Art History

Description

An old legend in the history of art suggests that Leonardo da Vinci invented oil painting. We no know that this is far from the truth. In fact, a generation before Leonardo was even born, artists in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders), were executing incredible works in oil paint. Please read the link below and answer the following questions:

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/optg/hd_optg.htm
(Links to an external site.)

Why was oil paint such an incredible innovation? What did it allow artists to do that they could not do in the past? Highlight one detail in one of the paintings in this chapter that exemplifies the use of oil paint.

Choose one of the following works of art: Robert Campin (Master of Flemalle) Merode Altarpiece, Jan Van Eyck Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, Jan Van Eyck The Ghent Altarpiece.

Using your notes from your reading and lecture, examine the “iconography” of one of these works of art. What symbolic representations are in the paintings? How do these small details relate to the meaning of the work as a whole?

Please use the following links for additional information:

Merode Altarpiece: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/56.70/
(Links to an external site.)

Arnolfini Wedding: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait
(Links to an external site.)

(Note: you need to click on the menu at the top and select “Description” and then “In Depth”)

Ghent Altarpiece: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ghnt/hd_ghnt.htm

Book website for citation: https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134485195/cfi/3!/4/2@100:0.00