Choose any European artwork from the period under study (ca. 1400 – 1850) from any fine arts collection you like (online is fine). I want you to analyze the chosen work to determine what meaning(s) it may have had for its original audience. You should proceed in the same manner as we do in class, asking yourself the same questions and providing answers based upon both your observations and your research.
First, tell me who created the image and provide a brief biographical sketch. Include his/her artistic education, other artists who may have influenced him/her, and artistic groups or movements s/he belonged to. If there is a relevant movement, e.g., Mannerism, Rococo, etc., provide a succinct description of its characteristics. What is the medium used? How large is it and where is it housed? If it was commissioned, who paid for it? Where was it to be cited? What was the primary audience for the work?
Then examine the work carefully to determine what is shown (this includes the identities of the things represented, including “setting,” actions or events, poses, gestures or expressions, costumes, etc.).
Next, describe how things are shown, the formal qualities of the work. How is the image composed, i.e., how are its parts arranged in relation to one another? How are light and color used? Are forms generally clear and distinct and minutely detailed, or are they blurry in outline and sketchy (painterly) in character?
Then address the issue of subject matter. Is there a narrative context to which the image belongs (the title is generally a dead give-away, but there may be more going on than indicated; research is needed)? Is there any use of symbolism? Is it a scene taken directly from life, or wholly or in part imagined? Is the subject matter based upon literature? How was the subject matter chosen (by the artist?) and how was it related to the intended purpose of the image? Is it an image that references earlier artworks (if so, how so?).
As you put forward an interpretation of the artwork, substantiate your ideas by means of historical/contextual evidence. Most of this material is already cited in the secondary art historical literature; you need to research it and report it in your paper.
The paper should be at least 5 pages long (1250 words). Please attach a small image file representing the work (e.g., jpeg, tif). You should use some form of citation system (footnotes, endnotes) and include a bibliography. You must consult scholarly literature in your research (look on JSTOR, for instance, and read books). At least 4 or 5 sources such as books and articles will do.
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