Early Renaissance

1.Explain how the term 'revolution' applies to the work of Giotto. Define your terms carefully.

The term revolution applies to the work of Giotto because he revolutionized the way people saw art and especially paintings. His frescoes were something that no one in that time had ever seen before. His paintings were more realistic and every figure in them was doing something different. The Lamentation is a good example of his work. It depicts Jesus after having been taken down from the cross, surrounded by his followers. Every person is doing something different and they all have a different face. The angels show the beginnings of foreshortening, which was the beginning of perspective. Perspective would not be perfected until Leonardo da Vinci. The people in Giotto's works were also three dimensional which was a big step from the two dimensional people in earlier works. Giotto set the standard for Renaissance painters. From his time forward, paintings would never be the same.

2. Choose two sculptures by Donatello and compare/contrast with two sculptures from Ancient Greece or Rome. One of Donatello's must be the Magdalen.
Donatello's David and the Kritios Boy appear similar at first. David is from the biblical story "David and Goliath". He is shown with his foot on the head of Goliath in a triumphant pose. The Kritios boy is a Greek sculpture. He marked the grave of a solider who died in battle. Both sculptures are testimonies to victory. Both are also of young boys, they are both nude, and they are both in contrapposto. However there are some differences, David is made from bronze and the Kritios Boy is made from another stone. The Kritios boy lacks emotion while David seems to have feeling. The Renaissance was all about intellect and feelings.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Donatello's Magdalen is that she is made from wood or it could be her obvious feeling of despair that she portrays. Aphrodite is from Ancient Greece. The only feeling she may be portraying is calm, but that is open for interpretation. Magdalen is obviously in the depths of despair. She has her hands clasped in prayer and she seems to be begging for forgiveness. Aphrodite is standing in the Classical Greek contrapposto stance.

3. Explain how political events had an impact on both Dante and Leonardo's lives and work.

Dante Alighierie wrote The Divine Comedy, The Inferno, and Paradiso. He wrote all of those books in the vernacular Italian. Dante came from a very wealthy and influential family. His father was involved in politics and he supported the pope. Dante fought in the front rank at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289 which made him an important political figure. Charles de Valois and the Black Guephs invaded Florence in 1301 and Dante was exiled until he paid a fine. However he liked being exiled and the papacy paid for a place for him to live. During the time that he was exiled he wrote Paradiso. He remained exiled until he died.

Leonardo is a very important painter of the Renaissance. He liked to go to the morgue and study the anatomy of corpses, and it was weird for people to like to hang out with dead people in the middle of the night. Leonardo eventually had to stop his midnight visits because people were accusing him of using black magic. He depended on people to sponsor his work. He had many wealthy families willing to support him. Without art being so popular at this time he may have never even painted or at least reached the work that he created.
4.Explain how 15th century Florence contributed to the concept of 'genius' in Western Culture.

15th century Florence greatly contributed to the concept of "genius" because it was in this time that that phrase was even coined. During this time people tested the limits of science that no one had dared to do before. They tried new things without fear of punishment or breaking tradition. The artists and scientists of this time challenged each other to be better and to discover more. In western culture we think of a genius as someone who is much smarter than the average person. In that time it meant the same. People such as Brunellechi and da Vinci are truly geniuses. da Vinci had so many things going on in his head, you can tell that through his journals. He revolutionized the way people approached art and science. He seemed to have all the answers, yet still kept his air of mystery. No one will ever know what it like to be one of those geniuses but we use them as an example of what a genius truly is.

5. Research and describe the impact of the 1966 flood of the Arno River. Find pics not available through Wikipedia.

Between November 3rd and 4th 1966, disaster struck Florence, Italy. The Arno River had flooded the city. The muddy waters wiped away many significant pieces of historical art and books. However the Angels of the Mud came to the rescue. They saved many pieces of art and books. The Angles of the Mud was a group of young volunteers. Still, they couldn't save everything. Many pieces of history were lost that day.