Review for Visual Art quiz for Medieval (Gothic Cathedral) and Renaissance (mostly
fresco cycles)
Medieval
- Be prepared to offer one example of how a Gothic cathedral such as Chartres relates to
Dante’s Commedia. For example, you could relate them through the idea of journey.
You all have a sense of the journey Dante made as he transited the various circles of Hell
(and eventually made it through Purgatory all the way to Paradise). In what ways did
cathedrals involve journeys? Well, we know that they were important pilgrimage sites.
And we know that church services often involved various processions, some of which
probably symbolized one’s spiritual journey. In Chartres, the labyrinth certainly
symbolizes such a journey of the person trying to keep to the “true path.”
- Be prepared to offer one reason why cathedrals were pilgrimage sites. You could, for
example, note that cathedrals housed relics of saints, and that pilgrims longed to visit
such relics. (Many believed that seeing and touching holy relics could do one great
spiritual good, and could also perhaps heal the sick.)
- Be prepared to define the function of a cathedral (the “seat” of the bishop – meaning the
spiritual and administrative headquarters of a “diocese”). You should realize that
“cathedral” is a term that refers to the building’s function, not to the building type –
although many cathedral’s share some basic features.
- Be prepared to label a very simplified diagram of a cathedral (aerial view: floor plan)
using the following terms: Nave; (Aisle), Transept; Apse/Choir. Be prepared to explain
the simple symbolism of the floor plan of a church having a main aisle (the nave) crossed
at a right angle by another aisle (the transept): the shape of many cathedrals is a cross,
symbolizing the crucifixion of Jesus.
- Be prepared to explain how buttresses, including (especially) flying buttresses relate to,
and in fact enable the use of, large areas of stained glass. You’ll need to understand how
the flying buttresses help carry the weight of the roof (etc.) so that the walls don’t need to
do all the work, and how using arches to help place buttresses a bit apart from the exterior
walls allows for sunlight to reach the windows without being blocked by thick buttresses.
- Be prepared to offer a few reasons why Chartres is a great Gothic cathedral to study.
Such reasons could include the following: Chartres has a high proportion of wellpreserved original stained glass (whereas more of the original stained glass of many other
cathedrals has not survived). 2. The design of Chartres (e.g., including its elevation: the
particular way in which each bay is separated into sections vertically) proved to be
extremely influential: many other cathedrals picked up on these design features. 3. The
amount and quality of the stone carving/decoration at Chartres is impressive; the builders
of Chartres were very ambitious when it came to “telling stories” in stone (as well as in
stained glass).
- Be prepared to explain how imagery such as the stained glass windows at Chartres that
show New Testament figures such as the evangelist Mark riding on the shoulders of Old
Testament figures such as Daniel relate to and exemplify the idea of typology – that the
cathedral builders (along with many other Christians) saw the New Testament as the
fulfillment and perfection of the Old Testament, and were intent on pointed out parallels
between Old Testament characters/events and “corresponding” New Testament
characters/events.
Renaisssance
- Be prepared to identify the subject matter of the three fresco cycles of Giotto’s Arena
Chapel: the Life of Mary; the Life of Jesus; the Passion of Jesus
- Be prepared to define fresco painting as painting done on freshly laid (and still-damp)
plaster.
- Be prepared to explain the term “giornate.” It’s likely that I’ll present two diagrams, in
each of which a fresco painting has been divided into supposed giornates – that is, into
the sections that could be painted as a “day’s work” – completing each section while the
plaster remained damp. I’ll make one less believable than the other: for example, I could
perhaps make one of the giornates in one diagram include a large number of very
important faces: that would be unlikely, since each face of such figures would be given
great care by the artist.
- Be prepared to define the term “register” in the context of fresco painting. A register is
a horizontal row.
- Be prepared to explain the way the freso cycles of the Arena Chapel are intended to be
read – that is, beginning at the altar and moving clockwise around the chapel, as well as
beginning with the uppermost registers and moving down one register each time you’ve
made a complete circuit of the chapel.
-Be prepared to identify one or more of the typological connections Giotto sets up with
his juxtaposition of Old Testament scenes (in small medallion insets) next to New
Testament scenes. Two excellent examples: 1. We see Jonah (an Old Testament
prophet) being swallowed by a whale) right next to the scene of Jesus being crucified.
Jonah was vomited up by the whale after three days, prefiguring Jesus’s resurrection after
three days in the tomb. 2. We see God creating Adam right next to the scene showing
Jesus resurrecting Lazarus. Both God and Jesus have life-giving power, according to
Christian belief.
- Be prepared to identify a couple of aspects of Giotto’s art that help to explain why he is
considered a crucial artist for the development of the Renaissance. For example: 1.
Giotto helped to humanize religious art by presenting small details of everyday life (e.g.,
the spinner in the scene of the annunciation to St. Anne, or the dog greeting Joachim as
he wanders among his shepherds), and by conveying intense emotions through the faces
and gestures of his figures. 2. Giotto created space that felt much more real than anything
that had come immediately before; even though he didn’t quite use linear perspective (the
“rules” or “laws” of which were not known during his lifetime), his paintings of
architecture came fairly close to being consistent with perspective. And 3. Giotto
elevated the art of narrative painting through the creative ways in which he coordinated
scenery (e.g., buildings, landscape elements) with human event and subjects: as we saw,
Giotto often used the landscape to strengthen and reinforce his composition of human
figures.
- Be prepared to define grisaille as painting done in shades of gray, so as to imitate the
appearance of sculpture. Note that Raphael uses this technique in School of Athens, too:
it’s a widely-used technique or strategy. In the Arena Chapel, Giotto painted the figures
of the Virtues and Vices using this technique.
- Be prepared to discuss the compass-point symbolism of Giotto’s Arena Chapel, which
is identical to that of many cathedrals, including Chartres. The choir/apse (area with the
altar) is located in the east, where the sun rises, thus giving birth to each new day. In the
Arena Chapel, the Last Judgment is placed on the inside of the west wall, so that one is
reminded of final things as one exits the chapel.
- Be prepared to identify three features of Masaccio’s painting (Brancacci Chapel frescos:
1400s) that represent a shift to greater optical realism: 1. his use of cast shadows (recall
how he uses this technique to great narrative effect in the painting of Peter healing
cripples with his shadow); 2. his use of linear perspective (for example, in The Tribute
Money, where the vanishing point of the architecture brings our eye right to Jesus, thus
reinforcing the spiritual meaning of the image; and 3. his great differentiation of and
individuation of figures: many of the figures in the Brancacci Chapel frescos strike the
viewer as being portraits of very specific individuals: “likenesses” rather than “types.”
- Be prepared to discuss Masaccio’s painting The Tribute Money (in the Brancacci
Chapel) as an example of continous narrative: Peter is seen three times in the painting,
first at center receiving instructions from his master Jesus, second at left, extracting coins
from a fish, and third at right, handing these coins to a Roman tax collector. Recall that
continuous narrative involves the presentation of multiple moments within a scene that, at
first glance, seems to be a more or less realistic capturing of a single moment. Such
continuous narrative scenes are generally perceived as single unified scenes until we
notice that one or more characters is repeated within the scene, and realize that we need
to “read” the scene as a story containing multiple moments.
- Be prepared to explain how Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper exemplifies both unity –
as all figures respond to the declaration by Jesus that one of them will betray him, and as
the entire scene is visually tied together by having a clear central vanishing point as well
as a clear central focus in Jesus (who is given a metaphorical “halo” by virtue of the
windows places behind him) – as well as multiplicity, as each figure responds in a
different manner (with unique gestures and expressions), and as the figures are grouped
into groups of three.
- Be prepared to identify the figures of Plato and Aristotle in Raphael’s School of Athens,
and to explain how you’ve made this identification: Plato gestures to the heavens,
suggesting that we should attend to the ideal realm of perfect forms that can perhaps be
approached through clear-headed reflection, while Aristotle gestures to the earth, to
suggest that our best course is close study of our own surroundings. Thus, the two great
ancient philosopher exemplify idealism (Plato) and empiricism (Aristotle).
- Be prepared to discuss briefly the main premise/subject of School of Athens. Note that
the subject is not Christian. Various groups of figures each gather to discuss a different
branch of (secular) learning; many groups seem to be listening intently to a single master,
such as Euclid or Archimedes. As in Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, a very strong use
of linear perspective (here, with the huge barrel vaults being very important visually)
helps to hold together a scene that contains many small and scattered groupings of
figures.
- Be prepared to briefly compare and contrast the way that, on one hand, many of the
figures in School of Athens are highly individuated (being, apparently, portraits of
specific and actual people: it’s likely that Raphael represented various historical figures,
such as the philosopher Heraclitus, as if they were being “played by” contemporaries of
Raphael, such as his fellow-artist Michelangelo), while, on the other hand, figures in
some of his other paintings are very idealized and generic. Raphael helped to develop
the Renaissance idea that beauty can best be represented by combining the most ideal
features of many faces into one composite. When he was painting religious figures such
as Jesus and Mary, who he probably believed it was proper to show as being more perfect
than ordinary humans, this is the approach Raphael adopted.