Prehistoric Period
1,500,000 B.C. to 2,000 B.C
Just as no monkey is as good-looking as the ugliest of humans, no academic is
worthier than the worst of the creators- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I.
CHARACTERISTICS: Paleolithic (1,500,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.) o Invention of writing was still far off but Paleolithic humans made marks on hard surfaces, such as bone and stone, possibly to keep track of time. o The sophistication of the art found on cave walls suggests that they did develop a language(the ability to communicate with words).But at this point an object's aestheticvalue was inseparable from its function. o Its predominant theme was animals. Mesolithic (8,000 B.C. to 4,000 B.C.) o The Mesolithic period saw painting moveout of the caves and onto the rocks. Painting also became more symbolic and abstract. o Humans had to adapt to the extinction sand new migratory patterns of their preydue to the end of the ice age. o Mesolithic art was kind of boring when compared to Paleolithic and Neolithic art.Usually skipped over in most art history courses. Neolithic (4,000 B.C. to 2,000 B.C.) o Megaliths Most notable art was the megaliths, massive stone monuments. ARTWORKS VENUS(OR WOMAN) OF WILLENDORF Artist: Unknown Date: 25,000-21,000 B.C. Period: Prehistoric The most famous paleolithic sculpture. Carved out of limestone. bulbous oval shape emphasizes the head, breast, torso and thighs with a 4 3/8 size. Considered Portable Art
II.
LASCAUX CAVE Artist: Unknown Date: Around 28,000 B.C. Period: Prehistoric Discovered in 1940 by four boys and their clumsy dog.
Hunts were drawn on the wall like comic strip. About 2,000 years newer than the paintings at Chauvet, one interesting feature is the lack of fierce animals.
THE LADY IN A HOOD OR VENUS OF BRASSEMPOUY (brah-sem-pee) Artist: Unknown Date: Around 25,000 B.C. Period: Prehistoric Carved in mammoth tusk The earliest example of a human face with life-like characteristics.
STONEHENGE Builders: Unknown Date: 2,000 B.C. Period: Prehistoric Built in several stages with the last stage during the early Bronze Age. Stones were dragged from 20 miles away. Built using post and lintel construction
The Renaissance Period (1400 - 1600 C.E.) The Renaissance era encompasses Western music history from 1400 to the beginning of the 1600s. This period in time marked the rebirth of humanism, and the revival of cultural achievements for their own sake in all forms of art, including music. The word "Renaissance" in itself is defined as a "rebirth" or a "reconstruction". During this time, artists and musicians produced works that displayed more artistic freedom and individualism. This creativity allowed artists to abandon the stricter ways of the Medieval Era. Their art forms rediscovered the ancient Greek ideals. The great masters of the Renaissance were revered in their own lifetimes (rather than after their deaths), which was different from most of their Medieval predecessors. With the new printing techniques, music and musical ideas were able to be preserved and distributed to the people. The distinctive musical sounds of the Renaissance era were comprised of a smooth, imitative, polyphonic style, as seen in the music of Byrd, Palestrina, and Lassus. While sacred music remained of great importance, secular music was starting to become increasingly common. Therefore, the polyphonic style was not only used in sacred music, but also in secular madrigals . The repertoire of instrumental music also began to grow considerably. New instruments were invented, including two keyboard instruments called the clavichord and virginal. In addition, many existing instruments were enhanced. The lute became the favored instrument of the time period, and it was established as the standard instrument for family music making during the 16th century. Masses and motets were the primary forms for sacred vocal polyphony. These were accompanied by the lute or a small instrumental ensemble or consort. Secular vocal forms
included motets, madrigals and songs, while instrumental pieces were usually short polyphonic works or music for dancing.
Notable Artist Filippo Brunelleschi (Italian: [filippo brunelleski]; 1377 April 15, 1446) was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for his discovery of perspective and for engineering the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also include other architectural works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering and even ship design. His principal surviving works are to be found in Florence, Italy. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino[2] (April 6 or March 28, 1483 April 6, 1520[3]), better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. [4] Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo (Italian pronunciation: [mikelandelo]), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.[1] Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian pronunciation: [leonardo da vvinti] pronunciation (helpinfo); April 15, 1452 May 2, 1519, Old Style) was an Italian Renaissancepolymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". [1] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.[2] According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote".[1] Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time. [3]
