Unit 3

• Spread of Islam into al-Andalus


  Muslims conquered al-Andalus in 711 AD, Tariq ibn Ziyad led the Muslim army, Abd al-Rahman I established the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba in 756 AD, Cordoba became a center of Islamic learning and culture, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in al-Andalus in 1492 AD
• Early Medieval Art

  • Materials: Parchment, Stone, Metal, Wood, Pigments, Gold leaf; Techniques/Processes: Manuscript illumination, Cloisonné and champlevé enamelwork, Stone carving and metalworking, Animal style and interlace decoration, Fresco and tempera painting; Purpose: Religious devotion and instruction, Commemoration of rulers and important figures, Decoration of churches and other religious buildings, Display of wealth and power; Audiences: Members of the clergy and religious orders, Wealthy patrons and rulers, Illiterate or semi-literate laypeople
• Romanesque Art


  • Materials: Stone, Wood, Bronze, Ivory, Manuscripts, Stained glass, Frescoes, Tapestries; Techniques/Processes: Sculpture, Painting, Metalworking, Manuscript illumination, Mosaic, Stained glass, Fresco painting, Tapestry weaving; Audiences: Churchgoers, Pilgrims, Monks and nuns, Royalty and nobility, Wealthy merchants; Purpose: To glorify God and the Church, To educate the illiterate masses about religious stories and beliefs
• Gothic Art

  • Techniques/Processes: Ribbed vaults, Flying buttresses, Pointed arches, S-curve (ogee) shape, Elaborate tracery, Gargoyles and grotesques, Illuminated manuscripts, Polychrome sculpture; Audiences: The Church, Wealthy patrons, The general public; Purpose: To glorify God and the Church, To inspire awe and devotion in the viewer, To showcase the wealth and power of the Church and its patrons, To educate the illiterate masses about religious stories and figures
• Renaissance Art


  • Materials: Oil paint, Canvas, Wood panels, Fresco; Techniques/Processes: Linear perspective, Chiaroscuro, Sfumato, Foreshortening, Glazing; Audiences: Wealthy patrons, The Church, The general public; Purpose: To glorify God and the Church, To celebrate humanism and individualism, To showcase technical skill and artistic innovation, To commemorate historical events and figures
• Lamentation from the Arena Chapel


  • Shallow stage; figures occupy a palpable space pushed forward toward the picture plane
  • Diagonal cliff formation points to main action daringly placed in lower left-hand corner
  • Modeling indicates direction of light; light falls from above right
  • Figures seen from the back isolate the main action
• Annunciation Triptych


  • Triptych, or three-paneled altarpiece
  • Meticulous handling of paint; intricate details are rendered through the use of oil paint
  • Steep rising of the ground line; figures too large for the architectural space they occupy
• Painting by Jan van Eyck


  • Meticulous handling of oil paint; great concentration of minute details
  • Linear perspective, but upturned ground plane and two horizon lines unlike contemporary Italian Renaissance art
  • Great care is taken in rendering elements of a contemporary Flemish bedroom
• Theories about the Arnolfini Portrait


  • Traditionally assumed to be the wedding portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife
  • It may be a memorial to a dead wife, who could have died in childbirth
  • It may represent a betrothal
  • Arnolfini may be conferring legal and business privileges on his wife during an absence
  • The painting may have been meant as a gift for the Arnolfini family in Italy
  • It had the purpose of showing the prosperity and wealth of the couple depicted
• Engraving by Albrecht Dürer


  • Influenced by classical sculpture; Adam looks like the Apollo Belvedere, and Eve looks like Medici Venus
  • Italian massing of forms, which he learned from his Italian trips
  • Ideal image of humans before the Fall of Man (Genesis 3)
  • Contrapposto of figures from the Italian Renaissance, in turn also based on classical Greek art
  • Northern European devotion to detail
• Woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder


  • Designed using the woodcut technique to make the image available to the masses
  • Its purpose was to contrast the benefits of Protestantism versus the perceived disadvantages of Catholicism
  • Influential image of the Protestant Reformation; text appears in the people's language: German, and not the church language: Latin
• Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder


  • Alpine landscape; typical winter scene inspired by the artist's trips across the Alps to Italy
  • Strong diagonals lead the eye deeper into the painting
  • Figures are peasant types, not individuals
  • Landscape has high horizon line with panoramic views, a Northern European tradition
  • Extremely detailed
• Pazzi Chapel designed by Filippo Brunelleschi


  • Two barrel vaults on the interior; small dome over crossing; pendentives support dome; oculus in the center
  • Interior has a quiet sense of color with muted tones that is punctuated by glazed terra cotta tiles
  • Use of pietra serena (a grayish stone) in contrast to whitewashed walls accentuates basic design structure
  • Inspired by Roman triumphal arches
  • Ideal geometry in the plan of the building
• Painting by Sandro Botticelli


  • Crisply drawn figures
  • Landscape flat and unrealistic; simple V-shaped waves
  • Figures float, not anchored to the ground
• The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci


  • Linear perspective; orthogonals of ceiling and floor point to Jesus
  • Apostles are grouped in sets of three
  • Jesus is alone before a group of three windows, a symbol of the Trinity
  • A rounded pediment over Jesus's head acts as a symbolic halo; Leonardo subtlety suggests Jesus's divinity
• Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo


  • Masculine modeling of forms
  • Bold, direct, powerful narrative expression
• The Flood by Michelangelo


  • Sculptural intensity of the figure style
  • More than 60 figures are crowded into the composition
• Last Judgment by Michelangelo


  • In contrast to the ceiling, there are no cornice divisions; it is one large space with figures greatly integrated
  • The Mannerist style is shown in the distortions of the body: elongations and crowded groups
• The Sistine Chapel ceiling


  • Four broad horizontal bands act as the unifying element
  • Bottom: dead rising on the left and the mouth of hell on the right
  • Second level: ascending elect, descending sinners, trumpeting angels
  • Third level: those risen to heaven are gathered around Jesus
  • Top lunettes: angels carrying the cross and the column, instruments used at Christ's death
• Figures from Dante's Inferno


  • Minos
  • Charon
• Saint Bartholomew


  Holds his skin, a symbol of his martyrdom, but the skin's face is Michelangelo's, an oblique reference to critics who skinned him alive with their criticism
• School of Athens by Raphael


  • Open, clear light uniformly spread throughout the composition
  • Nobility and monumentality of forms parallel the greatness of the figures represented; figures gesture to indicate their philosophical thought
  • Raphael's overall composition was influenced by Leonardo's Last Supper
• Patronage and Function


  • Commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate his library
  • This is one painting in a complex program of works that illustrate the vastness and variety of the papal library
  • Painting originally called Philosophy because the pope's philosophy books were meant to be housed on shelving below
• Opposite this work is a Raphael painting called La Disputà


  • Based on religion
  • Religious books were placed below
  • Parallels drawn between the two themes expressed in the paintings
• Plato and Aristotle

  • The two greatest figures in ancient Greek thought
  • Plato (with the features of Leonardo da Vinci) on the left pointing up, and Aristotle (perhaps with the features of the architect Giuliano da Sangallo) pointing out
  • Their gestures reflect their philosophies
• Figures in the painting


  • Those interested in the ideal (followers of Plato) on the left
  • Those interested in the practical (followers of Aristotle) on the right
  • Raphael on the extreme right with a black hat
  • Michelangelo, resting on the stone block writing a poem, represents the philosopher Heraclitus; the figure was added later and was not part of the original composition
• Versailles

  • The palace expresses the idea of the absolute monarch; the massive scale of the project is indicative of the massive power of the king
  • Louis XIV reorganized and remodeled an existing hunting lodge into an elaborate palace
  • The center of the building is Louis XIV's bedroom, or audience chamber, from which all aspects of the design radiate like rays from the sun (hence Louis' sobriquet the Sun King)
  • The building is centered in a vast garden and town complex that radiated from it
  • There is a subdued exterior decoration on the façade; the undulation of projecting members is understated
• The Hall of Mirrors was used by Bismarck to declare William I as German emperor after the defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, and used reciprocally by the French after the defeat of the Germans in World War I to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919
• Triumph of the Name of Jesus by Giovanni Battista Gaulli


  • On the ceiling in the main nave of Il Gesù, Rome
  • In the center is the monogram of Jesus, IHS, in a brilliant sea of golden color
  • Figures tumble below the name; some are carved in stucco and enhance the three-­dimensional effect
  • Some cast long shadows across the barrel vault
  • Some painted figures are not stucco, but maintain a vibrant three-dimensional illusion
  • Depicted in the center are holy men and women
  • Around the rim are priests, soldiers, noblemen, and the Magi
  • Allegories of avarice, simony, heresy, and vanity occupy the lowest registers
• Di sotto in sù


  A type of ceiling painting in which the figures seem to be hovering above the viewers, often looking down at us
• Function of Triumph of the Name of Jesus


  • A Last Judgment scene, placed over the barrel vault of the nave; cf. Last Judgment scenes placed on the walls of chapels
  • Message to the faithful: the damned are cast into hell; the saved rise heavenward
• Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez


  • Portrait of the artist in his studio at work; he steps back from his very large canvas and looks at the viewer
  • Central is the Infanta Margharita of Spain with her meninas (attendants), a dog, a dwarf, and a midget. Behind are two chaperones in half-shadow. In the doorway is perhaps José Nieto, who was head of the queen's tapestry works (hence his hand on a curtain)
  • The king and queen appear in a mirror. But what is the mirror reflecting?
• Marie de' Medici Cycle by Peter Paul Rubens


  • Heroic gestures, demonstrative spiraling figures
  • Mellow intensity of color, inspired by Titian and Caravaggio
  • Sumptuous full-fleshed women
  • Splendid costumes suggest an opulent theatrical production
  • Allegories assist in telling the story and mix freely with historical people
• Function and Context of Marie de' Medici Cycle


  • 24 huge historical paintings allegorically retelling the life of Marie de' Medici, queen of France, wife of King Henry IV; the series also contains three portraits
  • Commissioned by Marie de' Medici, at the time the widow of Henry IV
  • The series was placed in Marie de' Medici's home in Paris, the Luxembourg Palace
• Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de' Medici


  • Henry IV is smitten by the portrait of his intended; the portrait is the center of a swirling composition
  • The portrait is held by Cupid (the god of love) and Hymen (the god of marriage)
  • Mythological gods Jupiter (symbolized by an eagle) and Juno (symbolized by a peacock) look down from below; they are symbolic of marital harmony. They express their support
  • Behind Henry is the personification of France: France is a female figure with a masculine helmet and manly legs. She whispers to Henry to choose love over war
• Henry IV and Marie de' Medici were actually married by proxy in 1600
• Self-Portrait with Saskia by Rembrandt


  • Rembrandt is seen drawing or perhaps making an etching
  • Saskia is seated deeper into the work, but is very noticeable because she is portrayed with a lighter touch
• Self-Portrait with Saskia

  • Characteristic of Rembrandt: they are wearing fanciful, not contemporary, dress
  • Saskia was the mother of four
  • Rembrandt's self-portraits included 50 paintings, 32 etchings, and 7 drawings
• Woman Holding a Balance by Johannes Vermeer


  • Light enters from the left, illuminating the figures and warmly highlighting textures and surfaces: the woman's garments, wooden table, marble checkerboard floor, jewelry, the painting, etc.
  • A moment in time: stillness and timelessness
  • The woman is dressed in fine, fur-trimmed clothing
  • Geometric lines focus on a central point at the pivot of the balance
  • The figure seems unaware of the viewer's presence
  • Her pensive stillness suggests she may be weighing something more profound than jewelry
• Theories about Woman Holding a Balance


  • Is it a genre scene or an allegory? Or both?
  • A moment of weighing and judging
  • In the background is a painting of the Last Judgment, a time of weighing souls: The woman is at a midpoint between earthly jewels and spiritual goals such as meditation and temperance
  • The balance (scale) has nothing in it; pearls and coins on the table waiting to be measured; may be symbolic of a balanced state of mind
  • The balancing reference perhaps relates to the unborn child
  • This is Catholic subject matter in a Protestant country; Vermeer and his family were Catholic
  • Vanitas painting: gold should not be a false allure
  • Vermeer may have used a camera obscura