The Month of December

by ArtRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
The Month of December, latest 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy

Last, for December, houses on the plain,  /  Ground-floors to live in, logs heaped mountain-high,  /  And carpets stretched, and newest games to try,  /  And torches lit, and gifts from man to man  /  (Your host, a drunkard and a Catalan);  /  And whole dead pigs, and cunning cooks to ply  /  Each throat with tit-bits that shall satisfy;  /  And wine-butts of Saint Galganus’ brave span.  /  And be your coats well-lined and tightly bound,  /  And wrap yourselves in cloaks of strength and weight,  /  With gallant hoods to put your faces through.  /  And make your game of abject vagabond  /  Abandoned miserable reprobate  /  Misers; don’t let them have a chance with you. My new BLOG POST: The Month of December starts with a sonnet by Folgore Da San Geminiano (c. 1250-1317), translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in his book “Dante and His Circle,” (Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1893).     http://www.sonnets.org/folgore.htm

Torre Aquila and Garden in Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy

The Month of December is a fresco, and it comes from the Torre Aquila in the Castello del Buonconsiglio, in Trento, Italy. It is part of an amazing fresco Cycle of the Twelve Months painted on the walls of the tower’s 2nd-floor main room. Today, only eleven of the original 12 panels survive as a 16th-century wooden spiral staircase, connecting the tower floors, destroyed the painted panel of March. The famous painted Cycle of the Months is divided into twelve panels, one for each month. Each one of the twelve panels is separated by a slender column, distinctive yet subtle, so as not to disturb the natural continuity between months and the seasons.

Months of September, October, November and December – Torre Aquila North Wall

This exceptional room, 6 x 5,8 x 3 m in size, was commissioned by Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, as a quiet, atmospheric retreat, away from the rest of the Castello’s busy and noisy state quarters. It has been suggested and widely accepted that the painter of this extraordinary fresco Cycle of the Months was Maestro Venceslao, a Czech painter, popular in the Tyrol area of the time.     https://www.cultura.trentino.it/eng/Cultural-venues/All-cultural-venues/Documentation-centres2/Torre-Aquila-Eagle-Tower  

Fresco panels in Torre Aquila are rare and special. They document life in the Trentino area, with references to the aristocratic pastimes throughout the year, or the peasant activities and duties to their masters. They also depict a vivid landscape, romanticized…bare and covered with snow for the January panel, rich and fertile, autumnal, covered with fallen leaves, harsh and inhospitable for the scene depicting December.  

My attention turns to the upper right corner where on the frozen ground of a forest, the Trentino peasants are busy once more. Numb by the cold, wearing short white tunicles, one of them even bear-footed, with axes and hatchets in their hands, they are depicted wood harvesting. They chop forest trees down, pile wood logs up, carry heavy loads to the wagons, stack wagons up with neatly cut logs and finally carry precious firewood to the city, to heat the houses during the long winter days. What an accomplishment in such uninviting circumstances…

Trentino Torre Aquila frescoes love presenting anecdotal details. The depicted city, cold and bleak, is setting the tone … Icicles hang from the attics, neatly built in stone and wood, of the Buonconsiglio Castle and the top of its circular tower. The city boasts double defensive walls and plenty of gabled houses with red roof tiles that deftly form a neat residential area, with a decorated church on its left side. It is a stark and unembellished scene, yet… a caravan of mules, loaded with goods, heads towards the castle at the top of the city, while, on the lower part of the composition, two knights on horseback, escort a riding noble lady for a winter outing. Harry up… they seem to tell her, and water your horse before setting off! Let’s follow the stream and visit the Water Mill for an al fresco lunch. What a sight…

Maestro Venceslao painted a dream world for Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein… a world that collapsed in 1407 with a successful rebellion. The Prince was not particularly liked by the locals. He was a conservative, authoritative and harsh leader of anachronistic demands. The painted room of Torre Aquila was sealed up, almost forgotten… Walking back in time in a world of endlessly working peasants and privileged aristocrats was no more…          https://www.buonconsiglio.it/index.php/en/Buonconsiglio-Castle/collections/Introduction     and     https://books.google.gr/books?id=L3e0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=cycle+of+the+months+paintings&source=bl&ots=PDmmhZPn37&sig=ACfU3U0ZvpPwd-ZSa8dnhL4AUn2uBLt26g&hl=el&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVxcGIzNzmAhWRGewKHQiuD5g4ChDoATAGegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=cycle%20of%20the%20months%20paintings&f=false

For a student Activity, please … Check HERE!

Watercolours by Howard Carter

by 20th century ArtArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Under the protection of the gods, marked and dated “Howard Carter 1908 “, watercolour on paper, 62 x 46 cm, private collection
https://egyptophile.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-la-decouverte-des-tresors-de-carter.html
 “…Carter painted Under the Protection of the Gods (1908), a composite fantasy that depicts a vulture — representing the goddess Nekhebet, protector of Upper Egypt — above a solar disc wrapped in a cobra — representing the goddess Wadjet, protector of Lower Egypt. It’s likely that the iconography of the watercolour was inspired by some of Carter’s finds in Thebes, including the 18th Dynasty Tomb of Tetaki and a 15th Dynasty tomb with nine coffins.”     http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/date/2014/11/page/3

“…as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment – an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by – I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could do to get out the words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.” This is how Howard Carter, the famous archaeologist, describes his discovery in 1922 of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. In my new BLOG POST, I want to introduce Watercolours by Howard Carter… his first steps on Egyptian Archaeology.

Statue of the Goddess Sakhmet, ca. 1390–1352 BC, New Kingdom – 18th Dynasty – reign of Amenhotep III, Granodiorite, 210 x 47.5 x 95.5 cm, the MET, NY

Could the Statue of the Goddess Sakhmet at the MET in New York be responsible for Howard Carter’s love for Egyptology? Well… According to THE HISTORY BLOG, young Carter was a frequent visitor to Didlington Hall, the estate William Amhurst Daniel-Tyssen, a patron of the accomplished artist and illustrator Samuel John Carter, Howard’s artist father, visited on several occasions on painting commissions. Didlington Hall is where the young Carter, home-schooled and trained in the arts by his father, first became exposed to Egyptology.

“Amherst was an avid collector of Egyptian antiquities. He, his wife Margaret Mitford (whose father had a passion for all things Egyptian as well) and their seven daughters traveled frequently to Egypt, constantly acquiring new artefacts. A whole wing of Didlington Hall was dedicated to housing his vast collection. Seven statues of the lion-headed warrior goddess Sekhmet guarded the door of the museum, one for each of the Amherst daughters. …The Amherst family didn’t just give Howard Carter the chance to explore Egyptian art through their extensive collection. It was their recommendations and contacts that secured him his first job in Egypt. He was just 17 years old when he was hired as a tracer — someone who copies inscriptions and artwork found in excavations onto paper for later study — for the Egyptian Exploration Fund (EEF) in 1891. This was an essential job in the age before colour photography. Watercolours were the only accurate recreations of tomb decorations available.”     http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/33258

Howard Carter, 1874-1939
Hoopoe Bird, 1891, from the tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan, watercolour on paper, EES Lucy Gura Archive. https://www.ees.ac.uk/reuniting-the-carter-watercolours
“Carter was most interested in making carefully coloured drawings of the more
interesting and important details among these mural decorations”     https://www.academia.edu/8582513/The_Archaeological_Survey

Young Carter distinguished himself as a tracer for his artistic abilities, dedication and diligence. In 1891, hired by the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF), Carter assisted an Amherst family friend, Percy Newberry, in the excavation and recording of Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan. His Watercolours are accurate, innovative and charming.

Howard Carter, 1874-1939
Horus, 1895, Watercolour copy of a painted scene showing the Horus falcon from the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, Griffith Institute, University of Oxford
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023dbvk/p023d3x7

Carter’ first steps to field “archaeology were taken on his next assignment at El-Amarna under pioneering Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1892. He was still an artist, recording artefacts as they were discovered, but Petrie allowed him to dig too, and Carter made some significant finds.” From 1894 to 1899, he worked with Édouard Naville at Deir el-Bahari, where he recorded the wall reliefs in the temple of Hatshepsut, joined in the excavation process of the temple and learned restoration techniques as well. Watercolours by Howard Carter of the Deir el-Bahari period are among his finest, as he frequently stated that “When reproducing an ancient art, let us, by all means, be accurate, and employ every kind of mechanical aid to obtain that objective; but let that mechanical aid be our assistant, not our master.”

Howard Carter, 1874-1939
Hieroglyphs, 1891, Deir el-Bersha, Tomb of Djehutihotep II – Temples of Sesostris II and Sesostris III, watercolour on paper, 42.3 x 28.7 cm, Griffith Institute, University of Oxford
http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4GI_wd_072.html

In 1899, Carter was “appointed Inspector of Monuments for Upper Egypt in the Egyptian Antiquities Service (EAS), and …supervised the systematic exploration of the valley of the Kings by the American archaeologist Theodore Davis.” His successful career, however, came to a halt because of a violent confrontation between Egyptian site guards, under Carter’s permission, and a group of aggressive French tourists. Carter resigned his position and for the next years “had something of a hard scrabble existence. He sold his watercolours or guided tours to make a living.” In 1907 “he hit the jackpot. French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero, Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service who had given Carter the Chief Inspector General job, introduced him to George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Carnarvon had deep pockets and was keen to fund archaeological excavations. He got the necessary licenses and made Carter the Supervisor of Excavations in Thebes.”  The rest is history…     http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/33258     and     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Carter

The student Activity on Watercolours by Howard Carter is inspired by the work on The Middle Kingdom Tombs at Deir el-Bersha, the Reconstruction of tomb wall-scenes using watercolours from the Griffith Institute Archive and the Tomb of Djehutihotep in particular, please… Click HERE!

Reconstruction drawing of the tomb of Djehutihotep (Drawing M. Hense)
“When reproducing an ancient art, let us, by all means, be accurate, and employ every kind of mechanical aid to obtain that objective; but let that mechanical aid be our assistant, not our master.” Howard Carter
https://www.digital-epigraphy.com/projects/recording-djehutihotep-digital-epigraphy-in-a-middle-kingdom-governors-tomb-at-dayr-al-barsha-part-1

Dioscurides and Krithamo

by ArtByzantiumEarly Christian ArtPowerpointsStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Portrait of the allegorical figure Epinoia (thinking power) holding a Mandragoa in the middle, Dioscurides describing the plant to the right, and a painter creating the image of the plant to the left, Vienna Dioscurides, Folio 5v, about 515 AD, Byzantine Greek Illuminated Manuscript of De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscurides, vellum folios measure 37 by 30 cm, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

“The Vienna Dioscurides is a Byzantine Greek illuminated manuscript copy of “Medical Material” by Dioscorides, which was created in 515 AD. It is a rare surviving example of an illustrated ancient scientific and medical text… The original “De Materia Medica” or “On Medical Material” was first written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides. It is a pharmacopeia of medicinal plants and was widely read and used for more than 1,500 years… This specific manuscript copy was created in the Byzantine Empire’s capital, Constantinople, for the byzantine imperial princess, Anicia Juliana. She was the daughter of Anicius Olybrius, who had been one of the last Western Roman Emperors… The manuscript was presented to the princess in gratitude for her funding the construction of a church… The dedication miniature portrait of Anicia Juliana is the oldest surviving dedication portraits in a book…” I couldn’t better encapsulate the manuscript’s identification. The Vienna Dioscurides is one of the “canvases” I use for my Course on Cultural Geography of Greece and specifically my Lessons on popular Greek Plants like Dioscurides and Krithamo.     https://joyofmuseums.com/ancient-manuscripts-and-historically-influential-books/vienna-dioscurides/

The Protagonists

Portrait of Anicia Juliana flanked by Megalopsychia and Phronesis (detail), Vienna Dioscurides, Folio 6v, about 515 AD, Byzantine Greek Illuminated Manuscript of De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscurides, vellum folios measure 37 by 30 cm, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Anicia Juliana (462 – 527/528 AD)was an incredible woman, a prominent member of the up-to-date ruling Roman Imperial Dynasties. She was the daughter of Emperor Anicius Olybrius of the Western Roman Empire, the wife of the Magister Militum of the Eastern Roman Empire, Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus and the mother of  Olybrius Junior, a Roman Consul. Anicia Juliana was the wealthiest woman in the Roman Empire and the greatest patron of the Arts at the time. She is the ktitorissa of religious edifices, the Church of Hagios Polyeuktos in Constantinople, built by the year 527, the most sumptuous of all,  and the recipient of a magnificent manuscript, a copy of De Materia Medica by Dioscurides, known today as Vienna Dioscurides. https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/anicia-juliana

Portrait of Dioscurides and Heuresis, Vienna Dioscurides, Folio 4v, about 515 AD, Byzantine Greek Illuminated Manuscript of De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscurides, vellum folios measure 37 by 30 cm, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Pedanius Dioscurides (c. 30-90 AD) was a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist who served in the Roman army of Emperor Nero during the1st century AD. He was a native of Anazarbus in Asia Minor and studied medicine at the nearby school in Tarsus. Following the Roman Army, Dioscurides collected information and samples of local medicinal plants and about 70 AD he published De Materia Medica, a five volumes treatise on the “medicinal properties of over one thousand natural medicinal substances; most of these… botanical in origin, but drugs of animal and mineral origin…” as well. The book’s subtitle, “On the Preparation, Properties and Testing of Drugs, sets the empirical, scientific tone of this work… Dioscorides didn’t accept anything on faith, or on the reputation of established authorities; he checked everything out and tested every drug clinically.  He personally travelled and researched the local folk medicine uses of every herb… The presentations of every herb and medicinal substance in Dioscorides’ herbal were very thorough.  It included plant names, synonyms and illustrations; plant habitat and botanical descriptions; properties, actions and uses of the drug; negative side effects if any; administration and dosage recommendations; directions on harvesting, preparation and storage of herbs or drugs…” One can only admire the painstaking work done by Dioscurides and the reasons why De Materia Medica “has been the prime authority and source work on herbs and other medicinal substances in the history of Western Civilization, and quite possibly in the history of the world.”     http://www.greekmedicine.net/whos_who/Dioscorides.html

Simply put… the Vienna Dioscurides is one of the most beautiful Byzantine Manuscripts in the world! The c. 512 AD Codex, written in vellum folios and magnificently illuminated, was created in a workshop in Constantinople, and granted, as a gift of gratitude, to the Imperial Princess Anicia Juliana for her patronage in the construction of a church in the quarter of Honoratae. The Vienna Dioscurides is one of the “canvases” I use for my Course on the Cultural Geography of Greece and specifically Lessons on popular Greek Plants like Dioscurides and Krithamo. Please CHECK my POWERPOINT HERE! for pictures of manuscript folios and interesting FACTS about it.

Crithmum Maritimum, Vienna Dioscurides, Folio 184v, about 515 AD, Byzantine Greek Illuminated Manuscript of De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscurides, vellum folios measure 37 by 30 cm, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Crithmum Maritimum, according to Dioscurides, Krithamo and Rock Samphire today, grows on rocky beaches where there is a little sand and strong, salty winds. This is one of the plants presented in the Constantinopolitan Codex of Anicia Juliana, described as having detoxifying properties, good to treat liver, intestinal and renal dysfunction. Dioscurides refers to it as “λαχανεύεται εφθόν τε και ωμόν εσθιόμενον, και ταριχεύεται εν άλμη.” I use the illumination of Crithmum Maritimum in Dioscurides’s manuscript in my Cultural Geography of Greece Class to discuss the Plant’s characteristics and create an Inter-Disciplinary Activity my students enjoy doing… as you can see HERE! for the Activity’s instructions and HERE! and HERE!  for samples of student work.     https://www.itrofi.gr/fytika/votana/article/1623/kritamo-votano-toy-gialoy-poy-dynamonei-anosopoiitiko-kai-einai-gemato

Bulletin Board Presentation of a Grade 4 Activity on Dioscurides and Krithamo
Bulletin Board Presentation of a Grade 5 Activity on Dioscurides and Krithamo

Saint Mary of the Mongols

by ArtByzantiumStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Byzantine church, known as Saint Mary of the Mongols in  Constantinople
Nicholas V. Artamonoff Collection from 1930-1947
Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

«The Byzantine church known as Saint Mary of the Mongols, or Theotokos ton Mougoulion, was once the katholikon of the Monastery of the Theotokos tes Panayiotisses. It is situated in the modern quarter of Istanbul known as Fener, and is unique for being the sole Greek Orthodox sanctuary that has served the same function in Christian Constantinople as well as in Muslim Istanbul. Despite its unique status, the building has not received as much scholarly attention as other Byzantine religious monuments of similar historical importance…” writes Edmund C. Ryder, back in 2009/10.     https://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/260/263

My new POST on the surviving Byzantine Churches in Constantinople takes me to Mouchliotissa or Theotokos ton Mougoulion or Saint Mary of the Mongols. The name has an “exotic” appeal upon me, the fact that it is still Greek Orthodox in practice enhanced my interest… the journey… was fascinating. Right from the beginning, I wanted to establish my sources, scant on the church’s architecture, but informative and well written. Η Αρχιτεκτονική της Παναγίας του Μουχλίου στην Κωνσταντινούπολη by Charalambos Bouras      https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/viewFile/4126/3901.pdf     and     The Despoina of the Mongols and Her Patronage at the Church of the Theotokos ton Mougoulion by Edmund C. Ryder     https://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/260/263    

I love and use, for the purposes of this POST, the photographs taken by Nicholas V. Artamonoff from 1930-1947. I couldn’t find contemporary photos that surpass the atmospheric ambience of this unique place.  I am grateful to ICFA (Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives), part of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (an Institute of Harvard University located in Washington, D.C.) for making this Collection available to the world… to regard and admire…  http://images.doaks.org/artamonoff/collections/show/27

Byzantine church, known as Saint Mary of the Mongols in  Constantinople
Nicholas V. Artamonoff Collection from 1930-1947
Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Ch. Bouras describes “The Panaghia Mouchliotissa as a tetraconch, aisleless, domed church with a slightly later tripartite narthex.” Drawings by Poridis reveal that major architectural changes took place, most probably “during the eighteenth century, in order to increase its size to house a larger congregation.” For example, “the south conch and a large part of the narthex were demolished to make way for the addition of a large hypostyle room roofed with Ottoman pointed domes and an exonarthex.” Originally, “the Mouchliotissa was a tetraconch church with a narthex and two unusual features: the size of each conch was increased by opening three smaller niches in the thickness of the wall, and the dome was supported on four arches carried on columns at the four corners of the central square.” These features, Bouras continues, are rare in Byzantine architecture of the time,  “enliven the interior space enhancing its visual interest and imparting a certain originality.”     https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/viewFile/4126/3901.pdf

Byzantine church, known as Saint Mary of the Mongols in  Constantinople
Plan for the original church with the narthex added by Maria Paleologina
Plan for the current church. The surviving parts of the original are in bold
http://wwwbisanzioit.blogspot.com/2018/12/maria-paleologina-e-la-chiesa-di-nostra.html

I always felt for the well-bred Byzantine Princesses whose destiny was to play a role in Byzantine diplomacy through marriage. Maria Paleologina was no exception. She was the illegitimate daughter of Michael VIII Palaeologus, the skilful Byzantine Emperor who accomplished in 1261 the dream of all Byzantines: reconquering the City of Cities, Constantinople. The new Emperor needed strong allies in the East and Maria Paleologina (1258/9-1282), barely 8 years old was “dispatched” to marry Khan Hulagu of the  Il-Khanate of Persia, the conqueror of Baghdad, who dreamed of triumphing over the entire Muslim East…

While in Cappadocia, February of 1265, Maria and her magnificent entourage learned of the death of Khan Hulagu and her new proposal to marry Hulagu’s son and successor, Abaqa. Maria continued her journey… arrived in Persia, married the Khan, grew up in the Khan’s harem and succeeded in turning Abaqa into a protector of Christians until his death… Maria Paleologina or “Despina Khatun, for the Mongols, was revered for her kindness, wisdom and strong leadership. Sources portrayed her as leading a pious life and being quite influential in politics…” When her husband died and his brother, the Muslim Tekuder, became the new Khan… “Maria managed to escaped in time from his control and return to Constantinople… (where) unmoved by the pageantry of the court in Constantinople decided to embrace the religious life…” She used her considerable wealth to found the convent of Theotokos Panaghiótissa in 1285, where, as a respected widow, remained until her death.

Melane the Nun in the Deesis Mosaic with donors Isaac Komnenos, Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, Constantinople
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Palaiologina

The life of Maria Peleologina is wonderfully presented in Maria Paleologina and the Il-Khanate Khanate of Persia. A Byzantine Princess in an Empire between Islam and Christendom by María Isabel Cabrera Ramos of the Universidad de Granada     https://repositori.udl.cat/bitstream/handle/10459.1/60547/imatem_a2017n11p217.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Byzantine church, known as Saint Mary of the Mongols in  Constantinople

Teaching with Donatello

by ArtPowerpointsRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Donatello, 1386-1466
David, c. 1430, Bronze, Height: 158 cm, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

“Speak, damn you, speak!” Donatello allegedly cried to his sculptures whenever he desired depth in their expression! Teaching with Donatello is a set of student activities and worksheets inspired by the great Italian artist I much admire. I visited sites in Florence where Donatello left his mark, several times so far, and my hope is that I will be fortunate to visit them again. Every time I come face to face with his work, I think of Henry Moore, who “every day he strove to surpass Donatello, failed, but woke the next morning elated for another try…”     http://www.donatellosculptures.com/quotes/     and     https://www.theartstory.org/artist/giotto/life-and-legacy/

When the time comes for me to introduce my students to Donatello’s oeuvre I start with Giorgio Vasari and his exciting stories.

I start with… “He may be said to have been the first to illustrate the art of sculpture among the moderns…” discussing how ancient Greek or Roman sculpture was a great source of inspiration for Donatello and continue with… “Donatello made his figures in such a way that in the room where he worked they did not look half as well as when they were put in their place.”

Donatello, 1386-1466
Santa Croce Crucifix, c.1406-1408, Polychrome Wood, Height: 165 cm, Capella Bardi di Vernio, Santa Croce, Florence

The famous anecdotal story of Donatello’s Crucifixion and his “contest” with Brunaleschi is important to review and stress… “… for the church of S. Croce in Florence…he (Donatello) made a crucifix of wood, which he carved with extraordinary patience; and when it was done, thinking it a very fine piece of work, he showed it to Filippo that he might have his opinion upon it. Filippo, who expected from what Donatello had said to see something better, when he looked at it could not help smiling a little. Donatello, seeing it, prayed him by their friendship to speak his mind truly, upon which Filippo, who was frank enough, replied that he seemed to him to have put on the cross a peasant and not Jesus Christ, who was the man most perfect in everything that ever was born. Donatello, feeling the reproach more bitterly because he had expected praise, replied, “If it were as easy to do a thing as to judge it, my Christ would not look like a peasant; but take some wood yourself and make one.” Filippo without another word returned home, and, saying nothing to any one, set to work upon a crucifix, and aiming to surpass Donatello that he might not condemn himself, he brought it to great perfection after many months. Then one morning he invited Donatello to dine with him. Donatello accepted his invitation, and they went together to Filippo’s house. Coming to the old market, Filippo bought some things and gave them to Donatello, saying, “Go on to the house and wait for me, I am just coming.” So Donatello, going into the house, found Filippo’s crucifix arranged in a good light; and stopping to consider it, he found it so perfect that, overcome with surprise and admiration, he let his apron drop, and the eggs and cheese and all the other things that he was carrying in it fell to the ground and were broken. Filippo, coming in and finding him standing thus lost in astonishment, said, laughingly, “What are you about, Donatello? How are we to dine when you have dropped all the things?” “I,” said Donatello, “have had enough. If you want anything, take it. To you it is given to do Christs, and to me peasants.” https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/vasari/vasari6.asp

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius,  c. 173-76, Gilded Bronze, Height: 4.2 m, Capitoline Museum, Rome
Donatello, 1386-1466,
Statue of Gattamelata, 1447-50, Bronze, 340×390 cm, Piazza del Santo, Padua

I finish my introductory presentation discussing Donatello’s character, the story of Gattamelata, and Padua’s admiration for the artist… “… the Signory of Venice, hearing the fame of him, sent for him to make the monument to Gattamelata in the city of Padua. He undertook it very gladly, and made the statue that stands in the Piazza of S. Antonio, with the horse chafing and neighing, and its proud, spirited rider. Donatello showed himself in this so admirable, both for proportion and execution, that truly it may be compared to any ancient work. The Paduans sought by every means to prevail upon him to become a citizen and to stay there, giving him much work to do; but finding himself considered a marvel, and praised on all sides, he determined to return to Florence, saying if he stayed there longer he should forget all he knew, being praised so much, and that he must return to his own city to be continually found fault with, for this faultfinding would be the cause of his studying more, and thereby winning greater glory.”     https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/vasari/vasari6.asp

Teaching with Donatello Activities…

For a List of “Internet” Lesson Plans, References and Student Activities TeacherCurator put together, please… Click HERE!

For my PowerPoint on Donatello, please… Click HERE!

I always feel confident discussing an artist with my students when I prepare my Steps to Success Lesson Plan Outline…

For Donatello’s Gattamelata Student Activity, please… Click HERE! (Student Activity) HERE! (Picture) and HERE! (Worksheet A)

For a WAC (Write Across the Ciciculum) Activity, titled “A Poem for Donatello’s Saint George”, please… Click HERE!

Donatello, 1386-1466
Cantoria, 1431-39, Marble, 348 x 570 cm, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence

I hope that Teaching with Donatello will prove easy and helpful. Do you think it justifies my BLOG name TeacherCurator?

The Month of November

by ArtRenaissanceStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
The Month of November, latest 1407, possibly by Maestro Venceslao, Fresco, Torre Aquila, Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy

Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun! / One mellow smile through the soft vapoury air, / Ere, o’er the frozen earth, the loud winds ran, / Or snows are sifted o’er the meadows bare. / One smile on the brown hills and naked trees, / And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast, / And the blue Gentian flower, that, in the breeze, / Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last. / Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee / Shall murmur by the hedge that skim the way, / The cricket chirp upon the russet lea, / And man delight to linger in thy ray. / Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear / The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air. Wrote for The Month of November the American poet William Cullen Bryant… Hundreds of years earlier, another artist, Maestro Venceslao, decorated the walls of Torre Aquila in Trento, Italy, with paintings depicting the twelve months of the year. The Month of November is a striking example of his perception.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJOCrB7zH4g

Panoramic View of Trento in Italy

There is no way for the visitor of the beautiful Italian town of Trento to miss Castello del Buonconsiglio, this imposing, impressive and unique example of secular architecture! It is equally impossible for the Trento visitor not to explore the Castello, where, since the 13th century, the prince bishops of Trento resided and embellished with two Palazzos, an Italianate Park, a Gothic-Venetian Loggia and massive Towers.

Castello del Buonconsiglio

In 1973 the Castello became an Italian regional Museum of Art, known as Castello del Buonconsiglio Museum. This is where the Trento visitor can admire numerous art collections, ranging from paintings and manuscripts to period furniture and local archaeological finds. La piece-de-resistance among the Museum’s treasures is the so-called “Ciclo dei Mesi” in Torre Aquila.     https://www.trentino.com/en/highlights/castles/castello-del-buonconsiglio/

“Ciclo dei Mesi” is a favourite theme in the arts of the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance. Often linked to the signs of the Zodiac, the Cycle of the Months is often perceived as a link between the work of man, the seasons of the year and God’s ordering of the Universe. As a theme, it is recurred in sculptural decorations of cathedrals and churches across Europe, in illuminated manuscripts like the popular Books of Hours, palace frescoes and, rarely, panel paintings.

The fresco panels of September, October, November and December at Torre Aquila

Trento’s November fresco panel at Torre Aquila is characteristic of Maestro Venceslao’s, the artist who painted the “Ciclo dei Mesi”, creative abilities. It is rich, colourful and informative. It tells us of how hard the Trentino farmers worked and how idle and pleasure-seeking its aristocrats were.

For Maestro Venceslao, November is a month dedicated to the leisures of the nobles and their favourite activity… hunting! The upper and middle parts of the November composition show groups of aristocrats accompanied by their servants chasing a bear with her young. The scene is colourful, full of energy and thunderous! The sound of the Hunting Horn, barking dogs, a crowd of tree-beater servants and galloping hunters move effortlessly among rocky mountains, fields and trees clad in autumnal colours.

The fresco panels (detail) of November and December at Torre Aquila

The fields however are deserted and the peasants, with winter approaching, have little outdoors activities to perform. They have suspended their jobs but remain vigilant guards of the countryside and support the aristocrats in any way possible. The activity is now concentrated at the gates of the cities, where, in view of the approaching bad season, peasants provide food supplies and the products of the countryside.

The lower part of the composition depicts the city of Trento… fairytale like, white walled, well-built, comfortable and warm with lots of chimneys and graced with the pointed bell tower of a church. Trento is a major city and the composition, interrupted by the slender column that divides the fresco scenes of November and December, continues with activities of peasants and professionals that are attention-grabbing to say the least…

For a Student Activity, please… Check HERE!

Thalia Flora-Karavia

by 20th century ArtArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
Thalia Flora-Karavia, 1871-1960
A Girl dressed in the traditional costume of Gida, 1905, pastel on paper, 0,73×0,40 cm, Athanasios Zahos Collection   

The outbreak of the First Balkan War in October 1912 found the painter Thalia Flora-Karavia in Munich. She hastily returns to Alexandria and undertakes the obligation of sending NEWS from the Front to the Alexandrian Ephimeris-Newspaper of the Greek Diaspora, which was published by her husband Niko Karavia. As she notes and I paraphrase… ” At that moment, the hostilities were in Macedonia, my particular homeland; shocking as it was…I wanted to watch the liberation struggle up close; with my pencils and crayons and the obligation to write for the Alexandrian ” Newspaper of the Greek Diaspora “, I passed through Athens to obtain the relevant ministerial permit and set off for Thessaloniki… Greek at last “.     https://www.kozanilife.gr/2016/10/24/thaleia-flora-karavia-polemika-sxedia-skitsa-siatista/

Born in Siatista in 1871, Thalia Flora-Karavia belonged to a generation of artists who followed the 19th-century Greek tradition of studying Art in Munich. She never attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, she could not do so as a woman. She did, however, take classes in design and painting in a private school, studying beside artists such as Nikolaos Vokos, Paul Nauen, Anton Ažbe and Walter Thor. Thalia Flora-Karavia followed the campaigns of the Greek army during the Balkan War of 1912-1913,  keeping a diary and sketching various impressions which she published in 1936 in a book entitled Εντυπώσεις από τον πόλεμο του 1912-1913. Μακεδονία-Ήπειρος (Impressions from the War of 1912-1913. Macedonia-Epirus). Today, Thalia Flora-Karavia, known as the painter of the Balkan Wars par excellence, impresses us with her unique personality, patriotic ethos, rich artistic abilities, and distinctive talent to catch the “moment” of countless Balkan War protagonists.     https://womennart.com/2020/05/27/who-was-thalia-flora-karavia/     and     https://www.nationalgallery.gr/en/painting-permanent-exhibition/painter/flora-karavia-thaleia.html

 Greek painter Thalia Flora-Karavia with Evzona, Preveza – October 1912, photograph in the Παναθήναια magazine, Γ. Μπόντα Archive

By November 25, 1912, the painter was in Thessaloniki, just a month after the city’s Liberation. She witnessed exciting days, historical developments and emotional moments… Hosted by the architect Athanasios Zachos and his wife Pagona, Thalia Flora-Karavia explored the city… its famous harbour, the Byzantine Churches, even Villa Allatini where the deposed Sultan Abdul Hamid was held under house arrest during the period 1909-1912. She also travelled to Thessaloniki’s countryside, in primitive conditions and by whatever means she could find…constantly recording her impressions! Could the small sketch of A Girl dressed in the traditional costume of Gida, be one of those impressions or was it painted earlier? I can’t tell but I like it a lot! Άγνωστα Έργα της Θάλειας Φλωρά-Καραβία στη Θεσσαλονίκη by Alkis Charalampidis is a good article to start your exploration.     https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/makedonika/article/viewFile/6049/5787

Thalia Flora-Karavia, 1871-1960
Refugees in Thessaloniki, December 1912, coloured drawing on paper, 0,46 X 0,305, Γ΄ ΣΣ/NRDC-GR Collection

Starting November 25, 1912, the painter travels with the Greek Army… visiting places where neither a journalist nor another citizen is allowed to be, and only in Art are such sacred privileges given… recording little of blood-stained fields and more of everyday life of the soldiers in the rear and the portraits of interesting men and women, priests, nurses, gendarmes, members of the Royal Family, her friends and hosts, refugees… Thalia’s Flora-Karavia artworks from the Balkan Wars are unique primary sources that document four months of incredible “adventures.” She was a sensitive eyewitness and a thoughtful observer who defied every difficulty and prejudice, recording moments of humanity under peril.     https://www.thinkfree.gr/thaleia-flora-karavia-kentro-istorias/

For a Student Activity on Thalia Flora-Karavia and Thessaloniki’s 1912 Liberation, please… Check HERE!

My Grade 2 students are happy with what they accomplished!
They are little STARS!!!

Louise Glück and William Waterhouse

by 20th century ArtArtStudent ActivitiesWorksheets
William Waterhouse, 1849-1917
Penelope and the Suitors, 1912, oil on canvas, 129.8 x 188 cm, Aberdeen Art Gallery

This year’s Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to the US poet Louise Glück… “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.“ Louise Glück and William Waterhouse created Penelope’s Song and Penelope and the Suitors respectively. Could the thread between Penelope’s teeth be the “detail” that connects them? Little soul, little perpetually undressed one…     https://emuseum.aberdeencity.gov.uk/objects/2543/penelope-and-the-suitors?ctx=834e759eb70bc93f740b9ba0ca929699d45a9ea3&idx=0 and     https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/     and     https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/#interview

Brian Henry is so right when he writes… “Since Homer introduced that wily traveller Odysseus to the world, countless poets have attempted to resurrect the tale and make it their own. Odysseus’ ten-year voyage home has become an undeniable part of our collective unconscious.” The Odyssey is the greatest narration of the western civilization, and according to BBC, Homer’s famous epic is No. 1 of its Culture’s list with the 100 “fictional stories that shaped the world”. How successful is it for a contemporary poet to compare with the Odyssey?  Once more, I will quote Brian Henry, who believes that Louise Glück’s “weaving” in Meadowlands “is a dualistic narrative that juxtaposes an ordinary contemporary marriage against Odysseus’ famous one.”

Reading through Louise Glück’s Meadowlands, it is apparent that the poet “is less interested in the man (Odysseus) and more intrigued by the people around him – Penelope, Telemachus, Circe…” and, “…as suitors swarm the house, cleaning out the cupboards and basically wrecking the place, Penelope stoically weaves…” I particularly like Penelope’s Song, the book’s opening poem, as “it captures perfectly her (Penelope) vacillating personality. …The poem is worth quoting in full because it evinces both Glück’s mastery of this psychological complexity and her always-engaging language.”     Brian Henry’s 1998 article The Odyssey Revisited in the National Journal of Literature and Discussion:      https://www.vqronline.org/odyssey-revisited     and     https://yougoculture.com/news/first-place-odyssey-bbcs-list

Painted by William Waterhouse in1912, Penelope and the Suitors stirred much debate and discourse. Inspired by Homer’s famous story of fidelity and marital devotion, Waterhouse presents a crucial event in Penelope’s life… “For many years, her husband Odysseus had been absent at the siege of Troy. Pressed to make a second marriage, she stalls for time, telling the crowds of suitors that they must wait until she has finished weaving a shroud for her father-in-law. During the day she works at her weaving and at night, still convinced that Odysseus will return, she undoes all her day’s work.”

William Waterhouse was an enthusiastic follower of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and the work of Rossetti in particular. Penelope is the central figure of the composition, dark-haired, dressed in dusk red, turns her back to the persistent suitors who woo her with all their persuasive might. My favourite “touch” is the thread between her teeth… it somehow unnerves me…

“Penelope and the Suitors, completed in 1912, was the last of John William Waterhouse’s paintings on a mythological theme exhibited at the Royal Academy. Commissioned by Aberdeen Art Gallery, it was first displayed at its exhibition on New Year’s Eve 1911 before being returned to the artist for amendment and completion and then shown at the Royal Academy in the summer of 1912. The following year it was exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.”     https://engole.info/penelope-and-the-suitors/     and     https://emuseum.aberdeencity.gov.uk/objects/2543/penelope-and-the-suitors?ctx=834e759eb70bc93f740b9ba0ca929699d45a9ea3&idx=0

For all of my POSTS, I try to introduce a PowerPoint or a Student Activity to facilitate my teacher/readers. For Student Activity on… Louise Glück and William Waterhouse, please… Click HERE!

Poet Louise Glück, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the 2015 National Humanities Medal and the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature.     https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/     and     https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/#interview

Teaching with Giotto di Bondone

by ArtLesson PlansPowerpointsRenaissanceStudent Activities
Giotto di Bondone, 1266/7 – 1337
Joachim meets Anna at the Golden Gate, 1303-06, Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

Giotto once said… “Take pleasure in your dreams; relish your principles and drape your purest feelings on the heart of a precious lover.” Teaching with Giotto di Bondone is a set of student activities and worksheets inspired by the great Italian artist I so much admire. I visited the Arena Chapel, the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi and sites in Florence where Giotto left his mark, several times so far, and my hope is that I will be fortunate to visit them again. Every time I came face to face with his work I felt I saw, like Matisse said, “the summit of my desires…”     http://www.giotto-di-bondone.com/quotes/     and     https://www.theartstory.org/artist/giotto/life-and-legacy/

Giotto di Bondone, 1266/7 – 1337
Lamentation Scene Angels (detail), 1303-06, Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

When the time comes for me to introduce my students to Giotto’s oeuvre I start with Quotes on Giotto di Bondone by famous artists and writers.

Dante Alighieri, in his Divine Comedy (Canto XI, lines 91–95), compares teacher to student, Cimabue to Giotto and writes… “O empty glorying in human power!  /  How short a day the crown remains in leaf,  /  If it’s not followed by a duller age!  /  In painting it was Cimabue’s belief  /  He held the field; now Giotto’s got the cry  /  And Cimabue’s fame is dim…”     https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/everyones-talking-about-giotto/

Boccaccio, for example, placed Giotto on the same level as Apelles, the most famous of the Greek painters and described him as “one of the lights of Florentine glory.” Most important of all, Boccaccio wrote that Giotto “[…] had a genius of such excellence, that nothing gives nature, mother of all things and operator with the continuous turning of the skies, that he, with style and with pen or brush, did not paint so similar to that, which is not similar, indeed more quickly it seemed, so much so that many times in the things he did it is found that the visual sense of men took error in it, believing it to be true that it was painted. […] ”     http://www.rose.uzh.ch/static/decameron/seminario/VI_05/intratestgiotto.htm

Cennino d’Andrea Cennini (c. 1360-1427) author of Il libro dell’arte, a treatise on artistic production of the late Medieval and early Renaissance period, writes that Giotto “translated the art of painting from Greek to Latin.”     https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/everyones-talking-about-giotto/

Finally, I present my students with a 1952 quote by no other than Pablo Picasso  “But when I am alone, I do not have the effrontery to consider myself an artist at all, not in the grand old meaning of the word: Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt, Goya were great painters. I am only a public clown-a mountebank. I have understood my time and have exploited the imbecility, the vanity, the greed of my contemporaries. It is a bitter confession, this confession of mine, more painful than it may seem. But at least and at last it does have the merit of being honest.”     http://babailov.homestead.com/PicassoConf.html

Teaching with Giotto di Bondone Activities…

For a list of “Internet” Lesson Plans, References and Student Activities “teachercurator” put together, please… Click HERE!

For my PowerPoint on Giotto di Bondone, please… Click HERE!

For the 3 Madonnas RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) and PowerPoint, please… Click HERE! and HERE!

Student (Alexandra Diamantopoulou, Grade 9, 2020) RWAP on the 3 Madonnas
Student (Marios Mylonas, Grade 9, 2020) RWAP on the 3 Madonnas

For Giotto’s Angels RWAP (Research-Writing-Art-Project) and a PowerPoint with student work, please… Click HERE! and HERE!

For a Word Search Activity, please… Click HERE!

For a WAC (Write Across the Ciciculum) Activity, titled “Giotto’s Musicians through Cinquain Poetry”, please… Click HERE!

I hope, Teaching with Giotto di Bondone will prove easy and helpful. Do you think it justifies my BLOG name as teachercurator?

Giotto di Bondone, 1266/7 – 1337
Baroncelli Polyptych Musicians (detail), c. 1334, tempera on wood, 185 x 323 cm, Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence

Daughters of Eleutherna

by Ancient Greek ArtArtLesson PlansPowerpointsStudent Activities
Lady of Auxerre, c. 640-630 BC, from Crete, limestone statuette, H. 0.63 m, the Louvre, Paris
Daughter of Eleutherna, 7th century BC, limestone statuette, the surviving height of 60 cm, so a total of about one meter, Museum of Ancient Eleutherna
 https://www.akg-images.com/archive/Dame-d%E2%80%99Auxerre-2UMDHUH75U8W.html
http://en.mae.com.gr/exhibits.html
https://burgondiart.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/la-mysterieuse-dame-dauxerre-est-elle-vraiment-bourguignonne/

The two statues Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis, so affectionately calls Daughters of Eleutherna, hold me in fascination… “Crete was obviously the most important centre and it is the place where most of the stone sculptures of the Daedalic style originate. In contrast to the works that were directly influenced by oriental standards, the Daedalic sculptures depict mostly feminine forms. They are characterized by a complete frontality, and are represented with the hands placed on the thighs, with the hair combed into horizontal layers that were considered to be wigs -the known layered wig-like hair- usually with their head quite broadened and with clothes without folds. These elements can be seen in the known “Auxerre Kore”, who wears the characteristic large belt and her clothes are decorated with engravings and painted with a geometric pattern…” and, I would like to add, the badly damaged lower part of another Daedalic Kore at the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna. Foundation of the Hellenic World –  http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/04/en/culture/321arts_sculp_daedalic.html

The Daughters of Eleutherna were exhibited side by side at the Museum of Cycladic Art during the ELEUTHERNA Exhibition. The two statues can be barely seen at the right side of the Museum Photograph.

Back on December 1, 2004, until September 1, 2005, the Daughters of Eleutherna were exhibited side by side in a Museum of Cycladic Art Exhibition, titled, ELEUTHERNA, whose purpose was to bring together “…the results of systematic excavations conducted by the University of Crete at the site of ancient Eleutherna over the past 20 years… (and) to demonstrate the continuity of human presence and habitation in a city from the Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) to the Middle Ages (12th-13th c. AD), that is, a period of some 4500 years.” This exhibition marked the beginning of a new Lesson Plan for ancient Greek Archaic Art!     https://cycladic.gr/en/page/eleutherna

The Daughters of Eleutherna were exhibited side by side at the Museum of Cycladic Art during the ELEUTHERNA Exhibition.

This Lesson Plan uses the Inquiry-based teaching method known as Visual Thinking Strategy introduced by Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine which “uses art to teach visual literacy, thinking, and communication skills—listening and expressing oneself. Growth is stimulated by: looking at artworks of increasing complexity, answering developmentally based questions, and participating in peer-group discussions carefully facilitated by teachers.” Philip Yenawine, Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning Across School Disciplines, 2013     https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Thinking-Strategies-Learning-Disciplines-ebook/dp/B00XO20380

8 Steps to a Lesson Plan Success

Prepare by  Reading… https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/lady-of-auxerre-0010215 and https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/statue-woman-known-lady-auxerre and https://www.tovima.gr/2008/11/24/culture/h-epistrofi-mias-kyrias/ and http://en.mae.com.gr/museum.html

Introduction Essential Questions: How do we communicate thoughts and feelings in the visual arts? – How do the arts of each period reflect the values of the culture? and Goals: Help students understand the importance of Daedalic Art in the development of Ancient Greek Sculpture – Assist students to connect the past with the present

Visual Learning PP: Show students what PP “teachercurator” has prepared, please… Click HERE!

Be Inquisitive 1: Ask Visual Learning Strategy Questions… and conduct a constructive conversation

Visual Learning Video: Show students the following Video titled “HALL B: THE LADY OF AUXERRE” directed by Andonis Theocharis Kioukas for the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna http://en.mae.com.gr/films.html

Be Inquisitive 2: Ask Questions… on the information provided by the Video on the Lady of Auxerre

Enduring Understanding: Daedalic Sculpture was the 1st step in the development of Ancient Greek Sculpture.

Assessment Activity: For an RWAP Activity, please… Check HERE!    (RWAP stands for Research-Writing-Art-Project)

Daughter of Eleutherna, as exhibited in the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna