This assignment requires you to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art to look closely at a Renaissance painting in the collection. You must choose one of the following four paintings. The name of each work listed below is linked to a page on the Mia website with a high-quality image and object details. However, the digital image on the museum website is no substitute for visiting the museum in person and looking at the actual work of art. It will be obvious to us if you have not visited the museum.
All are located on the third floor of the museum. Admission to the museum is free. Museum hours are posted on the Mia website.
Unknown (formerly Master of the Embroidered Foliage), Virgin and Child in a Landscape, c. 1492-98 (Located in gallery 342)
Benedetto di Bindo Zoppo, Saint Lucy, c. 1410 (Located in gallery 343)
Lorenzo Costa (attributed), Portrait of a Cardinal in his Study, c. 1510-1520 (Located in Gallery 341)
El Greco, Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, c. 1570-75(Located in gallery 341)
Formal analysis involves careful description of the work of art followed by interpretation. Your assignment is to write six paragraphs of description and one paragraph of interpretation. Follow the instructions below and number your paragraphs accordingly.
Paragraphs 1-6: DESCRIPTION
Carefully examine the painting you have chosen and take notes. Then look again, even more closely, and take more notes. No stylistic detail is too insignificant to notice. As you look, think specifically about each of the elements of style: line, shape, light, color, space, and composition. Ask yourself the questions following each term below. Please note that these questions do not exhaust the possibilities for each element of style; they are simply meant to get you thinking. Then write six short paragraphs (75-100 words each) describing how each element of style is treated in the work you have chosen.
Elements of Style
Line. Is there an emphasis on line? Are the lines balanced and ordered? Are they agitated? Do they imply directional movement? If the artist emphasizes line, we use the term linear to describe his or her style. If the lines are broken and lost amidst the artist’s brushwork, we use the term painterly.
Shape. What are the dominant shapes on the two-dimensional picture plane? Are they geometric? Irregular? How are they organized? Do you detect dominant patterns? Are there shapes that appear to recede into space? What are the dominant three-dimensional shapes, or masses?
Light. How does the artist employ effects of chiaroscuro (an Italian word referring to contrast of light and dark in a painting)? Is the chiaroscuro of the work extreme, or are figures softly modeled? Does the chiaroscuro create a strong sense of three-dimensionality? Does the light appear to come from a single direction? Is the light evenly distributed? Which parts of the canvas, if any, appear in a strong light? Which parts are in shadow?
Color. What are the dominant colors employed by the artist? Are the colors intense, or are they muted? Does the artist use a wide range of colors, or does he restrict himself to a few? Does the artist create color harmonies through analogous colors, such as red and orange? Does the artist create contrasts through complementary colors, such as red and green?
Space. How does the artist draw the viewer’s eye beyond the picture plane and into the illusionistic space of the picture? Is this a deep or shallow space? How is space suggested: does the scale of figures and objects diminish? do figures overlap? does your eye follow receding orthogonals? Does the artist employ atmospheric perspective? Does the artist use foreshortening?
Composition. How do the various elements of style (listed above) contribute to the overall composition of the painting? “Composition” refers to the ordering or relationship of parts to each other and to the whole. How does the artist achieve balance in the composition? Which parts are emphasized, which are subordinated? Does the composition appear to be open(suggesting movement beyond the frame), or does it appear to be closed (all figures situated firmly within the frame)? Are there dominant rhythms to the surface of the painting? Does the eye move smoothly or abruptly throughout the composition? How is this development achieved?
Paragraph 7: INTERPRETATION
After you have written all of your short paragraphs describing how the artist employs the elements of style, write a somewhat longer paragraph (150-200 words) explaining how those elements of style work together to create an overall meaning for the work of art. Think of the elements of style as a kind of language. What is the artist trying to say about his/her subject through this language?
First painting
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/4035/virgin-and-child-in-a-landscape-possibly-master-of-the-madonna-grog
Second painting
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1697/saint-lucy-benedetto-di-bindo-zoppo
Third painting
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/1784/portrait-of-a-cardinal-in-his-study-attributed-to-lorenzo-costa
Fourth painting
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/278/christ-driving-the-money-changers-from-the-temple-el-greco