Art Appreciation Unit VII Assessment Questions (Mathguy18 ONLY)

ART 1301, Art Appreciation 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Justify visual arts in relation to history and culture.

4. Analyze artworks using the application of media, techniques, and processes.

5. Recognize an artwork or artist by style and time period.

Reading Assignment Chapter 17: Renaissance and Baroque Europe

Unit Lesson Chapter 17: Renaissance and Baroque Europe During the Renaissance, humanism challenged the religious fervor of the Middle Ages. People were not discarding theology, but rather, supporting secular life, such as intellectual and scientific inquiry and rediscovering classical culture of Greece and Rome. The focus began to shift from God and the hereafter to humankind and current culture. Most of us think of the Renaissance as the most important time for religious art, and it was, but artists at that time were not making religious work because they were inspired. Most artists, if not all, were commissioned by the church to make the beautiful art that we see today (Frank, 2014b). The Renaissance began in Italy. Florence had a flourishing economy, and wealthy Italian merchants competed with one another for the recognition and power that come with owning artwork (Frank, 2014b). At this time, artists were trying to integrate Christian traditions with rational physical life in earthly space. The study of anatomy and nature came from growing scientific concerns to investigate.

(Frank, 2014a, slide 9)

UNIT VII STUDY GUIDE

Renaissance and Baroque Europe

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Masaccio was the first major painter of the Italian Renaissance. The Holy Trinity began the Renaissance and was the first painting based on correct linear perspective (please see above image or page 281 of your textbook). Masaccio learned how to paint humans with actual presence from studying the work of Giotto, but he far exceeded Giotto with linear perspective skills (Frank, 2014b). This painting is more than correct linear perspective; it shows us the layers of mortality in Christianity. Starting at the very top of the painting, we have God the Father being defined in humanist terms as human. In between God and Jesus we have the Holy Spirit represented by a dove. Christ is a bridge into the spiritual realm, and at his feet are the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Both Mary and John are shown in the spiritual realm because they are saints. Outside of the spiritual realm, we have the donors. It was very popular to commission paintings for a church (and have yourself featured in it) to show that you are the reason for the painting being in the church. Below the donors, we have a sarcophagus that reads, “What I am, you shall become.” This phrase is about as mortal as you can get. As morbid as it sounds, we all die; we will eventually be what the skeleton is. In this one painting, we see the range from extreme mortality to extreme spirituality. Another interesting tidbit, the painting’s linear perspective is so correct that if you were standing in front of the painting, it would look like an opening in the wall. The ceiling in the painting is the same ceiling in the room surrounding it!

While studying the Renaissance we will see many Davids. David represents Florence, and anyone who commissioned a David was aligning with Florence and showing love for the city (Frank, 2014b). Keep in mind that only the extremely wealthy were able to afford commissioned art. David becomes the symbol of Florence as a reference to David and Goliath (Frank, 2014b). Florence was a small and wealthy city-state surrounded

by stronger enemy city-states that wanted to conquer it. Many attacks were brought upon Florence, but in the end Florence always escaped. Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most popular artists of the High Renaissance. He felt that art and science were one and the same. If you could figure something out through drawing, you fully understood it. One of the most famous paintings that he created was the Mona Lisa, which is shown on the left and page 284 of your textbook. He used a sfumato technique where everything is blurred (Frank, 2014b). If you do not see a sharp edge, your eye and mind creates one. He knew this and kept his edges blurred so that everything would seem perfect and correct. There are many theories on who the woman is, but a popular one it that is was a commissioned portrait of a banker’s wife, which if this is true, would have been very

unusual. There are many portraits of women at this time, but most were painted while the woman looks down or off in the distance. Women were not supposed to look men directly in the eyes, unless it was their husband, but here we have a woman looking right at us and starting to smile. The smile is the other difficult

(Frank, 2014a, slide 11)

(Frank, 2014a, slide 19)

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item he conquered in this painting. It is very hard to have a model pose for a long period of time holding a smile, much less paint one without it looking forced. In today’s age of cameras it does not seem like a big deal, but to a painter who probably worked on this for months or years, it is a very big deal. He also accomplished the smile with sfumato. Although Leonardo da Vinci has many accomplishments under his belt, he also has many works left unfinished (Frank, 2014b). As soon as he would start a project, he would just as easily get sidetracked and start working on something else! He might have only completed about 15% of everything he started! Have you ever wondered how the thought, “well, I am the artist, and what I say goes” started? In the Late Renaissance in Venice, Paolo Veronese began a commissioned painting in an eating hall used by a monastery. The monks had seen Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (located on page 285 of your textbook) and wanted something similar in their dining hall to inspire them to higher spirituality while they ate. Veronese finished the painting, and the monks hated it. The painting was of a party, one where various nationalities were represented, some not sober, as well as “ladies of the night,” dogs, wealthy merchants, and people just living it up. When he was brought before the Inquisition, the church ordered Veronese to repaint the painting to fit the Last Supper, and he refused. He said he should be free to interpret any subject as he wished. After the church threatens to excommunicate him, he decided to change the name to Feast in the House of Levi (Frank, 2014b).

References Frank, P. (2014a). Chapter 17: Renaissance and Baroque Europe [PowerPoint slides]. Boston, MA: Pearson

Education. Frank, P. (2014b). Prebles’ artforms: An introduction to the visual arts (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Suggested Reading If you would like to learn more about this unit’s reading, review the below chapter presentation that align with the textbook required reading: Click here to access the Chapter 17 PowerPoint Presentation. Click here for a PDF version of the presentation. To learn more about women’s role in art, review the below website: National Museum of Women in the Arts. (2014). Homepage. Retrieved from http://nmwa.org/