Aegina temple (pediments):

Late Archaic Doric temple, located in a complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the island Aigina in the Saronic Gulf.  Aphaia was worshipped exclusively at this sanctuary. The extant temple of 500 BC was built over the remains of an earlier temple (570 BC); it employs an unusual plan, its 2 pediments (East & West) illustrate the change from Archaic to Early Classical technique.  Each pediment is centred on the figure of Athena, with groups of combatants, fallen warriors, and arms filling the decreasing angles of the pediments.  Both have a common theme: the greatness of Aigina as shown by the exploits of local heroes in the 2 Trojan wars, one led by Heracles against Laomedon and a 2nd led by Agamemnon against Priam.   Zeus raped the nymph Aigina, who bore the first king of the island, Aiakos, he has 2 sons: Telamon (father of Ajax) and Peleus (father of Achilles).  The Greek idolized heroes who fell in battle, a great honour, reflecting courage & strength. When a hero died they become immortal.  The sculptures preserve extensive traces of a complex paint scheme & are finished even on the back (non-visible) surfaces

And see above page 226.

 

The François Vase (procession of Gods): * see endnote<A>

large Attic volute krater, black-figure style, dated 570 BC, 66 cm in high; used for wine & water; a milestone in development of Greek pottery due to the drawing style & combination of related stories depicted in the numerous friezes; found in central Italy (Chiusi).  Possibly made for a symposium given by a member of an aristocratic family in Solonian Athens (wedding?), broken & after careful repair sent to Etruria as an elite gift. It depicts 270 figures, 121 of which have accompanying inscriptions, highly unusual for so many to be identified; its scenes represent a number of mythological themes.

 

Frieze of the Giants (Pergamum):

See Chapter VI page 205

 

the Telephus Frieze (Pergamum): * see Endnote<B>

sculptural relief, in 74 panels (47 survived),  narrates in chronological order the life of Telephus, hero of Greek mythology (known from tragedies of Aischylos, Sophocles & Euripides-5th century BC); constructed between 170 BC to 159 BC (the death of Eumenes II).  With only a limited amount of space available in the upper, internal courtyard where the actual fire altar was located, it was carved on slabs shallower than those of the Gigantomachy.  Its dimensions were more modest & arranged on a smaller scale; height was 1.58 meters, originally painted (no significant traces of colour remain). There were several technical innovations for the time: the figures are staggered in depth; architectural elements are used to indicate activities taking placed indoors, & landscapes are lush & scenic.  These new ways of depicting spatial arrangements set the tone for Late Hellenistic and Roman times. 

 

Orlando Lasso:

See above page 230

 

Palestrina:

See above pages 220 and 230

 

Wagner:

See Chapter I page 35, 45, Chapter III pages 97, 111 and above pages 220, 222, 223

 

Titian:

See Chapter III page 108 and above page 221, 226

 

Manet:

See Chapter I page 35

 

Marees:

1837-87, German painter, initially specialising in portraiture, later turned to mythological subjects. In 1873 he decorated the library walls of the newly built German Marine Zoological Institute (Naples, Italy), murals consist of 5 scenes depicting figures in landscapes set into a framework of friezes & pilasters.  Without specific symbolic or mythological motif, Marees said they express "the joys of sea and beach life".  The next year he moved to Florence & became acquainted with Anselm Feuerbach and Arnold Böcklin, leading members of the "German Romans", a group of idealist, intellectual artists.  He turned to mythological subjects & developed a complex and individual technique, over painting tempera with layers of oil and creating a depth of colour quite unlike the muted tones used by his fellow classicist, Feuerbach.  In the 1880s he painted 4 monumental triptychs: The Judgment of Paris, The Hesperides, Three Saints on Horseback and The Wooing.

 

Leibl:

1844-1900, German realist painter of portraits & scenes of peasant life; entered Munich Academy in 1864  & set up a group studio in 1869.  At this time Courbet visited Munich, demonstrating alla prima (painting directly from nature) & impressing many local artists.  In 1869, following Courbet's suggestion, Leibl went to Paris, & was introduced to Manet.  He returned to Germany in 1870 owing to the Franco-Prussian War.  In 1873 he left Munich for the Bavarian countryside where he depicted the local peasants in everyday scenes devoid of sentimentality or anecdote. The sketch like quality of his earlier paintings was replaced by greater precision & attention to drawing.  From 1878 to 1882 he painted his best-known work, the Three Women in Church; he employed an intensely realistic style (recalling Hans Holbein in its clarity of definition).   His paintings united the disciplined drawing he had adopted in the 1880s with a new delicacy and luminosity.  He painted without preliminary drawing, setting to work directly with colour, an approach similar to Impressionism.  His commitment to the representation of reality as the eye sees it earned him recognition in his lifetime as the preeminent artist of a group known as the Leibl Circle.

 

Maderna [sic- Maderno] (sculpture):

1576-1636, Italian sculptor; elected to the Accademia di San Luca (1607), became the  pre-eminent sculptor of his generation, later eclipsed by Bernini.  His reputation established by the un-posed, naturalistic recumbent marble of Santa Cecilia (Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere); the saint's tomb was opened in 1599, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato commissioned a 23 year old Maderno to recreate the martyr's body in marble; with a simple sweeping outline & a stark pose, reaction against the hectic complications of Mannerism (compare this to the passionately theatrical sculpture by Bernini); a graphic representation of an uncorrupted corpse, positioned just as it had been found.  He also provided a marble Prudence (tomb of Michele Bonelli, Cardinale Alessandrino, in Santa Maria sopra Minerva).

 

Goujon (sculpture):

1510-65, French sculptor & architect.  Worked 1544-47 at the Château d’Ecouen for the connétable de Montmorency.  In 1547 sculptor to Henry II; the next years worked at the Château of Anet.  In 1555 imprisoned at Ecouen.  His most famous works are the sculptural decorations made in collaboration with Lescot for the western extension of the Louvre (1555-62).   A Huguenot, in 1562 he escaped the French Wars of Religion by exiling himself to Italy.  He is an excellent representative of Mannerism in France, his figures are elongated, sensual & fluid; his drapery reveals knowledge of Greek sculpture (not first-hand however).  The purity and gracefulness of his style were disseminated throughout France by engravings by artists of the School of Fontainebleau and had an influence in the decorative arts.

 

Puget (sculpture):  * see endnote<C>

1622-94, French sculptor, enjoyed long career engaged in many things beyond sculpture (painter, architect & naval engineer); regarded as a classical sculptor& an ancestor of romanticism.  His sculpture reflects a full awareness of Michelangelo, Giambologna, Bernini as well as antiquity.  They are full of emotion, pathos & drama, quite distinct from the more classical & academic Louis XIV Style.  In 1655 he received his first major commission, a porch (for the Toulon town hall), it uses muscular caryatids whose faces & postures vividly expressed their struggle with the weight on their shoulders; finished 1657.  This made him a celebrated sculptor.  Invited to Paris & commissioned to sculpt 2 statues, representing Hercules, and Earth and Janus.  In 1660 Nicolas Fouquet (Finance Minister for Louis XIV) commissioned him to sculpt the marble garden statues for Vaux-le-Vicomte.  Colbert (secretary to Cardinal Mazarin) also offered commissions but was refused.  When Fouquet fell in 1661 Puget’s work (Hercules of Gaul) were sent to Colbert's Château de Sceaux.  Puget then travelled to Rome & Genoa where he produced 2 monumental statues of St. Sebastian (1663-68) & Bishop Alexander Paoli, for the pillars of the church of Santa Maria di Carignano; they reflect the influence of Bernini.  In 1672 Puget finally broke into the exclusive circle of sculptors receiving royal commissions for Versailles: Colbert ordered 2 statues- Milon of Croton (1682) & the bas-relief Alexander & Diogenes (1685).  Puget was occupied with work for the city of Marseille & did not complete these for many years.  Puget by now had begun another monumental statue for Versailles, Andromeda (completed 1684).  Even at the advanced age of 60 he carried the chisel. 

 

Schluter (sculpture):

1659-1714, German sculptor & architect; active in Berlin, a city his architecture helped establish as an important centre of German Baroque art.  Also worked in Warsaw & Russia.  He was influenced by Bernini, as well as Michelangelo & Girardon.  His first known work, decoration of the facade of St Johannis Chapel, Danzig, was carried out in 1681.  He was active in Warsaw 1689-93.  The quality of his work was recognised in court & and in 1694 he was recalled to Berlin as court sculptor to Frederick III.  His sculpted at the Berlin armoury is a masterpiece of baroque expression & pathos.  The visible reliefs on the outside praised war, the statues of dying warriors in the interior denounced it, reflecting his pacifist religious beliefs (he is said to have been a Mennonite).  His most famous sculpture was produced at this time, the bronze equestrian statue of Frederick William the Great (1708).  In 1713 Schlüter's fame brought him to work for Tsar Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg, where he died of an illness after creating several designs.

 

Leonardo (sculpture): * see endnote<D>

He was educated in the studio of Florentine Andrea del Verrocchio, who achieved fame as a sculptor, famous for his Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice.  Despite this background Leonardo produced no sculptures.  The only 2 known sculptural projects on which he worked were not realized; the huge, bronze equestrian statue for Francesco Sforza (1489-94) & the monument for Marshal Trivulzio (1506–11) were never completed.  The closest we come to capturing Leonardo’s sculptures is thru his student Giovanni Francesco Rustici.  His small bronze statue of a galloping horseman in Budapest is so close to Leonardo’s style that it must have been done under his immediate influence.  Rustici also enjoyed Leonardo’s help with his large group in bronze, St. John the Baptist Teaching, over the north door of the Baptistery in Florence.

 

Michelangelo (the later sculptors): * see endnote<E>

Two famous pieces produced in his advancing years reflect a change in style & temperament: The Deposition and The Rondanini Pietà.  Both were unfinished. Neither appears compatible with David or the Pietà.

Matthew Passion (Bach):

sacred oratorio (The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew), performed 1727 for solo voices, double choir & double orchestra, with libretto by Picander; sets Gospel of Matthew chapters 26 & 27 to music, with interspersed chorales and arias; regarded as a masterpieces of classical sacred music.  The biblical text is simple presented, primarily using recitative, while aria & arioso movements set poetic texts which comment on the various events in the narrative presenting the characters' states of mind in a lyrical, monologue-like manner.  Two distinctive aspects of this work are: first the double-choir format, secondly the extensive use of chorales, which appear in standard 4-part settings, as interpolations in arias, and as a cantus firmus in large polyphonic movements

 

Bernini:

See Chapter II page 87, Chapter VI page 197

 

masters of the contemporary Spanish school: * see Endnote<F>

reference to 17th century Spanish sculpture, the schools at Granada & Seville, both producing notable works in the 17th century, contemporary to Bernini.  Although separate, these schools had a considerable amount of interchange between artists & workshops.  For instance Rojas (1549-1611) influenced both schools in Seville & Granada and would teach Juan Martínez Montañés (1568-1649). Montañés would go onto teach Cano (1601-67).

 

Pigalle:

1714 -85, French sculptor born in Paris.  He failed to obtain the Prix de Rome, but after a severe struggle he entered the Académie Royale to become one of the most popular sculptors of his day. His earlier works, such as Child with Cage (model at Sèvres) and Mercury Fastening his Sandals (Berlin & lead cast in Louvre) are less commonplace than that of his more mature years.  Notable for his nude statue of Voltaire (1776), and his tombs of Comte d'Harcourt (Notre Dame de Paris, 1764) and of Marshal Saxe (Saint-Thomas Lutheran church, Strasbourg, 1777).

 

Rodin:

1840-1917, French sculptor, considered the progenitor of modern sculpture; he was schooled traditionally, took a craftsman-like approach & desired academic recognition although never accepted into Paris's foremost school of art.  During his life his sculptures were criticized as they clashed with predominant figurative sculpture traditions (where works were decorative, formulaic, or highly thematic).  Although sensitive to controversy he refused to change his style.  He avoided traditional themes based on mythology & allegory; instead his original work modelled the human body with realism & celebrated individual character & physicality.  Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, deeply pocketed surface in clay.  Later works brought increasing favour from the government and the artistic community.  From the unexpected realism of his first major figure  (inspired by his 1875 trip to Italy) to the unconventional memorials whose commissions he later sought, Rodin's reputation grew, and he became the preeminent French sculptor of his time, by 1900, a world-renowned artist.