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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 [PsÓ ndrou botiP¶@li]; Florence [Pflor@ns]; Flora [Pflo: r@]; Graces [Pgreisiz]; Hours [Pau@z]; Savonarola [s{v@n@Proul@]; Renaissance [r@Pneis@ns]; Venus [PvÖ n@s]; Christian [Pkristj@n]; Zephyms [Pz@f@r@s]; Chloris [kloris]; Mercury [Pmý kjuri]

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 [Phý mis]); 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 [zjü s] - Зевс; Cronus [Pkron@s] - Крон; Rhea [Pri@] - Рея; Titans [Ptait@nz] - Титаны; Tartarus [PtÓ t@r@s] - Тартар; Нега ['her@] - Гера; Apollo [@Ppolou] - Аполлон; Muses [mjü ziz] - Музы; Ar­temis [PÓ timis] - Артемида; Hermis [Phý mÖ z] - Гермес; Aphrodite [{fr@Pdaiti] - Афродита; The Horae [PhorÖ ] - Горы; Hephaestos [hiPfÖ st@s] - Гефест; Erinyes [iPrinÖ z] - Эйрена; Nike [PnaikÖ ] -Ника; Hebe [PhÖ bi] - Геба; Ganymede [Pg{nimÖ d] - Ганимед; Themis[PTÖ mis] - Фемида; Dike [Pdaiki] - Дике; Moirae [ PmoirÖ ] - 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@nÓ dou d@Pvin¶i]; Raphael [Pr{fei@l]; Immaculate Conception [iPm{kjulit k@nPsepSn]; magi [PmeidÆ ai]; Verrocchio [viProukiou]; Mona Lisa [Pmoun@ Pliz@]; Milan [miPl{n]; Cesare Borgia [PsezÓ ri Pbo: dÆ 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

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

1. When Leonardo began his career artists lived like princes.

2. In the Last Supper Leonardo has painted a higher real­ity, thus making a complete break with the Early Renaissance.

3. The Battle of Anghiari is the earliest and most famous Leonardo's picture.

4. In the Madonna and Saint Anna the figures are pictured in a strange rocky shadowy grotto.

5. The Madonna of the Rocks was designed in Florence in 1501 and completed many years later in Milan.

6. The Adoration of the Magi was Leonardo's last work.

II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?

1. How did Leonardo fulfil the Renaissance ideal of the Universal Man?

3. What does Leonardo's reputation as an artist rest on? What happened to his other works of art? Why?

4. What is Leonardo's first masterpiece? What colour dominates in this work of art?

5. In what work of art has Leonardo interpreted the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception? How has he interpreted it?

6. What does the Madonna and Saint Anna represent?

7. What compositional form dominates in Leonardo's works?

8. What is pictured in The Last Supper? Where do the fig­ures operate? How are the Apostles arranged? What does each of these numbers mean?

9. What is the Mona Lisa famous for? What is depicted in the background?

10. What else did Leonardo create in Florence?

11. What did Leonardo do in his later life?

III. i. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:

an apprentice; to surpass the achievements of the time; a craftsman; workshop; the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception; a monochrome underpaint; a pyramidal composition; the taint of the Original Sin; traditional representations of the ordinary theme; sacrificial death; to manifest the Divinity; to take smb under the protection; to betray the cause; the prophecy of the Baptism of Christ; to create an enigma; notorious; a characteristic device; on the end wall of the refectory; to make a complete break with; the figure sits in a relaxed position; to suffer in the course of time; a smile plays about the lips; on the dry plaster.

ii. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:

ремесленники; члены гильдии; символ жертвенной смерти; традиционное изображение обычной темы; на сухой штукатурке; возродить авторитет классической античности; взять кого-либо под свое покровительство; пирамидальная композиция; церковь Непорочного Зачатия; предать дело; одноцветный набросок; позор Первородного Греха; проявить божественность; пророчество крещения Христа; опередить достижения своего времени.

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

iv. Translate the following groups of words into Russian:

ideal - idealism - idealistic; invent - inventor - invention - in­ventive; craftsman - craftsmanship; apprentice - apprenticeship; symbol - symbolic - symbolism; pyramid - pyramidal; commission -commissioner; city - citizen - citizenship; relax - relaxation - re­laxed; betray - betrayal - betrayer; manifest - manifestation; mature -maturate - maturation - maturely - maturity; concentrate - concen­trated -concentration; fame - famous; gift - gifted.

v. Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:

a) gifted; traditional; outstanding; characteristic; complete; progress; enigma; famous; notorious; to commission; prophet; bap­tism; protection;

b) riddle; consecration; celebrated; infamous; talented; con­ventional; prominent; guardianship; typical; entire; advance; to or­der; foreseer.

IV. Here are descriptions of some of Leonardo's works of art. Match them up to the titles given below.

1. The Apostles are presented in four groups of three each.

2. Christ Child manifests his Divinity as he blesses the infant St. John.

3. This painting depicts an event from 15-th century history.

4. The face has suffered in the course of time but nothing has spoiled the sad half smile that plays about the lips.

5. It was never carried any further than the monochrome underpaint.

6. The Virgin sits on her mother's lap, as in traditional representations of this theme.

A. Mona Lisa

B. Adoration of the Magi

C. Madonna of the Rocks

D. Last Supper

E. Madonna and Saint Anna

F. Battle ofAnghiari

V. Insert the missing prepositions. Retell the text.

... Leonardo architecture was based... the twin principles... geometric relations and natural growth. And nothing was so im­portant as the central-plan structure. This new organic architec­ture was realised... Bramante's plan for Saint Peter's. But the idea... it originated... Leonardo's mind. Leonardo abandoned both the planar architecture... Brunelleschi and the block architecture...Alberti. He began... plans and perspective drawings... the same structure. Leonardo started... an octagon surrounded... eight circles, and a Greek cross whose arms, terminating... four semi­circular apses, embrace four additional octagons... each... which a tower must be erected.

VI. Insert the article wherever necessary. Retell the text.

Nothing in Leonardo's scientific drawings is quite as excit­ing as his Olympian views of... nature, which illustrate his stand­point in... Renaissance debate about... relative importance of... various arts. Leonardo maintained that... painting deserved... position as one of... liberal arts, more than... music or... poetry.... Music, he noted is dead as soon as... last sound has expired, but... work of... painting is always there to be seen. He pointed out, no one ever travelled to read... poem, but... people journey... hundreds of miles to see... painting. Leonardo did not admit... sculpture to... liberal arts; ... painter could work in quiet, sitting down, richly dressed and listen to... music while he worked, while... sculptor was covered with... sweat and... dust and his ears deafened by... noise of... hammer and... chisel on... stone.

VII. Translate the text into English.

Леонардо да Винчи - первый художник Высокого Ре­нессанса, недолгого золотого века итальянского искусства. Произведения этого периода характеризуются синтезом пре­красных сторон жизни. Фигура ангела, написанная Лео­нардо, в картине его учителя Андреа Вероккио " Крещение" демонстрирует разницу в восприятии мира художниками раз­ных эпох.

С 1482 по 1499 гг. Леонардо жил в Милане. Это был один из лучших периодов творчества художника. Здесь он написал " Мадонну в гроте" - первую монументальную ал­тарную композицию Высокого Ренессанса. Самая большая работа Леонардо - роспись стены трапезной монастыря Санта Мария делла Грацие на сюжет " Тайной Вечери". Христос в последний раз встречается за ужином со своими учениками, чтобы объявить о предательстве одного из них. Леонардо показал реакцию двенадцати апостолов на слова учителя. Судьба фрески трагична. Эксперименты Леонардо привели к ее быстрому осыпанию.

В 1503 г. во Флоренции Леонардо выполнил картину на тему битвы миланцев и флорентийцев при Ангиари, заказан­ную для стены нового зала палаццо Синьории и создал порт­рет Моны Лизы, супруги Франческо дель Джокондо. Мона Лиза изображена на фоне пейзажа с мостами и дорогами в никуда, скалами, исчезающими в облаках. В портрете Моны Лизы достигнута наивысшая степень гармонии и красоты образа эпохи Высокого Ренессанса.

VIII. Summarize the text.

IX. Topics for discussion.

1. Leonardo's religious paintings.

2. Leonardo's portraits.

3. Leonardo's artistic influence.

UNIT VI MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI (1475-1564)

The sixteenth century in central Italy was dominated by the colossal genius of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Michelangelo learned the techniques of painting during a year of his boyhood spent in Ghirlandaio's studio, sculpture he studied with Bertoldo di Giovanni, the pupil of Donatello. His earliest masterpiece is the Pieta, done in 1498-99/1500 during his first stay in Rome. The perfect formation of the slender Christ, lying across the knees of his mother, excited the admiration of Michelangelo's contemporaries. The exquisite Virgin looks as young as her son. The ageless Virgin is a symbol of the Church, she presents the timeless reality of Christ's sacrifice. The extreme delicacy in the handling of the marble and the contrast between the long lines of Christ's figure and the crumpled drapery folds produce passages of a beauty that Michelangelo never surpassed, despite the grandeur of his mature and late work.

The heroic style for which Michelangelo is generally known is seen in the David more than 14 feet in height, which was carved in 1501-4, for a lofty position on one of the buttresses of the Ca­thedral of Florence. When the statue was completed, it was so beautiful that the Florentines could not sacrifice it in such a posi­tion. It was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where it be­came a symbol of the republic ready for battle against its enemies. The David became the first true colossus of the High Renaissance.

In 1505 Michelangelo was called by the warrior pope Julius II to design a tomb for him. This project with more than forty over-life statues in marble and bronze relief would require a life­time. After several successive reductions the tomb was brought to completion only in 1545. Three statues remain from the 1505 version.

The world-famous statue of Moses was intended for a cor­ner position on the second story of the monument so that it could be seen from below. Like all of Michelangelo's works, the Moses, is symbolic and timeless. Moses is conceived as an activist prophet, a counterpart to Saint Paul. The bulk of the figure is al­most crushing. Moses' head with its two-tailed beard, is one of the artist's most formidable creations; the locks of the beard are lightly drawn aside by the fingers of his right hand. The drapery masses enhance the compactness of the figure.

The two Slaves for the 1505 and 1513 versions of the tomb were planned to flank niches around the lower story, in which were to stand Victories. The figure called the Dying Slave is actu­ally not dying but turning languidly as if in sleep; one hand is placed upon his head, the other pulls unconsciously at the narrow bond of cloth across his massive chest. The strikingly different companion figure, the Rebellious Slave, exerts all his gigantic strength in vain against the slender bond that ties his arms. The new figure type created by Michelangelo in the David, and set in action here for the first time, established a standard that influ­enced a great number of artists. Throughout the late Renaissance and the Baroque, Michelangelesque heavy muscled figure was almost universally imitated.

In 1508 Michelangelo was given a commission to fresco the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The upper walls had been frescoed in the 1480s by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Signorelli. Julius II asked Michelangelo to paint the ceiling, a flattened barrel vault more than 130 feet long. It was the most ambitious under­taking of the entire Renaissance.

The painting represented the drama of the Creation and Fall of Man and consisted of nine scenes, beginning with the Separation of Light from Darkness and ending with the Drunkenness of Noah. In the vault compartments above the windows and in the lunettes around the windows are represented the forty generations of the ancestry of Christ, and in the spandrels at the corners of the Chapel are pictured David and Goliath, Judith and Holofernes, the Crucifixion of Human and the Brazen Serpent.

In this intricate iconographic structure the coming of Christ is foretold in the nine scenes from Genesis, according to the prin­ciple of correspondence between the Old and New Testaments that was illustrated repeatedly throughout Christian art. An added element is the oak tree of the Rovere family, to which Julius II and his uncle Sixtus IV belonged. The Rovere oak tree invaded the, scenes of Creation and alluded poetically to the Tree of Life, which stood near the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden and whose fruit in medieval theology was Christ.

The Fall of Man combines the Temptation and the Expulsion in a single scene, which in one motion leads the eye from the crime to punishment, linked by the Tree of Knowledge, represented as a fig tree. Never in history had nude figures been painted on such a colossal scale.

Michelangelo's vision of a new and grander humanity reaches its supreme embodiment in the Creation of Adam. Instead of standing on earth as in all earlier Creation scenes, the Lord floats through the heavens and is enveloped in the violet mantle he wears in all the scenes in which he appears. The violet colour is required for the vestments of the clergy during Advent and Lent, the penitential periods before the coming of Christ at Christmas and his resurrection at Easter. The Lord is borne by wingless an­gels. Michelangelo's Creator for the first time makes believable the concept of omnipotence. A dynamo of creative energy, God stretches forth his hand, about to touch with his finger the ex­tended finger of Adam. This image of the creative finger derives from the famous medieval hymn " Come, Creator Spirit" sung at Pentecost, the festival of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. In this hymn the " finger of the paternal right hand" is invoked to bring speech to our lips, light to our senses, love to our hearts, and strength to our bodies. Adam reclines on the barren ground below, longing for life, and love about to be instilled by this finger. Adam means " Earth" and the finger is shown ready to be charged with the energy that will lift him from the dust and make him a " living soul". Adam's body is the most perfect structure ever created by Michelangelo. It embodies the beauty of Classical antiquity and the spirituality of Christianity.

The final scenes as one moves toward the altar were also the last in order of execution. The Lord Congregating the Waters was held to foreshadow the foundation of the Church. The Creation of Sun, Moon, and Plants shows the Lord twice, once creating sun and moon with a cruciform gesture of his mighty arms, then seen from the rear creating plants. Just above the altar the Lord separates the light from the darkness.

The seated prophets and sibyls show the majestic possibilities of the draped figure. Although Michelangelo's figures were clothed they looked nude. The Persian Sibyl was represented as immensely old, Jeremiah as grieving above the papal throne, Daniel aflame with prophecy as he writes in a small volume, the Libyan Sibyl looking down upon the altar, at the eternal Tree of Life. The final phase of the Sistine Ceiling is one of the supreme moments in the spiritual history of mankind. It was created during the years when Julius II, who commissioned and inspired the Sistine Ceiling, was fighting on the battlefield for the continued life of the Papal States against the armies of King Louis XII, and completed when the victory was won.

Make sure you know how to pronounce the following words:

Michelangelo Buonarroti [maiklP{ndÆ ilou bwon@Proti]; David [Pdeivid]; Moses [Pmouziz]; Ghirlandaio [girlÓ nPdÓ jou]; Dante [Pd{nti], Julius [dÆ ü lj@s]; Saint [seint]; Noah [Pn@u@]; Signorelli [sÖ njouPrelÖ ]; Perugino [perü PdÆ Ö nou]; Goliath [g@uPlai@T]; Judith [PdÆ Ö diT]; Holofernes [Phol@uPfý nÖ z]; sibyl [Psibil]

NOTES

Pieta [piePtÓ ] - Пьета (" Оплакивание Христа" )

David- Давид

Moses -" Моисеи"

Dying Slave - " Умирающий раб"

Rebellious Slave - " Восставший раб"

Separation of Light from Darkness - " Отделение света от тьмы"

The Lord Congregating the Waters - " Отделение тверди от воды "

Creation of Sun, Moon, and Plants - " Сотворение светил и растений"

Drunkenness of Noah - " Осмеяние Ноя"

David and Goliath - " Давид и Голиаф"

Judith and Holofernes - " Юдифь и Голоферн"

Crucifixion of Human - " Человеческие страдания"

Brazen Serpent - " Змий-Искуситель"

Fall of Man - " Грехопадение"

Temptation - " Искушение"

Expulsion - " Изгнание из Рая"

Creation of Adam - " Сотворение Адама"

Persian Sibyl -" Персидская сивилла"

Jeremiah [PdÆ erimai@] - пророк Иеремия

Daniel [Pd{nI@l] - Даниил

Libyan Sibyl - Ливийская сивилла

TASKS

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

1. Michelangelo's first masterpiece is the David.

2. The Moses was the first colossus of the High Renaissance.

3. The Redemption of man is the subject of the Sistine Ceiling.

4. Michelangelo's heavy nude figure was universally imitated by the painters throughout Europe.

5. Michelangelo imagined God over the altar.

6. Adam reclines on the fertile ground.

II. How well have you read? Can you answer the following questions?

1. Where did Michelangelo learn to paint? Where did Michelangelo study sculpture?

2. What is the Pieta famous for? What does the ageless Virgin symbolize?

3. Where is Michelangelo's heroic style seen?

4. What was Michelangelo commissioned in 1505? What re­mained from this project? How did Michelangelo represent Moses? How are the Dying Slave and the Rebellious Slave carved?

5. What was Michelangelo commissioned in 1508? How large was the ceiling?

6. What does the painting of the Sistine Ceiling represent?

7. What scenes are pictured in the lunettes around the win­dows and in the spandrels at the corners? Why does the oak tree invade the scenes of the creation?

8. What does the Fall of Man combine?

9. Where is the beauty of Classical antiquity and the spiri­tuality of Christianity embodied?

10. What do the final scenes represent?

III. i. Give Russian equivalents of the following phrases:

the ageless exquisite Virgin; a formidable creation; lunettes; an activist prophet; to carve a statue; a buttress; to design a tomb; over-life statues in marble; successive reductions; a counterpart to; Advent; Lent; to set in action; the ceiling painting; to flank niches; a flattened barrel vault; an ambitious undertaking; a formidable creation; to allude poetically to; the vault compartments above the windows; generations of the ancestry; in the spandrels at the cor­ners; to lift from the dust; a medieval hymn; to reach its supreme embodiment in; penitential periods; the resurrection at Easter; at Pentecost; to recline on the barren ground; a companion figure.

ii. Give English equivalents of the following phrases:

ваять статую; соорудить гробницу; грандиозный замы­сел; неподвластная времени совершенная Мадонна; Воскре­шение на Пасху; пророк-деятель; статуи выше человеческого роста; контрфорс; Великий пост; Рождественский пост; рас­кинуться на голой земле; люнеты; в пазухах свода; внуши­тельное произведение; фланкировать ниши; пятидесятница; плоскость свода; поэтически ссылаться на; средневековый гимн; парная фигура; поколения предков; привести в движе­ние; последовательные сокращения; достичь наивысшего во­площения в; поднять из праха; соратник к.-л.

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

iv. Arrange the following in the pairs of synonyms:

a) recline; barren; penitential; undertaking; to enhance;

b) sorrowful; endeavour; lean back; to intensify; infertile.

IV. Insert the missing prepositions. Retell the text.

... 1519 Michelangelo began working... the Medici... a fu­nerary chapel... the entombment... Lorenzo the Magnificent, his murdered brother and two recently deceased dukes. Michelan­gelo's architecture supports the tombs... the two dukes.... simple rectangular niches sit the two dukes, dressed... Roman armour... their roles as captains... the Roman Catholic Church. The sar­cophagi have been split... the centre.... either side recline figures... the times... day, Night and Day, Dawn and Twilight. These statues were not made... their present positions. The composition should be completed... the reclining river gods. Night and Day are the timeless symbols... the princely power that has conquered the powers... time (the times... day) and... space (the four rivers). When Michelangelo was engaged... this work glorifying the Medici power, the Sack... Rome destroyed temporarily the power... his Medici patron. The republic was revived... the third and the last time, and Michelangelo was placed... charge... its defences.

V. Insert the articles wherever necessary. Retell the text.

... High Renaissance in... Rome and Florence was brief. It lasted hardly more than... twenty five years from its beginning in... Leonardo's Last Supper to... death of... Raphael in...1520.... new style succeeded it. It existed for... while... side by... side with... latest phases of... High Renaissance art.... new style assumed... name of Mannerism.... name Mannerism was proposed by... art historians in... twentieth century. Like... terms... Romanesque and... Gothic, Mannerism is here to stay.... Mannerism indicates... style founded upon repetition of... acquired manual techniques. In... latest phases of... sixteenth century art in... central Italy there was much repetition of... type and... devices invented ear­lier, especially those of... Michelangelo. There was nothing me­chanical what went on in... Florence, ... Seine, ... Parma and... many other Italian cities just before and just after...1520.... mo­ment was recognized as... spiritual crisis.

VI. Here are descriptions of some of Michelangelo's works of art. Match them up to the given titles.

I. Sculpture:

1. The figure is turning languidly as if in sleep.

2. This is one of the artist's most formidable creations.

3. The exquisite Virgin presents the timeless reality of Christ's sacrifice.

4. The heroic style is seen in this statue.

5. The new figure type earlier created by Michelangelo is set here in action.

A. David

B. Pieta

C. Rebellious Slave

D. Moses

E. Dying Slave

II. Ceiling painting:

1. God stretches forth his hand, about to touch with his finger the extended finger of Adam.

2. It foreshadows the foundation of the Church.

3. In a single scene, one motion of the eye leads from the crime to punish­ment, linked by the Tree of Knowledge.

4. The scene shows the Lord twice, once creating sun and moon with a cruciform gesture of his mighty arms, then seen from the rear creating plants.

5. She looks down upon the altar, at the eternal Tree of Life.

6. He writes in a small volume.

7. The figure is represented as im- mensely old.

8. The figure is grieving above the papal throne.

A. Fall of Man


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