А. Миньяр-Белоручева - Западноевропейское искусство от Джотто до Рембрандта

Mantegna was a printmaker. Seven engravings by his hand and many by his followers established a graphic art tradition in the late fifteenth century in northern Italy.

Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:

Mantegna; Mantua; marquis, burial; martyrdom; montage; castle; Cybele

Saint James Led to Execution – «Шествие Святого Иакова на казнь»

Martyrdom of St James – «Мученичество Святого Иакова»

Burial of St. Christopher – Перемещение тела Святого Христофора»

Assumption – «Вознесение Марии»

Dead Christ – «Мертвый Христос»

Introduction of the Cult ofCybele into Rome – «Учреждение культа Кибелы в Риме»

Madonna and Child with Magdalen and S. John the Baptist – «Мадонна с Младенцем, Магдалиной и Святым Иоанном Крестителем»

Crucifixion – «Распятие»

I. Read the text. Mark the following statements true or false.

1. In 1454 Mantegna alone began a series of frescoes.

2. In 1944 all Mantegna's frescoes were destroyed.

3. Mantegna initiated illusionistic ceiling paintings.

4. A simulated marble framing is Masaccio's innovation.

5. The Crucifixion is a long bas-relief-like picture.

6. Mantegna painted the Dead Christ on panel.

II. How well have you read? Can you answer the questions?

1. Where did Mantegna paint a series of frescoes in 1454? What frescoes survived? What does the photo-montage show?

2. What is represented in Assumptions ?

3. What is a triumph of Renaissance spatial construction? What do the figures in this painting recall? Where did Mantegna place the observer? What effect did he achieve by this device?

4. What frescoes did Mantegna finish in 1474? What is depicted there? What was Mantegna's prank? What does it picture?

5. What did Mantegna introduce in the Madonna and Child with Magdalen and S. John the Baptist ? How did the observer mean to look at the figures? What were Mantegna's innovations?

6. What device did Mantegna use in the Dead Christ ? Why?

III. I. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:

the cove of the apse; a background perspective; statue-like figures; early works; simulated marble framing; in the apse; heavy folds; vaulted ceiling; the figures recede; the emotion of the moment; a device; to render the three-dimensional illusion; to spread throughout Europe; marmoreal hardness; a bishop; ladies-in-waiting; a long bas-relief-like picture; animated statues; martyrdom; a prank; in perspective; sculptural tendencies; to peel off; to peer over the edge; to bring home to the observer; to bless.

II. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:

в центре конхи; ожившие статуи; мученичество; в конхе апсиды; княжество; мраморная тяжесть; вытянутая, напоминающая барельеф картина; скульптурные тенденции; нарисованная мраморная рама; фигуры, похожие на статуи; донести до зрителя; передать объем; фрейлины; придворная жизнь; распространиться по всей Европе; фоновая перспектива; сводчатый потолок; забавная шутка; выглядывать из-за перил; потолочная роспись.

III. Make up sentences ofyour own with the given phrases.

IV. Here are descriptions of some of Mantegna's works of art.

Match them up to the given titles…

1. This fresco is a triumph of Renaissance Classicism.

2. The Apostles stand below against the sides of the arch.

3. The frescoes represent scenes from contemporary court life.

4. Mantegna painted Christ foreshortened.

5. It is noted for the novelty of its background perspective.

6. It demonstrates Mantegna's high level of perfection.

a. Dead Christ

b. Burial of St. Christopher

c. Assumption

d. Martyrdom of St. James

e. Saint James Led to Execution

f. The Gonzaga frescoes

V. Translate the text into English.

Андреа Мантенья, крупнейший художник-монументалист падуанской школы. В своих работах он любил изображать античные памятники и развалины. В капелле Оверати Мантенья изобразил историю Св. Иакова, как реальное событие. По заказу мантуанских правителей Мантенья расписал одну из комнат дворца. Художник представил семейный портрет Гонзаго и сцены из придворной жизни Мантуи. Фреска плафона, изображающая в самом центре свода круглую галерею с людьми, смотрящими сквозь перила, является первой иллюзионистической декорацией в западноевропейском искусстве. Именно с нее начинается многовековая традиция потолочной росписи в Европе.

VI. Summarize the text.

VII. Topics for discussion.

1. Mantegna's style and characters.

2. Mantegna's artistic innovations.

Among the painters of the poetic current in the late fifteenth century, Sandro Botticelli stands alone in depth of feeling and delicacy of style. His concentration on line is so deep and his research into the unreal is so enchanting, that it is difficult to believe that he studied with Filippo Lippi, a follower of Masaccio. Although aloof from scientific current and criticized by the young Leonardo da Vinci Botticelli remained the leading painter resident in Florence in the 1480s and 1490s. Before him the old masters had drawn the inspiration for their works from the Bible. Botticelli delighted in myths, fables, and poetry, his nature was imaginative. The artist was the first to make his painting a means for the delight of the secular as well as the religious world.

Botticelli was closely associated with the Medici and his fortune paralleled theirs. After the death of Lorenzo, that ended the world in which Botticelli had found honours and fame, the painter was greatly impressed by the preaching of Savonarola. Soon he became an ardent disciple of this great prophet. When Savonarola demanded that bonfires should be made of the «profane pictures», he contributed many of his works of art to the bonfire pile. In his later life Botticelli turned to a religious style, and after 1500 gave up painting altogether.

Botticelli's most celebrated pictures, the Primavera (The Allegory of Spring) and the Birth of Venus were painted at a slight distance from each other in time, the first on panel, the second on canvas. Later the two paintings were considered companion pieces. Both have been interpreted in different ways. The Primavera with its ambiguous but clear meaning, is far from being the simple pagan mythology that it appears to be at first sight. No explanation of the Primavera is wholly successful. Probably the Primavera symbolizes Lorenzo Medici's real wedding in 1482.