Civilization on Display in the Dark Ages and Early Renaissance Art

Your Last Name 1

Your Name

Mr. Clements

English – Period #

13 August, 2013

Evolving Social Mores:

Civilization on Display in the Dark Ages and Early Renaissance Art

The term, civilization, is an abstract term. [Explain why civilization is an abstract term].

One of the more novel interpretations of civilization comes from Sir Kenneth Clark, who in 1969 published Civilisation. Civilisation [Interpret and explain the thesis and purpose of the book].

Clark’s observations are specific to Western European culture. Throughout the opening chapters of his book, Clark shows [What? Summarize the early chapters.]. For example, [give an example of how Clark does what you claim he does in the first couple of chapters. Be sure to spell and capitalize proper nouns, dates, places, times, etc. appropriately].

As he traverses from medieval to early Renaissance art, Clark notes a new movement in art: depictions of nature and courtesy. This development is exciting to Clark because if art imitates life, then [analyze the statement “art imitates life” but don’t write about it – analyze it in your head. Use your analysis to write a statement that explains why the new trend of depicting nature and courtesy support Clark’s thesis about art and civilization].

During the Dark Ages, the art of Western Europe was almost exclusively religious and not too pleasing. For example, take the 2-dimensional Bible illustration, Imago Hominus (Figure

1) from the early Dark Ages. Given the incredible amount of work and energy needed to produce manuscripts (hand-written works), we can assume that only the most skilled artists of the region Your Last Name 2 were commissioned for such work. Even if the artist wasn’t skilled, though, we can still make some educated assumptions about the state of civilization in Western Europe based on the image.

Figure 1, Imago Hominis, artist unknown [Analyze this image, but don’t write about it yet. What do you see? What don’t you see?

What does this image tell us about what is important to Western Europeans during the Dark

Ages? What does such an image tell you about the region/civilization from which it emanated?

Now, write your analysis.]

As the Renaissance approached, art procurers began commissioning works that depicted natural scenes of everyday life; they celebrated regular humans in harmony with nature: Your Last Name 3

[E]arlier manuscripts . . . show [an] isolating and symbolizing approach to nature,

in which flowers and trees are put side by side on a flat surface . . . But . . . a

group of artists – called de Limbourg . . . saw nature as we see it, as part of a

complete visual experience. . . . Here are men and women cultivating the fields,

scything, harrowing, sowing, with a scarecrow in the background – and suddenly

we realize that all this had been going on in the same places, and with the same

tools, all through the Dark Ages. (Within these parenthesis, add a citation. Delete

the text within the parenthesis and add Clark’s last name and the page number

from which I lifted this quote. Do not add additional punctuation - AUTHOR’S

LAST NAME PAGE NUMBER Example: (Shelton 18))

According to Clark, the de Limbourg manuscript, The Very Rich Hours, which depicted several scenes of humans in harmony with nature as well as themselves, is important because it functions as a link between the flat, narrow subjects that were depicted during the Dark Ages and the forthcoming art of the Renaissance. In The Very Rich Hours, we see scenes of both common life and court life. As previously noted, the depictions of common life are an important development in world of art, but the depictions of court life are perhaps even more important. Your Last Name 4

Figure 2, Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry: The Duke of Berry at dinner (detail) These depictions of court life, or courtesy, are indicative of a new plateau in the social mores of Western European culture. In Figure 2, Les Tres Heures du Duc de Berry, we see [Use the book help you interpret the painting. Explain a couple of the unique features of this scene – explain/show why the features are unique. Contrast them with the flat, religious paintings found during the Dark Ages]. Your Last Name 5

Unfortunately, as civilized as court life was it could not fully represent a truly civilized society. [Clark specifically says that court life isn’t civilization; it’s “nothing to sneeze at”

(meaning: good), but it’s not civilization. Use your own words and direct quotes to show how courtly life could not represent a society. You’ll find a direct quote to support your statement in the text. You can make a direct quote several ways. See https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/ for all the possibilities. Regardless of how you do it, you need to use quotation marks and cite the page number of the text from where you are pulling the quote. An example of a direct quote (I’ve added the italics – your quote shouldn’t be italicized: According to Clark, “St. Francis was . . . a religious genius.” (76) Note that there is no punctuation after the page number reference, and the period goes inside the quotation mark.] Your Last Name 6

Works Cited

Clark, Kenneth. Civilisation. New York: Harper & Row, 1969. Print. de Limbourg. The Duke of Berry at dinner, from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. 1410-

1489 (conjectural date). Musee Conde, Chantilly. Lovinglifeandbeingabitch.com. Web.

15 October 2013.

Unknown. Imago Hominis, Symbol of Matthew - Gospel of Echternach. 690 (conjectural date).

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3. Web. 15

October 2013.