El Greco: Formative Years

by with No Comment ArtPost-ByzantinePowerpointsRenaissance
Domenikos Theotokopoulos… El Greco, 1541 – 1614
The Dormition of the Virgin, before 1567, egg tempera on wood, Holy Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin, Syros island, Greece

“I paint because the spirits whisper madly inside my head.” El Greco: Formative Years introduces us to the world of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, and his Cretan period Icon of the Dormition of the Virgin, in the Cycladic Island of Syros.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos was a Cretan Greek, born at Handaka-Candia, present-day Herakleion, part of the thriving Republic of Venice. Archival research in Venice showed that between 1526-28 his family relocated from Chania to Handaka, where, in 1541 Domenikos was born. His Orthodox-Greek family belonged to the upper-middle class, as his father, Giorgos Theotokopoulos, worked for the government of the Venetian Republic, most probably as a merchant and a tax collector. Very little is known of  Domenikos’s mother and early childhood. He was undoubtedly talented, and his father, realizing it, placed him as an apprentice in a painter’s workshop to learn this profitable trade. The name of his teacher is unknown, but judging from Domenikos’s earliest paintings, he was a great master of the Post-Byzantine Cretan School. Crete at the time was the center of a thriving artistic community and understanding the artist’s early influences and style is important in decoding his later work!

Very little is also known of Domenikos’s early years as a painter in Handaka, except a1563 reference on him as “a master painter” on a  document issued by the Venetian Administration of Candia, and later, in 1566 his testament as a witness in a Candia solicitor’s document in which he is mentioned as ‘maistro Menegos Theotokopoulos, artist’. By late 1566, Domenikos was ready to pursue his career and artistic prospects in Crete were limited. On December 26, 1566, he asked permission from the Venetian authorities in Handaka to auction one of his paintings depicting the Passion of Christ, a painting estimated to be worth 80 ducats but sold for 70. This valuable information comes from the Venetian archives and proves two things. First, Domenikos was still in Crete in 1566, and second, he was an extremely important artist because the price of 70 ducats his small painting fetched was as high as any great Italian artist of the Renaissance would get. https://www.historical-museum.gr/webapps/elgreco/xronologio.php?lang=en

For a PowerPoint on El Greco: Formative Years, please… click HERE!

The Dormition of the Virgin, on the Island of Syros, is a fine example of Theotokopoulos’s 16th-century Cretan period where his personality and artistic being were formed. Greco’s signature on the base of the central candelabrum was discovered, in the process of restoring the Icon, in 1983 by archaeologist George Mastoropoulos. The Dormition’s undoubted attribution to Theotokopoulos helps scholars better understand and interpret the artist’s unique artistic idiom and early production.  

The Icon follows the Post-Byzantine Orthodox tradition of painting, introducing at the same time elements of the Renaissance Mannerism. Today, in juxtaposition to his most “sublime” work, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, the Dormition is seen as Domeniko’s Archetypal representation of “a visionary experience” of two worlds, “the physical world of earth and the spiritual world of heaven, each portrayed in their own ways. Earth is captured on a normal scale with more proportional figures, whereas heaven is composed of swirling clouds and abstract shapes, with a more intangible quality to the figures. This clear distinction greatly allows for two ideas: on the one hand, a union between both worlds is proposed, on the other, the separation of the worlds is enhanced.” https://www.theartstory.org/artist/el-greco/artworks/#nav

Domenikos Theotokopoulos or El Greco, 1541 – 1614
The Dormition of the Virgin, before 1567, egg tempera on wood, Holy Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin, Syros island, Greece
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, between 1586 and 1588, oil on canvas, 480 cm × 360 cm, Iglesia de Santo Tomé, Toledo

The Dormition of the Virgin is the only Theotokopoulos Icon still serving today as an object of Christian Orthodox veneration. It is still “exhibited” in Syros, the 1828-29 Basilica Church of “Psarianon” (the church of the Psara islanders) or officially known as the Dormition of the Virgin. The Icon was brought to Syros in 1824, in the midst of the Greek War of Independence by Psara Island refugees, survivors of the Psara Island destruction. https://www.lifo.gr/articles/arts_articles/253223/sti-syro-vrisketai-enas-apo-toys-protoys-kai-mexri-protinos-agnostoys-pinakes-toy-el-gkreko

Correggio’s Jupiter and Io

by with No Comment ArtMythologyRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Antonio Allegri da Correggio, 1489 – 1534
Jupiter and Io, 1531-32, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthisstorisches Museums, Vienna
Photo credited to https://da.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/high-ren-florence-rome/late-renaissance-venice/v/correggio-jupiter-and-io

According to Kelly Richman-Abdou “Mannerism is the Style That Put an Elaborate Twist on Renaissance Art.” I like her comment, and how it applies to our Mannerist painting in focus, Correggio’s Jupiter and Io! MY MODERN MET, October 21, 2018, https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-mannerism/

My question is how can order, harmony, and balance, ideals of Classical Art and the Renaissance be “turned/twisted” into something fresh and exciting? Is Mannerism to Renaissance what Hellenistic Art was to 5th century BC Classicism? This is not an easy question to answer. Is Correggio’s mythological painting of Jupiter and Io a good example to start… better so, scratch the mere surface?

Antonio Allegri da Correggio is an interesting artist to consider. Famous today for his illusionistic, grand domed ceilings, Correggio is a protagonist of Mannerism! Giorgio Vasari wrote, “…everything that is to be seen by his [Correggio’s] hand is admired as something divine.” He is so right! Correggio’s paintings were appreciated by generations of fervent art patrons and artists… from Dukes to Emperors and from Rubens to Boucher. Vasari was also the first to write about Corregggio’s handling of colours, chiaroscuro, and textures, as well. “It may, at least, be held for certain that no one ever handled colors better than he and that no craftsman ever painted with greater delicacy or with more relief, such was the softness of his flesh-painting and such the grace with which he finished his works…” Today, describing the unique “softness” of his painting technique, we use the term “morbidezza,” meaning extreme softness, delicacy, and fuzziness. https://www.oxfordreference.com/noresults;jsessionid=58804597E272C2C21C9F375C6CEFC612?btog=chap&noresults=true&pageSize=20&q=morbid+ezza&sort=relevance

Correggio’s Jupiter and Io was most probably, one of four mythological paintings representing the Loves of Zeus, or Jupiter for the Romans, commissioned by the Duke of Mantua, Federico Il Gonzaga, for the decoration of his private Studiolo. These paintings render the myths of, 1. Jupiter and Io, 1531-32, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthisstorisches Museums, Vienna 2. Danaë, 1531, oil on canvas, 161 x 193 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome 3. Leda and the Swan, 1532, oil on canvas, 156.2 x 195.3 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin 4. Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle, 1531-1532, oil on canvas, 163.5 × 70.5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The myth of Jupiter and Io, depicted in one of the two Vienna paintings by Correggio, is popular and well-liked since antiquity. Lust, deceit, jealousy, revenge and suffering, interwind, creating a fascinating story to render in art. Correggio did an amazing job! I love his Mannerist “twisted” use of posture, movement, and texture. Using a narrow upright format he creates a stable, vertical composition, but Io’s body turns, curls and entwines, so unnaturally, around the charcoal grey cloud of Zeus, it is impossible not to notice. Her firm naked body shimmers in the light and contrasts with the thick, dark, fuzzy cloud that envelops her. What a magnificent contrast of colours and textures. The faces of Zeus and Io make you wonder… what is he whispering to her ear that makes her look so “abandoned”?

For a Student RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project), please… check HERE!

What a life you had Bianca Cappello!

by with No Comment ArtRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Alessandro Allori, 1535–1607
Portrait of Bianca Cappello, Second Wife of Francesco I de’ Medici, c. 1580, fresco – tempera on plaster, 75 x 52 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
https://centuriespast.tumblr.com/post/67158750360/allori-alessandro-portrait-of-bianca-cappello

What a life you had Bianca Cappello! Rich, powerful and passionate! Born a Venetian lady of noble birth, you chose love over propriety and married Pietro Bonaventuri, escaped to Florence… and found your destiny with Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany… as a mistress, mother, and wife! You were loved devotedly! In 1579 you married the Grand Duke and on the 12th of June 1579, you were crowned the Grand Duchess of Tuscany at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. You were probably disliked equally strongly. You died along with Francesco in October 1587, at the famous Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano. Some historians and scientific evidence suggest malaria fever, others believe you were both poisoned with arsenic! What a life you had Bianca Cappello! http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/biancacappello.htm

Of all of Bianca’s Portraits, my favorite, painted by Alessandro Allori, c.1580, is in the Galleria Degli Uffizi, in Florence. She is depicted as the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, her beauty assured, elegant in an understated way, self-content, looking at us… critically thinking… are we among her supporters or her foes?  

Where can we “feel” Bianca’s presence in Florence?

As soon as Bianca became Francesco’s mistress she moved from the humble lodgings of her in-laws, where she was expected to do manual work, to the Palazzo Venturi-Ginori. a splendid estate with a fine garden (so-called Oricellari Gardens) and a prestigious history. According to Giorgio Vasari, between 1483 and 1500, Bernardo Rucellai commissioned the construction of the Palazzo and the planting of the famous gardens following designs by Leon Battista Albert. It was during the same period that several meetings of the famous Neo-Platonic Academy took place in the Palazzo. In 1534, the property passed to Bianca Cappello and the Palazzo was turned into a place for leisure and entertainment. The gardens, in particular, were the stage for numerous festivities staged by Bianca Cappello, some of which… quite profane!

Palazzo Venturi-Ginori with a view of the  Oricellari Gardens
http://www.palazzospinelli.org/architetture/scheda.asp?ID=689  
and for Bianca’s Garden Parties…
https://books.google.gr/books?id=guN0CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Bianca+Cappello+Oricellari+Gardens&source=bl&ots=WTbhv9Bq6X&sig=ACfU3U0uHjTZbXkTksrfXPDP7aYoc_xwng&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi315eT68vnAhWPyqQKHS2xBuwQ6AEwDHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Bianca%20Cappello%20Oricellari%20Gardens&f=false

In 1974, Francesco, still deeply in love with Bianca Cappello, commissioned  Bernardo Buontalenti to design and build a new house for his mistress, much closer to his official residence, Palazzo Pitti. The now-famous Casa Bianca Capello is one of the Florentine historical landmarks you can’t miss! The exterior decoration of the Casa, by Bernardino Pocetti, is done in the black and white sgraffito technique, in which Pocetti was considered an expert. To please the Venetian Lady, the artist designed the Medici crest along with that of the Capello family crest and motifs of marine life within an extravagance of Renaissance designs.

Casa Bianca Capello in Florence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_di_Bianca_Cappello

For a Student Activity, on “What a Life you had Bianca Cappello!” please check… HERE!

Van Eyck – An Optical Revolution

by with No Comment ArtExhibitionsNewsPowerpointsRenaissanceTravel
Ghent Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition: February 1 – April 30, 2020
https://www.mskgent.be/en/exhibitions/van-eyck

Who can really resist an Exhibition, titled Van Eyck – An Optical Revolution? Particularly when over half of Jan van Eyck’s artistic oeuvre will be on display? Paintings from all over the world will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent “to contextualize the optical revolution he inspired.” Painting by Van Eyck, his workshop and from “his most talented peers from Germany, France, Italy and Spain” are placed side by side. This is an opportunity to study, compare and draw conclusions!

“Hubrecht van Eyck, the most famous painter ever known, started this work of art; his brother Jan, who was second in the art, finished the task at the request of Joos Vijd. With this verse the donor consigns the work to your charge on May 6th 1432. Admire what they have done for you”.

The main focus of the Ghent Exhibition is to present the recently restored outer panels of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb or as it is widely known as the Ghent Altarpiece. According to the experts of Saint Bavo’s Cathedral “This painting by Hubrecht and Jan van Eyck is the principal work of the Flemish school in the 15th century. The main theme is the glorification or the heavenly apotheosis of man’s salvation and sanctification by the sacrifice of Christ. The subject is treated in a more visionary than narrative or dramatic manner. It is painted on oak panels; the paint consists of mineral pigments in a cement of drying oil.” https://vaneyck2020.be/en/van-eyck-from-home/

The outer panels of the Ghent Altarpiece, beautifully restored and exhibited at MSK, are divided into three registers. The upper register “lunettes” show prophets and Sibyls looking down on the middle register, the Annunciation scene. The four lower-register panels are divided into two pairs, the central sculptural paintings are in grisaille, presenting St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, while the two outer panels, in astonishing naturalism, stage the donor portraits of Joost Vijdt and his wife Lysbette Borluut.

Jan van Eyck was a revolutionary, ground-breaking artist and the Ghent Exhibition is a learning experience!

He perfected the Oil Technique by adding siccatives. With oil paints, he created rich, deep, lustrous colours, flawless golden tones, and amazing life-like textures.

Observation of reality is key to Jan’s Art. His portraits are lifelike in the minutest detail. His depictions of nature and natural phenomena are credible and authentic. He is so good at creating reality, his art seems like it is competing with reality itself!

Observing and Painting Optical Light Phenomena shows an artist deeply interested “in the painting of light, so crucial to his optical revolution.” Scholars believe that Jan van Eyck “not only gathers practical but also theoretical knowledge in order to reproduce the effects of light.” https://vaneyck2020.be/en/the-optical-revolution/

Artworks presented in the PowerPoint were put together, thanks to an MSK Catalogue… HERE! and HERE!

The Month of February

by with No Comment ArtPowerpointsRenaissanceTravel
The Month of February, late 14th century-latest 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy

The Month of February fresco comes from Torre Aquila in the Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy. It is part of an amazing fresco Cycle of the Twelve Months painted on the walls of the tower’s 2nd-floor main room and presents the quintessential game of chivalry…

Is there among you any gentleman who for the love of his lady is willing to try with me some feat of arms? If there should be any such, here I am, quite ready to sally forth completely armed and mounted, to tilt three courses with the lance, to give three blows with the battle axe, and three strokes with the dagger. Now look, you English, if there be none among you in love. … and so Gauvain Micaille, the gallant Frenchman squire from Beauce, a gentleman of tried courage, who had advanced himself on his own merit, without any assistance from others, jousts for the honour of France showing his courage and bravery… https://uts.nipissingu.ca/muhlberger/FROISSART/GAUVAIN.HTM

The February fresco at Torre Aquila presents an impressive and festive Tournament where Jousting is the protagonist of the day. The Trento artist, maybe Maestro Venceslao, using warm tones of orange and ochre, organizes a two parts composition. The background presents Trento Ladies sitting behind an elaborate, purpose-built, parapet. They are finely dressed and adorned with elaborate headdresses, crowns, and wreaths, talking to each other, full of excitement… maybe contemplating, even debating whom they are going to favor! The Knights, fully armored and carrying their cotes-of-arm are depicted in the art of Jousting, their goal, to show gallantry and honour, their hope to attract the attention of “their” Lady and get a token of her favor… a veil, a ribbon, a wreath!

According to Wikipedia: “Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying hard to strike the opponent while riding towards him at high speed, breaking the lance on the opponent’s shield or jousting armor if possible, or unhorsing him. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The participants experience close to three and a quarter times their body weight in G-forces when the lances collide with their armor.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jousting#CITEREFColtman1919

The Trento fresco for February has another interesting genre scene. In the narrow space between the room’s window and the staircase, the artist included a vignette of an older blacksmith toiling hard in his workshop. Let’s not forget this is a fresco cycle of the Labors of the Months, illustrating the activities of aristocrats and peasants, every month, throughout the year!

For a PowerPoint, please… check HERE!

An Unlike Comparison

by with No Comment ArtPowerpointsRenaissanceStudent Activities
Shrine Head, by unknown Ife (Nigeria) artist, 12th-14th century, Terracotta, 31.1 x 14.6 x 18.4 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Roger van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460, oil on oak panel, 34 × 25.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

They are both beautiful and aristocratic, they look demure but haughty, they represent two different cultures… two different continents, yet they share an “attitude” I find intriguing! Can they be compared? An Unlike Comparison is a RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) my students like a lot!!!

The Yoruba people have a long tradition in creating unique terracotta portrait sculptures characterized by naturalism and a sense of individuality and humanism. The Minneapolis Institute of Art Shrine Head is striking… blending aesthetic charisma with strong technical skills. The Ife Lady in Minneapolis has a lovely oval face with almond-shaped eyes under heavy lids, full cheeks, and fleshy lips. She has a condescending attitude in the way she carries her posture, she looks decorously downwards, yet, you can easily “imagine the glint in her eye and the gleam of her lips.” The unknown artist of this amazing portrait follows the Yoruba fashion of the time and the face is rendered with “vertical lines following the natural contours of the woman’s face…” This is a tradition “associated with scarification, the practice of cutting designs into the skin as marks of beauty and lineage.” There is, however, a new theory among scholars suggesting that “the lines may be shadows cast by the veiled royal crown worn in her day.” https://collections.artsmia.org/art/4866/shrine-head-yoruba

Rogier van der Weyden is an unquestionably charismatic portraitist. He has the ability to “grasp” the essence of the sitter and “deliver” it, pure and genuine. He is also able to create balanced compositions, combining the elements of art and expressing “an aristocratic ideal of control.” The NGA Portrait of a Lady, a member of the flamboyant court of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, is one such example. May I say, my favorite? Her name may be lost to us, but her high position in Burgundian court is, however, undisputed. She poses as the grand lady she is, in three-quarters view, resting her clasped hands under her chest, exquisitely groomed and dressed, eyes cast down, tranquil… lost in her thoughts. Is she? Rogier van der Weyden rendered her with great “affection.” Every aspect of the composition is well thought… the fall of the veil, the V of the neckline, the triangles formed by dark color schemes, the sharp juxtaposition of black and white in the sitter’s dress, and finally, la pièce de résistance, the bright red ornate belt, in the lowest part of the painting, behind her clasping hands, heightening up her rosy, fleshy lips. How masterful can Rogier be! https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/van-der-weyden-portrait-of-a-lady.html

Grade 10 student work

This is An Unlike Comparison, we love to talk about in my Secondary School Art History class and a RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) my students really like to explore.

For the Student RWAP, please… click HERE!

For a PowerPoint, please… click HERE!

Feast of the Gods

by with No Comment ArtRenaissanceStudent Activities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feast_of_the_Gods#/media/File:Feastofthegods.jpg

The Feast of the Gods is the story of a Renaissance Patron of the Arts, three Master Painters and a… very special Room, the camerino d’alabastro (alabaster study) of the Ferrara Castle.

The story starts with the desire of Duke Alfonso d’Este to decorate his studiolo, the camerino d’alabastro, with a series of bacchanals, mythological paintings that celebrate Bacchus and Venus, the gods of wine and love. Alfonso’s private studiolo in Ferrara was his retreat, where he would collect, exhibit and admire his collection of ancient medals, antique statuettes, and mythological paintings, celebrating the delights of nature and love. It was a very private place, only a handful of people ever saw while the Duke was still alive. Soon after he died, the room was disassembled, the paintings were taken to Rome, ending up in Washington DC, London, and Madrid.

For his first bacchanal, Alfonso turned to Giovanni Bellini, the Venetian master, who “very old, but still the best there is” as Albrecht Dürer said in one of his letters, was famous at the time for his “luminous color that would be the glory of Venetian painting for centuries to come.” The Feast of the Gods, Bellini’s creation, turned to be a very unique painting. Bellini, reluctant at first, accepted the Duke’s invitation and drawing inspiration from Ovid’s Poems, created “a wooded pastoral setting, in which the gods, with Jupiter, Neptune, and Apollo among them, revel eating and drinking, attended by nymphs and satyrs.” The painting has all the characteristics of Bellini’s excellence: brilliant colors, lush pastoral setting, an engaging story and an ambiance of sensuality.

The painting was completed in 1514 but a few years later Alfonso commissioned two artists, Dosso Dossi and Titian, to rework parts of the painting’s landscape background. Dosso Dossi changed parts of the landscape on the left side and added a pheasant resting on bright foliage at the upper right part of the painting. Then, Bellini’s student, Titian, added his own alterations. He reworked Dosso’s alterations adding the dramatic, mountainous backdrop that can be seen now, leaving only Dosso’s pheasant intact. The painted figures and decorative elements of the painting were untouched and remain Bellini’s own. There is, however, an enigma and further questions! “Did Alfonso, an amateur painter who was reported to fancy pheasants, paint the bird himself? Did Alfonso “picture” himself in another way as well? Some evidence suggests that Feast of the Gods contains cryptic references to the duke’s marriage to Lucrezia Borgia, perhaps even portraits of the couple.” https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/bellini-titian-the-feast-of-the-gods.html and https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.1138.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feast_of_the_Gods#/media/File:Giovanni_Bellini_and_Titian_-_The_Feast_of_the_Gods_-_Detail-_trees_&_pheasant.jpg

Many scholars believe that Alfonso’s studiolo was the finest of its kind, a shining jewel box! The first commission went to the elderly Giovanni Bellini and the Feast of the Gods (NGA Washingon DC) was the result. Michelangelo and Raphael were also commissioned to create works of art for the Duke’s studiolo but their commissions never materialized.   With Bellini’s death in 1514, Titian, and the Duke’s court artist, Dosso Dossi, stepped in to complete this ambitious project. Dosso Dossi’s painting was destroyed centuries ago, but Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (National Gallery, London) The Worship of Venus (Museo del Prado, Madrid) and the Bacchanal of the Andrians (Museo del Prado, Madrid) still survive to tell us their story. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/08/artsandhumanities.arts1

For Student Activity, please… check HERE!

The Month of January

by with No Comment ArtPowerpointsRenaissanceWorksheets
The Month of January, late 14thcentury-latest 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy
https://www.cultura.trentino.it/eng/Cultural-venues/All-cultural-venues/Documentation-centres2/Torre-Aquila-Aquila-Tower

The Month of January is a fresco, and it comes from the Torre Aquila in the Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy. It is part of an amazing fresco Cycle of the Twelve Months painted on the walls of the tower’s 2nd-floor main room. Today, only eleven of the original 12 panels survive as a 16th-century wooden spiral staircase, connecting the tower floors, destroyed the painted panel of March. The famous painted Cycle of the Months is divided into twelve panels, one for each month. Each one of the twelve panels is separated by a slender column, distinctive yet subtle, so as not to disturb the natural continuity between months and the seasons.

This exceptional room, 6 x 5,8 x 3 m in size, was commissioned by Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, as a quiet, atmospheric retreat, away from the rest of the Castello’s busy and noisy state quarters. It has been suggested and widely accepted that the painter of this extraordinary fresco Cycle of the Months was Maestro Venceslao, a Czech painter, popular in the Tyrol area of the time.

The Cycle of the Twelve Months is a favourite theme in the arts of the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance. Often linked to the signs of the Zodiac, the Cycle of the Months is often perceived as a link between the work of man, the seasons of the year and God’s ordering of the Universe. As a theme, it recurred in the sculptural decoration of cathedrals and churches across Europe, in illuminated manuscripts like the popular Books of Hours, palace frescoes and rarely, panel painting.

The fresco panels in Torre Aquila are rare and special. They document life in the Trentino area, with references to the aristocratic pastimes throughout the year, or the peasant activities and duties to their masters. They also depict a vivid landscape, romanticized even then, from bare and covered with snow, to rich and fertile, to autumnal, covered with fallen leaves.

The Trentino frescoes love presenting anecdotal details. The depiction of fashionable outfits for the rich, multicoloured and extravagant in style, or shabby for the farmers and artisans, is only one such striking example. The January panel is “a case in point: nowhere else in art do aristocrats come to play in the snow, men and women alike, chuckling snowballs about with determined, impish delight, their long sleeves dragging in the drifts. Oddly – but surely intentionally – the castle’s roof is snow-free, and its garden is full of summer growth. It’s an image of the warmth of their protected life. Maestro Venceslao was painting a dream, but he wanted to make it as real as possible…”

The Best Art You’ve Never Seen: 101 Hidden Treasures From Around the World by Julian Spalding, Rough Guides Reference, 2010 https://books.google.gr/books?id=L3e0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=cycle+of+the+months+paintings&source=bl&ots=PDmmhZPn37&sig=ACfU3U0ZvpPwd-ZSa8dnhL4AUn2uBLt26g&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVxcGIzNzmAhWRGewKHQiuD5g4ChDoATAGegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=cycle%20of%20the%20months%20paintings&f=false

For a PowerPoint, please… check HERE!

For a Student Activity on the discussed Fresco Panel depicting the Month of January, please… check HERE!

Mystical Nativity by Sandro Botticelli

by with No Comment PowerpointsRenaissance
Sandro Botticelli, about 1445 – 1510
 Mystical Nativity, about 1501, Tempera on canvas, 108.6 x 74.9 cm, National Gallery, London

Our 1st Christmas story is about the… Mystical Nativity by Sandro Botticelli.

“I Sandro painted this picture at the end of the year 1500 in the troubles in Italy in the half time after the time according to the 11th chapter of St. John in the second woe of the Apocalypse…”

This small Botticelli painting makes us dream, encourages us to be pensive, romantic and adoring, urges us to study details in the composition, colours, conflicting perspectives and depicted figures. It is a mystery, difficult to solve! John Ruskin saw it in London and referring to its ‘mystic symbolism’ became the painting’s godfather! Its composition is rather unusual combining all of the traditional events of the birth of Jesus and more. Is Botticelli, an ardent follower of Girolamo Savonarola, presenting us with a vision of the Nativity inspired by the prophecies in the biblical Book of Revelation of Saint John? Does Botticelli’s Nativity reveal Christ’s second coming and the end of the world?”

“The infant Christ reaches up towards the Virgin Mary, oblivious of his visitors – the Three Kings on the left and the shepherds on the right. The golden dome of heaven has opened up and is circled by 12 angels holding olive branches entwined with scrolls and hung with crowns. In the foreground, three pairs of angels and men embrace; among their feet demons scuttle for shelter in the underworld through cracks in the rocks. The Greek inscription mentions ‘the troubles of Italy’, a reference to the invasion of the French, who took Naples in 1494 and Milan in 1499, and to the civil strife in Florence itself. Botticelli associated these events with the turmoil mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelation, which talks about the end of the world and Christ’s second coming. The period of upheaval it described would end upon Christ’s return, when the devil would be buried, as in this picture.” This is the description provided by the National Gallery of London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sandro-botticelli-mystic-nativity

For a PowerPoint on Botticelli’s Mystical Nativity, please… check HERE!

Cimabue – Giotto – Duccio

by with No Comment RenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets

Cimabue – Giotto – Duccio, how important are they? You simply have to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Hall 2 to be more specific, stand in front of these three monumental panels and allow their masters to take you on a trip to the late 13th, early 14th century revolutionary Italian Painting.

According to Giorgio Vasari,“…instead of paying attention to his literary studies, Cimabue, as if inspired by his nature, spent the whole day drawing men, horses, houses and various other fantasies in his books and papers.” Cenni di Pepo, known as Cimabue, is recognized as the last painter of the Italo-Byzantine style. Yet. he is credited to step forward in moving his art towards achieving the first hint of naturalism, paving the way for the next generation of great Italian masters.

O vanity of human powers, how briefly lasts the crowning green of glory, unless an age of darkness follows! In painting Cimabue thought he held the field but now it’s Giotto has the cry, so that the other’s fame is dimmed. Writes about Giotto, the poet Dante in Canto XI of his Purgatorio, and he is so right. Giotto creates “a new kind of pictorial space with an almost measurable depth” and figures that are “volumetric rather than linear” expressing “varied and convincingly human rather than stylized” emotions. Justifiably, Giotto is considered the father of modern European painting. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/iptg/hd_iptg.htm

“Duccio, painter of Siena and much esteemed, deserved to carry off the palm (of an inventor in the Arts) from those who came many years after him…” writes Giorgio Vasari in his book The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Today, Duccio Duccio is considered to bring through his art elegance, lyricism, and spirituality along with spatial complexity and refined use of colours.

There are two Uffizi Gallery sites you simply need to visit: https://www.visituffizi.org/halls/hall-2-of-giotto-and-the-13th-century/ and https://www.virtualuffizi.com/13th-century-and-giotto-room.html

For a student Activity, my Grade 9 Art History students enjoy… click HERE!

A PowerPoint on the three Madonnas is… HERE!