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Summary of classical architectural style essay
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Artistic influences in architecture
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Artist: Giorgione (*1477/1478; †25.10.1510)
Title: The Adoration of the Shepherds
The Adoration of the Shepherd
about 1505, oil on panel, 35 4/5" x 43 4/5" (91 x 111cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
This essay attempts to describe analyze and evaluate the famous painting "The Adoration of the Shepherd" by Giorgione (originally Giorgio Barbarelli). In the following essay there will be three main sections:
1 Inventory - (WHAT?)
2 Formal Analysis - (HOW?)
3 Interpretation/Meaning (WHY?)
The Inventory (I) will include:
a.) subject matter
b.) function/intention
c.) description
The Formal Analysis (II) will include:
a.) Pictorial Elements
i. Line
ii. Form and shape
iii. Colour
iv. Space
b.) Pictorial Elements
i. Balance
ii. Emphasis
iii. Contrast
iv. Pattern
The Interpretation/Meaning (III) will be written without any guideline points, the aim of this part will be to determine what the painter wanted to express with his piece of work and what it tells us in a symbolic or not instantly clear way. This part will also handle why the artist drew the painting the way he did it and why he chose various techniques or tools.
1. About the Painter
Giorgione or Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco was born in 1477 or 1478, the exact date is not known, in Castelfranco. Even though there were no more than about twenty paintings officially associated with him, of which only about six are attributed to him without doubt, his originality was so powerful that these few works have come to represent not only the first stage in the Venice High Renaissance, but a new trend in Italian art as well. Surviving documentation of his life and work is sparse.
Giorgione d...
... middle of paper ...
...aw the background so detailed?
Giorgione "loved to paint landscapes." Especially in "The Adoration of the shepherds" you can see how much effort he invested in painting a detailed background in form of a piece of coast and part of a village. When isolated this part takes on a life of its own (If concentrating you can see tiny details such as two persons standing at the edge of the coast.
Why is there a cow in the back of the cave?
This cave is a stable and Jesus was born in a stable. This is the place where the messiahs saw daylight for the very first time in his life. The houses in the background are probably part of Bethlehem.
What's the meaning of the completely blue sky in the background?
Blue is the colour of hope and the birth of Jesus is the beginning of hope.
Bibliography
Discovering Art History; Gerald F. Brommer; Davis Publications, Inc.
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No one knows exactly when the Italian artist, Tiziano Vecellio, was born. Over the centuries, there has been a great deal of confusion concerning the date, due to a misprint in his biography by sixteenth century art historian, Girgio Vasari. Vasari recorded the date as 1480, but the progress of Tiziano Vecellio’s work, as well as other documented sources, announce his date of birth to be sometime between 1488 and 1490. (Magill 2310) The place of his birth was Pieve de Cadore, in the Alps north of Venice. Tiziano Vecellio, also known as Titian, was a great master of religious art, a portraitist, and the creator of mythological compositions, which have been so decorative and inventive that no other artist has yet surpassed them. People such as his wife, Cecilia, Giovanni Bellini, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, influenced Titian. (Magill 2311) Titian is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Italian High Renaissance. Titian developed an oil-painting technique during his time as an artist of successive glazes and broad paint application that influenced many generations of artists to follow along with his other various important accomplishments.
Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian, was an Italian 16th century Venetian painter. Biographies were written when Titian was alive; however his birthday is still unknown. One account was written by a close friend of his, Lodovico Dolce who says in his book, “Dialogue on Painting” that Titian was about twenty years old in 1507 when he was working on his painting “Fondaco dei Tedeschi.” However, in a letter Titian wrote to the king of Spain in 1571 he claims to be ninety-five years old, putting his birth year in 1477. If this was true, Titian would have been around one-hundred years old at the time of his death. Based off of the chronology of his works, it is more likely that Titian was born around 1490 and died in 1576. When Titian was about ten years old, he and his brother went to Venice to live with their uncle and to start an apprenticeship with a painter. At this time two of the leading artists were Giovanni Bellini and Gentile Bellini. Sebastian Zuccato, a family friend and painter arranged for the two to work with these two painters. While working with the Bellini’s, Titian was introduced to Giorgio da Castelfranco, later known as Giorgione. Titian and Giorgione collaborated on many works and he was a major influence on Titian’s tonal approach to painting as well as his landscape style. The two artists worked in such a similar manner that the line between them has been hard to distinguish. It is hardest to tell the two apart in their pastoral landscapes in which the beauty of nature is celebrated alongside love and music. With Giorgione dying in 1510 and Giovanni Bellini dying in 1516 Titian no longer faced any rivals in the Venetian School. It was at this time that Titian moved on from his early Giorgionesqu...
Interestingly, he also refers to Donatello as a ‘craftsman’. The correlation between the artist or sculptor and craftsman is an important aspect in Italian Renaissance art. The craftsman was something more than just an artist. This person was talented and considered by others in Italian Renaissance society as exceptional or as Vasari’s title suggests, ‘the most excellent’. They were also tradespeople rather than just artists. This is because they created works for other people, which often meant they expressed other people’s ideas. Through an analysis of Vasari’s biography on Donatello, this essay will explore the importance of culture in Renaissance Italian society, an examination of Vasari’s biography of Donatello as a historical document and the ways in which Vasari portrays Donatello, which ultimately was significant for future Renaissance craftsmen. This paper will analyze the life of Donatello through Vasari’s The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects to show the importance of Donatello not only as an artist but also as a
In the article “Conditions of Trade,” 1 Michael Baxandall explains that fifteenth-century Italian art is a “deposit” resulting from the commercial interaction between the artist and the purchaser, who he refers to as a client. These works, as such, are “fossils of economic life,” as money, he states, plays an important role in the history of art. In contrast to our current perceptions of the relationship between the artist and art, “in which painters paint what they think best, and then look around for a buyer” the author examines how the content and form of these paintings were, determined by the customers. He states that the artists and clients were interconnected as specified in the legal agreements of subject matter, payment scheme and the quality and quantity of colours, through the conditions of the artist’s painting style. He not only looks at the explanation of the style of painting that reflected a society, but also engages in the visual skills and habits that develop out of daily life. The author examines the situations between the painter and client within the commercial, religious, perceptual, and social institutions, centrally focusing on markets, material visual practices, and the concept of the Renaissance period overlooking art as an institution. Baxandall observes Renaissance paintings also relate to the clients’ motives through such ways as possession, self-commemoration, civic consciousness, and self-advertisement. The author considers discussions of a wide variety of artistic painters, for instance, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and numerous others. He defines and exemplifies fifteenth century art through the concepts used by contemporary critics of th...
In the article “Conditions of Trade,” Michael Baxandall explains the interaction serving of both fifteenth- century Italian painting and text on how the interpretation of social history from the style of pictures in a historical period, pre-eminently examine the early Renaissance painting. Baxandall looks not only on the explanation of how the style of painting is reflected in a society, but also engages in the visual skills and habits that develop out of daily life. The author examines the central focus on markets, material visual practices, and the concept of the Renaissance period overlooking art as an institution. He observes a Renaissance painting, which relate the experience of activities such as preaching, dancing, and assessing. The author considers discussions of a wide variety of artistic painters, for instance, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and numerous others. He defines and exemplifies concepts used in contemporary critic of the painting, and in the assembled basic equipment needed to discover the fifteenth- century art. Therefore this introductory to the fifteenth- century Italian painting and arise behind the social history, argues that the two are interconnected and that the conditions of the time helped shape the distinctive elements in the artists painting style. Through the institutional authorization Baxandall looks at integration in social, cultural and visual evaluation in a way that shows not only the visual art in social construction, but how it plays a major role in social orders in many ways, from interaction to larger social structural orders.
...laced on the style and materials presented in the painting. While evaluating and comparing various paintings the author feels that at the beginning of the Renaissance era the skill level of the artist was often not acknowledged whereas materials were, but at the end of the era, skill level played a larger factor in who was chosen to complete the artwork. Therefore, fresco painting, which emerged near the end of the period, changed this so called “deposit”, along with the relationship of the artist and the patron, allowing for the talent and skill of the artist to shine.
The artists of the Baroque had a remarkably different style than artists of the Renaissance due to their different approach to form, space, and composition. This extreme differentiation in style resulted in a very different treatment of narrative. Perhaps this drastic stylistic difference between the Renaissance and Baroque in their treatment of form, space, and composition and how these characteristics effect the narrative of a painting cannot be seen more than in comparing Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter from the Early Renaissance to Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul from the Baroque.Perugino was one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance whose style ischaracterized by the Renaissance ideals of purity, simplicity, and exceptional symmetry of composition. His approach to form in Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St.Peter was very linear. He outlined all the figures with a black line giving them a sense of stability, permanence, and power in their environment, but restricting the figures’ sense of movement. In fact, the figures seem to not move at all, but rather are merely locked at a specific moment in time by their rigid outline. Perugino’s approach to the figures’themselves is extremely humanistic and classical. He shines light on the figures in a clear, even way, keeping with the rational and uncluttered meaning of the work. His figures are all locked in a contrapposto pose engaging in intellectual conversation with their neighbor, giving a strong sense of classical rationality. The figures are repeated over and over such as this to convey a rational response and to show the viewer clarity. Perugino’s approach to space was also very rational and simple. He organizes space along three simple planes: foreground, middle ground, and background. Christ and Saint Peter occupy the center foreground and solemn choruses of saints and citizens occupy the rest of the foreground. The middle distance is filled with miscellaneous figures, which complement the front group, emphasizing its density and order, by their scattered arrangement. Buildings from the Renaissance and triumphal arches from Roman antiquity occupy the background, reinforcing the overall classical message to the
The life of Michelangelo is one of the most important parts of history. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, Italy in a time known as the Italian Renaissance (Bradbury 6). Michelangelo was born into a house with strong, ambitious values (Michelangelo Buonarroti Biography). From an early age he showed outstanding potential in the arts and soon became entranced with them. Michelangelo’s father was critical of his son’s choice of career as he saw art as a petty, unimportant occupation. Nevertheless his father had him apprenticed to one of the best artists in Florence. Influencing and characterizing Michelangelo, Florence was this artist’s starting point. Throughout his life he would remain loyal to this city, a haven that gave him hope. By the time he was sixteen Michelangelo had created his first works (16,7). Before long everyone in Florence would know him as one of the city’s best. Eventually the artist’s name would spread even further and soon the whole European world was immersed with Michelangelo and his art. Pope Julius II who was the reigning pope at the time was enamoured with Michelangelo and summoned him to Rome. The time Michelangelo spent in Rome was crucial in his development as an artist (8). In 1498 the “Pieta” was sculpted (Abridged Encyclopedia of World Biography). Being the first of its kind this statue was more realistic and defin...