horse's head (Parthenon pediment): * see EndNote <A>

marble from the East pediment of the Parthenon designed by Phidias 438-432BC.  The pediment shows the miraculous birth of Athena from the head of her father Zeus.  Many of the central scene figures fragmentary or lost.  This is the head of one of the horses for the chariot of the moon goddess Selene.  The time of day (dawn) is indicated in the 2 corners of this pediment, where the chariot of Helios rises while the chariot of Selene, sinks beneath the horizon.  Carved as an isolated horse’s head, ears are flattened, its jaw gapes, flared nostrils & bulging eyes.  A portion of the lower jaw and the inner side of the top of the head were cut away. Dowel holes show where a metal bridle was attached. On the crest of the mane are 11 small holes, where some form of metallic ornaments were inserted. 

 

horses' heads (the Battle of the Amazons): * see EndNote <A>

The Battle of the Amazons or Amazonomachia is an oil on wood painting produced around 1615. It shows an amazonomachy (one of various mythical battles between the Greeks & Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors). Attributed to Rubens, showing his huge admiration for Leonardo da Vinci and his The Battle of Anghiari.

 

Corot (nymphs): * see EndNote<B>

see Chapter VII page 246

 

Giorgione:

see Chapter VII pages 239, 240, 251, 252.

 

Boucher: * see EndNote<C>

1703-70, French Rococo painter, draughtsman & etcher, celebrated for his idyllic & voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories & pastoral scenes.  Inspired by Rubens & Watteau, his early works celebrate the idyllic & tranquil portrayal of nature and landscape with great elan.  He forgoes traditional rural innocence in favour of eroticism, his mythological scenes are passionate & intimately amorous rather than epic.  Marquise de Pompadour (mistress of King Louis XV), whose name is synonymous with Rococo, was a great admirer of his work. His portraits of her were central to her self-presentation and cultivation of her image.

 

"Rubens's wife in a fur cloak.": * see EndNote<D>

painted 1638, life size painting of his wife, Hélène Fourment, when Rubens was 61 & Hélène was 27, he named it Het Pelsken (The Little Fur).  Hélène is depicted nude except for a fur coat, which could well have belonged to her husband. 

 

Rembrandt:

Chapter I page 23, Chapter II page 81, chapter III pages101,103;112, Chapter VI page 183, Chapter VII, pages 220, 222, 226, 239, 243,  244, 251, 253.

 

Leonardo:

see Chapter II page 69, Chapter VII, pages 236, 237, 239, 244, 246, 250

 

Titian:

Chapter III page 108 Chapter VII pages 221, 226, 243, 244, 249, 252.

 

Velasquez:

see Chapter IV page 148, Chapter VII pages 226, 250

 

Menzel (modern): * see EndNote<E>

1815-1905, German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings & paintings, prominent German painters of the 19th century & most successful artist of his era in Germany.  He was knighted in 1898 & became Adolph von Menzel.  His popularity in Germany meant most of his paintings remained in that country.

 

Leibl (modern):

see Chapter VII pages 244 252

 

Marees (moderns):

see Chapter VII pages 244 252

 

Manet (moderns):

see Chapter I, page 35. Chapter VII page 244

 

Signorelli (portraits):

While he did produce portraits he is much more renowned for his large fresco productions (Orvieto Cathedral -the Last Judgment, 1499–1503).  His studies progressed anatomy and he developed the art of foreshortening.

see Chapter VII pages 221, 239, 242, 270

 

Mantegna, (portraits):

see Chapter VII pages 221, 239, 242

 

Botticelli (portraits): * see EndNote<F>

Botticelli painted few portraits.  He produced several idealized portrait-like paintings of women but these are not specific peaple (they resemble the Venus in his Venus and Mars).  They are a secular link to his Madonnas.  The art historian Lightbown attributes only 8 portraits to Botticelli.  His small panel portraits show the sitter no further down the torso than about the bottom of the rib-cage; women in profile, full or just a little turned; men are "three-quarters" pose, never quite completely frontal.  Lighting is used to create a difference between the sides of the face.  Backgrounds may be plain, or an open window, sky visible through it, a few developed landscapes.  While this was typical of Florentine portraits at the beginning of his career, it was old-fashioned by his last years.  He also painted portraits in other works, as when he inserted a self-portrait & the Medici into his Adoration of the Magi.  Several figures in the Sistine Chapel frescos appear to be portraits, but the subjects are unknown, although fanciful guesses have been made. Large allegorical frescos from a villa show members of the Tornabuoni family together with gods and personifications.

 

Verrocchio (portraits):

Little of his work has survived. His most famous work was in sculpture & his final work, the Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, is his masterpiece.  However Verrocchio is unlikely to have ever seen Colleoni, the statue is not a portrait of the man but of the idea of a strong and ruthless military commander.  All Verrocchio's effort were devoted to the rendering of movement and of a sense of strain and energy.

and see Chapter VII, pages 224, 235, 237, 238