Alyssa Blakeslee
Alexander, Jonathan J.G.
“Dancing in the Streets.” The
Journal of the
Jonathan
Alexander’s article is an in depth study of the portrayal of dancing in
medieval artwork. He refers to many
pieces of art that depict dance, and explains his thesis that dance was used to
portray both good and bad relationships between men and women.
The dances, performed in circles with many participants, are generally
seen as good and proper, depicting marriage and fertility.
Solo or couple dances, on the other hand, are often wild and immoral, and
socially looked down upon. Alexander
uses a few critical approaches in his article: he relates art to the historical
and sociological issues with his relation of the art to the regulations of
society and how these affected each other. He
also briefly discusses the different roles of males and females in the art, as
well as how males and females might differ in their views of the art--most of
the illustrations at that time were in books, often religious, so many times the
images were directed more toward a male audience than a female one.
The author’s thesis is much more debatable than that in other studies
that I have read, but he does well to defend his opinion by bringing in many
different examples of dancers in art and the context in which they were placed.
I found Alexander’s argument to be a
good analysis of the topic under discussion.
Alexander chooses a rather broad subject and addresses many ideas with a
good amount of detail. The idea of
male and female roles in the art is discussed briefly, but it would be
interesting to study this in more detail. The
role of the artist in society is also a perspective that might be more fully
developed. The many lengthy topics
addressed in this article are somewhat confusing, but Alexander ends his work
with a summary of his main points, which I found helpful because it brought the
ideas discussed in the beginning back to my memory and caused me to relate these
first points with those I had more recently read.
I consider this article to be very helpful in exploring the relationship
between medieval art and the society it reflects.
Dijk, Ann van.
“The Angelic Salutation in Early Byzantine and Medieval Annunciation
Imagery.” The
Art Bulletin 81.3 (1999): 420-36.
This article is about the use of an
angelic salutation directed at Mary in medieval religious art.
It is meant to show how the use of written words in images of the time
served as an example to the people viewing the art, and how those people, seeing
the angel offering praises to Mary, would offer up their own praises to her.
Though the author does not deal with literature to any great extent, she
could be said to have a historical critical approach to the art it is written
about because she seeks to examine how the art was used and the impact it had on
the people it was created for. The
article contains a great deal of evidence to support van Dijk’s thesis
about the use of the salutation in art.
She refers to numerous pieces of art with the salutation, and also
discusses the concept medieval people had of relating their actions to those
they saw in artwork, mentioning the imagery seen on ampullae
which pilgrims received at holy sites.
Not having actually studied the time
period or seen the artwork alluded to in this article, I can’t really form a
concrete opinion for or against van Dijk’s thesis.
But I would probably tend to agree with her statements because her
article offers good supporting evidence. Her
article is focused on the meaning of the art for the people who saw it, but the
art could also be discussed from the perspective of the artist, perhaps a study
of his background; or it could be compared to modern art and images.
But I liked the perspective this author chose by which to present the
art, and her writing style was not too difficult to read.
At times she seemed a bit repetitive, bringing up the same idea many
times of how an image was used to instruct its audience.
But this was good as well, because in this way she was able to relate
many similar pieces of art to support her thesis further.
The author limits her use of unfamiliar words to such times as when she
talks about the aforementioned ampullae,
but even then, she provides a
description of one so I found it easy to understand in that sense.
I felt educated by the reading of this article and believe that the idea
of people imitating the images they were presented with is an interesting way to
look at the purpose behind the art created in Medieval Europe.
McGrath, Thomas.
“Color and the Exchange of Ideas between Patron and Artist in
Renaissance
McGrath’s article concerns the
relationship between artists in Renaissance Italy and their patrons.
While not as knowledgeable as the artists concerning what would look the
best in a piece of art, the patrons often had some sort of an idea of what they
were expecting from the commissions. The
article describes some of the conflicts that arose when artists did not express
their ideas clearly or when patrons looked too much for a use of rich colors
than for actual artistic quality. The
author approaches his topic by employing sociological criticism, discussing what
was expected of artists in their society and how they related to their patrons.
McGrath focuses on two artists, Parmigianino and Giulio Romano, and
explains their specific conflicts with the confraternity of the Steccata, a
group which hired them for various pieces of art.
Parmigianino had a problem with procrastination, taking many years longer
to complete his piece than he had been contracted for, which eventually led to
him being imprisoned. Guilio’s
disagreement with the patrons occurred because of a lack of comprehension of his
original design which, after being approved, was created on a larger scale and
found to be less likable to the patrons. The
practice of using watercolors to represent the general idea of a piece of art
was limiting and that situation is one example McGrath uses in his article.
McGrath’s analysis of the situation
in
Morton, Karena.
“A Spectacular Revelation: Medieval Wall Paintings at Ardamullivan.”
Irish Arts Review Yearbook 18 (2002): 104-13.
In this article, Karena Morton explains
the recent discovery of a set of wall paintings in an Irish castle from the
fifteenth century. She presents her
information factually, describing what can be seen of the painting, but also
offers up much of her own speculation concerning some of the figures, since much
of the painting remains hidden or is too damaged to be made out.
Some sort of thesis is hinted at through these speculations, but it is
not developed to any great extent. Because
of this, the piece is hard to classify as a particular kind of approach.
But the author supports her statements with a great deal of information
concerning the art on the walls and she makes her claim, that the paintings are
images of Jesus and events of His life, easily believable.
As I read this article, it brought many
questions to my mind, perhaps because of the unfinished recovery of the work,
and also kept me interested in what Morton was revealing to her readers.
The article brings up the fact that the artwork was somewhat more secular
in homes, so the choice of a very religious subject matter was a bit strange.
I would like to see the paintings myself to decide if I agree with the
author’s claims, but based on her description I feel that the claims are
justified. It would also be
interesting to see the paintings approached more critically and in depth: by
explaining (or trying to explain) the appearance of religious art in a secular
building or by discussing the normal practices and subject matter of artists at
that time in comparison to those presented on the wall, that could provide a
different argument concerning the art. The
writing style of this article is very factual and simple to read, and it
provides a good general description of art from the time period, but I am left
with many more questions about the art. So
as a general explanation of the art, this article is good, but more research is
needed to fully understand the subject.
Taggard, Mindy Nancarrow.
“Piety and Profit in Spanish Religious Art.”
Gazette des Beaux-
Arts 6.34.part 1570 (1999): 201-12.
As the title suggests, this article
concerns itself with the mixture of religion and good marketing strategies among
Spanish sculptors during the seventeenth century.
The author states her opinion and lets her readers know from the start
that, unlike many other scholars, she believes that the piety that sculptors of
the time displayed was somewhat false, a show put on merely to convince their
patrons of their goodness. This
article could also be seen as a sociological criticism, because it deals again
with the impact of society and its expectations of religiosity and how the
artists responded, conforming to the expectations in order to be more accepted
and be able to make a living from their art.
Much of the proof that Taggard uses in her criticism comes in the form of
anecdotes, which sometimes tend to seem a bit overdone or too miraculous to be
believed. This perhaps weakens the
argument by its lack of firm proof, but on the other hand it presents a valid
view of how people thought at that time.
Reading the article, I felt like I
wanted to disagree with the author’s strong opinion that the artists’ pious
actions were merely displays, but thinking back to our studies of the corruption
of the Church throughout Medieval and Renaissance Europe, I thought her opinion
became a great deal more believable. Her
article uses an interesting combination of very factual, technical details
concerning the creation of the sculptures and a recounting of the stories told
at that time. This gives the
argument almost another perspective from which to argue, although the two ideas
are still somewhat related. A little
bit distracting are her interjections stating what “this essay has tried to
show”--it seems somewhat immature or informal compared to the other articles.
Still, the writing style is refreshingly simple at times and truly not a
hard read. Again, I find the
information Taggard presents to be helpful, simply because it is something I did
not previously know. This article
effectively exposes the ideals of society in seventeenth century