Exploring Great Artists with Teach Beside Me
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Exploring Great Artists with Teach Beside Me https://teachbesideme.com Thank you for supporting Teach Beside Me © 2017 Created by Lara E. Molettiere for Teach Beside Me All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This product is for personal use only. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2017 https://teachbesideme.com Giotto di Bondone 1266 - 1337 The life and works of Giotto di Bondone are shrouded in mystery and conflicting opinions on how many attributed works are actually his. Giotto's style made him famous among his contemporaries for his departure from the Byzantine stylized painting of his time. His master, Cimabue, was a renowned artist who led the transition from Byzantine art styling to the more three dimensional look of the paintings from the Renaissance. Giotto is credited as being one of the first true artists of the early Italian Renaissance while his master is considered the last of the Byzantine artists. Admired by many contemporaries, Dante Alighieri even mentions Giotto by name in The Divine Comedy. Giotto used a three dimensional approach to his subjects creating a more lifelike look than had been used before. His use of space and architectural styling of the subjects in his creations are unlike any others. He gave individual faces to subjects rather than repeating the same stylized faces. Giotto worked in both paint and in marble. Today in Florence there remains a bell tower called "Giotto's Tower" with a marble relief of a shepherd sitting in his tent watching over his sheep. His interpretation of Biblical events in his frescoes are painted with such feeling, depth, and color, that he became famous during his lifetime. People who lived during Giotto's time did not have pictures hanging in their homes, so imagine what it was like to attend church and see such illuminated images! The frescos in the Scrovegni Chapel are known to be by Giotto, as are the Campanille bell tower of the Florence Cathedral. Other works attributed to Giotto are often at the center of art historians debates as to when they were done and who the actual artist was. www.TeachBesideMe.com Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ) Giotto di Bondone c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua www.TeachBesideMe.com Ognissanti Madonna, Giotto di Bondone c. 1310, Uffizi, Florence www.TeachBesideMe.com Jan van Eyck before c.1390 - 1441 Jan van Eyck was born sometime between 1380 and 1390. The records of his early life have been lost to time. We know that he hailed from the area around Bruges, modern day Belgium, and that he is considered a master of the Northern Renaissance. Our first real glimpse of his life begins in 1422 when van Eyck took work as a painter for John III the Pitiless, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing and ruler of Holland. He was already a master painter with a bustling workshop full of assistants. We also know by his use of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew that he was very well educated for a painter at that time. In 1425, he went to work for Philip the Good in Lille, France and the two developed a deep trust. Van Eyck would later go on several diplomatic missions for the Duke of Burgundy. One of these included painting the Duke's betrothed Spanish princess Isabella of Portugal so the Duke could see her before their wedding. Van Eyck signed his pieces with a clever pun of his name, ALS IK KAN (As I (Eyck) can) written in Greek letters. He painted both secular and religious pieces. Today, we have just over 20 surviving pieces that are signed by him so we know they are his. Van Eyck developed his style over the years and became known for his masterful command of oil painting and his unique techniques that were revolutionary at the time. He took private commissions in addition to working for his Court patrons. One of the most well known pieces is the Ghent Altarpiece that was painted for the merchant and politician Jodocus Vijdts and his wife Elisabeth Borluut. This piece is a polyptych, which means it is many paintings on separate panels all joined together to make one piece. Van Eyck died young on July 9th, 1441, and was buried at the Church of St Donatian. His brother Lambert van Eyck, also an artist, took over his workshop and in 1442 had Jan van Eyck interred inside St. Donatian's Cathedral. www.TeachBesideMe.com Adoration of the Lamb, Jan van Eyck c.1425-1429, Ghent Altarpiece, Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent www.TeachBesideMe.com Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, Jan van Eyck c.1439, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium www.TeachBesideMe.com Sandro Botticelli c.1445-1510 Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, was an early Renaissance painter from Florence, Italy. He lived within a few minutes walk of his birth home for his entire life. Botticelli's father was originally a leather tanner but trained with Botticelli's older brother and became a beater-out of gold leaf, which led to the family meeting many artists. The family had many notable neighbors including the Vespucci family, the son Amerigo would one day be the namesake for the America's. Sandro Botticelli became apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi, a renowned artist of the Renaissance. Fra Lippi taught Botticelli proper techniques and methods. Never one to take technical shortcuts, Botticelli's works that have been taken care of are still in remarkable shape today. Far Lippi's influence can also be noted in Botticelli's works throughout his career. After Lippi's death, his young son Filippino Lippi became a worker in Botticelli's workshop. By 1470, Botticelli's reputation was growing and he began receiving many commissions. One of the most notable is his depiction of Saint Sebastian, which was created for a pier in Santa Maria Maggiore. The style of the painting and landscape details made this an exemplary piece for the masterfulness of Botticelli. Botticelli is most well know for his mythological depictions and Madonna and Child's. Primavera and Birth of Venus are two of the most well known pieces from the Renaissance. Both showcase Botticelli's ability to create poetry in pictures. Many do not realize Botticelli's significance in the Sistine Chapel where he painted several of the wall panels two and half decades before Michelangelo would tackle the monumental task of adorning the ceilings. Botticelli never married and upon his death in 1510 was buried at Chiesa di San Salvatore di Ognissanti. www.TeachBesideMe.com Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, Sandro Botticelli c. 1470–1475, Louvre www.TeachBesideMe.com Youth of Moses, Sandro Botticelli, Sistine Chapel c. 1481-1482 www.TeachBesideMe.com Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519 Leonardo da Vinci was born out of wedlock to a notary and a peasant woman in the Vinci region of Florence. Leonardo was educated under the famous painter Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was a polymath, a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. His interests and achievements spanned the fields of painting, sculpture, inventing, science, mathematics, anatomy, writing, history, cartography, and other areas. His interests were varied and he explored them all thoroughly. When he began his apprenticeship under Verrochio, Leonardo was only 14 years old. He was a studio boy and learned many skills, both for painting, sculpting, and drawing and for technical needs such as chemistry, metallurgy, plaster casting, and leather working. Leonardo would be there for 7 years, but his friendship and loyalty to Verrochio remained even after he had his own workshop and was certified by the Guild as a master painter. Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499, completing such works as the Virgin on the Rocks and The Last Supper, During this same time, Leonardo was also in service to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan on several occasions. Ludovico is the person that commissioned the great bronze horse sculpture that Leonardo never got to finish. Michelangelo, who was not fond of Leonardo, made a point to insult him over the unfinished sculpture. When King Francis I captured Milan, he and Leonardo became great friends. He gave Leonardo a house in France, where Leonardo lived out the remaining 4 years of his life among his books and with a comfortable stipend from the king. Leonardo was interred in the chapel of Saint-Florentin at the Chateau d'Amboise in the Loire Valley. www.TeachBesideMe.com Mona Lisa or La Gioconda c.1503–05/07 Leonardo da Vinci Louvre, Paris, France www.TeachBesideMe.com Annunciation 1475–1480, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi www.TeachBesideMe.com Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni March 6, 1475 - February 18, 1564 Michaelangelo was born in a small town called Caprese near Arezzo. His family returned to Florence soon after his birth, and that is where he was raised. He spent much time with his nurse on his father's small farm in the town of Settignano and learned there how to work with marble at his father's marble quarry. His mother had a prolonged illness and died when Michelangelo was only 6. When Michelangelo was sent to Florence for schooling under Francesco da Urbino, he proved a very disinterested student and preferred the company of painters to his studies. He would often be found copying the paintings from churches. At 13, Michelangelo was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio.