The Courtyards
Visitors to the Palace enter through Prince Alfred's Courtyard. The Pinto clock is famously located here, and its four dials show the time, the date, the month and the phases of the moon. Four bronze Moor figures sound the hour by striking the gongs with their hammers. It was created by Gaetano Vella in 1745.
The bronze life-size sculpture of Neptune, the Roman god of the Sea has been guarding the courtyard named after him since 1861. Despite his stark nudity, Neptune stands majestically and unashamedly, holding a trident in his right hand against a backdrop of a fountain bearing the coat of arms of Grand Master Perellos. This is is a creation by the Flemish artist Jean Boulogne better known by his alias, Giambologna. The sculpture used to stand in the centre of a fountain at the old fish market close to the Our Lady of Liesse Church, celebrating the completion of the Wignacourt aqueduct that brought water to the new capital.
Staircase
A spiral staircase wends its way from Neptune's courtyard to the Piano Nobile, where the palace rooms are located. This was constructed during Grand Master Verdalle's reign as a ramp and was upgraded to its present form during Gaspard le Merchant's governorship. A marble plaque at the base of the stairs recalls the twenty-eight Grand Masters that ruled in Malta. A corresponding plaque at the top lists the governors that ruled Malta during the British occupation.
Armoury Corridor
This is 62 metres long and 5 metres wide.
On its walls hang portraits of several Grand Masters of the Order. Lunettes depicting Maltese landscapes adorn the walls along their length. These works are by Nicolau Nasoni from Siena; also by Nasoni are the decorative paintings on the ce...
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...the Paggeria – or the Pages' Room. The Yellow damask has since been replaced with green.
Within this room are a French and a Dutch bureaux, a silver model of the Verdala Palace by Francesco Meli (1903), six white and blue Persian vases donated to Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt by the Shah, Italian Majolica jars with snake-shaped handles, a 16th Century chandelier and on a side table is a 17th Century astronomical clock with imagery of Leda and the Swan on its base. This clock was made by Charles Andre' Boulle. It also bears an image of Father Time holding a Scythe and four Sphinxes at the base.
There are also paintings by Joseph de Ribera (Lo Spagnoletto): St. Peter Liberated From Prison and Jacob as a Shepherd; A portrait of Karl Theodore, Duke of Bavaria by Pompeo Batoni; and a portrait of a victorious La Vallette in chivalric attire, by de Favray.
At first glance, the pottery appears to be somewhat simple but it does have a unique appeal. The calm, innocent, and humble appearance while in a painful moment is unprecedented, and it was enough to let the viewer admire and fall in love with this sculpture and its meaning. The distinctive character of glazed terracotta is the smooth, bright, often polychrome cover that has largely contributed to the success of such artifacts, and which recalls, in its plastic compositions, the works by Verrocchio and Filippo Lippi. However, Giovanni‘s art in this sculpture is elegant, remarkable, and a mix of the sophisticated religious themes with antique mannerisms and with the monumental emphasis.
The first artifact that is pulled out of the Renaissance time capsule is painting called the Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli, painted in 1487. The Birth of Venus was painted using Tempera paint on a canvas that is about 5ft. 9in. by 9.5 ft. This painting shows the birth of the Goddess Venus and three other Gods, and Goodness looking on. Venus is emerging from a pearlescent scallop as an adult (Fiero, 2011). The greater meaning of this painting has been pondered on by many people. During this time, people were rediscovering and studying Ancient Greeks. Their artwork reflected not only Ancient Greeks, but also the artist’s own interpretation of the Greek mythology. This painting also shows how artiest weren’t as focuses on making religious art, but started to base their artwork on other studies such as mythology.
Nygren, B. “Una cosa che non è: perspective and humour in the paintings of Filippo Lippi”, Oxford art journal, vol. 29, no.3 (2006), pp.319-339
When Louis XIII built his hunting lodge on the hillside of Versailles in 1623 , I suspect he never imaged the true master piece of French Baroque architecture it would become and that it would continue live throughout history in all its glory, almost viewed as a physical timeline of the history of France. Versailles was the seat of absolute monarchy and became its own symbol, it became the physical representation for power. Looking past its extensive historical background, the palace of Versailles has such a complex architectural and artistic influence as nearly four generations of French king royals have lived in the palace continually expanding and renovating it to match the current styles and inspirations of that era. In creating Versailles,
Titian had many accomplishments in his lifetime. In 1518, Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin was shown at the Church of the Frari in Venice. It was in this composition that Titian seemed suddenly to absorb the achievements of the Roman High Renaissance style. At the time, it was learned that Titan had not traveled much, and therefore assumed that he squired this knowledge of art by visiting artists, studying their drawings and reproductive engravings. During the decades following his appearance in the art life, Titian’s reproductions placed him along with Michelangelo, as the most powerful artist in Europe. He was recognized for his mythical paintings, three of which he created for Alfonso I d’Este of Ferrara, called The Bacchanal of the Andrians, The Worship of Venus, and Baahus and Ariadne. Among his many patrons, the most important were the Spanish Habsburgs. Titian’s fame, wealth, and social position resulted from his patrons and admirers. His major artistic inhibitions included being especially creative with diagonal placing and perspectives, as well as setting up unusual spectator viewpoints. Among his most famous works, rests the picture known as The Gypsy Madonna. This picture ...
His articulation of the Orders are more than an recitation of Classical form. The Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite columns and other architectonic elements associated with the orders draw on the wealth of Greco-Roman architecture in Italy. Six unmatched walls of different orders and heights form the vertical structure of the fountain. Marble and bright yellow, ochre and red surfaces cover the facades, ...
Baxandall, Michael. “Conditions of Trade.” Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Baxandall, Michael. “Conditions of Trade.” Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
The paintings by Duccio and Giotto firmly set in place a benchmark for where artwork in the years around 1300 began to develop. These artworks show how paintings began to evolve into more symbolic, naturalistic, and dramatic scenes, depicting events in life and religion. The paintings of Duccio and Giotto are similar in the sense that their paintings were then, in the sense of more modern words, “special effects” of their time. They show vivid colors with meaning and symbolism, atmospheric characters that exist in space, and composition that is well thought out. Overall, these two artists become a pinnacle of art that illustrates Italian paintings in the years around 1300.
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 Palace Of Versailles In order to understand the Palace at Versailles, one should be aware of the Architectural Analysis, the History of the Chateau, the Main Palace Buildings and Rooms, and the purpose of the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles is located in Versailles, France, and was built in 1631 on the order of Louis XIII. It has served as the royal palace and numerous other purposes. It now serves as a museum of French history.
The columns, forty-two feet high and fourteen in circumference, are each of one piece of red oriental granite, but of the same black colour as the rest of the building, not excepting what should be the white marble of the capitals…On entering the portico the dark columns seem to swell into greater dimensions--you approach one of them, that you may compare the size of a man with the towering mass of mortal workmanship--you strike your hand against it, but the column, which has stood unmoved for nineteen centuries, does not vibrate to your blow. You must indulge in these emotions of astonishment before you advance to the magnificent doors of sculptured bronze, and enter the temple of Jupiter and the gods, now consecrated to the Virgin and the martyrs (Peale
Larmann, R., & Shields, M. (2011). Art of Renaissance and Baroque Europe (1400–1750). Gateways to Art (pp. 376-97). New York: W.W. Norton.
Buckingham Palace, established in 1703, serves as the home of the royal British monarchy (the Queen and her extended family) and provides the perfect setting for special occasions such as weddings, tea parties, and the Changing of the Guard.
and painted by the now world renowned artist Leonardo DAVinci. It is a painting that is only