The Liberation of St. Peter from Prison

The four walls of the room of Heliodorus display four of Raphael’s masterpieces. As I stood in the middle of a room originally intended for private audiences with the Pope, surrounded by Raphael, one piece managed to stand out; the Liberation of St. Peter from prison. In researching this peace I had learned that it was a revolutionary study in night lighting. A nighttime scene didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me when reading about it, after all they are pretty common now. However, Raphael was not only the first to explore the concept, but he mastered it. It is not simply that the lighting used in the painting is different from his others, or even how it feels like you are looking into the night sky, but the lighting helps portray the quietness of night and the miraculous event taking place. The light appears bright and luminous. It is awesome, and I don’t mean the “dude, awesome” way that word tends to be thrown around, but you look up at it and are in awe. I stood there in a silent gaze. The way Raphael captured the beauty of light shining in the darkness of night through the moonlit sky and the majestic light of the angel truly had to be new and revolutionary. 

-Allie

St. Lucy Altarpiece

My first thought walking up to the main panel of the St. Lucy Altarpiece was how much darker it is than what I had been expecting. But this in no way took away from the amazement that struck me as I noticed the great detail Veneziano put into this piece. While I had read that St. Lucy was holding her eyeballs (which according to tradition had been plucked out) on the tablet in her hand they are not clearly visible in photographs. Looking at the painting in person you are able to take in important details like St.Lucy’s eyes, as well as the intricate brushwork that went into creating the furs worn by John the Baptist and the bishop’s clothing. In the Bishop’s robe trim there is incredibly realistic beadwork that really feels three-dimensional. There is also a great deal of detail in the texture of the marble floor and the carpet below Mary. The thin halos used are also more evident in person and have a golden gleam. The detail in this painting is incredible. It held my attention for quite some time and I’m sure if I had studied the piece longer I would have noticed even more of these details. The other important thing to take note of in this piece is the use of the sacred conversation; the figures are engaged with one another. The saints are all responding to Mary. It helps to direct your eye to her and focus your attention on her. 

-Allie

The Sacrifice of Issac

We learned about the 1401 competition for the second bronze doors of the Florentine Baptistry, in class.  Yet it was something altogether different to see the competition panels in person.  Up close you can see the stark contrast of the Sacrifice of Issac from Ghiberti's panel to Flilippo Brunelleschi's.  Both depictions of Issac are skillful, in their own way, but the lightness and harmony conveyed by Ghiberti's panel is unmatched.  He shows a variation of depth, which helps the eye categorize the action.  Nothing competes with the central action, the sacrifice of Issac.  He also referneces ancient art in the servant pulling a thorn from his foot and Issac's idealized figure.  The action and movement all radiats from Abraham and Issac, radiating around the remainder of the work.  Where Brunelleschi's panel shows a single space, with competing figures that hardly fit the frame, and distracting action, Ghiberti's provides a harmonious and unified story that engages the viewer.  I found my eyes continuously returning to Ghiberti's work, captured by a Bible story brought to life.  In person, there is no doubt that Ghiberti's panel was rightfully chosen.

Raphael UP CLOSE

Being jam packed in one of the Pope's stuffy, library rooms in the Vatican Museum and surrounded by Raphael's paintings on all sides of you can be a little overwhelming to say the least. Looking up at specifically, the School of Athens and the Disputa showed a completely different view/angle of this work. I mean, that IS pretty obvious considering we were in a crowded room craning our necks up to see Raphael's masterpieces, as opposed to seeing an image of it straight on in a textbook. This, however, allowed us to see all the small details of the figures Raphael included in the piece. Studying them allowed for the overall view and look of it as a whole. Being up close, especially near the bottom of the paintings, one could appreciate the beauty in all the little details he added; it never demand any kind of attention. We could see more clearly what each philosopher/religious figure was doing or holding in the School of Athens, and in the Disputa, the worldly leaders and religious figures were seen more clearly and the Holy Sacraments that were set up in the center of the piece. It was just kind of awe-inspiring. You walk in thinking it's another room of the Vatican with some more paintings from other fairly famous artists... and then suddenly you realize you are surrounded by THE Raphael masterpieces that are oh, so talked and raved about :). It was a wonderful surprise despite the awful humidity we soaked our way through.

-Kelsey

Bellini at the Academia

So, the trip is over and we're back in the United States, catching up on sleep :). But, seeing as how we had a lot to do in Italy, we're catching up on all the things we had to say too. Our last stop of the trip was in Venice, home of the Academia museum. Works by one of the artist's I had studied, Gentile Bellini, were located in the museum, but it was his brother's work that caught my attention. Seeing the work of Giovanni Bellini, the better known of the two brothers, though surpassed in some respects by the brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, was more impressive in person than reading about it in a textbook. Giovanni painted a considerable number of Madonnas with child (surprise, surprise), but his works exhibit a new focus on the background landscape. Often, the subject is slightly off-center, revealing the background landscape behind a curtain. His painting are colorful with rich blues, greens, and reds. I think it was actually the distinct coloring and the softness of the brushstrokes that caught my attention and made me recognize the works as distinctly Bellini without reading the name cards (I guess that studying paid off)! I even spent a little bit of time in the museum trying to spot a Bellini and then see if I was correct. After realizing I could recognize a work as similar to Giovanni Bellini's without necessarily having seen it before i started thinking about what it was that was so distinctive to catch my attention. I think it was the soft and gentle expressions on the figures combined with the rich coloring. Although I had read about his characteristic gentle quality in the textbook, it wasn't until I saw the works in person that I realized this was one of the uniting themes in his body of work; I previously mistook gentleness to mean weakness rather than the rich yet quiet emotion able to coexist with the rich colors and life-filled faces.  

-Abbie

Raphael's Stanzas (Rome)

In Rome, we got the opportunity to see some of the greatest art of history including one of my favorite artists Raphael Sanzio. We went into the room of Rafael's Stanzas painted on four walls. It was a medium sized room, that was slightly smaller than I had imagined. It was interesting to see the interplay between the paintings that we had studied and read about. The school of Athens and theology stanzas fill the walls across from each other. They seemed to steal the show compared to other two. The mountain of Parnassus, was darker than I anticipated. There is a big door rising up in the center of it which detracts from its visual emphasis compared to the other perpendicular walls. The ceiling was also integrated well with the walls, providing a unified decorative scheme. The overall effect of the room was very grand and impressive. Even with the grand scale of the multi-figured scenes they don't overwhelm the viewer, but rather they maintain rational groupings that function quite effectively.

-Kevin

Botticelli's madonna with Child and five angels (florence)

Looking through the artworks from the 1300-1500's its safe to say that the most commonly painted subject is the Madonna and child. Generally the artist seem to play it safe rather than innovating, with similar, straightforward compositions. Getting through the italio-byzantine and Gothic depictions before going to the Uffizi made Botticelli's Madonna and child seem a breath of fresh air. It keeps some of the traditional elements of gilding and the striated rays, but adds renaissance perspective and realism of the figures. I enjoy the brilliant colors the and the transparent draping banner. Though the composition is still focused on Mary and the child slightly to the right of the center, the use of line and the gesturing of the five angels keeps your eyes moving in a dynamic way. This piece was brighter in real life than most of the pictures I have seen of it, and thee details are definitely more impacting.

-Kevin