ARTH154 Study Guide - Final Guide: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Silverpoint, Optical Illusion
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
St. Luke Drawing the Virgin, Rogier Van Der Weyden (Northern Renaissance) 1440
Northern Renaissance
• St. Luke = patron saint of painters
o This is likely a self portrait
o St. Luke is an evangelist. His symbol is the ox
o St. Luke believed to have a vision in which the virgin appeared to him and he painted her
o He is the first Christian painter
o Drew her in silverpoint – used for portraiture
▪ Allows for naturalistic drawing
▪ Can’t make corrections with silverpoint
• Mary is a perfect being, so he won’t make mistakes
o Devotional portrait, displays artistic self-awareness, speaks to artist as a craftsman
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Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci (High Renaissance) 1500
• High Renaissance
• Painted for a man – Mona Lisa was his wife
• Unfinished
• Thought is that Leonardo had someone in his shop make a copy due to similarities found via
infrared
o Changes the idea that Leonardo worked alone
• Non-finito – Vasari says Leonardo couldn’t finish things
• Sfumato
• Body has realness and fullness
• Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa as a deviation of what women were painted like in Italy; she
looks directly out to us, which is unconventional at the time, and appears content which reflected
the expectations a man rather than a woman. Also, she is shown all of her body above her waist,
which is untypical for portraits at this time which normally stopped w the head, face, and
shoulders; eyes follow with optical illusion
•
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Pieta, Michelangelo (High Renaissance) 1550
• High Renaissance
• Unfinished
• Michelangelo depicts himself lowering Christ from the cross
• Mannerism – Christ’s body distorted
• Sculpture is unfinished, and Michelangelo attempted to destroy it
o He was questioning whether he can capture religious concepts that are so far our of our
realm
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Document Summary
St. luke drawing the virgin, rogier van der weyden (northern renaissance) 1440: st. luke = patron saint of painters, this is likely a self portrait, st. luke is an evangelist. Also, she is shown all of her body above her waist, which is untypical for portraits at this time which normally stopped w the head, face, and shoulders; eyes follow with optical illusion. Melancholia i, albrecht durer (northern renaissance) 1515: northern renaissance, engraving - woodcut, melancholy; one of the four humors the fluids that were the basis of the theories about. Or is it self knowledge and truth: used a camera obscura! Interest in revealing human soul emerges in his careful focus on his expressive visage: controlled use of light and nonspecific setting. Image of aristocracy at play in the fantasy of the world that they had created for themselves.
