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I've sent another round of email invitations out, but I still don't think that is getting everyone on.
In the interim feel free to email your post to me and I'll make sure you get credit, and get it up here for
your classmates - jarrett.earnest@qc.cuny.edu

 - Mr. Earnest

MIDTERM UPDATES

As we discussed, no class this week (Wednesday 28th)

The midterm will go on as scheduled  on October 19th, that means when we return to class on October 5th we will discuss the study guide I will give you, and then go over any questions you have on October 12th.

Remember, for the slide ID portion, you need to know the 1) Artist's name, 2) the Title of the Work, 3) Date 4) an important fact about its significance to art history.

Key Images - Week 4

Michelangelo, David 

Location: , Date: 1501 -1504 

Misc: marble Florence: Academy

Leonardo diVinci

The Virgin of the Rocks . 

Location: LOUVRE,PARIS:, Date: 1483 -1486 

Leonardo diVinci

Last Supper

Location: S. MARIA DELLA GRAZIE,M, Date: 1495 -1497 

Raphael

La Fornarina 

Location: Rome: Gall. Naz. d'Arte Antica, Date: circa 1520

Michelangelo

Sistine Chapel Creation of Adam 

Location: Vatican,Sistine Chapel, Date: 1511 -1512

Raphael, School of Athens 

Location: Vatican:StanzaSegnatura, Date: 1510 -1511 

Raphael

Madonna of the Meadows

[Madonna del Belvedere] 

Location: Vienna:Kunsthist.Mus, 

Date: 1506 

Bronzino

Allegory of Venus and Cupid 

Location: National Gallery, London, Date: - mid 1540s

Leonardo

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne 

Location: Paris: Musee du Louvre, Date: circa 1507 

Pontormo

Entombment/Deposition 

Location: Florence:Sta.Felicita, Date: 1525 -1526 

Misc: oil on panel, 313x192cm, Capponi Chapel

Michelangelo

Pieta 

Location: Rome:St.Peters Basilica, Date: 1498 -1499 

Leonardo diVinci

Mona Lisa 

Location: Paris: Musee du Louvre, Date: circa 1503 

Parmigianino

Madonna and Christ with Angels (Madonna of the Long Neck) 

Location: Florence: Uffizi, Date: before 1534 

Raphael

Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione 

Location: Paris: Musee du Louvre,

Date: 1514 -1515 

Rosso Fiorentino

Descent from the Cross 

Location: Volterra:Pinacoteca, Date: 1521 

Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490 -1510)

Buckethead Bosch video

Key Image - Week 3

The Limbourg Brothers February, Life in the Coutry. Tres Riches Heures, 1411-1416

Jean Fouquet

Etienne Chevalier and St. Stephen, c.1452-1455

Rogier van der Weyden

Portrait of a Lady

1445

Jan van Eyck

The Betrothal of the Arnolfini 1434

Hugo van der Goes Portinari Alterpiece (open) c. 1474  - 1476

Hugo van der Goes The Death of the Virgin c.1480

Hans Memling Virgin and Child of the Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove c.1487

Rogier van der Weden The Descent from the Cross c.1435

Jan Van Eyck Man, Portrait of Man in a Turban c. 1433

Martin Schongauer Demons Tormenting St. Anthony

1480-1490

Konrad Witz The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 1444

Claus Sluter

The Prophets Daniel and Isaiah

from the Moses Fountain, near Dijon 

c.1392-1402

Stefan Lochner

The Virgin in the rose-bower

1440

Architecture in Wall Paintings

Architectural design is often used in paintings to create an illusion of a three dimensional space. Most paintings are done on wood panel or canvas, both moveable materials, and therefore the space portrayed is limited to the framed scene. The placement of these works on a medium separate from the physical building, and thereby their framing, detaches it from the structure itself. Wall paintings, on the other hand, provide for an illusion of space beyond the physical walls of the architecture. They add depth to the rooms and almost extend the boundaries of the building by depicting scenes in architecturally structured areas.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper on the walls of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie is an excellent example of this. The four pairs of tapestry on either side of the table extend the refectory into another room where the scene of the last supper would have mirrored that taking place in the actual room. Although very simple architecture is portrayed, the linear lines and the meeting of the ceiling with the three walls in the back, creates a very real illusion of added physical space.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/leon/hd_leon.htm

Although Da Vinci uses a different method of wall painting, the concept has deep roots in Roman art. Four styles of wall painting evolve in the fresco method in the first century BCE. The effect of such designs was that of the illusion of the extension of physical boundaries through the paintings. The wall paintings at the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, near Pompeii, are clear predecessors of Da Vinci’s work. Although more elaborate in the depiction of architectural structures, the art opens the room to space outside the walls that stand there. The person standing in that room is exposed to city vistas and monuments placed in landscapes outside the boundaries of any four walls. These views are framed by architectural elements, such as columns, that could have been incorporated into the actual architecture of the room, providing for the illusion of a window. The clear depiction of architecture is what allows the resident or visitor of the villa to be exposed to a greater space than what the physical boundaries initially allow.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/03.14.13a-g

It is interesting to note, after I made the distinction between wall paintings and moveable ones, that this specific wall painting was actually partially moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where its effect is not as strong as it is once again separated from the physical boundaries it seeks to extend.

Dalya Arussy

The History of Pigments

An interesting article on the history of pigments. It discusses the use of Lapis Lazuli during the Renaissance and the later discovery of Cobalt Blue in the 19th century.

The History of Pigments

another informative link about pigments:

Pigments through the Ages

-Carmen Cowick

The Calm Before The Storm

Rachel Cohen

There is a common theme in the birth, or revival of the classical style. Many art historians have compared the content and stylistic components of classical Greek sculptures to the early renaissances.

                In class we plunged into a plethora of paintings by Peiro Della Francesco.  There was an underlying theme of The Calm Before The Storm; an eerie silence before the outbreak of something phenomenal and revolutionary.  To bring the message home, how you probably felt before Hurricane Irene hit.  Before comparing actual works it is necessary to note that Peiro’s approach is in the same manner as the Greek sculptor Polycleitus; mathematical.  Peiro wrote three books about perspective using equations and proportions. Polycleitus changed the traditional Egyptian proportion of head to body, from one eighth to one seventh rewriting the sculptural cannon.

                Although this can be applied to other works by Perio; The Baptism of Christ, Constantine’s Dream, and the paintings of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza. I am going to focus on Madonna and Child with Saints also known as the Montefeltro Altarpiece and Polycleitus’s Doryphoros or Spear Bearer.

                In Madonna and Child with Saints, innocent baby Jesus sleeps which is setting the tone of a false sense of serenity.  This is alluded to by the red, which is symbolic of blood, coral beads strung around Jesus’s neck in the shape of an artery.  The pious figures join together, with placid looks on their faces, in a sacra conversazione because they all know what is going to become of the tranquil and still baby Jesus. It is the last good bye before he is pushed on life’s chaotic course and ultimately crucified.

The Doryphoros, holds his spear gazing off into the future, his battle, his fate. Some art historians have suggested that Doryphoros is representing Achilles before the Trojan battle.  His life flashes before him, but there is nothing he can do now. He waits. He does not know the result. He may not know that he will be in harm’s way. All he has are speculations. This is an innocent man’s final moment of peace before he is thrust into the maelstrom of war.

These are the ultimate examples of the calm before the storm. The moment that you are catching Jesus and Doryphoros is peaceful. Nothing has happened yet. As someone looking from the future back into the past you know their destiny; that the moment you caught them in is fleeting; the storm is approaching.

The Real Venus

Botticelli's ‘Birth of Venus’ is a true masterpiece that resonates throughout history. Many artists have drawn inspiration from his groundbreaking use of color and detail. There is one artist, in particular, that visualized the beauty of Venus in his own way, creating a unique portrait.

Joel Peter Witkin uses mythological imagery in conjunction with deformation and death to conjure a disturbing photographic statement. In his take of the ‘Birth of Venus,’ a nude transvestite poses atop a scallop shell, accentuating her masculinity as well as her femininity. On the left, a decapitated head introduces Venus to the viewer, just as Botticelli uses the personification of wind to present his Venus model. By drawing from Botticelli's reference, Witkin is able to make an antithetical analogy about the definetion of beauty.

In Witkin’s photo, the devotee is not celebrating her awakening. This implies that she is not an object of idyllic beauty, as the original master intended. She is surrounded by death, against a nearly black background, deliberately contrasting Botticelli’s extensive use of color and flowering life.

This photo is one of many in which Joel Witkin drapes classical works of art in a veil of darkness. Through the use of high contrast, black and white starkness, he creates pieces that are both jarring and deeply disturbing. The photographer carefully prepares his stage to resemble master works of art, then fills them with disfigured, or dead subjects. In this case, creating the opposite of beauty born to us, a cruel twist of nature that is only beautiful in this macabre underworld.

Botticelli's The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti

The first day of class we discussed Giotto and the day's case study was a film clip from Pasolini's The Decameron which is based on Boccaccio's novel of the same name. In our second session we discussed a little more about Giotto and were also able to view some paintings from Botticelli. I would like to use this blog post to discuss Botticelli's The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti which is based on one particular story in Boccaccio's The Decameron. The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti is made up of four panels depicting different scenes from Day Five, Story Eight.

A small description taken from The Decameron:

"A rejected suitor, Nastagio degli Onesti, meets a vengeful horseman and a distressed damsel in a pine-wood and learns their story; it gives him just what he needs to convert the heart of his cruel lady." (Boccaccio, 362)

The Encounter with the Damned in the Pine Forest. (First Panel)

An excerpt from The Decameron about what Nastagio sees:

“It was a little after eleven in the morning, and he had penetrated a good half-mile into the woods, quite oblivious of food or anything else, when all of a sudden he thought he heard great cries and shrieks—a woman’s voice. This broke into his gentle meditation and, looking up to see what it was about, he was surprised to find himself in the pine-wood. As he gazed, he saw the most beautiful girl running towards where he was standing, through a thicket choked with undergrowth and brambles; she was naked, disheveled, and scratched all over by twigs and thorns, and she was shrieking for mercy. He saw two ferocious great mastiffs at her heels and flanks, who kept snapping savagely at her wherever they could. Behind her he saw a dark rider on a black horse; he looked wrathful and was threatening to kill her, as he showered on her the most dreadful insults; in his hand he held a dagger.” (Boccaccio 363)

The man riding the horse is Guido degli Anastagi. He is positioned above the woman. According to the author Jill M Ricketts in her book Visualizing Boccaccio, Guido’s “superior position and his red cape and sheath, foreshadow the gruesome nature of her death.” (Ricketts, 60)

The Infernal Hunt. (Second Panel)

An excerpt from The Decameron:

“The moment he stopped speaking he [Guido] brandished his dagger and hurled himself at the maiden like a savage hound; she was kneeling down in the grip of the two mastiffs, and shrieked for mercy, but he thrust at her with all of his might, running his blade into the middle of her breast and out through her back. Thus transfixed, the girl fell prone, still crying and yelling, while the horseman reached for a knife, slit open her back, and ripped out her heart with all the adjacent organs and tossed them to the two mastiffs, who devoured them on the spot.” (Boccaccio, 365)

We can see in this second panel how Botticelli has composed a scene that juxtaposes extreme violence with the peaceful surroundings.

The Banquet in the Pine Forest. (Third Panel)

Directly after what we see in the second panel, the woman who has just been slaughtered rises up as if nothing has happened and Guido mounts his horse and begins to chase her all over again. It is explained that both Guido and the woman are dead. Guido killed himself over his unrequited love for the woman and he is doomed to hunt her for all eternity. The woman, due to her cold heart is doomed to flee from him. The scene Nastagio has witnessed will occur every Friday at the same time, without end .

Nastagio himself loves a woman who does not love him back. The third panel depicts the setup Nastagio has created to win over the woman he loves.

The dinner party depicted is “dedicated to frightening women into sexual submission” (Ricketts, 79) and we can see this through the way the women have all been seated together and have a front view of the gruesome scene.

It is also important to note that the women at the table have similar features to the nude woman Guido pursues and kills. Botticelli uses this resemblance to “imply that all the women were collectively affected...and that they were all potential victims.” (Ricketts, 85) Because of the possibility that they too could end up like this nude woman, the women’s response is exactly what Nastagio intended, which was “deferring to the men’s desires.”(85)

The Wedding Banquet. (Fourth Panel)

After witnessing this terrifying occurrence, there is fear instilled in every woman in town and the woman Nastagio is in love with agrees to marry him and the wedding occurs the following week.

The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti was made as a wedding gift for Gianozzo di Antonio Pucci and Lucrezia di Piero di Giovanni Bini, whose marriage was arranged by Lorenzo de Medici (also known as Lorenzo Magnifico).

In this fourth panel we see the crests on either side of the table, one belonging to the Bini family, the other belonging to the Pucci family.

If we look back at the third panel we can also see prominently displayed in the center is the Medici scudo with the six balls. Its center position signifies the important role of the Medici family in this union.

-Carmen Cowick

Works Cited:

Boccaccio, Giovanni, Jonathan Usher, and Guido Waldman. The Decameron. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

Ricketts, Jill M. Visualizing Boccaccio. New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.

Key Images - Week 2

Piero della Francesca The Flagellation of Christ (c. 1455-60)

Masaccio The Tribute Money,  c.1427
Brancacci Chape, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Brunelleschi, Florence Cathedral 1420-1436

Fra Angelico The Annunciation, c.1440
wall painting in the Monastery of S. Marco, Florence

Piero della Francesca The Baptism of Christ, 1450

Paolo Ucello The Battle of San Romano, 1438-1440

Donatello David c. 1440 - 1460
Bronze

Donatello Herod's Feast 1427
Gilt bronze relief from a font in S. Giovanni, Siena

Sandro Bottecelli The Birth of Venus,  1485 

Masaccio The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise c.1427
Branacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Lorenzo Ghiberti "Gates of Paradise" (East Doors)
Baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence

Piero della Francesca Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro c.1474