I am utterly unable to express my gratitude to Smarthistory enough. You not only provide information about important works of art, but you teach, guide and prod listeners to keep learning about what you have just been discussing. Once again, thank you.
heres notes from the video if you need it. - Divine figures are often frontal - Sense of authority - Figures are often elongated - When standing would be very long - Hierarchy of scale - Shows importance - Increases patronage from wealthy individuals and families - Florence was the birthplace of the renaissance - Emotion - Sadness, happiness etc - Figures from many points of view - Modelling - Creation of an illusion on a flat surface - Revival of classical interest in anatomy and proportion - Portable art is easily bought and sold - Naturalism - the faithful representation of the observable world - Deeper understanding of the appreciation for the human body - Heightened influence of classical antiquity - Graceful and complex movement - Human like beauty - Figures interrelated in complex ways - Emphasis on artist's virtuosity - An interesting in a complicating the body - Complex, unnatural compositions - Different to the eye.
Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker have the most relaxing voices! I wish that many of their past videos were at least an hour long. The content of every video is fascinating, yet I sometimes find myself drifting off. This is truly ASMR for the art history set.
Your style of presentation is unrivaled. Such clarity, graceful pace and intriguing voices! Your love for either the topics or teaching , or both, comes through wholesome.
I have been devouring your videos for a number of years now. This video however, I am feeling truly moved as I have actually seen and studied ALL these works right in front of them with wonderful teachers... I suddenly feel like one of the most fortunate people in the world!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU Beth and Steven for the joy and insight you have given us over the years!!
"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock." - From the 1949 film, "The Third Man"
What an amazing job, my friends! Thanks for sharing with us, for helping us and for guiding us through this specific time of art, its details and perspectives. It was such a delight. Best regards from Brazil!
Thank you Smarthistory. I have been completely ignorant on (but love) art history & related. Now I cant stop going through each of your videos. Great work! Please keep it up.
Thank you for uploading these videos! I ADORE art history. But I love the renaissance art the most!! I find their art so delicate and beautiful. Thanks for the upload and lesson :)
I have been showing smart history videos in my JMU Lifelong Learning Classes. I and the students in my class--all senior citizens--are very grateful for the informative, scholarly narrations of Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris and others. Thank you.
Thanks for your work! I really appreciate it! It's one of my favourite projects on youtube:) I would want to add though that Late medieval art and so called "Renaissance" Art in Italy didn't reemphasise humanism and naturalism out of a mere sense of materialism (due to the rise in economic prosperity). In fact, as it is with the Capella Scrovegni, strong spiritual motivations were at the heart of these patronages. Scrovegni was atoning for temporal punishment due to the sin of usury which was often conducted in his sector of services (an early form of banking). However, this is but a detail, the larger sense of humanism and naturalism was spirited by an attention placed on the Dogma of the Incarnation of Christ. This is an era which is consumed with St Francis and a Franciscan spirituality which highlights the "Word made Flesh". Christmas celebrations become far more important (see the story of the nativity scene by St Francis at Greccio), the physical poverty of Francis and his mendicant brethren was of particular focus and attracted interest if not imitation (see the conversion of Jacobo da Todi) and of course, Francis receives bodily "stigmata" making him the first recorded case since the Apostolic age (the historical first probably belonging to St Paul). This strong sense of the Temple/Body suffering the Cross out of obedience and imitation of Christ placed an enduring spotlight on Italian art which carried on throughout many centuries. St Francis was a towering figure in popular and hierarchical Catholicism, leading him to gain the title "Alter Christus" (other Christ) because he so re"embodied" the penitential spiritual call to live out the Gospel in the flesh. This message was absorbed by powerful spiritual, intellectual and artistic energies of men like Giotto, Gaddi, Cavallini going on into Michelangelo and so on. I don't think it's unfair to say that without the spiritual force who is St Francis, certain trends in humanism and naturalism might have remained far more aloof and abstract, or might have been absorbed as decorous elements in sumptuous works of the international Gothic style (see the Annunciation by Simone Martini), especially as Platonic idealism would see a particularly strong resurgence/rediscovery in 15th century Italy. Just my two cents:) Again, thanks you guys for your work, I learn so much and really like this channel!
True. There are hundreds of artist from this time and place that we didn't mention. If you would like to hear us discuss Donatello, we have six videos and essays devoted to his work here: smarthistory.org/donatello-st-mark/
i like the idea that Michelangelo painted god and the angels surrounded by this red cloth in a form of human brain, saying that god is not real, he is just in our heads
One contrast I've already seen fairly often on this channel is that of otherworldly / surreal and naturalistic reality. I can't decide which I prefer, but the good news is that I don't have to! They both have their place and different effects on me... I've also never stopped to consider how infrequently I'm viewed from a directly head-on position, but that's very true! I'm sure there are many ~how to assert yourself and be confident~ videos coaching people to take a full-frontal stance, lol. There are other silly observations to make, but that's good enough for now. 😋
Thank you so much. Im just starting the semester with my highschool students on Renaissance History and i didnt know how to start. This video has helped me so much. Your videos and website have been a life saver to me. I enjoy inmensly your dedication and videos. Im about to study History of Art as well.
At the center of the Sistine Chapel is the creation of Eve and not of Adam, why is it always unknown and not talked about , it should be mentioned just as that of Adam is, and Michelangelo put it exactly in the center of the 9 compartments for a reason I believe.
