Миньяр-бeлоручeва а п английский язык западноeвропeйскоe искусство от джотто до рeмбрандта учeб пособиe м проспeкт-ап 2004 128 с

Учебный центр  “Московский Лицей”  А.П. МИНЬЯР-БЕЛОРУЧЕВА  ЗАПАДНОЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ ИСКУССТВО от ДЖОТТО до РЕМБРАНДТА  пособие для изучающих английский язык  издание второе переработанное и дополненное  Москва -1999  А П. Миньяр-Белоручева Западноевропейское искусство от Джотто до Рембрандта  Рецензенты:  И.И. Малинина кандидат филологических наук  Н.В. Васютина кандидат филологических наук  РЕКОМЕНДОВАНО кафедрой иностранных языков историче­ского факультета МГУ им. М.В. Ломоносова  Гигиенический сертификат  №77. ЦС.

 

04. 952.П.01340.Г98.

 

от 03.03.98., выдан Центральным органом по гигиенической сертификации издательской продукции издательству “Московский Лицей” на учебные, художественные, научно-популярные издания.

 

Действителен на издания, подписанные в печать до 03.

 

03. 2000 г.  Тексты настоящего пособия охватывают пять веков западноевропей­ской живописи от Джотто до Рембрандта. Это дает возможность обучаемым приобрести не только лингвистические знания, усвоив обширный лексический материал, но и культурологические, поскольку последовательный хронологиче­ский переход текстов от одного художника к другому позволяет создать более или менее целостную картину развития западноевропейской искусства с XIII по XVII вв. Система упражнений направлена на усвоение лексического материала и развитие навыков устной речи.  Данная книга является первой частью цикла учебных пособий для изу­чающих английский язык и предназначена для студентов-искусствоведов, уча­щихся классических гимназий, лицеистов и всех интересующихся искусством.  © Миньяр-Белоручева А.П.  © Оформление “Московский Лицей”, 1999  ISBN 5-7611-0181-5  Издательство “Московский Лицей” Адрес: Москва, Ярославское ш., д.2, корп. 1  Телефон: (095) 188-59-71  Факс: (095) 188-33-10  ВВЕДЕНИЕ  Настоящее пособие состоит из 16 уроков, включающих тексты и упражнения. Материалом данного пособия послужи­ли оригинальные тексты англоязычных искусствоведов. Тема­тика текстов охватывает пять веков западноевропейской жи­вописи от Джотто до Рембрандта. Это позволяет обучаемым нс только усвоить чрезвычайно обширный лексический пласт “языка искусствоведов”, но и создать общее представление об истории западноевропейского искусства.  Объем пособия не позволяет остановиться на всех ху­дожниках, которые внесли вклад в мировую сокровищницу живописи. В пособии представлены тексты, посвященные крупнейшим европейским мастерам, работы которых оказа­ли большое влияние на развитие всемирного искусства.

 

По­собие составлено таким образом, что дает возможность обучаемым проследить ход развития западноевропейской живописи с конца XIII века до середины XVII века.

 

Каждый урок состоит из текста, в котором кратко излагаются основ­ные этапы жизни и творчества художника, анализируются его наиболее значительные произведения, а также упражнений, позволяющих проверить как общее понимание прочитанного, так и закрепить только что приобретенный лексический ма­териал.

 

Для облегчения работы с пособием прилагается сло­варь.  Предлагаемые в данном пособии тексты являются ори­гинальными, с незначительными сокращениями. Пособие может быть использовано не только студентами-искусствоведами, но и самым широким кругом читателей, интересую­щихся историей западноевропейской живописи.  UNIT I GIOTTO (c.1267-1337)  The final break with the Byzantine tradition was accomplished by Giotto di Bondone. He was the first giant in the long history of Italian painting; he was a painter, a sculptor and an architect. Now Giotto is regarded as the father of modern painting, but even in his own day Giotto’s greatness was recognized by his contemporaries.

 

They listed him as one of the great men of the Florentine Republic, called him the pupil of Nature and said that Giotto revived the art of painting which had declined in Italy because of many invasions.

 

Giotto’s masterpiece is the cycle of frescoes, dating from 1305-1306, illustrating the life of the Virgin and the life of Christ, that lines the interior of the Arena Chapel in Padua. The Redemption of man is the subject, and Jesus and Mary are the protagonists. The two side walls are covered with frescoes on panels arranged in three lay­ers. Giotto painted the Vices on the north wall, and the Virtues on the south wall.  In one of the early scenes, Joachim among the Shepherds, Joachim, father of the Virgin, takes refuge with shepherds in the wil­derness after his expulsion from the Temple. Humiliated, his head bowed, he stands before two shepherds, one of whom scans his com­panion’s face to see whether they dare to receive the outcast.

 

The dog, the symbol of fidelity leaps in joyful greeting. Giotto accepted one scale for the figures and another for the surroundings including the animals and the sheepfold. For all his ability to project three-dimensional forms, Giotto is far from having the notion of visual unity. His landscape has an expressive purpose. The cubic rocks form a definite stage in space limited by the blue background. It does not represent the sky; it is an ideal heavenly colour that continues behind all the scenes. In order to emphasize the three-dimensionality of Joachims’s figure, Giotto has designed his halo foreshortened in per­spective.  Giotto’s Madonna and Child Enthroned, of about 1310, is a ceremonial representation of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven. The distant space is ruled out by the traditional background. Giotto intro­duced light and inward extension in a direct and convincing manner. He placed the throne above a marble step and the Virgin sits firmly within it. The angels kneeling in the foreground are solid. The angels and saints firmly stand on either side of the throne. Light without indication of source, models the forms so heavily that they resemble sculptural masses. Giotto’s miracle lay in his ability to produce for the first time on a flat surface three-dimensional forms.

 

Giotto’s facial types and drapery motives recall Gothic sculptures.  In the Raising of Lazarus the composition divides into two groups: one centred around Lazarus, who has just risen from the tomb and is still wrapped in graveclothes is read together with the rock; the other beginning with prostrate Mary and Martha, culminates in Christ, who calls the dead man forth by a single gesture of his right hand against the blue. The calm authority is contrasted with the astonish­ment of the surrounding figures.  In the Lamentation Giotto has enriched the dialogue between life and death. Instead of burst of grief he has staged a tragedy. The figures grieve in the manner possible to their individual personalities. Giotto added to the scene mourners who turn their backs to the spec­tators; one upholds Christ’s head, the other – his right hand. Mary with one arm around Christ’s shoulder searches his countenance. Only the angels can cry in pure grief, each half-hidden in clouds to show that they are supernatural. In this scene Giotto’s brushwork is as calm as in the other. He achieved this effect not only by the arrange­ment of figures but also by the diagonal line of the rock, descending toward the faces of Mary and Christ. At the upper right, as if to typify the desolation of the scene a bare tree stands against the blue. Giotto expected his observers to remember that in accordance with the me­dieval legend, the Tree of Knowledge was withered after the sin of Adam and Eve and made fruitful again after the sacrifice of Christ.  Make sure you know how to pronounce thefallowing words:  Giotto [‘d?otou]; Jesus Christ [‘d?Oz@s‘kraist]; Mary [‘me@ri];  Madonna [m@‘don@]; Virgin [‘v@:d?in]; Martha [‘mа:T@]; fresco  [‘freskou]; Adam [‘{d@m]; Eve [i:v]; Arena Chapel [@’ri:n@’¶{pl];  Byzantine [bi’z{ntain]; Padua [‘p{dju@]; Florentine [‘florentain];  Lazarus [‘l{z@r@s]; Redemption [ri’dempn]; recognise [‘rekegnaiz];  layer [‘lei@]; contemporaries [k@n’temp@r@riz]; shepherd [‘ep@d];  masterpiece [‘ma:st@pi:s]; perspective [p@’spektiv]; accomplish [@’kompliS]; medieval [medi’i:vl]; wilderness [‘wildnis]; sacrifice [s{krifais]; expulsion [ik’spolSn]; angels [‘eind?@lz]; surface [‘s@:fis].

 

NOTES  Joachim among the Shepherds – “Встреча Иоакима с пастухами”  Raising of Lazarus – “Воскрешение Лазаря”  Lamentation [l{men’teiSn] -“Оплакивание”  Madonna and Child Enthroned – “Величание” (“Маеста” из Оньиссанти)  Redemption – Искупление Грехов  The Vices and the Virtues – Грехи и Добродетели  protagonist – главный герой  Joachim [‘j@u@kim] – Иоаким  TASKS  I.

 

Read the text. Mark the following statements true or false.  1. Giotto’s greatness is recognized only today.  2. Giotto produced cubic forms on a flat surface.  3. Jesus and Mary are the protagonists of Giotto’s frescoes.  4. In Giotto’s frescoes the figures float through the heavens.  5. The composition is centred around Lazarus.  6. In the Lamentation to typify the desolation of the scene Giotto depicted a bare tree against the blue background.  II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?  1. How was Giotto characterized by his contemporaries?

 

2. What did Giotto represent in the frescoes that line the inte­rior of the Arena Chapel in Padua? What is the subject of these frecoes?

 

3. What did Giotto introduce in his works of art?

 

4. What is depicted in one of Giotto’s earliest frescoes? What device did Giotto use to emphasize the three-dimensionality of Joackim’s figure? What scale did he recognize for the figures and for the surroundings?  5. How did Giotto represent the figures in the Madonna and Child Enthroned? How did Giotto depict the throne?

 

How is the background painted? What models the form in the Madonna and Child Enthroned? What do Giotto’s figures resemble?  6.

 

What is represented in the Raising of Lazarus? What groups are distinguished in the fresco? How are they arranged?

 

How did Giotto show the perspective in this fresco?  7. What does the Lamentation depict? How did Giotto group the grieving figures? What medieval legend is connected with the Tree of Knowledge?  III. i Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:  to be recognized by the contemporaries; protagonist; ceremo­nial representation; to revive the art of painting; a cycle of frescoes; to line the interior; in the wilderness; to arrange frescoes in three layers; to cover walls with frescoes; to fresco the walls; to form a definite stage in space; frescoes on panels; cubic rocks; three-dimensional forms; a limited space; wrapped in graveclothes; according to the medieval legend; against the blue background; an ideal heavenly col­our; Queen of Heaven; to take shelter; firmly stand; to recognize one scale for the figures and another for the surroundings; master’s mas­terpiece; the miracle lies in; light without indication of source; to produce for the first time; to design a halo; to introduce light and inward extension; to group the figures; to resemble sculptural masses; foreshortened in perspective; visual unity; to rule out the distant space; to add mourners; in the foreground; in the background; facial types; to receive an outcast; brushwork; Redemption; Tree of Knowledge; a withered tree; the sin of Adam and Eve; shepherds and sheepfold; on a flat surface.  ii. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:  Искупление грехов; расписывать стены фресками; тип лица; впервые изобразить; Грехи и Добродетели; на фоне голубого неба; мазки остаются спокойными; признанный современниками; напоминать готические скульптуры; шедевр великого художника; на плоской поверхности; ввести свет и внутреннее пространство; образовать определенную ступень в пространстве; ограниченное пространство; главный герой; рос­пись на доске; парадное изображение; на одной из первых сцен; подчеркнуть объемность форм; небесно голубой цвет; исключить глубинное пространство; на переднем плане; цикл фресок; при­нять изгоя; засохшее дерево; пастухи; овчарня; дописать пла­кальщиц; передать пространство; грех Адама и Евы; зрительное единство; изобразить нимб; сгруппировать фигуры; расположить фрески в три ряда; жертвоприношение; укороченный в перспек­тиве; свет без указания источника.  iii. Make up sentences of your own with the given phrases.  iv. Translate the following groups of words into Russian:  accomplish – accomplished; paint – painter – painting; revive -revival – revived; illustrate – illustrator – illustration; arrange – ar­rangement; face – facial – faceless; space – spatial – spaceless; sur­round – surroundings; three-dimension – three-dimensional – three-dimensionality; ceremony – ceremonial – ceremonialism.  v. Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:  a) to accomplish; flat; extension; to represent; observer; heaven; to design; three-dimensional; perspective; to produce; to line;  b) spectator; to show, to picture, to present, to portray, to de­pict; panorama; to create; to finish; to cover; sky, paradise; to draw; cubic, solid; prostrate; prolongation.  vi. Arrange the following in the pairs of antonyms:  a) to accept; to accomplish; to rule out; three-dimensional; to produce; to recall; to decline;  b) flat; to revive; to forget; to include; to reject; to start; to break.  IV. Here are descriptions of some of Giotto’s works of art. Match them up to the given titles.  1. The angels and saints firmly stand on either side of the throne.  2.

 

The man wrapped in graveclothes is read together with the rock.  3. Humiliated, his head bowed, he stands between two shepherds.  4. The persons grieve in the manner possible to their individual personalities.

 

a. Lamentation  b. Raising of Lazarus  c. Joachim among the Shepherds  d.

 

Madonna and Child Enthroned  V.

 

Translate the text into English.  Конец XIII – начало XIV вв. в европейской живописи знаменуется переходом от условных традиций средневековья к реалистическим традициям эпохи Возрождения и связан с име­нем Джотто, который впервые ввел свет и внутреннее простран­ство. Композиции Джотто просты. В Капелле дель Арена в Падуе цикл фресок из 38 сцен на тему “Искупление Грехов”, главными героями которых являются Христос и Мария, Джотто располо­жил в три ряда.

 

Сюжеты из Евангелия художник представил как реальные события.

 

Вместо условного золотого фона византий­ских мозаик Джотто ввел пейзажный фон.

 

Он добился трехмер­ного пространства определенным расположением (arrangement) фигур на плоскости стены. В отличие от византийских фигур, висящих в пространстве, герои Джотто твердо стоят на ногах.  VI. Summarize the text.  VII. Topics for discussion.

 

1. Giotto’s style and characters.  2.

 

Giotto as the father of modern painting.

 

UNIT II MASACCIO (1401-1427/29)  The break between what had gone before and the new 15th century creative art of Florence is seen immediately in the Enthroned Madonna and Child by the short-lived Tommaso di Ser Giovanni known to his contemporaries as Masaccio who was, after Giotto, the next great founder-figure not only of Italian but of Western painting. This picture is a central panel of an altar-piece painted by Masaccio when he was twenty-five. Its revolutionary heroic realism can be par­alleled only in the work of his friend, the sculptor Donatello, older than Masaccio but working in Florence at the same time. In spite of the Gothic pointed arches used for the panels and the golden back­ground this is a Renaissance picture.

 

Masaccio’s Madonna and Child are a simple, sculpted group, as if blocked out from the same piece of stone, absorbed, archaic and unsmiling images. The throne on which they sit and on which the large monumental Madonna casts a shadow is solid and three-dimensional. The Child is realistically human and seriously divine.

 

He takes grapes from his Mother as a solemn fore­taste of the Passion.  Masaccio’s innovations are visible in the frescoes he painted about 1425 in the Chapel of the Brancacci family in Florence. In his mid-twenties he revolutionised the art of painting.

 

In the principle scene in the series the Tribute Money Masaccio created a new sense of actual masses existing in actual space.

 

The subject recounts how when Christ and the Apostles arrived at Capernaum, the Roman tax-gatherer came to collect tribute. Christ told Peter he would find the tribute money in the mouth of a fish in the nearby Sea of Galilee. Peter cast for the fish, found the coin, and paid the tax-gatherer. The artist has arranged the Apostle figures in a semicircle around Christ, with the discovery of the money placed in the middle distance at the left and the payoff at the right. The Apostles are enveloped in cloaks. This gives them the grandeur of sculpture and a sense of existence in space.

 

The Apostles’ faces are painted with quick, soft strokes of the brush. Masaccio has performed a miracle almost without the use of line. Form is achieved by the impact of light on an object. In this pic­ture Masaccio proved a simple maxim that ‘Nothing is seen without light’. Unlike Giotto who had attempted to take the observer only a few yards back into the picture, where he immediately encountered the flat, blue wall, Masaccio leads the eye into the distance, over the shore of Galilee, past half-dead trees to the range of far-off moun­tains, and eventually to the sky with its floating clouds. And while Giotto’sought for the best means of telling the story selected as the subject, Masaccio sought a fitting incident which as a theme, would enable him to depict the characters he chose to represent.  On the narrow entrance wall to the chapel Masaccio painted his vision of the Expulsion from Eden. In this fresco the clothed angel floats above, sword in one hand, the other hand points into a desolate and treeless world.

 

Adam’s powerful body is shaking with sobs; he covers his face with his hands in a paroxysm of guilt and grief. Eve covers her nakedness with her hands, but lifts up her face in a scream of pain. Masaccio’s drawing of the human figures and faces is mas­terly. Never before the nude figures had been painted with such breadth and ease; and the man’s separation from God had never be­fore been represented with such tragic intensity.  Masaccio made a great advance in both linear and aerial per­spective; his figures were placed firmly on different planes in the same composition. Masaccio’s style was characterised by his contem­poraries as “pure, without ornament”.

 

By the fifteenth century the Brancacci Chapel had become the place where young artists including Michelangelo, went to learn from Masaccio – the basic principles of form, space, light, and shade of the Renaissance painting.  Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:  Masaccio [m@PzO¶ou]; Renaissance [r@Pneis@ns]; Donatello [don@Ptelou]; Florence [Pflor@ns]; Apostles [@Pposlz]; Galilee [Pg{lilO]; Capernaum [k@Ppynj@m]; Milan [miPl{n]; Eden [POdn]; archaic [OPkeiik]; paroxysm [Pp{r@ksiz@m]  NOTES  Tribute Money – “Чудо со статиром”(“Подать”)  Expvlsionfrom Eden – “Изгнание из Рая”  Enthroned Madonna and Child – “Мадонна с Младенцем на Престоле”  the Passion – Страсти Господни  TASKS  I.

 

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

 

1. Masaccio was the first founder-figure of Italian painting.  2.

 

‘Nothing is seen without light’ was Giotto’s maxim.  3. Masaccio created a new sense of supernatural reality.  4. Late life Masaccio revolutionised the art of painting.  5.

 

In a paroxysm of guilt and grief Eve covers her face.  6. The Arena Chapel became the place where young artists studied the basic principles of the Renaissance painting.  II.

 

How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?  1. What did Masaccio paint at the age of twenty-five?  2. How did Masaccio develop Giotto’s innovations? What miracle did Masaccio perform?

 

3. Is the Enthroned Madonna and Child a Gothic or Renais­sance picture? Why?  4. What does the subject of the Tribute Money recount? How did Masaccio group the figures?  5. What differs the Masaccio from the Giotto? How far did Masaccio take the observer into his painting the Tribute Money?  6. What is represented in the Expulsion from Eden? How did Masaccio picture man’s separation from God?  III. i. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:  Gothic pointed arches; light and shade; a central panel of an altarpiece; the grandeur of sculpture; the Passion; to take the observer a few yards back in the picture; in the principle scene; a sense of actual masses existing in actual space; the subject recounts; sculpted group; a tax-gatherer; to cast for the fish; to perform a miracle; on the entrance wall to the chapel; the impact of light on an object; to float above: payoff; to render the event; a simple maxim; in a paroxysm of guilt and grief; to cover the face with the hands; to lift up the face; to paint with breadth and ease.  ii. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:  изобразительное искусство; центральная часть алтарного образа; влияние света на предмет; величие скульптуры; над вхо­дом в капеллу; сюжет повествует; сотворить чудо; скульптурная группа; готические стрельчатые арки; ощущение естественности среды, в которой пребывают герои; парить над; сотрясаться от рыданий; принципы пространства и светотени; оплата; передать событие; бросить невод; писать размашисто и легко; закрыть лицо руками; мытарь; в приступе вины и горя; простая истина; провести зрителя на несколько метров вглубь картины.

 

iii.

 

Make up sentences of your own with the given phrases.  iv.

 

Translate the following groups of words into Russian:  create – creator – creative – creativity – creature; found – foun­der – foundation; sculpture – sculptor – sculptural – sculptured; revolution – revolutionary – revolutionise – revolutionist; image -imaginary – imagination – imaginative; real – reality – realism – re­alistic; sacrifice – sacrificial.

 

v.

 

Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:  a) immediately; to recount; short-lived; impact; power; to con­nect; to perform; desolate; central; monumental; to cast; basic;  b) principal; influence; massive; to tell; at once; to link; to do;  authority; brief; barren; fundamental; to throw.  vi. Arrange the following in the pairs of antonyms:  a) central; large; giant; short-lived; separate; create;  b) dwarf; peripheral; little, small; unite; break; long-lived.  IV. Here are descriptions of some of Masaccio ‘s works of art. Match them up to the given titles..  1. The painting depicts archaic, un­smiling sculpted images.  2. The artist has arranged the Apostle figures around Christ.  3. The man’s separation from God is shown as a tragedy.  a. Tribute Money  b. Expulsion from Eden  c. Madonna and Child Enthroned  V. Translate the text into English.  Мазаччо, выдающийся флорентийский художник, решил проблемы живописи, поставленные Джотто. В главных сценах росписи в капелле Бранкаччи – “Чудо со статиром” и “Изгнание из Рая” Мазаччо показал как помещать фигуры в пространстве. В “Изгнании из Рая” мощное тело Адама сотрясается от рыданий, в приступе вины и горя он от стыда закрыл лицо руками; Ева рыдает, запрокинув в отчаянии голову. В сцене “Чудо со стати­ром” Мазаччо объединил три сюжета: Христос с учениками у ворот, которых остановил сборщик налогов, – центральная ком­позиция; Петр, по велению Христа забросивший невод, – компо­зиция слева; сцена выплаты подати – справа. Сцены, соединен­ные на одной плоскости, написаны с учетом линейной и воздушной перспективы (linear perspective and aerial perspective).

 

В отличие от Джотто, который уводит взгляд зрителя только на несколько шагов вглубь картины, Мазаччо образует глубинное пространство, проводя взгляд зрителя над берегами Моря Галилейского, полузасохшими деревьями, к хребту далеких гор, и, наконец, к небу.

 

Благодаря фрескам Мазаччо церковь Санта Ма­рия дель Кармине превратилась в своеобразную академию, где учились многие художники.  VI. Summarize the text.  VII. Topics for discussion.  1. Masaccio’s artistic heritage.  2.

 

Masaccio’s impact on art development.

 

UNIT III MANTEGNA (1431-1506)  Andrea Mantegna was the first major north Italian artist to ex­perience the full force of the Florentine Renaissance. In 1454, the year of Donatello’s departure from Padua, Mantegna began, with several older artists, a series of frescoes in the Chapel of the Overati family in Padua. He finished the frescoes himself in 1457 when he was twenty six years old.  The air-raid on March 11, 1944 completely destroyed the chapel containing Mantegna’s early works. Only two of the frescoed panels on the lower part of the right wall were saved the Martyrdom and the Burial of St.

 

Christopher, and the Assumption in the apse. Almost all the colour is gone from the two frescoes the Martyrdom and the Burial of St. Christopher, but one can still detect the novelty of the background perspective. In the middle of the cove of the apse, the Virgin Mary disappears behind a high archway lifted up towards the sky in all her physical presence. We follow her as she rises slowly along with the Apostles who stand below against the sides of the arch.

 

The upturned face seen from below with the eyes raised is extremely beautiful.  The few small fragments of the Martyrdom of St.

 

James (1454-56) collected from the pile of ruins and put together in a photo­montage have been placed on the left wall. The photo-montage of the Martyrdom of St. James demonstrates the high level of perfection achieved by the young Mantegna in rendering the three-dimensional illusion.  Saint James Led to Execution is a triumph of Renaissance spa­tial construction and Renaissance Classicism. The perspective is cal­culated for the eye level of a person of average height standing on the floor below.

 

The effect of figures moving in an actual space is star­tling. The ground disappears and the figures recede. Within Mantegna’s carefully constructed space, the figures look like animated statues, carved rather than painted. But their marmoreal hardness only intensifies the drama. James on the way to martyrdom, turns to bless a kneeling Christian who has broken through the Roman guards. The movements of the figures, the gentleness of the saint, and the emotion of the moment are as severely controlled as the perspective.  In 1474 Mantegna finished the frescoes for the castle of the Gonzaga family, marquises of the principality of Mantua. The Gonzaga frescoes are continuous around two sides and over the vaulted ceiling of a square chamber. They present scenes from contemporary court life.

 

The frescoes have been painted in such a way that the fire­place and other architectural elements of the room are incorporated into the composition. The scene with the family surrounding the ruler and his wife, which is painted over the fireplace, appears to have the figures actually standing and seated upon the mantelpiece, and the leather curtains which were part of the original hangings of the room are echoed in the painted curtains that close off some scenes. In one fresco Francisco Gonzaga is greeted by his father, the marquis, and by the bishop of Mantua, other dignitaries and some charming children on his return from Rome, where he had been made a cardinal. The background is not Mantua, but an ideal Italian city on a hill, the cir­cular walls are seen in perspective. Outside them can be seen Roman ruins and statues. The colouring was undoubtedly more brilliant be­fore certain portions peeled off in the course of time.

 

The centre of the ceiling is Mantegna’s most astonishing per­spective prank. We seem to be looking up into a circular parapet as up through the mouth of a well, above which are sky and clouds. Winged children clinging to the parapet are seen in sharp perspective from front and rear, and across one end runs a pole, which if it rolled a bit, would allow a large tub of plants to fall on our heads. Ladies-in-waiting, including one black servant, peer over the edge, smiling at our discomfiture. With this odd beginning commences the long se­ries of illusionistic ceiling and dome paintings that continued for three centuries and spread from Italy throughout Europe.  In the long bas-relief-like painting the Introduction of the Cult of Cybele into Rome Mantegna reveals his sculptural tendencies and grave attitude to classical antiquity. His figures take on the rigidity of stone.

 

The Madonna and Child with Magdalen and S. John the Baptist Mantegna painted with a simulated marble framing. As through a window the observer meant to look at these statue-like figures whose draperies fall into heavy folds.  Late in life Mantegna painted the Dead Christ on canvas and in scurto (extreme foreshortening), intended not as a trick in this case but as a device to bring home to the observer the personal meaning for him of Christ’s sacrificial death. The weeping Mary and John are likely later additions.  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 [mOnPteinjO]; Mantua [Pm{ntju@]; marquis [PmOkwis], burial [Pberi@l]; martyrdom [PmOt@d@m]; montage [PmontO?]; castle [kOsl]; Cybele [PsibilO]  NOTES  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”  TASKS  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.  UNIT IV BOTTICELLI (1445-1510)  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.

 

A Christianized Venus, modestly dressed and resembling Bot­ticelli’s Madonnas, reigns in the midst of a dark grove of trees bear­ing golden fruit.

 

At the right Zephyrus, the wind-god, pursues the nymph Chloris; flowers issue from her mouth. She is transformed into the goddess Flora, clothed in a flower-covered gown, from its folds she strews blossoms upon the lawn. At the left Mercury is dispelling tiny clouds from the golden apple, the symbol of the Medici family.

 

Between Mercury and Venus the Three Graces dance in a ring. These lovely creatures are shown in transparent garments.

 

This painting is a complex allegory. As in all Botticelli’s mature works his figures are extremely attenuated, with long necks, torsos, arms and sloping shoulders. Their beautiful faces and graceful bodies and limbs seem almost bloodless and weightless, their white feet touch the ground so lightly that not a flower or a leaf is bent.

 

The individual forms are perfectly modelled.

 

Botticelli’s representation of figures in motion is far beyond anything that preceded him and has never been excelled. The composition is based on an interweaving of linear patterns, drapery folds, streaming or braided hair, trunks, and leaves. Such a picture, both in content and style, represents a withdrawal from naturalism of the Early Florentine Renaissance.  The Birth of Venus may show the effects of Botticelli’s resi­dence in Rome in the early 1480s. Venus, according to the ancient myth, was born from the sea. Upon a sea represented without concern for space, and dotted with little V-shaped marks for waves, Bot­ticelli’s Venus stands lightly in a beautiful cockleshell, wafted by two embracing wind-gods, toward a highly stylized shore.

 

This Venus, proportioned like the Three Graces, differs from the splendid Venuses of classical antiquity.

 

She uses the curving streams of her long hair to cover her nakedness. She can’t wait for the cloak that one of the Hours is about to spread around her. Botticelli’s allegory is related to the Christian tradition with which he tried to reconcile the pagan leg­end.

 

The composition has been compared to medieval and Renais­sance representations of the Baptism of Christ. It may be argued that this is a rather artificial interpretation, but it is an interpretation that made sense to the fifteenth century.  Later, under the impact of Savonarola’s preaching and the trou­bles besetting Italy Botticelli’s imagery becomes less esoteric and more Christian.

 

The best possible example is the Mystic Nativity. In order to emphasize the importance of the Madonna and Child and the relative unimportance of the humans, Botticelli has reverted to the early medieval device of disregarding scale and perspective and grading the actual sizes of the figures according to their importance; hence the Madonna is far the largest although placed apparently in the middle distance. The feature that links Botticelli most firmly with the Florentine artistic heritage is his linear perspective.  The unreality of Botticelli is a blind alley in the development of Renaissance painting, the brilliance and beauty of his line are not, and it may have influenced the pictorial style of Michelangelo.

 

Make sure you know the pronunciation of the following:  Sandro Botticelli [PsOndrou botiP¶@li]; Florence [Pflor@ns]; Flora [Pflo:r@]; Graces [Pgreisiz]; Hours [Pau@z]; Savonarola [s{v@n@Proul@]; Renaissance [r@Pneis@ns]; Venus [PvOn@s]; Christian [Pkristj@n]; Zephyms [Pz@f@r@s]; Chloris [kloris]; Mercury [Pmykjuri]  NOTES  Primavera (The Allegory of Spring) – “Весна”  Birth of Venus – “Рождение Венеры”  Baptism of Christ – Крещение Христа  Mystic Nativity – “Мистическое Рождество”  TASKS  I. Read the text. Mark the following statements true or false.  1.

 

Botticelli’s contemporaries admired his works of art.  2.

 

In the Primavera Christianized Venus reigns on Olympus.  3. Flora, Mercury and Zephyrus dance in a ring.  4. Botticelli’s figures are extremely attenuated.

 

5. In the Birth of Venus Botticelli depicted the sea as a sea­scape painter.  6. Later in life Botticelli’s imagery becomes more esoteric and less Christian.

 

II.

 

How well have you read?

 

Can you answer the following questions?

 

1. What glorified Botticelli?

 

What other painters are mentioned in this text? How were they connected with Botticelli?  2. What impact did Savonarola’s preaching make on Botticelli?  3. What are Botticelli’s most celebrated pictures? How are they interpreted?  4. What gods and goddesses are pictured in the Primavera? What do they do? What is Botticelli’s allegory related to?  5. What is represented in the Birth of Venus? What gods are depicted in this painting?

 

What do they do? Where is Venus placed? How is Venus proportioned? What differs Botticelli’s Venus from the splendid Venuses of classical antiquity? What did Botticelli try to reconcile in the Birth of Venus?

 

6. What does the Mystic Nativity exemplify?

 

What device did Botticelli use to emphasize the importance of the Madonna and the Child?  7. Whose pictorial style did Botticelli influence?  III. i. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:  poetic (scientific) current; early in life; celebrated pictures; to give up painting; to pursue the nymph; to spread blossoms from the folds; sloping shoulders; a complex allegory; a mature work; on can­vas; on panel; in the fresco; in the picture; companion pieces; lovely creatures; drapery folds; an interweaving of linear patterns; classical antiquity; to interpret in different ways; delicate faces; attenuated figures; to be aloof from; transparent garments; a withdrawal from naturalism; wafted to the shore by the wind-god; to reconcile a pa­gan legend with the Christian tradition; spread a cloak around Venus; to stand in the cockleshell; V-shaped marks for waves; to paint the sea without concern for space.  ii. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:  ведущий художник; научное (романтическое) направле­ние; парные работы; знаменитые картины; на холсте; на доске; на картине; на фреске; на рисунке; отход от натурализма; проповеди; разбрасывать цветы; примирить языческую легенду с христи­анской традицией; зрелая работа; прозрачные одежды; тракто­вать по-разному; легко касаться земли; перестать писать карти­ны; стилизованный берег; галочки вместо волн; фигуры необыкновенно воздушны; преследовать нимфу; влекомая к бе­регу; легко стоять в раковине; утонченные лица; переплетение линий; последователь к-л.  iii. Make up sentences ofyour own with the given phrases.

 

iv. Translate the following groups of words into Russian:  Christian – Christianize – Christianity – christianized; reconcile – reconciliation; baptism – Baptist – baptize; reside – residence -resident; preach – preaching – preacher; aloof- aloofness.  v. Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:  a) aloof; current; pagan; give up; to dispel; to strew; attenu­ated; transparent; transform; reconcile; pursue;  b) heathen; trend; distant; translucent; to disperse; to scatter; lengthy; abandon; to transfigure; chase; appease.  IV.

 

Match the names of the gods and goddess with their respon­sibilities.  Venus (Aphrodite); The Three Graces; Mercury (Hermis [Phymis]); Zephyrus; The Hours (The Horae); Flora  1) the god of the west wind; 2) the goddess of flowering and blossoming plants, shown with a wreath [ri:p] of flowers in her hair; 3) goddesses of season, representing the different times of the year and of the day; 4) the goddess of beauty and love, she emerged from the sea-foam and the winds blew her to the coast of Cyprus [Psaipr@s]; 5) the god of commerce and prophecy, the messenger of the gods and the bearer of the dead souls; 6) goddesses of grace and beauty, who appear in art.  V. Replace the expressions in italics in the following sentences with expressions from the text which have the same meaning.  1. Although Botticelli was not interested in science he was the leading local painter in Florence in the 1480s. 2. Savonarola’s spiritual leadership had a great impact upon Botticelli.

 

3. After 1500 Botticelli abandoned painting at all. 4.

 

Botticelli’s most fa­mous pieces are the Primavera and the Birth of Venus. 5.

 

The two pictures were considered mate paintings. 6. At the left Mercury is dispersing small clouds from the golden fruit.

 

7. Botticelli’s figures are very lengthy. 8. The Three Graces are depicted in translucent clothes. 9. Venus was blown to the coast of the sea by Zephyrus. 10. Botticelli endeavoured to appease the Christian tradition with the heathen legend.

 

VI. Match the names of gods and goddesses with the appropri­ate painting. Describe these works of art.  a. Venus  1. Primavera b. Flora  c. Zephyrus  d. Mercury  2. Birth of Venus e. The Three Graces  f. Hour  g. Chloris  VII. Translate the text into English.  Две наиболее прославленные картины Сандро Боттичелли “Весна” (ок. 1477-1478) и “Рождение Венеры” (ок.

 

1483-1484) находятся в галереи Уффици.

 

Тема “Весны” трактуется неодно­значно. Одни считают, что на картине изображена в аллегориче­ской форме свадьба Лоренцо Медичи, другие полагают, что кар­тина навеяна поэзией. Боттичелли не разъясняет сюжет.

 

В картине “Весна” в единую композицию соединены фигуры Вес­ны, Мадонны, Меркурия, Трех Граций, нимфы. Зефира, которые изображены в чаще тенистой рощи. Лицо Весны, разбрасываю­щей из подола цветы, печально.

 

В работе отчетливо видны все особенности письма Боттичелли: декоративность стиля, роман­тический характер образов, фантастический пейзаж, воздушные фигуры.  Боттичелли создал своеобразный женский тип: утончен­ные лица, удлиненные тела, покатые плечи. Фигуры кажутся бескровными и невесомыми, почти не касающимися земли. В картине “Рождение Венеры” Боттичелли изобразил прекрасную богиню. Рожденная из моря, под дуновением ветров в раковине Венера скользит по поверхности моря, написанного безотноси­тельно пространства с галочками вместо волн, к чрезвычайно стилизованному берегу, на котором ее поджидает одна из Гор, готовая набросить на богиню плащ.

 

Венера почти не касается раковины. Струящиеся волосы прикрывают ее наготу. В своих работах Боттичелли стремился примирить христианскую тради­цию с языческими мифами.  VIII. Summarize the text.  IX. Topics for discussion.  1. Botticelli as the precursor of the High Renaissance.  2. Savonarola’s impact on Botticelli.  3. Botticelli’s style and characters.  SUPPLEMENTARY READING  I. Read the text, retell it.

 

Add whatever information you can. Here are some facts from the life of the gods of Olympus [@uPlimp@s]. But before reading the text learn the names of the gods.  Zeus [zjus] – Зевс; Cronus [Pkron@s] – Крон; Rhea [Pri@] – Рея; Titans [Ptait@nz] – Титаны; Tartarus [PtOt@r@s] – Тартар; Нега [‘her@] – Гера; Apollo [@Ppolou] – Аполлон; Muses [mjuziz] – Музы; Ar­temis [POtimis] – Артемида; Hermis [PhymOz] – Гермес; Aphrodite [{fr@Pdaiti] – Афродита; The Horae [PhorO] – Горы; Hephaestos [hiPfOst@s] – Гефест; Erinyes [iPrinOz] – Эйрена; Nike [PnaikO] -Ника; Hebe [PhObi] – Геба; Ganymede [Pg{nimOd] – Ганимед; Themis[PTOmis] – Фемида; Dike [Pdaiki] – Дике; Moirae [ PmoirO] – Мойры; Tyche [Ptaiki] – Тихэ  Zeus, the father of gods and humans, god of the sky, thunder and lightning reigns on Olympus. Zeus was the son of Cronus and Rhea. When he grew up he fought Cronus and the Titans and impris­oned his opponents in Tartarus. Zeus married Hera, and she became his lawful and perpetual wife. Countless gods and goddesses surround Zeus on Olympus. Among them are: Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hermis, Athena and others. Athena was always Zeus’ favourite. She was born fully armed and shouting her dreaded war cry from the top of Zeus’ head, which Hephaestus, his lame son, split open with an axe. The beautiful Horae guard the entrance to high Olympus. The gods feast in the golden halls erected by Hephaestus. Zeus sits on his throne, on both sides of which stand two goddesses: Erinyes, the god­dess of peace, and Zeus’ permanent associate, winged Nike, the god­dess of Victory. When Hera enters the festival hall, all the gods ren­der honours to her. She is the patron goddess of the family and married women. During the feasts the gods are served by Zeus’ daughter Hebe, the goddess of youthful beauty, and Zeus’ favourite cupbearer, Ganymede, the son of Tros, the king of Troy. Hebe and Ganymede bring the gods and goddesses ambrosia and nectar. The Three Graces and Nine Muses entertain the gods with their songs and dances. At these feasts the gods decide all matters and determine the fate of the world and of men. From Mount Olympus Zeus decrees laws; and Themis, the goddess of justice, and Dike, the defender of justice and truth, help Zeus to guard them. The fate of men is deter­mined by three merciless Fates (goddesses of Destiny) – the Moirae. Nobody can escape their fate – neither gods nor mortals. The first goddess of Fate spins the thread of life, the second determines its length, and the third cuts off the thread of life. Tyche, one more god­dess of Destiny, is the goddess of happiness and prosperity. From the Horn of Plenty, that suckled the infant Zeus, she pours gifts on men and happy is he who meets Tyche on his life-path.  UNIT V LEONARDO da VINCI (1452-1519)  The coming of the sixteenth century saw the rise of great artists in Italy – Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Their names have never lost their enormous fame.  High Renaissance style was founded by one of the most gifted individuals ever born. Leonardo da Vinci, who has always been famous because of the fantastic range of his genius, fulfilled the Renaissance ideal of the Universal Man. He was not only a great painter and sculptor, but also an outstanding architect, an inventor, an engineer, a musician, and the leading physicist, bota­nist, anatomist, geologist and geographer of his time.  Leonardo’s fame as an artist is based on eighteen paintings that came down to us, some of them incomplete, some damaged as a result of his experimental techniques. Leonardo’s art surpassed the achievements of his time. In an era when the continuing power of the Church competed in men’s mind with the revived authority of Classical antiquity, for Leonardo there was no authority higher than that of an eye, which he characterized as “the window of the soul”. When Leonardo began his campaign to modernize painting the artist was still a craftsman and a guild member; before the High Renaissance was over, a great master could live like a prince.  Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany. By 1469 he was Verrocchio’s apprentice. In Verrocchio’s workshop Leonardo obtained the best education of his time.

 

The Adoration of the Magi is Leonardo’s first masterpiece. It was commissioned in 1481 for a church outside Florence. It was, never carried any further than the monochrome underpaint Leonardo used the pyramidal composition. The groups are based on the actions of the component figures and dissolve as soon as they move. Leonardo did not know it, but this discovery was made in Greece in the 5-th century B.C. In this work Leonardo started with the moment of feeling, form came next.  The Madonna of the Rocks, of 1483, is one of the earliest and the most famous Leonardo’s pictures. It was intended for the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception in Milan. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception means that the Virgin was freed from the taint of the Original Sin. Leonardo has interpreted this doc­trine dramatically. He represented Mary in the midst of a dark world of rock forms. In this strange rocky grotto, where the sun never seems to strike and the plants grow thick but colourless, the Christ Child manifests his Divinity as he blesses the infant St. John, himself taken under the Virgin’s protection.

 

And, like a prophecy of the Baptism of Christ by St.

 

John in the Jordan, a river winds away among the pale peaks.

 

This painting makes Leonardo a typical artist of the High Renaissance.

 

The Madonna and Saint Anna was designed in Florence in 1501 and completed many years later in Milan. It represents a revolutionary rethinking of the conventional theme of the Holy Family. Leonardo intertwined the figures to form a pyramidal composition. Leonardo makes the Virgin sit on her mother’s lap and merges their bodies in such a way that their heads are like twin heads rising from a single trunk. S. Anna’s head mirrors her daughter’s image.

 

The Virgin, as in traditional representations of this subject, is shown reaching for the Christ Child, who in his turn attempts to ride upon a lamb, the symbol of his sacrificial death.

 

The background is one of the most impressive mountain pictures ever painted.

 

Valleys, rocks and peaks diminish progressively into the bluish haze of the distance until they can no longer be distin­guished.  Leonardo’s power as an artist and thinker is evident in the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, his two most famous works.

 

Leonardo’s Last Supper was painted on the end wall of the refec­tory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan in 1495. In the fresco Christ discloses to his followers that soon one of their number will betray him and their cause. The composition is the product of the moment of action and meaning. The Apostles are presented in four groups of three each.

 

Each of these numbers has many meanings: the multiplication of the Gospels by the Trinity is only one, and twelve itself is not merely the number of the Apostles but of the months of the year and the hours of the day and of the night. The numerical division helps to throw the fundamental character of each of the Apostles into full relief, from the innocence of John on Christ’s right to the horror of James on his left and to the protestation of Philip, who placed his hand on his breast.

 

Only Judas knows, and the light does not shine upon his face. The Last Supper is a humanistic interpretation of the narrative. Leonardo has painted a higher reality, thus making a complete break with the Early Renaissance and establishing the ideal world in which Michelangelo and Raphael later operated. Leonardo painted his masterpiece in an oil-and-tempera emulsion on the dry plaster, and it began rapidly to peel off. As a result the surface is severely damaged.  Although Leonardo’s paintings are badly preserved, they are all fascinating. Leonardo created an enigma to which he gives no answer.  From 1503 until 1506 Leonardo was painting a portrait of the wife of the prominent Florentine citizen. The painting is known today as the Mona Lisa. The figure sits in a relaxed posi­tion, with hands quietly crossed, before one of Leonardo’s richest and most mysterious landscape backgrounds, traversed by roads that lose themselves, bridges to nowhere, crags vanishing in the mists. This attitude of total calm became characteristic for High Renaissance portraits.

 

The face has suffered in the course of time but nothing has spoiled the sad half smile that plays about the lips.  For a year or two Leonardo worked for the notorious Cesare Borgia, designing battle engines, siege devices and making maps.

 

The Florentines commissioned Leonardo to paint the Battle of Anghiari on a wall of a newly constructed Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio. This painting depicted an event from 15-th century history. It was part of a general programme to celebrate the newly revived republic.

 

Leonardo’s later life was a succession of trips between Flor­ence, Milan and Rome. He painted little in his later years. At his death Leonardo’s artistic influence was immense, but much of his scientific work had to await later rediscovery.

 

Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:  Leonardo da Vinci [li@nOdou d@Pvin¶i]; Raphael [Pr{fei@l]; Immaculate Conception [iPm{kjulit k@nPsepSn]; magi [Pmeid?ai]; Verrocchio [viProukiou]; Mona Lisa [Pmoun@ Pliz@]; Milan [miPl{n]; Cesare Borgia [PsezOri Pbo:d?j@]; Rome [Pr@um]  NOTES  Baptism of Christ – “Крещение Христа”  Adoration of the Magi – “Поклонение волхвов”  Madonna of the Rocks – “Мадонна в гроте”  Madonna and Saint Anna – “Святая Анна с Марией и младенцем Христом ”  Last Supper – “Тайная вечеря”  Mona Lisa – “Мона Лиза” (” Джоконда”)  Battle ofAnghiari – “Битва при Ангиар”  TASKS

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