RENAISSANCE ART HISTORY, TEST TWO: OCT. 3 2006
Some general things to note:
(1) subject matter is not usually a description of style. In some cases, style does
imply subject but then you need to specify that the subject and style are linked.
Religious iconography, for example, is a subject which begins long before the
renaissance and continues long after. It is only the treatment of the religious
narrative which differentiates a renaissance painting from another period style.
Likewise, symbolism is not unique to the Renaissance. We find symbols in all
periods of art. What changes is how they are used and how they are depicted or
shown in the art work.
(2) Perspective: this is a word which commonly means “point of view.” In
painting, it does also but when we use the phrase “linear perspective” we are
referring to a specific technique. This technique creates the point of view for the
viewer (which means that it is the assertion of the artist’s point of view, rather
than your own). But remember that in class, when I discussed Renaissance style
as an ongoing evolution, I talked about “ornamental perspective” as well as linear
perspective and the fact that there isn’t a clear sequence of progression from one
to the other.
(3) Describing a painting is not going to explain how it demonstrates style.
Description is good, but it rarely is enough.
(4) Refer to your readings when you answer questions.
In most cases, I’ve tried to indicate more options than you needed to include for a good
answer.
1a. ARTIST: Ghiberti
b. DATE: 1401
c. WHY WAS THIS MADE? Competition panel for the doors to the Florence Baptistry
d. HOW DOES THIS WORK DEMONSTRATE AT LEAST 2 RENAISSANCE VALUES? (2)
1) the use of a biblical story intended to communicate a civil message about the
role of sacrifice in the life of Florentine citizens (unity of religion and civic values)
2) the role of competition as a manifestation of individual virtue
3) the patron was a guild; although not explicitly new, the tendency for guilds to
commission religious art was more of a Renaissance phenomenon than at any
other time. Of the three answers listed here, this was the weakest but acceptable.
2a. ARTIST: Brunelleschi
b. NAME OF WORK: Foundling Hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti)
c. DATE: 1419-24
3a. ARTIST: Orcagna
b. NAME OF WORK: Strozzi altarpiece (Enthroned Christ with Madonna and Saints)
c. DATE: 1354-7
d. LOCATION: Strozzi chapel in the Santa Maria Novella
d. WHAT KIND OF PATRON REQUESTED THIS WORK? WHY (WHAT PURPOSE DID IT SERVE
THE PATRON)? (2 pts)
a private family patron (the Strozzi family); patrons commissioned religious art in
the belief that they would obtain extra mercy or indulgences; would also have
communicated the wealth and power of the Strozzi family. Without knowing
anything about the Strozzi family, you could have made this assumption on the
basis of reading the chapter in Welch on sacred art.
In class, I raised the question of whether the “flat” style was associated with the plague, a
“plague style” and pointed out that in fact, not all the figures were flat and that this artist
himself, in another work made at the same time (which we looked at) was not flat,
disproving the idea of a plague style but establishing the fact that the Renaissance style was
not uniform and that in paintings where hierarchy was important (most religious subject
matter), the Byzantine style was often used at this time
4a. ARTIST: Donatello
b. NAME OF WORK: statue of St. Mark
c. DATE: 1411-14
d. LOCATION: niche on exterior of the Orsan Michele
e. TYPE OF PATRON: guild
5a. ARTIST: Rogier van der Weyden
b. THIS DETAIL IS FROM WHICH WORK? St. Luke drawing the Virgin
c. DATE: about 1435
6a. ARTIST: Nanni di Banco
b. NAME OF WORK: Four Crowned Saints [some of you wrote Crowded – where did you get
that from? They’re not crowded and the correct word is written on the web site and in
Artstor.]
c. DATE: 1408-14
7a. ARTIST: Campin
b. NAME OF COMPLETE WORK: Merode altarpiece
c. DATE: 1425-8
d. HOW DOES THIS WORK ILLUSTRATE THE NORTHERN VISION? (2)
Key points to make:
1) the use of double meaning: seemingly ordinary domestic objects have a sacred
meaning which would have been known to the viewers;
2) setting the religious scene in a setting which is similar to the setting of the
donors: making the sacred “real” through the union of different realities (this also
reflects the fact that many northern altarpieces were made to be kept in the home,
rather than a chapel, and this personalization of the setting in the painting
conveys sacred qualities to the home);
3) fragmentary or manipulated realism is evident through the reality of the panel
which shows the donors looking in and the equal reality of the setting with the
annunciation and Joseph in his workshop, with a view onto a Flemish town; it is
also evident in the amount of detail used in the rendering of both “real” objects
and the sacred figures
8a. ARTIST: Michelozzo di Bartolomeo [note that Michelozzo is the most important part of
his name. I knew what you meant if you wrote Bartolomeo but with Italian names, the
word that comes after “di” or “da” is the town of birth. It is not a family name. That’s why
it’s more correct to say “Leonardo” than Da Vinci but popular habit tends to prevail in that
case.]
b. NAME OF WORK: Medici-Riccardi Palazzo (Palace)
c. DATE: 1440s-1450s
d. WHERE DO YOU SEE RUSTICATION IN THIS AND WHY WAS IT USED? (1)
Rustication is on the lowest third of the building – the coarse and large blocks. I didn’t ask
for a definition but for its location. It was used to make a reference to ancient Roman walls
(classical revival), to communicate physical strength, and differentiate between the public
area of the building and the private (upper levels)
9a. ARTIST: Jan van Eyck
b. NAME OF WORK: Madonna of Chancellor Rolin
c. DATE: 1433-5
10a. ARTIST: Hugo van der Goes
b. NAME OF COMPLETE WORK: central panel from the Portinari altarpiece
DATE: 1475
11a. ARTIST: Rogier van der Weyden
b. NAME OF WORK: Deposition or Descent from the Cross
c. DATE: 1435
12a. ARTIST: Alberti
b. NAME OF WORK: Rucellai Palazzo
c. DATE: 1455-60
13a. ARTIST: Rogier van der Weyden
b. NAME OF WORK: Last Judgement altarpiece
c. DATE: 1444-8
14a. ARTIST: Masaccio
b. NAME OF WORK ON LEFT AND LOCATION: St. Peter Healing with his Shadow, detail from
the Brancacci Chapel
c. NAME OF WORK ON RIGHT: Holy Trinity
d. WHAT QUALITIES OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE STYLE ARE ILLUSTRATED IN THESE
EXAMPLES? YOU SHOULD IDENTIFY AT LEAST 3. (4) Use point values to tell you when to
write a longer answer. The others were worth 2 points; this one was worth 4.
1) the use of linear perspective to creative a believable setting for human activity
(more true in the Chapel fresco but the architectural setting of the Trinity was also
very believable)
2) related to the first: the inclusion of ordinary human beings in a setting which
contains sacred figures – this was true in both but in this case, the fresco is a
better example. Including donors in a religious work of art was not limited to
Italian painting. The Italian style, however, moves more rapidly to make a world
which contains both sacred and secular people as equal participants. We don’t see
that in the Merode altarpiece or even in the Portinari altarpiece where
sacred/secular status is differentiated by size.
3) references to the local (Florentine) architecture in both is another way of
reinforcing the idea that these settings are places where human activity can occur
4) fully weight-bearing bodies: again, more true in the fresco than the Trinity.
5) use of linear perspective to create symbolic foci and to suggest mixture of
sacred realm and secular. This one is more true for the Trinity.
15a. ARTIST: Gentile da Fabriano
b. NAME OF WORK: Adoration of the Magi altarpiece
c. DATE: 1423
d. WHAT FEATURE OF THE RENAISSANCE STYLE DOES THIS WORK ILLUSTRATE? (1)
the best and shortest answer: use of Byzantine gold (which shows the continued influence
of international Gothic style)
also true: the eclectic treatment of space suggests the Byzantine influence but combined
with some suggestion of linear perspective in places; together, this reminds us of the fact
that there is no single Renaissance style
16a. ARTIST: van Eyck
b. NAME OF WORK: Arnolfini Double Portrait
c. DATE: 1434
d. DISCUSS THIS WORK AS A “MANIFESTO” OF THE NORTHERN REN. STYLE (5)
Some of the same points which you might have made for the Campin work above
would be true here as well, in particular, the use of symbolic objects with double
meanings. Note that it is not sufficient to say that the painting used symbols most religious and narrative art uses symbols. What is important is that ordinary
domestic objects have other meanings which would have been recognizable to the
viewers of the painting. But this particular painting does not have a religious
meaning. A wedding is a religious ceremony but the wedding itself is in dispute.
This means that the combination is in reverse: the emphasis is on the materiality
of secular life and the desires and possessions of the couple we see in the
painting.
The use of detailed textures and representation of the interior is true to the
northern interest in presenting a believable but manipulated realism although in
this case, the manipulation comes primarily in the terms of spatial treatment: the
use of the mirror creates another view of the room and extends the space outward
while the window provides a view out onto the city even though it would not be
possible to see out the window from where we, the viewers, are standing.
The people, by the way, do not appear to be too large for the setting. Admittedly,
the chandelier and mirror are too low for them but the artist is using these objects
symbolically. In other respects, the man and woman do fit into this space.
This question would have been an excellent place to refer to the idea of
manipulated (or fragmentary) realism, the idea which Harbison discusses in
chapter one of his book, and which we discussed in class.
17a. ARTIST: Brunelleschi
b. NAME OF WORK: dome of the Cathedral of Florence
c. DATE: 1420s - 1430s
d. HOW DOES THIS WORK MANIFEST RENAISSANCE-HUMANIST VALUES? (2)
the innovative approach to the double-shelled dome reflects the humanist emphasis on the
development of individual skill (virtue) while the unity of engineering and art reflects the
Renaissance and humanist commitment to understanding the world as a means of achieving
spiritual illumination. By the way, the Pantheon dome did not look like this; it was
hemispheric; this one is not.
18a . ARTIST: Brunelleschi
b. NAME OF WORK: San Lorenzo cathedral (nave view)
c. DATE: beg. 1420s
19a. ARTIST: Benozzo Gozzoli
b. NAME OF WORK: Procession of the Magi
c. LOCATION: Medici chapel in the Medici palace
d. DATE: c. 1459
e. HOW DOES THIS WORK COMMUNICATE THE VALUES OF RENAISSANCE HUMANISM,
BOTH IN ITS STYLE AND IN THE REASONS WHY IT WAS MADE (4)
Most important, you should note that this was made for a private family chapel
located in their private palazzo. The Medici family used this work to unite a
message about the power of the family with a religious message and with a civic
message, since some of the figures in the painting were portraits of Florentine
citizens while others were members of the Medici family, and still others were
typical personnages from the religious narrative. The artist used geographic and
clothing references to localize the subject in time and place. Also important in this
work is the fact that the artist was probably instructed to make stylistic references
to the Gentile altarpiece made for a family which the Medicis had overtaken in
power and wealth - this relates to the Renaissance value of demonstrating
individual strength and ingenuity (the meaning of virtue in the Renaissance). All
the same, is this work a demonstration of humanist values? I don’t know, given
that it was designed to demonstrate the hubris of the family. And as far as
showing off their wealth, most people would not have seen it (recall that it was
located in their personal chapel at home).
Essay question: worth 10 points
The key to a good essay, no matter which one you chose, is the use of specific examples to
illustrate your points. Art writing becomes convincing only when you can say: as Artist 1
did in his painting of ..., showing how..... (etc.). One of the important characteristics to
note in a discussion of Renaissance style is its diversity and, even, eclecticism, and Lippi’s
painting (the one you could have written about for this essay) certainly demonstrates an
eclectic approach to space and background, despite the relatively traditional iconography of
the subject. You might have compared it to the Portinari altarpiece, which it does resemble,
but unlike the Portinari painting and unlike most of the other paintings owned by the Medici
(this was made for them), we do not see any figures in this painting who represent the
donor family. In fact, in this respect, it has more in common with somewhat earlier
Renaissance paintings, such as the Gentile altarpiece, and its spatial treatment might also
remind us of that one, suggesting that once again, the Medicis were asking their artist to
compete with and surpass work made for the Strozzi family. One of the differences
between this and the Gentile work is that the figures in this painting are much more
completely and believable rendered, to the point where we can attribute emotional value to
the facial expressions on the saints who are looking at the infant. Yet, they still don’t look
like they actually belong in the landscape, which is why the painting strikes me as having a
northern quality to it, more like the Portinari altarpiece. The detailed treatment of the forest
and animals, with a sense of deep space extending far into the depths of the forest,
suggests an Italian commitment to linear perspective despite the fact that nothing else
about the background seems especially Italian in treatment. What this means is that both
essays, whether you chose to focus on the unfamiliar painting or not, really called for a
discussion of the differences between the Italian vision and the northern vision. This
discussion might have been a good place to refer to the idea of “ornamental perspective”
and its use of the relief as a model. Although it was made later than Masaccio’s frescoes,
the overall feeling of the spatial treatment here is ornamental. Look at the light, for
example: everyone’s face is fully illuminated, no matter which what position they’re in, the
steps of the strange building are illuminated, the angels are illuminated, and even the
clearing in the forest is illuminated. Because there is no identifiable light source within the
scene, it becomes a demonstration of the more decorative approach to creating space than
the space of a “window onto another world” which would result from one-point, linear
perspective.