N. Courtright
FORMAL ANALYSIS of a WORK OF ART
PROMPT
This assignment is based on a single work of art that you looked at in a museum for this paper.
For the first formal analysis, find a work of European art dating anywhere from around 1400 to around
1520. Unless you plan a swift trip abroad, architecture is unfortunately off limits. [See attached
suggestions for museums].
Your readings and the lectures have shown that there are a number of ways to think about a work
of art within the context of its time. 15th-century merchants might have measured the accuracy of the
space depicted or added up the cost of the precious material on an altarpiece; 17th-century nuns might
have remembered an important sermon on the subject represented; a 20th-century man might have thought
that a woman portrayed in a portrait looked a great deal like his mother except much more seductive, and
unexpectedly felt strong Oedipal urges come over him. Discovering the specific conditions of the
cultural, social, religious, or psychological context alluded to in a work of art or the precise reactions it
might have stimulated in its time would involve research, however, and you do not need to do any
research for this assignment.
---Your task, instead, is to focus on another way of understanding art – through its forms. You
should analyze how the variety of forms present in a single piece are interrelated for a purpose.
Considering the subject, you should hypothesize how they create meaning for this particular work.
In the final draft, you will have found an idea that you will be tracing throughout. Use the visual
properties of the work of art to provide evidence for your hypothesis.--LENGTH and DUE DATE
3 pp., typed and stapled, appended with an illustration of your work of art (or link), due by 11:59
P.M. on FRIDAY, MARCH 2 in the GRADEBOOK.
***
SOME MUSEUMS AND RECOMMENDED WORKS: ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART
Reminder: Many museums are closed on Monday. Check the hours of the museum before you
go.
Warning: Make sure you are writing on work of art in the proper CENTURY for your
assignment.
AMHERST, Mead Art Gallery
The following Renaissance works may be on display:
--Girolamo da Santa Croce, Madonna, Child and St. Ambrose, painting
DON’T WRITE ON THESE AS WE’VE DISCUSSED THEM
--Manotto di Nardo, Crucifixion, painting
-- Sano di Pietro, Adoration of the Christ Child
Think about ordering any number of works from storage, including prints. Here’s the website explaining
the database to look things up: https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/collection
HARTFORD, Wadsworth Atheneum
--Piero di Cosimo, The Finding of Vulcan
--Sebastiano del Piombo, Portrait of a Man in Armor
--Tintoretto, Contest Between Apollo and Marsyas
NEW HAVEN, Yale University Art Gallery
--Antonio Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Deianira
--Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lady with a Rabbit
--Sassetta, Devil appearing to St. Anthony
NORTHAMPTON, Smith College Museum - pencils only!
--Sano di Pietro, Madonna and Child
--Bargello Master, Madonna and Child
--Taddeo di Bartolo, Death of St. Peter Martyr
--Processional Cross
SPRINGFIELD, Museum of Fine Arts
SOUTH HADLEY, Mt. Holyoke Art Gallery
-- Veronese, Adoration of the Shepherds
WILLIAMSTOWN, Clark Art Institute
-- some wonderful works
WORCESTER, Art Museum
-- some wonderful works