Art Appreciation Final

Female Figure from Willendorf (23000 BC)

often serves as an emblem of art history's beginnings; made of limestone about 25000 years ago in the paleolithic period; found in a town in present day Austria; many of them found across a broad region and thought to be fertility figures to encourage pre

Human-Headed Winged Lion (883-859 BC)

this limestone figure guarded the front gates of Mesopotamia King Assurnasirpal's palace; the figure wears a horned cap indicating divine status; it's body has five legs so that from the front it appears motionless but from the side it is understood to be

Palette of Narmer (3100 BC)

this slab of slate illustrates many characteristics of Egyptian art; portrays a victory by the forces of Upper (southern) Egypt, led by Narmer, over those of Lower (northern) Egypt; Narmer is the largest figure to indicate his high status; he holds a fall

Queen Nefertiti (1345 BC)

this painted limestone portrait bust portrays the new style of the Amarna period very well; the queen appears beautiful but also very contemporary, bridging the gap of almost three thousand years to our own world; her regal headdress and elongated neck pr

Toreador Fresco (1500 BC)

this fresco painting from the Minoan period features the the special animal, the bull, and their unique game of bullfighting; the young male acrobat vaults over the back of the racing bull and will be caught in the waiting arms of the young woman at the r

Warrior A (450 BC)

this Greek freestanding bronze sculpture of a warrior is very lifelike; the warrior is an idealized, virile male with an athletic physique; he stands in a relaxed yet vigilant pose the Greeks invented to express the potential for motion inherent in a stan

Model Reconstruction of the Acropolis

Athens was built around a high hill (acropolis); ancient temples on the Acropolis had crumbled or been destroyed in the wars; in 449 BC, general Perikles came to power as head of state and set about rebuilding; he embarked on a massive construction progra

Parthenon (447-432 BC)

the crowning glory of the Acropolis; dedicated to the goddess Athena, the warrior maiden; Doric-style temple with columns all around the exterior and an inner row of columns on each of the short walls; architects Iktinos and Kallikrates completed the stru

Laocoon Group (late 1st century BC- early 1st century AD)

one of the best examples of how Hellenistic styles overthrew Classical values in favor of dynamic poses and extreme emotions; Laocoon was a priest of the sun god, Apollo, and his story involves one of the most famous events in Greek mythology; in the last

Wall painting from the Villa of the Mysteries (50 BC)

shows a scene believed to represent secret cult rituals associated with the wine god, Dionysus; the figures stand as though on a ledge, in a shallow but convincing space, interacting only slightly with one another; even though the artist has segmented the

Colosseum (72-80 BC)

Romans are best known for their architecture and engineering; one of the most familiar monuments; planned under the Emperor Vespasian and dedicated as an amphitheater for gladiatorial games and public entertainments; large oval covering 6 acres; could acc

Christ as the Sun (mid-3rd century)

this detail of a mosaic under St. Peter's necropolis depicts Christ in triumph; in doing this, the artist has borrowed the iconography of the Greek and Roman god Apollo, who was often portrayed riding his chariot across the sky as the sun god; grape leaf

Plan of a Roman basilica and plan of Old St. Peter's (385)

Christianity from the beginning emphasized congregational worship, and so a fundamentally different kind of building was needed that could hold a lot of people; a basilica was basically a long rectangular hall; entrances might be on either the long or the

Mosaic depicting Christ as Pantokrator (before 1183)

this Byzantine mosaic is set in the half-dome crowning the apse of 12th-century church in Sicily; large figure of Christ as "Ruler of All"; emphasizes the divine, awe-inspiring, even terrifying majesty of Christ as opposed to his gentle, approachable, hum

Interior of the Palace Chapel of Charlemagne (792-805)

Charlemagne ordered a splendid Palace Chapel to built to be his personal place of worship; architecture gives many clues to his ambitions-it's basic design is modeled after San Vitale which Charlemagne had admired, he very likely wished to copy perfection

Aerial view of Sainte-Foy, Plan of Sainte-Foy (1050-1120)

the earliest Romanesque pilgrimage church still standing; located in France; cross-form plan; the plan shows how Romanesque architects modified church design to accommodate large crowds of pilgrims; Roman round arch; barrel vault unifies the interior visu

Chartres Cathedral (1134-1260)

cathedral in France shows the soaring quality of Gothic architecture; has ornate, linear, vertical elements that direct the eye upward; flying buttresses line the nave and apse to contain the outward thrust of the walls; parts of Church built at different

Christ Entering Jerusalem (1308-11)

Duccio was influential in making the shift from art styles of the Middle Ages to the styles of the Renaissance; artist of Sienna, Italy; his masterpiece was the Maesta Altar, a multi section panel meant to be displayed on the altar of a church; attempted

The Lamentation (1305-06)

Giotto was also influential in making the shift from art styles of the Middle Ages to the styles of the Renaissance; Florentine artist; did his best work in fresco; work depicting Mary, St. John, and others mourning Christ's death illustrates his highly o

The Story of Jacob and Esau (1435)

this Renaissance panel made of Gilt Bronze is one of the ten Lorenzo Ghiberti executed for his second set of doors; the graceful, rounded figures in the foreground stand on a pavement whose converging lines begin a recession in space that is carried syste

Interior of Sant'Andrea, Plan of Sant'Andrea (1470-93)

Leon Battista Alberti was the architect; the light in the middle distance is entering through the dome that rises over the intersection of the transept and the nave; this was Alberti's last work; square, arch, and circle dominate; the vast interior space

The Birth of Venus (1480)

many Renaissance artists turned to stories of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses for subject matter; Botticelli, the artist, belonged to the third generation of Renaissance artists; Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty; she was thought to be bor

Madonna and Child with Saint Anne (1503-06)

Leonardo da Vinci arranged his figures in a triangular grouping by having the Virgin Mary sit improbably on the lap of her mother, Saint Anne; this oil painting is not necessarily meant to be realistic but, rather, to suggest theological meaning; single l

David (1501-04)

Michelangelo established his reputation as a sculptor by the age of 25; the biblical hero David was a young Hebrew shepherd who killed the giant Goliath with a single stone from his slingshot; it has tension and energy; seems like it's made of muscle and

Saint Peter's Basilica, Plan of St. Peter's (1546-64)

Michelangelo was named the official architect for this new church; the plan was based on one drawn up by a man named Bramante, but Michelangelo revised it; he gathered it into a bold and harmonious design; central and cross plans here merge in a new idea

The Annunciation (1560)

Titian oil painted this image on canvas; subject is the moment when an angel appears to Mary to tell her that she has been chosen to bear the Son of God; Mary turns quietly from her prayers and lifts her veil to look at her visitor; angel appears to be in

St. Luke Drawing the Virgin (1435)

Northern Renaissance is all about looking; oil and tempera on panel; Rogier van der Weyden depicts Mary on the left nursing the infant Jesus and on the right St. Luke drawing the mother and child in silverpoint; the two larger figures are balanced as is t

The Ambassadors (1533)

this oil painting was done on panel by Hans Holbein the Younger; the two figures look out at us from either side of a table richly laden with objects symbolizing the four humanist sciences- music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; imported rug speaks o

The Last Supper (1592-94)

this piece by the Venetian painter Tintoretto is an excellent example of the art encouraged by the Counter-Reformation; portrays the central theological moment of the Last Supper, when Christ breaks bread and gives it to his disciples to eat; the dramatic

Cornaro Chapel; St. Teresa in Ecstasy (1645-52)

in this small alcove, the funeral chapel of Cardinal Federigo Cornaro, Bernini integrated architecture, painting, sculpture, and lighting into a brilliant ensemble; on the ceiling is painted a vision of Heaven, with angels and billowing clouds; the whole

Entombment of Christ (1604)

Caravaggio depicts the crucified Christ being lowered into an open grave; the body is held by two of Christ's followers; the group also includes three Mary's who look on in despair; light falls on the participants in different ways but always enhances the

The Raising of the Cross (1609-10)

Peter Paul Rubens painted this image with oil on canvas in the baroque period; his painting teems with movement and energy, each of the participants balanced precariously and straining at his task; the figures burst outside the picture in several directio

Hall of Mirrors (1680)

this 240 foot long room is lined with large reflective glasses in the palace of Louis XIV; it was used for the most elaborate state occasions, and even in the 20th century it served as the backdrop for momentous events; the French court was clearly a mode

View of Ootmarsum (1660-65)

this baroque oil painting on canvas was made by Jacob van Ruisdael; shows not only the famed flatness of the Dutch landscape but also the artist's reaction to that flatness as an expression of the immense, limitless grandeur of nature; Ruisdael makes a co

The Pursuit (1771-73)

this oil on canvas painting from the Rococo period was taken from a larger collection called The Progress of Love; Jean-Honore Fragonard portrays an ardent youth chasing after the girl who has captured his heart through a lushly overgrown garden; he holds

The Oath of the Horatii (1784-85)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Jacques-Louis David in the Rococo period; depicts the stirring moment when three Roman brothers, the Horatii of the painting's title, swear before their father to fight to the death three brothers from the enemy cam

Jupiter and Thetis (1811)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in the Neoclassical period; the subject is drawn from Homer's Iliad; the nymph Thetis is shown pleading with Jupiter, ruler of the gods, to intervene in the war on behalf of her son, th

The Women of Algiers (1834)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Eugene Delacroix in the Romanticism period; portrays three women and their servant in a harem, the women's apartment of an Islamic palace; the technique is freer and more painterly; forms are built up with fully loa

A Burial at Ornans (1849-50)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Gustave Courbet in the Realism period; the subject is a burial of whom we do not know;

Le D�jeuner sur I'herbe (1863)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Edouard Manet in the impressionism period; shows a kind of outdoor picnic; two men, dressed in the fashion of the day, relax and chat in a woodland setting; their companion is a woman who has, for no apparent reason

Summer's Day (1879)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Berthe Morisot in the impressionism period; Morisot really liked "open air" painting; two fashionably dressed women are having an outing on a lake in a Parisian park; one gazes out at us and the other turns to look

Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-04)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Paul Cezanne i the post-impressionism movement; the subject is one Cezanne's favorites, a mountain near his home; the broad outlines of the composition are simple and noble; a rectangular band of landscape surmounte

The Joy of Life (1905-06)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Henri Matisse in the fauvism movement; pink sky, yellow earth, orange foliage, blue and green tree trunks- color was freed from its supporting role in describing objects to become a fully independent expressive elem

Black Lines No. 189 (1913)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Kandinsky in the expressionism movement; thought spirituality and art were linked; was convinced that art's spiritual and communicative power lay in its own language of line, form, and color, an fit was he who took

The Castle at La Roche-Guyon (1909)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Georges Braque in the cubism movement; depicts a hillside town of houses surmounted by a castle; Braque reduced the architecture to its simplest geometric forms: cube, cylinder, cone;

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913)

this bronze sculpture made by Umberto Boccioni represents a striding human figure as the Futurist imagined it to be in the light of contemporary science: a field of energy interacting with everything around it

Carnival of the Harlequin (1924-25)

this oil on canvas painting done by Joan Miro offers a Surrealist view of one of the most famous of all Spanish pairings; Miro's fantasy world is aswarm with odd little creatures- animals and fish and insects and perhaps a snake or two- as well as nameles

Number 1 (1949)

this enamel and metallic paint on canvas made by Jackson Polluck in the Abstract Expressionism period; drip technique; painted onto the canvas indirectly, from above, by casting paint from a brush in controlled gestures or by dripping paint from a stir-st

Sky Cathedral (1958)

this painted wood assemblage was made by Louise Nevelson in the Abstract Expressionism period; the whole thing is painted black and the monochrome paint unifies the diverse elements, emphasizing their formal qualities over their "previous lives," now mute

Mauve District (1966)

this polymer on unprimed canvas painting was done by Helen Frankenthaler in the Postmodern era; pioneered a staining technique; the colors soaked into the canvas like dyes, binding with the fabric; illustrates well the kind of airy, open composition that

Target with Four Faces (1955)

this assemblage was made by Jasper Johns in the neo-dada/ assemblage period

Blam (1962)

this oil on canvas painting was done by Roy Lichtenstein in the pop art age; cropped the original image, rotated it 45 degrees, reduced the color scheme to the three primary colors, and simplified the depiction of the explosion to underscore its abstract

Untitled (Stack) (1967)

this lacquer on galvanized iron was made by Donald Judd in the minimalism period; material used literally, does not try to depict or suggest anything else

Green Light Corridor (1970)

this art piece is painted wallboard and fluorescent light fixtures with green lamps and was made by Bruce Nauman in the Minimalism period; must work your way down the corridor sideways because it's only a foot wide; when they emerge from this claustrophob

Wall Drawing #122 (1972)

this wall drawing was made with black pencil grid, blue crayon arcs and lines by Sol Lewitt in the conceptual art period; not intended to be permanent

The Dinner Party (1979)

this mixed media piece was made by Judy Chicago in the feminism era; executed with the help of hundreds of women and several men; 39 place settings, each one created in honor of an influential woman; the names of additional 999 names are written on the ti

Darkytown Rebellion (2001)

this art piece is made of cut paper and projection on a wall by Kara Walker in the postmodern period; the quaintness and nostalgia associated with silhouettes takes a disturbing turn, and the miniature form becomes monstrous; stereotypes of master and sla

The Big Three (2009)

the dutch wax mannequin was made by Yinka Shonibare in the postmodern era; holds his hands out in a gesture of supplication; title refers to the three big automobile manufacturers: Chrysler, Ford, and GM; figure represents the CEO of Chrysler