Art Appreciation/Education series II class #3: Art of the Renaissance

11/24/05 | republicanprofessor

[Republicanprofessor]

Well, it’s been a very busy semester, but I have a few moments on this long weekend to work up another lecture. I think the next one, on Baroque Art, will have to wait until after Christmas. I may also do one then on Classical vs. Romantic Art, but then we are back to the beginning: Realism and the beginning of abstraction, which commenced the first series of such posts. BTW: all these posts are clickable on my home page. Please add to this discussion: what works do you enjoy and why, whom have I omitted that you would like to see discussed, etc?

[Republicanprofessor]

Art Appreciation/Education ping.

Perhaps we can not only have time with family to be thankful, but maybe we can have some time to debate art issues (which I dearly love to do).

Many thanks to my cooking husband so that I had time to work this up.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

(Oh, yes, and let me know if you want on or off this ping list.)

[nuconvert]

Thanks. That was an informative lesson.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Vor Lady]

Very interesting! Happy Thanksgiving from me too!

[Cecily]

It is scary and sad to think that those stupid idiot Islamists currently rioting in Europe would destroy all these paintings and other treasures of Western civilization without hesitation. The Europeans need to wake up.

[Bahbah]

I was so delighted to see this lesson as I rested from my enjoyable labors of the day. A "debate" of art issues with you would be the equivalent of a debate of legal issues between Al Franken and Justice Scalia (with me being in the Al Franken role), so I will just tell you how much I enjoyed it.

[Republicanprofessor]

Yes, you may be right about a proper "debate," but we could discuss, could we not?

I'm waiting for someone to say, "But you didn't put in my favorite ....." and then I would and we would find out about it.

Meanwhile, I should grade exams (which is much more boring than FR).

[Republicanprofessor]

Yes, it is too bad when one's religion is so absolutely negative about the culture and religion of others.

Islamic people have many beautiful mosques and art of their own, of which they should be justly proud. I don't think anyone can outdo their decorative designs (which were an alternative to the realism banned by the Moslems). Below: two images first from the Alhambra in Granada, Spain from the 14th century and then two more images of the Blue Mosque, inspired somewhat by the Byzantine Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Interestingly, Akbar in India about 1500 promoted not only a great range of religious viewpoints in his court (from Islam to Buddhism to Christian and Jainism), but the work under his court has its own precious realism. I knew nothing of this until a graduate seminar, which I am very grateful to have taken. The most famous Taj Mahal is a mixture of Mughal, Indian and Islamic styles.

[Bahbah]

we could discuss, could we not?

My ideal discussion with you would probably consist of me asking you to tell me what you thought about this, that and the other thing in art. I was interested to learn of the origins of the use of oil paints and what a tremendous difference it made in the impact of color. I was quite taken by the head of the serpent in was it the Giotto? I would love to know if you have any thoughts on that, after grading papers of course. I really appreciate your art lessons. They are like a gift.

[Republicanprofessor]

The head of that female serpent is in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel's Expulsion. What I also like is the use of color on that serpent: the irridenscent greens and yellows, with the cool colors in front of the warm colors (the reverse of what we'd expect). And they said, when the Sistine Chapel was being cleaned recently, that Michelangelo had no sense of color!

Also notice that Eden's side has some bare scrappings of landscape, while the other side is barren. Some of these ideas are from DVDs from the Teaching Company.org on Renaissance art, lectures by Dr. William Kloss. Fascinating.

I'm glad you appreciate what I do up for FR. Any break I can get from exams....

[Bahbah]

And they said, when the Sistine Chapel was being cleaned recently, that Michelangelo had no sense of color!

Bah! Philistines :)

[MinuteGal]

I just returned from a treat-for-the-tummy Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's......only to come home and see there's a treat-for-the-eyes on my computer.

Thanks so much for this marvelous Thanksgiving gift.

Bookmarking for tomorrow's leisurely reading and soaking-up-details in each piece of art. I'm not going to do a thing tomorrow.....no participating in the mall crush.....just lazin' around and freepin'.....and soaking up great art.

Leni

[Republicanprofessor]

I made a big mistake and, when running out of time, neglected those three artists mentioned in the first paragraph: Durer, Brueghel, and Bosch. I was going to quiz Leni to see if she would catch what I missed, but I’m going to discuss those men anyway.

Durer was a Renaissance man of Germany. We can track his self-portraits and see what he thought of himself: even resembling Christ. He did some wonderful engravings as prints, as in Adam and Eve, so that everyone could be a collector of his works. Notice that he maintains the northern sense of detail, but his anatomy is now as good as that of Italy. Even in his Piece of Turf, he is so detailed that botanists today can identify dozens of different grasses.

Brueghel, although not a peasant himself, did wonderful works of peasants’ lives. His figures have a monumentality like that of Michelangelo, whose works he did see in Italy. They also have a sense of humor, as in the Peasant Wedding above. Notice the proud, but rather homely, bride in front of the green cloth. Notice the hungry bagpiper and the greedy child who has already taken a pie from the platter (really a door) that just went by. There is also great exuberance in his dances.

Bosch is impossible to characterize, unless it is as a forerunner of Surrealists like Dali. His Garden of Earthly Delights has a kind of Eden on the left, with God introducing Eve to a goggling Adam. But what are those strange pink and blue forms in the background? In the middle, there is an odd parade in the background and many weird figures in the foreground: men with giant strawberries between their legs or with arrows up their rear ends. There is a sense of sin and lechery, and yet the whiteness of the figures, and the lack of voluptuousness of the women, lends a kind of innocence to the work. Is this our daily world of sin and temptation? On the right, the tortures of hell: crucifixion on a harp, those swallowed by Satan are then excreted underneath. The funny man in the egg shell may be a self-portrait of Bosch, and the bagpipes may represent sexual desire. But the symbolism is far too complex to do justice to here. There are many images of this which you can find on any search engine under Bosch and/or Garden of Earthly Delights, but I didn't want to take up too much pixel room here.

[Blind Eye Jones]

Any thoughts on the Di Vinci Code by Dan Brown?

[Republicanprofessor]

I read the book, as well as Angels and Demons, and I do love books that encourage people to read about art. I enjoy thrillers and mysteries anyway.

As to whether that apostle in the Last Supper is a woman, and all the rest of it...I just can't believe it. The arrow from one work in Angels and Demons just doesn't point where he said it did.

The books are fun, but remain imaginative fiction. Some people take them far too seriously.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I agree some people take them too far. I thought parts of the story line were very predicable and forced. As well, the book was poorly written... But it had imagination in assembling some of the history and myths. I like the reference to Jean Cocteau and would never have thought that the surrealist, homosexual, opium smoker would be a keeper of secrets... but he would have been a better choice than Dali, but maybe not as good as Picasso. The book had movie written all over it with Anthony Hopkins playing the part of the English curator... again sooo predicable.

[Jane Austen]

I found that book boring much of the time.

[LexBaird]

Durer is probably my favorite artist of the Renaissance. His choice of subject matter is much more approachable and deals with people in an everyday manner. Much of this, I think, was due to his being an early Protestant, with the accompanying rejection of much of the layers of Catholic symbology found in the contemporary Italian art. The most recognizable of his art to modern eyes is probably the Praying Hands.

[Republicanprofessor]

Those hands are beautiful and express the very essence of faith. I think you are right about the everyday manner. Brueghel did that too.

And so did Norman Rockwell. Freedom of Religion was inspired by Durer's hands.

[Sam Cree]

I like the Rockwell painting where the lobsterfisherman has a mermaid in his trap.