Semper:

Gottfried (1803 –1879), German architect, art critic, & professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden (1838-41).  His Four Elements of Architecture was a universal theory of architecture based in archaeology.  It used a classification based NOT on a specific typology & stressed functionalism as a prerequisite to intentionality. His unrealised design for a Munich opera house was (without permission) adapted by Wagner for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

 

Darwin:

see Chapters I page 35, Chapter III pages 105, 109.

 

materialists:

philosophical monism holding that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, all things, including mental aspects & consciousness are results of material interactions; matter & the laws that govern it constitute the most reliable guide to the nature of mind & consciousness; contradicts Idealism which considers mind & consciousness as first-order realities to which matter is subject & secondary.  Origins with the French cleric Pierre Gassendi (1592–1665) in opposition to Descartes (1596–1650) & his dualist foundations for the natural sciences.  Gassendi was followed by the Encyclopedist Diderot (1713–1784) & other French Enlightenment thinkers.  The German materialist & atheist anthropologist Feuerbach presented a humanist account of religion as the outward projection of man's inward nature (The Essence of Christianity, 1841).  He influenced Marx, who elaborated the concept of historical materialism, the basis for scientific socialism.

 

Raphael: * see Endnote <A>

see Chapter III page 109, IV page 136;

 

Titian: * see Endnote <A>

see Chapter III page 108

 

Giotto: * see Endnote <B>

see Chapter VI, page 192, page 212

 

Mantegna: * see Endnote <B>

1431-1506, Italian painter, a student of Roman archaeology, son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.  Like other 15th century artists he experimented with perspective (lowering the horizon to create a sense of greater monumentality.  His flinty, metallic landscapes & stony figures reflects a sculptural approach to painting.  His Venetian workshop was the leading producer of prints pre 1500.

 

Vermeer: * see Endnote <B>

1632-75, Dutch painter, specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life.  In his lifetime moderately successful provincial genre painter but not wealthy, leaving his wife & children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.  He worked slowly & used very expensive pigments; renowned for his masterly treatment & use of light in his work.

 

Goya: * see Endnote <B>

1746- 1828, Spanish romantic painter & printmaker, most important late 18th century Spanish artist; throughout his long career was a commentator & chronicler of his era.  Immensely successful, considered last of the Old Masters, first of the moderns. Also one of the great contemporary portraitists.

 

Polygnotus (frescos): * see Endnotes<C>

see Chapter III  page 112, Chapter VI page 183

 

Ravenna (mosaics): * see Endnotes<C>

see Chapter II page 72; Chapter VI pages 211, 214 & 216

 

etchings: * see Endnotes<D>

process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal.  As a method of printmaking, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints,

 

Fra Angelico: * see Endnotes D

 1395-1455, Early Renaissance Italian painter; Described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent".  In 1439 he completed the famous Altarpiece for St. Marco's, Florence dealing with a common subject (the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints) but the treatment is unusual: rather than a heaven like environment with hovering angles, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if about to converse on their shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory.

​

proto Corinthian vase painting: * see Endnote E

Greek pottery style that flourished at Corinth in the Oriental period (725– 600 BC); most were miniature in size, first to be decorated in the black-figure painting technique: figure silhouettes drawn in black, filled in with incised details. The principal motifs, which mirror Middle Eastern styles, are animals in procession and human figures, sometimes in mythical scenes. The small aryballos (scent or oil bottle) is an especially common shape.

 

Gothic cathedral window: * see Endnote E

see Chapter VI, page 214

 

Egyptian relief: * see Endnote F

see Chapter VI, pages 189, page 202, 206, 213

 

Parthenon relief: * see Endnote F

see Chapter II, pages 72, 81

 

physiological:

dealing with the functions & activities of living organisms and their parts, including all physical and chemical processes; the organic processes or functions in an organism or in any of its parts

​

art-genus:

genus in biology refers to the major subdivision of a family or subfamily in the classification of organisms, usually consisting of more than one species; here Spengler refers to the class of art, meaning that “art” relates & reflects a specific Culture/Civilizations, not to art itself as a universal.

 

Donatello statue: * see Endnote G

1386-1466, Italian Renaissance sculptor, born in Florence, studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance style in sculpture; his work in Rome, Padua and Siena influenced to other cities in Italy; he worked with stone, bronze, wood, clay, stucco and wax, and had several assistants.  Known for his statues (in the round), he also developed a new, very shallow, type of bas-relief for small works, and produced some larger architectural reliefs.

 

Signorelli painting: * see Endnote G

1450-1523, Italian Renaissance painter noted for his ability as a draftsman & use of foreshortening. His massive frescoes of the Last Judgment (1499–1503) in Orvieto Cathedral are his masterpiece.

 

Michelangelo (façade): *see Endnote G

see Chapter I, page 34, II, page 87

 

Quattrocento:

Italian for 'four hundred' which is an abbreviation for "millequattrocento" or 'fourteen hundred', the fifteenth century.  It embraces cultural & artistic activities in painting, sculpture & architecture 1400-1500 AD, & coincided with the Florentine Renaissance (centre of the early Italian Renaissance0 often used as a synonym for early Renaissance art with its enthusiasm for classical antique forms from ancient Greece and ancient Rome.

 

Gothic:

reference to a style of medieval art originating in N. France, in the 12th century, growing out of Romanesque & leading to the emergence of Gothic architecture.  It spread to all of Western Europe, & most of Southern & Central Europe (although never effacing more classical styles in Italy).  In the late 14th century International Gothic developed & continued to evolve until the late 15th century.  In Germany & other areas, Late Gothic art continued into the 16th century, before being subsumed by Renaissance art. Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts.

 

archaic Greek Apollo type: *see Endnote<H>

The korus type Greek sculpture was once thought to be depictions of Apollo (posited by V. I. Leonardos in 1895); the preponderance of these marble sculptures were found in sanctuaries of Apollo.  Free-standing they first appear in the Archaic period, representing nude male youths, especially prominent in Attica and Boeotia; usually marble, but also rendered in limestone, wood, bronze, ivory & terracotta, typically life-sized.

 

Egyptian portraiture: see Endnote <H>

portraiture in Egyptian had religious roots & functions (in contrast to portraiture in Western art which aims to capture the exact physical resemblance of a person as well as his/her inner qualities); Egyptian portraiture portrays the subject from its own perspective rather than the viewpoint of the artist, to communicate essential information about the object itself.  It was a religious tool used to maintain the perfect order in the universe, to substitute a representation for the real thing or person.  Egyptian artistic conservatism was rooted in the ideal of Ma'at.  Innovation would move art away from the state of perfection present at the time of the creation of the universe.  The deceased had to show his adherence to Ma’at & therefore chose the most perfect way to represent himself, excluding imperfections.   A statue of a person was seen as a permanent abode for their spirit & guaranteed life after death.  An idealized representation of the dead made him "eternally beautiful" and attested to a sinless life. In an attempt to show the spectrum & totality of the dead’s personality (not just the physical image), artists were reluctant to include individual features which might conflict with the ideal.

 

early Tuscan representation: * see Endnote <I>

Medieval Florence (the capital of Tuscany) produced some outstanding precursors ot the Renaisance painters.  The most noteworthy artists from this period were Cimabue, Giunta Pisano and Duccio di Bonninsegna.

 

Etruscan tomb painting: see Endnote <I>

8th to 3rd century BC, central Italy, mainly found in important Etruscan towns (Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Chiusi & Vulci); the colours used were made from organic paints; there was little use of shading until influenced by Greek artists via Magna Graecia & their new chiaroscuro method with its strong contrasts of light and dark in the 4th century BC.  These paintings were not seen by anyone except at the burial ceremony, an example of conspicuous consumption by an elite demonstrating their wealth & superiority.  They reflect the Etruscans belief in an afterlife, these decoration (along with grave goods of gold jewellery, dinner sets) comforted & helped the deceased on their journey into that new world.  The earliest paintings consisted of painted heraldic figures around doorways or on the central wide column supporting two entrances, typically representations of sphinxes or mythical monsters, showing influence from Phoenicia & the Near East.  Later paintings were lively scenes derived from mythology, religious practices and ceremonies, and daily life (outdoor banquets, dancing, hunting, fishing, sporting events).  Few scenes are connected with burial & death, most concentrate on the joys of living.