Download Review for Visual Art section of Humanities Mid

Review for Visual Art section of Humanities Mid-Term
- Look over your Medieval-Renaissance quiz and the copy of the quiz with my suggested responses. My section of the mid-term
will include some of this material, but with the strong possibility of rephrasings and slightly changed angles. I’ll probably ask a
couple of questions based on material from this quiz where the “twist” will involve making connections to relevant ideas/material
from literature and music. Examples: 1. Use Raphael’s School of Athens and/or Botticelli’s La Primavera (Spring), in contrast to
Giotto’s Arena Chapel frescoes or those of Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel, as examples parallel to the rise of secular (as
distinct from sacred) music in the Renaissance. 2. Draw parallels between the concept of journey (or light or proportion) as it
works in a Gothic cathedral such as Chartres and as it works in Dante’s Commedia.
- Review material for the Med-Ren quiz that we spent time on but which didn’t show up on the quiz. For example:
- compass point direction and its symbolic significance in the orientation of cathedrals (with their altars in the east, place
of the rising sun: dawning of day/start of life)
- the three specific “cycles” in the Arena Chapel: Life of Mary, Life of Jesus, Passion of Jesus:
make sure that you’re clear on what “Passion” refers to in this context
- the importance of triangular composition in Renaissance paintings: examples included some
of Raphael’s paintings of Madonnas (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and sometimes with the infant John the
Baptist)
- Make sure that you know all the terms from the quiz, which included most of the following (sometimes not explicitly):
choir
fresco
cycle
linear perspective
pointed (Gothic) arch
nave
giornate
continous narrative
vanishing point
flying buttress
transept
grisaille
cast shadow
typology
In addition, be familiar with the following concepts and definitions (and expect a match-def. section on these and the terms above):
contrapposto: pose in which the weight of the figure is unevenly distributed (one leg bearing more weight than the other, creating
a sense of motion and a series of counterbalances in the figure: hips leaning one way, shoulders tilting the other way, etc.)
chiaroscuro: light/dark contrast: a fantastic word to use when trying to describe the style of the Baroque artist Caravaggio, who
used dramatic contrasts of light and dark, with parts of figures also often disappearing into the surrounding darkness
serpentina: (I won’t test you on this word in itself, since we didn’t use it in class, but it’s a great word to describe the kind of
twisting pose that we saw in Bernini’s sculptures, where his figures (such as David about to launch his rock at Goliath) turn and
torque energetically: Baroque artists often used such coiled/uncoiling figures to convey a great sense of energy and potential
movement
printmaking (e.g., etching): a form of artmaking that became increasingly important during the Baroque era: artists such as
Rembrandt used the printmaking process to make multiple copies of their drawings, which they could sell to multiple buyers;
many artists (and others) collected prints, and artistic trends could spread much more readily with the advent of this boom in
printmaking
foreshortening: perspective applied to things other than buildings and whole scenes: often, the term is applied to human figures,
or parts of human figures, that, for example, extend almost directly out towards the viewer and whose “real” length is therefore
diminished in the painting or drawing. We saw dramatic examples of foreshortening in the works of Caravaggio (e.g., extended
arm in Supper at Emmaus).
Be prepared to apply the five contrasts suggested by Wolfflin to distinguish between Renaissance and Baroque art to a few
pairs of paintings that we’ve looked at and discussed in this context in class. I will also present one pair of artworks that we will
not have seen, and will ask you to use at least a couple of Wolfflin’s contrasts as you try to determine which work belongs to
which period, Renaissance or Baroque. (Your application of the concepts will be more important (including in terms of my
grading) than whether you make the correct identification, although applying these concepts thoughtfully should also lead you to
the “right” answer.) It’s very important to review these five contrasts (see material already posted on website), which are:
linear/painterly; plane/recession; multiplicity/unity; closed form/open form; clear/unclear.
Be prepared to note a couple of distinguishing characteristics of the art of Caravaggio and Rembrandt:
Caravaggio (e.g., his uses of foreshortening; his uses of chiaroscuro; a strong sense of wrinkles in flesh: e.g., furrowed brows of
his figures)
and Rembrandt (e.g., leaving some portions of drawings/prints less “finished” (as with St. Jerome in a Landscape); psychological
depth and subtlety (as in how he depicts Abraham in several of his treatments of the story of Abraham and Isaac); strong use of
light and dark (often black and white, in his prints) contrast, with many figures being lit from one side so that the other side of their
face is quite dark
Be prepared for one short answer questions requiring you to make some connections between one of the Wollflin
style contrast ideas and one of our Baroque characteristics (e.g., how does “painterly” Baroque style relate to
Baroque complexity?)