Art History

Examine one artwork selected from the list below. Once you have chosen the work, you should: 1. Conduct a close visual analysis of the work, utilizing the skills that you have gained from the course so far. TIP: Find a large illustration that you can use for closer study; the TAs will show you how to use ARTstor, a great resource for high-quality digital images. 2. Read carefully the section of GARDNER concerning the work you have chosen. To give yourself some context, you should read the chapter in which the work is illustrated as well as the specific text on your image or object. 3. Find at least two scholarly texts about the work you have chosen that allow you to delve more deeply into the work’s meaning and significance. These can be articles or book chapters. The TAs will introduce some library databases that can help you find relevant sources. Wikipedia is not a valid source. While online sources might be considered as a starting point or for personal reference, only articles that have been published in a book or journal may be used for your paper. 4. Write a five-page paper. Your paper should be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and in a 12-point font. Please do not go over five pages! Be sure to use endnotes (not counted towards the required number of pages). When citing sources in the endnotes, you may choose any style guide you prefer, as long as you are consistent. Begin your paper with a close visual analysis, and combine this with what you have learned from GARDNER and from your scholarly sources. Use the skills in reading scholarly essays that you have practiced in section. Think hard about how your close visual analysis relates to what you are reading, and work with the following questions: a. Consider how the visual analyses in your scholarly texts are employed to support claims and drive arguments. What other sorts of evidence are employed (evidence from religious history, period literature, etc.)? b. Evaluate the success of the arguments and conclusions in your scholarly texts. How well do they relate to the readings of artworks offered, and how compelling/convincing are they? c. Does your own visual analysis of the artworks discussed in the scholarly texts— and what you have learned so far in the course—support or conflict with the author’s readings and conclusions? List of Possible Paper Topics: 1. Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered wool on linen, Bayeux, France, ca. 1070–80 (GARDNER, figs. 12-40 and 12-41). 2. Pentecost and Mission of the Apostles, tympanum of the center portal of La Madelaine, Vézelay, France, 1120–35 (GARDNER, fig. 12-16). 3. Bamberg Rider, sandstone, Bamberg Cathedral, Germany, ca. 1235–40 (GARDNER, fig. 13-49). 4. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Effects of Good Government in the City and in the Country, fresco, Sala della Pace, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy, 1338–39 (GARDNER, fig. 14-17). 5. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, oil on wood, 1427–32 (GARDNER, fig. 20-4). 6. Hugo van der Goes, Adoration of the Shepherds (Portinari Altarpiece), tempera and oil on wood, from Sant’Egidio, Florence, Italy, ca. 1473–78 (GARDNER, fig. 20-12). 7. Piero della Francesca, Flagellation, oil and tempera on wood, ca. 1455–65 (GARDNER, fig. 21-44A). 8. Michelangelo Buonarroti, New Sacristy (Medici Chapel) (sculptures or whole chapel), San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy, 1519–34 (GARDNER, fig. 22-16). 9. Donato d’Angelo Bramante, Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, Italy, begun 1502 (GARDNER, fig. 22-21). 10. Giorgione da Castelfranco, The Tempest, oil on canvas, ca. 1509–10 (GARDNER, fig