Art of Ancient Greece P

ART 2 Chapter 15: NORTHERN EUROPE 1400-1500

1. What are some of the factors that contributed to the development of cities in the fifteenth century?

2. Who were the most powerful rulers in Northern Europe during the fifteenth century?

3. How was an intense interest in the natural world seen in art outside of Italy? What other traditional art form is this combined with?

4. What is a Book of Hours?

5. Name the artists who illuminated Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

6. What types of scenes did they paint for the famous Calendar pages?

7. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the courts of France (Berry, Burgundy, etc.) were the greatest patrons of art done in the International Gothic style. What elements characterize that style?

8. What painting technique did fifteenth-century Northern painters perfect? Briefly describe the technique.

9. Describe the imagery of the Merode Altarpiece? Who painted it? What did the candle, water jug, book, lilies, bench, and towels symbolize? 10. What purpose does “disguised symbolism” serve?

11. What effect did the blending of the sacred and secular have on the way devotional images were painted?

12. Who painted the Ghent Altarpiece? What is the general theme and what other subjects and symbols appear?

13. What was the probable purpose of the painting Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride?

14. List four symbols contained in the painting and give their meanings:

15. In contrast to the complex symbolism of Jan van Eyck, what did Rogier van der Weyden stress in his paintings? What are the characteristics of his style?

16. How is this seen in his painting The Deposition?

17. Who painted and who commissioned The Portinari Altarpiece? Where was it displayed?

18. What is some of its symbolic content?

19. List 2 features of Jean Fouquet’s panel that are similar to other Flemish works of art.