<A>
Ravenna (buildings- Byzantine cum Saracen): *
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia reflects the Byzantine heritage of Ravenna. Mosaics cover the walls of the vault, the lunettes and the cupola. The iconographic themes developed in the decorations represent the victory of eternal life over death. It is laid out in a cruciform floor plan, with a central dome on pendentives & barrel vaults over the 4 transepts. The exterior of the dome is enclosed in a square tower that rises above the gabled lateral wings. The brick surface is set with narrow mortar joints and decorated with blind arcades. The interior is covered with rich Byzantine mosaics; light enters through alabaster window panels. The inside contains two famous mosaic lunettes; the rest of the interior is filled with mosaics of Christian and Apocalyptic symbols. The central bay's upper walls are decorated with 8 apostles, including St. Peter & St. Paul, acclaiming a giant gold cross in the centre of the dome against a blue sky of stars. Symbols of the 4 evangelists float among the clouds. The other 4 appear in the barrel vaults of the transepts
<B>
Venice (buildings Byzantine cum Saracen): *
The Doge's Palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the Venetian Republic. The earliest structure was built in the 9th century; it has been re-built numerous times over the centuries. The main facade dates from 1309-1424, designed by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. The whole scheme of columned & pointed arcades, with its combination of carved capitals and long horizontal lines of open tracery, is a unique design. The facades (length 500 ft) has open arcades in the 2 lower storeys, the 3rd storey was rebuilt after a fire in the 16th century, & extends over the arcades. It is faced with white & rose-coloured marble, resembling ornate windows and finished with a lace-like parapet of oriental cresting. Originally the arcade columns stood on a stylobate of 3 steps. The sturdy continuous tracery of the 2nd tier of arcades lends an appearance of strength to the open arches. The capitals of the columns, especially the angle capital are celebrated for the delicate carving in low-grained marble.
<C>
Court of the Lions (Alhambra): *
The Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones) is an oblong courtyard, 116 ft x 66 ft, surrounded by a low gallery supported on 124 white marble columns, a pavilion projects into the court at each extremity, with filigree walls and a light domed roof. The square is paved with coloured tiles and the colonnade with white marble, while the walls are covered 5 ft up from the ground with blue and yellow tiles, with a border above and below of enamelled blue and gold. The columns supporting the roof and gallery are irregularly placed. They are adorned by varieties of foliage, about each arch there is a large square of stucco arabesques; and over the pillars is another stucco square of filigree work.
<D>
Kings'heads" (Chartres): *
The west portal of Chartres Cathedral, the Royal Portal, was built under the tenure of Bishop Ivo (1090–1116) as part of the campaign to beautify the cathedral. The Royal Portal was a remarkable fusion of formal design with iconographical presentation. The harmonious appearance of the façade is due to the 7:10:7 proportions of the central and 2 lateral portals. This ratio (10:7) is the medieval approximation of the square root of 2. These numbers are represented by the corbels over each door & by the number of column statues on the embrasures. The side portals have the odd arrangement of 3 figures on one side confronting 4 on the other. At this level the divisions between the portals are unimportant. The capitals form continuous friezes, running outward in both directions from the centre. Collectively the 24 column statues represent the Old Testament, while the capitals narrate episodes from the lives of Christ & the Virgin. This horizontal division is fundamental to the iconography. The whole ensemble is thoroughly didactic & encyclopaedic with a style that has a formal rigour to match. It is relieved occasionally by the first softening touches of humanism to appear in medieval sculpture. Delicate modulation of anatomy & rapt expressions verging on smiles raise some of the column statues to the level of great art & justify their reputation. Scholars are agree on the superlative quality of the column statues of the central doorway, which are distinguished from the others by being attributed to the so-called Headmaster, but the relationship of these statues to the rest depends on theory. Other sculptors at Chartres can be traced to Etampes & Saint-Denis Abbey. Relative to the Headmaster, these latter sculptor are somewhat clumsy & may belong to an earlier generation of artists. For all his sophistication & subtle technique the Headmaster still was governed by the mathematical discipline of the overall design far more closely than his colleagues.
<E>
Bamberg cathedral (George choir): *
The east chancel, elevated due to the presence of a crypt beneath, is dedicated to St. George which symbolizes the Holy Roman Empire. Of the figures adorning the southern choir screen, the first three apostles pairs are attributed to the stonemasons who made the Gnadenpforte (see below). The others and the twelve prophets on the northern screen reflect a later style. The choir stalls with carved chimeras and lions date from the 14th century. The west chancel is dedicated to St. Peter symbolizing the Pope.
<F>
Ghiberti: *
Ghiberti & 6 others entered the competition in 1401 for the pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery. The artists were tasked to represent the sacrifice of Isaac in a bronze relief of quatrefoil shape. Ghiberti’s panel displayed a graceful & lively composition executed with a mastery of the goldsmith’s art & in 1402 he was selected, a decision bringing recognition & prominence; the contract was signed in 1403 & in 1407 he took over the commission. The work on the doors lasted until 1424, over 20 years of work & the major sculptural complex of the International Gothic style in Italy. They show some changes in the latest parts, to a more classical style that emphasizes the bodies of figures more than the elegant draperies that enfold them. Ghiberti created expressive, strong faces based on ancient Roman art, portrait busts & carved sarcophagi. His success led to a contract for a second pair (cathedral Baptistery east side), though this was delayed by 5 years. He now embarked on a decade of exploration of new ways of forming pictorial space & making gracefully active & lifelike figures. His works of the late 1420s show him able to use space increasingly intelligible in a series of clearly receding planes; using shallow relief, he depicted volumes of bodies & deep architectural spaces. Examples are the reliefs in Siena; the Dati Tomb (the bronze plaque for the floor tomb of the Dominican general Leonardo Dati); and the 2 shrines in Florence, Cassa di San Zenobius (a bronze casket with relief panels of stories from the saint’s life) and Shrine of SS. Protus, Hyacinth, and Nemesius (a bronze container for the relics of 3 martyrs). In the late 1420s he met Leon Battista Alberti, a young humanist scholar who was composing theoretical treatises on the visual arts. They both believed that beauty was synonymous with antique art. They felt this art idealized nature; capturing its essence & revealing life by depicting movement, life’s most salient visible characteristic. For the representation of a realistic spatial setting, Alberti’s treatise sets forth a perspective system for projecting such spaces onto the picture plane of a painting or bas-relief. Ghiberti’s 3 panels of the second east Baptistery door (the Gates of Paradise, frames for Isaac, Joseph & Solomon) are the visual equivalent of those ideas, the embodiment of the humanist’s formulations for Renaissance pictorial art.
​
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
The story of Joseph, a panel from the second set of doors to the Baptistery