CHINESE ART

GU KAIZHI

                             

Artist Name : Ku K’ai-chih

Artwork Name: Gu Kaizhi

Location : Wuxi , China 

Gu Kaizhi (顧愷之, ca. 344-406) is a celebrated painter of ancient China. According to historical records he was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province and first painted at Nanjing in 364. In 366 he became an officer (Da Sima Canjun, 大司馬參軍). Later he was promoted to a royal officer (Sanji Changshi, 散騎常侍). Gu Kaizhi wrote three books about painting theory: On Painting (畫論), Introduction of Famous Paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties (魏晉勝流畫贊), and Painting Yuntai Mountain (畫雲台山記). 

Gu Kaizhi’s art is known today from both written records and paintings that are associated with him. He is recorded as having been among the first to paint a representation of Vimalakīrti, the Buddhist saint who became popular in China. 

Two versions of a painting recorded as having been painted by him, the hand scroll known as the Nymph of the Luo River, illustrating a Daoist poem, exist today. His essay “Hua Yuntaishan Ji” (“On Painting the Cloud Terrace Mountain”) is also Daoist in content. The famous hand scroll entitled The Admonitions of the Court Instructress bears a signature of Gu Kaizhi, though it is not originally recorded as having been painted by him. Nonetheless, it accurately maintains a pre-Tang dynasty (618–907) style. The scroll illustrates, through a series of individual scenes separated by the text of a didactic Confucian poem, proper behaviour for court ladies. The line is carefully controlled, and the composition and highly selected details both illustrate and expand effectively upon the nature of the text.

• The theme of the Luoshen Appraisal Painting (luo shen fu) was drawn from the article, Luoshen Appraisal, written by Cao Zhi, son of the Wei Emperor Cao Cao. The painting depicts the meeting between Cao Zhi and the Goddess Luoshen at Luoshui River, vividly capturing the mood of their first meeting and eventual separation. Gu emphasized his subjects' expressions, with the stones, mountains and trees having an ornamental purpose. Gu's paintings, which greatly influenced later traditional Chinese paintings, are similar in style to the Dunhuang murals.

• Gu also made great advances in summarizing painting theories. His theoretical works included Painting Thesis and Notes on Painting Yuntai Mountain. Gu paid considerable attention to the vivid expressions of his subjects to expose their spirit. His Graphic Theory later became a basic theory for traditional Chinese painting.

That conclude , According to historical records, Gu created more than 70 paintings based on historical stories, Buddha, human figures, birds, animals, mountains and rivers.

References

The People's Republic of China in Los Angeles; The Consulate General of .2003 webmaster@chinaconsulatela.org,

Cultural China - Arts - Biography of Gu Kaizhi ; Yamini Chauhan .Aug 04, 2014 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gu-Kaizhi

Xin, Yang; Chongzheng, Nie; Shaojun, Lang; Barnhard, Richard M (1997), Three thousand years of Chinese painting, New Haven, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Kaizhi

EGYPT ART

The Sphinx of Giza 

                           


Artwork Name : The Sphinx Of Gaza 

Location : Giza Plateau 


 The word 'sphinx' is Greek and came to be applied to the Egyptian sculpture at Giza, according to Verner (and others) through a translation of the Egyptian name shesep-ankh ("living image") by which the Egyptians referred to the piece as well as to other representations of royal figures. While that may be, it is also quite likely that the statue simply reminded Greek writers of their own mythical sphinx, such as the one famous in the story of Oedipus, with the body of a beast and head of a woman. Greek visitors to the site, scholars such as Verner claim, mistook the nemes (the striped headcloth of the king) for a woman's shoulder-length hair.

During the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt (1570-1069 BCE), the Sphinx was known by the Egyptians as Horemakhet (Horus of the Horizon) and a cult grew up around the statue associating it with the god Horus. A 'cult' in ancient Egypt should be understood along the lines of a sect of a religious movement in the present day; not a cult as a modern reader understands that term. This was a solar cult which venerated Horus in his role as a sky god. Amenhotep II (1425-1400 BCE) may have patronized this cult. 

The Pyramids of Giza

                                   

The Character Sphinx Of Gaza

•  The Sphinx is truly a mysterious marvel from the days of ancient Egypt. The body of a lion with the head of a king or god, the sphinx has come to symbolize strength and wisdom.

• From the north side the profile of the Sphinx reveals the proportion of the body to the head. It would appear as though the head is small in proportion to the body. Because of the changing desert terrain, the body of the Sphinx has been buried several times over the past several thousand years.

• Most recently in 1905, the sand has been cleared away to expose the magnitude and beauty of the entirety of the Sphinx. The paws themselves are 50 feet long (15m) while the entire length is 150 feet (45m). The head is 30 (10m) feet long and 14 feet (4m) wide. Because certain layers of the stone are softer than others, there is a high degree of erosion that has claimed the original detail of the carved figure.

The most popular and current theory of the builder of the Sphinx holds that it was commissioned by the 4th Dynasty King, Khafre (2558-2532 BCE). Khafre was one of the sons of Khufu (AKA Cheops). The Sphinx lines up with the Pyramid of Khafre at the foot of its causeway. As one rounds the northeast corner to the front of the Sphinx, the alignment of the two structures becomes more apparent.

In my conclusion, the 18th Dynasty story tells of the time that Thutmosis IV fell asleep under the Sphinx which was covered to the neck in sand. Thutmosis had a dream that the Sphinx spoke to him and promised that if he would free the Sphinx from the sand, Thutmosis would be destined to become king of Egypt.

References 

Atlas of Ancient Egypt, Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir ; 1980 .Les Livres De France. www.guardians.net/egypt/sphinx/

"Pyramids of Giza - New World Encyclopedia". www.newworldencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 23 October 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza

Smithsonian Magazine , February2010. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-secrets-of-the-sphinx-

HELISNISTIC ART

THE BRONZE BOXER

                     



Artwork Name : The Bronze Boxer

Location : Rome in 1885

The bronze Boxer*  is somewhat over life-size but so immediate it’s hard to think it’s not a “real” man and a man of total experience and  exhausted but powerful, brutalized but handsome, dazed by what’s hit him but alert for whatever’s coming his way. 

The bronze statue Boxer at Rest was excavated in Rome in 1885 on the south slope of the Quirinal Hill near the ancient Baths of Constantine, where it is thought to have been displayed. The statue was intentionally buried in late antiquity, possibly to preserve it against the barbarian invasions that ravaged Rome in the fifth century A.D. 

Made in the Hellenistic period, when a love of realism made a powerful advance on earlier Classical idealism, the boxer is astonishingly realistic. The Character Boxer ,Seated and near to exhaustion from a match, and bleeding from wounds all over his body, he still has the energy to turn his head.  

• In his athletic nakedness, he wears only boxing gloves and a sort of athletic suspender (kynodèsme) that was both protective and an element of decorum. The many wounds to his head, the primary target in ancient Greek boxing matches, make clear that he has just completed a match. 

• Blood, represented by inlaid copper, drips from cuts on his forehead, cheeks, and cauliflower ears. His right eye is swollen and bruised. His nose is broken, and he breathes through his mouth, probably because his nostrils are blocked by blood. His inwardly drawn lips are scarred, likely indicating that his teeth have been pushed in or knocked out. Despite his exhaustion, the muscles in his arms and legs are still tense, as if the battered champion were ready to spring up and face a new combatant.

   

The Magical Powers of the Statue

• Areas of the boxer's right foot and hands are worn from frequent touching in antiquity. The statue may have been accorded healing powers, as was known to have occurred with other statues of famous athletes. An Early Imperial vitreous paste ring stone appears to represent the same statue of a boxer sitting on a rock and may have been a talisman for the ring's owner. 

Boxing in Antiquity

• Boxing was an ancient and revered sport in antiquity. Already practiced in the Bronze Age, it is recorded in the eighth century B.C. among the athletic contests performed during the funeral games of Patrokles in book 23 of Homer's Iliad.

•  It was introduced into the Olympic games in 688 B.C. and became an integral competition at all the major pan hellenic sanctuaries where athletic events were held in connection with religious festivities. So popular was boxing among ancient Greek nobility, who valued it as a form of military training, that swollen ears became a mark of honor. 

• In ancient Greece, the rules for boxing differ from those today. A boxer had to face one opponent after another, typically without significant pauses, and blows were dealt exclusively to the head and face.

• That conclude ,Later on, during the Roman Imperial period, the boxing gloves worn by gladiators developed into deadly weapons with sharp metal or broken glass points.

References 

Hemingway, Seán. "The Boxer: An Ancient Masterpiece Comes to the Met". New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/now-at-the-met/features/2013/the-boxer

Article , The Boxer:An Ancient Masterpiece ; At The Met Fifth Avenue . JUNE 1–JULY 18, 2013

https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/the-boxer

Smith, R. R. R. (1991). Hellenistic Sculpture. London. pp. 54–55. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_at_Rest 

ROMANTICISM ART

THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA

   

Artist Name: Theodore Géricault

Art work:  The Raft of the Medusa 

Location :  louvre, Paris

Theodore Géricault created one of the most iconic masterpieces of French Romanticism, the Raft of the Medusa (1818-19). Depicted on a monumental scale, Géricault portrayed in horrifying explicitness scenes of a shipwreck based on a contemporary event in which the captain had deserted his crew and passengers, leaving them to die. The painting’s allusions to governmental negligence and corruption ignited great controversy and brought Géricault widespread attention. Although he died young, his candid representations and bold style influenced many of his contemporaries, including Eugène Delacroix, who served as one of the models for the Raft of the Medusa.  French, 1791-1824, Rouen, France, based in Paris, France.

"Although baroque tactics abound, Géricault's use of shock tactics, stunning the viewer's sensibilities, amounted to something new. A new tone and intention that distinguished the "high" phase of romanticism. In this phase, an instinct for the sublime and the terrible, qualities celebrated in the esthetic theory and art of the eighteenth century for example, (Fuselli's Nightmare), found sharpest expression in a method of reportorial accuracy far more stringent than that found in certain works by David.

The Raft of the Medusa Analysis

 Composition

• The action is arranged in two distinct pyramidal shapes. The diagonal lines lead the eye to two key peaks: the wave that may or may not engulf the survivors on the raft, and the flag in the top right corner that is raised in a last gesture of hope to the ship that may or may not rescue them.

Color palette:

• Géricault utilized a somber, dramatic color palette that was characteristic of Romantic painters. As the focus of the painting is the mass of corpses, flesh tones are present in abundance.

 Lighting and tone:

• The tone of the painting is as dark as the subject matter. Géricault draws from the Baroque with his lighting scheme, heavy on chiaroscuro and tenebrism, the stark contrast between light and dark. the draw likes The light of the sky contrasts sharply with the darkness of the sea and the overall tone of impending doom.

Figure studies:

• For the amazingly life-like and eerie quality to the bodies, Géricault worked figure by figure, completing the sketching and painting of each body before moving on to the next one. He had closely studied cadavers in the local morgue, bringing home severed limbs and heads.

Based the painting show  directly from these live models instead of from preparatory sketches.

References

Alhadeff, Albert. The Raft of the Medusa: Gericault, Art, and Race. Prestel, 2002

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/theodore-gericault-the-raft-of-the-medusa. 

Berger, Klaus & Gaericault, Thaeodore. Gericault: Drawings & Watercolors. New York: H. Bittner and Company, 1946.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa

BAROQUE ART

SAMSON AND DELILAH 

Artist Name : Peter Paul Rubens

Artwork Name : Samson and Delilah 

Location : National Gallery London

The Figure Show , Samson, the Jewish hero, fell in love with Delilah. She was bribed by the Philistines, and discovered that his strength came from his hair which had never been cut. While he was asleep it was cut, Samson was drained of his strength and the Philistines were able to capture him  Rubens depicts a candlelit interior; the Philistines wait at the door, one of their number cuts Samson's hair, while an elderly woman provides extra light. In a niche behind is a statue of the goddess of love, Venus, with Cupid - a reference to the cause of Samson's fate.

This painting was commissioned by Nicolaas Rockox, alderman of Antwerp, for his town house in 1609-10. It shows the influence of the antique, as well as Michelangelo and Caravaggio. There is a preparatory drawing (private collection, Amsterdam) and a modello (Cincinnati Museum of Art).

Samson and Delilah Analysis

Composition:

• This painting takes on a sort of zig- zag composition in which the image is much deeper than the flat canvas it is painted on. The foremost subject is Samson and his cutter.The largest aspect being Samson's feet, the eye then travels up to the hushing Delilah who is still on the slanted first plane. 

Colour palette:

• This work shows van Dyck's ability to define texture and create the correct colour schemes that not only add depth but also texture and movement as realistically as possible. His use of colour in this work is so great that the viewer can almost feel the luscious fabrics in this scene.The color schemes are divided into two, as the entire left side of the canvas is immersed in darkness and shadow and Delilah is bathed in light. 

• This technique also defines the rich texture in comparison to the cold, hard marble floor on which he lies. Dark brown and grey dominate the left side, creating a foreboding atmosphere full of anticipation and fear and reflective of Samson's fate. 

The painting show   chambermaids and the Philistine cutting the hair have various reds to define their skin textures, showing a level of hardship upon these subjects. The reds show various physical stresses upon the bodies such as the hand about to cut the hair.

References 

The Arthby . Blake, Robin. Anthony Van Dyck: A Life,  Samsoo and Delilah .1599-1641. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000. https://www.artble.com › Anthony van Dyck.

Samson and Delilah Revisited: The Politics of Women's Fashion in 1920s France Mary Louise Roberts.The American Historical Review , Vol. 98, No. 3 (Jun., 1993), pp. 657-68.

Christopher Brown, Rubens’ Samson and Delilah, London: National Gallery, 1983. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_and_Delilah_(Rubens).

EARLY MEDIEVAL ART

    CAROLINGIAN

Artist name : Odo of Metz,

Artwork name: Carolingian

Location : France, Germany, Austria, northern Italy and the Low Countries,

Charlemagne, King of the Franks and later Holy Roman Emperor, instigated a cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. This revival used Constantine's Christian empire as its model, which flourished between 306 and 337. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and left behind an impressive legacy of military strength and artistic patronage.

Charlemagne saw himself as the new Constantine and instigated this revival by writing his Admonitio generalis (789) and Epistola de litteris colendis (c.794-797). In the Admonitio generalis, Charlemagne legislates church reform, which he believes will make his subjects more moral and in the Epistola de litteris colendis, a letter to Abbot Baugulf of Fulda, he outlines his intentions for cultural reform.

Most importantly, he invited the greatest scholars from all over Europe to come to court and give advice for his renewal of politics, church, art and literature.

Figurative art from this period is easy to recognize. Unlike the flat, two-dimensional work of Early Christian and Early Byzantine artists, Carolingian artists sought to restore the third dimension. They used classical drawings as their models and tried to create more convincing illusions of space

This development is evident in tracing author portraits in illuminated manuscripts. The Godescalc Gospel Lectionary, commisioned by Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard, was made circa 781-83 during his reign as King of the Franks and before the beginning of the Carolingian Renaissance. 

In the portrait of St. Mark, the artist employs typical Early Byzantine artistic conventions. The face is heavily modeled in brown, the drapery folds fall in stylized patterns and there is little or no shading.

Characteristics

•  The seated position of the evangelist would be difficult to reproduce in real life, as there are spatial inconsistencies. The left leg is shown in profile and the other leg is show straight on. This author portrait is typical of its time.

The figure show ,the Ebbo Gospels were made c. 816-35 in the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers for Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims.  The author portrait of St. Mark is characteristic of Carolingian art and the Carolingian Renaissance. The artist used distinctive frenzied lines to create the illusion of the evangelist's body shape and position. 

    

• The Characteristics the Ebbo gospels show footstool sits at an awkward unrealistic angle, but there are numerous attempts by the artist to show the body as a three-dimensional object in space. 

• The right leg is tucked under the chair and the artist tries to show his viewer, through the use of curved lines and shading, that the leg has form. There is shading and consistency of perspective. The evangelist sitting on the chair strikes a believable pose.

The Artwork show Charlemagne, like Constantine before him, left behind an almost mythiclegacy. The Carolingian Renaissance marked the last great effort to revive classical culture before the Late Middle Ages.  Charlemagne's empire was led by his successors until the late ninth century. In early tenth century, the Ottonians rose to power and espoused different artistic ideals.

References 

Dr. Nancy Ross, "Carolingian art, an introduction," in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed December 29, 2017, https://smarthistory.org/carolingian-art-an-introduction/.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica , Carolingian art . Encyclopædia Britannica ; February 03, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/art/Carolingian-art.

Beckwith, John. Early Medieval Art: Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, Thames & Hudson, 1964. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_art.

MALDIEVAL ART

MADONNA

Artist Name : Raphael

Artwork Name : Madonna

Location : National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The artwork show , Madonna, in Christian art, depiction of the Virgin Mary; the term is usually restricted to those representations that are devotional rather than narrative and that show her in a non historical context and emphasize later doctrinal or sentimental significance. The Madonna is accompanied most often by the infant Christ, but there are several important types that show her alone.

The theme of the Madonna and Child was rare in the first centuries of early Christian art 
(c3rd–6th century).  However, the establishment of Mary’s title of Theotokos (“Mother of God”) definitively affirmed the full deity of Christ. Thereafter, to emphasize this concept, an enthroned Madonna and Child were given a prominent place in monumental church decoration

Byzantine art developed a great number of Madonna types

•  All are illustrated on icons, and one or another type was usually pictured prominently on the eastern wall of Byzantine churches below the image of Christ; the location dramatized her role as mediator between Christ and the congregation. 

• The major types of the Madonna in Byzantine art are the nikopoia (“bringer of victory”), an extremely regal image of the Madonna and Child enthroned; the hodēgētria (“she who points the way”), showing a standing Virgin holding the Child on her left arm; and the blacherniotissa (from the Church of the Blachernes, which contains the icon that is its prototype), which emphasizes her role as intercessor, showing her alone in an Grant, or prayer posture, with the Child pictured in a medallion on her breast.

Madonna types are the Italian sacra conversation, depicting a formal grouping of saints around the Madonna and Child, and the northern themes of the Madonna of the rose garden, which symbolizes Mary’s virginity, and the seven sorrows of Mary, showing seven swords piercing the Virgin’s heart.

Three major Madonna types showing the Virgin alone have theological significance. As the

Madonna of mercy, which flourished in the 15th century, the Virgin spreads her mantle protectively over a group of the faithful.

In year  17th century emphasized her Immaculate Conception, or perpetual freedom from original sin, shows her as a young girl descending from the heavens, supported by a crescent moon and crowned by stars, and  did most religious art, the theme of the Madonna suffered a decline in the major arts after

The Representations of the Madonna and Child, however, continued to be important in popular art into the 20th century, most following 16th- and 17th-century models.



References 

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica , Madonna . Encyclopædia Britannica ;June 19, 2015

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Madonna-religious-art.

Christensen, Carol. "Examination and Treatment of Paintings by Raphael at the National Gallery of Art." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986): 47–54. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(art)

BYZANTINE ART

               HAGIA SOPHIA     

     

                                        

Artist Name : Isidore of Miletus , Anthemius of Tralles

Artwork Name: Hagia Sophia

Location :  Istanbul (historically Constantinople), Turkey

The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D. It contains two floors centered on a giant nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above. “Hagia Sophia’s dimensions are formidable for any structure not built of steel,”.

According ,  Helen Gardner and Fred Kleiner in their book "Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History." “In plan it is about 270 feet [82 meters] long and 240 feet [73 meters] wide. The dome is 108 feet [33 meters] in diameter and its crown rises some 180 feet [55 meters] above the pavement.”

In its 1,400 year life-span it has served as a cathedral, mosque and now a museum. When it was first constructed, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This state, officially Christian, originally formed the eastern half of the Roman Empire and carried on after the fall of Rome.

Born out of riots

• The story of the construction of the Hagia Sophia began in A.D. 532 when the Nika Riots, a great revolt, hit Constantinople. At the time Emperor Justinian I had been ruler of the empire for five years and had become unpopular. It started in the hippodrome among two chariot racing factions called the blue and green with the riot spreading throughout the city the rioters chanting “Nika,” which means “victory,” and attempting to throw out Justinian by besieging him in his palace.

Interior of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. The crown of the dome rises 180 feet (55 meters) above the floor.

                                         

Sunlight coming in through the windows of the Hagia Sophia "seemed to dissolve the solidity of the walls and created an ambience of ineffable mystery.
The dome rests not on a drum but on pendentives, spherical triangles that arise from four huge piers that carry the weight of the cupola. The pendentives made it possible to place the dome over a square compartment. Beneath the dome are 40 windows with sunlight coming through.

“The sunlight emanating from the windows surrounding its lofty cupola, suffusing the interior and irradiating its gold mosaics, seemed to dissolve the solidity of the walls and created an ambience of ineffable mystery,” she writes. “On the completion of Hagia Sophia, Justinian is said to have remarked, ‘Solomon.

Decorations and iconoclasm

The decorations within the Hagia Sophia at the time of construction were probably very simple, images of crosses for instances. Over time this changed to include a variety of ornate mosaics.

“There are a number of mosaics that have been added over the centuries, imperial portraits, images of the imperial family, images of Christ and different emperors, those have been added since Justinian’s day,” said Godson in the documentary.

During the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., there was a period of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire that resulted in some of the mosaics being destroyed.

Conversion to mosque

The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for centuries and by 1453 the Hagia Sophia had fallen into disrepair, notes researcher Elisabeth Piltz in a 2005 British Archaeological Reports series book. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque.

“What a dome, that vies in rank with the nine spheres of heaven! In this work a perfect master has displayed the whole of the architectural science,” wrote Ottoman historian Tursun Beg during the 15th century (translation from Piltz’s book).

Outside the church, four minarets would eventually be added, Kleiner writes (in a 2010 edition of his book) that these “four slender pencil-shaped minarets” are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall and are “among the tallest ever constructed.”

The style of the Hagia Sophia, in particular its dome, would go on to influence Ottoman architecture, most notably in the development of the Blue Mosque, built in Istanbul during the 17th century. 

Present-day museum

In 1934, the government of Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and turned it into a museum. The Turkish Council of Ministers stated that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.


References 

Helen C. Evans, Ph.D., "Byzantium Revisited: The Mosaics of Hagia Sophia in the Twentieth Century," Fourth Annual Pallas Lecture (University of Michigan, 2006).https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art.../early.../hagia-sophia-istanbul.

Magdalino, Paul, et al. "Istanbul: Buildings, Hagia Sophia" in Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com. accessed 28 February 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia.

The History of Hagia Sophia ; the Church of Holy Wisdom, Website by Pallasart Web Design-AnAustinWebDesign Company. https://www.pallasweb.com/deesis/hagiasophia.html

ROMAN ART

        PANTHEON  

                

Built  Name :  Trajan, Hadrian

Artwork Name : Pantheon 

Location : Region IX Circus Flaminius

The Pantheon is the best preserved building from ancient Rome and was completed in (c.125 CE)  in the reign of Hadrian. Its magnificent dome is a lasting testimony to the genius of Roman architects and as the building stands virtually intact it offers a unique opportunity for the modern visitor to step back 2,000 years and experience the glory that was Rome.  

FUNCTION & DEDICATION

The Pantheon was built on the exact site of two earlier Pantheon buildings, one commissioned by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (27-25 BCE) and the second by Domitian. The first was destroyed by fire in 80 CE and the second was struck by lightning in 110 CE and again burned down. The third Pantheon was probably begun in the reign of Trajan (98-117 CE) but not finally finished until around 125 CE when Hadrian was emperor.

Following Hadrian’s usual practice of dedicating rebuilt buildings and monuments in honour of the original dedicator, the Pantheon is dedicated to Marcus Agrippa and the prominent inscription on the porch façade reads:  M. Agrippa L.F. Cos Tertium Fecit (Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, three-time consul, made this).

Below the main inscription is a smaller one indicating the restorations carried out by Septimius Severus and Caracalla in 202 CE .

                                           

EXTERIOR

• The whole building stands on a 1.3 m high base which originally extended a further 7 metres in front of the colonnade. Steps in Numidian yellow marble extended from the outer ends of this base. 

• The building consists of two principal parts .The porch, which is very Classical Greek in presentation, and the circular main building which is much more Roman in style and reminiscent of the architecture of the large Roman baths. The circular building is built with brick and concrete but was originally faced with white marble stucco to match the porch in appearance. 

The porch measures 33.1 x 13.6 m and presents a front colonnade of eight Corinthian columns 11.8 m high. The monolithic column shafts are in Mons Claudianus and Aswan grey granite with the bases and capitals in white Pentelic marble. The pediment above the columns is now empty but drill holes suggest there was originally an emblem of some sort, possibly an eagle or wreath which would have been in gilded bronze and symbolised Jupiter. 

                                  

INTERIOR

• The Pantheon may well be the first building from Classical architecture where the interior is deliberately made to outshine the exterior. The circular part of the building or rotunda was entranced via two bronze doors measuring 12 x 7.5 m (those of today are ancient but not original). The rotunda measures 43.2 m in diameter which is exactly the maximum height of the dome, itself a perfect hemisphere.

•  At the very top of the dome is an opening to the sky (oculus) which is 8.8 m in diameter and has a decorative bronze sheet frieze. The dome is made from a light tufa and scoria (a type of pumice) mix of concrete (caementa) and its interior is further lightened by five rings of 28 coffers which reduce in size as they rise towards the centre of the dome. These may have been originally covered in bronze sheets.

The wall of the rotunda is 6 metres thick and has seven alcoves which are alternatively semi-circular  and rectangular . 

In my conclude , The Pantheon show was for centuries a source of materials for new buildings and other purposes including the making of cannons and weapons. In addition to the loss of original finishing, sculpture, and all of its bronze elements, many other changes were made to the building from the fourth century to today.

References 

Paul Godfrey and David Hemsoll. “The Pantheon: Temple or Rotunda?” in Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire, edited by Martin Henig and Anthony King (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1986), pp. 195-209. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/.../the-pantheon.

Cartwright, M. (2013, June 12). Pantheon. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Pantheon/