Term 2 Week 3, 2011

Well, with 'Examine a Theory' nearly behind us we can consolidate all other aspects of our High Renaissance learning by refocussing on portraiture and patronage.

As far as portraiture goes, our interests here lie only with Leonardo and Raphael - who both capture the character and personality of their models.
Remember the Early stuff- all stiff and sideways , profiles like big nose?
With the new interest in Humanism and Neo Platonism, Art reflected the general celebration in the importance of the individual.
In class we'll work through the key images, many of which we started to cover at the end of Term One - check back through the last few postings and also at Leonardo's amazing paintings.

Our top 4 portraiture works this week are:

The Doni Portraits, another double whammy - trendy dude, Agnolo and the not so lovely, Maddalena.

CSI detectives, which earlier works would you compare this pair to?

Coming in at Number Three - the gorgeous Donna Velata and all the gossip about Rahael's love life with Marhgerita Luti, the baker's daughter. See if you can spot her in Sistine Madonna and a host of other Madonna images too.

Next, at Number Two - the dapper Baldassare Castiglione, a one time mentor for Raphael and author of The Coutier.

And top of the pops this week, our particularly papal portraits:

Julius II ( aka warrior pope) and Leo X (the 'fat, lecherous pig' - nice).

Interestingly, Raphael painted lots about himself too. Not so much Leonardo, who only seems to have made one significant drawing.

In terms of defining your average High Renaissance patron, we have already been covering a great deal as we've been investigating the period.

Julius II is really our guy. Refresh your understanding about the special relationship between artist and commissioner here and be clear about the differences between civic and papal - we'll work on this in class.

Extra studious dudes ( yes, that's you), may also want to kick start your big brains with all the favourites for poor old, miserable Michelangelo, paying particular attention to his sculptural works - (scroll to the bottom for specific images). He's a top topic for patronage.

Enjoy the week and prepare yourself for the madness that is Mannerism, coming your way next week.