12 posts tagged “art history notes”
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Le Grande Odalisque. 1814. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.
Neoclassical. Subject is a female slave concubine. Has warm flesh tones. Classical pose with Oriental touches in the decor.
Eugène Delacroix. Liberty Leading the People (28 July 1830). 1830. Oil on canvas.
Romantic style. Represents the French Revolution. Shows people of almost all walks of life marching onward into battle, including a black slave.
Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic
1875
American Realism. Oil on canvas. A very accurate depiction of a gross anatomy lesson. With its dramatic lighting on the instructor, it illustrates the darkness of ignorance and the illuminating power of knowledge.
Egouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass - 1863
Realism / Early Modern. Oil on canvas. Very flat. A combination of elements from past movements. Upset viewers with the very direct gazes of the nudes. (Why it didn't bother them more that the men were clothed and the women weren't is probably a product of the male dominated society.)
Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, At the Moulin Rouge - 1892-1895
Impressionism. Oil on canvas. Shows the play of color in reflected light.
Paul Cezanne, The Basket of Apples - 1895
Post Impressionism. Oil on Canvas. Precursor to Cubism. Shows breaks in the rules of perspective.
Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy - 1897
Fantasy / Primative. Oil on Canvas. Very flat and stylized.
Henri Matisse, Red Room - 1908-1909
Fauvism.Oil on Canvas. Explosive use of color.
George Braque, The Portuguese - 1911
Analytical Cubism. Oil on Canvas. Limit use of color. Broken planes. Very shallow space.
Marcel DuChamp, Fountain - 1917
Dada style - more of a mindset than an art movement. Was entered into an art show and rejected, causing DuChamp to resign from the governing board of the group that sponsered the art show.
Piet Mondrian, Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow - 1930
De Stij or "The Style". Austere geometric art, representing the higher and rational form of universal beauty.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Kaufmann House - 1936 to 1939
Modern Architecture. Building materials. Intergrated the building with the natural surroundings and used local materials when possible.
Jackson Pollack, Lavender Mist - 1950
Abstract Expresionism / Action Painting. Oil, enamel, and aluminum pain on canvas. Dripped and splatted paint on the canvas. Didn't use sketches.
Joseph Beuys, How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare - 1965
Performance Art (Happenings). Photo of the performance. Artist spent hours talking to a dead bunny in front of an audience. (I sense some very deep emotional trauma being worked through here.)
Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon - 1959
Combine style. Art and real objects combined. Sort of the opposite of trompe l'oeil. Shows DuChamps' influence of seeing real objects as art.
Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party - 1979
Feminist Art. Multimedia. Each place setting is supposed to represent an important historical female.
Mark Tansey, A Short History of Modernist Painting - 1982
Post Modernism. Oil on canvas. Woman hosing down a window is a metaphor for Impressionism cleansing traditional painting. A man butting his head against a brick wall represents formalism. And a hen looking at herself in a mirror symbolizes Conceptualism.
Terms
The Grand Manner - painting portraits of contemporary people in historial costumes and settings. Favored by painter Joshua Reynolds.
Fete Galante - Rococo paintings of outdoor entertainers employed by the upper class.
Arabesque - flowing lines and swirling shapes.
Grand Tour - Visiting Paris, South France, Venics, Florence, Rome and Naples to see the great historical artworks.
Salon - a room in a private home for entertaining and showing artworks.
Empiricism - a theory of knowledge which emphasizes those aspects of scientific knowledge that are closely related to experience, especially as formed through deliberate experimental arrangements.
Modernity - breaking from established styles.
Vedute - a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting of a cityscape or some other vista.
Images
ROCOCO STYLE
Antoine Watteau
Return from Cythera
Louvre, Paris
1716
Oil on Canvas. Idyllic vision. Pastel pallet. Soft.
Jean-Honore Fragonard
The Swing
Wallace Collection, London
1766
Oil on canvas. Amourous subject. Lady is playfully kicking her shoe off at the god of discretion, while the gentleman looks up her dress and the cleryman pushes the swing.
Francois Boucher
Cupid a Captive
Wallace Collection, London
1754
Oil on canvas. Mythological scene, criss-cross composition.
Thomas Gainsborough
Mrs Richard Brinsley Sheridan (c.1785-1787)
Oil on canvas. Mature, yet soft and feathery. Informal portrait in a natural setting.
AMERICAN REALISM
Copley, John Singleton
Paul Revere
c. 1768-70
Oil on canvas
35 x 28 1/2 in. (88.9 x 72.3 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Very straight forward composition. Done before Copley was trained in Europe. Considered the first brilliant American artist.
NEO-CLASSICAL
Angelica Kauffman
Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi or Cornelia Presenting
1785
Oil on Canvas. Portraying the moral values of a good mother - i.e. one who treasures her children above material goods. A moralistic work.
Jacques Louis David
Oath of the Horatii
1784
Oil on canvas. Based on a historical drama. Very masculine. Glazed colors over a griselle underpainting.
Jacques Louis David
Death of Marat
1793
Oil on Canvas. Personal friend of David who was a social agitator with a skin condition. Reductive neo-classical style, showing shallow space.
Thomas Jefferson
Monticello
Charlottesville
1770-1806
Based on Palladio's books, with added French elements. Used local materials.
Quadro Riportato - faux frames painted around pictures, usually on frescos.
Grand Illusions - The ceilings of the Baroque period. Often employed trompe l'eoil and other optical illusions.
Tenebrism - forms emerging from a strong darkness into light. Like theatrical lighting.
Patriciate - the upper class or highest level of society.
Camera Obscura - A darkened room with a pin hole opening to project an image on the back wall.
Grotto - artifical cave.
Impasto - painting thickly so the brush strokes can be seen.
[I've actually taken the test on these, but for the final and consistancy, I'm adding this before I do my other notes.]
Images
Peter Paul Ruebens
The Elevation of the Cross
c. 1610-11
Central panel of triptych altarpiece
462 x 341 cm
Cathedral, Antwerp
Oil on Panel. Flemish Baroque. First commission in Antwerp.
Anthony van Dyck
Charles I Dismounted
c. 1635; Oil on canvas, 266 x 207 cm; Musée du Louvre, Paris
Flemish Baroque. Influenced may other portrait painters. Had horse's head lowered to make subject look taller.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Night Watch
Oil on Canvas.
Dutch Baroque. One of Rembrandt's finest works. Was renamed by some art historians after cleaning showed the colors to be brighter than originally thought.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Self-Portrait (1659-1660 according to my textbook, 1662 according to the Internet)
Oil on Canvas.
Dutch Baroque. Uses impasto and natural lighting.
Jan Vermeer
Allergory of the Art of Painting
Oil on canvas.
Dutch Baroque. Used mirrors and Camera Obscura to do under drawing.
The Maids of Honor
Deigo Velasquez
Oil on Canvas
Spanish Baroque. One of the most acclaimed painters of all time.
Saint Serapion
Francisco de Zurbaran
1628
Oil on canvas
Spanish Baroque. Made for a monastic order. Mostly monochromatic, yet realistic.
Baroque Terms
Quadro Riportato - Illusionary frames painted around a composition.
Grand Illusions - Ceiling painting of the Baroque periods, using a lot of trompe l'oeil, perspective and other illusionary tricks.
Tenebrism - Lighting effect that shows forms emerging from darkness into stark light.
Patriciate - People of the highest social level.
Camera Obscura - A darkened chamber in which the real image of an object is received through a small opening or lens and focused in natural color onto a facing surface rather than recorded on a film or plate.
Grotto - An artificial structure or excavation made to resemble a cave or cavern.
David
John Lorenzo Bernini
Marble statue
Italian Baroque. Shows David as he is about to throw the stone at Goliath. Includes viewer in the piece by giving the impression that Goliath is behind them. Very active and theatrical.
St. Teresa in Ectasy
John Lorenzo Bernini
Marble statue
Italian Baroque. From a vision describe by a Spanish nun, of an angel piercing her heart with the love of God. The gilded bronze behind it represents rays of light.
Conversion of St. Paul
Caravaggio - 1601
Oil on canvas.
Italian Baroque. Shows tenebrism with its dramatic lighting and contrast. Very naturalistic and lacking in formality.
Aurora
Guido Reni
Fresco
Italian Classical Baroque. Part of the Grand Illusion movement in ceiling painting. Doesn't match the rest of the architecture.
Triumph of the Barbenini
Cordona
Fresco
Italian Classical Baroque. Part of the Grand Illusion movement in ceiling painting. Became the model for other over the top compositions.
Terms
Iconoclasm - the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives.
Allegory - The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
Images
Matthias Grunwald. Isenheim Altarpiece (closed), c. 1510-15. oil on panel.
German Mysticism/Renaissance. Was created for a hospital that specialized in skin disorders. Has some Medieval elements in it. Bottom panel painted in such a way that if one side is opened, it looks as if Christ's leg is amputated.
ALBRECHT DURER. FOUR APOSTLES, 1662, oil on wood
German Renaissance. Shows John the Evangelist, Peter, Mark and Paul. Bible are opened to John 1:1. Symbolizes the rise of Protestantism.
Albrecht Dürer
"Adam and Eve (The Fall of Man)", 1504, engraving, 25.4 x 19 cm, Philipps University, Marburg
German Renaissance. Shows his growing interest in Italian Art. Uses Divine proportions. Represents the four human temperments: Elk - melancholy; Cat - choleric; Ox - phlegmatic; Rabbit - sanguine.
Hans Holbein the Younger, The French Ambassadors, 1533, National Gallery, London, oil and tempera on panel
Strong Netherland influence. Reflects the realism of the Flemish artists and the composition of Italians. The reason for the elongated skull at the bottom is unknown.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow, 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, oil on panel
Flemish style. The most famous painting of Bruegel the Elder. Unique composition - near and far ground without middle ground.
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
El Greco
1586-88
Oil on canvas, 480 x 360 cm
Santo Tomé, Toledo
Spanish Renaissance. Shows artist's son and several important locally people. Has some elements of Mannerism.
Jean Clouet. Portrait of Francis I. c. 1520-25. Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France.
French Renaissance. Very stylized. Features softened to improve subject's looks. Lots of attention paid to fabrics and jewelry.
There will be some repetition in these notes due to overlapping lecture notes.
Terms
Cartouche - A structure or figure, often in the shape of an oval shield or oblong scroll, used as an architectural or graphic ornament or to bear a design or inscription.
Rusticated stonework - stone made to look rough to give a building more texture.
Balustrade - A rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it, as along the front of a gallery.
Palazzo - a grand building of some architectural ambition that is the headquarters of a family of some renown.
Counter Reformation - Rome's attempt to fight the rise of Protestantism. It included the Council of Trent.
Council of Trent - It is considered one of the most important councils in the history of the Catholic Church, clearly specifying Catholic doctrines on salvation, the sacraments, the Biblical canon, and standardizing the Mass throughout the church, largely by abolishing local variations.
Mannerism - a useful designation for those aspects of the late Renaissance arts (1530-1580), whose proponents sought to create dramatic and dynamic effects by depicting figures with elongated forms and in exaggerated, out-of-balance poses in manipulated irrational space, lit with unrealistic lighting.
Parts of a Church Facade:
Images
Artist: Titian (1488 - 1576)
Title: Venus of Urbino
Year: 1538
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Size: 165 x 119 cms / 65 x 46.9 inches
Venetian style. Sensuous nude. Focus on colors.
Giorgione
The Tempest
c. 1508
Oil on canvas
82 x 73 cm (32 1/4 x 28 3/4 in.)
Accademia, Venice
Venetian style. Poetic scene against a dominant landscape. Mood created by landscape.
Fresco. Mannerism. Uses warm and cool colors to create a spiral of contrast.
Jacopo da Pontormo
Descent from the Cross
1525-1528
Mannerism. Oil on Panel. Weird presentation with strange poses and color palette.
Parmigianino, Madonna with the Long Neck, c. 1535. oil on panel. Italian.
Mannerism. Elongation of limbs. Forms mirrored in vase and pillar.
Portrait of a Young Man
Agnolo Bronzino
c. 1540
Oil on wood, 96 x 75 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mannerism. Elongated features. Lighting contrasting hands and face. Subject looks sophisticated and haughty.
Artist: Giacomo della Porta
Artist's Lifespan: c. 1540-1602
Title: Facade of Il Gesù, Rome
Date: c. 1575-84
Location of Origin: Italy
Medium: Architecture
Style: Mannerism
Jesuit church. Greatly influenced the architecture of the 17th century.
Palladio, Villa Rotonda, Vicenza, exterior view, 1566-69. architecture. Italian
First private home with a dome. Actually meant to be used for large parties to entertain guests.
Terms
Disengo - Focusing on the use of structure and form while creating a painting.
Sfumato - Creating a misty haze through the use of smoky transparent glazes.
Cornice - molded or decorated projection that forms the crowning feature at the top of a building wall or other architectural element.
Cartouche - A structure or figure, often in the shape of an oval shield or oblong scroll, used as an architectural or graphic ornament or to bear a design or inscription.
Rusticated stonework - stone made to look rough to give a building more texture.
Balustrade - A rail and the row of balusters or posts that support it, as along the front of a gallery.
Pieta - A painting or sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding and mourning over the dead body of Jesus.
Images
Leonardo da Vinci
The Virgin of the Rocks
1483-86
Oil on panel
77 5/8 x 47 5/8 in (199 x 122 cm)
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Classical Phase. Used triangle or pyramid composition for stability. Also used several forms of perspective and some trompe l'oeil techniques.
Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper
after cleaning
1498
Tempera on plaster
460 x 880 cm (15 x 29 ft.)
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Refectory), Milan
Classical Phase. The disciples are all displaying very human, identifiable emotions. Was the first to depict real people acting like real people.
The technical perspective in Last Supper is excellent. You can see that every single element of the painting directs one's attention straight to the midpoint of the composition, Christ's head. It's arguably the greatest example of one point perspective ever created.
Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa
1503-1506
Oil on wood
77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in.)
Louvre, Paris
Classical Phase. Used sfumato to create her mysterious smile. Most favorite painting in the world. Brought the subject closer to the front of the picture, causing a greater contrast with the background.
Tempietto
Bramante
1502
Shrine
San Pietro in Montorio, Rome
Bramante's Tempietto is in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio, believed to be the site of St Peter's martyrdom. The architect clearly worked from a historical typology: individual architectural elements such as columns, entablature, and vault acknowledge a debt to classical structures. The resulting centralized building represented a new type of Christian architecture.
Michelangelo
David
c. 1501-1504
Marble sculpture
Height 410 cm (13 1/2 ft)
Accademia delle Belle Arti, Florence
Classical Phase. Shows a detailed knowledge of anatomy, without using mathematical proportions. Shows David before battle, instead of after. Hands larger than normal.
Michelangelo Buonarotti,
Bound Slave,
1513-16,
Louvre, Paris,
marble
Neo-Platonic representation of the soul trapped in the body.
Michelangelo Buonarotti, Sistine chapel ceiling, St. Peter's, Rome,1508-12, fresco. Detail: Creation of Adam
Classical Phase. Adam is the mirrored image of God.
Raphael, Stanza della Segnatura mural: The School of Athens, 1509-11, The Vatican, Rome, fresco
Classical Phase. Represents the branch of knowledge of Philosophy. Shows the great thinkers of the ages. In addition to Plato, Aristotle and other ancients, Raphael included contempories like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. Show Raphael's trademark use of rich colors.
Raphael, Madonna of the Meadow, 1505, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, oil on panel
Classical Phase. Rich colors. Brighter and clearer images. Idealized faces. Pyramid composition.
Artist: Titian (1488 - 1576)
Title: Venus of Urbino
Art Style: Classical Phase/High Renaissance
Year: 1538
Medium: Oil On Canvas
Size: 165 x 119 cms / 65 x 46.9 inches
Giorgione
The Tempest
c. 1508
Oil on canvas
82 x 73 cm (32 1/4 x 28 3/4 in.)
Accademia, Venice
Terms
Princely Courts - In Western Europe, consolidation of power of local magnates and of kings in fixed administrative centres from the mid-13th century led to the creation of a distinct court culture that was the center of intellectual and artistic patronage.
Trompe L'oeil - is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist.
Allegorical - is a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than (and in addition to) the literal.
Relief Sculpture - a sculptured artwork where a modeled form projects out from a flat background.
Contrapposto - a human figure standing so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more relaxed and less stiff appearance.
Modular - a self-contained component of a system, which has a well-defined interface to the other components.
Palazzo - a grand building of some architectural ambition that is the headquarters of a family of some renown.
Condottier - a soldier of fortune or mercenary.
Pilasters - A rectangular column with a capital and base, projecting only slightly from a wall as an ornamental motif.
Vitruvius - Roman architect and writer. His De Architectura is the only surviving text on ancient architectural theory.
Di sotto in su - An illusionistic technique used for ceilings to provide perspective. The elements above the viewer are rendered as if viewed in true vanishing point perspective.
Column Capitals:
Images
Ghiberti, Lorenzo
The Gates of Paradise (East Door)
1425-52
Bronze with gilding
Frame height 506 cm, width 287 cm
Baptistery, Florence
"New Realism" improved on nature by showing idealized natural forms.
Gentile da Fabriano
Adoration of the Magi
1423
Tempera on wood, 300 x 282 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
International Style with bright colors, rich clothing textures and detailed patterns.
Masaccio
Tribute Money
(left side)
c. 1424-28
Fresco
Brancacci Chapel, Florence
Florentine style. Halos done in perspective. More psychological impact and physically accurate forms. More control over color.
Donatello
David
c. 1444-46
Bronze sculpture
Height 158 cm
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
First freestanding nude sculpture since antiquity. Classical style. Shows a combination of child and adult features to represent David as a youth.
Used more natural observation in his style.
Bottichelli
Birth of Venus
1484-1486
Tempera on canvas.
Hellenistic in style. Very stylized and not scientifically rendered. Great use of lines.
Facade of Santa Maria Novella
Completed 1470
Modular architecture/Renaissance styling. Introduced scroll motif. Very mathematical.
Mantegna, Andrea
Camera degli Sposi
The Oculus
1473
Fresco
270 cm diameter
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua
Also know as the ceiling from "Room of the Newlyweds". Excellent example of trompe l'oeil and di sotto in su. First room completely decorated by the same artist. Precursor to the Baroque style.
Andrea Mantegna
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
c. 1490
Tempera on canvas, 68 x 81 cm Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Use of extreme foreshortening to show perspective and yet successfully breaks many other rule for formal perspective drawing to create a realistic feeling.
