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     Sarcophagus with reclining couple, Etruscan, ca. 520 BCE

• Etruscan sculpture demonstrated an innovative vision when creating sarcophagi. Unlike the Greeks, the Etruscan sarcophagus could show a “loving couple” engaged in a common activity such as this couple reclining on a banqueting couch.

• Cultural identity was augmented by the presentation of the couple in a clearly identified daily activity.

• The position of women in Etruscan society was articulated by the sarcophagus, which presents women as wives attending banquets with their husbands, an unheard of concept in Greece. This type of presentation, showing women in loving conjugal relationships, was not unusual.

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Tomb of the Leopards, Etruscan, ca. 480-470 BCE

• 
  
• Painting is a celebration of life, food, wine, music and dance, rather than a somber contemplation of death.
• In stylistic terms, the Etruscan figures are comparable to those on sixth-century Greek vases before Late Archaic painters became preoccupied with the problem of foreshortening.
• Etruscan painters may be considered somewhat backward in this respect, but in other ways they seem to have outpaced their counterparts in Greece, especially in their interest in rendering nature. (Besides this painting, the natural environment was the chief interest of Tarquinian painters).

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Head of an old man, Roman Republic, ca. 50 BCE

• The subjects of these portraits were almost exclusivelymen (and to a lesser extent women) of advanced age, for generally only elders held power in the Republic.
• Instead, they requested brutally realistic images with distinctive features, in the tradition of the treasured household imagines.
• Scholars debate whether such portraits were truly blunt records of actual features or exaggerated types designed to make a statement about personality: serious, experienced, determined, loyal to family and state—virtues that were much admired during the Republic.

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Augustus of Primporta, Roman: Early Empire, ca. 20 BCE (first century copy) 

• details of the statue carry political messages

•  reliefs on the cuirass advertise an important diplomatic victory
• Cupid at Augustus’s feet alludes to his divine descent

• Augustus' lineage is supposedely traced to Venus.

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Maison Carrée, Roman: Early Empire, 1-10 CE

• Scholars believe that workers on the Forum of Augustus erected the   Maison Carrée .
• Located in Southern France, (ancient Gaul)
• This exceptionally well preserved Corinthian pseudoperipteral temple, which dates to the opening years of the first century CE, is the best surviving example of the Augustan Neo-Classical architectural style.

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Pont-du-Gard, Roman: Early Empire, 16 BCE

• Represents skills of Roman Engineers
• Acquaduct provided 100 gallons of water a day

for each inhabitant of Nimes, from a source 30 miles away

• Their [arches] quicknened rhythm and the harmonious proportional relationship between the larger and smaller arches reveal that Roman engineer had keen aesthetic sense as well as practical sense.

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Colosseum, Roman: Early Empire, ca. 70-80 CE

• Was originally known as the Flavian ampitheater - could not have been built without concrete.
• The decision to build the Colosseum was very shrewd politically. The site chosen was the artificial lake on the grounds of Nero’s Domus Aurea, which engineers drained for the purpose.

• By building the new amphitheater there, Vespasian reclaimed for the public the land Nero had confiscated for his private pleasure and provided Romans with the largest arena for gladiatorialcombats and other lavish spectacles that had ever been constructed.

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Arch of Titus, Roman: Early Empire, after 81 CE

• Sculptor rejected the Classical low-relief style in favor of extremely deep carving, which produces strong shadows.
• Arch of Titus was erected after the Emperor’s death, and its reliefs were carved when Titus was a god.
• Soon afterward, however, this kind of interaction between mortals and immortals became a sample of Roman narrative relief sculpture, even on monuments honoring a living emperor.

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Column of Trajan, Roman: High Empire, ca. 112 CE

• brainchild of Apollodorus of Damascus.

• Much of the spiral frieze is given over to easily recognizable compositions such as those found on coin reverses and on historical relief panels.

• The focus is always on the emperor, who appears throughout the frieze, but the enemy is not belittled. The Romans won because of their superior organization and more powerful army, not because they were inherently superior beings.

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Pantheon, Roman: High Empire, ca. 118-125 CE

• Built to contain perfect sphere; embedded in ancient Greek tradition of geometry; obsessed with Neo-Platonic thinking
• Constructing columns was so difficult that art historians consider it a testament to Rome and its height of Rome's power. 
• It is a trophy of Egypt; a land that they controlled
• Interior of Pantheon described as a lands for us to "see the mechanics of the heavens" - the oculus or opening of the ceiling, (which also was a perfect sphere) would shine light all over circumfrence. 

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Marcus Aurelius , Roman: High Empire, ca. 175 CE

• Survived because it was thought to have represented Constantine, which is why it wasn't burned for its bronze.
• Had enormous influence for artists in the Renaissance such as Da Vinci
• Represents Roman understanding of human musculature and anatomy of the horse
• There is a unity between Aurelius and the horse; he is in control of the powerful animal 

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Tetrarchs, Roman: Late Empire, ca. 305 CE

• The Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs symbolizes the concept of the tetrarchy The overall effect suggests unity and stability. 
• Style: The figures are stout and blocky, far from the verisimilitude or the idealism of the earlier periods. The figures are stiff and rigid, their attire is patterned and stylized. Their faces are repetitive and they seem to stare in a kind of trance.
• What is responsible for this almost complete rejection of the Classical Tradition? 1. A breakdown in transmission of artistic skills, (Crisis of 3rd Century), 2. Influence from Eastern and/or pre-classical regional styles. 3. Active ideological turning against what Classical styles had come to represent. 

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Basilica Nova , Roman: Late Empire, ca. 306-12 CE

• From its position in the apse, the emperor’s image dominated the interior of the basilica in much the same way that enthroned statues of Greco-Roman divinities loomed over awestruck mortals who entered the cellas of pagan temples.
• The reconstruction effectively suggests the immensity of the interior, where the great vaults dwarf even the emperor’s colossal portrait.
• Here, Roman builders applied to the Roman basilica the lessons learned in the designand construction of buildings such as Trajan’s great market hall and the Baths of Diocletian.

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Catacombs of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus, Early Christian, Rome, early 4th century

• This painted ceiling of a cubiculum is similar in format to Roman painted vaults in 3rd century
• The central medallion shows Christ as the Good Shepherd, whose powers of salvation are underscored by his juxtaposition with Jonah’s story. The motif can be traced to Archaic Greek art, but there the pagan calf bearer offered his animal in sacrifice to Athena.
• Until Christianity becomes the official religion of Rome, Early Christian artists almost invariably represented Christ either as the Good Shepherd or as a teacher.

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St. Peter's, Rome, Early Christian, begun ca. 319

• Artists and conrtibutors include: Bramante, Antonio de Sangallo, Raphael, Fra Giocondo, Michaelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno, Bernini
• This was originally Nero's Circus, w/mecropolis and by tradition a burial ground where St. Peter was buried. 
• Basilica is a very practical plan for a church - has long central area, it holds a lot of people, focuses on the altar, etc. - Yet this was not what what Bramante wanted. He wanted to match the mindset of the High Renaissance which emphasised perfect beauty through mathematics.
• Ended up with plan that ultimately does follow basilica format; that perfect geometric form gave way to practical needs of the church, (listed above). 

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St. Peter's, Rome, Early Christian, begun ca. 319

• No earlier version of "Good Shepherd" is as regal as this one - (he is haloed and wearing robes of gold and purple).

• On both sides sheep (in groups of three) are arranged in a loose and informal way and occupy a carefully described landscape that extends from foreground to background beneath a blue sky.

• All the forms have three-dimensional bulk and are

still deeply rooted in the classical tradition.

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 Justinian (Barberini Ivory), Byzantine, ca. 550

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Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Byzantine, ca. 532-537

• Contributers: Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus (mathematician and physicist).

• The special feature of the Hagia Sophia is the special mystical quality of the light that floods the interior.

• Light was seen as a mystical element (the visual image of God) - said to dissolve material substance and transform it into spiritual vision.

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San Vitale mosaics, Ravenna, Byzantine, ca.526-547

• In mosaic there is profound rejection of naturalism in Classical Era.
• Human beings are symbolic. Bodies are rejected - no interest in anatomical structure of body.
• There is no sense of these figures existing in space, no landscape
• They are placed in abstract, transcendent space, an eternal location - supported by materials: mostly gold and little tiles of glass that are set at slightly different angles so that the oil lanterns/candles/sunlight make surface flicker and appear and disappear.

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 Virgin of Compassion (Vladimir Virgin), Byzantine, late 11th - early 12th century

• This Icon clearly reveals the stylized abstraction resulting from centuries of working and reworking the conventional image - (image would be blackened by incense in church and then repainted.

• Back of icon bears instruments of Christ's passion = deep sentiment of pathos and sacrifice. 

• Russian believe that picture saved city of Kazan from Tartar invasions = historical symbol of Byzantium's religious and cultural mission to the Slavic world 

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Sutton Hoo purse cover, Anglo-Saxon, ca. 625

• Very unstable period in Medieval history, (not much building/painting - instead there was English civil war).
• Style: typical interlacing of abstract forms, introduction of animals, frontal human figure attacked on either side by wolves.
• All that has survived ship burial is enamel and gold.
• Can be interpreted as the costume of a very wealthy king.

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Lindisfarne Gospel, Hiberno-Saxon, ca. 698-721

• Northern artists based their compositions on classical pictures in imported Mediterranean books = creating new vision of St. Matthew

• curtain sets the scene indoors, seat is at an angle, both Latin and Greek words are used = Classical

• Lindisfarne illuminator conceived his subject in terms of line and color exclusively (drapery folds are a series of sharp,regularly spaced, curving lines filled in with flat colors)
   = Northumbrian

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Equestrian portrait of Charlemagne (?), Carolingian, 9th century

• Model for statuette was equestrian portrait Marcus Aurelius. 

• Charlemagne, (or his grandson Charles the Bald) is on parade, wears imperial clothes, with a crown on his head, holding a globe, which is a symbol of world domination.

• The portrait proclaimed the renovatio of the Roman Empire’s power and trappings.

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St. Matthew, Coronation Gospels, Aachen, Carolingian, ca. 800-810 

• The Carolingian illuminator used color and modulation of light and shade, not line, to create shapes.

• Piece contains cross-legged chair, the lectern, and the saint’s toga  and landscape background has many parallels in Roman painting, (frame consists of the kind of acanthus leaves found in Roman temple capitals and friezes.) = Piece is of Roman influence.

• Classical painting style was one of themany components of Charlemagne’s program to establish Aachen as the capital of a renewed Christian Roman Empire.

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Bronze doors, St. Michael's, Hildesheim, Ottonian, ca. 1015

• In 962, Otto I was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor since 924. This contact with Rome was extremely important to Ottonian artistic development, since each Ottonian king was determined to define himself as a Roman Emperor in the style of Constantine and Charlemagne. 
• The Ottonians held mathematical sciences in high regard and this is reflected in many of their artistic productions.  
• On a larger scale, clerics like Bernward of Hildesheim, who designed the church we saw earlier, cast his 15' doors depicting the fall and redemption of mankind out of single pieces of metal.

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 Gislebertus, Last Judgment, St. Lazare, Autun, Romanesque, ca. 1120-1135

• Two men near the center of lintel carry bags emblazoned with a cross and a shell = those (symbols of pilgrims to Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela) would be favored.

• Sharp-clawed demons writhe, devil drags souls into hell, howling demon crams souls headfirst into a furnace = appaling scene meant to inspire terror in visitors.

• Inscription beneath weighing of the souls = reinforces pictorial message, that you should fear judgment day.

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Reliquary statue of Ste-Foy, Romanesque, late 10th - early 11th century

book only has picture of figure and lacks information, must consult other source

page 445 - figure in book but not described...

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Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, Romanesque, ca. 1070-1120

• The Saint-Sernin plan is extremely regular and geometrically precise (e.g., crossing square, flanked by massive piers and marked offby heavy arches, served as the module for the entire church. Each nave bay, for example, measures exactly one-half of the crossing square, and each aisle bay measures exactly one-quarter)

• Saint-Sernin’s spatial organization corresponds to and renders visually the plan’s geometric organization.

• rationally integrated scheme, with repeated units decorated and separated by moldings, had a long future in later church architecture in the West.

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Bayeux Tapestry, Romanesque, ca. 1070-1080

• Embroidered fabric = unique in medieval art
•  the work of English stitchers in Kent.

•  Continuous, friezelike, pictorial narrative of a crucial moment in England’s history and of the events that led up to it. 

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Rose windows and lancets, north transept, Chartres Cathedral, France, High Gothic, ca. 1220

• They do not conceal walls.They replace them. And they transmit rather than reflect light, filtering and transforming the natural sunlight.

• “Stained-glass windowsare the Holy Scriptures . . . and since their brilliance lets the splendorof the True Light pass into the church, they enlighten those inside.”*

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Amiens Cathedral, France, High Gothic, begun ca.1120

• Described as perfect example of spirituality in architecture in Gothic Era.

• At Amiens, the concept of a self-sustaining skeletal architecture reached full maturity, (rectangular-bay system, the four-part rib vault, and a buttressing system).

• The deep piercing of walls and towers at Amiens left few surfaces for decoration, covered ones had network of colonnettes, arches, pinnacles, rosettes, and other decorative stonework that visually screens and nearly dissolves the structure’s solid core.

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Annunciation, Visitation, west facade Reims Cathedral, Gothic, begin ca. 1220

• Artist most likely studied classical statuary.

• Astonishing approximation of the classical naturalistic style and incorporate contrapposto postures.

• Right legs bend, knees press through folds of garments, arms in motion, Mary and Elizabeth converse through gestures = Figures are viewed as actors in a Biblical narrative.

• Gabriel is most elongated and animated figure = exhibits elegant style of Parision court in 13th century.

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Ste. Chapelle, France, High Gothic,: Rayonnant, ca. 1243-1248

• Masterpiece of so-called Rayonnant *radiant* style of High Gothic Age, (preferred style of royal Parisian court).

• The emphasis is on the extreme slenderness of the architectural forms and on linearity in general.

• Sainte-Chapelle’s enormous windows filter the light and fill the interior with an unearthly rose-violet atmosphere (largest designed of their time).

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St. Louis Psalter, French, Gothic, ca. 1253-1270

• Many art historians believe Psalter is one of several books produced in Paris for Louis IX by artists associated with those who made the stained glass for his Sainte-Chapelle.

• Psalter contains standard Rayonnant architectural features: painted architectural setting (reflects the pierced screenlike lightness and transparency) The intense colors, especially the blues, (emulate stained glass). The lines in the borders (resemble leading). And the gables, pierced by rose windows with bar tracery, (standard). 

• Reflects Parisian court = The elegant proportions, facialexpressions, theatrical gestures, and swaying poses.

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Giovanni Pisano relief, Pistoia, Italian, 1297-1301

• Giovanni Pisano worked in French Gothic tradition, (different from his father Nicola who worked in classical)

• Figures twist and bend in excited animation, spaces that open deeply between them suggest their motion = arranged loosely and dynamically.

• drama’s principals share in a peculiar nervous agitation, as if they all suddenly are moved by spiritual passion

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Bonaventura Berlinghieri, St Francis Altarpiece, Italian, ca. 1235

• Italo-Byzantine style, or maniera greca (Greek style).

• Painted in tempera on wood panel the altarpiece honors Saint Francis of Assisi.

• Narrative scenes suggest source was Byzantine illuminated manuscripts.

• Appearance of stigmata on his hands and feet,4 of 6 scenes miraculous healings = Highlights prominent role religious of orders in late medieval Italy.

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Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italian, ca. 1305-1306

• Hall's vaulted ceiling is blue, (same as in background of narrative panels) = colour functions as unifying agent for entire decorative scheme, (rendering scene more realistic). 

• Giotto's managment of light and shade made possible new devices for depicting spatial depth and body mass. 

• The stagelike settings made possible by Giotto’s innovations in perspective (the depiction of three-dimensional objects in spaceon a two-dimensional surface) and lighting suited perfectly the dramatic narrative the Franciscans emphasized then as a principal method for educating the faithful in their religion.

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Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation, Siena Cathedral, Italian, ca. 1333

• features elegant shapes and radiant color, fluttering line, and weightless figures in a spaceless setting—all hallmarks of the artist’s style.

• Martini was instrumental in creating the so-called International Style.

• The intricate tracery of the richly tooled (reconstructed) French Gothic–inspired frame and the elaborate punchwork halos, now a characteristic feature of Sienese panel painting, enhance the tactile magnificence of the Annunciation.

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Ambrogio Lorenzzetti, Effects of Good Government, Sienna, Italian, ca. 1338-39

• clustering palaces, markets, towers, churches, streets, and walls = reminiscent of the townscapes of ancient Roman murals.
• city’s traffic moves peacefully, guild members ply their trades and crafts, and several radiant maidens, hand in hand, perform a graceful circling dance. Dancers were regular features of festive springtime rituals = metaphor for a peaceful commonwealth.

• artist fondly observed the life of his city, and its architecture gave him an opportunity to apply Sienese artists’ rapidly growing knowledge of perspective.

Etruscan 

700-396 B.C.E.

Comes after Ancient Greece

Before Roman Republic

Roman Republic

(509–27 BCE)

Comes after Etruscans

Comes before Early Roman Empire

Pompeii 

79 C.E.

Is IN Republic

(Comes after Estrucans)

(Comes before Early Roman Empire)

           Early Roman Empire

27-96 C.E. 

Comes after Republic

Comes before High Roman Empire

High Roman Empire

96-192 C.E.

Comes after Early Roman Empire

Comes before Late Roman Empire

Late Roman Empire 

193-337 C.E.

Comes after High Roman Empire

Comes before Late Antiquity

Byzantine 

330-1453 C.E.

Comes after Late Antiquity

Comes before Early Medieval Europe 

Carolingian 

751 to 987 C.E. (Early Medival)

Comes after Byzantine 

Comes before Ottonian 

Ottonian 

919-1024 C.E.

Comes after Carolingian

Comes before Romanesque

Romanesque 

1050-2000 C.E.

Comes after Early Medevial

Comes before Gothic 

Gothic 

*also called Early Gothic*

High Gothic 

1194-1300 C.E.

Comes after Gothic

Comes before Italian

Italian

1100-1300 C.E.

Comes after High Gothic

Comes before Renaissance

Dome

A barrel (or tunnel)

vault, semicylindrical in cross-section, is in effect

a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of

arches, one behind the other, over an oblong

space.

Verism

Artistic preference of contemporary everyday subject matter instead of the heroic or legendary in art and literature; a form of realism. The word comes from Latin verus (true).

Nave aisles

The central area of an ancient Roman basilica

or of a church, demarcated from aisles by

piers or columns. 

point perspective

• in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface (such as paper), of an image as it is seen by the eye. The two most characteristic features of perspective are that objects are drawn:

• Smaller as their distance from the observer increases
• Foreshortened: the size of an object's dimensions along the line of sight are relatively shorter than dimensions across the line of sight

Concrete

A building material invented by the

Romans and consisting of various proportions

of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small

stones.

barrel vault

A barrel (or tunnel)

vault, semicylindrical in cross-section, is in effect

a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of

arches, one behind the other, over an oblong

space.

forum

The public square of an ancient Roman

city.

impluvium

In a Roman house, the basin located

in the atrium that collected rainwater.

aerial perspective

 Effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance.

arch

A curved structural member that spans an

opening and is generally composed of wedgeshaped

blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the

downward pressure laterally

groin vault

A groin (or cross) vault is formed at the point at

which two barrel vaults intersect at right angles.

Basilica

In Roman architecture, a public building

for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular

in plan with an entrance usually on a

long side. In Christian architecture, a church

somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually

entered from one end and with an apse at

the other.

triumphal arch

In Roman architecture, a freestanding

arch commemorating an important

event, such as a military victory or the opening

of a new road.

equestrian statue

mummy portrait

Modern term given to a type of naturalistic painted portraits on wooden boards attached to mummies from the Coptic period.

apotheosis

Elevated to the rank of gods, or the

ascent to heaven.