Art History Lecture 1: Renaissance Art
Pre-class Assignments
1) Please read the attached chapter from JoshuaTaylor, Learning to Look. (Don't worry, this will be the only reading assignment I have you do! Please do it carefully!)
The purpose of this reading is NOT for you to memorize facts about the artworks he discusses, but rather for you to see the language of visual analysis we'll be doing in class discussion and that you should use in your written art response papers. This chapter is meant as an example for how to write about art.
You may also refer to my "cheat sheet" on the Taylor chapter. I wrote this to outline and emphasize the way he makes claims about art and supports them with visual evidence.
Click here for the Taylor reading.
Click here for my notes.
2) Look at each image on the flickr page carefully before the class in order to become familiar with the visual elements of the style. Here's the link to the Renaissance Art album.
3) Pick one image from the Renaissance Art album, briefly research it, and turn in a few sentences to me on the day of class describing one thing you learned that was not included in the artist/title/date information of the image. This exercise should take only around 30 minutes, and the “fact learned” may be simple. Google and Wikipedia are fine, though I encourage you to use other sources of well. Be sure to cite the source and use your own words. Imagine you’re standing in front of a painting in a gallery teaching someone this cool fact.
For example: what is one common art historical analysis of
the meaning or significance of the artwork? What does it depict (if not
obvious)? Is there something interesting about the artist who made it? Who was
it made for?
EXAMPLE: Saint
Margaret of Antioch, ca. 1475. In this late-Medieval sculpture saint
Margaret appears on the body of an animal, but the head has been broken off.
After researching the story of the saint, the animal turns out to be a dragon.
This is because, according to legend, St. Margaret was tortured and imprisoned
for her faith, and while in prison was swallowed by the devil in the form of a
dragon. However the cross she wore irritated the dragon’s stomach and it
“disgorged” her; for this reason she is the patron saint of childbirth. (Story
from catholic.org/saints).
EXAMPLE: Michelangelo, David,
1501-1504. The block of marble Michelangelo used for this sculpture was left
over from a project started by another artist, Agostino di Duccio, who began
sculpting the feet and legs. The block of marble was then passed on to the
artist Antonio Rossellino, but he stopped the project soon after. The block was
then left untouched for twenty-five years before the young Michelangelo (only
26 years old) used it for his David.
(From Wikipedia).
EXAMPLE: Jacques de Gheyn II, Vanitas Still Life, 1603. The skull, bubble, and cut flowers in
this still life are meant to represent the brevity of human life. This is part
of the theme of a “vanitas” still life, which is a genre of painting that
emphasizes the fleetingness of life.
(From Metmuseum.org).
EXAMPLE: Caravaggio, Death
of the Virgin, 1604-1606. The church that commissioned this painting, the
Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, rejected it because
Caravaggio used a prostitute as the model for the Virgin. (From Wikipedia).
Questions? Feel free to email me: cochrane.sally(at)gmail.com
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