1.
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
–
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA, known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter, Leighton was bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history, after only one day his hereditary peerage ended with his death. Leighton was born in Scarborough to a family in the import and export business and he was educated at University College School, London. He then received his training on the European continent, first from Eduard von Steinle. When he was 24 he was in Florence, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, from 1855 to 1859 he lived in Paris, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet. In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and he designed Elizabeth Barrett Brownings tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President and his 1877 sculpture, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. American art critic Earl Shinn claimed at the time that Except Leighton and his paintings represented Britain at the great 1900 Paris Exhibition. Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet, of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, eight years later. He was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the New Year Honours List of 1896, the patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896, Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris. Leighton remained a bachelor and rumours of his having a child with one of his models in addition to the supposition that Leighton may have been homosexual continue to be debated today. He certainly enjoyed an intense and romantically tinged relationship with the poet Henry William Greville whom he met in Florence in 1856, the older man showered Leighton in letters, but the romantic affection seems not to have been reciprocated. Enquiry is furthermore hindered by the fact that Leighton left no diaries, after his death his Barony was extinguished after existing for only a day, this is a record in the Peerage. His house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the house also features many of Leightons inspirations, including his collection of Iznik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall, the Hall is featured in issue ten of Cornucopia. A blue plaque commemorates Leighton at Leighton House Museum, Leighton was an enthusiastic volunteer soldier, enrolling with the first group to join the 38th Middlesex Rifle volunteers on 5 October 1860. His qualities of leadership were identified, and he was promoted to command A Company within a few months. On 6 January 1869 Captain Leighton was elected to command The Artists Rifles by a meeting of the corps
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
–
Self portrait of Leighton (1880)
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
–
Flaming June (1895;
Museo de Arte de Ponce).
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
–
Sir Frederick Leighton by
George Frederic Watts
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
–
Sir Frederick Leighton, later in his career.
2.
Oil painting
–
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. Commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, the choice of oil imparts a range of properties to the oil paint, such as the amount of yellowing or drying time. Certain differences, depending on the oil, are visible in the sheen of the paints. An artist might use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular consistency depending on the medium, the oil may be boiled with a resin, such as pine resin or frankincense, to create a varnish prized for its body and gloss. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages, Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. In recent years, water miscible oil paint has come to prominence and, to some extent, water-soluble paints contain an emulsifier that allows them to be thinned with water rather than paint thinner, and allows very fast drying times when compared with traditional oils. Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint, Oil paint is usually mixed with linseed oil, artist grade mineral spirits, or other solvents to make the paint thinner, faster or slower-drying. A basic rule of oil paint application is fat over lean and this means that each additional layer of paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow proper drying. If each additional layer contains less oil, the painting will crack. This rule does not ensure permanence, it is the quality and type of oil leads to a strong. There are many media that can be used with the oil, including cold wax, resins. These aspects of the paint are closely related to the capacity of oil paint. Traditionally, paint was transferred to the surface using paintbrushes. Oil paint remains wet longer than other types of artists materials, enabling the artist to change the color. At times, the painter might even remove a layer of paint. This can be done with a rag and some turpentine for a time while the paint is wet, Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch within a span of two weeks. It is generally dry enough to be varnished in six months to a year, art conservators do not consider an oil painting completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old
Oil painting
–
Mona Lisa,
Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–06
Oil painting
–
Self-portrait, at work,
Anders Zorn, 1897
Oil painting
–
Self-portrait of
Rembrandt, 1630. An example of oil painting on copper.
Oil painting
–
Flax seed is the source of linseed oil.
3.
Canvas
–
Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also used by artists as a painting surface. It is also used in such objects as handbags, electronic device cases. The word canvas is derived from the 13th century Anglo-French canevaz, both may be derivatives of the Vulgar Latin cannapaceus for made of hemp, originating from the Greek κάνναβις. Modern canvas is made of cotton or linen, although. It differs from other cotton fabrics, such as denim. Canvas comes in two types, plain and duck. The threads in duck canvas are more tightly woven, the term duck comes from the Dutch word for cloth, doek. In the United States, canvas is classified in two ways, by weight and by a number system. The numbers run in reverse of the weight so a number 10 canvas is lighter than number 4, canvas has become the most common support medium for oil painting, replacing wooden panels. One of the earliest surviving oils on canvas is a French Madonna with angels from around 1410 in the Gemäldegalerie, however, panel painting remained more common until the 16th century in Italy and the 17th century in Northern Europe. Mantegna and Venetian artists were among those leading the change, Venetian sail canvas was readily available, as lead-based paint is poisonous, care has to be taken in using it. Early canvas was made of linen, a sturdy brownish fabric of considerable strength, linen is particularly suitable for the use of oil paint. In the early 20th century, cotton canvas, often referred to as cotton duck, linen is composed of higher quality material, and remains popular with many professional artists, especially those who work with oil paint. Cotton duck, which stretches more fully and has an even, mechanical weave, the advent of acrylic paint has greatly increased the popularity and use of cotton duck canvas. Linen and cotton derive from two different plants, the flax plant and the cotton plant, respectively. Gessoed canvases on stretchers are also available and they are available in a variety of weights, light-weight is about 4 oz or 5 oz, medium-weight is about 7 oz or 8 oz, heavy-weight is about 10 oz or 12 oz. They are prepared with two or three coats of gesso and are ready for use straight away, artists desiring greater control of their painting surface may add a coat or two of their preferred gesso
Canvas
–
Canvas stretched on wooden frame
Canvas
–
Canvas on
stretcher bar
Canvas
–
One of
Poland 's largest canvas paintings, the
Battle of Grunwald by
Jan Matejko (426 cm × 987 cm (168 in × 389 in)), displayed in the
National Museum in
Warsaw.
Canvas
–
Canada Post canvas bags
4.
National Gallery
–
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the century to 1900. The Gallery is a charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, after that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two-thirds of the collection. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, the present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, wilkinss building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space, the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi, the current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi. The late 18th century saw the nationalisation of royal or princely art collections across mainland Europe, great Britain, however, did not emulate the continental model, and the British Royal Collection remains in the sovereigns possession today. In 1777 the British government had the opportunity to buy an art collection of international stature, the MP John Wilkes argued for the government to buy this invaluable treasure and suggested that it be housed in a noble gallery. The twenty-five paintings from that now in the Gallery, including NG1, have arrived by a variety of routes. This offer was declined and Bourgeois bequeathed the collection to his old school, Dulwich College, the collection opened in Britains first purpose-built public gallery, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, in 1814. The British Institution, founded in 1805 by a group of aristocratic connoisseurs, the members lent works to exhibitions that changed annually, while an art school was held in the summer months. However, as the paintings that were lent were often mediocre, some resented the Institution. One of the Institutions founding members, Sir George Beaumont, Bt, in 1823 another major art collection came on the market, which had been assembled by the recently deceased John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein was a Russian-born émigré banker based in London, his collection numbered 38 paintings, including works by Raphael, on 1 July 1823 George Agar Ellis, a Whig politician, proposed to the House of Commons that it purchase the collection. The appeal was given added impetus by Beaumonts offer, which came with two conditions, that the government buy Angersteins collection, and that a building was to be found
National Gallery
National Gallery
–
The Raising of Lazarus by
Sebastiano del Piombo, from the collection of
John Julius Angerstein. This became the founding collection of the National Gallery in 1824. The painting has the
accession number NG1, making it officially the first painting to enter the Gallery.
National Gallery
–
100
Pall Mall, the home of the National Gallery from 1824 to 1834.
National Gallery
–
The Baptism of Christ by
Piero della Francesca, one of Eastlake's purchases.
5.
Frederic Leighton
–
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA, known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter, Leighton was bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history, after only one day his hereditary peerage ended with his death. Leighton was born in Scarborough to a family in the import and export business and he was educated at University College School, London. He then received his training on the European continent, first from Eduard von Steinle. When he was 24 he was in Florence, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, from 1855 to 1859 he lived in Paris, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet. In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and he designed Elizabeth Barrett Brownings tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President and his 1877 sculpture, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. American art critic Earl Shinn claimed at the time that Except Leighton and his paintings represented Britain at the great 1900 Paris Exhibition. Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet, of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, eight years later. He was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the New Year Honours List of 1896, the patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896, Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris. Leighton remained a bachelor and rumours of his having a child with one of his models in addition to the supposition that Leighton may have been homosexual continue to be debated today. He certainly enjoyed an intense and romantically tinged relationship with the poet Henry William Greville whom he met in Florence in 1856, the older man showered Leighton in letters, but the romantic affection seems not to have been reciprocated. Enquiry is furthermore hindered by the fact that Leighton left no diaries, after his death his Barony was extinguished after existing for only a day, this is a record in the Peerage. His house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the house also features many of Leightons inspirations, including his collection of Iznik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall, the Hall is featured in issue ten of Cornucopia. A blue plaque commemorates Leighton at Leighton House Museum, Leighton was an enthusiastic volunteer soldier, enrolling with the first group to join the 38th Middlesex Rifle volunteers on 5 October 1860. His qualities of leadership were identified, and he was promoted to command A Company within a few months. On 6 January 1869 Captain Leighton was elected to command The Artists Rifles by a meeting of the corps
Frederic Leighton
–
Self portrait of Leighton (1880)
Frederic Leighton
–
Flaming June (1895;
Museo de Arte de Ponce).
Frederic Leighton
–
Sir Frederick Leighton by
George Frederic Watts
Frederic Leighton
–
Sir Frederick Leighton, later in his career.
6.
National Gallery, London
–
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the century to 1900. The Gallery is a charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the British Museum, unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, after that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations, which comprise two-thirds of the collection. It used to be claimed that this was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, the present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially unchanged from this time, wilkinss building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its lack of space, the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in 1897. The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi, the current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi. The late 18th century saw the nationalisation of royal or princely art collections across mainland Europe, great Britain, however, did not emulate the continental model, and the British Royal Collection remains in the sovereigns possession today. In 1777 the British government had the opportunity to buy an art collection of international stature, the MP John Wilkes argued for the government to buy this invaluable treasure and suggested that it be housed in a noble gallery. The twenty-five paintings from that now in the Gallery, including NG1, have arrived by a variety of routes. This offer was declined and Bourgeois bequeathed the collection to his old school, Dulwich College, the collection opened in Britains first purpose-built public gallery, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, in 1814. The British Institution, founded in 1805 by a group of aristocratic connoisseurs, the members lent works to exhibitions that changed annually, while an art school was held in the summer months. However, as the paintings that were lent were often mediocre, some resented the Institution. One of the Institutions founding members, Sir George Beaumont, Bt, in 1823 another major art collection came on the market, which had been assembled by the recently deceased John Julius Angerstein. Angerstein was a Russian-born émigré banker based in London, his collection numbered 38 paintings, including works by Raphael, on 1 July 1823 George Agar Ellis, a Whig politician, proposed to the House of Commons that it purchase the collection. The appeal was given added impetus by Beaumonts offer, which came with two conditions, that the government buy Angersteins collection, and that a building was to be found
National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
–
Location within Central London
National Gallery, London
–
The Raising of Lazarus by
Sebastiano del Piombo, from the collection of
John Julius Angerstein. This became the founding collection of the National Gallery in 1824. The painting has the
accession number NG1, making it officially the first painting to enter the Gallery.
National Gallery, London
–
100
Pall Mall, the home of the National Gallery from 1824 to 1834.
7.
Royal Collection
–
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and the largest private art collection in the world. The Queen owns some objects in the collection in right of the Crown, the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is an art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a collector of Italian paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria, in particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as Royal. The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, there have been significant additions to the collection through purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime. The Royal Collection is privately owned, although some of the works are displayed in areas of palaces, some of the collection is owned by the monarch personally, and everything else is described as being held in trust by the monarch in right of the Crown. All works of art acquired by monarchs up to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are heirlooms which fall into the latter category. Items the British royal family acquired later, including official gifts, ambiguity surrounds the status of objects that have come into Queen Elizabeth IIs possession during her reign. The Royal Collection Trust has confirmed that all pieces left to the Queen by the Queen Mother belong to her personally, non-personal items are said to be inalienable as they can only be willed to the monarchs successor. The legal accuracy of this claim has never been substantiated in court, in a 2000 television interview, the Duke of Edinburgh said that the Queen was technically, perfectly at liberty to sell them. In 1995, Iain Sproat, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, a registered charity, the Royal Collection Trust was set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire with a mandate to conserve the works and enhance the publics appreciation and understanding of art. It employs around 500 staff and is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, buildings do not come under its remit
Royal Collection
–
Anthony van Dyck:
Charles I with M. de St Antoine (1633)
Royal Collection
–
Rubens:
Pythagoras advocating vegetarianism, c. 1618–30
Royal Collection
–
Leonardo da Vinci – The Babe in the Womb, 1511
Royal Collection
–
Michelangelo – The Resurrection, 1532)
8.
Leighton House
–
The Leighton House Museum is a museum in the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea in London. The former home of the painter Frederic, Lord Leighton, it has open to the public since 1929. Built for Leighton by the architect and designer George Aitchison, it is a Grade II* listed building and it is noted for its elaborate Orientalist and aesthetic interiors. It is open to the public daily except Tuesdays, and is a museum to 18 Stafford Terrace. The first part of the house was designed in 1864 by the architect George Aitchison, building commenced shortly afterwards, and the house, which cost £4500 equivalent to £399,030 in 2015, was ready for occupation by the end of the year. The building is of red Suffolk bricks with Caen Stone dressings in a classical style. The architect extended the building over 30 years, the first phase was only three windows wide, the main room was the first floor studio, facing north, originally 45 by 25 feet, with a large central window to provide plenty of light for painting. There was also a gallery at the east end, and a staircase for use by models. The house was extended to the east in 1869–70, additionally, a major extension was made in 1877–79, the two-storey Arab Hall, built to house Leightons collection of tiles collected during visits to the Middle East. According to Aitchison and Walter Crane, the design was based on the palace of La Zisa in Palermo, the 17th-century tiles are complemented by carved wooden lattice-work windows of the same period from Damascus. There are also large 16th-century Turkish tiles, the west wall has a wooden alcove with inset 14th-century tiles. The room also contains Victorian elements, the capitals of the smaller columns are by Sir Joseph Boehm, from Aitchisons designs. The capitals of the columns, gilded and carved in the shape of birds, are by Randolph Caldecot. The mosaic frieze was designed by Walter Crane, the marble work was by George P. White. Elaborate decorative paintwork adorns the ceiling and in the centre of the floor there is a fountain. The tiles in the passage to the Arab Hall are by William de Morgan, in 1889 an additional winter studio was added to the building. The final addition by Aitchison was the picture gallery in 1895. After Leighton died in 1896, the contents of the house were sold, including at least one thousand of his own drawings, in 1927 Mrs Henry Perrin offered to pay for additional gallery space
Leighton House
–
Leighton House
Leighton House
–
Self portrait of Leighton (1880)
Leighton House
–
The End of the Quest (1921) by
Frank Bernard Dicksee.
9.
Oil sketch
–
An Oil sketch or oil study is an artwork made primarily in oil paint in preparation for a larger, finished work. Originally these were created as preparatory studies or modelli, especially so as to gain approval for the design of a commissioned painting. They were also used as designs for specialists in other media, such as printmaking or tapestry, later they were produced as independent works, often with no thought of being expanded into a full-size painting. The usual medium for modelli was the drawing, but an oil sketch, even if done in a range of colours. It is also possible to fully convey the flow and energy of a composition in paint. For a painter with exceptional technique, the production of an oil sketch may be as rapid as that of a drawing, sometimes a number of sketches for the same composition have survived. In the early 17th century the oil sketch became widely used, Rubens made great use of them, as working studies, and as modelli for clients, his own assistants, engravers and tapestry-makers. Their degree of finish varies accordingly, the Magistrate of Brussels, recognised in England in 2013, may be a Van Dyck portrait oil sketch. Perhaps the first to produce oil sketches as independent works was Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and he grew up and trained in Genoa, and apparently had contact with both Rubens and Van Dyck during their stays there. He produced a number of small works, mostly on paper, in a mixture of mediums - drawings or gouaches finished in oil, oils with pen details - in fact. Detail is typically restricted to a few key points, with much of the subject conveyed in impressionistic fashion, by this time a collectors market for studies in drawing was well developed, and there was appreciation of their energy and freedom. Castigliones sketches to some extent seem to trade off this appreciation, at roughly the same time Jean Fragonard was producing a series of virtuosic Figures de fantaisie, half-length portraits of imaginary subjects, purporting to have been painted in an hour. By the 19th century oil sketches, often referred to as oil studies if from this period, had become very common, the popularity of the oil sketch engendered the need to formulate distinctions. The esquisse, or oil sketch, tended to be inspirational or imaginative, often originating in literature or art, delacroix, Géricault, Manet and Degas are other artists who often used them. For some oil sketches Degas painted in essence, a technique by which the oil had been all but removed from the pigment, seurat made many careful small oil sketches for his larger works. However, with the advent of Impressionism, and then Modernism, the abandonment by many artists of a high level of detail and finish in favor of a more painterly and spontaneous approach, reduced the distinction between a detailed sketch and a finished painting. Sketches by Rubens or Tiepolo, for example, are at least as highly finished as many 20th century oil paintings, many artists, especially those working in more traditional styles, still use oil sketches today.7 million
Oil sketch
–
Oil sketch modello by Tiepolo, 69 × 55 cm, for this five metre high altarpiece
Oil sketch
–
Oil study of a male nude by
Géricault
Oil sketch
–
John Constable, 1827, 22 × 31 cm
Oil sketch
–
Thomas Eakins, Sketch for
The Gross Clinic.
10.
Art historian
–
The history of art is the history of any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview. The subsequent expansion of the list of arts in the 20th century reached to nine, architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, poetry, film, photography. The study of the history of art was developed during the Renaissance. Today, art enjoys a network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy of mankind throughout history. The rise of media has been crucial in improving the study, international events and exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial and biennales of Venice and São Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development of new styles and trends. Institutions like UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage Site lists, the field of art history was developed in the West, and originally dealt exclusively with European art history, with the High Renaissance as the defining standard. Gradually, over the course of the 20th century, a vision of art history has developed. This expanded version includes societies from across the globe, and it attempts to analyze artifacts in terms of the cultural values in which they were created. Thus, art history is now seen to all visual art. The history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created in each civilization and it can thus be framed as a story of high culture, epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On the other hand, vernacular art expressions can also be integrated into art historical narratives, in the latter cases art objects may be referred to as archeological artifacts. One way to examine how art history is organized is by examining the major survey textbooks, information on canonical art history is also found in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, which is sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The first tangible artifacts of human art that have found are from the Stone Age. During the Paleolithic, humans practiced hunting and gathering and lived in caves, in the Bronze Age, the first protohistoric civilizations arose. The Paleolithic had its first artistic manifestation in 25,000 BCE, the first traces of human-made objects appeared in southern Africa, the Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, Siberia, India and Australia. These first traces are generally worked stone, wood or bone tools, to paint in red, iron oxide was used, in black, manganese oxide and in ochre, clay. Surviving art from this period includes small carvings in stone or bone, cave paintings have been found in the Franco-Cantabrian region. There are pictures with magical-religious character and also pictures with a naturalistic sense, sculpture is represented by the so-called Venus figurines, feminine figures which were probably used in fertility cults, such as the Venus of Willendorf
Art historian
–
The Creation of Adam (1508-1512), by
Michelangelo, in the
Sistine Chapel (
Vatican)
Art historian
–
History of art
Art historian
–
The
Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, c.1173-1176 CE, Chinese
Song Dynasty period
Art historian
–
Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250-260 CE), with battle between
Roman soldiers and barbarians. The general may be
Hostilian, Emperor
Decius ' son (died 252 CE).
11.
Giorgio Vasari
–
Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany. Recommended at an age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia. He was befriended by Michelangelo whose painting style would influence his own, in 1529, he visited Rome where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. Vasaris own Mannerist paintings were admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547 he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni and he was consistently employed by members of the Medici family in Florence and Rome, and worked in Naples, Arezzo and other places. He also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio, aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was also successful as an architect. In Florence, Vasari also built the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, the enclosed corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the Ponte Vecchio and winds around the exterior of several buildings. He also renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, at both he removed the original rood screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-choirs in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he was responsible for the painting of The Adoration of the Magi which was commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and it was recently restored, before being put on exhibition in 2011 in Rome and in Naples. Eventually it is planned to return it to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, in 1562 Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in Pistoia, an important example of high Renaissance architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammanati at Pope Julius IIIs Villa Giulia, the Lives also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was rewritten and enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists. The work has a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines, and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, Venetian art in particular, is systematically ignored in the first edition. Between the first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the edition gave more attention to Venetian art. Vasaris biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip, with a few exceptions, however, Vasaris aesthetic judgement was acute and unbiased. He did not research archives for exact dates, as art historians do, and naturally his biographies are most dependable for the painters of his own generation. Modern criticism – with new materials opened up by research – has corrected many of his traditional dates and attributions. Vasari includes a sketch of his own biography at the end of the Lives, according to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term competition in its economic sense
Giorgio Vasari
–
Vasari's self-portrait
Giorgio Vasari
–
Giorgio Vasari, Italian humanists, Tuscan Poets: Dante, Petrarch, Guido Cavalcanti, Boccaccio, Cino da Pistoia and Guittone d'Arezzo
Giorgio Vasari
–
Giorgio Vasari, The Garden of Gethsemane
Giorgio Vasari
–
The Uffizi Loggia.
12.
Altarpiece
–
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing behind the altar of a Christian church. Altarpieces were one of the most important products of Christian art especially from the late Middle Ages to the era of the Counter-Reformation. Large number of altarpieces are now removed from their settings, and often their elaborate sculpted frameworks. Altarpieces seem to have begun to be used during the 11th century, the reasons and forces that led to the development of altarpieces are not generally agreed upon. The habit of placing decorated reliquaries of saints on or behind the altar, as well as the tradition of decorating the front of the altar with sculptures or textiles, an elaborate example of such an early altarpiece is the Pala dOro in Venice. The appearance and development of these first altarpieces marked an important turning point both in the history of Christian art and Christian religious practice, the autonomous image now assumed a legitimate position at the centre of Christian worship. Painted panel altars emerged in Italy during the 13th century, in the 13th century, it is not uncommon to find frescoed or mural altarpieces in Italy, mural paintings behind the altar function as visual complements for the liturgy. These altarpieces were influenced by Byzantine art, notably icons, which reached Western Europe in greater numbers following the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. During this time, altarpieces began to be decorated with an outer. Vigoroso da Sienas altarpiece from 1291 display such an altarpiece and this treatment of the altarpiece would eventually pave the way for the emergence, in the 14th century, of the polyptych. The sculpted elements in the emerging polyptychs often took inspiration from contemporary Gothic architecture, in Italy, they were still typically executed in wood and painted, while in northern Europe altarpieces were often made of stone. The early 14th century saw the emergence, in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Baltic region, by hinging the outer panels to the central panel and painting them on both sides, the motif could be regulated by opening or closing the wings. The pictures could thus be changed depending on liturgical demands, the earliest often displayed sculptures on the inner panels, i. e. displayed when open, and paintings on the back of the wings, displayed when closed. With the advent of winged altarpieces, a shift in imagery also occurred, instead of being centred on a single holy figure, altarpieces began to portray more complex narratives linked to the Christian concept of salvation. As the Middle Ages progressed, altarpieces began to be commissioned more frequently, in Northern Europe, initially Lübeck and later Antwerp would develop into veritable export centres for the production of altarpieces, exporting to Scandinavia, Spain and northern France. By the 15th century, altarpieces were often commissioned not only by churches but also by individuals, families, guilds, the 15th century saw the birth of Early Netherlandish painting in the Low Countries, henceforth panel painting would dominate altarpiece production in the area. In Germany, sculpted wooden altarpieces were instead generally preferred, while in England alabaster was used to a large extent, in England, as well as in France, stone retables enjoyed general popularity. In Italy both stone retables and wooden polyptychs were common, with painted panels and often with complex framing in the form of architectural compositions
Altarpiece
–
The
Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by
Hubert and
Jan van Eyck. Considered one of the masterpieces of
Northern Renaissance art, it is an example of a complex polyptych panel painting
Altarpiece
–
Vigoroso da Siena 's altarpiece from 1291, an example of an early painted panel altarpiece, with the individual parts framed by gables and sculptured elements
Altarpiece
–
The Altarpiece of the Holy Blood, by
Tilman Riemenschneider (1501–1505). An example of an altarpiece with a central, sculpted section and relief wings.
13.
Madonna and Child
–
A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the word is from Italian ma donna, meaning my lady. Or descriptive of the posture, as in Hodegetria, Eleusa. The term Madonna in the sense of picture or statue of the Virgin Mary enters English usage in the 17th century, in an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are typically known as Theotokos. Madonna may be used of representations of Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is the focus and central figure of the image. Other types of Marian imagery have a context, depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The earliest depictions of Mary date still to Early Christianity, found in the Catacombs of Rome and these are in a narrative context. The Theotokos iconography as it developed in the 6th to 8th century rose to importance in the high medieval period both in the Eastern Orthodox and in the Latin spheres. Liturgy depicting Mary as powerful intercessor was brought from Greek into Latin tradition in the 8th century, the Greek title of Δεσποινα was adopted as Latin Domina Lady. The medieval Italian Ma Donna pronounced reflects Mea Domina, while Nostra Domina was adopted in French and these names signal both the increased importance of the cult of the virgin and the prominence of art in service to Marian devotion during the late medieval period. Madonna was meant more to people of the theological concept which is placing such a high value on purity or virginity. This is also represented by the color of her clothing, the color blue symbolized purity, virginity, and royalty. In this sense, a Madonna, or a Madonna with Child is used of works of art. There are several types of representation of the Madonna. One type of Madonna shows Mary alone, and standing, generally glorified and with a gesture of prayer and this type of image occurs in a number of ancient apsidal mosaics. Full-length standing images of the Madonna more frequently include the infant Jesus, the most famous Byzantine image, the Hodegetria was originally of this type, though most copies are at half-length. There are a number of paintings that depict the Madonna in this manner. The Madonna enthroned is a type of image that dates from the Byzantine period and was used widely in Medieval and these representations of the Madonna and Child often take the form of large altarpieces
Madonna and Child
–
The Virgin and Child or The Madonna of the Book by
Sandro Botticelli, 1480.
Madonna and Child
–
Madonna and Child by
Filippo Lippi
Madonna and Child
–
Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with saints and angels, and the
Hand of God above, 6th century,
Saint Catherine's Monastery, perhaps the earliest iconic image of the subject to survive.
Madonna and Child
–
13th century Madonna with Child in the Italo-Byzantine style.
14.
Florence, Italy
–
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
Florence, Italy
–
A collage of Florence showing the
Galleria degli Uffizi (top left), followed by the
Palazzo Pitti, a sunset view of the city and the
Fountain of Neptune in the
Piazza della Signoria
Florence, Italy
–
A wooden model of Florence as it would have probably looked during Roman times, showing the ancient amphitheatre
Florence, Italy
–
The façade of the Cathedral
Florence, Italy
–
Leonardo da Vinci statue outside the
Uffizi Gallery.
15.
Florentine School
–
Some of the best known artists of the Florentine school, including other arts, are Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Lippi, Masolino, and Masaccio. The earliest distinctive Tuscan art, produced in the 13th century in Pisa and Lucca, the oldest extant large scale Floretine pictorial project is the mosaic decoration of the interior of the dome of the Baptistery of St John, which began around 1225. Although Venentian artists were involved in the project, the Tuscan artists created expressive, lively scenes, Coppo di Marcovaldo is said to have been responsible for the central figure of Christ and is the earliest Floretine artist involved in the project. Like the panels of the Virgin and Child painted for the Servite churches in Siena and Orvieto, sometimes attributed to Coppo, similar works were commissioned for the Florentine churches of Santa Maria Novella, Santa Trinita and Ognissanti in the late 13th century and early 14th century. Cimabues Madonna of Santa Trinita and Duccios Rucellai Madonna do, however, contracts of the time note that clients often had a woodwork shape in mind when commissioning an artist, and discussed the religious figures to be depicted with the artists. The content of the scenes in predella panels however are rarely mentioned in the contracts. The guilds, cognizant of the stimulus that external craftmanship brought, sculptors had their own guild which held minor status, and by 1316 painters were members of the influential Arte dei Medici e Speziali. The naturalism developed by the early Florentine artists waned during the quarter of the 14th century. Commesso Bolognese School Lucchese School School of Ferrara Sienese School Florence Art life and organization, pope-Hennessy, John & Kanter, Laurence B. The Robert Lehman Collection I, Italian Paintings, new York, Princeton, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Media related to Florentine school at Wikimedia Commons
Florentine School
–
Mosaic ceiling of the
Baptistery of St John in Florence, dating from around 1225.
Florentine School
–
Madonna of Santa Trinita, dating from around 1285, once in the church of
Santa Trinita, and now housed in the
Uffizi Gallery.
Florentine School
–
Giotto's fresco, the Mourning of St. Francis in the
Bardi chapel of
Santa Croce.
16.
Cimabue
–
Cimabue, also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was a Florentine painter and designer of mosaics. Although heavily influenced by Byzantine models, Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from the Italo-Byzantine style, according to Italian painter and historian Giorgio Vasari, Cimabue was the teacher of Giotto, the first great artist of the Italian Proto-Renaissance. However, many scholars today tend to discount Vasaris claim, citing earlier sources which suggest this was not the case, little is known about Cimabues early life. One source that recounts his career is Giorgio Vasaris Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and he was born in Florence and died in Pisa. Hayden Maginnis speculates he could have trained in Florence under masters culturally connected to Byzantine art, many scholars today discount Vasaris claim that he later had Giotto as his pupil, citing earlier sources which suggest this was not the case. Cimabues Christ is bent and the clothes have the golden striations introduced by Coppo di Marcovaldo, around 1272 Cimabue is documented as being present in Rome, and a little later he made another Crucifix for the Florentine church of Santa Croce. In the same period, Cimabue painted the Maestà, originally displayed in the church of San Francesco at Pisa and this work established a style which was followed subsequently by numerous artists, including Duccio di Buoninsegna in his Rucellai Madonna, as well as Giotto. A workshop painting, perhaps assignable to a later period, is the Maestà with Saints Francis. During the pontificate of Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope, at Assisi, in the transept of the Lower Basilica of San Francesco, he created a fresco named Madonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and St Francis. The left portion of this fresco is lost, but it may have shown St Anthony of Padua, Cimabue was subsequently commissioned to decorate the apse and the transept of the Upper Basilica of Assisi, in the same period of time that Roman artists were decorating the nave. The cycle he created there comprises scenes from the Gospels, the lives of the Virgin Mary, St Peter and these paintings are now in poor condition due to the oxidation of the brighter colors which the artist used. The Maestà of Santa Trinità, dated to c, 1290–1300, which was originally painted for the church of Santa Trinità in Florence, is now in the Uffizi Gallery. The softer expression of the characters suggests that it was influenced by Giotto, Cimabue spent the last period of his life,1301 to 1302, in Pisa. There he was commissioned to finish a mosaic of Christ Enthroned, originally begun by Maestro Francesco, Cimabue was to create the part of the mosaic depicting St John the Evangelist, which remains the sole surviving work documented as being by the artist. Cimabue died around the year 1302. he would destroy the work. His nickname, Cenni di Pepo, translates as ‘bull-head’, but also possibly as ‘one who crushes the views of others’, from the Latin word cimare, meaning top, shear, and blunt. The conclusion for the meaning is drawn from similar commentaries on Dante. History has long regarded Cimabue as the last of an era that was overshadowed by the Italian Renaissance, in painting Cimabue thought he held the field but now its Giotto has the cry, so that the others fame is dimmed
Cimabue
–
Maestà, 1280–1285,
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Cimabue
–
Fresco in the Lower Basilica of Assisi
Cimabue
–
St. Francis of Assisi
Cimabue
–
Crucifix, 1287–1288, Panel, 448 cm × 390 cm (176.4 in × 153.5 in),
Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence
17.
Santa Maria Novella
–
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated just across from the main railway station named after it. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the citys principal Dominican church, the church, the adjoining cloister, and chapter house contain a multiplicity of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance and they were financed by the most important Florentine families, who ensured themselves funerary chapels on consecrated ground. This church was called Novella because it was built on the site of the 9th-century oratory of Santa Maria delle Vigne, when the site was assigned to Dominican Order in 1221, they decided to build a new church and adjoining cloister. The church was designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi, building began in the mid-13th century, and was finished about 1360 under the supervision of Friar Iacopo Talenti with the completion of the Romanesque-Gothic bell tower and sacristy. At that time, only the part of the Tuscan gothic façade was finished. This same design continues in the wall around the old churchyard. The church was consecrated in 1420, alberti had also designed the façade for the Rucellai Palace in Florence. The four columns with Corinthian capitals on the part of the façade were also added. The pediment and the frieze are clearly inspired by antiquity, but the S-curved scrolls in the part are new. The scrolls, found in all over Italy, all draw their origins from the design of this church. The frieze below the pediment carries the name of the patron, the vast interior is based on a basilica plan, designed as a Latin cross, and is divided into a nave, two aisles with stained-glass windows and a short transept. The large nave is 100 metres long and gives an impression of austerity, there is a trompe loeil effect by which towards the apse the nave seems longer than its actual length. The slender compound piers between the nave and the aisles are progressively closer the deeper the observer moves into the nave, the ceiling in the vault consists of pointed arches with the four diagonal buttresses in black and white. The interior also contains Corinthian columns that were inspired by Greek, the stained-glass windows date from the 14th and 15th century, such as 15th century Madonna and Child and St. John and St. Philip, both in the Filippo Strozzi Chapel. Some stained glass windows have been damaged in the course of centuries and have been replaced, the one on the façade, a depiction of the Coronation of Mary, dates from the 14th century, and is based on a design of Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze. The pulpit, commissioned by the Rucellai family in 1443, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and this pulpit has a particular historical significance, since it was from this pulpit that the first verbal attack was made on Galileo Galilei, leading eventually to his indictment. The Holy Trinity, situated almost halfway along the aisle, is a pioneering early Renaissance work of Masaccio, showing his new ideas about perspective
Santa Maria Novella
–
The façade of Santa Maria Novella, completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470.
Santa Maria Novella
–
Via degli Avelli side
Santa Maria Novella
–
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio.
Santa Maria Novella
–
Fresco by
Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze in the Spanish Chapel: Allegory of the Active and Triumphant Church and of the Dominican order (c. 1365)
18.
Laurel wreath
–
A laurel wreath is a circular wreath made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel, an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butchers broom or cherry laurel. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a wreath on his head. Whereas ancient laurel wreaths are most often depicted as a horseshoe shape, in common modern idiomatic usage it refers to a victory. In some countries the laurel wreath is used as a symbol of the masters degree, the wreath is given to young masters at the university graduation ceremony. The word laureate in poet laureate refers to the laurel wreath, the medieval Florentine poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, a graduate of the Sicilian School, is often represented in paintings and sculpture wearing a laurel wreath. In Italy, the term laureato is used in to refer to any student who has graduated, right after the graduation ceremony, or laurea in Italian, the student receives a laurel wreath to wear for the rest of the day. This tradition originated at the University of Padua and has spread in the last two centuries to all Italian universities, at Connecticut College in the United States, members of the junior class carry a laurel chain, which the seniors pass through during commencement. It represents nature and the continuation of life from year to year, at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA, laurel has been a fixture of commencement traditions since 1900, when graduating students carried or wore laurel wreaths. In 1902, the chain of laurel was introduced, since then, tradition has been for seniors to parade around the campus, carrying. The mountain laurel represents the bay used by the Romans in wreaths. At Reed College in Portland, Oregon, United States, members of the senior class receive laurel wreaths upon submitting their senior thesis in May, the tradition stems from the use of laurel wreaths in athletic competitions, the seniors have crossed the finish line, so to speak. In Sweden, those receiving a doctorate or a doctorate at the Faculty of Philosophy. In Finland, in University of Helsinki a laurel wreath is given during the ceremony of conferral for masterss degree, doctors wear special kind of Doctoral hat. The laurel wreath is a motif in architecture, furniture. The laurel wreath is seen carved in the stone and decorative works of Robert Adam, and in Federal, Regency, Directoire. In decorative arts, especially during the Empire period, the wreath is seen woven in textiles, inlaid in marquetry. Alfa Romeo added a wreath to their logo after they won the inaugural Automobile World Championship in 1925 with the P2 racing car. Laurel wreaths are used in heraldry
Laurel wreath
–
A golden laurel wreath, origin: probably
Cyprus, 4th—3rd century BC.
Laurel wreath
–
A laurel wreath decorating a memorial at the
Folketing, the national parliament of Denmark.
Laurel wreath
–
Ovid with laurel wreath, common in poets.
Laurel wreath
–
Alexander Garden Grille
19.
Giotto
–
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto and Latinized as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of artists who contributed to the Renaissance. Giottos masterwork is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel and this fresco cycle depicts the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ. It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Early Renaissance. That Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new campanile of Florences Cathedral are among the few certainties of his biography. Tradition holds that Giotto was born in a farmhouse, perhaps at Colle di Romagnano or Romignano, since 1850, a tower house in nearby Colle Vespignano has borne a plaque claiming the honor of his birthplace, an assertion commercially publicized. However, recent research has suggested that he was born in Florence. His fathers name was Bondone, and he is described in surviving records as a person of good standing. Most authors accept that Giotto was his name, but it is likely to have been an abbreviation of Ambrogio or Angelo. The year of his birth is calculated from the fact that Antonio Pucci, however, the word seventy fits into the rhyme of the poem better than would have a longer and more complex age, so it is possible that Pucci used artistic license. In his Lives, Giorgio Vasari states that Giotto was a shepherd boy, the great Florentine painter Cimabue discovered Giotto drawing pictures of his sheep on a rock. They were so lifelike that Cimabue approached Giotto and asked if he could take him on as an apprentice, Cimabue was one of the two most highly renowned painters of Tuscany, the other being Duccio, who worked mainly in Siena. Vasari recounts a number of stories about Giottos skill as a young artist. He tells of one occasion when Cimabue was absent from the workshop, later when Cimabue returned, he tried in vain several times to brush the fly off. The messenger departed ill pleased, not doubting that he had made a fool of. The messenger brought other artists drawings back to the Pope in addition to Giottos, many scholars today are uncertain about Giottos training, and consider Vasaris account that he was Cimabues pupil as legend, citing earlier sources which suggest that Giotto was not Cimabues pupil. About 1290, Giotto married Ciuta, the daughter of Lapo del Pela of Florence, the marriage produced four daughters and four sons, one of whom became a painter. By 1301, Giotto owned a house in Florence, and when he was not traveling he would return there and live in comfort with his family
Giotto
–
Statue representing Giotto, outside the Uffizi
Giotto
–
A portrait of
Dante by Giotto
Giotto
–
One of the Legend of St. Francis frescoes at
Assisi, the authorship of which is disputed
Giotto
–
The
Crucifixion of Rimini
20.
Dante Alighieri
–
Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages, the majority of poetry was written in Latin. In De vulgari eloquentia, however, Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature, as a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, Dante has been called the Father of the Italian language and one of the greatest poets of world literature. In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta and il Poeta, he, Petrarch, Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in the Divine Comedy, in 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11. Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans, but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei, born no earlier than about 1100. Dantes father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. Dantes family had loyalties to the Guelphs, an alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines. The poets mother was Bella, likely a member of the Abati family and she died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again, he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known, the certain information is that, before his exile in 1301. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino and this victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in life, one had to enroll in one of the citys many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians. In the following years, his name is recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however
Dante Alighieri
–
Profile portrait of Dante, by
Sandro Botticelli
Dante Alighieri
–
Portrait of Dante, from a fresco in the Palazzo dei Giudici, Florence
Dante Alighieri
–
Dante in Verona, by Antonio Cotti
Dante Alighieri
–
Statue of Dante at the
Uffizi, Florence
21.
Arnolfo di Cambio
–
Arnolfo di Cambio was an Italian architect and sculptor. Arnolfo was born in Colle Val dElsa, Tuscany and he was Nicola Pisano’s chief assistant on the marble Siena Cathedral Pulpit for the Duomo in Siena Cathedral, but he soon began to work independently on an important tomb sculpture. In 1266–1267 he worked in Rome for King Charles I of Anjou, portraying him in the famous statue housed in the Campidoglio. In this period he worked on the presepio of Santa Maria Maggiore, on Santa Maria in Aracoeli, on the monument of Pope Boniface VIII. In 1294–1295 he worked in Florence, mainly as an architect, the surviving statues are now in the Museum of the Cathedral. While the design of the Church of Santa Croce has been attributed to Arnolfo, Vasari also attributed to him the urban plan of the new city of San Giovanni Valdarno. The monumental character of Arnolfos work has left its mark on the appearance of Florence and his funerary monuments became the model for Gothic funerary art. Giorgio Vasari included a biography of Arnolfo in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, old basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence Cathedral St. Peter Enthroned inside St. Peters Basilica, is often attributed to Arnolfo. Lo stil novo del Gotico italiano, Arnolfo di Cambio in the History of Art
Arnolfo di Cambio
–
The
ciborium over the high altar of
St. John Lateran is derived from a design by Arnolfo di Cambio and decorated with paintings by Barna da Siena in 1367–1368. The cage above contains silver reliquaries which are said to hold the heads of SS. Peter and Paul.
Arnolfo di Cambio
–
The sculpture of St. Peter found within
St. Peter's Basilica,
Rome
Arnolfo di Cambio
–
Detail of the tomb of Riccardo Cardinal Annibaldi, at
St. John Lateran. This was the first major work of Arnolfo in
Rome.
Arnolfo di Cambio
–
Tomb of Honorius IV
22.
Gaddo Gaddi
–
Gaddo Gaddi was an Italian painter and mosaicist of Florence in a gothic art style. He was the father of Taddeo Gaddi and he completed mosaics on facade of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The Coronation of the Virgin mosaic over the door of Florence Cathedral. Ralph Nicholson Wornum, ed. Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters, woodfall & Kinder, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London, Digitized by Googlebooks from Oxford University copy on Jun 27,2006
Gaddo Gaddi
–
Illustration of Gaddo Gaddi for Le Vite, by
Giorgio Vasari, 1568
23.
Buonamico Buffalmacco
–
Buonamico di Martino or Buonamico Buffalmacco was an Italian painter who worked in Florence, Bologna and Pisa. Painted some ten years before the Black Death spread over Europe in 1348, the cycle - a painted sermon - enjoyed a success after that date. Boccaccio and Franco Sacchetti both describe Buonamico as being a practical joker, boccaccio features Buonamico along with his friends and fellow painters Calandrino and Bruno in several tales. Throughout the stories, Buonamico is frequently depicted at work painting in the houses of gentlemen in Florence but eager to take time to eat, drink. Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Buonamico in his Lives, in which he tells several anecdotes about his comic escapades, Vasari discusses various paintings by the artist which no longer exist, and many of which had already perished by the time of Vasaris writing in the sixteenth century. Vasari presents conflicting information regarding Buonamicos death, dating it to the year 1340, in any case, he is said to have died at the age of 78, in poverty, and to have been buried at the hospital of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. Vasari, Giorgio, translation by George Bull, land, Norman, “Vasari’s Buffalmacco and the Transubstantiation of Paint, ” Renaissance Quarterly,58, 881-895. The Open University - History of Art Calandrino
Buonamico Buffalmacco
–
17th-century engraving of Buffalmacco by
Wenceslas Hollar
Buonamico Buffalmacco
–
The Three Dead and the Three Living (on the left) and The Triumph of Death, c. 1338-39
24.
Simone Memmi
–
Simone Martini was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a figure in the development of early Italian painting. It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, martinis brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi. Very little documentation of Simones life survives, and many attributions are debated by art historians, Simone was doubtlessly apprenticed from an early age, as would have been the normal practice. Among his first documented works is the Maestà of 1315 in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, a copy of the work, executed shortly thereafter by Lippo Memmi in San Gimignano, testifies to the enduring influence Simones prototypes would have on other artists throughout the 14th century. During this stay, putative pupils were his son Francesco, Gennaro di Cola, francis Petrarch became a friend of Simones while in Avignon, and two of Petrarchs sonnets make reference to a portrait of Laura de Noves that Simone supposedly painted for the poet. A Christ Discovered in the Temple is in the collections of Liverpools Walker Art Gallery, Simone Martini died while in the service of the Papal court at Avignon in 1344. Memmo di Filippuccio Vasari, Giorgio, translation by George Bull, Art of Simone Martini Simone Martini – Gothic Painter
Simone Memmi
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Petrarch 's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Simone Memmi
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The
Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus, 1333
Simone Memmi
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Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych, 1319
Simone Memmi
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Virgin and Child with Saints (Boston Polyptych), c. 1321-5
25.
Nicola Pisano
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Nicola Pisano was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the founder of modern sculpture and his birth date or origins are uncertain. He was born in Apulia, as the son of Petrus de Apulia, Nicola Pisano was probably trained in the local workshops of the emperor Frederick II, and he attended his coronation. Here he was trained to give to the traditional representations more movement and emotions, intertwining Classical and his only remaining works from this period are two griffon heads with a soft chiaroscuro effect. Around 1245 he moved to Tuscany to work at the Prato Castle, the lions on the portal of this castle are probably by his hand. The head of a girl, cut in hardstone of Elba, is also ascribed to Nicola Pisano in the same period. He moved to Lucca, working at façade of the Cathedral of Saint Martin, resulting in the relief Deposition from the Cross and he moved to Pisa between 1245 and 1250, where his son Giovanni Pisano was born. Around 1255 he received a commission for the pulpit in the baptistery of Pisa and he finished this work in 1260 and signed with Nicola Pisanus. He was aided by several assistants, among which were Arnolfo di Cambio, Vasari relates that Nicola Pisano constantly studied these Roman remains and the Roman sculptures from Augustan times seem to have marked a deep impression on him. In the panel Representation the Madonna reminds us of the bearing of goddesses in late Roman sculpture. The pulpit rests on a column, raised on an octagonal pedestal. This central column rests on sculptures of animals and telamons and is surrounded by six columns of different height, the columns came from remains at Ostia. The Corinthian capitals support trefoil Gothic arches, richly decorated with Prophets and Evangelists in the spandrels and these arches are separated by sculptures of St. John the Baptist, St. Michael and the Virtues and, surprisingly, a nude Hercules. The backgrounds of scenes were originally painted and enamelled, while the eyes of the figures were coloured. This contributed to a depiction of these religious scenes. All these scenes, except the last two, reflect his knowledge of the style on the sarcophagi, the figures wear tunics in a Roman fashion. The Virgin wears a pallium over her head in the manner as a Roman matron. The scene The Last Judgement was probably based on a Byzantine ivory and he must have found his inspiration for this pulpit in the triumphal arches he had seen in Rome when travelling to Ostia
Nicola Pisano
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Posthumous portrait statue of Nicola Pisano at the
Uffizi in Florence
Nicola Pisano
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Pulpit (detail): the "Nativity" and Annunciation to the Shepherds
Nicola Pisano
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Pulpit in the baptistery of Pisa
Nicola Pisano
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Dome of the baptistery of Pisa
26.
King of Naples
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The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1382, the Kingdom of Naples was heired by Charles III, after this, the House of Anjou of Naples was renamed House of Anjou-Durazzo, like Charles III married his first cousin Margaret of Durazzo, member of a prominent Neapolitan noble family. Naples became a union of the Kingdom of France, under Louis XII. The local government was ruled by a French viceroy, Naples became a personal union of the Kingdom of Aragon, under Ferdinand II. The local government was ruled by a Spanish viceroy, the royal houses were, House of Trastámara House of Habsburg Officially a Republic, Naples was governed for a short time by the Duke of Guise, under the title of Doge of Naples. Naples returned a personal union of the Kingdom of Spain, under Philip IV, the local government was ruled by a Spanish viceroy
King of Naples
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Charles I (Carlo I)
King of Naples
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Charles II, the Lame (Carlo II, lo Zoppo)
King of Naples
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Robert I, the Wise (Roberto I, il Saggio)
King of Naples
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Joanna I (Giovanna I)
27.
Charles of Anjou
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Thereafter, he claimed the island, though his power was restricted to the peninsular possessions of the kingdom, with his capital at Naples. Charles was the child and youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. He conquered the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen and acquired lands in the eastern Mediterranean, however, the War of the Sicilian Vespers forced him to abandon his plans to reassemble the Latin Empire. By marriage to Beatrice of Provence, heiress of Raymond Berengar IV of Provence, he was Count of Provence, in 1247, his brother Louis IX made him Count of Anjou and Maine, as appanages of the French crown. By conquest and self-proclamation, he became King of Albania in 1272, by the testament of William II of Villehardouin, he inherited the Principality of Achaea in 1278. Charles was born in March 1227, four months after the death of his father, like his immediate older brother, Philip Dagobert, he did not receive a county as appanage, as had their older brothers. In 1232, his brothers Philip Dagobert and John, Count of Anjou and Maine, died, Charles became the next in line to receive the Counties, but was formally invested only in 1247. The affection of his mother Blanche seems largely to have bestowed upon his brother Louis. The self-reliance this engendered in Charles may account for the drive, upon his accession as Count of Provence and Forcalquier in 1246, Charles rapidly found himself in difficulties. Furthermore, while Provence was technically a part of the Burgundy and hence of the Holy Roman Empire, recent counts had governed with a light hand, and the nobilities and cities had enjoyed great liberties. Three cities, Marseille, Arles, and Avignon were Imperial cities technically separate from the county. In 1247, while Charles was in France to receive the counties of Anjou and Maine, the local nobility joined with Beatrice, unfortunately for Charles, he had promised to join his brother on the Seventh Crusade. For the time being, Charles compromised with Beatrice, allowing her to have Forcalquier, rich Provence provided the funds that supported his wider career. His rights as landlord were, on the whole, of recent establishment, from the Church, unlike his brothers in the north, he received virtually nothing. Charles agents were efficient, the towns were prosperous, the peasants were buying up the duties of corvée and establishing self-governing consulats in the villages, Charles sailed with the rest of the Crusaders from Aigues-Mortes in 1248 and fought at Damietta and in the struggle around Mansourah, Egypt. However, his piety does not seem to have matched that of his brother, during his absence, open rebellion had broken out in Provence. Charles moved to suppress it, and Arles, Avignon, Marseille held out until July 1252, but then sued for peace. Charles imposed a lenient peace, but insisted on the recognition of his full rights, in November 1252, the death of his mother Blanche of Castile caused him to go north to Paris and assume the joint regency of the kingdom with his brother Alphonse
Charles of Anjou
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Statue of Charles at the
Royal Palace, Naples.
Charles of Anjou
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Statue in Hyeres of Charles I d'Anjou comte de Provence
Charles of Anjou
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Battle of Benevento, 1266
Charles of Anjou
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Charles of Anjou killing
Manfred, King of Sicily during the
Battle of Benevento
28.
Rucellai Madonna
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The Rucellai Madonna is a panel painting by the late medieval Italian painter Duccio di Buoninsegna from Siena. Originally painted for the Societa di S Maria Virginis for Florences Santa Maria Novella church, the painting depicts the Virgin and Child enthroned, surrounded by angels on a gold background. The altarpiece was commissioned by the Compagnia dei Laudesi for the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence, the Rucellai Madonna is Duccios earliest work for which there is documentation. The work was designed for the altar of the church. In a contract dated 15 April 1285, Duccio was commissioned to paint a panel for which he was to be paid 150 lire. The contracts only requirements were that the Virgin and Child and other figures should be present, the document stated that if the final work failed to please, the artist would retain possession of the painting and no payment would be made. In 1889, however historian Franz Wickhoff compared stylistic choices between the Rucellai Madonna and Duccios Maestà, and soon other critics agreed that Duccio had indeed painted the Madonna. The work, measuring 4.5 by 2.9 meters and it is tempera on a five-pieced poplar panel, the frame is of the same wood. The Virgins robe was found during its 1989 cleaning to be azurite-based paint, the Virgin is shown looking directly at the viewer, as the Christ Child is seen sitting on her lap, giving a blessing. The Madonna is large in scale, taking up the majority of the frame and her robe is finely modelled and her gold halo incised as if to illuminate her presence. Duccios use of gold represents the familys holiness and the realm they inhabit. Six angels are holding the ornate throne, and are painted in shades of green, pink, lilac. Their positions in front and behind the throne suggest they are either lifting it up, the frame is decorated with thirty roundels containing portraits of Apostles, prophets, saints and patriarchs. It is clear from the attention to detail that Duccio was highly concerned with idealism and beauty, rendering each figure softly, with delicate features and adoration. The Rucellai Madonna has spatial complexity, emotion, intimacy and a choice of color. Duccio had improved upon the popular Byzantine art, characterised by two-dimensionality and hard contours, and had created one of the first pieces of what became known as the Renaissance
Rucellai Madonna
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Rucellai Madonna
Rucellai Madonna
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The façade of Santa Maria Novella (1470) where the Rucellai Madonna originally was displayed.
Rucellai Madonna
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Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna Carried in Procession (1853-5) by
Frederic Leighton
29.
Sienese School
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In the 16th century the Mannerists Beccafumi and Il Sodoma worked there. While Baldassare Peruzzi was born and trained in Siena, his major works, Siena remains a remarkably well-preserved Italian late-Medieval town. Pope-Hennessy, John & Kanter, Laurence B, the Robert Lehman Collection I, Italian Paintings. New York, Princeton, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press
Sienese School
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Maestà by Duccio (1308-11) Tempera on wood, 214 x 412 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena
