ART 102.01| History of Western Art II: Renaissance to the Present NCC Department of Art, Architecture, and Design

Assignment 3 · Renaissance Innovations in Italian Architecture and Painting Due: Thursday, October 14, 2021

You have two options to choose from for this assignment. Choose either to write an informational essay on The Dome of Florence Cathedral or a comparative analysis of Perugino’s Delivery of the Keys and Leonardo’s Last Supper. Parameters for each assignment are outlined below.

Option 1 Watch the film, The Great Cathedral Mystery, PBS/NOVA (Video, 53 mins) at HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/RUBNNDLOGHG

Based on the film, thoroughly answer all of the following questions in an informational essay (typewritten, double-spaced, and with citations where necessary); you need to show that you have both watched and understood the material presented. Pay attention to specific terms and construction methods mentioned in the film.

1. Who was Filippo Brunelleschi? 2. What was his greatest accomplishment? 3. What was the goal for constructing Florence Cathedral and its Dome? 4. What did the benefactors/patrons hope to achieve with this building campaign? 5. What is the stylistic difference between the Renaissance Italian Cathedral, and that of the Gothic Northern

European Cathedral? 6. What were the difficulties in constructing such an architectural project, and how were these overcome? 7. What was developed/invented by Brunelleschi to overcome these difficulties?

Option 2 Review chapters 15 and 16 in Janson’s Basic History of Western Art. Compare and contrast these two paintings below by Perugino and Leonardo.

List a total of eight (8) similarities and/or differences between Figure 1 and Figure 2 and the artists who produced them. For extra credit, you may include more comparisons. Each comparison will earn a grade of 1 to 3

Figure 1 Pietro Perugino

The Delivery of the Keys 1482

Fresco 11'5-1/2" × 18'8-1/2"

Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome

Figure 2 Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper ca. 1495–98

Oil and tempera on plaster 15'2" × 28'10"

Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

points depending on the detail and clarity of your comparison. This is an exercise meant to expand your observational skills.

Some research will be required–use your textbook, encyclopedia, web resources and/or the museum websites associated with these works for more details. Don’t forget your footnotes. You may structure your comparison as a bulleted list or in essay format, double-spaced.

Your assignment must be introduced with these two images and the corresponding labels as given above. Consider the following for your comparison–

• What subject is depicted in each work? Mythology, religion, political events, etc…? Be thorough in your description of who and/or what is being represented in these works.

• What medium and technique is used for each work?

• What size is each work? Are they monumental, life-size, moderate, or small and intimate? Look at the dimensions.

• Who were the patrons of each work?

• What compositional design principles can you identify and compare between the two works?

• Where were these artworks created and are they still in their original location?

• What purpose does each work serve? What were these objects meant to accomplish? Is it the same or different from each other?

• Discuss the use of any conventions or specific styles of representation seen in either.

• Compare the iconographical elements. What signs and symbols are included in each and how do they compare to each other? For example, are gods indicated in either or both of these works? Who, where, why?

• Compare elements of design such as, the color palette, the lines or shapes that are used, the way the illusion of space is created, if the artist is depicting motion or the passage of time, etc.

• Compare any other information you find relevant.

An example of a comparison presented as a list–

DIFFERENCES: 1 · Figure 1 is a work of art that is currently in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid–Spain’s national museum, whereas Figure 2 is a work of art that is in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Germany, one of the oldest art galleries in the world.

2· The artist of Figure 1 is Rogier van der Weyden, born in the city of Tournai in Belgium, the same city in which

he began his apprenticeship as a painter, while the artist of Figure 2 is Albrecht Dürer, who was born in Nuremberg,

Germany and trained in that same city.

SIMILARITIES: 1· Both Figure 1 and Figure 2 are paintings created using oils, an emulsion of pigments and linseed or walnut oil, applied to a prepared wood panel as the canvas; these were common media for the time period in which these works were produced.

2 · Both Figure 1 and 2 are representational works of art, realistically portraying human figures, in this case religious subjects from Christianity, and making both works examples of figurative art.