Art of the Western World

Section 1

The first piece of artwork I chose was Masaccio's Holy Trinity, Florence, Italy, ca. 1428 (Video #3, part 1). It is a fresco in the Santa Maria Novella. It showcases two principal interests of the Florentine Renaissance; realism based on observation and pictorial organization based on mathematics. The Virgin Mary and Saint John flank Christ, while God the Father emerges from behind and supports the crucified Christ. Classical columns and a monumental barrel vault frame Christ and God. It is a powerful image that takes the viewers from deep sorrow of death to the joyful hope of resurrection.

My next choice was Jan Van Eyck's Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, 1434 (Video #3, part 2). In this oil painting the shifty eyed merchant holds his right hand in the air while the left holds the hand of his bride. The painting shows the trend of Northern painters to use many translucent layers of pigment with quick drying oils to paintings with convincing pictoralism. The painting contains many symbolic images that refer to marriage; a small dog in the foreground stands for fidelity. The painting gives viewers an insight to Van Eyck's skill as well as Flemish life in the 15th century.

I then chose Leonardo Da Vinci's Virgin and Saint Anne, an oil painting from about 1507 (Video #4, part 1). In the image, Saint Anne holds her virgin daughter Mary on her lap as an infant Christ reaches for the Lamb of God. Leonardo creates a pyramid of intermingled gazes and forms held together by transcendent love; it is above the physical. The landscape behind the group is idealized, yet based on closely observed nature. The muted colors glow from the untamed Italian wilderness.

Titian's 1538 oil painting, Venus of Urbino, is the last piece I chose (Video #4, part 2). In this painting, Titian, the official painter of Venice, domesticates a Goddess and brings her into the context of the bedroom. Venus reclines on pillows and rich folds of fabric, her right hand covers her pubic area and the left holds flowers. There are two handmaids in the background. One is bending over the marital chest while the other holds garments over her shoulder; perhaps to dress the naked Venus. Titian presents the viewer with an image of woman as Goddess and wife.

Section Two

When we look at the Well of Moses by Claus Sluter, 1406, Dijon, France (Videotape #3, part 2) and David by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1504, Florence, Italy (Videotape #4, part 1) we can compare styles, religious impact, and political content. Both of the sculptures are on a massive scale; the limestone figures on the Well stand six feet tall, and David is no slouch himself at over thirteen feet tall.

Sluter died before completion of the Well, but he did finish the four prophets- Moses, David, Jeremiah, and Zachariah. The Well is non-functioning, because splashing water would break the Carthusian need for silence, but it is religiously symbolic. It represents the Fountain