The Mysterious Case of
the Golden Age
Srujanee Pradhan
Sahana Premkumaar
Shreya Shirodkar
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Mission
An internationally-known criminal has visited all
European museums and stole the most important secrets
of the Renaissance. He/she has hidden them all over the
world in conspicuous areas. Your mission is to find
retrieve these 10 scrolls hidden in 10 rooms. There are
some rooms where there are no scrolls. They are just there
to throw you off!
Good luck! 
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Mission
Complete
The Tempest
William Shakespeare (1610-1611)
• Thought to be last play of Shakespeare
• Parallels seen in Erasmus’s Naufragium,
Peter Martyr’s De orbo noco and eyewitness
report by William Strachey of the real-life
shipwreck of the Sea Venture on the islands of
Bermuda
• Romance genre, influenced by tragicomedy
• Themes – freedom, friendship, repentance and
forgiveness
• Stricter, more organized neoclassical style
• Unities of Time, Place and Action respected by
Shakespeare
• Only one main female character
Exterior of Sistine Chapel
• Best known chapel in the Apostolic Palace,
official residence of Pope in Vatican City
• Famous for art/architecture of Renaissance
artists like Michelangelo, Botticelli…
• High, regular, rectangular brick building 40.93
meters long by 13.41 meters wide by 20.7
meters high
• Roofed with a flattened barrel vault
• 6 tall windows on the long sides
• No exterior façade or exterior processional
doorways or decorative design
• Seen only from nearby windows and light-wells
in palace
Hope
Donatello
• One of many six statuettes sculptures created
for the Siena Font by different sculptors
• Made out of bronze
• Recorded along with Donatello’s other
statuette, Faith, in 1428
• Depicts a woman with her gaze raised upwards
and her hands joined in prayer
• Donatello’s attention to details, from her hands
to the wrinkles of her dress, gives the sculpture
a lifelike appearance
Pieta
Michelangelo (1498-1499)
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At St. Peter’s Basilica
Made of marble
Considered a masterpiece of the Renaissance
A religious scene like many of the sculptures
and artwork from the Renaissance time
Depicts a dead Jesus laying on his mother,
Mary’s, lap after being crucified
Mary is shown to be young and beautiful
instead of an old lady
Not made to show death, but to represent
serenity and a connection to “God” after death
Amount of detail on the sculpture gave it
realism
The Assumption of the Virgin
Titian (1518-1518)
• Located in the high altar of Santa Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice
• A religious piece of artwork showing Mary
going up to heaven (like many others)
• Contains a heavy contrast between light and
dark colors (unlike others)
• Below Mary, her disciples appear to be
reaching out to stop her from leaving them
• With Mary is a group of cherubim, guiding
Mary up to heaven
• Above Mary, God stands waiting to receive her
along with two angels
The Hunt of the Unicorn
Tapestries
Unknown (1495-1505)
• Consists of 7 tapestries: The Hunters Enter
the Woods, The Unicorn is Found, The
Unicorn is Attacked, The Unicorn Defends
Itself, The Unicorn is Tamed by the Maiden,
The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the
Castle, and The Unicorn in Captivity and No
Longer Dead
• Made of silk, wool, and metallic threads
• Said to be made in Southern Netherlands
• Said to represent Christ: death and resurrection
of the Unicorn are said to represent the
Passion of Christ
Zvolen Castle (Slovakia)
• Medieval castle with Renaissance style
• Built by Hungarian king Louis I of Anjou
• Gothic architecture was build between 13601382, inspired by Italian castles
• Renaissance reconstruction to a fortress against
Turkish in 1548 by Italian masons
• Major reconstruction in 1784 when chapel built
to Baroque style
• Extra fortification, bastions, entrance gates,
towers, etc…
Hamlet
William Shakespeare (1599-1601)
• Longest tragedy
• Hamlet seeks revenge for his father who tells
him his uncle had murdered him
• Main characters all die at the end of the play,
but Hamlet kills his uncle
• Death of main characters - common trait in
tragic plays
• Known for depicting the themes of uncertainty,
consequences of actions, and death
• One of the most influential works of literature
ever written
In Praise of Folly
Erasmus (1509)
• Considered one of Erasmus’s greatest piece of
literature
• An essay written in one week when he was sick
in bed
• Makes fun of the ways of human nature
(including those of Erasmus himself)
• Narrated by Folly, a goddess, who brags
about her greatness throughout the piece. Folly
narrates how she gives mankind their attributes.
• Considered a comic piece, but tends to point out
the faults of the Roman Catholic Church
• At the time, was a supporter of the Church
Primavera
Sandro Botticelli (1482)
• Celebrates arrival of spring and has
mythological symbolism
• Venus, Roman goddess of love, in center
• Flora, goddess of flowers/spring, to her left
• Chloris, next to Flora, pursued by Zephyrus,
god of Wind (romance)
• Right of Venus, 3 Graces, female companions
of Venus who perform dance in spring
• Beauty, Chastity and Pleasure blessed by
Venus to help humans realize good and bad
• Mercury/Hermes, next to graces
• Cupid/Amor, above, blindfolded, shooting love
arrows
Mission Complete.
Now, that you have found out the secrets, you have
extracted the importance of Renaissance art,
architecture and literature. Use your new-found
wisdom wisely.
You seem to have some luck on your side. You have
succeeded against us *cough* *cough*, I meant the
criminal. Next time, I’m sure we’ll get you!
Start Over
END
Sources
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http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tita/hd_tita.htm
http://www.arthistory.net/artists/titian/titian1.html
http://web.ebscohost.com/hrc/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=596b5e97-8a66-41f5-989f971a7833b187%40sessionmgr114&vid=6&hid=108
http://www.casasantapia.com/art/donatello.htm
http://history-world.org/donatello.pdf
http://thaiscampos.suite101.com/botticelli--the-philosophy-behind-primavera-a191131
http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Primavera.html
http://reviewofsorts.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/the-story-of-botticellis-la-primavera/
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Sources
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-the-tempest.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zvolen_Castle
http://www.slovakia.culturalprofiles.net/?id=3778
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-sistine-chapel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet#Context_and_interpretation
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C3%A0_(Michelangelo)
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/eliot/452/tapestry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_Tapestries