ad artistic comparison and commentary on individual works of art write a short essay on each of the eight items mentioned below 3
There will be one comparison question and eight questions about individual works of art. the essays should be made an attachment to your email message. You can find pictures of the works of art being tested in Gardner’s Art through the Ages, edited by Kleiner, Fourteenth Edition, Vol. 2, The Western Perspective, our regular course textbook. You are to write short essays about the examples indicated, either comparing and contrasting two works, or discussing individual examples. Your responses will be judged for their accuracy and completeness.
I. Artistic Comparison: Compare and contrast St. Peter’s Basilica and Square (Rome, Maderno, and Bernini, 1606-1612; 1656-1667) with the Palace of Versailles and Its Gardens (site outside Paris, C. Le Brun, J. Hardouin-Mansart, A. Le Nôtre, 1669-1685) as two examples of Baroque architecture. You can discuss their overall design, social function as buildings and spaces, decorative features, and their relation to the setting where they occur.
II. Commentary on Individual Works of Art: Write a short essay on each of the eight items mentioned below. Explain how each example is typical of the artist or movement with whom (or with which) it is associated. You can talk about the following items: the theme or subject represented; the composition or design of the work; various elements of style, such as the type of modeling, the kind of lighting employed, the use of color (where appropriate), the kind of brushwork in a painting, the type of spatial illusion created; the object’s engagement with the surrounding space (if a statue or statue group); the way emotion is expressed, etc. – whatever seems most important. You should make at least a few major points. All of these works of art were shown in class.
1) Rembrandt, Return of the Prodigal Son, c. 1665
2) Bernini, Ecstasy of St. Teresa, 1645-1652
3) Rubens, Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles, 1622-1625
4) Rococo Art (G. Boffrand), Hôtel de Soubise, Salon de la Princesse, 1737-1740
5) Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew, 1597-1601
6) Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow, 1565
7) Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1536-1538
8) Vermeer, Artist in His Studio (or Allegory of Painting), 1670-1675.
2-3 pages.
