Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1510-15 1510-1515. 15. Triptych: left panel, Garden of Eden; center panel, World Before the Flood ; right panel, Hell . Oil on wood; left and right panels
The most important Netherlandish artist at the turn of the sixteenth century was Hieronymus Bosch. Little is known about his artistic development, but he created some of the most original and puzzling imagery in Western art.
The meaning of Bosch’s huge, complex, and controversial triptych known as the Garden of Earthly Delights is generally obscure. Documents suggest that the Garden was a secular commission for the stateroom stateroom of the House H ouse of Nassau in Brussels, although this is debated by scholars.
The work has been interpreted in a number of ways: as a satire on lust, as an alchemical vision, vision, and as a dream world revealing revealing unconscious unconscious impulses. But there are also a number of traditional Christian Christian features in the triptych, which argues for a religious commission, and some scholars identify the primary
The Garden of Eden is represented in the left panel. In the foreground, foregr ound, God presents the newly created Eve to a seated Adam. The prickly tree behind Adam is the Tree of Life.
Fons Vit Vitae stands in a pool of water, and in the In the middle ground, a Fons background wild wild animals exist in a state of apparent tameness.
-The human figures in the central central panel panel seem engaged engaged in sexual sexual pursuits. pursuits. The upper regions regions of the central panel depict what what is sometimes identified identified as a Tower of Adulteresses in a Pool of Lust. It is decorated with horns and filled with cuckhol cuckholded ded husb husbands. ands. -Four so-called castles of vanity vanity stand at the pool’s pool’s edge. In the middle ground, a procession of frenzied human figures mounted on animals endlessly circles a
The illogical juxtapositions of scale, together with the strange symbolic details, such as the enlarged strawberries, have led some scholars to think that Bosch is depicting an inner, dreamlike world.
Consistent with Christian tradition, however, is the conventional opposition of the era before the Fall on the left and Hell on the right. This led to the unleashing of the Flood. In hell, building s burn in the distance. The scene is filled with elaborate tortures and dismembered body parts taking on a life of their own. Musical instruments that cause pain rather than pleasure reflect the medieval notion that music is the work of Satan. A seated Satan like figure devours one soul while expelling another .
At the center of this vision of hell is a monster whose body resembles a broken egg. This might refer to the alchemical egg, which was believed by alchemists, who strove to transmutate base metal into gold and silver, to be the source of spiritual rebirth. He is supported by tree trunk legs, each of which stands in a boat. His egg like body is cracked open to reveal a crone by a wine keg and a table of sinners.
On his head, the egg man balances a disk with a bagpipe, which is a traditional symbol of
Albrecht Durer was first apprenticed to his father, who ran a goldsmith’s shop. Then he worked under a painter in Nuremberg, which was a center of humanism. He absorbed the revival of Classical form during his travels to Italy. Durer’s most famous self portrait (to the right) shows himself in a manner reminiscent of the frontal images of Christ and saints in Byzantine icons. Durer has placed himself against a dark background and is depicted with more softened, idealized features than in the earlier example.
The gesture of his right hand, which seems to be touching the fur lining of his cloak, is a reference both to traditional images of Christ blessing the world and to the notion of the artist’s divine creative hand. Albrect Dure Self-Portrait 1500. Oil
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Albrecht Durer, Four Horsement of the Apocalypse, c. 1497-1498. Woodcut; 15 2/5 x 11 in. Metropolitain Museum of Art, New York.
Durer is primarily known for his work as a printmaker. In the image of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to the left, we see one of fifteen woodcuts from his illustrated book of the Apocalypse. From left to right we see Death, Famine, War, and Plague riding over bishops and common people. The presence of God is shown by the rays of light emanating from the upper left corner of the image.
Gianlorenzo Bernini, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, 1640’s. Depicted in the sides in illusionistic balconies is the Cornaro family witnessing the miracle.
Gianlorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro Chapel, Santa maria della Vittoria, Rome, 1645-1652. marble; 11ft 6 in. High.
At the center behind the altar we see the center of attraction for Bernini’s chapel. Bernini represents a moment of heightened emotion in the case of the transport of ecstasy. The angel has just pierced Saint Teresa’s breast with a spear as he gently pulls aside her drapery.
Although Teresa appears elevated from the ground she is actually leaning back on billowing clouds. She appears as if in a trance. Behind are gilded rods representing divine
Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew , Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, 1599-1600. Oil on canvas; 10ft 6 ¾ in x 11ft. 1 7/8 in.
Caravaggio was apprenticed to a painter in Milan when he was 13. In 1592, he moved to Rome, where his propensity for violence repeatedly landed him in trouble. During his relatively short life, and despite the interruptions to his career caused by brushes with the law, Caravaggio worked in an innovative style and used new techniques that influenced painters in Italy Spain, and northern Europe. Caravaggio painted directly onto the canvas and made no preliminary drawings. -Here in The Calling of Saint Matthew , Jesus and an apostle approach a group of older men and youths who are counting money. Among them is Matthew, the tax collector. -Jesus points to him with a gesture that is a visual quotation from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam as if to say, “Follow me.” This parallels Adam’s original creation with
Caravaggio had many followers who adopted his style of painting. One of these artists was Artemisia Gentileschi. She was one of very few female artists in Europe to emerge as a significant personality. Artemisia’s Judith Slaying Holofernes, which exhibits the Baroque taste for violence, illustrates an event from the book of Judith in the Old Testament.
In the book, the Assyrian ruler Nebuchadnezzar has sent his general Holofernes to lay waste to the land of Judah. A Hebrew widow of Bethulia, Judith, pretending to be a deserter, goes with her maidservant Abra to the camp of Holofernes and flirts with him.
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, c. 16141620. Oil on Canvas; 6ft 6 1/3 in. x 5 ft. 4 in. Galleria
After spending the evening alone with him and getting him drunk, she uses his own sword to cut off his head. She places his head in a bag and returns home where it is placed at the main gates of the city walls.
In the painting Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, Artemisia continues the story of the beheading. The aftermath of the beheading is calmer but no less fraught with tension. The two women watch intently to make certain that no one has observed them. Artemisia learned painting from her father, Orazio. In 1611, Orazio hired Agostino Tassi to teach her drawing and perspective. Tassi raped Artemisia and then refused to marry her. When Orazio sued Tassi, Artemisia was tortured with thumbscrews to test her veracity before Tassi was convicted. Effected by this experience, Artemisia is known for her pictures of heroic women and of violent scenes. In the ensuing 7-month trial, it was discovered that Tassi had planned to murder his wife, had enjoined in adultery with his sister-in-law and planned to steal some of Orazio’s paintings. Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant with the head of holofernes, c. 1625. Oil on
Diego Velazquez became the leading Baroque artist of seventeenth century Spain. -This piece, Las Meninas is considered to be Velazquez’s masterpiece. The setting is a vast room in Philip’s palace, and the five year old infanta, or princess, margarita, is the focus of the picture. She is attended by her maids of honoor (Meninas) and accompanied by a midget, a dwarf, and a dog. The elaborate costumes of the Spanish court are painted in such a way that the brush strokes highlight
Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas (after cleaning), 1656. Oil on canvas; 10 ft. 7 in. x 9 ft. ½ in. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Certain forms, such as the infanta and doorway, are emphasized by light. Other areas of the picture such as the paintings on the side wall, are unclear. Most obscure of all is the huge canvas at the left on which Velazquez himself is working. It is seen from the back only. Below the portraits of battles between gods and mortals (on the back wall) is a portrait of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana, the parents of the infanta, are visible in the mirror. Does mean that they are standing in front of the painting or are they the subjects of the painting? Or, is their depiction not a mirror but rather a portrait on the wall? The meaning is ambiguous.
Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, 1766. Oil on canvas; 35 x 32 in. Wallace Collection, London.
Now considered to be one of the more significant Rococo painters, Fragonard was, for a long time, completely overlooked in art history. In The Swing he enlivens nearly the entire picture plane with frilly patterns. The lacy ruffles in the dress of the girl swinging are repeated in the illuminated leaves, the twisting branches. At the right of the painting, an elderly man pushes the swing, while a voyeuristic suitor hides in the bushes and peers under the girl’s skirt.
Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii , 1784-1785. Oil on canvas; approx. 11ft x 14ft. Louvre, Paris. The leading neoclassical painter, Jacques-Louis David, appealed to the republican sentiments associated with Classical antiquity. His Oath of the Horatii , illustrates an event from Roman tradition in which honor and self sacrifice prevailed.
The figures wear Roman dress, and the scene takes place in a Roman architectural setting, before three round arches resting on a type of Doric column. Framed by the center arch, Horatius raises his sons’ three swords, on which they swear an oath of allegiance to Rome.
They express a fervor that links Roman patriotism of the past and self-sacrifice for the good of the state to the contemporary passions of the French – first for reform and later for revolution. The women and children, in contrast, collapse at the right in a series of fluid, rhythmic curves, which reflect the view that they are more emotional. The painting was commissioned by Louis XVI as part of a program aimed at the moral improvement of France. The ideals embodies in the Neoclassical painting were in fact appealing to both supporters of the king and their republican opponents.
Jacques-Louis David, Death of Marat , 1793. Oil on Canvas; approx 5 ft 3 in. X 4 ft. 1 in. Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels.
In the Death of Marat , commissioned during the Reign of Terror, David used the principles of the Neoclassical style in the service of contemporary events. Marat was stabbed in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a supporter of the conservative Girondin group.
Both David and Marat were members of the Jacobin movement, a group of revolutionary extremists and the patrons of David’s painting. David himself voted to send Louis XVI to the guillotine. When Robespierre, the minister who presided over the Reign of Terror, fell, David was imprisoned twice. -But, he regained favor under Napoleon, who appointed him his imperial painter and granted him a barony. The painting of Marat portrays him as a political martyr. -Marat holds the letter sent by his killer, which reads: (in English) “I just have to be unhappy to merit your goodwill.” The knife that Charlotte Corday had dropped on the floor beside the tub is contrasted
From 1799, David created images for his new patron, Napoleon Bonaparte, who was the first consul of France. His Napoleon at Saint Bernard Pass of 1800, which depicts Napoleon crossing the Alps, is clearly in the tradition of Roman equestrian portraits. Napoleon wears full military regalia and sits proudly astride a splendid rearing white charger. David’s glorification of his patron is evident from the fact that on this occasion Napoleon actually rode a mule.
David also relates Napoleon to his illustrious imperial predecessors by the inscriptions Charlemagne and Hannibal carved in rock under Bonaparte.
Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon at Saint Bernard Pass, 1800. Oil on canvas; 8ft x 7 ft 7 in. Musee
In 1806, the portrait of Napoleon shown here was commissioned by the French legislature and exhibited at the Salon. It depicts Napoleon as a deified Roman emperor in all his imperial splendor, recalling the fussiness of Rococo and the exaggeration of mannerism. On the other hand, the clarity and precision of the details are characteristic of Neoclassical style. Everywhere, the brushstrokes are submerged to enhance the illusion of texture. Napoleon’s depiction is reminiscent of the frontal Christ and saints in Byzantine icons, as well as the Roman emperors. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres , Napoleon Enthroned , 1806. Oil on Canvas; 8 ft. 8 in. x 5 ft. 5 ¼ in. de l’Armee, Paris.
Ingres thus characterizes Napoleon as a ruler imbued with the power of the imperial Rome and Sanctioned by God.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Grand Odalisque, 1814. Oil on Canvas; approx. 2 ft. 11 ¼ in. x 5 ft. 4 ¾ in. Louvre, Paris.
An odalisque is a harem girl. Ingres’ Grand Odalisque, was commissioned by Napoleon’s sister Caroline Bonaparte Murat and depicts an idealized, reclining nude seen from the back. The harem iconography reflects the popular contemporary craze for things “oriental” that followed Napoleon’s failed military campaigns in Syria and North Africa.
The United Sates Congress decided to erect a statue to commemorate George Washington in a grand manner. In 1832, the commission was given to Horatio Greenough, America’s first professional sculptor, then living in the Italy. The colossal marble statue that he produced was inspired by Phidias’s Early Classical sculpture of Zeus in the temple at Olympia. The imposing presence, monumental in scale, and grand gestures of the Washington also have a Romantic quality. Nude from the waist up, the figure points upward as did Raphael’s Plato. It arrived in America in 1841 and by that time tastes had changed and the statue was criticized for its nudity.
Horatio Greenough, George Washington, 1832-1841. Marble; 11ft. 4 in. x 8 ft. 6 in. x 6 ft. 10 in. Smithsonian American Art
engraving (a) the process of incising an image on a hard material, such as wood, stone, or a copper plate; (b) a print or impression made by such a process. intaglio a printmaking process in which lines are incised into the surface of a plate or print form (e.g., engraving and etching). print a work of art produced by one of the printmaking processes — engraving, etching, and woodcut. woodcut a relief printmaking process in which an image is carved on the surface of a wooden block by cutting away those parts that are not to be printed. asymmetrical characterized by asymmetry, or lack of balance, in the arrangement of parts or components. calligraphic a line that moves from thick to thin foreshortening the use of perspective to represent a single object extending back in space at an angle to the picture plane. tenebrism a style of painting used by Caravaggio and his followers in which most objects are in shadow, while a few are brightly illuminated.
