Ceramics 1
Ceramics 1
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Unity-Principle of Design
Line- Element of Art
Line- Element of Art
Classwork & assignments
Presentation slideshow
Presentation slideshow
Classwork & assignments
Classwork & assignments
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
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Create boundaries between shapes
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Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
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Lead the eye from one space to another
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Create textures
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Suggest emotional qualities
Lines are everywhere. You can see lines in the grain of a piece of wood or in the cracks on a sidewalk.
In art, Line is an element of art that is the path of a moving point through space.
Lines are used to:
-
Create boundaries between shapes
-
Create boundaries between colors, textures or values
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Lead the eye from one space to another
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Create textures
-
Suggest emotional qualities
Classwork & assignments
Grid drawing is a very old technique of transferring images (from sketches to a full size canvas or fresco, etc...)
Always make sure that the number of squares on the original picture and your working area are exactly the same (even if the size of the squares are bigger on the paper). This is because no matter how many times bigger (or smaller) you make the drawing, the proportions and dimensions can only stay the same if the number of boxes (squares) matches exactly.
Make sure you follow all steps below.
2.3.2 The Van Eycks and Rogier van der Weyden
Giotto and Late Medieval Italy
Europe in the Middle Ages had largely drifted away from classical Greco-Roman influences.
But the looting of Constantinople (the capital of the Byzantine Empire) by European crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries brought large quantities of art and a renewed artistic spirit to Europe, especially Italy.
Religious paintings and illuminated manuscripts of stunning beauty and great skill became examples for aspiring Italian painters.
Characteristics of the Byzantine style were adopted wholeheartedly, such as the grandeur of figures, bright primary colors, and the placement of figures inside architectural spaces.
Then, these characteristics and more were improved upon by the real star of the late Middle Ages: Giotto.
Complete the questions on your study guide as you work through this activity. Reviewing your notes before quizzes and tests will help you succeed. You'll be able to check your answers once you've completed the study activity.
Section of the mosaic on the ceiling of the Florentine Baptistery, circa 1225
Left, a circa 1268 Cimabue painting of the Madonna. Right, a circa 1308 Duccio detail of a painting of several apostles
Cimabue and the Byzantine Madonna
Cimabue was the leading Italian artist of late medieval Italy, focusing on painting as well as mosaic and fresco styles.
The first in a long line of Florentine masters, Cimabue lived from about 1240 to 1302. He was trained in the Byzantine style, known in Italy as the "Greek style." His most notable surviving paintings are of a common subject in Byzantine art: the Madonna.
Almost all of his Madonnas are dressed in long red and blue robes, holding the child Christ on her left knee. These Madonnas have several typical Byzantine characteristics:
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Her face is usually in three-quarter view, halfway between profile and full-frontal.
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Her facial features include almond-shaped eyes, a long narrow nose, a small mouth, and a greenish tint characteristic of Byzantine paintings.
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She sits on elaborate thrones set against a blank gold background and wears gold haloes that look like dinner plates.
But Cimabue did not follow the Byzantine style to a T. Instead, he combined it with a new, more natural tradition.
Cimabue and Duccio
Before you can learn about Giotto, the foremost artist of this time, you need to first study Giovanni Cimabue and Duccio di Buonisegna, his predecessors.
Look at these side-by-side images below. Notice the natural movement, especially in the hands, and the detailed facial expressions. Doesn't the character on the left look truly grief-stricken?
This art was revolutionary. The stiff, unnatural figures were gone. So were the standard patterns used to paint the same figures over and over again. Cimabue and Duccio were among the first to create natural-looking and expressive humans on a canvas.
The Santa Trinita Madonna, painted by Cimabue circa 1300, is a classic representation of the Mother of Christ. Note the almond-shaped eyes and dinner-plate haloes that surround the characters.
Cimabue and the Natural Madonna
Cimabue merged the Byzantine style of art with the naturalism that would soon mark the Renaissance.
As a result of this combination of styles, there are significant differences between Cimabue's representation of the Madonna and traditional Byzantine Madonnas:
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A Byzantine Madonna would usually measure no more than 3 feet tall. With some Madonnas measuring over 12 feet tall, Cimabue's paintings are works of impressive scale.
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Cimabue gave his figures a more natural look that broke Byzantine conventions. He used much softer lines to create light and shadow. The greenish shadows found on faces in Byzantine art are much less intense in Cimabue's faces, making the figures appear more natural.
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Byzantine drapery was rigid. The drapery on Cimabue's Madonnas, by contrast, falls in smaller, softer folds.
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Cimabue's Madonnas expressed movement. The Madonna pictured here looks out of the painting as she gestures to the child with her right hand. This sense of human movement is something no Byzantine artist had ever attempted to portray.
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Cimabue's Madonnas expressed emotion. In a different painting at Bologna, the Madonna plays with the baby's foot as the child leans toward her, creating an emotional as well as a physical bond between the two.
On the Web...
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In this Cimabue one-stop shop, view his frescoes and paintings, read his biography, and send a virtual postcard of one of his works.
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Click the link above to learn more about Cimabue's art and life, from a special exhibition at the Frick Collection in New York City.
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels, completed around 1280 (Cimabue never dated his works). It illustrates the natural effect employed by Cimabue.
Duccio
Cimabue was not the only innovator. Another important Italian artist who used and altered the "Greek" or Byzantine style was Duccio (full name Duccio di Buonisegna).
Duccio was an Italian painter from Siena who was active between 1278 and 1318. His most significant contribution was his placement of figures inside architectural settings.
In medieval art, architecture lacked perspective. Instead, an artistic rendering of a structure or building was often merely a decorative frieze behind (or, more commonly, above) the figures.
In one of the small panels from Duccio's Maestà, however, the Madonna sits comfortably in a small room. Although not geometrically correct, the lines of the walls and ceiling show an attempt at linear perspective.
By placing the figures inside the building, Duccio not only tries to present a real vision of the Virgin, but also gives the viewer a sensation of real depth.
Commissioned in 1308 and installed in the cathedral of Siena in 1311, Duccio's Maestà depicts the Madonna and Child with saints and angels. Check out the artist's attempt at linear perspective: He tried to create depth by stacking the rows of angels.
On the Web...
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Duccio was famous for his depiction of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, and when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City acquired his Madonna and Child, it was described as "one of the great single acquisitions of the last half century." Click the link to find out more about this work and its exhibition.
Another panel from the Maestà alterpiece features Christ eating his dinner with 11 friends, presumably the apostles. It is a very domestic scene from Jesus's life on earth.
Marching Toward the Renaissance
Two important features of art developed in late medieval Italy that were carried into the Renaissance.
Christ on Earth
The first major development was that subjects of paintings began to reflect a greater interest in Christ's life on earth. This was a significant change from the majestic poses found in early illuminated manuscripts and altarpieces.
This trend was directly related to the new concern with life on earth, a major focus of the Renaissance. Slowly, Europe was rediscovering its humanity.
The works of Cimabue and Duccio represent two radical departures from the medieval style of art and reflect the changing role of the artist and of painting.
Artists Gain Fame
Speaking of the changing role of the artist, the second big development had to do with the artists themselves. For the first time since the Greeks, artists rose above the level of nameless artisans. This would also carry over into the Renaissance, a time when artists were revered for their genius.
The Genius of Giotto
Giotto di Bondone was a genius.
One of the first great masters of Italian painting, Giotto's work survives primarily in fresco form in sites around the Italian peninsula.
His works are considered the first European paintings to represent believable forms on a flat surface. Giotto probably learned about representing the human form from the sculptors of his day, which helped him create lifelike features and realistic poses.
His works also tell a clear narrative. Giotto worked for many of the leading art patrons of the day, and in keeping with the times, most (if not all) of his work is religious in nature.
With a rare ability to see the world with fresh, new eyes, Giotto broke from the traditions of the past and created scenes of startling reality.
He was the teacher everyone tried to copy. Find out why in the next pages.
The Legend of St. Francis (ca. 1300) shows the Pope approving the statues of the order of the Franciscan monks. The realistic poses and incredibly lifelike features of the characters are typical of the genius Giotto.
Compare the Madonnas
Like the artists Cimabue and Duccio, Giotto was trained in the Byzantine style. Yet the stark differences in their abilities is evident when a work of Cimabue's is placed next to one of Giotto's from the same period.
1.) Examine each painting. What similarities do you notice?
2.) What differences do you notice?
3.) What do you think is so important about these differences?
Giotto's Madonna
Following the medieval conventions, Giotto's 1310 panel painting Ognissanti Madonna holds the child Christ on her left knee and sits on a throne surrounded by angels. But Giotto's representation of the Virgin Mary is revolutionary. Here's why:
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The Madonna has a human, earthly presence.
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Unlike Byzantine style fabric with heavy gold lines marking creases, the Madonna's robe falls in simple folds across her stomach and between her knees, suggesting that it covers a solid, substantial body.
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As it does in nature, the light comes from a single source. This keeps the shading consistent throughout the painting and makes the figures appear fuller and rounder, adding a sense of depth.
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Giotto's use of architecture to enclose her reinforces this sense of depth. He does not use the typical medieval heavenly throne that slants downward. The elaborate, Gothic throne upon which his Madonna sits encloses her on three sides.
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The adoring angels surrounding the throne are not stacked on top of each other. Giotto's angels overlap each other and line up in rows behind one another. For the first time, Giotto creates the strong illusion of figures receding into space in an early attempt at aerial perspective.
The Ognissanti Madonna was completed in 1310 and features a very realistic Madonna holding the infant Jesus. Click on the image to see the full painting.
Focus on the Soul
More and more, the purpose of art became to portray the spiritual world. There was no longer any interest in showing three-dimensional figures.
The new Christian philosophy rejected a focus on the material body and encouraged its followers to focus on the soul. Painting mirrored this ideology.
Without any real precedent for painting the Christian religion, early medieval artists borrowed motifs from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome.
From Egyptian art, painters used the size of figures and primary colors to indicate their importance. Often, figures wear Egyptian clothes. Intense eyes and brows, both noticeable in Egyptian funerary portraits, become common features to express piety or faithfulness.
The paintings clearly copy styles from Greco-Roman art, too. Greek and Roman poses are adopted. Priests generally wear togas, and important buildings are almost always shown as Greek temples.
This panel drawing by an unknown artist shows the halo copied from the Greco-Roman style into early medieval art.
This 4th-century wall painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child clearly illustrates elements of both Greco-Roman and early Christian art.
Focus on the Soul
More and more, the purpose of art became to portray the spiritual world. There was no longer any interest in showing three-dimensional figures.
The new Christian philosophy rejected a focus on the material body and encouraged its followers to focus on the soul. Painting mirrored this ideology.
Without any real precedent for painting the Christian religion, early medieval artists borrowed motifs from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome.
From Egyptian art, painters used the size of figures and primary colors to indicate their importance. Often, figures wear Egyptian clothes. Intense eyes and brows, both noticeable in Egyptian funerary portraits, become common features to express piety or faithfulness.
The paintings clearly copy styles from Greco-Roman art, too. Greek and Roman poses are adopted. Priests generally wear togas, and important buildings are almost always shown as Greek temples.
Spreading Christianity Through Art
Painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who can read.
— Pope Gregory the Great, 6th century AD
As Christianity became the official religion of the Byzantine Empire, Christian art from Europe spread to the far reaches of the Empire.
By the 5th century, the Christian popes were sending envoys out into pagan, or non-Christian, Europe carrying illuminated manuscripts.
Meant to spread Christian teachings and promote order, each illuminated manuscript was a sacred text and carefully guarded work of art.
A page from the St. Augustine Gospels, painted in the 6th century AD. It features 12 scenes from the life of Christ, including The Last Supper (top middle) and the Betrayal of Christ (second row, right).
This image from the Book of Kells demonstrates the intense spirituality of art in the early Middle Ages. Christ is featured on a golden throne, surrounded by richly colored birds and angels.
The Book of Kells
Artists of the Middle Ages were not famous masters. In fact, very little is known about most of them. They were first and foremost monks and craftsmen whose work was valued not for its artistry but for its spirituality.
The Irish monks were the most skillful in teaching the Gospels through images in their illuminated manuscripts. Their paintings were as spiritual as the texts.
The famous Book of Kells and Book of Durrow of the 7th and 8th centuries combined complex patterns from the local Celtic culture with the symbolism of Christianity.
Most surviving examples are painted with bright and varied colors. Colors were used to separate holy and other important figures from the rest of humanity. Saints were embedded in gold, and bold reds and blues surrounded kings.
Art increasingly focused on the supernatural, asserting complete independence from the material world. While the paintings lacked any depth or three-dimensional effects, they were rich in symbolic meaning.
Romanesque Architecture
Europe started to gain political stability around AD 1000. The Crusades, a war staged by the Christian army to take the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims, took place from 1095 to 1200.
This created a revived interest in Greco-Roman art and the Byzantine style.
Around this time, European Christians began to make pilgrimages, or treks, to the Holy Land. The combination of the treks with the new interest in ancient styles proved to be a fascinating combination for architecture of the time.
On the pilgrimage route, churches were built in astounding numbers (estimated at 25,000!) in order to give the pilgrims a place to rest and worship.
Due to the new interest in old styles, they were mostly built in a Romanesque, or "Roman-like," style.
These churches are most notable for being massive, strong structures with large arches and vaulted ceilings.
Interior of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Reims, France, built in the 13th century
Art in Architecture
Since most people could not read, these churches were covered with art for the education of illiterate pilgrims.
Again, much of this art was heavily influenced by ancient art styles, which included frieze-style art in various ranges of relief, as well as fresco-style paintings.
The Speyer Cathedral in Germany was built in the Romanesque style in the 11th century.
Check Your Understanding
Radiant colors, suspended angels, penetrating eyes, and intricate symbols were the prevailing motifs used to represent the supernatural world throughout the early Middle Ages.
But the rules were changing. The heavenly figures of medieval art would soon come off their golden thrones and be put back into an earthly setting.
In Review
Before moving on, review what you have learned in the study. Go over the notes you wrote on the study sheet. Ask your teacher any questions you might have.
If you have not filled out your study sheet, do it now before moving on to the next activity.
Study sheets are a very useful tool to help you study for quizzes and tests.
What Did You Learn?
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The Roman Empire split in 293, at which time the Byzantine Empire formed.
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The Byzantine (or eastern medieval) style was influenced by Greek and Roman styles and employed vibrant colors such as red, blue, and gold.
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Illuminated manuscripts and mosaics were popular mediums; religion was the main subject matter.
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Artists experimented more with abstract representations as part of their embrace of symbolism.
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Believing that imagery interfered with worship, iconoclasts advocated the destruction of religious artwork.
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Western medieval painters used duller and flatter colors than their Byzantine counterparts, but the mediums of illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and frescoes were still dominant.
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The Catholic Church stepped in during a time of political turmoil and became responsible for governing and bringing order to Europe. Religion remained the dominant theme of art.
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There were no attempts at perspective or three-dimensionality in medieval art. Artists were far more concerned with symbolic meaning.
Take this opportunity to check your work.