February 2018 – Rachael M. Zeleny

Fade to Black: Mystery at the Walters

Written by Jacob Ferragamo

Joaneeth Spicer, an art historian of the Walters Art Gallery, visited class today to discuss the painting of Maria Solvati de’ Medici and Guilia de’ Medici, 1539. This painting features the first formally painted child of african decent. However, the when the painting was originally discover, the little girl was painted over with black pigment.

Guilia de’ Medici was daughter of Maria Solvati de’ Medici and the duke of Florance. His parents where an african slave and the Pope. Having such a painting made was a statement, it was rare to see a portrait of a women, but renaissance era paintings of people of african decent where rare. Often paintings featuring people of african descent were reserved for royalty, or those of wealth. There were examples presented to us in class of the exceptions to this trend.

As to the significance of paintings at the time, they were often commissioned in order to show the power of an individual. People like Francis I, King of france has 20+ realistic paintings of himself made, and hung around france. This not only served to popularize realistic painting even further, but popularized and familiarized his image to his subjects.

It was the significance of portraits that built up that lead to portraits of famous people being worth a lot, and then there reselling. As it turned out the Medicis ended up selling the painting when they hit a tough time. The buyer painted out the girl so she would resemble a renowned poet, Victorica Calono. Since Victorica had no children, and Maria resembled her slightly, the painting was an easy resell. Ending that mystery, and the ending of that half of class.

February 26, 2018 0 comment

Day 2: Music and Devotion

Music and Devotion

written by Rachael Zeleny

Written by Leonid Davydov

In this class, Dr. Power opens up with a discussions on ways to show devotion. Some answers are availability, public display, and voice are some of the examples given which show devotion towards something or someone. The discussion leads us into music during the medieval, and later the renaissance, periods.

Music during the medieval period was one of the ways to show devotion towards the church. While talking in monasteries was often not allow, singing prayers was performed multiple times a day. One such prayer, Kýrie Eléison, was performed in class and demonstrated how sheet music was used during the medieval times. Unlike current sheet music, medieval sheet music contained neumes, notations to indicate pitch changes, which allowed the song to be performed the same way across different regions and languages. Neumatic notation eventually evolved into modern music notation we use today. Music during the medieval times was mostly used to decorate the words, however the concept of polyphony (music in which two or more musical parts played at the same time) was introduced during the period which allowed for a more exciting performance and is still widely used in today’s music. It is worth noting that the church had a lot of control over music during this time and certain practices were not permitted.

During the Renaissance, the increase in trade and beginning of colonialism resulted in a higher middle class population, rise in humanism and intellectualism, emphasis on structure, and interest in ancient Greece and Rome. During this period, we saw further shift in the way music was created and performed. Music became more structured, words were easier to understand, and songs weren’t created only to show devotion to the church but also as a way of personal expression. The invention of the printing press in the 1400s allowed music to be more easily distributed and consumed. One of the most famous figures in music during that time was a French composers Josquin des Prez. Considered as a master of the notes, he wrote sacred and secular music.

At the end of class the professor performed a musical piece using a lute. It reminded me of something one would hear in movie set in ancient Arabian setting

February 26, 2018 0 comment