Renaissance Art and Thought: Renaissance Florence
Fall 2018
Final Presentation and Essay Assignment
Write an essay 3000-3300 words in length that is an interpretation of one work of art, chosen from the list below, in relation to one text that we have discussed in the course.
As with all core essays, please do not refer to any secondary sources or historical information, but rather focus on an interpretation of the objects (the work of art and the text) themselves.
Giotto, Verification of the Stigmata, fresco, c. 1290-1300, for the Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi
(also, as a comparison, if you like: Giotto, Crucifix, tempera on wood panel, 1290-1300, Santa Maria Novella, Florence)
Masaccio, The Tribute Money, fresco, 1420s, from the Brancacci Chapel fresco cycle, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence (textual source: Matthew 17:24-27)
Brunelleschi (and Michelozzo?), Pazzi Chapel, planned 1430, begun 1440, Santa Croce, Florence
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Joseph Scenes, from the East Baptistery Doors (The Gates of Paradise), gilt bronze, 1425-52, Baptistery, Florence (textual source: Genesis, chapters 37-50)
Andrea del Castagno, Last Supper, fresco, 1447-49, Sant’Apollonia, Florence (textual
sources: Matthew 26:20-30; John 13 [the whole chapter])
The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal, 1434-59, San Miniato al Monte, Florence (artists:
Antonio Rossellino, Antonio and/or Piero Pollaiuolo, Alessio Baldovinetti, Luca della
Robbia, and others)
Donatello, Harrowing of Hell, Resurrection, and Ascension, from the pulpits for San
Lorenzo, Florence, bronze, 1460s
Piero della Francesca, Madonna del Parto (Madonna of Pregnancy), fresco, c. 1460s
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Lady, tempera on wood panel, 1470-75 (Victoria and Albert
Museum, London)
Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna of the Rocks, oil on panel, c. 1483-1486 (Paris, Louvre)
Leonardo da Vinci, St. John the Baptist, oil on wood panel, c. 1513-16
Filippino Lippi, Annunciation and Assumption of the Virgin, fresco, 1488-91, Carafa Chapel,
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome (textual source for the Annunciation: Luke 1:26-38)
Raphael, The Liberation of St. Peter, 1513-14, fresco for the Stanza d‘Eliodoro, Vatican,
Rome (textual source: Acts of the Apostles 12:1-11)
(note that the fresco is painted around an actual window with shutters)
Raphael and his workshop (including Giulio Romano), The Fire in the Borgo, 1514, fresco
for the Stanza dell’Incendio (Room of the Fire), Vatican, Rome
Raphael, Transfiguration, oil on wood panel, 1518-1520 (textual source: Matthew 17:1-21)
Andrea del Sarto, Birth of the Virgin, fresco, 1514-16, forecourt of Ss. Annunziata, Florence
Pontormo, Cappella Capponi, c. 1528, Santa Felicità, Florence (focus: Deposition)
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, fresco, 1508-12, Vatican, Rome (focus: one of the
Creation scenes, with surrounding figures)
Michelangelo, New Sacristy, 1519-34, San Lorenzo, Florence
Michelangelo, Pietà, marble, 1498-99, St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome
Michelangelo, Pietà, marble, 1547-55, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence
Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, oil on canvas, 1520-23, one of a series of four paintings made
for the Camerino of Alfonso I d’Este in Ferrara (textual sources: Ovid, Art of Love, I.525-
564; Ovid, Metamorphoses, VIII.152-182)