Download Tondo assignment

A tondo (plural "tondi" or "tondos") is
a Renaissance term for a circular work
of art, either a painting or a sculpture.
Sandro Botticelli
•The challenge of the
tondo is to create a
coherent composition
in a circular space.
This is a reason to
centralize the
composition.
•Strong Triangular
composition.
•Botticelli is among
the first artists to
centralize the subject
of the Adoration.
•The story of the
Three Kings (or Magi)
had great appeal in
15th-century
•The center is important
for the circle where all
points on the circle are
equal distant from that
center.
•So the main subject is in
the centre.
•In the Madonna of the
Pomegranate the Christ
child's head is near the
center. This formal
placement already makes
him appear the ruler. The
secondary theme here is in
the upraised hand in
blessing, and the handling
of the pomegranate, like
an orb of power. This
clearly give the child a
dominant position.
Madonna of the Pomegranate, Sandro Botticelli,
1487. Arnheim p. 77.
Michelangelo Buonarotti. Holy Family (Doni Tondo), ca. 150405. Oil tempera on wood, approx. 47" diameter. Uffizi, Florence.
The Virgin is taking the Infant from
St. Joseph, or handing Jesus to
him. Behind the wall is a young St.
John, who will ultimately
announce the coming of
Christ. The presence of St. John
alludes to Christ's birth and
baptism.
The nude figures in the
background represent pagan
mankind before the coming of
Christ, and the infant Saint John
creates a link, as a symbol of
baptism, between this old pagan
world and the new Christian
world.
Frame - Five carved heads, with
Christ at the top form a
pentagram.
Mary's head, the focal point of the
picture, is perfectly placed within
the apex triangle of the star.
The two walls, one on which the
nude figures are seated, and the
other which separates the old and
new worlds, are carefully aligned
on key horizontals within the
Raphael Santi
European Master
Painter - Tondo
Madonna
Conestabile by
Raphael Santi |
Painting
- Triangular
composition,
strong horizontal
plane, simple
background
Stronger triangular
composition, strong
horizontal plane,
simple background.
Mary is in the centreto help balance John
the Baptist her arm is
stretched out as well
as the stump she is
leaning on and her
cape.
Madonna Alba 1511
Artist: Raphael Italian 1483-1520) High Renaissance Painter