英语阅读材料History_of_Art.doc

Unit 10 History of ArtArt has always reflected the people who create it. Artists have created art works of themselves and others for many reasons, including explaining their ideas, revealing their emotions, the portryal of gods and glorifying their heroes. Some artists, such as Joy Hester, have approached their art in a personal, subjective way, revealing their innermost fears and feelings. Others have explored the personality and character of individuals, as in the work of Dobell. Picasso and Matisse have used people as subject matter in order to experimentto explore their ideas and theories on art.We can trace the subtle changes in the Christian religion by comparing how people are painted in the religious works of Giotto and Tintoretto. Jill Orr, a contemporary artist, uses her own body to perform the art work. Even with the influence of technology on art, the figure is still an image used by artists, whether it is on a video screen or manipulated by the computer. The artist continues to show curiosity about self and other people through art. Polykleitos belonged to the Classical style of Greek art, often called the “Golden Age” of Greek art. At this stage the Greek sculptors achieved mastery over all technical aspects of sculpture. They created relaxed figures of ideal physical beauty and correct anatomy. The sculptures thus appear perfected or idealized. Polykleitos developed a system or rule for representing the human body. His rule was that the head should be one-seventh of the figures height. The foot should be three times the length of the palm of the hand. The length of the leg from the foot to the knee and the distance between the knee and the centre of the abdomen should be six times that of the palm of the hand. The figures often had their weight more on one foot, thus raising one hip and dropping a shoulder (an S-bend). When this weight shift causes a slight turn to the body it is generally termed contrapposto. This technique was later adopted by the Renaissance artists. To the Greeks, physical perfection was a link with the gods. Athletics was a favourite pastime, with competitive games taking place as part of religious festivals. Of these, the most important was the Olympic Games, held at Olympia every four years in honour of Zeus (God of the heavens and father of all the gods and goddesses). Sport was also considered important training for warfare. Greek sculptors were trying to represent naturalism, but not that of individuals, more a universal way of representation. Thus all young men at the time were portrayed as tall slender and perfectly proportioned, firm and muscular, and the young women as sturdy and healthy. They all appear serene and calm. The naturalism of Greek art was not suited to the aims and ideals of Medieval art. Naturalism was to re-emerge during the Renaissance.Giotto di Bondone from Florence, Italy, is usually acknowledged as the founder or originator of Renaissance painting. His painting style is thus usually termed Proto-Renaissance (before_Renaissance). Giotto”s style of naturalism and the emotional or dramatic power of his works were new at the time. For the first time in Christian art, people are shown as individuals in natural posed. Previously, figures were unrealistic and faced the front. They generally had haloes and were set against a gold or one-colour background, and represented important religious figures. Giotto has attempted to include a natural background, a sense of space. His work led to the development of a new style of painting based on realismthe Renaissance.While still only a boy Giotto was apprenticed to an artist in Florence called Cimabue who was the first painter to absorb into his work the influence of Classical art (Greek and Roman). The term Renaissance means “rebirth” and has come to be applied to a cultural period (and group of artists) which began in Italy in the fourteenth century. The Renaissance period showed an awakened interest in peoples relationship with each other rather than just their relationship to God. People began to look carefully at themselves and the world around them. The Renaissance style of art was partly a result of a new interest in human values and a belief in ones freedom through the powers of reason or thought. There was a new concern for people as individuals. This way of thinking, which existed in Classical writings but which was not prominent until the fourteenth century, is usually called humanism. Decide True or False:1. The artists in different historical periods express themselves in different styles.2. The Greek artists pursued the proportion perfection of human body when they sculpted figures.3. In Medieval art, religious figures looked natural and emotional.4. In ancient time, Olympic Games was held for only religious purpose during the wartime.5. Renaissance means the rebirth of peoples relationship with God. 6. Giotto is a pioneer of Renaissance.7. The Greek artists represented naturalism more in a universal way.8. Before fourteenth century, artists paid no attention on individuals. Question:What is humanism?Italy - The Cradle of the Renaissance The Renaissance marks the end of medieval Europe and the beginning of a time of learning, questioning and development. Although the medieval mindset was still present, it was starting to give way to a completely new Europe. The Renaissance, a European phenomenon by all standards, that affected most of the continent, was born and focused in, to a large extent, in Italy. From its epicentre in Italy, the Renaissance spread to all corners of Europe. Florence in particular was the home for many of the greatest thinkers and artists of the time, if not of all time. In the thirteenth century urban growth in Italy was on the increase once more, and the once rural and sparsely populated peninsula became dotted with great cities. These cities in turn grew into centres of trade and banking. The trade they conducted was mostly directed towards the east, the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world, but there was also a lot of coming and going to and from Western Europe. During this time Italy was as disunited as ever, far from a united nation. The larger cities then became city-states, autonomous regions that were formed from great cities and the surrounding area. These regions or city-states were governed from the main city within the region. The governing city of the region usually gave its name to the whole city-state. These city-states included The Papal States, Florence, Venice, the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples. In these centres of wealth and commerce, a new social class was born among the merchants and bankers, along side the nobility and peasants. The wealth in these city-states changed owners as the nobility lent money from bankers and used it to unproductive ends, and were then unable to pay back their loans. Because of this they were obliged to hand over some of their property to the bankers as payment. As wealth changed hands, the wealthy middle class, a very commercially orientated one, was born from these merchants and bankers. They invested their wealth to generate more income and so they quickly became the wealthiest class and, ultimately, ruled the city-states. One of these wealthy merchant families was the Medici family of Florence. Florence was at the very heart of the Renaissance, largely thanks to the funding and opportunities the Medici family （美第奇家族）provided for young talents. Much of the wealth in Florence was acquired through its booming textile industry. Florence imported raw wool from Spain and England, the dyes from the east and the work force was from around northern Italy. The Medici family took pride in their city-state and wanted it to be the most beautiful and awe-inspiring urban centre in all of Italy. They also sought to legitimize their rule of Florence, which they had gained in secret from the republic. They hired numerous patrons and gave them tasks to design and build palaces, sculpt statues, paint murals（壁画）, and more. Around a hundred palaces were built in Florence in the 15th century alone. The artists and architects, painters and sculptors, were all rewarded handsomely for their work, but only the best individuals would suffice. These individuals included geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci（达芬奇）, Michelangelo（米开朗基罗） and Brunelleschi（布涅莱斯奇）. The Renaissance was going on all over Italy, of course, but the wealth and the will to use it on art and learning displayed by the Medici family made Florence the centre of gravity in the Italian Renaissance. The opportunities presented to artists, architects, poets, philosophers and sculptors by the Medici family attracted learning and skill from outside of Florence as well. The Renaissance was really only for the wealthier classes of society to take part in, and in Italy there was a large, wealthy class of merchants that took part in the Renaissance and encouraged it. The Medici family also paid a hefty pay-check to those who created great works of art, learning and architecture, and this must have acted as a major motivating force as well, as probably for the first time in history, artists were able to make a very comfortable living with their art. Both the artistic and the philosophical side of the Renaissance were influenced by Classical Greek and Roman thinkers, architects, artists and the Classical Greek way of thinking in general. Especially architecture and philosophy were influenced, and this was aided by the influx of Classical Greek and Roman literature from Constantinople, triggered by the fall of Constantinople in the hands of the Muslim Turks. Constantinople, perhaps the greatest city in the christened world was a store of Classical Greek and Roman literature and many who escaped the Turkish occupation brought with them many of the documents that had been kept in Constantinople. The fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire also meant that a rivaling trade centre was out of order for a while, which further increased the flow of trade and wealth through the Italian city-states. The Popes in Rome also funded many works of art in the Vatican. They summoned artists from other parts in Italy to create art to the glory of God (and themselves). Italy had all that was needed for a phenomenon such as the Renaissance: wealthy urban centres (which were also large centres of trade) in which the flow of ideas was great and the sources of ideas were diverse, a wealthy merchant class accumulating more wealth, rulers willing to spend on such things as art, thinking and learning in general and give opportunities to young talents. The revival of the same spirit that reigned in Athens during its Golden Age, was also an important factor. Many of the Italian artists and thinkers thought of themselves as the ones who would continue from where the Greeks and Romans left off. The Renaissance has its roots deep in the soil of Northern Italy, and Florence was its seed. The citys economy and its writers, painters, architects, and philosophers all made Florence a model of Renaissance culture. Several of the greatest artists of the age studied or worked in Florence, including Michelangelo and Botticelli. Michelangelo began to study painting in Florence with Ghirlandaio and later learned sculpture under the patronage of Lorenzo the Magnificent. It was for the Florence cathedral that Michelangelo created his famous sculpture of David. The Renaissance aesthetic is apparent in the careful and accurate depiction of the human body and its representation as a nude. The painter Botticelli（波提切利）was a friend of both Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and the principal painter of the Medici family. His works represent Renaissance style in his use of classical subject matter and in the effect of motion that he achieves. It was for the home of a Medici that he created his two most famous works: Primavera（春）and The Birth of Venus. In both works Botticelli uses figures from antiquity, such as the goddess Venus and the three Graces（三仙女）. He balances his figures in nearly symmetrical groupings, yet never loses a feeling of motion and lightness. Renaissance style in art, exemplified in works from Florentine artists, flourished largely because of the patronage, or financial support, of wealthy citizens and the church. By purchasing numerous works of art, Renaissance men and women provided a livelihood for many painters, sculptors, and architects. It was also the Renaissance humanists who desired to imitate and revive the beauty of ancient Greece, and to have that beauty surround them in their daily lives, that produced the wealth of superb art that is one of the hallmarks of Ren