AP Art History Chapter 20 Study Guide

  Here is the answer key for the "Gardner's Art Through Ages" chapter 20 study guide. This will be a big, BIG help to review for the AP Art History exam. Pss, I got a 5 on the exam with the help of this study guide!

PIETY, PASSION, AND POLITICS

FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ART IN NORTHERN EUROPE AND SPAIN

TEXT PAGES  544-571

 List two factors that contributed to the development of cities in the fifteenth century:

a. The migration of a significant portion of the rural population to urban centers.

b.The thriving commerce, industry, and finance of Europe’s economic development, spurred by the first international commercial stock exchange.

FRENCH MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATION

1. What is a Book of Hours? A book used for reciting prayers. They replaced

traditional psalters, which had been the only liturgical books in private hands until the mid-13^th century. The centerpiece was the Office of the Blessed Virgin, which contained liturgical passages to be read privately at set times during the day. An illustrated calendar containing local religious feast days usually proceeded the Office. Penitential psalms, devotional prayers, litanies to the saints, and other prayers followed the centerpiece.

2. Name the artists who illuminated the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry shown in FIGS 20-1 and 20-2: The three Limbourg Brothers, Pol (possibly Paul), Hennequin (possibly Jean or Jan), and Herman.

3. Describe the stylistic characteristics that link the illuminations done by the Limbourg brothers with fourteenth-century Sienese painting:

a. Growing artistic interest in naturalism.

b. Close observation of the natural world and

c. Convincing shadows cast by the people and objects.

      d. Depiction of a perceptual reality, as shown by the architectural detail.

15^TH CENTURY FLEMISH ART

1. Name two northern dukes who are generally considered to have been the greatest patrons of the arts in northern Europe in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries:

      a. Philip the Bold                                   b. Duc du Berry (Duke of Berry).

2. What was the symbolic meaning of the Well of Moses at the Chartresuse de Champmol (FIG. 20-3)?

A symbolic fountain of life, with the Blood of Christ flowing down over the Old Testament prophets, washing away their sins into the well below. It represents the promise of everlasting life.

3. What new feature is seen in Broderlam’s wings from the Retable de Champmol (FIG. 20-4)?

The multi-image format allowed artists to construct narratives through a sequence of images, somewhat like manuscript illumination.

      Name two medieval conventions he retains:

a. Flat gold background.

b. Staid treatment of figures and the traditional halos.

4. Define the following terms:

polyptych

Hinged multipanel paintings.

retable

An architectural screen or wall above and behind an altar, usually containing painting, sculpture, carving, or other decorations.

triptych

      A three-paneled painting or altarpiece.

5. What is the general theme of the Ghent Altarpiece (FIGS. 20-5 and 20-6)?

      Humanity’s Redemption.

      Write the subjects of the various panels in the corresponding spaces below:

Top:

Adam – a choir of angels - Mary (Queen of Heaven) - God the Father – St. John the Baptist – an angel playing the organ - Eve

Bottom:

Judges - knights - community of saints from the four corners of the earth proceeding toward the altar of the Lamb (the sacrificed Son of God) and the octagonal fountain of life – hermits – pilgrims

 What is symbolized by the following groups on the lower wings?

      hermits:  ____Temperance____            judges: ____Justice______________

      pilgrims: ____Prudence______            knights: ___Fortitude____________

6.What painting technique was perfected by fifteenth-century Flemish painters?

      Oil.

      Briefly describe the technique:

Layers are laid down in transparent glazes over opaque or semiopaque underlayers. Painters could build up deep tones through repeated glazing.

      In what respects did it prove superior to the tempera technique?

Oils dry more uniformly and slowly, providing the artist more time to rework areas and permitting the mixing of pigments.

7. In contrast to the complex symbolism of Jan van Eyck, what did Rogier van der Weyden stress in his paintings?

      Human action and drama.

      List three characteristics of his style:

a. The figures and action are compressed onto a shallow stage to concentrate the observer’s attention.

b. Crisp drawing and precise modeling of forms.

c. Compositional unity is created through a series of lateral undulating movements, strengthened by psychological means, namely the anguish shared by many figures.

8. Describe the role played by the Guild of Saint Luke in the life of the northern painters in the fifteenth century and the way in which a young man attained membership in the guild:

As in Italy, boys were apprenticed to a master at an early age. The master taught the fundamentals of the craft: how to make implements, how to prepare panels, and how to mix colors, oils, and varnishes. Once he mastered these techniques, a painter worked as a journeyman in various cities, learning from other masters. He was then eligible to become a master and applied for admission to the guild. He obtained commissions through the guild. The guild also inspected his paintings to ensure that he used quality materials and to evaluate workmanship.

9. How did most women artists receive their training during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?

      From their husbands and fathers who were painters.

10. Name the two fifteenth-century Flemish painters who demonstrated the greatest interest in the depiction of space and cubic form.

      a. Dirk Bouts                                           b. Hugo van der Goes

11. Scholars believe that Dirk Bouts was the first northern artist to utilize a single vanishing point for construction of an architectural interior.

12. What is the symbolic meaning of the following items in the central panel of the Portinari Altarpiece (FIG. 20-10)?

Iris and columbine:

The Sorrows of the Virgin.

Sheaf of wheat:

Bethlehem (“house of bread” in Hebrew).

Harp of David:

      The ancestry of Christ.

13. In what sort of subject matter did Hans Memling specialize?

      Images of the Madonna.

      Briefly describe his style:

The Madonna is a young, slight, pretty princess holding a doll-like Christ. The pictorial style is opulent with rich, luminous colors, carefully depicted tapestries, and serene figures.  The composition is balanced and serene.  The execution is of the highest technical quality.

14. List two factors that contributed to the great demand for images for private devotion:

a. Dissatisfaction with the clergy.

b. Popular reform movements advocated personal devotion.

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

      Biblical scenes were often presented as happening in a Flemish house.

16. Who was the Master of Flémalle?

      Robert Campin.

      List three characteristics of his style:

a. Every object functions as a religious symbol.

b. Attention to detail: carefully rendered architecture and the carpenter’s shop is inventoried completely.

c. The Mérode Altarpiece is personalized to the patron with references to the patron’s name and his wife’s name, and the setting is definitively Flemish.

17. What do the book, candle, water jug and towels symbolize in the Mérode Altarpiece (FIG. 20-12)?

      Mary’s purity and divine mission.

18. What is the probable purpose of the painting Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride (FIG. 20-13)?

Most think it is to record and sanctify the marriage; other think Arnolfini is conferring legal privileges to his wife to conduct business in his absence.

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

a. Whisk broom--symbolic of domestic care.

b. Oranges--fertility.

      c. The single candle in the chandelier--God’s all-seeing eye.

      d. The dog--fidelity.

19. What is the setting of Christus’ painting that is identified with the legend of Saint Eligius (FIG. 20-15)?

Saint Eligius was a master goldsmith before committing his life to God. The painting is set in a goldsmith’s shop.

Who might have commissioned it?

      The guild of goldsmiths for their guild chapel.

20. What is new and significant about the pose of the Man in a Red Turban (FIG. 20-16)?

This is the first Western painted portrait where the subject looks directly at the viewer.

21. List the Flemish characteristics of Rogier’s Portrait of a Lady (FIG. 20-17) that distinguish it from the work of Italian artists such as Ghirlandaio (FIG. 21-31)

a. Her demeanor seems pious and reserved rather than stern or simply uncharacterized.

b. Three-quarters view instead of a formal profile.

c. Little emphasis on surface detail; instead, he defined large, simple planes and volumes, achieving an effect of dignity and grace.

22. What are the primary subjects of the panels of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (FIG. 20-18)?

      Left:  God presenting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Center: Nude people cavorting in a landscape dotted with bizarre creatures and objects that suggest procreation. Might be a Last Judgment scene.

Right: The horrors of Hell.

Exterior: It is in the form of a triptych.

15^TH CENTURY FRENCH ART
List two features of Fouquet’s panel (FIG. 20-19) that are similar to Flemish donor portraits:

a. The donor appears in the left panel with his patron saint. The donor is kneeling with hands clasped in prayer, and the saint appears with the instrument of his martyrdom.

b. The three-quarter stances of the figures and the clear, sharp focus.

15^TH CENTURY GERMAN ART

1. Name two groups of people who were the primary patrons in fifteenth century
Germany:

      a.  Wealthy merchants.                                                  b. Clergy.

2. Describe the stylistic features that differentiate Lochner’s version of the Madonna in the Rose Garden (FIG. 20-20) with Giotto’s Madonna Enthroned (FIG. 19-7).

The Madonna is in a garden rather than a throne, and is more informally portrayed (sitting on the ground) than an imposing queen in an architectural frame. The ground tilts steeply up, while there is no ground at all in the Giotto. The angels are cherubs rather than full-grown adults.

3. List three characteristics of the style of Konrad Witz:

a. Skillful depiction of water effects.

b. Extremely careful depiction of landscape, one of the first depicting a specific site.

      c. Figures are emotional and natural.

4. What subject did Stoss depict in the center of the Krakow altarpiece (FIG. 20-22)?

The Virgin’s death and Assumption.

      List three typical Late Gothic characteristics of his style:

a. Realism in every minute detail.

b. The figures are engulfed in twisting, writing drapery that unites the whole tableau in emotion.

c.  The massing of sharp, broken, and pierced forms that dart flamelike through the composition recalls Late Gothic architecture.

5. What mood is most typically expressed in the figures carved by Riemenschneider  (FIG. 20-23)? Psychic strain.

6. Define the following terms associated with graphics:

burin An incising tool used to scratch onto copper plates for relief prints.

Engraving The process of manually incising an image onto a copper plate.

Etching Chemicals are used to create an image on a copper plate for relief printing. The plate is put in an acid bath that eats into the exposed parts of the plate. When the plate is inked and then wiped clean, the ink is forced into the incisions.

Intaglio A positive relief process. An artist incises or scratches an image on a metal plate, often copper, either manually (engraving) or with chemicals (etching). The incised plate and paper are run through a roller press, and the paper absorbs the remaining ink.

Relief Artists carve into a surface, usually wood. An image is created in a negative or positive method. Negative reliefs require removing the surface area around the image; when the surface is inked, the carved-out area remains clean and a positive image is formed when the block is pressed against paper.

woodcut  Relief images that tend to exhibit stark contrasts and sharp edges because it is difficult to create very thin, fluid and closely spaced lines in a subtractive process. Using a gouging instrument, artists remove sections of wood blocks, sawing along the grain. The ridges that are left are inked and press the image onto the paper.

7. What is the Nuremberg Chronicle?

      A history of the world produced in the shop of Michel Wolgemut in Nuremburg.

      What technique was used to produce it?

      The newly-invented letterpress and hand-colored woodcut prints.

8. In what medium did Martin Schongauer work? Metal engraving.

      Briefly characterize his style:

      He created marvelous distinctions of tonal values and textures through hatching.

15^TH CENTRY SPANISH ART

1. Name and describe the architectural style that was popular in Spain during the late 15^th and 16^th centuries:

            Plateresque. It  featured conspicuously decorative exteriors that bear no functional relation to the underlying architectural forms. The intertwined, lacelike tracery is reminiscent of Moorish design.