9/16/13
Classy things: 

  Getting to know you. Everybody. : )

Have to have all readings and blogs about the readings done a day before class time.

Next week: have to have gone to the library and read the book pertaining to your project readings.

• Slide exam slides will be in D2L  and also the books in the library. Slide exam will be OCT 21

NOTES

Humanist: focused on the power of language, studied the use of language to create power....  new classical education. Used it as power. Tried to create the "ideal man".

Questioned the superal natural-ism....

they wanted more focus on a more realistic setting as doing things as a "person" rather than having to mount to the "godliness" of the church.

after the Roman Empire fell; the Dark Ages: 476- 800, followed
Middle ages; monasteries were great keepers of books and learning. Many were thought of as Barbarians
Renaissance is what came from the Dark Ages : always Christian, always trying to reconcile human thought as Christians. Pagan poetry was looked at but not thought highly of.

"life long learning"

"virtue" vital theme in ancient Rome, "dignity" of man; it wasn't inherent but more like something you developed.

How does ones wealth relate to civic duty and power? By having education, the lower class was able rise to power. The upper class "Pleebs" takes responsibility to take care of each one another. "Education of Princes" Best education was from the wealthy. They would patronize the Humanist.

• You must have money to "build"  

Is Humanism still and elite  thing? ....

Humanism looking more at natural form, looking more away from landscape, male form "perfection".
More civic projects,


*Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1482 Washington, DC
depicting the Medici family, pictured the "new world", mastery of lineiar perspective. Centralized form, more staged, more symmetrical

*Leonardos Adoration....
more chaotic, more emotion. brilliant  ...."figures seem to create it's own space". More Formal, the virgin is out in the open. Much more emotional. get the sense of compostion and abstract design
Philosopher on left, young man "patched" looks away as if not interested.
"The purpose of art is to express the mind of man" . spent so much energy designing it, doesn't want to finish it.

*Ghirlandaio, Adoration of the Magi, 1488
going for the same complexity, centralized form, more political imagery. "everyone must be in the picture"
more materialistic. very colorful, very gaudy.

*Filippino Lippi's Adoration, Uffizi
Trying to understand Leonardo but cannot come close to what Leo was doing. expressions on the face were highly different.

*Masaccio, Tribute Mone, c 1425 Brancacci Chapel, Florence
propaganda, a perspective setting, stitching of diagonal planes. the feet of figures show a depth.

*Piero della Francesca, Annunciation, legend of the True Cross
reviving , 1450s, architecture from ancient Rome. If you didn't know the iconicness, you would think the angel was praising the column. The paint must be put on the fressco before it dries or else it won't last, hence no dove.

* Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1480's Florence, Uffizi
His way of thinking is still a little medieval. Neoplatonic in Florence ; Love makes the world go round.
In order to achieve the "ideal beauty" you must break it down.

One thing to learn from Leonardo is that "light comes out of Darkness".
Spends 20 years in Milan, there he finds patronage with Lodivico.
*The Galleria, Milan

* the Castello Sforzesco, Milan
where Leo spends his 20 years. can find fresco's that he did. also contains Michaelangelo's last sculpture.

*Leonardo, Lady with an Ermine (Cecilia Gallerani), 1483, Kracow, Czartoryski Museum
the Ermine is a symbol of the Duke, she was mistress of the duke. iner-life to the portrait makes it unlike anything of it's time. Generally portraits were profiles, this is 3/4 view. Has a spark of life to it. 1492 sonnet about the paint; says it is able to listen. The pose is a whole new way of creating a portrait.

*Madonna of the Rocks, Parsis, Louvre
The church in Milan commissions this, the botanical interest of Leo shows. They all have medicinal properties that encapcilate the Virgin. John the Baptist is a child that is wanting to touch the "christ child". Madonna will not let him touch "christ"
The Angel must be showing that St. John is our mediator into heaven. Very Florentine, gesture with hands alot. all through Barque, dark imagery.

*Madonna of the Rocks, :London
similar to the one in Paris, yet it is the same painting twice. It may be the French got the first  painting very early and because they took the painting, he had to do it a second time. This one has halo's and different plants to it. The Angel is not pointing to St. John, making it not as Florentine as the other one. WHY ARE THEY IN A CAVE? Leo may have been studding a lot rocky areas before doing this painting.

*Raphael, Alba Madonna