently. • Mary, like a queen in her court, honors the achievements of a specific man, intertwining the heavenly with the worldly. • Composition is unusual in that the figures are arranged on a steep diagonal. Mary is off-center, but attention is drawn to her through color, perspective lines, and direction of gazes. • The banner serves to balance out the composition.

Sleeping Venus Giorgione

Venus of Urbino Titian. 1536. Oil on canvas. 3’ 11” x 5’ 5”

Venus of Urbino • The Duke of Urbino, Guidobaldo II, commissioned Titian to paint the painting now known as the Venus of Urbino. • Although its present name imbues it with a sense of classical mythology, it may have been simply a portrait of a sensuous Italian woman in her bedchamber. • The composition is borrowed greatly from a painting of Venus done by Giorgione (above). • Titian creates a strong sense of foreground and background in several ways: - The curves of the woman and sheets contrasts with the sharp linear verticals of the background. - The reds in the foreground balance diagonally with the reds in the background. - The light, warm tones of the woman’s upper half are set-off by the dark, cool greens of the curtain. • Matrimonial symbolism: - Dog at the foot of the bed = fidelity - Cassoni wedding chests - Myrtle and roses were bridal flowers

Christ Crowned with Thorns

Christ Crowned With Thorns Titian, 1575. Oil on canvas. 9’ x 6’

Pieta Titian

• Titian enjoyed a long and highly successful career. • Late in his career, Titian focused on Christian subjects, such as the suffering of Christ. • His style also changed. Instead of using thin, transparent layers of paint (glazing), he built up thick paste-like daubs of paint (impasto) which caught and reflected the light, creating a wavering, shimmery effect (adopted later by Rembrandt). • The drama is achieved through the muted flickering light that centers the action, making a patchy, confused mixture of light and dark. It is difficult to read the forms clearly, which adds to the mystery and mood of torment. • Titian’s intention was not so much to stage the event as to present his personal response to it.

Last Supper • Jacopo Robusti was the son of a cloth dyer, and his nickname, Tintoretto, means “little dyer” • Tintoretto adopted some Mannerist pictorial devices, as well as Titian’s use of color and Michelangelo’s drawing style. In many ways, his dramatic style foretells the coming Baroque. • The Last Supper was painted on the wall next to the high altar in Palladio’s church of San Giorgio Maggiore. • The scene is dramatically lit, mostly dark but with small glints of light coming from an upper left light source, filtered through swirling clouds of smoky angels, and the supernatural light of the haloes. • The haloes convey the religious nature of the painting. • How is this work similar to Mannerist art? • How is this work different from Leonardo’s Last Supper?

The Last Supper Tintoretto. 1594. Oil on canvas. 12’ x 18’ 8”. San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

Miracle of the Slave • This painting depicts Saint Mark hurtling down from heaven to destroy the instruments of torture being used to execute a Christian slave. The executioner holds up the broken pieces to the startled judge, and others look on in shock. • Together, the figures of the slave, executioner, and St. Mark sweep upwards in a serpentine S shape, which is counteracted by the downward motion of the plunging St. Mark. • The sense of twisting movement echoes the Mannerist sculpture Abduction of the Sabine Woman • The colors are Venetian • The scene is displayed dramatically and unambiguously, typical of the upcoming Baroque period (an age of opera and theater).

Miracle of the Slave Tintoretto, 1548. Oil on canvas. 14’ x 18’.

Burial of Count Orgaz El Greco. 1586. Oil on canvas. Santo Tome, Toledo. 16’ x 12’

Burial of Count Orgaz • Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born on Crete, and moved to Italy as a young man, where he became known as El Greco (the Greek). He defies categorization into one style/movement. • In Italy, he absorbed the style of late Byzantine frescoes and mosaics. He moved to Venice and worked in Titian’s studio, but was also influenced by Tinteretto. A trip to Rome also caused him to be influenced by Roman and Florentine Mannerism. • In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he remained. • Like Tinteretto, the intense emotionalism of his paintings, which naturally appealed to Spanish piety, foretold the coming Baroque style of Caravaggio. • This painting depicts the count of Orgaz (who died 300 years prior) being lowered into his sepulcher by Saints Stephen and Augustine, who came from Heaven to bury him. • Bottom half more realistic, upper half more stylized/elongated • Among the mourners in black are El Greco, his son, the priest who commissioned the painting, and the Spanish King Philip II. • An angel lifts the count’s soul upward, as St. John and Mary intercede for it before Christ. • Lower half shows his earlier, more sumptuous Venetian style, while upper half shows his later, more Mannerist style.

View of Toledo by El Greco. c. 1610. Oil on canvas. 4’ x 3.5’

View of Toledo • This later work by El Greco is his only pure landscape. • He drew attention to the church spire by leading the eye to it from the bridge across the stream, and darkening the sky behind. • Although the buildings are all identifiable as real buildings in Toledo, he rearranged their order to suit his composition. • The artwork is exemplary of his later style, with loose brushwork and an eerie color palette of blues, greens, and greys. • The flashes of light in the stormy sky, and the loosely defined greenery in the foreground create a sense of the movement and energy of the storm. • Similar to Castelfranco’s Tempest, and the dramatic lighting of Tinteretto’s works, showing his Venetian influence.

Christ in the House of Levi • Veronese painted on large scale canvasses, usually for refectories of wealthy monasteries. • This artwork was originally called Last Supper. • Christ sits in the center of a grand loggia, surrounded by the well-dressed Venetian elite. In the foreground, the chief steward welcomes guests with a gracious courtly gesture.

• Robed lords, their retainers, dogs, and dwarfs crowd around Jesus. • The Church, then at the height of Counter-Reformation, accused Veronese of impiety for painting lowly creatures so close to Jesus, and ordered that he change it at his own expense. • Reluctant to do so, Veronese changed the name to an event with a less solemn significance.

Christ in the House of Levi Paolo Veronese. 1573. Oil on canvas. 18’ 3” x 42’. Refectory of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, Italy.

Triumph of Venice • The Venetian Republic employed Veronese to decorate the grand chambers (in this case, the ceiling of the Hall of the Grand Council) of the Doge’s Palace in Venice. • Here, within an oval frame, he presented Venice, crowned by Fame, enthroned between two great twisted columns in a balustraded loggia, garlanded with clouds, and attended by figures symbolic of its glories. • Unlike Mantegna’s Camera Picta ceiling, this trompe l’oeil does not look straight up. Instead, the illusion is angled at a 45 degree angle to the viewer. Triumph of Venice Paolo Veronese c. 1585. Oil on canvas. 29’ 8” x 19”. Doge’s Palace, Venice.

Southern Counter-Reformation

Baroque Painting

Context – Religious Conflict • By 1600, Lutheranism had a stronghold in northern European countries, such as Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, while Catholicism still controlled Spain, Portugal, and present day Italy. • The Holy Roman Empire, located in the middle, had a mixture of both religions, as well as pockets of the new Calvinism, creating religious tensions that lead to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). • The Thirty Years’ War was encouraged by the surrounding countries, who hoped to gain land from the weakened H. R. Empire. • The war was ended in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia which granted religious freedoms. -The ruler of each state was allowed to choose the official religion of that state. -Christians within a state where their religion was not the official religion were allowed to practice their own faith in public during allotted hours, and in private at their own will. • In Italy, the Catholic Counter-Reformation, guided by the Council of Trent, worked to reinforce Catholic faith. • Although the Protestants were wary of art (likening it to idol worship), the Catholic Church (the primary patron of art in Italy at the time) used art to spread Catholicism.

European Religions circa 1600

Council of Trent • Between 1545 and 1563, three separate sessions were convened by the Catholic Church, known as the Council of Trent, to address Protestant criticism and reaffirm Catholic ideology. The purpose of the council was: -To condemn the principles and doctrines of Protestantism, and to clarify the doctrines of the Catholic Church on all disputed points. -To effect a reformation in discipline and administration (correcting corruption within the church) -The Church is the ultimate interpreter of Scripture. -The Bible and Church Tradition were equally authoritative. -The relationship of faith and works in salvation was defined (opposing Luther’s “justification by faith alone”) -Reaffirmation of indulgences, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary (while forbidding abuses of them, such as the sale of indulgences) -Issuance of decrees concerning sacred music and religious art (forbidding anything indecent, profane, or lustful, and forbidding the worship of the object itself).

The Council of Trent

Baroque Style • The word “baroque” may derive from the Portuguese word for an irregularly shaped pearl. As an art period, it was once thought of as inferior to the Renaissance which preceded it. The negative association has since faded. • Southern Baroque style emerged in the early 1600s, and lasted for most of the century. • Because of the events of the time period, Italian Baroque art is also intended as Catholic propaganda. The Catholic Church insisted that art was necessary to teach religious ideas to the illiterate, and is thus often overtly didactic. • However, Catholic art had to be MORE than just educational to win the ideological war against Protestantism – it had to be INSPIRING. Viewers had to feel the suffering of Christ, or the rapturous devotion of saints. • Southern European (Catholic) Baroque style was thus dynamic (lots of movement), theatrical, ornamental, grandiose in size, and complex.

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Caravaggio. 1608. 12’ x 16.5’

Caravaggio • Michelangelo Merisi (1573 – 1610) was known as Caravaggio after his home town. • Caravaggio studied briefly in Milan, then moved to Rome, where he soon began making works for Cardinal del Monte. • The works he made under the Cardinal were mostly still lifes (depictions of everyday objects) and portraits of glamorous, classical young men. • Although many of the figures were sweet-faced, attractive youths, his images often still depicted the seedy underbelly of Rome – the gritty reality of everyday Romans. • Some of these paintings were made for the Cardinal, but many others were meant to be sold to the public. • Notice how you, the viewer, always feel like you are in the room too, and are almost part of the action. How does Caravaggio achieve this sense?

Self-portrait

Bacchus Caravaggio. 1595.

Sick Bacchus Caravaggio. 1593.

Calling of St. Matthew Caravaggio. 1601. 11’ 1” x 11’ 5”. Oil on canvas. Contarelli chapel, San Luigi dei Francesci, Rome.

Calling of Saint Matthew • Caravaggio rejected the style of the classical masters (he was considered a threat to the Italian tradition by critics), and injected religious and classical images with naturalism and drama, setting them in the harsh surroundings of his time and place. He influenced many Italian and non-Italian artists. • In this image, Christ (cloaked in shadow, with a faint halo) points to Levi (who later becomes Matthew), a Roman tax collector, to bid him to a higher calling. • The setting is a dark, dreary tavern, illuminated only partially by a single shaft of light from an unknown source. • The pose of Christ’s hand is reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Adam from the Sistine Chapel. This was appropriate as the Church considered Christ the second Adam. Whereas Adam’s sin causes the fall of man, Christ’s sacrifice redeems man. • As God gave life to Adam, so Christ gives new life to Matthew • The success of this work and the one next to it in the Contarelli chapel, the Martyrdom of St. Matthew, ensured Caravaggio many subsequent commissions.

Conversion of Saint Paul Caravaggio. C. 1601. Oil on canvas. 7’ 6” x 5’ 9” Cerasi chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

Conversion of Saint Paul • Saint Paul, although referred to as an apostle, was not one of the original twelve. He was a Jew who actively persecuted Christians, until one day, while travelling by horse to Damascus, he received a divine vision of resurrected Christ. He was stricken blind for three days by the vision. • This painting, at first glance, could be a depiction of a simple stable accident, as Caravaggio has stripped the scene of most traditional indicators of a divine event. • Paul has no halo, Christ is not pictured, there are no clouds or angels or heavenly trumpets. • Instead, the only indication in this otherwise mundane scene is the golden light beam, which shines down upon Paul as he receives his vision. • The rest of the painting is extremely dark. This form of extreme chiaroscuro is known as tenebrism, from the Italian word tenebroso (shadowy). • Although tenebrism at first shocked viewers, it soon became popular throughout Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Entombment

Entombment, by Caravaggio. Vittrici Chapel, Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome. 1604. Oil on canvas. 9’ 10” x 6’ 8”.

• This large painting puts the audience in an unusual position – inside the burial pit into which Christ is being lowered. • Where is the primary focus of this artwork? Secondary? Tertiary? • This artwork utilizes many angles. What angles do you see? • As with other Caravaggio works, this piece uses tenebrism to create drama and focus. Paired with the large size of the piece, the viewer would have been fully emotionally engaged, almost like watching a movie in a theater. • One of the main hallmarks of Caravaggio’s work is the humanization of religious figures, making them relatable to commoners through their clothing, unidealized faces, and drab settings.

Death of the Virgin

Susannah and the Elders • Artemisia Gentileschi was the most prominent female artist of the era. She was trained by her father, who was a painter. Her father was influenced by Caravaggio, and in turn, so was she. • When she was 18, her father hired a fellow artist (Agostino Tassi) to tutor her privately. Tassi raped Artemisia, and when he refused to marry her, Artemisia and her father sued him. She was subjected to a gynecological exam and tortured using thumbscrews to prove her honesty. Although Tassi was sentenced to one year of prison, he did not serve time. • Gentileschi’s work adopts the realism, tenebrism, and dark subject matter of Caravaggio’s, however, Gentileschi focused more on heroic females as subjects. • This painting, made when Gentileschi was only 17, depicts the biblical story of Susannah being leered at by lecherous elders, from the Book of Daniel in the Catholic Bible. The elders threaten to report that they saw her having a sexual tryst if she does not have sex with them. She refuses, so they keep their promise. She is almost put to death, but Daniel intervenes, and the two lechers are put to death instead. • Most other paintings focused on the sexual allure of Susannah, but Gentileschi instead focused on the powerless woman’s vulnerability. • This image is one of the first truly lifelike female nudes of the European tradition.

Susannah and the Elders Artemisia Gentileschi. 1610. Oil on canvas. 6’ 7” x 3’ 11”

Judith and her Maidservant… • Gentileschi lived in several Italian cities, spreading the style of Caravaggio throughout Italy. By age 23, she lived in Florence, and was admitted to the Florentine Academy of Design. • Much as the biblical hero David was a symbol of Florence’s independence from exterior threats, so was the Old Testament figure Judith. She was a Jewish woman who, when her village was under siege, snuck into the enemy camps at night, seduced the leader Holofernes with wine, and beheaded him in his sleep, thus saving her people. • The theme of Judith was one Gentileschi revisited several times, showing different moments from the event. • In this image, Judith and her maid have beheaded Holofernes, and must find a way to escape from the enemy camp. • The tension is palpable, lit by a single candle flame (which casts a shadow upon her face), a prime example of Caravaggio’s tenebrism. • This story was popular in the Baroque era - an example of the victory of virtue over vice, of God’s protection of his chosen people from their enemies, Judith was also seen as an Old Testament antetype of the Virgin Mary and, by extension, as a symbol of the Church as it fought the Protestants and the Ottoman Turks.

Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes Artemisia Gentilieschi. 1625. Oil on canvas. 6’ x 4’ 7”.

Loves of the Gods (Ceiling of the gallery, Palazzo Farnese) by Annibale Carracci. Fresco. Rome, Italy, c. 1600.

Loves of the Gods • Although Caravaggio’s style spread quickly and was imitated by many, there were still a number of artists at the time who painted in the style of ordered Classicism. • The Carracci brothers, Annibale and Agostino, and their cousin Ludoico shared a studio in Bologna. They rejected the artifice of the Mannerist style, and instead modeled their artwork after High Renaissance masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo, with an emphasis on line, compositional structure, and figural solidity. • In 1582 they founded an art academy, which featured life drawing from models (to achieve naturalism), as well as aesthetic theory (to achieve harmony). They focused on accurate drawing, complex compositions, complicated narratives, and technical expertise. • In 1595, Annibale was hired by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese to paint the gallery of his palazzo in Rome, in celebration of the wedding of Duke Ranuccio Farnese to the niece of the pope. The scenes of love were based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. • The central panel depicts Bacchus and his love Ariadne, after Bacchus rescued her from the island where she was abandoned by her lover, Theseus.

Loves of the Gods • Carracci has used a variety of trompe l’oeil techniques: -Quadri riportati (“transported paintings”) – the fresco on the ceiling appears to be a collection of paintings in gold frames, but they are illusionary. In this case, they appear to “rest” on the real cornice of the wall below. -The “paintings” overlap bronze “medallions” -Next to the medallions are ignudi, illusionary paintings of men -The ignudi sit in front of herms, columns(in this case, illusionary) that are plain on the bottom, but human torsos on top. The herms appear to support the painted framework of the vault. -The illusions are enhanced by the appearance of being lit from below. • The paintings recall the heroic, muscular figures of Michelangelo, paired with the warm light of Venetian painting.

Loves of the Gods (Ceiling of the gallery, Palazzo Farnese) by Annibale Carracci. Fresco. Rome, Italy, c. 1600.

Triumph of the Barberini

Triumph of the Barberini. • Looking up at a huge ceiling fresco inspired a feeling of awe, Pietro da Cortona. so patrons commissioned them to burnish their reputation. Ceiling fresco in • In 1633, Pope Urban VIII commissioned a ceiling fresco for the the Gran main reception hall of the Palazzo Barberini (his family’s home). Salone, Palazzo • The fresco focuses on glorifying the Barberini family, and Pope Barberini, Urban VIII in particular. It centered on the accomplishments of Rome, Italy. the Barberini family. C. 1639.

• The personification of Divine Providence (divine guidance or care) appears in a halo of radiant light directing Immortality, holding a crown of stars, to bestow eternal life on the family. • The virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity hold aloft a gigantic laurel wreath (a symbol of immortality), which frames three bees (the symbols of the Barberini family). • Also present are the papal tiara and keys announcing the personal triumphs of Urban VIII.

Triumph of the Name of Jesus Giovanni Battista Gaulli. Ceiling fresco with stucco figures on the nave vault of Il Gesu, Rome. 1679.

Triumph of the Name of Jesus • The Catholic Church also used elaborate ceiling frescoes to illustrate religious themes and impress upon worshippers the glory and power of the Church. • Il Gesu was the mother church of the Jesuit order, and played a prominent role in Counter-Reformation efforts. • In this piece, the ceiling seems to open up to reveal heaven. Jesus is represented only by a blindingly radiant monogram (IHS). Sinners plummet back to earth. • The gilded architecture of the ceiling is real. In some areas, Gaulli glazed (added a thin layer of paint) shadows onto the gilding to make the illusion more real. • To complete the illusion, Gaulli constructed clouds and figures out of stucco which protruded beyond the ceiling’s frame.

• Pozzo was a brother of the Jesuit order, who was commissioned to design and paint the ceiling fresco for the church of Sant’Ignazio (also a prominent Counter-Reformation church) in Rome. • Like Gaulli, , Pozzo created the illusion that the viewer was looking up into heaven. He did this by pictorially extending the real architecture of the church upward (using perspective), to create the illusion that the roof was lifted off.

Glorification of St. Ignatius • Christ receives Saint Ignatius (who was the founder of the Jesuit order) in the presence of figures personifying the four corners of the world. • On the floor, a metal disc was installed that marked the spot one should stand to get the full effect of the perspective illusion. • The theatricality of the imagery, combined with the sound of spiritual songs (resonating throughout the masterful acoustics of the architecture) and the scent of incense would have made a compelling religious environment for believers.

Glorification of Saint Ignatius Fra Andrea Pozzo. 1694. Ceiling fresco in the nave of Sant’Ignazio, Rome.

Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber, by Juan Sánchez Cotán. c. 1602. Oil on canvas. 27” x 33”.

Still Life with Quince… • Spanish painting in the 1600s was influenced by Caravaggio, with a focus on religiosity, tenebrism, and surface detail. • Spanish artists developed an interest in paintings of artfully arranged objects (still life), with a focus on realistic detail. • In this artwork, he juxtaposes the irregular, curved organic shapes of the fruits and vegetables with the angularity of the box in which they are set. • The objects are meticulously arranged in a curved arc from upper left to bottom right. • The objects are arranged in such a way as to create an interesting yet balanced composition. • The lighting is bright against the fruit, which pop out from the dark background. • After painting only a few of these still lifes, Cotan joined a Carthusian monk order and did not paint again.

Saint Serapion Francisco de Zurbarán. 1628. Oil on canvas. 4’ x 3’ 4”

Saint Serapion • Another Spanish artist with style similar to Caravaggio’s was Francisco de Zurbaran. He was frequently commissioned to paint contemplative, quiet paintings suited for prayer and devotional purposes, for Spanish monastic orders. • This painting of Saint Serapion was a devotional image for the funerary chapel of the monastic Order of Mercy in Seville. • St. Serapion was a member of the Order of Mercy, which dedicated itself to self-sacrifice. Serapion participated in the Third Crusade in 1196 and was martyred while preaching the Gospel to Muslims (by being tied to a tree and tortured). • The branches of the tree are faintly visible, and a slip of paper nailed to the tree identifies him. • The monk’s coarse features identify him as common, evoking empathy from a wide audience. • The bright light shining on him calls attention to his tragic death and increases the dramatic impact.

Water Carrier of Seville • The foremost Spanish painter of the Baroque age was Diego Velázquez, who was influenced by Caravaggio. • This painting was done when Velázquez was only 20 years old, yet he already exhibited great technical skill. • The water jugs in the foreground are brightly lit, and rendered in detailed realism, complete with water droplets, reminiscent of Cotan’s still lifes. • The two primary figures are slightly less clear, yet they are also painted with a high sense of realism. Their ordinary features show the influence of Caravaggio. • The figure in the background is obscured by shadow, heightening the illusion that he is farther away, and creating a sense of depth. • Velázquez was appointed court artist and palace chamberlain (a position which oversaw the king’s growing art collection, which already included works by Durer, Titian, and Carracci) for the Spanish king Philip IV, and stopped doing genre and religious paintings in favor of royal portraits and paintings of battles.

Water Carrier of Seville. Diego Velázquez. C. 1619. Oil on canvas. 3’ 5” x 2’ 7”.

Surrender of Breda • As the official court painter for Philip IV, Velázquez lived in Madrid for the rest of his life. • This painting was part of a program of decoration for the Hall of Realms in Philip IV’s new secondary pleasure palace in Madrid, the Palacio del Buen Retiro. It was one of ten paintings celebrating recent Spanish military victories around the globe. • This painting celebrates the Spanish victory over the Dutch at Breda in 1625 (at the time, Spain controlled the southern part of the Netherlands). • Which side is the Spanish army? • The mayor of Breda (Justinus of Nassau) is depicted handing the keys to the city to the Spanish general, although this event never actually transpired. • Velázquez’s fictionalization glorifies the strength of the Spanish military and the benevolence of the Spanish general.

Surrender of Breda Diego Velázquez. 1635. Oil on canvas. 10’ 1” x 12’

Las Meninas • After the death of the prince, the princes chambers were converted into a studio for Velázquez within the royal palace. • In this painting, Velázquez himself stands before a canvas. • “Meninas” are maids of honor, or maids in waiting, who are depicted on either side of Princess Margarita, who is also accompanied by her favorite dwarfs and a dog. In the middle ground is a woman in widow’s attire and a male escort, and in the background, a chamberlain stands in the door. • What is Velázquez painting? • On the wall hang two copies of Peter Paul Rubens paintings, made by Velázquez’s son-in-law. The inclusion of these copies both is a tribute to Rubens (a great Flemish Baroque painter) and to the importance of painting/painters. • The inclusion of Velázquez in this painting also elevates the importance of himself and his profession. He painted himself wearing the red cross of the Order of Santiago, an order he was not of noble enough lineage for, but to which he was finally admitted. • Has strong lights & darks, but also middle values. • The painting was hung in Philip IV’s office • Las Meninas is a pictorial summary and commentary on the essential mystery of the visual world, as well as on the ambiguity that results when different states or levels are juxtaposed.

Las Meninas (Maids of Honor) Diego Velázquez. 1656. Oil on canvas. 10’ 5” x 9’.

Burial of Count Orgaz

Burial of Count Orgaz El Greco. 1586. Oil on canvas. • Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born on Crete, and moved to Santo Tome, Italy as a young man, where he became known as El Greco (the Toledo. Greek). He defies categorization into one style/movement. 16’ x 12’

• In Italy, he absorbed the style of late Byzantine frescoes and mosaics. He moved to Venice and worked in Titian’s studio, but was also influenced by Tinteretto. A trip to Rome also caused him to be influenced by Roman and Florentine Mannerism. • In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he remained. • Like Tinteretto, the intense emotionalism of his paintings, which naturally appealed to Spanish piety, foretold the coming Baroque style of Caravaggio. • This painting depicts the count of Orgaz (who died 300 years prior) being lowered into his sepulcher by Saints Stephen and Augustine, who came from Heaven to bury him. • Bottom half more realistic, upper half more stylized/elongated • Among the mourners in black are El Greco, his son, the priest who commissioned the painting, and the Spanish King Philip II. • An angel lifts the count’s soul upward, as St. John and Mary intercede for it before Christ. • Lower half shows his earlier, more sumptuous Venetian style, while upper half shows his later, more Mannerist style.

View of Toledo by El Greco. c. 1610. Oil on canvas. 4’ x 3.5’

Northern AristocraticBaroque

Context • In the 17th century, Flanders (approximately present-day Belgium, but also small amounts of northern France and the Netherlands) remained Catholic and under Spanish control (can be referred to as “Spanish Netherlands”). As such, Flemish Baroque art is closely related to the Baroque art of Italy. • The major art patron in 17th century France was the absolutist monarch Louis XIV, the Sun King, who consolidated power over France by eradicating the still-remaining feudal lords. Under his rule, France became the most powerful country of the 17th century. • The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), ended by the Treaty of Westphalia, lead to a political restructuring of Europe. • As the divide between Protestants and Catholics widened, the need for secular political systems became apparent. • Triangular trade increased variety of commodities available. Slaves from Africa were taken to colonies in the Americas to produce crops such as sugar, tobacco, and rice, increasing the prosperity of European nations. The resulting worldwide mercantile system permanently changed the face of Europe.

Flanders (Flemish)

Netherlands (Dutch)

European after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 (Flanders is labeled as Spanish Netherlands)

Louis XIV • Louis XIV, the Sun King, was a master of political strategy and propaganda. He crafted a relationship with the nobility, granting them sufficient benefits to keep them pacified, while maintaining rigorous control to avoid rebellion. • Louis believed his power was given to him by divine right (as God’s will), making it incontestable. • Louis and his principal adviser, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, cultivated a public persona, and commissioned great monuments to the king’s absolute power. • Louis and Colbert sought to standardize taste and establish the classical style as the preferred French manner. Louis founded the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1648 to advance this goal (along with other academies of various disciplines). • Louis maintained a workshop of artists, each with a specialization (i.e. faces, fabric, architecture, fur, armor, etc.), but his most famous portrait is by a single artist – Rigaud. • Although the king was only 5’ 4” (the reason he invented the high-heeled shoes he is sporting), Rigaud painted him from below, so the king appears to look down upon the viewer. Coupled with the angle, the pose (hand on hip, ermine robe loose on his shoulder) communicates haughtiness. • Although 63 at the time of this painting, Louis shows off his legs because he was a ballet dancer in his youth, and was proud of his well-toned legs. • The sumptuous surroundings also communicate wealth and power.

Louis XIV Hyacinthe Rigaud. 1701. Oil on canvas. 9’2” x 6’3”.

Versailles Palace and Gardens Jules Hardoiuin-Mansart, Charles Le Brun, & Andre Le Notre. Begun 1669.

Versailles Palace and Gardens • Louis began his rule from the Louvre, however, he decided to remodel the hunting lodge at Versailles into a vast palace, a symbol of his power, to which he then moved. • Architect: Louis le Vau. Landscape designer: Andre le Notre. Interior decorator: Charles le Brun. Finished in only 21 years. • In addition to the palace and gardens, a small city was built to house court and government officials, military detachments, courtiers, and servants. • The support-city was divided into three avenues, which converged at the palace in front of Louis bedroom window. • The decoration was extremely rich and detailed, reinforcing the splendor of Versailles. • The vast gardens (2000+ acres), designed by Andre Le Notre, eases the transition between the heavily human-designed palace and its rural surroundings. The gardens closest to the palace are well manicured, with lawns, ponds, and fountains. The gardens slowly become more “natural” and forest-like further away. • The palace itself is more than a quarter mile long, with 700 rooms, 2,100 windows, and over 12 football fields in area.

Versailles Palace and Gardens

Queen’s bedchamber

• The move out of Paris to Versailles was not just for an increase in space – it was to remove power from the feuding and gossiping noble families in Paris. • Versailles instead focuses on Louis’ importance (“I am the state” he said). • The complex is aligned on an East/West axis so the sun rises and sets in alignment with his home (since he was the Sun King, around whom everything revolved). • The art inside also focuses on Louis’ greatness (such as paintings showing him with the Greek gods). • Everything was decorated with sumptuous fabrics, expensive stone, and gold to show off Louis’ vast wealth. • Statues featuring Apollo (the sun god) symbolized Louis (the Sun King) • In Louis bedroom, the daily “rising” and “going to sleep” rituals were performed daily, involving many courtiers waiting on the king and following strict rules of position and rank. • The symmetrical Salon of War and Salon of Peace were decorated with paintings highlighting France’s military might and the wisdom of living calmly under a ruling government. • His dogs slept in the “Study for Dogs”

Royal Chapel of Versailles Jules Hardouin-Mansart and ceiling decorations by Antoine Coypel. c. 1700.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun. c. 1680.

Versailles: Hall of the Mirrors • Of the literally hundreds of rooms within the palace, the most famous is the Galerie des Glaces, or Hall of Mirrors. The hall overlooks the park from the second floor and extends along most of the width of the central block. • The windows face east, towards the rising sun. • One side of the hall is composed of windows, the other is made of mirrors set into the wall which alleviate the room’s tunnel-like quality, and extend the width of the room. • The illusionary properties of the mirror made it popular in Baroque interior design. • Hall of the Mirrors was mostly used as a passageway, but also held parties and was where the Treaty of Versailles (ended WW1) was signed. • In 1698, Hardouin-Mansart received the commission to add a Royal Chapel. Compared to the rest of Versailles, the chapel is decorated with restraint. • Louis’ pew was in the gallery directly across from the apse, accessible directly from his private apartments. • Versailles expresses power, as well as rationalism and the triumph of human intelligence over nature.

Main entrance: The Marble Courtyard

Versailles: Marble Courtyard • Although the interior of Versailles is excessively decorated, the exterior practices more Classical restraint. • Classical Greece/Rome were considered at the time to be the origin of intellect, reason, and aesthetic beauty. • The French saw themselves as the inheritors of Classical culture, and Louis XIV wanted to associate himself with the greatness and political might of the classical Greece and Rome. • The main entrance Marble Courtyard, however, is allowed a little more decorative panache, with an eye-catching marble floor and gold-leaf (gold like the sun) adorning the roof sculptures. • The balcony in the center leads into the king’s bedchambers. • The buildings in the village in front of the palace are limited in height, so as not to block the king’s view.

Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens. Lived 1577 – 1640.

• The greatest Flemish Baroque painter was Peter Paul Rubens, who was influenced by Michelangelo, Titian, Carracci, and Caravaggio. His own influence was likewise international. • Rubens possessed an aristocratic education and a courtier’s manner, diplomacy, and tact, which made him popular amongst the elites of Europe. • Among his patrons, Rubens counted the following: -Dukes of Mantua -King Philip IV of Spain (advised him in his art collecting) -King Charles I of England -Marie de’Medici of France -Spanish governors of Flanders • Because of his international popularity, he was often also entrusted with important diplomatic missions. • He produced a large volume of work by employing a large group of associates and assistant painters. • Rubens also amassed a large fortune as an art dealer to the European elite, with which he bought a townhouse in Antwerp and a castle in the countryside.

Elevation (Raising) of the Cross Peter Paul Rubens. 1610. Oil on wood. From St. Walburga, Antwerp. Center panel 15’ x 11’

Elevation of the Cross • Rubens lived in Italy between 1600 and 1608, where he studied the Italian Renaissance and Baroque masters. • While in Italy, Rubens studied Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes and important ancient sculptures, such as Laocoon and his Sons, by doing numerous black-chalk drawings. • After returning home, he painted the Elevation of the Cross for the church of Saint Walburga in Antwerp (later moved to the city’s cathedral). • By investing in sacred art, Flemish churches sought to affirm their allegiance to Catholicism and Spanish rule after a period of Protestant iconoclastic fervor in the region. • The choice of subject, the raising of Christ nailed to the cross, gave Rubens the opportunity to show off the muscular physiques and twisting movement he learned from Michelangelo’s work. • The dramatic lighting shows the influence of Caravaggio. • Although he later developed a softer, more coloristic style, the human body in action (draped or undraped, male or female) remained the focus of his art.

Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles • Rubens utilized the ostentation and spectacle that is characteristic of Italian Baroque art, which also appealed to royalty and aristocracy, as it did the Catholic Church in Italy. The magnificence and splendor of Baroque imagery reinforced the authority and right to rule of the highborn. • Marie de’Medici, a member of the famous Florentine house and widow of Henry IV, the first Bourbon king of France, commissioned Rubens to paint a series of huge canvases memorializing and glorifying her career. • In this image, Marie disembarks a ship after traveling to France from Italy, where she is greeted by an allegorical personification of France (dressed in a cape decorated with the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of French royalty). • The personification of Fame trumpets overhead, while Neptune and the Nereids (daughters of the Titan sea god Nereus) hail her from below amid swirling waves. • Below the Medici coat of arms on the boat stands the commander of the ship, whose unmoving pose and black clothing stands out against the other figures, who are vigorously animated in silver, ivory, gold, and red.

Arrival of Marie de’Medici at Marseilles Peter Paul Rubens. 1625. Oil on canvas. 13’ x 9’7”.

Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici • Here, after 2 years of negotiating, the betrothal of Marie to Henri IV is sealed when he looks for the first time at her portrait. • The Greco-Roman gods of marriage (Hymen) and love (Cupid) hold Marie’s portrait, while Jupiter and Juno (Zeus and Hera, with their eagle and peacock symbols) look on, bestowing their godly approval. • The personification of France stands behind Henry, urging him on. • Although Henri seems smitten in this painting, in reality he was reluctant to marry, preferring to stay with his mistress. However, he had to marry: - to produce an heir (Henri was already in his 50s) -to help pay off his large debts to the Medici family, who helped to finance Henri’s military campaigns -to allay fears about his allegiance to Catholicism (he was Protestant before becoming king) • Within a year after marriage, Marie gave birth to a male heir, and ultimately had four more children who lived to adulthood (1 daughter married the future Spanish king, and another married the king of England). Her success as a wife and mother is indicated by her portrait’s position between Juno above and the putti below. • For his part, Henri puts aside matters of war (symbolized by his helmet and shield on the ground, and smoky battle in the distance) to fulfill his domestic duties.

From the Marie de’ Medici Cycle Peter Paul Rubens. 1625. Oil on canvas. 13’ x 9’7”.

Allegory of the Outbreak of War • Rubens frequently promoted peace as a diplomat. When commissioned in 1638 to produce a painting for Ferdinando II de’Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, Rubens expressed his attitude towards the Thirty Years’ War. • He wrote a letter explaining the allegory to his patron: “The principal figure is Mars, who has left the open temple of Janus (which in time of peace, according to Roman custom, remained closed) and rushes forth with shield and blood-stained sword, threatening the people with great disaster. He pays little heed to Venus, his mistress, who, accompanied by Amors and Cupids, strives with caresses and embraces to hold him. From the other side, Mars is dragged forward by the Fury Alekto, with a torch in her hand. Near by are monsters personifying Pestilence and Famine, those inseparable partners of War. On the ground, turning her back, lies a woman with a broken lute, representing Harmony, which is incompatible with the discord of War. There is also a mother with her child in her arms, indicating that fertility, procreation, and charity are thwarted by War, which corrupts and destroys everything. In addition, one sees an architect thrown on his back, with his instruments in his hand, to show that which, in time of peace, is constructed for the use and ornamentation of the City is hurled to the ground by the force of arms and falls to ruin. I believe, if I remember rightly, that you will find on the ground, under the feet of Mars, a book and a drawing on paper, to imply that he treads underfoot all the arts and letters. There ought also to be a bundle of darts or arrows, with the band which held them together undone; these when bound form the symbol of Concord.

Allegory of the Outbreak of War (aka Consequences of War) Rubens. 1638. Oil on canvas. 6’ 9” x 11’ 4.

Beside them is the caduceus and an olive branch, attribute of Peace; these are also cast aside. That mournful woman clothed in black, with torn veil, robbed of all her jewels and other ornaments, is the unfortunate Europe who, for so many years now, has suffered plunder, outrage, and misery, which are so injurious to everyone that it is unnecessary to go into detail. Europe’s attribute is the globe, borne by a small angel or genius, and surmounted by the cross, to symbolize the Christian world.”

Charles I Dismounted

Charles I Dismounted Anthony Van • Although originally a student of Rubens, Van Dyck moved from Antwerp to Genoa, and later to London (as court painter Dyck. to Charles I) so as not to be overshadowed by his C. 1635. Oil on internationally famous teacher. canvas. • Van Dyck developed a courtly manner of great elegance, and 9’ x 12’ specialized in dramatic portraits.

• In this painting, the English king Charles I stands in the countryside, with the River Thames (pronounced “Temz”) behind (which runs through London). • Attended by two servants, the portrait is a stylish image of relaxed authority, as if the king is out for a casual ride in the park, but no one can mistake the regal poise and the air of absolute authority. • Although Charles stands off center, the composition is balanced by the sideways glance to the viewer. • Charles I believed in the “divine right of kings” to rule (god-given power and authority). Unfortunately, his self-confidence lead to his death. • The English Parliament had him beheaded for various overreaches of power before his 50th birthday.

Apollo Attended by the Nymphs • Located above a dramatic waterfall in the gardens of Versailles is the statue of Apollo Attended by the Nymphs. • The image depicts nymphs attending to Apollo at the end of a long day. • Girardon’s study of classical Greco-Roman sculpture heavily influenced his design of the figures, and the figure compositions of the most renowned French painter of the era, Nicholas Poussin, inspired their arrangement. • As Apollo is considered the Sun God, an association could be made to Louis XIV as the Sun King. • This association helped assure the sculpture’s success with the royal court, and Girardon’s classical style and symbolism suited France’s taste for classicism and the glorification of royal majesty.

Apollo Attended by the Nymphs, Grotto of Thetis, Park of Versailles, France. Francois Girardon and Thomas Regnaudin c. 1666-1672. Marble, life-sized.

Church of the Invalides Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Paris, France. 1676-1706.

Church of the Invalides • Jules Hardouin-Mansart, designer of the Versailles Chapel, also designed the Eglise (EGG-leez) du Dome, or Church of the Invalides, in Paris. • The design for the Church of the Invalides also combines Italian Baroque and French classical architectural styles. • A square church with a massive dome, the building adjoins the veteran’s hospital Louis XIV established for the disabled soldiers of his many wars. • The façade is low and narrow in relation to the vast drum and dome, seeming to serve simply as a base for them. • The façade is distinctly divided into two sections, the upper one capped by a classical temple pediment. The grouping of the orders is similar to Italian Baroque buildings, however, it lacks the curved surfaces characteristic of such buildings. • The dome was ornately decorated inside and out.

Et in Arcadia Ego • The French royal court valued artwork with classical style, and Poussin had spent much of his life in Rome, modeling paintings on the works of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as Titian and Michelangelo. • Titian believed that artworks should depict “grand” themes (heroic acts, battles, gods, and so on), and be painted in a grand style, devoid of minute detail. • In this painting, instead of emphasizing dynamic movement and intense emotions, Poussin emulated the rational order and stability of Raphael’s paintings and antique statuary. • In this image, three shepherds living in the idyllic land of Arcadia study an inscription on a tomb, as a statuesque female figure quietly places her hand on one’s shoulder. • She may be the spirit of death, reminding these mortals, as does the inscription, that death is found even in blissful and beautiful Arcadia. • The figures are modeled after Greco-Roman statuary (the shepherd to the right is probably modeled after statues of Neptune leaning on his trident). • The classically compact and balanced grouping of the figures, the even light, and the thoughtful and reserved mood complement Poussin’s classical figure types.

Et in Arcadia Ego (Even in Arcadia, I [am present]) Nicolas Poussin. C. 1655. Oil on canvas. 2’10 x 4’.

Landscape with St. John on Patmos

Landscape with St. John on Patmos Nicolas Poussin. 1640. Oil on canvas. 3’3” x 4’5”

Landscape with St. Matthew and the Angel

• This is one of a pair of paintings Poussin painted for Gian Maria Roscioli, secretary to Pope Urban VIII. • This image, depicting St. John, was paired with a painting of St. Matthew, who reclined in right profile to face John. • Behind John is his symbol, the eagle (just as an angel is depicted behind the painting of Matthew). • St. John spent the end of his life on the Iisland of Patmos, composing the book of Revelation, his account of the end of the world and the second coming of Christ, a prophetic vision of violent destruction and the last judgment. • Ironically, Poussin’s setting is a serene classical landscape beneath a sunny sky. • St. John reclines in the foreground, posed like a Greco-Roman river god, amid shattered columns and a pedestal for a statue that disappeared long ago. In the middle ground is a decaying temple and an Egyptian obelisk (brought to Rome by ancient Emperors, and used more recently in projects by popes). The decaying buildings suggest the decline for great empires, to be replaced by Christianity in the new era. • Poussin’s landscapes are idealized, generic settings, not portraits of real places.

Adoration of the Shepherds • Georges de la Tour’s biblical subjects as well as his use of light suggest a familiarity with Caravaggio’s art or style. • The light, shaded by an old man’s hand, falls upon a group of humble men and women, coarsely clad, who gather in prayerful vigil around a luminous baby Jesus. • Without the title, this image might be read as a genre piece, depicting a scene from daily peasant life. Nothing distinguishes the figures as Mary, Joseph, Jesus, etc. • The light illuminates a group of ordinary people held in a mystic trance induced by their witnessing of the miracle of the incarnation. Even to a person unfamiliar with the biblical context, it is apparent that the people are viewing something they believe to be important or sacred. • The supernatural calm pervading the painting is characteristic of the mood of La Tour’s art. He achieved this by: -Eliminating surface detail -Simplifying body volumes -Eliminating motion and emotive gestures • These stylistic traits are among those associated with classical and Renaissance art.

Adoration of the Shpherds Georges de la Tour. 1650. Oil on canvas. 3.5” x 4.5”.

Banqueting House Inigo Jones. c. 1620. Whitehall, London, England.

Banqueting House • The most prominent English architect of the early 1600s was Inigo Jones, architect to King James I and Charles I. • Jones spent time in Italy, and admired the classical authority and restraint of Palladio’s structures, and he studied Palladio’s treatise on architecture. • This banqueting house resembles the palazzos of Rome, as a great symmetrical block of clarity and dignity. • What types of columns are being used? • How has Jones handled the roofline? • What else does this building share in common with Roman palazzos?

St. Paul’s Cathedral • Although Christopher Wren became a professor of astronomy in London at age 25, mathematics lead to architecture, and Charles II asked Wren to prepare a plan for restoring the old Gothic church of Saint Paul. • Wren proposed a new structure based on Roman structures, and when the Great Fire of London destroyed the old structure and many other churches in 1666, he got his chance. • Like Jones, Wren was influenced by Italian architecture, such as that by Palladio, however he was also well traveled in France, and was influenced by the splendid palaces and state buildings being created around Paris. • The paired columns on the façade echo the use of paired columns on the Louvre. • The great dome (situated farther back) is mitigated by the two towers on the façade, which act to balance out its presence. The style of the towers is influenced by Borromini. • The classical temple style of the lower levels are influenced by Palladio (who used classical temple fronts/pediments in his Villa Rotonda and San Giorgio Maggiore).

St. Paul’s Cathedral Sir Christopher Wren. London, England. 1675-1710.

Northern Aristocratic Baroque

Flanders (Flemish)

Netherlands (Dutch)

European after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 (Flanders is labeled as Spanish Netherlands)

Louis XIV Hyacinthe Rigaud. 1701. Oil on canvas. 9’2” x 6’3”.

Versailles Palace and Gardens Jules Hardoiuin-Mansart, Charles Le Brun, & Andre Le Notre. Begun 1669.

Versailles Palace and Gardens

Queen’s bedchamber

Royal Chapel of Versailles Jules Hardouin-Mansart and ceiling decorations by Antoine Coypel. c. 1700.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun. c. 1680.

Main entrance: The Marble Courtyard

Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens. Lived 1577 – 1640.

Elevation (Raising) of the Cross Peter Paul Rubens. 1610. Oil on wood. From St. Walburga, Antwerp. Center panel 15’ x 11’

Arrival of Marie de’Medici at Marseilles Peter Paul Rubens. 1625. Oil on canvas. 13’ x 9’7”.

From the Marie de’ Medici Cycle Peter Paul Rubens. 1625. Oil on canvas. 13’ x 9’7”.

Allegory of the Outbreak of War (aka Consequences of War) Rubens. 1638. Oil on canvas. 6’ 9” x 11’ 4.

Charles I Dismounted

Apollo Attended by the Nymphs, Grotto of Thetis, Park of Versailles, France. Francois Girardon and Thomas Regnaudin c. 1666-1672. Marble, life-sized.

Church of the Invalides Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Paris, France. 1676-1706.

Et in Arcadia Ego (Even in Arcadia, I [am present]) Nicolas Poussin. C. 1655. Oil on canvas. 2’10 x 4’.

Landscape with St. John on Patmos

Landscape with St. John on Patmos Nicolas Poussin. 1640. Oil on canvas. 3’3” x 4’5”

Landscape with St. Matthew and the Angel

Adoration of the Shpherds Georges de la Tour. 1650. Oil on canvas. 3.5” x 4.5”.

Banqueting House Inigo Jones. c. 1620. Whitehall, London, England.

St. Paul’s Cathedral Sir Christopher Wren. London, England. 1675-1710.

Context • Bank of Amsterdam founded in 1609, making Amsterdam the financial center of Europe (highest per capita income rate). • Economy is also boosted by Dutch sea-faring skill, enabling them to establish colonies and trade routes to the Americas, Africa, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. • No absolute ruler. Political power was in the hands of an urban patrician class of merchants and manufacturers. • The cities of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Delft were most prosperous. All three are located in Holland, the largest of the seven United Provinces that make up the Netherlands. • Spain and the southern Netherlands (Flanders) was predominately Catholic, but the northern Netherlands were predominately Protestant (Calvinist). The puritanical Calvinists rejected art in churches, and thus artists produced relatively little religious art in the Dutch Republic at this time. • Upon gaining independence in the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands had a newfound pride in their land. • Without an emphasis on religious art, Dutch artists instead turned to genre, landscape, still life, and portraiture (including self and group portraiture) commissioned by the wealthy merchant class. • Calvinists reject ostentation = smaller, less showy artworks.

Flanders (Flemish)

Netherlands (Dutch)

European after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 (Flanders is labeled as Spanish Netherlands) • Note: All paintings in this PowerPoint (not including prints) are oil on canvas.

Supper Party • With the new middle class of Holland came a large number of would-be art collectors. Artists at the time did commissioned pieces, but they also frequently made uncommissioned works to sell on the new art market. Artists made artwork according to the general taste of the public, in hopes of selling it. • This genre painting depicts a group of people in a dark tavern. One man strums an instrument while another, whose hands are already full, is fed chicken by a woman. • Gerrit van Honthorst, the artist, spent several years in Italy, studying the work of Caravaggio. He frequently used hidden light sources in dark night scenes. • Similarities to Caravaggio: lighting, unidealized figures, mundane setting. • Although this scene seems lighthearted, Calvinist Dutch viewers could read them moralistically. This painting could be read against the sins of gluttony (the man being fed chicken) and lust (the woman may be a prostitute, accompanied by her aged procuress). • It may also represent the company of the Prodigal Son (a parable told by Jesus, recounted in the Book of Luke). • It may also show the five senses through which it was believed sin could enter the soul.

The Supper Party Gerrit van Honthorst. 1620. 4’8” x 7’.

Archers of Saint Hadrian Frans Hals. C. 1633. 6’ 9” x 11’.

Archers of St. Hadrian • Dutch artists frequently specialized in one area (i.e. portraits, landscapes…). Frans Hals specialized in portraiture. • Traditionally, portrait artists relied on conventions (specific poses, settings, attire, etc., to convey a sense of the sitter). However, because Calvinists rejected ostentation, and chose to wear dark, undecorated clothing, the conventions traditionally used to paint kings and popes became inappropriate. • Hals’ portraits are relaxed, seem spontaneous, and convey the personality of the individuals depicted. • Participation in civic organizations was popular in 17th century Holland. This group portrait depicts the Archers of St. Hadrian, one of a number of militia groups that claimed credit for liberating the Dutch Republic from Spain, at their annual celebratory banquet. • Each militiaman is a part of the group (unified by their uniform) and also an individual, with distinct features. • Variety and spontaneity is created through variations of pose, eye contact, expressions, and physical features. • Unity is created through a repetition of uniforms (sashes, ruffs, black coats).

Women Regents • Hans also produced group portraits of Calvinist women engaged in charitable work, such as this painting. • Dutch women primarily were responsible for the welfare of the family and the home, they also populated the labor force in the cities. • Among the more prominent roles educated Dutch women played in public life were as regents of orphanages, hospitals, old age homes, and prisons. • The Haarlem regents sit quietly in a manner becoming of devout Calvinists. They seem more stern, puritanical, and composed than the celebratory militia men. • Although dressed similarly, each woman has individual features and a different expression (ranging from dour disinterest to kindly concern). • Limited color palette communicates the conservative restraint of the regents.

The Women Regents of the Old Men’s Home at Haarlem. Frans Hals. 1664. 5’ 7” x 8’ 2”.

Self-Portrait Judith Leyster. C. 1630. 2’ 5” x 2’1”.

Judith Leyster • Judith Leyster was a student of Hals who had her own successful career, focusing primarily on genre paintings such as the comic image on the easel, but also including portraits and floral still lifes. • In this self-portrait, Leyster shows herself as an artist (holding the brush and palette), sitting in front of her painting. • She turns to directly face the viewer with a quick smile and relaxed pose, which communicates her self-confidence. • The painting invites the viewer to evaluate her skill as an artist. • Instead of depicting herself in a traditional artist’s smock, she has instead painted herself in elegant attire, establishing herself as a member of a well-to-do family.

Rembrandt van Rijn Self-Portrait Rembrandt van Rijn. C. 1659. 33” x 26”.

• Rembrandt van Rijn (rhymes with “line”) was born in Leiden, but moved to Amsterdam around 1631, where he became famous for his portraiture. • He completed seventy self-portraits over the course of his lifetime, establishing a record of his appearance over time. • The hallmarks of Rembrandt’s style are his gradated use of light and brushstrokes. • Renaissance painters represented forms and faces in a flat, neutral modeling light, representing the idea of light, instead of how humans perceive light. Italian Baroque painters such as Caravaggio painted with abrupt lights and darks, which created drama but carried little subtlety. • Rembrandt used gradual gradations of light to create a kind of lighting closer to reality (though less dramatic). • Rembrandt painted using a combination of thin glazes and impasto (a technique using thick, paste-like paint). The textures of individual brushstrokes are visible. • Rembrandt found that by manipulating the direction, intensity, and distance of light, and by varying the surface texture with brushstrokes, he could render subtle nuances of character, mood, and emotion.

Self-Portraits • Rembrandt used the “psychology of light” to create a mood of tranquil meditation. The light and dark are not in conflict; they are reconciled, merging softly to produce the visual equivalent of quietness. • In the image on the left, he depicted himself as a working artist, holding his brushes, palette, and maulstick and wearing his studio smock. • The circles on the wall behind him are greatly debated, but may allude to his artistic virtuosity – the ability to draw a perfect circle freehand. • The lower half is blurrier and in shadow, drawing the eye upward to his face. • X-rays show that originally, he depicted himself in the act of painting. The choice to instead focus on his face points to a desire to depict not just a portrait of an artist, but of the individual man as well. • The artist depicted himself as having dignity and strength, with self-assurance.

Self-Portrait Rembrandt van Rijn. C. 1659. 3’ 8” x 3’ 1”.

Dr. Tulp’s Anatomy Lesson Rembrandt. 1632. 5’3” x 7’1”.

Dr. Tulp’s Anatomy Lesson • This painting is an early one of Rembrandt’s, done at age 26, just after he moved to Amsterdam. • The painting was commissioned by the surgeons’ guild, and depicts the esteemed Dr. Tulp (right) giving an anatomy lesson on a cadaver to a group of students. • The cadaver is diagonal and foreshortened to break the strict horizontal orientation typical of traditional group portraiture. • The students are grouped to the left side of the painting, and are dressed similarly, but have individual features. • One gazes toward the viewer, while another focuses on the anatomy book at the foot of the cadaver. • This painting takes Hals’ attempts to create a more relaxed, natural group portrait even further by clustering the figures unevenly.

Night Watch • Rembrandt’s The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq is more commonly, but inaccurately, known as the Night Watch. The dark tones of the painting are the result of the varnish he used, which darkened considerably over time. It was not intended to show a dark night scene. • This is another example of a civic-guard group commissioning a group portrait. • The identity of the girl is unknown. • This artwork is one of six paintings by different artists commissioned by various groups around 1640 for the assembly and banquet hall of Amsterdam’s new Musketeers Hall, the largest and fanciest hall in the city. • Unfortunately, when the city officials moved this painting to Amsterdam’s town hall in 1715, part of the edges were trimmed off. • Rembrandt enlivened and animated the group portrait by depicting the men rushing around in preparation for a parade, instead of seated. • He also recorded the three most important stages of using a musket (loading, firing, and readying the weapon for reloading) to please the patrons.

The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (Night Watch) Rembrandt. 1642. 11’ 11” x 14’ 4”.

Return of the Prodigal Son Rembrandt. C. 1665. 8’ 8” x 6’ 9”.

Return of the Prodigal Son • Despite the Calvinist injunction against religious art, Rembrandt still made several religious artworks, such as this one. It was not an object of devotion, but a narrative illustration of an event. • Rembrandt had an interest in depicting the states of the human soul. His religious paintings depict inward-turning contemplation, far from the choirs and trumpets of Bernini or Pozzo. • In this image, the wasteful son returns home, begging forgiveness. The forgiving father tenderly embraces his lost son, while three figures in shadows note the lesson of mercy. • The focus of the light is on the beautiful, spiritual face of the old man. • This painting demonstrates Rembrandts psychological insight and his profound sympathy for human affliction.

Hundred-Guilder Print • Prints were a major source of income for Rembrandt (as for Durer). • In some instances, Rembrandt even reworked the plates so they could be used to produce a new edition (group of prints). • This print’s nickname, the Hundred-Guilder Print, comes from the high sale price it brought during Rembrandt’s lifetime (a comfortable house could be bought for 1000 guilders). • He used a combination of etching and engraving. • His depiction of Christ is not one of Catholic heavenly triumph, but rather the humanity and humility of Jesus. • Christ is depicted preaching compassionately to and blessing the blind, lame, and young people spread around him. • To the left is a young man in elegant clothing, resting his head on his palm, sad about Christ’s insistence that the wealthy need to give their possessions to the poor to gain entrance to Heaven. • The wide range of values (lights/darks) is impressive on an etching. The deep shadows contrast with the light from two sources (one of which is Christ).

Christ with the Sick Around Him, Receiving the Children (Hundred-Guilder Print) Rembrandt. Etching. 1649. 11” x 15”.

Syndics of the Cloth Guild Rembrandt. 1662. 6’ 2” x 9’ 2”.

Syndics of the Cloth Guild • View of the new societal class of the businessman • In this group portrait, the five syndics (or board of directors) go over the books while a bare-headed attendant looks on. • It seems as though someone has just entered the room, and the syndics are turning to look. • The impression of surprise is enhanced by the angle we view the men (from below). • Rembrandt gives us the lively reality of a business conference as it is interrupted. • X-rays show that the poses of the men were shifted several times, until Rembrandt settled on a final arrangement. • Although this painting gives the illusion of a quick snapshot in time, in reality each man probably sat for a single long session in Rembrandt’s painting studio.

View of Delft. Jan Vermeer. C. 1661. 38” x 42”

Vermeer • Jan (or Johannes) Vermeer was a painter in Delft who made much of his money as an innkeeper and art dealer, selling paintings he put on display in his inn. • Less than forty paintings can be securely attributed to him. • In his View of Delft, Vermeer did not make a photographic reproduction of the city. Instead, he rearranged the buildings to make a more ideal composition. • Dutch landscapes emphasize the sky. • A sense of peace is created by the emphasis on stable, horizontal lines and the quiet atmosphere of soft light that seems to filter through the low clouds. • Vermeer may have used a camera obscura, not as a method of reproducing the image, but as a way of visually analyzing the image. The camera obscura would have enhanced optical distortions that lead to the “beading” of highlights (seen here on the harbored ships and dark gray architecture), which creates the illusion of brilliant light.

Camera Obscura • Since the Renaissance, artists sought mechanical aids to drawing from life. • An early predecessor of the modern camera is the camera obscura (meaning “dark chamber/room”). • The camera obscura is a dark box or room with a hole in one side (covered with a lens, to enable focusing), through which light passes. The light outside bounces off of objects outside of the box, which then passes in through the hole, and projects (upside-down) onto the opposite interior wall. • Artists could then trace the projected image. • On smaller, portable cameras obscura, a mirror was affixed inside to reflect the image onto the upper surface of the box. • Note: this “camera” does not contain any film or chemical coated glass plates onto which an image can be developed, and is thus different from modern cameras.

Camera Obscura

Vermeer’s Interiors • Vermeer is best known for his genre paintings of interiors, which mainly featured women performing everyday tasks. • In Woman Holding a Balance, a woman stands before her table, onto which all her valuable possessions (jewelry, gold) are strewn. • Our focus (drawn by the orthogonal lines) is on the woman’s hand, which holds an empty, and thus level, balance. • Ignatius of Loyola advised Catholics (Vermeer was a Catholic convert) to lead a temperate, self-aware life and to balance one’s sins with virtues. • The mirror on the wall before her may refer to self knowledge, or to vanity (another sin). • Behind the woman is a painting of the Last Judgment, underscoring the symbolism of the scales. • The woman contemplates the kind of life (one free from the temptations of worldly riches) she must lead to be judged favorably on judgment day. • Vermeer painted reflections off of surfaces in colors modified by others nearby. He also painted highlights with daubs of paint to give them a slightly “out of focus” look when inspected closely.

Woman Holding a Balance Vermeer. 1664. 16” x 14”.

Vermeer’s Interiors

Woman Holding a Balance (details)

Allegory of the Art of Painting • The artist himself appears in this painting, with his back to the viewer, and dressed in “historical” clothing (Reminiscent of Burgundian attire). • The model wears a laurel wreath and holds a trumpet and book, traditional attributes of Clio, the muse of history. • The map of the Dutch provinces (an increasingly common wall adornment in Dutch homes) on the back wall serves as another reference to history. • The viewer stands outside of the space of action, separated from the room by a heavy curtain, which separates the artist’s studio from the rest of the house. • some art historians have suggested that the light radiating from an unseen window on the left alludes to the light of artistic inspiration. • This work exemplifies Vermeer’s stylistic precision and commitment to his profession.

Allegory of the Art of Painting Jan Vermeer. 1670-1675. 4’4” x 3’8”.

Feast of St. Nicholas • The works of Jan Steen of Amsterdam provide a chaotic counterpoint to Vermeer’s images of quiet domestic tranquility. • In this scene, Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) has just visited, and the children check their shoes for gifts. Some children are delighted (such as the girl in the center who clutches her doll, unwilling to share), while others are unhappy with their gifts. • As do paintings by some other Dutch artists, Steen’s lively scenes often take on an allegorical dimension and moralistic tone. • Steen used children’s activities as satirical comments on foolish adult behavior. Feast of St. Nicholas is a warning against selfishness, pettiness, and jealousy.

Feast of St. Nicholas Steen. C. 1660. 2’8” x 2’3”.

Vanitas Still Life

Vanitas Still Life Pieter Claesz 1630. Oil on panel. 1’2” x 1’11”.

• It was with some irony that the Dutch, who produced very little from their own lands, became prominent worldwide traders (which was only possible because of their sea-faring skills). • The prosperous Dutch were proud of their accomplishments, and the popularity of vanitas (vanity) still-life paintings, showing their accumulated goods, reflected this pride. • Dutch still life paintings (some of the best in the history of the world) are both scientific in their optical accuracy and poetic in their beauty and lyricism. • The morality and humility central to the Calvinist faith tempered Dutch pride in worldly goods. • Claesz fostered the appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty of the objects he depicted, but he also reminded the viewer of life’s transience through references to death (mementos mori), such as the skull, timepiece, tipped glass, and cracked walnut. • Claesz has also included a small self-portrait in the glass ball, which underscores the sense of time (as it immortalizes the artist) as well as shows off his artistic ability. • Claesz was especially skilled at painting metal and transparent glass objects with exacting realism.

Flower Still Life Rachel Ruysch. C. 1700. 2.5’ x 2”.

Flower Still Life • Rachel Ruysch specialized in still-lifes of flowers. • As living objects that quickly die, flowers, particularly cut blossoms, appeared frequently in vanitas paintings. • Ruysch’s father was a professor of botany and anatomy, which may account for her interest in and knowledge of plants and insects. Her work shows the advances made in botany during the time. • Ruysch (1663-1750) was the court painter to the Palatine (elected leader) in Dusseldorf, Germany between 1708 and 1716. • The blossoms are plentiful, seeming to spill out of the vase. • The overall mass of blossoms makes a lower-left to upper-right diagonal, contrasting with the diagonal of the edge of the table. • Ruysch did not paint the entire arrangement from life at once. Instead, she made color sketches from fresh samples of flowers and studied illustrations in scientific botanical texts. She then composed floral arrangements of flowers that would not haven been in bloom at the same time of year. • Flowers, especially tulips, were a significant part of the Dutch economy, as the Dutch were major growers and exporters of them. • She added insects and fruit to her compositions to create interest.

View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen. Jacob van Ruisdael. C. 1670. 1’10” x 2’1”.

Ruisdael’s Landscapes • The Dutch were proud of their country’s scenery, and frequently depicted it in landscapes. Being mostly flat, the landscapes were dominated by large skies. • Dutch landscape artists (who did most of their painting in a studio, instead of in nature) were not afraid of rearranging elements of the landscape to create a more scenic image. • The image shows the flatlands around Haarlem, which had been reclaimed from the sea through a huge land filling project. This bore the connotation of God’s restoration of the Earth after Noah’s flood. This message is underscored by the large presence of a church (St. Bavo) on the horizon. • In the foreground, small human figures stretch new linens in the sun (linen production was a major industry), celebrating the industriousness and independence of the Dutch, which would have made it appealing on the Dutch art market.

Context

Apollo’s Bath Grotto, Versailles

• In France, the death of Louis XIV in 1715 lead the elites to leave the court at Versailles for the pleasures of Paris. Although they still swore allegiance to the French monarchy, the aristocrats expanded their social, political, and economic power. • The French aristocracy became leading patrons of art, favoring a style that was luxurious, frivolous, sensual, clever, and full of witty artifice – Rococo. • The word Rococo comes from a combination of the word “Baroque” and the French word rocaille (roh-KAI), meaning “pebbles,” referring to a style featuring elaborately stylized shelllike, rocklike, flower, fern, and scroll motifs. Originally designating the fanciful shell-work of artificial grottoes, rocaille came to be synonymous with Louis XV style. • A grotto is a natural or artificial cave, usually featuring water, that were used as decorations in gardens, and frequently housed sculptures.

Rocaille ornamentation

The Salon • After the death of Louis XIV, hôtels (private townhomes, not hotels as we think of them) replaced the royal court at Versailles. • In these hôtels were held regular salons, or gatherings of people (often of different classes) under the roof of an inspiring host (usually female), held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase the knowledge of the participants through conversation. • At a time when society was defined and regulated almost completely by men, women could be a powerful influence only in the salon. Women were the center of the life in the salon and carried a very important role as regulators. They could select their guests and decide about the subjects (social, literary, or political) of their meetings. • The salon served as an informal university for women in which women were able to exchange ideas, receive and give criticism, read their own works and hear the works and ideas of other intellectuals. • The intellectual exchanges which occurred in the frequent Parisian salons was instrumental in fostering the ideas of the Enlightenment.

Reading from Moliere Jean Francois de Troy c. 1728

Salon de la Princesse • The feminine look of the Rococo style suggests the taste and social initiative of the women who held salons. • In comparison to the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, the Salon de la Princesse featured softer, curvier contours instead of straight lines. • The rounded shape of the room is softened further by the gentle curve of the wall into the ceiling. • Arch-shaped openings (which housed windows or mirrors) are separated by sections of wall, topped by irregularly shaped painted sections. Above are sculptures and the arabesque tendrils of the rocaille decorations. • The rocaille decorations suggest growing foliage and shell-like shapes of nature. Salon de la Princesse Hôtel de Soubise, • In addition to their elaborate painted, sculptural, and architectural Paris, France decorations, salons would have once been additionally decorated Architect: Germain Boffrand with small sculptures, ceramics, silver pieces, small paintings, Painter: Charles-Joseph Natoire elaborately carved furniture, and tapestries. Sculptor: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne • The setting would have harmonized with the sounds of chamber c. 1740 music, elaborate costumes, and witty conversations which once filled the room.

Amalienburg • The French Rococo style quickly spread beyond Paris, as evidenced by the Amalienburg, a small lodge designed by the French architect François de Cuvilliés (KOO-vee-yay) in the park of the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Germany. • The most spectacular room in the Amalienburg is the Hall of Mirrors, which was decorated with a silver and blue ensemble of architecture, stucco relief, silvered bronze mirrors, and crystal. • Silvery light pours in through the windows, and is amplified by the interior mirrors. • The organic decorations weave rhythmically around the upper walls and the ceiling coves, as though in motion.

Hall of Mirrors François de Cuvilliés The Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace Park. Munich, Germany. Early 1700s.

Vierzehnheiligen • Although most commonly used in domestic architecture, Rococo style was also occasionally used in churches as well, such as the Pilgrimage Church of Vierzehnheiligen (14 Saints), in Germany. • Numerous windows flood the church with light, giving it a feeling of lightness and delicacy. • Although the exterior of the church appears to be a typical rectilinear basilican plan, the interior is very unusual. In what way is the architectural style of the plan influenced by Borromini? • The fluid flow of the design of connected ovals and circles creates a sense of pulsing motion. • The designs fluidity of line, the floating and hovering surfaces, the interwoven spaces, and the dematerialized masses combine to suggest a “frozen” counterpart to the intricacy of voices in a Baroque fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750).

Interior of the Pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen. Balthasar Neumann. Near Staffelstein, Germany, 1743 – 1772.

L’Indifferent • The most significant Rococo artist was JeanAntoine Watteau. • To understand the change in style from French Aristocratic Baroque to Rococo, compare Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV to Watteau’s L’Indifferent. • How are the two paintings similar or different? • Consider also the contrast in size and patronage from one era to the next (from primarily royal patronage to primarily private aristocratic patronage).

Louis XIV Hyacinthe Rigaud. 1701. Oil on canvas. 9’2” x 6’3”.

L’Indifferent Watteau. C. 1716. Oil on canvas. 10” x 7”.

Pilgrimage to Cythera. Jean-Antoine Watteau. 1717. Oil on canvas. 4’3” x 6’4”.

Pilgrimage to Cythera • In this painting, Watteau presents luxuriously costumed lovers who have made a “pilgrimage” to Cythera, the island of eternal youth and love, sacred to Aphrodite. • Watteau was largely responsible for creating a specific type of Rococo painting, called a fête galante (amorous festival) painting, which depicted the outdoor amusements of French high society. • This painting was Watteau’s submission for entry into the respectable French Royal Academy of Painting. Fête galante paintings were not yet a category, but, rather than reject his painting, the Academy made a special new category for it. • At the time, the Academy was split between following Poussin (who emphasized form instead of color or detail) or Rubens (who emphasized a coloristic approach). With the admission of Watteau (a Rubens follower), the Rubenistes won out, establishing the coloristic Rococo style as preferred. • Watteau strove to depict elegance and sweetness, by using soft, hazy lighting and subtly modeled shapes. • He captured slow movement from unusual angles, searching for the smoothest, most poised, and most refined attitudes. • The hazy color, gliding motions, and the air of suave gentility appealed to Watteau’s wealthy patrons.

Signboard of Gersaint Signboard of Gersaint. Watteau. C. 1721. Oil on canvas. 5’4” x 10’1”

• Watteau’s life was cut short by tuberculosis, of which he died at 36. The final weeks of his life were spent at the house of Edme François Gersaint, a prominent art dealer with an art gallery in Paris. • During his final illness, Watteau painted this image as a signboard for Gersaint’s shop. When hung, it proved so popular that it was sold shortly thereafter. • This is a generic image of an art gallery, not a specific depiction of Watteau’s shop. • Of what class are the people in the shop?

• A painting of Louis XIV is being lowered into a crate on the left. This may refer to the name of the shop, Au Grand Monarche. It may also be a reminder of his death a few years prior. • Above the painting of Louis is a clock, on top of which is a personification of Fame sheltering a pair of lovers. This is a reminder that the passage of time ravages fame and love. • The young woman gazing into a mirror on the right represents vanity (vanitas), and the frailty of human life.

Cupid a Captive • After Watteau’s passing, François Boucher (1703-1770) rose to prominence, in part because he was a favorite artist of Madame Pompadour (a popular salon hostess and mistress to Louis XV). • Boucher was well known for his depictions of nymphs and goddesses cavorting playfully in leafy Arcadian landscapes. • In this image, a pyramid of pink and ivory female and infant skin is set of against a cool, shady green background. • The soft pink and sky blue light seems to radiate off the pale flesh of the figures, which is both covered and revealed by the fluttering draperies. • The dramatic crisscrossing diagonals, curvilinear forms, and twisting of bodies are softened from the powerful drama of Baroque style to a lighthearted, sensual playfulness. • Although these scenes depict fictitious figures, they reflect the favorite aristocratic enjoyment of leisurely frolics in nature.

Cupid a Captive François Boucher 1754. Oil on canvas. 5’6” x 2’10”

Girl Reclining: Louise O’Murphy François Boucher. 1751. Oil on canvas. 29” x 23”.

Girl Reclining • Boucher created many decorations for Versailles, as well as provided designs to major tapestry manufacturing companies. • In 1765, Boucher became First Painter to the King. In this role he painted several portraits of Louis XC, scenes from daily life, mythological pictures, and a series of erotic works often depicting the adventures of Venus. • One such picture is Girl Reclining: Louis O’Murphy, which shows the 18 year old O’Murphy stretched out nude on a couch. • With her clothing and pillows strewn around her, and a pink rose fallen to the floor, there is little doubt as to the erotic connotation. • In contrast to Watteau’s images of gods, goddesses, and putti frolic around in unreal settings, Boucher’s painting depicts a very real human in a real Parisian room. • Images such as this one, when hung on a wall, would usually have a small curtain affixed to the front, so that only men could view the works, and women would be shielded from their “improper” content.

The Swing • Fragonard was a student of Boucher whose coloristic, decorative skill matched his masters. • In this scene, a young aristocrat man has convinced an old bishop to swing the young man’s sweetheart higher and higher, while her lover (and the work’s patron), in the lower left, stretches out to admire her from a strategic position on the ground. • The young woman flirtatiously kicks off one shoe towards a statue of Cupid, who puts his a finger to his lips. • The Watteau-like landscape is lush with leaves and swirling branches. • The warm tones of the young woman make her stand out against the cool greens and blues of the background. • The glowing soft light and the pastel colors convey the theme’s sensuality. • The setting resembles that of a stage scene for one of the popular comic operas.

The Swing Jean-Honoré Fragonard 1766. Oil on canvas. 2’8” x 2’2”

Apotheosis of the Pisani Family Giambattista Tiepolo. 1762. Ceiling fresco in the Villa Pisani, Stra, Italy. 77’1” x 44’3”.

Apotheosis of the Pisani Family • Giambattista Tiepolo was a Venetian painter, who was trained in the illusionistic style of Italian Baroque ceiling frescoes. • He was well travelled, producing works in Austria, Germany, Spain, and Italy. • Although trained in the Baroque ceiling style, he enjoyed the bright, cheerful colors and relaxed compositions of Rococo easel paintings, and strove to combine the two. • In this huge ceiling fresco, Tiepolo depicted seemingly weightless figures fluttering through vast sunlit skies and fleecy clouds, their figures dark against the white clouds behind. • Tiepolo elevated the rank of the members of the Pisani family to those of gods in a light-hearted, heavenly scene.

Invention of the Balloon. Clodion. 1784. Terracotta model for a monument, height 43”.

Invention of the Balloon • By the last quarter of the 1700s, Rococo fell mainly out of style, criticized for being frivolous and immoral. • One artist who continued in the Rococo style until the French Revolution was Claude Michel, known as Clodion, a sculptor who specialized in small, terracotta sculptures for tabletops. • This piece is one he made to win the commission for a monument commemorating the invention of the hot air balloon, which at the time were highly decorated with golden braids, tassels, and painted Rococo scenes. • Clodion’s balloon rises from a columnar launching pad in billowing clouds of smoke, heralded at the right by a trumpeting Victory. • Putti stoke the fire basket, providing the hot air to make the balloon ascend, while others gather reeds for feul and fly up toward them.

Nymph and Satyr Carousing Clodion. 1790. Terra-cotta. 1’11” high.

Nymph and Satyr Cavorting • Clodion also made sensual figure sculptures to be placed on tabletops in elegant Rococo salons. • In this sculpture, depicting two followers of Bacchus, a nymph rushes to pour wine into the mouth of a half-man, half-goat satyr. • How is this sculpture reminiscent of Mannerist sculptures (such as Saltcellar of Francis I by Cellini and Abduction of the Sabine Women by Giovanni da Bologna)? • In what ways does this sculpture fit into the style of Rococo?

18th Century Styles The Art of the Enlightenment

Neoclassicism (late 1700s to early 1800s)

Context •1. Neoclassicism is a reaction against Rococo art-- Rejection of art made

primarily to please, was decorative, escapist, bucolic, pastoral, and fantasy. 2. Neoclassicism is a logical conclusion to 18th century Naturalism – Expresses new sensibility in art which reflects new thinking in France of middle class people. The nobility of work and the simple life (Rousseau), reason and moral integrity (not hedonism/luxury) (Voltaire), and edification/content (not escape/fantasy) (Diderot). 3. Neoclassicism is an expression of The Enlightenment (The Age of Reason) – Rousseau, Locke, Diderot, Voltaire. - Thinking about the world, independent of religion, myth, or tradition. - Mankind can only find truth by using rational thought and evidence to support it (Locke’s Doctrine of Empiricism) 4. Revival of interest in Ancient Greece/Rome – Winckelmann’s writings, new discoveries of antiquity, Herculaneum/Pompeii, Piranesi’s prints of Rome. 5. The French Revolution adopts Neoclassicism and the Greek ideal of liberty and democracy in the light of reason and in reaction to the repressive monarchy. Propaganda – painting was used to promote the revolutionary ideals and highest virtues of the revolution. 6. Napoleon adopts Neoclassicism – painting and architecture served political agenda – propaganda – Napoleon saw himself as the new “Caesar” of a new empire, with Paris as the new Rome. Architectural programs promote that grandiose self-image – glorification of Napoleon in paintings.

Kauffmann • The renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome also manifested in a resurgence of classical painting subjects and style, known as Neoclassicism (“new Classicism”). • The Enlightenment’s emphasis on rationality explains this classical focus, because the geometric harmony of classical art and architecture embodied Enlightenment ideals. • In addition, classical cultures represented the pinnacle of civilized society. Greece and Rome served as models of enlightened political organization, with their traditions of liberty, civic virtue, morality, and sacrifice. • Johann Joachim Winckelmann, considered the first art historian, wrote the History of Ancient Art (1764), in which he described ancient works of Greco-Roman art and positioned each one within a huge inventory by subject matter, style, and period (rather than focusing on artist biographies). In this way, he applied the scientific method of categorization to art history. • Angelica Kauffmann was a Swiss artist who worked in England, and was a founding member of the British Royal Academy of Arts. • In this image, Cornelia (mother of 2nd Century Roman leaders Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus) shows off her two sons as her “jewels” to a woman who is showing off her own jewelry. • Moralizing image, but set in ancient Roman setting.

Cornelia Presenting her Children as her Treasures Angelica Kauffmann. c. 1785. Oil on canvas. 40” x 50”

David

Oath of the Horatii Jacques-Louis David 1784. Oil on canvas. 10’10” x 13’11”

• Initially influenced by his distant cousin Boucher, Jacques-Louis David traveled to Rome and became enamored with the “perfect form” of classical Greco-Roman sculptures, and rejected Rococo as artificial. • This scene depicts a story from pre-Republican Rome, in which the leaders of the warring cities of Rome and Alba decided to resolve their conflicts in a series of encounters waged by three representatives from each side. The Romans chose the three Horatius brothers, and the Albans chose the three Curatius brothers. The Horatius brothers prepare to fight for Rome. • The women on the right weep, because one Horatius sister is engaged to a Curatius brother, and the wife of one of the Horatius brothers is a sister to the Curatii. This creates a contrast between the masculine virtues of heroism and civic valor with emotion, love, and sorrow. • David used Roman art as his model, arranging his figures in a shallow, relief- or stage-like space. • This painting was commissioned by Louis XVI to arouse civic pride, but it ironically incited revolutionary fervor.

Death of Marat Jacques-Louis David. 1793. Oil on canvas. 5’5” x 4’2”.

David • When the Revolution began, David sided with the Jacobins, a politically radical faction, who employed him as their main creator of propaganda. He used his art to inspire civic duty. • He ultimately decided to abandon images of classical events in favor of depicting current ones to create revolutionary zeal. • This image depicts Jean-Paul Marat, a Jacobin writer who was murdered in his bathtub (he suffered a skin condition which required frequent medicinal baths) by a woman named Charlotte Corday, a member of a rival political faction. • The dark, empty space creates a sense of eerie oppression. • The items indicating the narrative are all included in the foreground, such as the knife, and the letter with which Corday gained entrance, to enhance the outrage of the viewer. • The composition is based on Christ in Michelangelo’s Pieta, making an allusion to Marat as a saint-like martyr for the new civic “religion” of the revolution.

Soufflot’s Panthéon • As painting turned away from the ornate ostentation of Baroque and Rococo styles, it returned to the clean, streamlined look of Classical architecture, echoing the Enlightenment emphasis on logic, order, and reason. • The Parisian church of Sainte-Genevieve, now the Panthéon, was based on the Roman ruins at Baalbek in Lebanon, especially the titanic Corinthian colonnade of the temple of Jupiter. • The walls are mostly blank, except for the garland at the top. • Floorplan is a Greek cross (equal length arms). • The drum of the dome is surrounded by a colonnade, a Neoclassical version of the dome of St. Peter’s. • The interior is supported by a grid of Corinthian columns. • Although the style is clearly Roman, the structural principles and modular plan is Gothic.

Panthéon (Sainte-Geneviéve Church) Jacques-Germain Soufflot Paris, France 1755-1792.

Chiswick House

Banqueting House Inigo Jones.

• Classical architecture was appealing in parliamentary England because of its association with morality, rationality, integrity, Athenian democracy, and Roman imperial rule. It rejected Baroque opulence, associated with absolute monarchies. • Vitruvius influenced Palladio who influenced Inigo Jones who influenced Kent & Boyle. • In 1715, Colin Campbell published Vitruvius Britannicus, which contained engravings of ancient buildings and text which denounced Baroque style while praising Jones and Palladio. • This also helped to popularize classical architecture, which Kent and Boyle drew from for Chiswick house, a new version of Palladio’s Villa Rotonda. Chiswick House • In its simple symmetry, unadorned planes, right angles, and Richard Boyle and William Kent Near London, England. Begun 1725. precise proportions, Chiswick looks classical and rational. • However, this stern classical rationality is softened by the irregularity of the surrounding informal English garden, and the Rococo interior.

Villa Rotonda Palladio.

Jefferson • The statesman Thomas Jefferson, who was also an amateur architect, attempted to make Neoclassical style the “official” architectural style of the Unites States because it communicated morality, idealism, patriotism, civic virtue, and a connection to Athenian democracy. • Jefferson admired Palladio, and had studied Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture closely. • After returning from France (where he had studied the Maison Carree, an ancient Roman temple at Nimes), he began to redesign his home, Monticello. • His new design was clearly influenced by Palladio’s Villa Rotonda, however it differed in that he used local materials (timber and brick). • As president, he appointed Benjamin Latrobe to build the US Capitol in Washington, DC in Roman style. • Jefferson designed the University of Virginia (which he founded) with a rotunda (reminiscent of the Pantheon) at the end of a large rectangular lawn. The lawn is lined on both sides with a total of ten different temples, similar to small Roman temples.

Monticello Thomas Jefferson Charlottesville, Virginia. 1770-1806.

Rotunda and Lawn, University of Virginia, Charlottesville Thomas Jefferson, c. 1820.

Houdon’s Washington

George Washington Jean Antoine Houdon 1790. Marble, 6’2”.

• Neoclassicism also became the preferred style for public sculpture in the new American republic. • The commission for the public sculpture of George Washington was awarded to the leading French Neoclassical sculptor, Jean-Antoine Houdon. • How is this sculpture of Washington the sculptural equivalent of a Grand Manner portrait? • The “column” upon which Washington leans is a bundle of rods with an axe attached, known as a fasces, a Roman emblem of authority. There are 13 rods (one for each of the thirteen original states). • The plow behind Washington alludes to Cincinnatus, a patrician of the early Roman Republic who was elected dictator during a time of war, and resigned his position as soon as victory had been achieved, to return to his farm. • Washington wears the badge of the Society of the Cincinnati, an association founded in 1783 of officers of the revolutionary army who had resumed their peacetime roles. • Washington’s sword is no longer held in hand.

George Washington Horatio Greenough 1840. Marble. 11’4”.

Greenough’s Washington • After his death, Washington’s popularity rose until he was venerated as the “father” of the United States. • In 1840, Congress commissioned the American sculptor Horatio Greenough to create a statue of Washington to place under the dome of the capitol building. • Greenough used Houdon’s portrait as his model for the head, but he portrayed Washington as seminude and enthroned, as Phidias depicted Zeus in the famous lost statue he made for Zeus’ temple at Olympia. • Although the colossal statue epitomizes the Neoclassical style, it was not well received, and it was never placed in its originally intended spot. • Shortly thereafter, Neoclassicism fell out of style in favor of Romanticism.

Napoleon Bonaparte • The disarray of the aftermath of the French Revolution left the door open to Napoleon Bonaparte to create a new kind of monarchy, with himself as emperor. • In 1799, after serving in various French army commands and leading campaigns in Italy ad Egypt, Napoleon became First Consul of the French Republic (a title with clear and intentional links to the ancient Roman Republic). • Over the next 15 years, Napoleon gained control of almost all of continental Europe through alliances. • He became Emperor of the French in 1804. • He lead a disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, and was then defeated by the British at Waterloo in present-day Belgium. He then abdicated the throne and went into exile on the island of St. Helena, where he died six years later.

Napoleon on his Imperial Throne Ingres. 1806.

Napoleon Crossing St. Bernard (Alps) • After the death of Robespierre in 1794, David barely escaped alive. He stood trial and went briefly to prison. • David worked to re-establish his reputation, and, in 1804, Napoleon offered him the position of First Painter of the Empire. • Napoleon sought to build an empire similar to that of Ancient Rome, and favored David’s Neoclassical style. • In this painting (also known as Napoleon Crossing the Alps), David depicted Napoleon in the Grand Manner, using artistic license to imagine how Napoleon might have appeared as he led his troops into Italy. • What descriptive terms describe this painting? • What about this painting communicates Napoleon’s greatness?

Napoleon Crossing the St. Bernard Pass (Alps) David. 1800. Oil on canvas. 8’11” x 7’7”

Coronation of Napoleon • When he became emperor, Napoleon chose to crown himself (instead of having the pope crown him), as well as his wife, Josephine (who kneels before him to receive her crown). • Which figure is Pope Pius VII? • How are the other figures organized? • This painting mixes actual aspects of the event (such as the faithful depiction of the interior of Notre Dame, Paris, in which the event took place) as well as invented aspects Napoleon insisted be included (such as the presence of his mother, who refused to attend in reality, in the center of the background, and the pope’s gesture of blessing). • What aspects of the painting indicate the tensions between church an state at the time? • This large-scale painting depicts the pomp and pageantry of the event, serving as propaganda of Napoleon’s power. • After Napoleon fell from power, David was put into exile in Brussels, where he died in 1825.

Coronation of Napoleon David. 1808. Oil on canvas. 20’4” x 32’1”

La Madeleine • Napoleon also used classical architecture to underscore his imperial authority. • The church of La Madeleine had already been started, but construction had halted in 1790. • Napoleon converted the building into a “temple of glory” for France’s imperial armies (the structure again reverted to a church after Napoleon’s defeat). • The architect Pierre Vignon designed the building with a high podium and a broad flight of stairs leading to a deep porch with Corinthian columns in the front. • This recalls the Maison Carree at Nimes, France, linking Napoleon and the Roman empires. • Strangely, the interior is covered by a sequence of three domes, a feature found in Byzantine and Romanesque churches.

La Madeleine Pierre Vignon 1807-1842. Paris, France.

Pauline Borghese as Venus Pauline Borghese as Venus Antonio Canova. 1808. Marble, 6’ 7” long.

• Napoleon also favored Neoclassical sculpture. His favorite sculptor was Antonio Canova, an Italian sculptor who was famous for his depictions of Roman gods and goddesses. • Canova made numerous portraits, in Neoclassical style, of the emperor and his family. • Pauline Borghese was Napoleon’s sister. Although Canova suggested depicting her as Diana, goddess of the hunt, she insisted upon being depicted as Venus, goddess of love. • She reclines gracefully, holding the golden apple in her left hand, symbol of the goddess’ triumph in the judgment of Paris. • Evocative of Venus de Milo and Roman sarcophagus lids. • Napoleon arranged the marriage of his sister to an heir of the noble Roman Borghese family, but once Pauline was in Rome, gossip began about her undignified affairs. • Because of his wife’s questionable reputation (and the connotations of her depiction as the goddess of love), Prince Camillo Borghese (the work’s official patron), kept the sculpture sequestered in the Villa Borghese in Rome, allowing few to see the portrait.

Burial of Atala

Burial of Atala Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson. 1808. Oil on canvas. 6’11” x 8’9”. Jean-Baptiste Belley Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson. 1797. Oil on canvas.

• David’s success lead to many talented young artists seeking him out as a teacher. He influenced many great artist’s of the next generation, namely Ingres (“Angrh”), Girodet-Trioson, and Gros. • David insisted that his students learn Latin and study the ancient author Plutarch. As such, his students’ work shows Neoclassical elements, although he also encouraged them to find their own artistic paths. • Burial of Atala, based on the novel The Genius of Christianity, is an important bridge between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. • The novel tells the story of two Native Americans in Louisiana, Atala and Chactas. They are from different tribes, but fall in love and run away together. Atala, sworn to lifelong virginity, commits suicide rather than break her oath. • The eroticism (underlying sexual tension) and exoticism (European curiosity in what was to them a strange, foreign people) made the story highly popular. Appealed to emotion. • Atala is buried, with the assistance of a cloaked priest, in the shadow of a cross, showing the Christianization of the New World. • Girodet-Trioson also depicted Jean-Baptiste Belley, a native of Senegal and former slave who had bought his own freedom, and became a French legislator.

Apotheosis of Homer Ingres. 1827. Oil on canvas. 12’8” x 16’ 11”.

Apotheosis of Homer • In Ingres’ large-scale painting, Winged Victory (or Fame) crowns the epic poet Homer, who sits like a god on a throne before an Ionic temple. • At Homer’s feet are two women, personifications of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the offspring of his imagination. • Symmetrically grouped around him is a company of the “sovereign geniuses” – as Ingres called them – who expressed humanity’s highest ideals in philosophy, poetry, music, and art. On the left: -Anacreon (poet, with his lyre) -Phidias with his sculptor’s hammer -Plato and Socrates -Horace and Vergil (poets) -Dante -Raphael (as the painting echoes School of Athens) On the right: - Poussin (pointing) and Shakespeare (half concealed), Moliere, Voltaire, and other French writers. • How did Ingres organize the figures logically?

Grande Odalisque • This painting depicts a nude woman reclining in an odalisque, or Turkish harem. • The woman followed the grand tradition of antiquity and the Renaissance figures. Ingres borrowed Raphael’s type of female head. • The woman’s languid pose, small head, and elongated limbs, and the generally cool color scheme reveal the painter’s debt to Parmigianino and the Italian Mannerists. • The setting, an odalisque, conceded to the new Romantic taste for the exotic. • The strange mixture of styles lead to sharp criticism. Critics saw Ingres as a rebel in both the form and content of his work, until in the mid-1820s, a new painter, Delacroix, lead the movement of Romantic art. By comparison, Ingres’ paintings seemed more traditional and Neoclassical than they had previously.

Grande Odalisque Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres 1814. Oil on canvas. 3’ x 5’4”.

Romanticism

Context • The ideas of Rousseau greatly inspired the rise of Romanticism, which peaked between approximately 1800-1850. • Romanticism emerged from a desire for freedom (of religion, speech, politics, thought, action, and taste). Romantics believed the path to freedom was through imagination rather than reason, and functioned through feeling rather than through thinking. • Inspired in part by German Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) movement, which favored violent, often irrational emotion over the rationality of the Enlightenment. • Favored emotions, such as awe, horror, terror, and fear • Anti-Enlightenment, pro-emotion. Artists were free to express themselves, instead of relying on Classical forms/proportions. • Reaction to urbanization/industrialization. Escape through imagination. • Interest in the “dark ages” (middle-ages), which were associated with barbarism, superstition, mystery, miracle, and grotesque, nightmarish fantasies. • Interest in the exotic and different.

The Nightmare • An artist who helped begin the transition from Neoclassical to Romantic art was the Swiss-born Henry Fuseli, who moved in England and became a member of the Royal Academy. • Fuseli focused on the dark fantasies of his vivid imagination, depicting horrifying nightmares, the demonic, the macabre, and the sadistic. • In this painting, a young woman sleeps fitfully, with an evil nightmare perched upon her chest, while a ghostly horse with white eyes looks on from behind a curtain. • “Nightmare” may seem like a pun on “night” and “mare,” but actually the word derives from the Scandinavian word “mara” (a type of demon that tortures victims while they sleep). • Fuseli was the first to depict the dark terrain of the human subconscious that became an important subject matter for later artists.

The Nightmare Henry Fuseli 1781. Oil on canvas. 3’4” x 4’1”

Blake • In addition to being a prolific engraver, William Blake was also a renowned poet and painter. • Blake admired ancient Greek art because it exemplified for him the mathematical and thus the eternal, and his work often contains classical references. • However, Blake did not align himself with the Neoclassicists, choosing instead to derive the inspiration for many of his paintings and poems from his dreams. • Blake believed the rationalist search for scientific explanations of the world stifled the spiritual side of human nature, BUT he also believed that the dogma and rules of orthodox religions killed individual creativity. • In his depiction of God, he combined the idea of the Creator with that of wisdom as a part of God (indicated by the rays of light that also resemble an architect’s measuring tool). • Blake used the Ancient of Days image as the frontispiece (an illustration page facing the title page of a book) for his book Europe: A Prophecy. • He labeled the frontispiece illustration with a Biblical quote: “When he set a compass upon the face of the deep,” from Proverbs 8:27. The narrator of the quote is Wisdom, who describes being with God during the time of creation.

Ancient of Days Frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy William Blake, 1794. Metal relief etching, hand colored. 9”x7”

Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, from Los Caprichos. Francisco Goya. C. 1798. Etching and aquatint. 8.5” x 6”.

• Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828). Spanish. • The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters was made using a combination of etching and aquatint (a type of intaglio printing which, like etching, involves biting a zinc or copper plate with acid to create a groove which will hold the ink. However, in regular etching, marks are made in a solid ground using a needle, whereas with aquatint, powdered rosin replaces the ground. The powdered rosin is heated enough to stick it to the plate, and it then protects small dots of the plate from the acid bath, creating a speckled effect). • Although Goya was a contemporary of David, he rejected Neoclassicism (but not without much deliberation). • The figure in the image is Goya himself, sleeping, while owls (symbolic of folly) and bats (symbols of ignorance) swirl about. • Is this a portrayal of what emerges when reason is suppressed, as an endorsement of Enlightenment ideals? Or is it a depiction of Goya’s commitment to the creative process and the Romantic spirit, in which he is willing to unleash imagination, emotion, and nightmares for his art?

Family of Charles IV • Goya was the court painter under the Spanish king Charles IV. Goya was torn by his role as court painter (who owed allegiance to the king) and his desire for a more free Spain. • Like Velasquez before him, Goya included himself in the image, to help elevate his position as an artist. • Historians have argued that Goya tried to subtly make the royal family seem ridiculous in this portrait. • The king stares blankly outward, while the queen (who was having an affair with the prime minister at the time) looks outward at an angle towards the viewer. A startled looking family member looks out from behind the king (a face perhaps added at the last minute). • After growing dissatisfaction with King Charles IV, the public threw their support behind his son, Ferdinand VII, who requested help from Napoleon, who obliged. • Napoleon told Charles IV that he would send his troops into Spain to help Charles fight the Portuguese, but once Napoleon’s troops were in Spain, they instead overthrew Charles. • Once Charles was overthrown, Napoleon placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne, beginning a bloody 7 year long war.

Family of Charles IV Goya. 1800. Oil on canvas. 10’ x 11’

detail

Third of May, 1808 Francisco Goya, 1815. Oil on canvas. 8’9” x 13’4”

Goya’s Scenes of War • The Spanish people, finally recognizing the French as invaders, attacked Napoleon’s soldiers in a chaotic and violent clash on May 2, 1808. • In retaliation, Napoleon ordered his troops the next day to round up and execute Spanish citizens. This tragic event is the subject of Goya’s Third of May, 1808 painting. • Third of May, 1808 was commissioned by Ferdinand VII in 1814 after he had reclaimed the throne after the final ouster of the French. • What creates a sense of drama in this image? • Why are the Spanish peasants more relatable/sympathetic than the French firing squad? • What does the man with his hands in the air resemble? • Goya also created over 80 etchings depicting the various atrocities and horrors of the war, known collectively as the Disasters of War. These were in protest of the French occupation, although Goya was officially the court painter for Joseph Bonaparte.

Y No Hai Remedio (And There’s Nothing to be Done) From Los Desastres de la Guerra . Francisco Goya, 1810. Etching, drypoint, burin, and burnishing.

Goya’s Disasters of War • What is at the feet of the man standing in the foreground? What is behind him? • What is happening to the man? What is the situation? How do you know? What does the man remind you of? • The Disasters of War series is divided into 3 groups: 1. The first group of prints, to which Y No Hai Remedio belongs, shows the sobering consequences of conflict between French troops and Spanish civilians. 2. The second group documents the effects of a famine that hit Spain in 1811-1812, at the end of French rule. 3. The final set of pictures depicts the disappointment and demoralization of the Spanish rebels, who, after finally defeating the French, found that their reinstated monarchy would not accept any political reforms. Although they had expelled Bonaparte, the throne of Spain was still occupied by a tyrant. • The brutal and disturbing imagery forces the viewer to face that they have allowed such cruelty to take place. • The prints were not made/published until 35 years after Goya’s death. Why? • Message: Even if justified, war brings out the inhumane in man, causing man to act like beasts.

Saturn Devouring One of his Children Goya, 1823. Fresco, later detached and mounted on canvas. 4’9” x 2’8”

Saturn Devouring One of his Children • Over time, Goya became increasingly disillusioned and pessimistic, worsened by his failing health. • Among Goya’s later works are the “Black Paintings,” frescoes he painted on the walls of his farmhouse near Madrid. • These works were made solely for himself, and are thus pure insight into his state of mind, unsullied by the agenda of a patron. • In this image, Saturn (aka Chronos) is depicted devouring his children (the gods/goddesses of Olympus). Instead of swallowing them whole, he rips them apart in a scene of bloody carnage. • In what ways is Saturn made too look more horrifying? • Because of the similarity of Chronos the god and chronos the Greek word for time, Saturn was associated with time. Some art historians have suggested the painting was an expression of the artist’s despair over the passage of time.

Raft of the Medusa • Although Gericault (JER-ri-coh) had completed extensive classical training, he preferred to create art with emotional force and dramatic complexity, eschewing Neoclassical rigidity. • This painting depicts the event of the shipwreck of the Medusa, a French frigate which ran aground on a reef off the coast of Senegal, Africa, due to the incompetence of the captain, a political appointee who reserved all 6 lifeboats for himself and his cronies (a big political scandal once the news broke). • 150 passengers built a makeshift raft from pieces of the ship, but over the course of 13 days, the number of survivors fell to only 15. • In this large painting, Gericault captured the horror, chaos, and emotion of the event, as suffering, emaciated survivors attempt to flag down the distant ship that ultimately saved them. • Gericault ensured the accuracy of his representation by visiting hospitals and morgues to examine corpses and the sickly, interviewed the actual survivors, and had a model of the raft constructed in his studio. • Figures are arranged in a messy, writhing, x-shaped heap (very different from orderly Neoclassicism). • Designed as a jibe against the king (Louis XVIII), and a reminder of the perils of political corruption.

Raft of the Medusa Theodore Gericault 1819. Oil on canvas. 16’1” x 23’6”.

• The man waving the flag at the apex of the figures is of African descent, and shows Gericault’s abolitionist beliefs. Also, shows that freedom is often dependent on the most oppressed members of society. • No patron. Instead, the painting was put on a 2 year tour of Ireland/England, where over 50,000 visitors paid to see it.

Insane Woman • Mental aberration interested the Romantic artists who rebelled against Enlightenment rationality. • Gericault believed (as was common at the time) that the human face accurately revealed character, especially at the moment of death and in madness. • Gericault made numerous studies of the inmates of institutions for the insane, and he studied the severed heads of guillotine victims. • Scientific and artistic curiosity accompanied the morbidity of the Romantic interest in derangement and death. • In this portrait of an insane woman, Gericault breaks sharply with idealized traditional portraiture. • What aspects of this artwork might indicate the sitter’s state of mind?

Insane Woman Gericault. 1823. Oil on canvas. 2’4” x 1’9”

Napoleon in the Plague House at Jaffa Antoine-Jean Gros. 1804. Oil on canvas, 17’5” x 23’7”.

Gros • Gros was a student of David’s since he was a teenager, but eventually came to compete with David for Napoleon’s commissions. • Gros travelled with Napoleon on his expeditions, and eventually became the official painter of his military expeditions. • This painting of an actual event was done in the Grand Manner. • During Napoleon’s campaign against the Ottoman Turks in 1799, an outbreak of the bubonic plague killed many on both sides. To quell the fears of his still-healthy soldiers, Napoleon visited the sick who had been quarantined in a converted mosque in Jaffa (present-day Israel). • Napoleon reaches out to touch the sores of a sick man, reminiscent of Christ healing the sick. • The figures on the lower left are similar to the figures in the hellmouth of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. • Although the figures are arranged on a shallow stage like in David’s Oath of the Horatii, The loose brushwork, warm colors, and emotional resonance characterize this work as Romantic. Also, the focus is on Napoleon, not civic virtue. • A rumor was spreading that Napoleon had ordered the remaining sick poisoned after he left Jaffa.

Liberty Leading the People: July 28, 1830 Eugene Delacroix. 1830. Oil on canvas. 8’6” x 10’8”

Phyrgian cap

Delacroix • When Napoleon was defeated in 1815, the victorious neighboring nations re-imposed a monarchy on France under Louis XVIII (brother of Louis XVI). Although the king’s power was initially limited by a constitution and a parliament, over time he began undoing revolutionary reforms. • Louis XVIII’s successor was Charles X, who reinstated press censorship, returned education to the Catholic Church, and limited voting rights. • The people staged an uprising in Paris over the course of 3 days in July 1830. The Bourbon monarchical line was overthrown and replaced with a more moderate king from the Orleanist line, who promised to follow a constitution. This period in history is known as the July Monarchy. • How do we know this is set in Paris? • What is unusual about the assortment of rebels? • Liberty carries a modern weapon and a Phyrgian cap (the ancient symbol for a freed slave and the cap used by the rebels). • The moment is emotionally charged, full of turmoil, passion, and danger. The revolutionaries charge the barricades to almost certain death, making this a dramatic example of Romanticism.

Death of Sardanapalus. Eugene Delacroix, 1827. Oil on canvas. 12’1” x 16’3”

• The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is an example of Romantic literature. In what ways does the story exemplify Romanticism?

Delacroix • Much as the followers Poussin and Rubens quarreled in the late 1700s, so did art historians quarrel over the superiority of Delacroix or Ingres (Delacroix’s Neoclassical contemporary who painted Grande Odalisque and Apotheosis of Homer). • Poussin and Ingres shared a cleaner, more linear and rational style, whereas Delacroix and Rubens were more coloristic and emotional. • This work was inspired by the Lord Byron poem Sardanapalus. Poetry/literature were studied closely by Romantic artists. • This image depicts the last hour of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, whom the Greeks called Sardanapalus. The king just learned of his armies’ defeat and the enemies’ entry into his city. • Although Byron’s poem described the moment as a solemn suicide, Delacroix reimagines it as an hour of orgiastic destruction. • As Ashurnabanipal reclines on his soon-to-be funeral pyre, he watches the destruction of his most prized possessions (concubines, slaves, treasure, animals). A slave stabs a concubine in the neck. Another concubine throws herself onto the pyre. • This is another example of the Romantic interest in exoticism and eroticism.

Delacroix in Morocco • Although Romantic painters had no problem with depicting exotic faraway places they had never seen, Delacroix decided to journey to Morocco (northern Africa) in 1832. • While there, he found the culture more closely related to ancient Greece and Rome than in contemporary Rome, with the Moroccan’s fierce love of liberty, gallantry, and valor. • His voyage reinforced his Romantic belief that beauty exists in the fierceness of nature, natural processes, and natural beings, especially animals. • In his later years, more of Delacroix paintings depicted animals, often fighting each other or a human. • Although Delacroix was interested in and admired Moroccan culture, he still described it as being “primitive,” indicating that he believed it was less sophisticated than his own home culture.

Tiger Hunt Delacroix, 1854. Oil on canvas. 2’5” x 3’

Departure of the Volunteers • Francois Rude’s sculpture depicted here incorporates both Romantic and Neoclassical elements. Departure of the • This colossal relief decorates the Arc de Triomphe in Paris Volunteers of 1792 (164’ tall), which was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon to (La Marseillaise) commemorate the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars François Rude Arc de Triomphe, (completed in 1840). Paris, France. • Construction of the arch was halted after Napoleon’s defeat 1836. Limestone. until 1833, after which this sculptural group was added. 41’ 8” high. • The Roman goddess of war Bellona encourages the patriots of all ages below to defend France’s borders against the foreign enemies of the revolution in 1792. • Bellona personifies liberty as well as the Marseillaise, the revolutionary hymn that is now France’s national anthem. • The figures (like David’s) are classically armored or heroically nude, and thus somewhat Neoclassical. • However, their messy, energetic, overlapping arrangement is more similar to Romantic style. • As with Delacroix’s Liberty, Bellona is wearing a Phyrgian cap, symbol of freedom.

19th Century Landscapes • Tourism, made possible by a new extensive railway network in Europe and the U.S.A. increased popularity of landscapes. • The notion of the picturesque (worth of being painted) was important to Romantic artists. • Rather than simply describe nature, Romantic artists would use nature as an allegory, thereby commenting on spiritual, moral, historical, or philosophical issues. • Romantics viewed nature as a “being” that included the totality of existence in organic unity and harmony. • The unification of the soul with the natural world was a popular theme. • Artists no longer merely beheld a landscape, but participated in its spirit, becoming translators of nature’s transcendent meanings. • Artists used landscape to depict the sublime, which, at the time of Romanticism, was thought of as a combination of the grotesque and beautiful, instead of a classical ideal of perfection.

Abbey in the Oak Forest Caspar David Friedrich, 1810.

Friedrich • For Caspar David Friedrich, landscapes were temples, and his paintings were altarpieces, demanding silent reverence. • In Abbey in the Oak Forest, the sacred ruins of an old Gothic church serve as an appropriate setting for a solemn requiem (Mass for the dead), as a procession of mourners carry their recently deceased to his gravesite. • The signs of death are in the destruction of the church, the barren trees, and the bleak, wintery weather. • Although in many of Friedrich’s paintings, human figures play a minimal role, others feature a prominent figure gazing at the landscape being depicted before them. • Wanderer above a Sea of Mist depicts a man in old-fashioned German attire, leaning on a cane, and surveying the mountains, mist, and rocks around him. • Scholars disagree about whether Friedrich intended the viewer to identify with the man seen from behind, or if he wanted the viewer to contemplate the man gazing at the misty landscape. • In either case, the artist communicated an almost religious awe at the beauty and vastness of the natural world.

Wanderer above a Sea of Mist. Caspar David Friedrich, 1818. Oil on canvas. 3’2” x 2’5”.

The Haywain John Constable. 1821. Oil on canvas. 51” x 73”

The Haywain • Industrialization also affected farmers who chose not to move into an urban center. The effect of industrialization on the prices of crops lead to many small farmers not being able to afford to make a living working their small farms. • Constable was inspired by this agrarian crisis. • He made countless studies from nature, then produced his final, idealized paintings in his studio based on his sketches. • Constable was also a meteorologist, as is evident in his ability to capture the texture that climate and weather give to a scene. His paintings depict his father’s property in Suffolk. • He used tiny dabs of color and white to create a sparkling shimmer of light and hue across the canvas. • What is the mood of the painting? • The relaxed figures are not observers but participants in the landscape (“one with nature”) • The image does not show the civil unrest (including riots and arson) of the agrarian working class. Instead, the painting has a nostalgic, wistful air to it, reflecting Constable’s memories of a disappearing rural pastoralism. The nostalgia is what makes the painting Romantic.

Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon Coming On (The Slave Ship). Joseph Mallord William Turner. 1840. • Constable is often pitted against his contemporary but stylistic Oil on canvas. 36” x 48”.

The Slave Ship

opposite, Joseph Mallord William Turner. • Although both men were inspired by the encroachment of industrialization, Constable’s paintings are serene and precisely painted, whereas Turner’s paintings are notable for their passion, energy, and loose, gestural brush strokes. • Turner attempted to attain the Romantic notion of the sublime: awe and beauty mixed with terror. • The painting depicts an incited involving a slave ship that was caught in the path of a typhoon (violent sea storm). Upon realizing his insurance company would reimburse him only for slaves lost at sea due to storms, but not for those who died en route for other reasons (like disease), all of the sick and dying slaves were thrown overboard. • Although at first this image seems beautiful, upon closer inspection were notice with horror the drowning sick slaves, still shackled together, still reaching upward, fighting to live. • Turner’s frenzied emotional depiction of this act matches its barbaric nature. • The small human forms compared with the vast sea and sky reinforces the sense of the sublime, especially the immense power of nature over humans.

Burning of the Houses

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th October 1834 Turner. Oil on canvas. 36” x 48”.

• This image depicts the immense fire which tragically destroyed the ancient British houses of parliament. The House of Lords was completely destroyed, and the House of Commons was left without a roof. • The viewer of the painting watches the blaze amongst a crowd of other onlookers. • This painting captures the idea of the sublime – the fire is awesome and terrible at the same time. • In Rain, Steam, and Speed, a new locomotive glides through a pastoral landscape, while a small fishing boat quietly floats nearby. This contrasts the forceful progress of technology with the quiet stillness of the rural past and nature. • The key ingredient of Turner’s highly personal style was his emotive power of pure color. The haziness of the painter’s forms and the indistinctness of his compositions intensify the colors and energetic brushstrokes. • Turner broke open the emotive and aesthetic power of paint itself, making a huge impact on Impressionist and abstract art that came later.

Rain, Steam, and Speed

The Oxbow (View from Mt. Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm). Thomas Cole. 1836. Oil on canvas. 51” x 76”

The Oxbow • Thomas Cole was originally from Britain, but he moved to and lived in the United States. • In the United States, landscape painting was the specialty of a group of artists known as the Hudson River School, so named because its members drew their subjects primarily from the uncultivated regions of New York’s Hudson River Valley (although they depicted scenes from across the continent). • The Hudson River School artists explored the individual’s and the country’s relationship to the land, and focused on identifying qualities that made America unique. • The Hudson River artists also addressed the direction the new country would take, as this painting does, with the more wild, stormy depiction of the country on the left, and the calmer, more cultivated country on the right. • Can you spot the artist amongst the wilds?

Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California Albert Bierstadt. 1868. Oil on canvas. 6’ x 10’.

Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains • Bierstadt traveled west and depicted the Rocky Mountains, Yosemite Valley, and other dramatic locales. • The image shows the idyllic beauty of the west. A placid lake is framed with rugged, high mountains (with waterfalls) one the left and a tall stand of trees on the right. Deer peacefully walk in the foreground, and sunbeams burst through the clouds above. • This emphasis on the beauty of the west is connected to the idea of Manifest Destiny – the American “right” to multiply and spread ever-westward, until the entire continent was American. • The idealization of this scene assuages the negative aspects of reality – westward expansion came at the cost of displacing Native Americans and exploiting natural resources. • Bierstadt’s greatest patrons were railroad and mail-order magnates, who had a financial interest in westward expansion.

Twilight in the Wilderness • Frederic Edwin Church was widely travelled (North and South America, Mexico, Europe, Middle East, and Canada). • This image depicts a beautiful sunset over a peaceful wilderness. • Like Constable’s Haywain, this peaceful image is notable for what it does not depict – what historical event was happening in America at this time? • This image maintains an air of righteousness and divine providence – the “rightful” ideal of American destiny, which had of late become uncertain.

Twilight in the Wilderness Frederic Edwin Church c. 1860. Oil/canvas. 3’4” x 5’4”.

British Houses of Parliament • After the burning of the Houses of Parliament in 1834, the Parliamentary Commission decreed that designs for the new building be either Gothic or Elizabethan, thereby celebrating traditional English architecture, and adding a sense of history. • Barry was widely traveled (Europe, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine), and he preferred classical Renaissance styles. • Pugin, the author of True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture, admired the architecture of Gothic churches for their moral and spiritual purity, and successfully influenced Barry in that direction. • Pugin also admired the careful hand-craftsmanship of the Gothic churches, and lamented the poor-quality machine-made items of the Industrial Revolution. He equated careful artisanship with honesty and quality. • Their collaboration resulted in a formal axial plan with Palladian regularity, decorated with elaborate Neo-Gothic details. • On the right is the Clock tower, housing Big Ben, and on the left is Victoria Tower.

Houses of Parliament, London Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Designed 1835.

Royal Pavilion John Nash. 1818. Brighton, England.

Royal Pavilion • Although the period was dominated by Neoclassical and Neo-Gothic style, exotic new styles also appeared. • The prince regent (later King George IV) asked Nash to design a royal pleasure palace in the English seaside resort of Brighton. • The architecture of Greece, Egypt, and China influenced the interior design, but the exterior is a mix of Islamic domes, minarets, and screens architectural historians describe as “Indian Gothic.” • The structural framework is cast iron, an early use of the material in monumental building construction. •This building has served as a prototype for countless playful architectural exaggerations still found in European and American resorts.

Paris Opera

Paris Opera Charles Garnier. 1861-1874.

• The Paris Opera was decorated using Baroque traditions, as it stylistically conveyed the vast riches of the European elite that visited it. • The opera house has a festive and spectacularly theatrical Neo-Baroque front and two wings resembling Baroque domed central-plan churches. • Inside, intricate arrangements of corridors, vestibules, stairways, balconies, alcoves, entrances, and exits facilitates easy passage throughout the building, and enables space for socializing at intermission. • The grandeur of the layout and ornamental details are characteristic of an architectural style called Beaux-Arts (late 19th-early 20th century France). • The Beaux-Arts style incorporated classical principles (such as symmetry in design) and featured extensive exterior ornamentation. • The lavish Beaux-Arts style was wildly popular with the conspicuously wealthy and fashionable elite.

19th Century

Realism

Context • Realism began in France as a reaction against Romanticism (and the Salon exhibition system). Influenced by empiricism and positivism. - Empiricists believed the basis of knowledge is observation and direct experience. - Positivists believed scientific laws governed the environment and human activity, and could be revealed through careful recording and analysis of observable data. Knowledge was based on provable science. • Realist artists argued that only the contemporary world what people can see – was “real.” Accordingly, Realists focused their attention on the people and events of their own time and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects. • The subject matter is realistic, not necessarily the style – the focus is on “real life” • Marx and Darwin added to the spirit of positivism by exploring theories about evolution and social equality. • Elevated images of trivial, everyday life to the level of importance of history paintings. • Avant-garde – the “front lines” of art, avant-garde refers to those artists willing to risk their reputations in search of new methods of art that break down old, ineffective approaches.

“Show me an angel and I’ll paint one.” - Courbet

Burial at Ornans • The Royal Academy supported the age-old belief that art should be instructive, morally uplifting, refined, inspired by the classical tradition, a good reflection of the national culture, and, above all, about beauty. • The jury for the 1855 Salon (part of the Exposition Universelle in Paris that year) rejected two of the French painter Gustave Courbet’s works, saying they were too coarse (to the point of being socialistic) and too large. • In response, Courbet boldly withdrew all of his paintings and staged his own exhibition outside the grounds, calling it the Pavilion of Realism. Courbet was thus the first artist ever known to have staged a private exhibition of his own work. • In this painting of the funeral of an ordinary man, Courbet presented the mundane realities of daily life and death, instead of the heroic, sublime, or dramatic.

Burial at Ornans Courbet, 1849. Oil on canvas. 10’3” x 21’ 9”.

• Realism departed from the established emphasis on illusionism, calling attention to painting as an object itself by the ways the paint was applied or composition was made. • Courbet used a palette knife to quickly apply thick paint, creating a rough surface. • Although critics at the time called his technique “primitive,” he inspired the styles of the Impressionists.

The Stone Breakers • Courbet shunned labels, proclaiming himself free from any movement, however, he used the term Realism to describe his art, and is now considered one of the leaders of the Realist movement. • His sincerity about closely observing and painting images of subjects previously considered not worthy of depicting (in this case, menial laborers), elevated the importance of this modern form of painting with traditional ideas of “high art” • Courbet represented in a straightforward manner two men, one old, one young, in the act of breaking stones (one of the lowest jobs in French society). • This is different from Romanticism because the artist neither idealized nor romanticized their work, but depicted their thankless toil with frankness. • How is he using color? • In 1848, French laborers rebelled against the bourgeois leaders of the Second Republic, demanding better working conditions and a redistribution of property (Marx). Although the bloody rebellion was quelled by the army in three days, the subject of labor became one of national concern. • This painting is thus timely and populist.

Stone Breakers Gustave Courbet, 1849. Oil on canvas. 5’3” x 8’6”.

The Gleaners • Millet, who came from a peasant family, also depicted the life of menial laborers (although his depictions are more sentimental than Courbet’s). • The three women shown here are gleaners, members of the lowest economic rung of society, who would receive permission from local landowners to “glean” any leftover wheat after the harvest. The work was tedious, dirty, and backbreaking. • To be close to his rural subjects, Millet settled near the village of Barbizon in the forest of Fontainbleu. Several other artists also did this, and they are collectively known as the Barbizon School. They specialized in detailed pictures of forest and countryside. • The French middle and upper class, in the time following the 1848 rebellion, reacted to his work with disdain and suspicion. • Middle class land owners, who often did not grant permission to glean, felt especially antagonized. • The middle class linked the poor with the dangerous, newly defined working class and socialism, which was finding outspoken champions in Karl Marx, Friedrich Engles, Emile Zola, and Charles Dickens.

The Gleaners Jean-Francois Millet, 1857. Oil on canvas. 2’ 9” x 3’8”.

Third-Class Carriage Honoré Daumier, 1862. Oil on canvas. 2’2” x 3’

Third-Class Carriage • Daumier was more open about the political meanings of his artworks, oftentimes creating works that were obvious criticisms of the misbehavior of the rich and powerful (leading to his incarceration). • In this unfinished painting (notice the subtle grid), Daumier depicted the cramped and grimy third-class (least expensive ticket) railway cars of the 1860s. • Whereas first- and second-class carriages had private, closed compartments, third-class riders crammed together on long benches. • The masses of 19th century industrialization were Daumier’s interest. • To make them seem more realistic, he did not have them “pose,” but rather showed them as they would ordinarily appear – faces vague, impersonal, and blank, creating a psychological barrier to make up for the lack of a physical one. • The masses of poor city-dwellers seem anonymous, insignificant, and patient with their lot in life that could not be changed.

Rue Transnonain Daumier, 1834. Lithograph. 1’ x 1’5”

Lithography

Rue Transnonain • Like Durer, Rembrandt, and Goya before him, Daumier spread his messages through easily reproduced prints. • Daumier’s preferred printing method was a new technology called lithography. • Lithography – A printing technique using the chemical repellence of oil and water. The artist draws onto a smooth stone surface with a greasy, oil-based crayon, then wipes the stone with water. The water clings only to the un-drawn areas. Then the artist rolls on ink, which sticks only to the waxy areas, not the wet areas. The inked stone can then be printed onto a paper. • Lithography was an easier and cheaper method of printmaking than etching/engraving, and enabled a wider range of artists to publish drawings. • In Rue Transnonain, Daumier depicted a horrifying event that happened on the Parisian street Rue Transnonain. When an unknown sniper killed a civil guard (who was part of a government force to suppress a worker demonstration), the other guards stormed the building and massacred everyone inside. • Unlike Goya, Daumier depicted the quiet, grisly aftermath, rather than the drama of the execution.

The Horse Fair

The Horse Fair Rosa Bonheur, 1855. Oil on canvas. 8’ x 16’7.

• The most popular woman artist of the 19th century was Rosa Bonheur. She was the winner of the gold medal at the Salon of 1848, and she was the first woman officer in the French Legion of Honor (a recognition of merit, like being knighted in England). • Bonheur received her artistic training from her father, who was a proponent of Saint-Simonianism, an early 19th century utopian socialist movement that championed the education and enfranchisement of women. • As a result of her father’s influence, Bonheur believed that as a woman and an artist, she had a special role to play. • She preferred painting with a Realist attention to accuracy, but instead of depicting social struggles, she focused on domestic animals, such as horses, cows, and sheep. • She closely studied the anatomy of horses at the great Parisian horse fair as well at local slaughterhouses. • In The Horse Fair, she depicts the sturdy farm Percherons (a breed of horse) on parade with their grooms, to show them off to prospective buyers. • The powerful majesty of the horses is palpable, and many engraved reproductions of this painting were sold, making it one of the most popular works of the century.

Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe • Eduoard Manet is not to be confused with the Impressionist painter Claude Monet (although Manet’s style did influence Impressionism). • Manet was consistent with Realist principles in this artwork by depicting the four figures (one nude) without idealization, separating it from nude pastorals of the past. • The two men (probably Manet’s brother, with the cane, and a sculptor friend) are dressed in fashionable 1860s Parisian attire. • The nude woman (Manet’s favorite model at the time) gazes unabashedly at the viewer, without shame or flirtatiousness. • The subject matter of the painting shocked critics. • Manet sought to move away from illusionism and call attention to the flatness of the painting surface by summing up the wide range of real values to only a few lights and darks, creating a high contrast look. • The figures and background are painted more loosely, with soft edges, while the picnic items are in sharp focus. • The painting style looked crude & unfinished to critics. • Manet attempted to critique the history of painting by including references to history paintings, portraiture, pastoral scenes, and religious paintings.

Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) Manet, 1863. Oil on canvas. 7’ x 8’8”

Olympia • Olympia was even more scandalous. • The image depicts a young, white prostitute, reclining on a bed while being handed flowers from an admirer by her black maid. • Depictions of prostitutes was not unheard-of at the time; it was the matter-of-fact, cool indifference of Olympia’s direct eye-contact that scandalized viewers. • The contrast between Olympia and the maid also pointed out racial divisions. • The French public perceived Manet’s inclusion of both a black maid and a nude prostitute as evoking moral depravity, inferiority, and animalistic sexuality. • Viewers were also bothered again by Manet’s style, with its rough brush strokes and abrupt shifts in value.

Olympia Édouard Manet, 1863. Oil on canvas, 4’3” x 6’2”.

Venus of Urbino Titian, 1538. Venetian Renaissance.

Olympia Édouard Manet, 1863. Oil on canvas, 4’3” x 6’2”.

Veteran in a New Field • Realism was also popular in the United States. • Homer joined the Union campaign as an artist-reporter for Harper’s Weekly during the American Civil War. • Although Veteran in a New Field seems like a simple depiction of a farmer harvesting wheat, it is a commentary on the effects and aftermath of America’s catastrophic national conflict (which ended earlier that year). • The man is identifiable as a veteran by his uniform and canteen on the ground in the lower right, indicating that he has “cast aside” his former role of soldier to be a farmer. • America’s ability to smoothly transition from war to peace, with soldiers returning to productive employment, was evidence of its national strength. • What, in this painting, is also a symbol of death, reminding the viewer of the deaths of all the soldiers and Abraham Lincoln during the war? • Many of Homer’s paintings also depict nature, such as Fox Hunt, which shows a group of crows, grown aggressive with hunger, preparing to attack a fox. • The reversal of hunter/hunted (a fox usually would hunt birds) reflects the popular Darwinist ideal of the survival of the fittest.

Veteran in a New Field Winslow Homer, 1865. Oil/canvas. 2’ x 3’2”

The Fox Hunt

The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel • Royal Academy of San Carlos established by Creole artists in Mexico city in the late 1700s. • After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico sought to establish its new identity through art. • Jose Maria Velasco was a student at the RASC of Prof. Landesio, who had popularized landscapes. • Velasco’s landscapes were even more monumental and grandiose than Landesio’s, and were intended to combine Spanish and indigenous symbols to create a unique Mexican patriotism. • Though contemporaneous with Realism & Impressionism, Velasco’s works are more directly inspired by German Romantic landscape artists. • 2 white volcanos, in Mexica/Aztec lore, were ill-fated lovers (Aztec princess & a courageous warrior). • Lake Texcoco, Mexico City, and the Tepeyac (where Mary appearsed to Juan Diego) are in the middle ground. • In foreground, 2 indigenous people (indicated by their clothes) are traveling from city to country, reflecting a difficult socio economic relationship between them and their ancestral land.

Velasco. 1882 CE. Oil on canvas.

• Velasco explored the romantic relationship between small human figures and the scenery they inhabit. They are reconciled with their surroundings. Nature represents purity, dignity, and beauty applied to the real world and daily life. • The patriotism and establishment of Mexican identity made Velasco a popular representative of Mexico at World Fairs.

The Gross Clinic Thomas Eakins, 1875. Oil/canvas. 8’ x 6’6”.

The Gross Clinic • Philadelphia-born Thomas Eakins’s work reflects his desire to record the realities of the human experience. • Eakins studied both painting and medical anatomy. • This painting depicts the renowned Dr. Samuel Gross in the operating amphitheater of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (where the painting hung until 2006). • Dr. Gross is leading an educational operation on a man with a bone infection in his leg. Around Dr. Gross are several colleagues, the patient’s mother, and an anesthetist, who holds a cloth over the patients face. Anesthetics (a recent invention) had greatly improved doctor’s ability to do surgery. • The subject of the painting, with its direct depiction of reality, reflects American taste for honesty and truth, as well as the increasing faith that scientific and medical advances could enhance and preserve lives. • The image proved too real for some critics, who viewed it with squeamishness. • Eakins’ belief in careful observation and scientific knowledge led him to closely study anatomy as well as motion of the human body (collaborated with the photographer Eadweard Muybridge).

The Thankful Poor • Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African American artist who studied art with Eakins before moving to Paris. • Tanner combined Eakins’ belief in careful study from nature with a desire to portray the dignity of the life of the working people from his home town in Pennsylvania. • What is the mood of this painting? • The grandfather, grandchild, and table objects are depicted with careful detail, but the rest of the room dissolves into loose strokes of color and light. • Expressive lighting reinforces the painting’s reverent spirit, with deep shadows intensifying the man’s devout concentration, and golden light pouring in the window to illuminate the quiet expression of thanksgiving on the child’s face. • Influenced by Rembrandt. The Thankful Poor Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1894. Oil/canvas. 3’ x 3’8”. The Banjo Lesson

Forever Free Edmonia Lewis 1867. Marble. 3’5” tall.

Forever Free • Edmonia Lewis was the daughter of a Chippewa mother and African American father who produced work stylistically similar to Neoclassicism, but depicting contemporary Realist themes. • Lewis carved Forever Free while living in Rome, surrounded by examples of classical and Renaissance art. • The statue depicts two freed African American slaves. • The man stands with classical contrapposto. He holds his left hand up, on which dangles a broken manacle (handcuff), referencing his previous servitude. • This statue was carved four years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and was immediately read as an abolitionist statement. • However, it may also be a statement about gender relationships in the African American community, with the woman kneeling in a position of subordination. • Lewis’ accomplishments as a sculptor show the increasing access to training for women. She was educated at Oberlin College (the first American college to grant degrees to women), and financed her trip to Rome by selling marble medallions and busts.

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit John Singer Sargent, 1882. Oil/canvas. 7’4” square.

Daughters of Edward Darley Boit • John Singer Sargent was an expatriate American artist who studied in Paris then settled in London, where he was known for painting portraits and being a cosmopolitan gentleman. • Sargent developed a looser Realist portrait style than Eakins, in which he layered thin coats of paint. • This portrait of his friend Edward Boit’s four daughters was stylistically influenced by Velasquez’ Las Meninas. • The four girls appear in a hall and small drawing room in their Paris home, where they seem at ease amongst the Japanese vases, the red screen and the fringed rug, whose scale emphasizes the children’s small size. • Sargent must have known the Boit daughters well, as they appear relaxed and trustful. • From youngest to eldest, Sargent was able to capture the transition of young innocence. The youngest appears emotionally open and wondering. The ten-year old is shown with a sense of grave artlessness, while the two eldest pose with the sense of self-consciousness of adolescents. • The casual positioning of the figures gives a sense of spontaneity, echoing the Realist belief that the artist’s job is to record modern people in modern contexts.

Ophelia John Everett Millais, • In England, a small movement formed against the popular 1852. Realists, known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Oil/canvas, • The Pre-Raphaelites sought to create fresh and sincere art, free 2’6” x 3’8”.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

from what they considered the tired and artificial manner propagated by the followers of Raphael. • They also disliked the painterly influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, preferring instead a crisp, detailed depiction. • The Pre-Raphaelites chose not to depict the scenes from real life that the Realists focused on, painting instead historical, fanciful, or fictional subjects. They also disliked the ugliness of materialism and industrialization, and favored the spirituality and idealism of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. • John Everett Millais was one of the three men who founded the PRB in 1848, and was known for his realistic detail. • Ophelia depicts the character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who drowns herself after going mad. • The model for Ophelia was the wife of another Pre-Raphaelite, Dante Rossetti, who painted Beata Beatrix. • Beata Beatrix is a character from Dante’s Vita Nuova, who is mystically transported to Heaven. It is also a tribute to his wife who overdosed on opium. The red dove is a messenger of love & death, and the seeds in her hand symbolize sleep and death.

Lady of Shalott J. W. Waterhouse

Beata Beatrix D. G. Rossetti

Ugolino & His Children Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux 1865. Marble, 6’5” tall.

Ugolino & His Children • Although the sculptors Rodin and Carpeaux worked during the time of the Impressionists, after the heyday of the Realists, the solidity of their medium could not convey the optical sensations that were the focus of the Impressionists. As such, the focus of sculpture remained rooted in Realism. • In France, Carpeaux combined his loves of Realism, ancient, Renaissance, and Baroque sculpture. • Ugolino and His Children is based on a passage in Dante’s Inferno, in which Count Ugolino and his four sons starve to death while shut up in a tower. In Hell, Ugolino relates to Dante how, in a moment of extreme despair, he bit his hands in grief. His sons, thinking he did it because of his hunger, offered him their own flesh as food. • The figures writhe with anguish and torment, reminiscent of Laocoön and his Sons. • The densely concentrated, intertwined forms suggest the self0devouring torment of frustration and despair wracking the unfortunate Ugolino. • Carpeaux was also a great admirer of the sculptures of Michelangelo.

Gates of Hell

• Another sculptor during the Impressionist era was Rodin. Auguste Rodin Although color was not a factor for Rodin (as it was for the 1880-1900 Impressionist painters), he was concerned for the effect of light (cast in 1917) Bronze. on sculpted surfaces. 20’10” x 13’1” • He received the commission to create a pair of doors for a planned Museum of Decorative Arts, which ultimately never opened. After 20 years of work, Rodin still was not finished with the design at the time of his death. • The commission allowed him to choose his own subject. He chose the Gates of Hell from Dante’s Inferno, and also because he was inspired by Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise. • He elected not to arrange the design in framed panels, instead choosing to cover each of the doors with a continuous writhing mass of tormented men and women, sinners condemned to Dante’s second circle of Hell for their lust. • 200 relief figures spill out of the frames, plus separately cast figures, such as The Thinker (of which he also made a larger version) who ponders the fate of the souls below. • Swirling figures influenced by Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and Delaxroix’s Death of Sardanapalus.

Burghers of Calais • Like Eakins, he studied the movement of the human form. • He often had his models move around his studio, while he made quick clay models for his later large works. • He believed that in addition to anatomy and movement, the sculptor should focus on the texture/surface of the body • After years of serving as an assistant, he visited Rome, where he was exposed to the expressive figures of Donatello and Michelangelo. • He began making more textured, vigorously modeled figures that conveyed a direct, un-idealized reality. • He was commissioned to create a memorial for the Hundred Years War, focused on the Burghers of Calais. The story was that Kind Edward III of England would spare the city of Calais if six city-councilmen (burghers) surrendered themselves to him for execution. • Instead of showing the burghers in heroic idealized form on a high pedestal, he shows them agitated, sorrowful, and despairing. How does he accomplish this? • Rodin put the figures into a circle causing no one man to be the focal point which allows the sculpture to be viewed inthe-round from multiple perspectives with no clear leader.

Burghers of Calais Rodin 1884-1889. Cast bronze.

Burghers of Calais • The city had intended that Rodin only depict the leader, Eustache de Saint-Pierre (detail), and in a heroic manner. • Rodin chose instead to depict all six men involved. • The heavy fabric they wear seems to fuse to the ground at the base, creating a sense of gravity and their hesitance to go to their death. • All the men are shown at approximately the same height, instead of in a hierarchical pyramid with St.-Pierre at the top. • The city required Rodin to present the work on a raised pedestal, to give the figures a god-like status, towering above the viewer. • However, Rodin felt the viewer could not adequately see the figures up on the pedestal, so he made a second version without the pedestal, which he displayed at his Musée Rodin. • Rodin brought the audience into his sculpture by positioning each figure in a different stance with the men’s heads facing separate directions, and lowering them down to street level so the viewer could walk around them and look at them individually. • The viewer could feel as if they were a part of the group, personally experiencing the tragic event.

Burghers of Calais Rodin 1884-1889. Cast bronze.

Reading room of the Bibliothéque Sainte-Geneviéve Henri Labrouste, 1843-1850. Paris.

Bibliothéque Sainte-Geneviéve • This library is an interesting mix of Renaissance revival style and modern cast-iron construction, which had been used in bridge construction, and now was being used in buildings (because it enabled buildings to be made larger, stronger, and more fire resistant). • The façade with arched windows recalls Renaissance palazzo designs, but Labrouste exposed the structure’s metal skeleton on the interior. • The lower story contained the book stacks; the upper story contained a spacious reading room. • The reading room was under a pair of barrel vaults, roofed in terracotta and separated by a row of slender cast-iron columns on concrete pedestals. • The columns are Corinthian, and support the iron roof arches pierced with intricate vine scroll ornamentation. • Are the vine scrolls cast or wrought iron? • Although Labrouste was willing to use the new material of iron in his building, his design shows the reluctance of architects to change from previous architectural styles, even though the new material of iron allowed them more freedom.

Crystal Palace • Completely “undraped” construction first became popular in the greenhouses (or “conservatories”) of English country estates. • Joseph Paxton built several of these conservatories of metal and glass, and, encouraged by their success, applied the system to a design he submitted for the competition to design the hall to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, organized to present “works of industry of all nations.” • He won the commission, and built the exhibition building, the Crystal palace, with prefabricated parts. This enabled workers to build the fast structure in the unheard-of time of six months, and to dismantle it quickly at the exhibition’s closing. • The plan was based on Roman and Christian basilicas, with a central flat-roofed “nave” and a barrel-vaulted crossing “transept.” • The design was large enough to house the large exhibits, which included large farm machinery, trees, and fountains.

Crystal Palace, London, England Joseph Paxton, 1850.

Eiffel Tower • Iron (and by 1860, steel) made buildings larger, stronger, and more fire resistant. • The Realist impulse also encouraged architectural designs that honestly expressed a building’s purpose, rather than elaborately disguising its function. • Jolted the architectural profession into a realization that modern materials and processes could generate a completely new and innovative style. • Transparency of the framework blends the ideas of indoor vs. outdoor space, which became an important theme in 20th century architecture. • Eiffel was also known designing exhibition halls, bridges, and the interior armature (framework) for France’s give to the United States, the Statue of Liberty. • This tower was designed for an exhibition in Paris in 1889, and is an important contribution to the development of the “skyscraper.” • The iron structure is supported by four large concrete bases (one at each foot). • The heavy horizontal girders are softened by the graceful archway, as well as the upward curve.

Eiffel Tower Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, Paris, 1889. 984 feet tall

Marshall Field Wholesale Store • Although iron is fire-resistant, it is not completely impervious to high temperatures, as proven by a series of disastrous fires in New York, Boston, and Chicago in the 1870s. • Architects began encasing an iron framework within stone masonry, getting the structural strength of the iron and the fire –proofing of the stone. • Henry Hobson Richardson used the new building techniques in combination with the round arches and heavy rusticated masonry walls of his favorite architectural period – Romanesque (his style was “Richardsonian Romanesque”). • His most famous building is the Marshall Field Wholesale Store, a vast building which encompassed an entire city block. • The design of this building is reminiscent of an Italian palazzo, but it lacks the ornamentation (no finials, balustrades, or cornice), creating a straightforward, “honest” design. • The horizontal sweep of the window ledges accentuates the long horizontality of the building.

Marshall Field Wholesale Store Henry Hobson Richardson Chicago, 1885. Demolished 1930.

Louis Henry Sullivan • A number of factors influenced the rise (literally) of the American skyscraper: 1. stronger materials (steel) 2. invention of the elevator 3. high price of real estate + crowded cities = developers stacking more housing on one piece of land. • After the fire of 1871 in Chicago, a boom of construction lead by young architects who utilized steel-framed buildings became known as the Chicago School of architecture. • Sullivan trained at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first architectural degree program in the U.S.) and the School of Beaux-Arts in Paris. • In the Wainwright building, Sullivan followed his motto, “form ever follows function,” by designing a U-shaped building. - The center of the U was glass, lighting the interior of the building. - The bottom floor was intended for shops, and had large display windows. - The second floor was for the offices for the shops, and also had large windows. - The next seven floors were offices. The top floor contained the building’s utilities. • The terracotta-covered steel framework featured some decorative elements: - A decorative relief of tendril-like swirls around the cornice - Thicker than necessary corner piers to accentuate the verticality

Wainwright Building Louis Henry Sullivan. St. Louis, Missouri, c. 1890.

Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. Building • Department store constructed in two stages in 1899 & 1903-04. • Design represents the relationship between architecture and commerce. What does this building convey about the store? • The firm of Adler & Sullivan first became known in Chicago in the early 1880s for utilizing new methods of steel frame construction and a uniquely American blend of Art Nouveau decoration with a simplified monumentality. • 1890s – Sullivan broke off on his own. Wrote treatise “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered” – famous quote “form must ever follow function” meaning a building’s design should suit the social purpose of the space. • Ideal 3-part design: 1. Base level with a ground floor for businesses that require easy public access, light, and open space. A second story also publicly accessible by stairways. 2. An infinite number of stories for offices, designed to look all the same because they serve the same function. 3. The building should be topped with an attic storey and distinct cornice line to mark its endpoint and set it apart from other buildings within the cityscape.

Louis Sullivan. Chicago, IL. 1899-1903 CE. Iron, steel, glass, white terra cotta.

Carson, Pirie, Scott Building • Sullivan highlighted instead the lower street-level section and entryway to draw shoppers into the store. This was done in a number of ways. 1. The windows on the ground floor, displaying the store's products, are much larger than those above. 2. The three doors of the main entrance were placed within a rounded bay on the corner of the site, so that they are visible from all directions approaching the building. 3. The bottom section is decorated much more lavishly with intricate, organic/vegetative cast iron decorations, which communicated the classiness of the store & differentiated it from surrounding buildings. Attractive to customers. • Overall emphasis on the horizontal (horizontal lines between stories which seem to wrap around the rounded corner, wide rectangular windows, jutting cornice), because a department store needs wide, open space to display goods (see floorplan). • With its elaborate decorative program and attention paid to the functional requirements of retail architecture, Sullivan’s design was a remarkably successful display for the department store’s products and striking corporate symbol.