IV. Here are descriptions of some of Mantegna's works of art.
Match them up to the given titles…
1. This fresco is a triumph of Renaissance Classicism.
2. The Apostles stand below against the sides of the arch.
3. The frescoes represent scenes from contemporary court life.
4. Mantegna painted Christ foreshortened.
5. It is noted for the novelty of its background perspective.
6. It demonstrates Mantegna's high level of perfection.
a. Dead Christ
b. Burial of St. Christopher
c. Assumption
d. Martyrdom of St. James
e. Saint James Led to Execution
f. The Gonzaga frescoes
V. Translate the text into English.
Андреа Мантенья, крупнейший художник-монументалист падуанской школы. В своих работах он любил изображать античные памятники и развалины. В капелле Оверати Мантенья изобразил историю Св. Иакова, как реальное событие. По заказу мантуанских правителей Мантенья расписал одну из комнат дворца. Художник представил семейный портрет Гонзаго и сцены из придворной жизни Мантуи. Фреска плафона, изображающая в самом центре свода круглую галерею с людьми, смотрящими сквозь перила, является первой иллюзионистической декорацией в западноевропейском искусстве. Именно с нее начинается многовековая традиция потолочной росписи в Европе.
VI. Summarize the text.
VII. Topics for discussion.
1. Mantegna's style and characters.
2. Mantegna's artistic innovations.
Unit IV Botticelli (1445-1510)
Among the painters of the poetic current in the late fifteenth century, Sandro Botticelli stands alone in depth of feeling and delicacy of style. His concentration on line is so deep and his research into the unreal is so enchanting, that it is difficult to believe that he studied with Filippo Lippi, a follower of Masaccio. Although aloof from scientific current and criticized by the young Leonardo da Vinci Botticelli remained the leading painter resident in Florence in the 1480s and 1490s. Before him the old masters had drawn the inspiration for their works from the Bible. Botticelli delighted in myths, fables, and poetry, his nature was imaginative. The artist was the first to make his painting a means for the delight of the secular as well as the religious world.
Botticelli was closely associated with the Medici and his fortune paralleled theirs. After the death of Lorenzo, that ended the world in which Botticelli had found honours and fame, the painter was greatly impressed by the preaching of Savonarola. Soon he became an ardent disciple of this great prophet. When Savonarola demanded that bonfires should be made of the «profane pictures», he contributed many of his works of art to the bonfire pile. In his later life Botticelli turned to a religious style, and after 1500 gave up painting altogether.
Botticelli's most celebrated pictures, the
A Christianized Venus, modestly dressed and resembling Botticelli's Madonnas, reigns in the midst of a dark grove of trees bearing golden fruit. At the right Zephyrus, the wind-god, pursues the nymph Chloris; flowers issue from her mouth. She is transformed into the goddess Flora, clothed in a flower-covered gown, from its folds she strews blossoms upon the lawn. At the left Mercury is dispelling tiny clouds from the golden apple, the symbol of the Medici family. Between Mercury and Venus the Three Graces dance in a ring. These lovely creatures are shown in transparent garments. This painting is a complex allegory. As in all Botticelli's mature works his figures are extremely attenuated, with long necks, torsos, arms and sloping shoulders. Their beautiful faces and graceful bodies and limbs seem almost bloodless and weightless, their white feet touch the ground so lightly that not a flower or a leaf is bent. The individual forms are perfectly modelled. Botticelli's representation of figures in motion is far beyond anything that preceded him and has never been excelled. The composition is based on an interweaving of linear patterns, drapery folds, streaming or braided hair, trunks, and leaves. Such a picture, both in content and style, represents a withdrawal from naturalism of the Early Florentine Renaissance.
The
Later, under the impact of Savonarola's preaching and the troubles besetting Italy Botticelli's imagery becomes less esoteric and more Christian. The best possible example is the
The unreality of Botticelli is a blind alley in the development of Renaissance painting, the brilliance and beauty of his line are not, and it may have influenced the pictorial style of Michelangelo.
Make sure you know the pronunciation of the following:
Sandro Botticelli; Florence; Flora; Graces; Hours; Savonarola; Renaissance; Venus; Christian; Zephyms; Chloris; Mercury
I. Read the text. Mark the following statements true or false.
1. Botticelli's contemporaries admired his works of art.
2. In the Primavera Christianized Venus reigns on Olympus.
3. Flora, Mercury and Zephyrus dance in a ring.
4. Botticelli's figures are extremely attenuated.
5. In the Birth of Venus Botticelli depicted the sea as a seascape painter.
6. Later in life Botticelli's imagery becomes more esoteric and less Christian.
II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?
1. What glorified Botticelli? What other painters are mentioned in this text? How were they connected with Botticelli?