8/9/2019 First Exam Study Guide

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RENAISSANCE TO 1855

Exam Study Guide

For this exam you will need to read your text book, study your notes, and memorize your

slide list. Thats all there is to it.

Part One: Timeline

Draw a timeline in any manner you choose in which you list the major historical periods

we discussed in class and their dates.

Part Two: Slide Identification and Short Answer

I will ask you to identify each slide by Artist, Title, Period, and Location. Then, you will

respond to a question I ask about the particular work.

Part Three: Slide Comparisons

The next section will be the slide comparison section. Two sets of slides will be shown

to you, and you will identify them by Artist, Title, Period and Location, and write a shortessay about them. For an example, compare Donatellos David and Michelangelos

David. If I showed you these two works on your test, you could write the following:

Michelangelo, David, High Italian RenaissanceDonatello, David, Italian Renaissance

These two sculptures of the biblical figure David represent the stylistic similaritiesand differences of art produced in the early Italian Renaissance, and the high ItalianRenaissance.

Both works illustrate aspects of the story of David, the young boy who killed Goliathwith a sling shot, however, two different points in the tale are represented. Donatello

shows the hero after he has slain the giant. His David looks down in an introvertedfashion as his foot rests triumphantly on Goliaths beard. He is predominantly nude,but does wear some armor and boots. His expression is enigmatic and unreadable.

Donatellos statue is particularly significant for two reasons. It is the first free-standing nude statue since antiquity, and it was cast using the lost-wax system, anancient technique that had been lost throughout the middle ages. His nudityillustrates the renewed interest in the human figure in the Renaissance, a period thatborrowed heavily from ancient works. Although much attention is paid by Donatelloto anatomy, David is not idealized according to ancient canonical proportions likeMichelangelos David is.

Michelangelos David is represented just prior to slinging the rock at Goliath. His

idealized proportions and stoic expression are good examples of art produced duringthe High Renaissance in Italy. Michelangelo doesnt rely on observation alone, heuses ancient canons to produce the most perfect male figure he could. Michelangelopreferred working with marble because it was a subtractive technique in which heuncovered or released the figure within the marble. In this case, the idealized Davidrepresents man at his most perfect, a Renaissance ideal that emerged from the beliefthat man was created in Gods image, and that man could try to achieve perfectionon earth.

8/9/2019 First Exam Study Guide

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Basically, I want you to include as much information as you can in the time allotted.

Also, as you can see from the above exercise, I am particularly interested in historical orcultural periods. Placing works in an historical context is an important component of this

class, and might be a productive way to study. For example, it might be helpful to jot

down a few sentences describing the periods or styles we discussed in class. If I showyou a work that represents one of those periods, you can be sure to include that

information.

Part Four: Slide Attribution

The last part of the exam will be a slide attribution. For this segment, I will show you

something you have not seen before, and hope you can place the work in an historical or

stylistic context. Look at Piero della Francescas Discovery and Testing of the TrueCross from 1454. We did not look overlong at this work in class, so this will be a good

exercise. If I showed you this work, what would you say about it? Consider the

following: materials, style, subject, compositional techniques. Take a few minutes to

think about it for yourself, then see the example below for an example of what Imlooking for.

This painting is a fresco because it is obviously damaged and the wall is visiblethrough the damaged areas. This means it must be an Italian work because theclimate of the north was not conducive to frescos. Another clue that it might beItalian is the use of one-point perspective. Not only was it used to create theclassically inspired architecture, but also to organize the space. This appears to be acontinuous narrative (like Masaccios Tribute Money) because a large cross appearson the right and left sides of the composition. Like other works of the ItalianRenaissance, an Italian countryside with Renaissance architecture was used as asetting for a biblical story. Additionally, the figures are stoic, and the artist usesgestures to demonstrate emotion, a tradition dating back to Giottos Arena Chapel

frescos. This kind of quietude in a picture was seen in southern painting, but not somuch in the north where more emotion, and less idealization was used by artists. Iwould guess the work was done some time prior to the High Renaissance period,because techniques like atmospheric perspective (Leonardo) and more naturalisticdrama (Raphael and Michelangelo) are not used. However, it must have beenexecuted after the development of one-point perspective around 1430. So, Id datethe painting right at middle of the fifteenth century.

Of course, it doesnt hurt to have the date right in front of you, but you get the idea about

what Im looking for. Cite works that remind you (or dont remind you) of the unknownwork. Sometimes those comparisons help to clarify your thoughts.