Which Term Describes Any Art That Protrudes From The Nail (2025)

Like other institutions with similar collections, Shelburne Museum exhibits mechanical objects with moveable parts in static displays, frozen in both place and time. The reasons for this are twofold. First, most historical mechanical objects do not survive in good operational order because of broken or missing parts or other types of damage. Second, extant functional pieces are seldomly, if ever, activated to help preserve them in the best possible state for the benefit of posterity. The fact these objects survive in working order is a testament to both their makers and the people who played with them. Whether by turnkey, loaded spring, drawstring, or a gust of wind, the automatons, banks, toys, and whirligigs featured here come to life again for the first time in many decades to amaze, educate, and entertain contemporary audiences. Toy Fire Escape is an accurate replica of a burning brownstone building complete with firemen actively fighting the fire and rescuing a woman in distress on the second floor. The first chartered United States savings bank was established in 1819 in New York City, institutionalizing thrift as a national policy. A penny saved is a penny earned. Although some banks were made of wood, glass, or pottery, by far the most common materials used between the Civil War and the turn of the century were tin-plate and cast iron. Banks were stationary (still) or moveable (mechanical) and took the form of buildings, animals, story characters, and famous people. Frequently, mechanical banks were designed to instill patriotism, teach morality lessons, or, unfortunately, trivialize political subjects or demean ethnic groups. Whirligigs such as this maniacally smiling swordsman were designed to move in the wind. Equipped with fans, pinwheels, turbines, and in this case, blood-tipped swords, these whimsical kinetic sculptures were brought to life by gentle breezes, providing bursts of action and amusement.

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Whirligigs come in a variety of forms, but soldiers, police officers, and other martial figures appear to have been especially popular subjects. The prevalence of such characters suggests that the amusement these toys offered was subversive, pitting figures of power and authority in futile battle against the wind. Vermont, Roy Arnold dedicated 30 years of his adult life to the creation of his miniature model to preserve the pomp and pageantry of the now-extinct spectacles for the benefit of future generations. Golden Age American circuses. Circus by the Sebastian Wagon Company in New York.

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Equipped with a simple internal gear mechanism, this adorable cast iron elephant pull toy raises and lowers its trunk as its wheels roll across the floor.

• As a material for toy making, cast iron became popular after the end of the Civil War as foundries retooled from armaments production to the manufacture of domestic goods.
• By twisting the wood dowel located on the proper left of the base, the operator becomes the foreman of this whimsical construction site, controlling every move of the four-man carpentry crew building this balloon-frame style house.
• Each of the workers has an articulated right shoulder joint connected to a hidden internal system of wires governed by a gear and trip wheel mechanism.

Changes to status or training of artists.

After reaching the apex of the ramp, a gun shot prompted LaRoche to pop out of the orb holding two flags before making his rolling descent.

• The popularity of the Mysterious Ball Act spiraled out of control, inspiring a host of imitators, including performers who ascended helical ramps by either balancing on large rolling balls or riding unicycles or bicycles.
• An elaborate ancestor of the modern hamster wheel, this brightly painted squirrel cage incorporates different kinetic actions into its design.
• When a squirrel ran in the cylindrical cage, the turning wheel powered the mechanisms of the figures operating the saws on top, causing them to rise up and down in a sawing motion.
• The two boxes on either side of the cage, painted to resemble Georgian townhouses, would have served as nesting areas for the squirrel.
• Squirrels were kept as pets in Europe and America in the early 18th and 19th centuries (hamsters were not introduced to the United States until the 20th century).
• Wearing a grin and a slyly arched eyebrow, this clown magician invites us to a game of illusions.

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When fully wound, he taps his wand and raises his hat to reveal a chicken, a frog, and other surprises, all of which are stored on a rotating carousel located underneath the game table.

• While an automaton can refer to any self-operating mechanism, the term most frequently describes animal or anthropomorphic figures intended for entertainment.
• Automata designs date to antiquity, but they reached their apex in popularity and diversity during the late 19th century, when industrialization enabled the mass production of the mechanical parts required for these machines.
• French automata, such as this clown magician, were especially revered for their high quality, and required the collaboration of clockmakers, sculptors, painters, and other artisans.
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• The Last Remaining Courtroom ArtistsCopy linkFacebookEmailNotesMoreThe Last Remaining Courtroom ArtistsMeet the women shaping the image of Donald Trump at trial.
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• His hair was looking particularly lemon meringue-like, and she was studying its swoop.
• Cinderella to the ball.

Political, economic or social factors.

Trump is on trial for paying off a porn star and falsifying business records to do it, and Cornell, a courtroom sketch artist who is drawing the trial for CNN, had just learned that Stormy Daniels would be testifying. Trump at the defense table, during which time he leans forward and poses, putting on a scowl. But then, one of them broke a rule: they photographed Trump from the side. The photographers were banned. The Sketch Ladies: From left, Elizabeth Williams, Jane Rosenberg and Christine Cornell, waiting to be let into court.

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Jean Carroll sexual assault and defamation trials, mesmerized by watching them work. Behind them sat a mother-daughter duo, Shirley and Andrea Shepherd, who like the others are something of legends in the insular room of courtroom sketch artistry — and have been in the business for some 40 years. Could they, I wondered, see themselves in Carroll, or even Stormy Daniels, in a way that imbued their sketches with just a touch more resolve? It is a strange relic of a job, and one that exists because cameras are banned in most federal and New York courtrooms. Some carried hair dryers to set their watercolors in time for deadline; many used binoculars or wore opera glasses, and had rolls of toilet paper to clean the chalk off their fingers. But as the news business has shrunk, so have the artists.

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They are our eyes inside.

1. ShareCourtrooms make for great theater — full of raw emotion, tension, Oscar-worthy performances, with lives and reputations are stake.
2. The sketch artists rise around 5am, line up outside by 7am, then wait, sometimes for hours, to be let into the courthouses.
3. This trial, she said, is cake compared to El Chapo; there they often had to line up overnight.
4. Once inside, the artists work at a frantic pace, producing multiple sketches throughout the day, often with just a few minutes to nail each one, and under immense pressure not to miss any of the critical moments.

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Williams supplements with wedding sketches; while Rosenberg draws landscapes. Cornell, who comes from a family of journalists — she followed her reporter sister to court back in the 1970s and never looked back — says friends often ask if she plans to retire. I have to go draw that mug again? I later ran into Cornell in the ladies room of the courthouse, where she had propped her image of Stormy Daniels up on the peeling radiator. This is where the artists flee during breaks, I learned, to take photos of their drawings to send in to their editors: Cornell on the radiator; Rosenberg on the trash dumpster. Stormy, in pastel chalk, on radiator. Isabelle Brourman, a fine artist who has been sketching her way through the trial alongside the women, and has gotten to know them. They are casual about it, nonchalant, just doing their jobs and going home at the end of the day, as they have for more than four decades. The women have locked eyes with murderers, baby killers, rapists, mafiosos, the famous and infamous alike: Bill Cosby. The Central Park Preppy Killer. Bernie Goetz, who shot four unarmed black teenagers on the 2 train in the 1980s and, Cornell learned, lived only a block away from her when he did. I figured he’s going to be in jail forever, so why make his life more miserable? During Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 trial on sex-trafficking charges, Rosenberg noticed something peculiar: that while she was sketching Maxwell, Maxwell was sketching her. Cornell, when I visited her at home in New Jersey.

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She was giving me a tour of her studio, where she has nearly five decades of courtroom sketches filed away in boxes. I may have it framed. Cornell in her studio. His mouth, when it gets annoyed, starts to not purse exactly, but turn into a tight-lipped pout. You know, the privation, the monotony.

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You think they’re sleeping, but they’ll jump up and chew your head right off.

• Is he sensitive to light?
• But mostly, their job is to draw what they see — no editorializing, no infusing meaning or politics, just the facts.
• Cornell says of her subjects.
• I want to hold them to account.
• Both Cornell and Williams have drawn Trump before, back in the 1980s when he owned a football team in New Jersey and sued to force a merger between the NFL and USFL.
• An intense, deep-seated fury.
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• I have a friend here in Las Vegas who has done some courtroom sketching for high profile cases.
• He is a terrific sketch artist but not of the same caliber as your gals.
• He didn’t do it for a living.
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• What do you call the interconnecting bits of a puzzle piece in English?
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Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. This is hard to describe, but I’m curious about what the proper word is for these thingies in English. English speakers know a word for that. The ends of the pieces of toy train tracks are called “male” and “female” where they connect. I would think the same concept would apply to jigsaw puzzles. This kind of puzzle is called a jigsaw puzzle, and the corresponding Wikipedia page uses the terms tabs and blanks. The parts you’ve circled are the tabs. DNA computing calls them jigsaw tabs (and pockets), this book on programming also mentions interlocking tabs, this issue of Make magazine calls them jigsaw tabs (and slots), and there are lots of other books. You can also trawl through search results for jigsaw (tab OR tongue OR outie), to compare the answers suggested. Need to look at each result individually to make sure the word is used in the right context. In fact most results aren’t about the context we want. However, it is also a fact that there is no universally accepted terminology. Despite a few attempts at a comprehensive classification of piece shapes and cutting designs, there is still no generally accepted nomenclature. Manufacturers use a variety of terms, as do puzzlers. Venemo: Unfortunately, I just updated my answer to show that blanks may not be universal.

Picasso (Extended Notes from WHA).

But tabs seems to be used widely. I work in a related software engineering field. The only engineers working in “jigsaw construction” are, indeed, programmers. Other than a handful of hand-made wooden jigsaw cutters, the only people who would use “jigsaw terminology” are programmers. Note you reference a programming book?

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Are you a native English speaker by the way? Regarding google searches, I find they have no relation at all to actual-usage on the street; you tend to find a few formalish references. Speaking as a fully-qualified jigsaw puzzle solver, I can say that the standard word is an outie. Terminology shared with belly-buttons, except normally only jigsaw outies interlock with innies.

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According to this glossary people also call them tabs or knobs, but the problem there is they don’t have an obvious term for the corresponding innie, so I’d stick with outie. A jigsaw is a game anyway, so there’s nothing wrong with using childish terminology. Innie and outie sounds a bit more casual than tab and blank. I would be disappointed to learn that no such thing exists. All I can suggest is tongue, as in the joint in carpentry known as tongue and groove. You make me think, “dog” wold be a great term here.

What do you call the interconnecting bits of a puzzle piece in English?

Since it is, exactly that, a dog. Probably a sailor or old-days carpenter would know this? Clare “dog” also means (ask, say, a sailor or engineer), a “projection” that is used to grab or stop something – picture something like, oh, a coat-hook or a stick of metal poking out. What leads you to this conclusion? Though “mortice and tenon” is a very specific kind of joint, the same terms are used for a few other types of joints.

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Given that jigsaw puzzles originated in woodworking, I think this is a plausible conjecture.

• I am used to seeing it spelled mortise, however, but either is correct.
• It is exactly, precisely correct that tenon and mortice are appropriate technical terms.
• Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces all of a similar shape, with rounded tabs out on opposite ends, with corresponding blanks cut into the intervening sides to receive the tabs of adjacent pieces.
• Who cares what someone writing on Wikipedia, used to describe the issue?
• Exactly as the OP describes them in some other way.
• In English, it’s reasonably common that – strangely enough – there IS NO WORD for a certain fairly common thing.

Floating down memory lane.

There’s possibly actually a term for this phenomenon – like “grasp words” or “thingy words” or something. Note for example, Justin’s first comment on the question – which is totally correct and typical. Again – in my opinion – among English speakers it’s reasonably common that – strangely enough – there IS NO WORD for a certain fairly common thing. We stick with “thingy phrases” and sort of deliberately don’t settle on a word. IMO the – thingies – on jigsaws are a perfect example of this.

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So, IMO, there is literally no word for these in English – even among jigsaw aficionados or in the games industry. A small point: Note too that the jigsaw-puzzle industry is largely German, as it happens, so you could possibly look to the German language for guidance here, if you’re trying to “decide on” what we should all call these thingies. Another way of calling it would be male plug or male connector. I’m coding a puzzle game right now and I’ve found this thread while searching for an appropriate variable name. I’ve decided to go with plug, because I was looking for a generic term that describes both tabs and blanks, innie and outie, ricky and morty etc. Plugs can be male or female, where male corresponds to tab and female to blank. While this is interesting, it does not answer the question. In my humble opinion it does, as one way you can call this thing is a plug (which answers the question). I know a lot of software developers visit this site for the same reason I did and I wanted to help them. The question was specifically about the extended, or male portions. But not as it is, with just plugs. And I actually liked your coding example. My original question was also for a puzzle game that I coded. I went with the accepted “tabs” and “blanks” but I guess “plug” could also work as a more generic term. I am a woodworker and I often happen to explain that I craft puzzles without those joints. Native speakers do not assimilate those Wikipedia’s tabs and blanks. So forget them if you want a layman to grasp the meaning the first time. Instead, I use figurative onion or bulb or protruding onion-shaped bulge. Another comparison is a peninsula contrasted to the bay or fjord to which it fits. Please check at the Help Center and on ELU. If you can find a reasonable reference supporting your figurative usages here, it will make this a valid answer. EdwinAshworth No, I have learnt these usages through paving my way to the clearest explanations to others. BTW I do not have such a visual inverse-bulb term for the female socket. The suggested “bay” seems one of my favorite. You must log in to answer this question. Earn 10 reputation (not counting the association bonus) in order to answer this question.

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Were most people in pre-industrial societies in chronic pain? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. My best guess is that if the house shifts an inch then the nails will still be in the wood rather than having a complete failure. It is telling you the spec fir nailing into the top plate. The table lists rated uplift loads for particular installation scenarios, presumably with the largest nails that offer practical benefit. It doesn’t list installation requirements. You can see that uplift load is substantially less (540) for short nails than it is for long nails (700). In those cases uplift data is important, so it’s listed. It may also reflect the highest load rating achievable with that particular part. This is standard practice. I’ve done so many times myself under inspection situations. For whatever reason (see my comment above), Simpson says the longer nails into the rafter member provides greater resistance to uplift. It may be for a doubled truss (girder), or for engineered framing where a wider board is used. Those situations are rare, but Simpson opts to provide load data for them anyway. It has more to do with the way Simpson specifies these products. Since the more common use IMM would be with 2x rafter, I would have thought Simpson would have put that data up in the main table, with the footnote being for the longer nails in 3x or double 2x lumber. Reminder: Answers generated by artificial intelligence tools are not allowed on Home Improvement Stack Exchange. Thanks for contributing an answer to Home Improvement Stack Exchange!

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The day started out all right. I woke early and, still in my nightgown, walked out to the porch and began to paint the walls. I had never planned on doing this. Alex is 12, very tall, and has bright blue eyes. Clair is 7, round and dark, and her hair was tangled from sleep.

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They were quiet and sleepy. They lay down on an old couch. When my children came back into the living room, they walked into the blue frame. They had changed out of their pajamas, and looked as if they were getting ready to go to work, which it turned out was sort of the case. My daughter was wearing a little vest over her T-shirt. I couldn’t hear them, but could see that they were clearly discussing an audiotape Alex was holding, a novel on tape he’d gotten from the library the day before. The book, I knew, was Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech; this was the book he was supposed to read over the summer, in preparation for seventh grade. And he dreaded this. I watched as they put the tape in the cassette slot.

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They were sitting side by side on the couch.

• I tapped on the glass, but they were engrossed now, waiting for it to begin.
• I could not make out her words, but the volume was high, and the feeling and quality of her voice permeated the glass.
• It was a low voice, with no lift or variation.
• Alex and Clair had spent the summer roaming around, reading Harry Potter, playing, swimming, and lounging.
• Alex had read a gamut of scripts and biographies of comedians.

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But Alex and Clair looked tense, and the phrase “bracing themselves” came to mind. What exactly was this book? I recalled his last year’s language arts teacher, on Back to School Night. I had been excited to meet her, because Alex adored her and her class. But now I remembered that I had also felt a slight wariness with regard to the school’s choice of books. I remembered her gesturing to the paperbacks the class would be reading. Most of these books are recommended by the American Library Association, and many are Newbery Medal winners. The books were propped around the room. They all had teens on the covers. I didn’t recognize a single title. I put it back carefully. The good warm feeling in the room had persisted.

Time for a confession.

These words came back to me now as I watched my children.

• They were sitting so stiffly, their spines arched.
• Their posture was the opposite of how they sat when they were absorbed.
• I had seen Alex like this many times during the year, when I’d passed his room in the evening; he always left his door open.

Inside and outside influences.

There he’d be, reading one or another book assigned from school, under the cone of his desk lamp. He never looked at ease while he read. I had tried adjusting his light and suggested he close his door. No, he always wanted the door open when he read, didn’t like to be alone with these books. It can’t be that bad, I always thought; reading, after all, is good.

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His teacher was a fine captain; I trusted her sense of direction. But the choice of books? I had never offered too much sympathy. Once or twice I’d picked up a book and studied the cover, where a photograph of a teen stared back at me, challengingly, such that I always lowered my eyes. What had I meant? Would the monotony of the voice on the tape break? I was listening for a shift in tone, a ravine of mystery, but no shift came. I realized no change would come. I had been listening for a certain music of sadness; instead, these were the brittle and fatty sounds of heavy depression. The voice was aggressive too, the way depression can make someone hostile.

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You need this big dose of reality I am giving you.

1. It’s killing me, this talking, but I’m doing it for you.
2. It is easy to spot Alex’s assigned reading books among his real books.
3. His real books are worn, and cling to a driving force, namely Comedy.
4. These books are stacked and bulging in his shelves, all the novels by Louis Sachar, Daniel Pinkwater, Barbara Park.

Critics, thinkers and historians.

And then thicker books—the biographies of Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Larry Gelbart; all the scripts from Our Show of Shows; the script of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; a book called 170 Years of Show Business. But mostly his library serves to illuminate and honor Mel Brooks, his hero. Among these worn texts, the school-issued books seem sleek and untouched in comparison. They are paperbacks moderate in length, and on their covers are drawings of slim, attractive teenagers. They look cool, defiant; they manage to look at me but not seem exposed. I never read any of these books in my own childhood (nothing in this pile was published before 1972). Who are these bold teenage protagonists? Do these books constitute a new kind of book, represent a new sensibility with regard to children?

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What is the nature of their grimness? I decide to read Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, a book I know Alex had to read last summer, before entering sixth grade. It has a girl on the cover, although we can see only her long flowing hair. She is turned toward an intriguing landscape of purple mountains and clear water, with a vibrant sunset beyond the mountains. Stamped in the middle of the cover, as if it were a moon floating in that clear water, is the golden seal of a Newbery Medal. I sit in a slatted chair, out on my front lawn, alone for a few hours since my children are at the town pool and my husband won’t be home until dinnertime. The book is about Salamanca, a girl whose mother has strangely and abruptly left home; Sal travels across the country with her grandparents looking for her mother. The plan is to show up where she thinks her mother has gone, on her mother’s birthday, and coax her to return.

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The story is told by Sal, and takes place mostly in the car, in dialogue between Sal and her two interesting and unusual grandparents. She spends much time telling fascinating stories about things that have been happening to her since her mother has gone. I set about reading Walk Two Moons with the notion of keeping an analytic distance, but the story draws me in, and I begin to read slowly to savor the language. The writing is lyrical, the insights of the narrator sensitively revealed.

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I put the book down midway for a break with a feeling of pleasant surprise. Here is an ambitious book, ambitious not only in terms of the writer’s reach, but also in the way that it calls upon the young reader to stretch his way of hearing a story and seeing a world. We learn about the bloody miscarriage and hysterectomy Sal’s mother endured before she deserted her family. Sal’s grandmother has a stroke and must go to the hospital. The grandfather must remain to watch over her, so Sal drives on to find her mother by herself.

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She arrives in the town her mother has fled to, and yes, she has made it right on her mother’s birthday. Only it turns out the mother is not there, since she’s been dead all along. She was killed in a bus accident. We find this out in the last pages. There are some hasty resolutions afterwards, but these feel tacked on and don’t do much to dispel the book’s great bad wallop of an ending. I am stunned by this death and all this sudden cramming in of dismal facts.

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I feel as if I’ve been had, the way you might feel if, all along, you thought someone was your friend, only to find he is a paid actor. The ending and, suddenly, the whole book feel immeasurably contrived, weighted with a huge message—something about growing up and having to leave one’s mother behind. About having to rely on yourself. What had begun as a real book, sad yes, but complex and original, has ended as a tearjerker. I drop the book on the grass and close my eyes. The wind is near, and then very far, more like an echo, and the dusk takes on a deeper dimension, beyond the small planet of my yard. Soon Alex will disappear down the path on the side of the house each morning to school. Every night before school, he will do his homework, diligently, pack his own things up, manage projects: He is masterful in his realm.

His stride is purposeful.

What does someone just starting out in the world need to take? If I were to stand in the street in my slippers and call after him now that he is 12, as he descends the steps, what would I call? Come home at three. What book in his knapsack might help him along his way? Not the one I’ve read today; it seems too nerve-racking, freighted with anxiety. It would weigh him down. A sudden cold snap extinguishes the bright roses along the fence. Summer is over just like that, and the yard looks littered and strange. My children return to school, and I stand in the doorway. My job—I run a creative arts program for children, called Story Shop—doesn’t begin until late October. Children write stories, and tell them, and enact them, and build scenes and characters out of paper and boxes and odds and ends. Stories are often presented to the group as a whole, so that kids get a chance to share what they’ve made, and also to draw inspiration from the work of others. I began Story Shop when Alex was little, and I needed a part-time job that would allow me to work close to home. I liked this, what I loved most was working with children, especially in the arts, and especially as it gave me a chance to be in the realm of childhood imagination. I had been a teacher of writing for children in many different venues: in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children, in a fantastically wealthy private school, and as part of an arts program in a low-income neighborhood. When Story Shop reopens for fall, I will be buckled into an exacting routine, but for now, for this brief period, I am free. At midmorning I drive to the library in the next town, as I have been doing lately. I like to go there, because, unlike in my own library, I rarely see anyone I know, and I like the anonymity. The children’s librarian, who is stamping books at the front desk, is a sturdy woman, with a serene face and tidy, pale hair. They win all the awards. In fact, in the past 10 years, 40 percent of the Newbery Medal winners have been of this sort.

Later, after I made my way over to a table, having begun tentatively to pluck books with glaring teens on their covers, she walked over to me and handed me a hefty book.

But after a while, I began to wonder different things.

First, what did they mean that death had been taboo?

1. What did it take for a young reader to draw courage from a book?
2. I knew it was possible, of course.
3. I recognize that it helped me to begin to formulate some ideas about how I wanted to act, and not act.
4. In particular, I think the book offered me the first outline of the idea that it was possible to resist the velocity of group pressure.
5. City when I was 12; it was as if Alfred Kazin were writing specifically about me, and the secret feeling I had that my neighborhood in the upper tip of Manhattan was odd, too far from the rest of the world.

It was the eternity of the subway ride into the city that first gave me this idea.

The subway had always been a being to me also, in need of that fresh gulp of air, but I never guessed that another person thought this way too. My table at the library is by the window, a round table with a quiet luster, on which all the books I’ve been reading for two weeks make a precarious stack. These are the books whose titles I came across on school reading lists, some that were prize winners, some recommended to me by friends and kids I know. But some books I found just by generally poking around the shelves—the children’s shelves and the adjacent Young Adult section. I selected books that strove to be realistic, rather than books of fantasy, or humor, or historical fiction, because the realistic books seemed distinct from books I grew up with, whereas the other types were more familiar. Some of the books are well written and affecting. Others are so sensationalistic as to read like dopey soap operas, pure and simple. While plowing through these stacks, I read around in some other texts as well, in an effort to get a handle on the nature of these novels. Problem novels and the like sprang into existence during and after the 1960s (I probably stopped dipping into children’s literature just at the moment they began). Salinger, while not intended for teenagers, was perhaps a prototype for the first problem novels, in that the story is told in the voice of a disaffected adolescent at odds with a disappointing adult world.

The protagonist is alienated and hostile toward adults.

Some relief from unhappiness comes from a relationship with an adult outside the family. The story is often told in the first person, and is often confessional and self-centered. The narrative is told from the point of view of an ordinary child, often in the vernacular; vocabulary is limited; tone is often flat, and emotionally detached.

The settings are urban, usually in New York or California.

Sexuality is openly and frequently discussed. Parents are absent, either physically or emotionally. I have found these observations applicable to many of the books I’ve read, although in the more recently published books, death, rather than sex, seems the primary theme, and locations are not limited to the coastal cities. And while many are written primarily in dialogue, often in the vernacular, there appears to be a growing body of realistic, problem-driven books written in a densely elegiac language, borrowing, perhaps, from the mood of the adult memoir. A desolate feeling in many of the novels prevails. In virtually all the books I’ve read, the character’s mother is dead, missing, or nonfunctional. Instead, “Only Survive” or “At Least You Have Yourself (since you can’t rely on anyone else)” is more to the point. The narrative voices in these novels, whether the story is told in first person or third, seem to share a particular quality. Lack of humor, the tackling of traumatic themes, and a relentless earnestness all come to mind, as well as their often confessional tone. But another aspect also links this group. I consider an authentic child’s perspective. Something essential feels missing. For all children, except in cases of extreme pathology, there is to a greater or lesser degree a corresponding magical, imaginative counterpart to experience. This dimension does not have to be fully conscious, but exists nevertheless. By “magic” I do not mean (only) manifest magic, as the child’s belief or wish that he could turn invisible or fly. In fact, as children get older, such manifest magic is understood increasingly to be the exclusive province of dramatic play and art, distinct from reality.

But latent magic continues to abound in the everyday.

There is chatter among trees. Within this universe, the child is the nexus, but while he might be hindered or aided by the natural world, he is never alone. The point is that in childhood, and well into early adolescence (and in all poetic worlds), the universe is animate, or at least potentially animate, with an unseen presence. And it is precisely this dimension to childhood experience that is absent from many realistic novels and virtually all problem novels. No magic, manifest or latent, vibrates within them. Instead, in all of these self-proclaimed realistic stories, “reality” is understood as the opposite of imagination and fantasy, as if childhood were a dream from which children must be awakened—when, in fact, reality is not divisible from imagining, for children. But in these books children’s imagination is regarded as something that must be tamed, monitored, barred. The child protagonist, while presented with the darkest and most upsetting situations imaginable, is denied what in real childhood would exist in abundance: recourse to fantasy.

There’s something else about these child narrator voices that feels so inauthentic: These little narrators see too much, they know too much.

Real kids’ minds filter the world’s events. Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary are brilliant at capturing an authentic child’s perspective. Christopher Paul Curtis is another author who writes convincingly from a child’s point of view. In particular, I am thinking here of The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, a book dealing with harrowing, realistic themes indeed. The 9-year-old narrator, Kenny, tells the story of his family traveling to Alabama to visit relatives, and the horrible church bombing that occurs during their visit.

Kenny believes his little sister, who had chosen to attend the church that morning, was killed, and even when he finds out she wasn’t, his terror and depression continue; he can’t shake the feelings.

While some problem novels might have handled these themes in a heavy-handed way, this book manages to be graceful, sometimes quite lighthearted. This is true because Kenny’s narrative voice never feels like an adult talking through a child, and instead reads exactly, to my ear, the way a genuine 9-year-old (who has a great sense of humor) would be experiencing his life. Kenny notes almost in passing, he does not choose to have Kenny fully grasp and describe with full scope the meaning of these observations. In other words, his life is described at his eye level.

Particularly compelling is the way Kenny describes his efforts to make sense of the traumatic events he witnessed.

When solace comes, it is not because an adult in the book has delivered a meta-narrative about the meaning of racism, or stress, or why he should move on with his life and stop feeling bad. Adults try in the book but their attempts don’t do the trick. Instead, Kenny pursues his own imaginative and idiosyncratic ways of healing himself, just as a real child might, and is finally delivered by the loving attention of his brother.

The author’s faithfulness to the child’s perspective allows the child reader to take in as much as he is able about the story.

He can identify with the narrator, who, as I’ve said, sees things through his particular filtering lens. Or, as the child reader is ready, he can ponder larger aspects of the story. Children also do not play in problem novels.

Or if they do, the play sequences are never woven seamlessly into life, the way, for example, Huck in Huckleberry Finn describes his playing life.

Huck, even though he has a whole array of family troubles, like children in problem novels, is the very antithesis of the problem novel character. Huck’s narrative moves in and out of descriptions of play and fantasy episodes. The story told through Huck’s eyes portrays play the way it really feels to children: deliciously real, but at the same time, not exactly the same as reality. Play and fantasy are facets of the prism through which life is experienced. Many of the novels I’ve read seem not to regard play in this way. Any play sequences are described in a highly self-conscious, guarded way, and are put in the story to teach a lesson. The “secret world” in Bridge to Terabithia is a perfect example of how fantasy is regarded in these books. The very bridge in question causes the death of a child. But while the children in problem novels don’t have rich imaginations, they are given mood states: They are depressed, nervous, worried. And they often feel very guilty.

Many characters are portrayed as feeling that they are the cause of the terrible things that occur.

Why deprive the child narrators of the rest of their experience? I open another book in my stack—American Children’s Literature and the Construction of Childhood by Gail Schmunk Murray. It is a nice size book, small, not too thick, with a peaceful golden cover. It is part of a series called Twayne‘s History of American Childhood. It promises to contextualize, as the historians say, the advent of the problem novel.

Why and when did the problem novel come into being?

Of course, society has never spoken with one voice, but in every era, except perhaps the present one, a dominant culture has prevailed. Books written for children reveal this dominant culture, reflect its behavioral standards. On the whole, children’s literature is a conservative medium. Clergy, teachers, parents, and writers have all used it to shape morals, control information, model proper behavior, delineate gender roles, and reinforce class, race, and ethnic separation. Historically, children’s fiction has not encouraged creativity, exploration of behaviors, or self-expression. And what was the ideal child like when I was young, nearly 40 years ago? The ideal girl—at least the ideal that spoke loudest to me—was pure and good, charitable, almost selfless. I am thinking of Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables, books written early in the 20th century, but which did not feel outdated when I was young. An ideal boy was more like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn: fundamentally kind and just, but adventurous, even wayward. But children’s literature of this period, she notes, did not reflect any of the country’s upheaval; instead, books offered an optimistic world-view.

All this rings true.

Wasn’t there someone who, when we felt most alone, turned out to have been there all along?

• I don’t remember feeling anxiety upon opening a book.
• Somebody was in charge of those books.

And if it wasn’t a character, an adult or a wise animal, maybe I’m just remembering my feeling about the narrative voice itself back then: omniscient, disembodied (never a first-person child narrator).

Maybe because it spoke over and above, this narrative voice had a kind of sweeping grandeur for me, echoing my feelings about an overseeing God, or nature, or a protective, all-knowing adult. And those narrators would never tell us stories that left us desolate. Even the youngest readers knew this. We knew from the outset who would never die: main characters, children, parents. Or death was otherwise neatly subsumed into the story, and over before you knew it, making it seem remarkably manageable. I remember reading a novel about the Holocaust when I was 12, called The Silver Sword, by Ian Serraillier, about children whose parents are taken away by Nazis, and who then had to fend for themselves in the woods and abandoned basements. But even though the story was tense and felt profoundly real, and I knew about the Holocaust from my parents and grandparents, I loved that book. I don’t recall feeling overwhelmed or bleak, the way, say, Alex seems to feel about some of the books he is asked to read. It didn’t give me nightmares. In fact, didn’t I used to play that I was somehow also an orphan, hiding from the Nazis, just like in the book? How had that story been handled such that it left me feeling exhilarated, rather than hopeless? I remember that the children had verve. They formed a kind of ragtag gang of orphans; they had a certain jaunty cheer. And even though the world they moved through was terribly dangerous, the mere fact that they were children gave them a special status, an aura of protection. Later I find the book on the library shelves, one old tattered copy, published in 1959.

I seem to have remembered all these years: the children, who have been hiding in a barn, and who are exhausted and scared, are discovered by a farmer who might or might not turn them over to the authorities.

He orders the children to his farmhouse. There were gay window-boxes on the sills of the farmhouse, gay with flowers. On the scrubbed table in the kitchen a breakfast of coffee and rolls had been laid. Four visitors for breakfast—four tattered bundles of mischief from Poland. A plump and comfortable-looking lady shook hands with each of them in turn, and, welcoming them to the table, went to fetch more breakfast. The children are refreshed. The scene is radiant. It is as if the story dips itself periodically into a clear lake that washes away the grime of life, leaving the children’s spirits renewed. While the tone here is like a fairy tale’s, it also captures something realistic about childhood for me: Alex and Clair, and most children I know, seem to have access to this clear lake, this radiance and capacity for renewal. I rest my head on my folded arms, and angle my face to the weak sunlight. I am remembering Dick and Jane readers, the very first schoolbooks. The parents were called Mother and Father, which I found shocking—that children might refer to their parents so formally. And Mother and Father came out onto the green yard once in a while, on special occasions. They were young, laughing, trim. Mother had such a small waist, and wore a little belt around her dress. But even when Mother and Father weren’t in the pictures, their shadows seemed to fall across the lawn, as if they were standing just out of the frame, always present.

If there wasn’t this proximity, how else could Dick and Jane be so carefree?

Which was how they seemed: wagons and balls scattered casually on the lawn (in my New York City life, I had never seen a real wagon); the dog yipping around without a leash. The parents oversaw everything. The white picket fence encircled the children. The continual joy of the parents impressed me: It seemed incited by nothing in particular, except by the same joy the children felt about their ball, their dog, life in general. I continue to lie on my arms. Against the darkening sky, I can see my own eyes looking back at me in the glass, watching myself, remembering the pictures, and myself as a girl reader. What if Dick and Jane had looked up, beyond the page, and seen me—the huge face of a dark girl? How did Jewish enter into this?

What made me know—although I never then could have formed it into words—that Dick and Jane and Mother and Father weren’t Jews?

That they had never heard of Jews, that they might not like Jews?

• What mood would cross their faces if they realized who had been watching them all this time?
• No Jew lived in that book.
• This is what I remember from those first books.

The children in them were safe, and enclosed.

It was sunny there. But sometimes I felt left out. I imagine many other children must have felt this way too.

The boundaries that had protected children and adolescents from adult responsibilities throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century became much more permeable.

Such previously defined adult issues as sexuality and suffering entered the realm of childhood. I view the stacks of books on my table. It never fell into my hands when I was young, but a neighbor’s daughter read it in sixth grade. It is weird and depressing. But it’s intriguing too. The Pigman, in a sense, is unchaperoned by any sobering adult sensibility, is told straight in the alternating voices of two teenagers, and ends disastrously.

It does not serve as a moral tale; the reader does not sense any hidden agenda, or at least not a familiar one, on the part of the writer.

A friend tells me she read The Pigman when she was a teenager, years ago, when it first came out. She said the book meant a lot to her, that she cherished it, that it told her something about boys and girls together that she hadn’t read anywhere before. If nobody comes between them and the book, they may discover within it some insight they require, a rest they long for, a point of view that challenges their own, a friend they may cherish for life. Would I have liked this book years ago? To read about the anarchic world of The Pigman, at 12 (unthinkable at 8) would have been more then I could handle. Like a direct assault.

It would have been like ripping down one structure, the only structure I had, before anything else was in its place.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, on the other hand, ripped down nothing: it constructed something. By then a lot had changed. What Does a Young Person Need?

Alex has left his room ablaze with light, and I go in to turn off the lamps.

They Cage the Animals at Night lies on the bed. The sadness of the book returns. How does such a searing story about abandonment—this child’s mother drops him off one day at an orphanage, with no explanation, and never is really able to retrieve him—hit a 12-year-old reader?

Finishes one, picks up another.

This makes sense to me; I can imagine how reading about others in trouble could feel like a lifeline.

• But how do the books hit a 12-year-old or 10-year-old who still has a mother, whose life has all its parts more or less functioning, but who is just beginning the process of becoming more independent?
• What is the effect of hitting a kid with stories about abandonment and loss just at the moment that he is repositioning himself to separate?
• The books evoke compassion, sure.
• They offer a glimpse into other lives, broaden understanding of the inequities of society.
• Obviously this is good.

But unless there is the assumption that children always remain slightly detached readers—sociological perspective foremost—don’t stories with such potent, universal themes as abandonment and loss reverberate as personal stories?

Some of them must have been written as a kind of offering: to the child, to all children, who may at some point be in trouble. The book is a protector; the book reaches out. The child needs help. I sit down on Alex’s bed. The troubling books are all squished together in his bookshelf. They have taken up residence.

Seen as a group, they have a pushy, aggressive edge.

Does a blitz of misery sensitize a person, or numb him?

Rather than making issues of human suffering more available for reflection, might such a barrage invite a person to trivialize such issues? The child is frozen, the book’s job is to hack away? This time a paper falls out of the tuft. It is a paragraph Alex must have typed, copied from Newsweek. The autopsy photo shows a little boy who looks relieved to be dead. His eyes are closed. A hospital tube protrudes through his broken nose. He has deep cuts above his right ear and dark linear scars on his forehead. The bruises on his back are a succession of yellows, greens, and blues. On the bottom of his tiny feet are third-degree burns. He had been battered and tortured. A child relieved to be dead? In the whole wide world of literature, why is it imperative for 12-year-olds to stare into the abyss of the abusive foster care system? Why this of all things? Alex is eating a cookie in the kitchen. It’s an intense article. Why exactly did he have you read this? It’s for language arts. To go with They Cage the Animals at Night.

We have to research the foster care system.

I don’t know what to say. But, it’s so—Did you find it, I mean, what did you think of this article? The days are grey. The branches are bare; there is mud, a battering of icy rain. My friend calls and invites me to go for a walk. The woods are dreary. My friend is a cheerful sort, although she is a thoughtful, rather scholarly person who lives books, and in fact does volunteer reading once a week in an orphanage. We like to talk about books, and wonder together at the strange books assigned to our sons.

Her son is 12, like Alex, and also in the seventh grade.

She’s heard that in a nearby town the seventh-graders are reading A Child Called It, by David Pelzer, an adult memoir about a man’s recollection of his childhood abuse. You know what she said? I ponder what my friend has said. The hugeness of the difference between Oliver Twist and any of these books is too much to articulate. The whole of the 19th century is in that book, the complexity, the subtlety, the vision of childhood. Would you read them They Cage the Animals at Night, for example? They would find it unbearable.

What do they like instead?

They like picture books. Seuss; they like The Three Little Pigs. You read 12-year-olds The Three Little Pigs?

I try to picture this.

How did you hit on that idea? Aren’t they seriously into being teenagers? Weren’t you worried the first time you pulled the book out that they would feel insulted? The first time I was going to read, a girl who looked about 18 (she was really maybe 12), with long fingernails, kept tapping them on the table. It made me really nervous. But I had taken some of them to the library the week before, and what they gravitated toward was picture books, nursery rhymes in fact. These tough-looking kids were absolutely riveted by Mother Goose. It was really surprising. But as soon as I started reading Corduroy—you know, about the stuffed bear who gets lost in a store—she stopped tapping her nails. They all want me to read all the books over and over.

That’s what I do each week now.

So who are those sad books for? I wonder as we resume walking. Apparently, at any rate, not for real orphans.

But I continue to wonder.

I must have dozed again, because this time when I open my eyes she is standing over me, and so is the other one—the goodly one, whose velvet headband sweeps her hair back; in my mind I call her Alice.

I sit up properly and make to slap dust off my legs, as if this lying position had been foisted on me, and is infinitely irritating. In one swoop I am a citizen, sitting upright. It’s from a line in a Grace Paley story.

She describes how she hates stories that move from point a to point b, toward an ending that’s fixed before starting out.

Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life. Before we can continue, the bank of lights overhead has been turned out, and then another bank. I realize there has been a third librarian all along, a frail Indian woman, in a sari. The room is blue now, and through the blinds, lightning crackles in the sky, although as far as I can tell, it is not yet raining. I sit quietly and wonder, as I often do: What does a young person need from his family and culture when he is about to set out on his own? Barbara Feinberg founded and now teaches at Story Shop, a creative writing afterschool program for children. This article is adapted from Welcome to Lizard Motel: Children, Stories, and the Mystery of Making Things Up, a Memoir by Barbara Feinberg, 2004, by permission of Beacon Press.

In this unique and interesting memoir, a mother and creative writing teacher reflects on the role of imagination in children’s lives.

By special arrangement with Beacon Press, members of the American Federation of Teachers are eligible for a 20 percent discount. To order, visit www. The AFT is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Photographs and illustrations, as well as text, cannot be used without permission from the AFT. Does it ever make sense to cut rigid foam into strips and insert the strips between your studs or rafters?

This cut-and-cobble job was performed from the exterior.

The rigid foam is recycled polyiso reclaimed from a commercial roof.

• Here at GBA, readers regularly ask about the best way to install rigid foam insulation between studs or rafters.
• I plan to cut the rigid foam pieces a little bit loose, and seal the edges of the polyiso with canned spray foam.
• Instead, you should keep the sheets of foam intact and install the foam as a continuous layer on the exterior side of your wall sheathing.

That way, the foam will interrupt thermal bridging through the studs.

Dorsett first used the phrase in a web forum post in April 2012. But this advice leaves me feeling somewhat guilty. My name is Martin, and I have cut and cobbled. Sometimes, cut-and-cobble makes sense. Get building science and energy efficiency advice, plus special offers, in your inbox. Terms of Service apply. I’ve seen this done and its rarely done well. The best was seeing a basement framed out in steel studs with lose board-stock XTPS roughly placed between steel members. Sadly, it was an engineer who prided himself on his DIY job.

Thanks for the chuckle!

Cut-and-cobble do makes sense in many remodeling applications. Historical Districts do not allow for any cladding removal to install rigid foam on the outside of the wall. FG insulated and poly’d. But more and more i am reading of success stories of using XPS over studs, and then drywall right over the top. Just would need extended boxes for elec. Thoughts on beefing up this code minimum wall without the wife causing a ruckus? You forgot to tell us where you live. Unless you live very far north, the polyethylene is a mistake. That means that your polyethylene is also a fire hazard. The first step will probably be to remove the polyethylene. If you want your walls to perform well, the next step will be to remove the fiberglass batts and put them in a dumpster. That will give you access to the back of the stud bays so that you can perform air sealing work. Once that’s done, there are a great many ways you can proceed to insulate your walls. If you aren’t willing to remove and dispose of the fiberglass batts, you’ll have to accept all of the performance problems that come with the batts.

It is possible to install interior rigid foam if you want.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it doesn’t address the “cold sheathing” problem. If you have well-ventilated siding (vinyl siding or wood lap siding installed over a rainscreen gap), the approach is less risky than if you have poorly ventilated siding (for example, stucco). I am considering this option for between my floor joists. Fiberglass would be pretty much useless considering air flow, and spray foam is very expensive and might require a thermal shield; and going over the joists is impossible because of all the wires and pipes.

Of course most foam would also require a thermal shield, but if I can get my hands on this Thermax stuff of a descent price (1) then I might be cutting and cobbling.

Regarding the devilish details: it would be nice to spray some foam into the bay and then squish the 2′ thick pieces into it and tack them in place ensuring an air seal and contact with the underside of the floor. I have not found any spray foam kits with adhesive qualities for the application however. I’ll hit the corners with foam first then push them into place. That part that I am dreading the most is spray foaming the edges. I have used a couple of the “professional” hand-held guns and they never want to spray when angled up, and it will never flow through the bendable tube either. I dread having to buy a zillion cans of great stuff.

Does anyone have product recommendations for this?

Most hardware stores sell clear vinyl tubing in a variety of diameters. Buy some tubing that will slip over the plastic dispenser tube that comes with the canned spray foam cans you intend to use. Then you can keep your cans upside down (so they dispense well) and still deliver the caulk (through the vinyl tubing) to the location you want.

The tubing is fairly cheap, so you can dispose of the length you are using if it gets clogged.

MA (Zone 5A), and built a sloped unvented roof assembly using multiple layers of recycled EPS in the rafter bays (with expanding foam sealant at the perimeter), with a layer of foil-faced polyisocyanurate detailed as an air barrier under the rafters. Unfortunately, during their first winter, they started experiencing condensation dripping from the ridge. Ripping the assembly apart and redoing it with spray foam was not on the table. The half-measure that I suggested was to add a “vapor diffusion vent” (a strip of Cosella Dorken Delta-Foxx), replacing the self-adhered membrane (vapor impermable) at the ridge. I have installed a moisture content monitoring system to keep an eye on things. So far, it seems like there’s a rise in moisture content in the winter, but it mostly comes down in the summer. This is consistent with air leakage at the more complicated framing details. I’m going to be keeping an eye on moisture contents through this winter. But an experiment like that is not something to do to your friends! Thanks very much for sharing your story of a problematic cut-and-cobble cathedral ceiling. I have edited my bullet list of “disadvantages” to include your anecdote. I think that Martin has handled the air sealing side of the equation quite well. It is a single component urethane foam that you would apply to the back side of the rigid foam; it is intended for adhered commercial (flat) roofs (check out their installation videos). We have used it to adhere foam to masonry walls (also forming an air seal to the cavity between foam and substrate, if done correctly). You apply Insta-Stik to the rigid foam, press the rigid foam into place, hold it for about 30 seconds, and it “grips like cold death” (the product rep’s words, but my personal experience corroborates this observation).

Vapor barrier fire risk?

Never heard that being an issue – pretty much all walkout basements in MN are insulated and vapor barriered if unfinished and left bare. So as always, my goal with any energy savings be to make a safe system that has good bang for the buck. Most of the retrofits talked about on here are often all or nothing and higher in cost than I see doing on a regular basis unfortunately. I guess I’ll keep fighting the fight! Slowly adding insulation and some XPS as the budget allows.

I’ve been looking for an insulation solution that doesn’t involve plastics.

Horizontal purlins in the hip roof framing prevent a vented assembly, and the brand new roof prevents exterior rigid insulation. Is this the answer to the question that’s been keeping me up at night? Are you telling me I could insulate the cathedral ceilings with a layer of unfaced mineral wool board insulation between the rafters and in contact with the sheathing?

Mineral wool insulation is air-permeable, so it doesn’t prevent warm, humid indoor air from contacting the cold roof sheathing.

The insulation system you are suggesting would be a code violation, and it would also result in rotten roof sheathing. The term “cut-and-cobble” is applied to a method of installing rigid foam insulation. The term is not applied to mineral wool insulation. Note also that I am not recommending the cut-and-cobble approach for cathedral ceilings.

Anecdotal evidence suggest that this danger is real, especially for cut-and-cobble cathedral ceilings.

A GBA reader recently posted an account of a cut-and-cobble roof insulation job gone wrong. Because of air leaks through cut-and-cobble cracks, the reader’s flat roof is now raining condensation. For information on code-approved ways to insulate a cathedral ceiling, see How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling. Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I have a very similar situation and would love your input. We have an existing cathedral ceiling with a new asphalt shingle roof (installed, sadly, with no insulation, just before we purchased the house). This is a shed roof on post and beam construction; Zone 3 (northern california).

Our goal is to insulate this roof and build out a new wood plank ceiling on the underside of the joists.

Considering MemBrain in lieu of drywall under the planks due to door frame clearance issues. Venting the roof does not seem feasible for several compounding reasons (no eave overhang, Wildland Urban Interface, among others). The unvented flash and batt approach seems a better route, but we want to avoid spray foam for health and environmental reasons. Since the layer of rigid would be nearly continuous across the ceiling, would you say this sufficiently addresses the cut and cobble concerns? One factor in your favor is your mild Zone 3 climate, which reduces the chance of moisture accumulation in the cathedral ceiling. That said, I can’t recommend an approach that has led to failures.

But it’s your house, so feel free to roll the dice if you want.

Install closed-cell spray foam on the underside of your existing sheathing boards. I decided to use cut and cobble in a couple of small wall sections behind two minisplit units that I hung prior to completing the walls. I wanted the structure warm while I work and sleep on site. The conduit to the units does not run neatly, so I decided to create a base of foam behind the pipes and will fill around the pipes with loose fill or spray. Certainly not my preferred method of insulation but in very small doses tolerable. I looked into hat foam adhesive and Dow says that it’s not reccomended for Thermax panels. I guess if you have used it for that application and it worked then it might ok anyways? I didn’t realize Dow didn’t consider them compatible. In our work, we used Insta-Stik with XPS.

I bought my first house, gutted it, lined the walls and ceilings with inch thick Styrofoam covered with water vapor proof plastic sheet; finished with drywall and had a warm dry home.

To help things along I laid fibreglass between the joists and much later over the joists. The key thing, is facing the warm wet air inside the home with a warm surface. Water vapor always heads for the nearest cold surface to condense. Water vapor proof plastic sheet backed by Styrofoam provides a continuous warm surface, any cracks behind it in the insulation are insignificant. Since then, I have moved on, these days I add up to six inches of polystyrene sheet between the joists, sealed with canned foam; and two or three inches of polyurethane sheet on the room side. Continuous Rigid Insulation on Inside? I’m currently building a log home on Vancouver Island (north of Seattle, moist but fairly mild and moderate climate), where we plan to insulate the walls from the inside.

This assembly avoids thermal bridges and should be fairly easy to install.

But the rigid insulation is on the inside, in contrast to all above suggestions (due to maintaining the outside look of the logs). The question I have about this: Do I run any danger of getting warm moist air causing condensation problems? I will use lag screws to attach the vertical strapping through the insulation to the outside log walls.

And how well does the insulation need to be sealed in the corners and at seams?

As long as you pay attention to airtightness when assembling your wall, it should perform well. Of course, you still need a plan for insulating your rim joists. I have a lot of experience with this method of insulation. But if you’re looking for an air-tight envelope on a rock-bottom budget, it’s a viable option. This describes my project and my experience insulating with salvaged polyiso. I used a modified siding nailer to temporarily hold the insulation in the bays while I spray foamed the perimeter. How did you modify your siding nailer? I couldn’t find that detail in your linked writing. I live in the midwest and we just had some severe weather (maybe you heard).

Good news for me is no one was hurt.

Bad news for me is that about $10k worth of ICF blocks got damaged to the point where I can’t use them for my foundation walls anymore. So rather than throw them away, I was thinking about this “cut and cobble” concept. So this blog is very serendipitous! My idea would be to cut pieces of it to fit between the trusses against the ceiling. With extra emphasis up against the heel. Am I missing something here?

You can’t depend on cellulose to significantly limit air movement unless it is fairly deep (maybe 10 or more inches above the rigid foam scraps).

I’ll post a new question concerning this topic.

• Thanks for the great article!
• I’m considering this method in a cathedral ceiling.
• One of the disadvantages mentioned is that the expansion and contraction of wood framing may cause the seal to fail.
• Why is this any different than a “regular” closed-cell spray foam application?
• Does a full rafter bay of spray foam not run the same risk of separating from the framing?
• To be honest, we don’t yet have a full answer to your question.
• Suffice it to say that an increasing number of researchers are focusing on the problem of damp roof sheathing above roofs that have been insulated with spray foam.

As you might imagine, these problems are more likely if the roof was insulated with open-cell foam than if the roof was insulated with closed-cell foam.

Many cases have been reported where the cured spray foam has shrunk away from the rafters. These cases are concerning. The cases are rare, however. They are usually blamed on installer error.

In general, I think that you are much more likely to get an airtight and problem-free installation with closed-cell spray polyurethane foam than with the cut-and-cobble method.

In another discussion on this site, installing full sheets of rigid foam on the INTERIOR side of the rafters (not between them) was mentioned. That would seem to avoid all of the cut-n-cobble disadvantages listed above, as long as you can live with the drop in ceiling height. In my case, I’m looking to foam a large unfinished attic for (a) its air seal advantages and (b) to keep HVAC equipment within the envelope.

Am I missing something or do you agree that such an application is a great solution?

Don’t forget to install a layer of gypsum wallboard to meet fire safety requirements.

Researchers haven’t yet studied cut-and-cobble jobs, so we don’t have much data on this type of roof assembly. If I had to speculate, I would guess that a vented cathedral ceiling with cut-and-cobble insulation would probably be less risky and an unvented one. For more information on this issue, see All About Attic Venting.

R-40 wall target I had in mind.

Time and labor are not issues, as I plan to complete all of the work myself over about a 5-year period. I don’t recommend that you encapsulate your OSB or plywood wall sheathing by sealing both sides with vapor-impermeable rigid foam. It’s best if your wall sheathing can dry in at least one direction. I think that you should stick with cellulose between your studs. Your proposed wall assembly has an R-value of about R-30, which isn’t bad (as long as the house is located in Climate Zone 6 or somewhere warmer; in Zones 7 and 8, you’ll need a minimum of R-15 of rigid foam). If you really want R-40, the best way to get there is to increase the thickness of your exterior rigid foam; I suggest that you install 2 layers of 2-inch-thick foam, for a total of 4 inches of exterior rigid foam. It would seem to mitigate the threat of framing members shrinking or moving with humidity, at the expense of some air sealing. I’m thinking of using cut and cobble for a heated woodworking shop, so I could do proper air sealing from the outside as this would be new construction. My own wall build is planned as follows.

Please feel free to comment.

Then at least one more full panel across the bays.

I am glad to have a project to work on during the long winter months.

1. When a homeowner or builder wants to create a WRB in the stud bays of an older house that lacks sheathing.
2. Is this the best practice when insulating with no sheathing?

Also, if I need a vapor retarder (climate zone 4, yes) how do you install it on a balloon frame?

Past the floor, cut and tape around each floor joist? I was concerned about conditioned air from the crawl entering the wall cavity behind the drywall. Yes, I think that the cut-and-cobble approach is often a good method of insulating stud bays in a house with no wall sheathing. I don’t advise your approach, because you will have no air barrier on the exterior side of your insulation. Roxul is air-permeable, and (with your approach) the performance of the insulation will be degraded by wind-washing. Perhaps the easiest way to install a vapor retarder is to install vapor-retarder paint or primer on the drywall layer. The solution to this problem is air sealing, not installing a vapor barrier. The purpose of a vapor barrier is to address vapor diffusion.

If air is entering your stud bays from the crawl space, you probably need to seal the bottom of each stud bay with spray foam before you insulate your stud bays.

I suggest that you use a two-component spray polyurethane kit. Great point on the wind-washing. Do you recommend setting the foam back with furring strips?

I’m also a bit confused by your last response.

My stud bay goes past the subfloor and to the sill plate. Are you saying to spray foam in between the floor joists that enter the stud bay? Sorry for my need for clarification. Aim for an airtight installation of the rigid foam, but leave a little air gap between the rigid foam and the siding. It’s hard to know the best way to seal the air leaks in this location without looking at it, but clearly these areas need to be sealed. It may be possible for you to install block of rigid foam in each bay, and then to seal above the rigid foam with spray foam. No matter what materials you use, the goal is to prevent any crawl space air or exterior air from entering the bottom of the stud bays. Moreover, you also need to make sure that the rim joist is insulated on the interior with foam insulation. My question Martin is, by installing a layer (or multiple) of rigid foam under the rafters, doesn’t this prevent drying of the assembly to the interior? My understanding is one must always allow for drying of the assembly to the interior or exterior or both dependent on the design of the wall. Rigid foam (more so multiple layers) will likely impede drying to the interior (uncertain of the perm rating and effect of multiple layers on this variable). Would exterior drying be thwarted by tar paper and asphalt roofing shingles. Does the fact its not a heated space play significant role here? As long as the rafters and roof sheathing are dry when these assemblies are insulated, I don’t think that this type of roof assembly is particularly risky. But some builders, like you, prefer the roof assembly to be able to dry in at least one direction. I understand the logic, and you are free to design a roof assembly that dries to the interior if such an assembly seems less risky to you. I’m currently doing this cut and cobble method.

Will this be enough in zone 3, atlanta suburbs?

I looked at the zone map and R requirements, I think the minimum is R13. Although you didn’t mention what type of wall you are working on, I’m guessing (from information posted in a comment on a different page) that you are working on insulating the interior of a basement wall. According to the 2009 International Residential Code, the minimum R-value for basement walls in your climate is R-5 if the insulation is continuous (in other words, not interrupted by studs) or R-13 if the insulation is interrupted by studs. That forces you to try to meet the R-13 minimum requirement for insulation between studs. So R-4 continuous plus R-10 should satisfy your code inspector. Yes it’s me again. I’m just trying to post questions in the right forum.

We had to put behind studs.

A lot of work, but that part is done. We are nearly finished with a to-the-studs remodel of a 1950-era home on the Cape in Massachusetts. It was originally built with no insulation, so a complete upgrade was needed. Major work started in November, when temps were too low to safely spray foam. With many changes planned to window and door openings, we also needed an incremental solution for insulation that we could install wall by wall. Cut-and-cobble was the answer. This should prevent cracks as the assembly expands and contracts.

A couple of photos are attached.

With pole extensions, it is easy to reach high up on your walls without a ladder.

1. In short, the cut-and-cobble approach took more time, but matched the rest of our upgrades and project schedule.
2. R25 wall assemblies and a tight air seal.

I hope this is helpful.

When insulating an attic roof or cathedral ceiling in the cut-and-cobble manner, it has been recommended to add a cold air channel between the insulation and the sheathing.

1. This was mentioned a few times even in unvented attic situations.
2. Is there a benefit to leaving an gap when there is no ridge vent?
3. The soffits are as good as open, although there is no technical vent there.
4. Wood blocking was installed originally to slow airflow, but these could be pulled out with rigid foam installed.
5. We have no ridge vent, however.
6. If we installed blocking to the sheathing for the initial layer of rigid foam, wouldn’t there be sufficient airflow the soffit to allow some kind of drying?
7. Of course, even if this does work, it is only a backup, as the interior insulation will be air sealed.

I am asking if a hybrid method of putting an air vent channel in an unvented assembly has any merit, as a backup in case of failure of the insulation assembly to fully block air and condensation?

This cut-and-cobble method was recommended to me by both an insulation contractor and energy auditor. I am very interested in avoiding spray, but will do whatever is required to make our situation work. We have access to both 3″ and 1″ polyiso at an excellent price. Assuming you have a gable roof (and not a hipped roof that looks like a pyramid), it’s quite easy to install (retrofit) a ridge vent on a roof that doesn’t have one. I recommend that you do so if you are planning to build a vented roof assembly. If you don’t know how to do the work, any roofer should be able to do it for you.

I would happily have a vent installed otherwise.

As I wrote in my article, How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling, not all roofs are good candidates for the vented-roof option. If you have a hip roof rather than a gable roof, you need to go with an unvented roof assembly. You need a straight shot from the soffits to the ridge. I have resigned myself to the fact our roof will be unvented. I was curious about the function of leaving a gap between the insulation and sheathing on an unvented roof assembly, given that I am considering a risky method of cut-and-cobble. Even though there aren’t proper vents, would this method allow potential condensation to escape via the soffit? Or do you only recommend a gap in fully vented assemblies? It wasn’t clear in the article. Theoretically I will have everything sprayed over after the fact.

This was recommended to me by an insulation contractor.

R values would be low but the assembly would function properly. I should mention the building has fairly fresh roofing shingles. Only you can make this decision.

The right way to build a ventilated roof assembly is to provide a ridge vent at the top of every rafter bay.

You can’t do that, so you are breaking the rules. Some unvented cut-and-cobble cathedral ceiling assemblies have experienced failures, presumably due to air leaks. To some extent, you are entering uncharted territory. It’s up to you to assess the risk and act on that assessment.

I gave up trying to find the leak destroying an addition, long before we bought the house and since the drywall ceiling was about to fall on me I tore the entire addition down to start over.

My best friend is a guy who portrayed himself as a master builder. I believed him – 1st mistake. There is so much wrong with his carpentry and roofing that I’m now going around fixing what he got wrong, if at all possible. What we hadn’t gotten to yet was the interior. I get the electric lines run it will finally be time for the interior paneling. My friend had me cut and cobble the RMatte PLUS-3 in between all rafters and studs. What a nasty job! Last winter it went down to 13 degs here in East Texas so I scrambled to get full sheets of the R-Matte temporarily tacked over the studs on the interior. He finally said he’d do it my way and not say anything when it failed. Big surprise – I’m doing it myself, so there.

Now I come across this article and comments and I’m feeling very deflated!

Was my know-it-all friend right all along? This is a pretty big crow to try to eat! You’ve told us a story about your cut-and-cobble job. However, I don’t understand your question. Can you please re-state your question? I live in Zone 7 (Juneau, Alaska) and this method is intriguing. I was thinking of using this cut-and-cobble method as we remodel our home over the next few years and then flash fill the remainder of the wall cavity with closed-cell spray foam. However, your article raised two questions in my mind. It would seem to me that there would not be a disadvantage as long as I friction-fit the foam board and sealed all edges and the two-layers to eliminate air voids and penetration. Am I missing a consideration other than risk of error? All of Alaska is seismically active. Is the added strength of XPS such that it would be superior to EPS in a cavity installation to also add strength and durability to the entire structure? Or do you think I am overthinking this? Heck, what do you prefer in this method regardless, XPS or EPS? The disadvantages of this method are listed in my article. The main disadvantage for walls is that this method is very labor-intensive. The main disadvantage for unvented cathedral ceilings is the possibility that cracks will open up, leading to possible mold and rot.

I think that you are overthinking this question.

I don’t think that XPS has any seismic advantages. From an environmental perspective, EPS is preferable to XPS because it is manufactured with a more benign blowing agent. Like many others who have responded to your article, I read your cut and cobble description with a good deal of interest. We have a master BR addition that is currently framed and roofed but yet to be insulated.

My wife really wants a cathedral ceiling (we have rafters versus trusses so this would just require removing some of our ceiling joists and reinforcing those that remain).

At any rate I’ve been debating how to insulate the ceiling safely. It has a hip roof complicating venting. Personally, I’m just not comfortable with an unvented cut and cobble in a cathedral ceiling (which you also advise against). It seems like an awfully risky gamble considering there is no way to inspect for ongoing condensation and water damage. My hesitation is the amount of work and money required to retrofit the entire roof just to address the needs of one 500 sqft room. I also hate to dump the current system as I spent several painstaking weekends two years ago crawling around our attic air-sealing. I also added R-30 batts throughout (so the attic floor is fairly air tight and well insulated).

Not new but also not yet ready to be replaced.

In short, over-roofing with insulation seems like a drastic and expensive change to address a vaulted ceiling in one room. Here is my question. I’m wondering if there is any reason (other than aesthetics) I could not over-roof with insulation strictly over our new master – leaving the rest of the house with a traditional vented attic? However, I would sacrifice aesthetics for the piece of mind knowing that our rafters were not secretly rotting.

In short, if I’m going to bite the bullet and spend more than a cut and cobble job, it seems like over-roofing with insulation is the better approach.

The only real drawback I can see with a partial over-roof approach is the possibility of snickering neighbors laughing at my two-tiered roof line. However, they’ll get over my split level roof a lot quicker than I would get over $20K worth of water damage to our rafters. I could probably handle a lot of the soffit retrofitting myself (another benefit as my guess is roofers will price their bids at a premium given some of this will be a pain in the butt). Do you see any drawback to this partial over-roof idea? Just make sure that you have considered details to make sure that the thermal envelope (the air barrier plus insulation layer) is continuous. Hi, first, please forgive me for the wall of text, I just want to be sure I give as complete a picture as possible. Originally had zero insulation anywhere. I had cellulose blown in 8 years ago. I removed all the existing cellulose from the two walls (kitchen and bath) during demo. I was thinking of hiring a contractor to spray (closed cell) foam into the cavities. EPS in the bays behind the cement board? In the entire bathroom? Anything to be careful about? Anything else I am overlooking?

I stumbled on your site.

Thanks and happy new year! It’s too bad that you removed the cellulose; everything was probably just fine before you emptied the stud bays. But perhaps you had to do some electrical wiring? If you care about the environment, EPS is more environmentally friendly than XPS. So I would suggest that you install EPS instead of XPS. The size of the gap around the perimeter of each piece of rigid foam isn’t too important, as long as the gap is wide enough for you to insert the nozzle of your canned foam dispenser. Don’t worry about trapping moisture. Don’t worry about which way to orient each piece of rigid foam. Don’t overthink the choice of canned spray foam. Careful workmanship is the most important variable. I had kept that stuff. I couldn’t in the bathroom due to some structural issues caused by old (bad) work, but kitchen. I do care about the environment, but I also care about getting a material that works well long-run. My impression of EPS is that since it’s open cell, it is prone to developing mold. But now that I think about it, I’m guessing that’s only if you create vapor barriers around it, which will not be the case here.

I just want to be sure I’m not creating a headache for myself.

Just to be clear: are you saying I shouldn’t worry about trapping moisture because I should use EPS which won’t trap moisture? Just want to be clear why I should not worry about trapping moisture. I want to be sure that the materials I’ve already gotten (and that are stocked to the ceiling at my local HD) are going to work ok for my application in case I have to use them. Thanks very much, Martin! To have a moisture problem in a wall assembly, you need moisture.

There are two main directions from which moisture can enter a wall: from the exterior and the interior.

It’s also possible that a plumbing pipe in your exterior wall might leak, but you shouldn’t have any plumbing pipes in your exterior wall. The way to keep exterior moisture out of your wall is with good siding, good flashing, and a water-resistive barrier (WRB). The best wall assemblies also include a ventilated rainscreen gap between the back of the siding and the WRB. In any case, the rigid foam that you plan to install does not affect this drying mechanism. The main mechanism by which interior moisture enters a wall assembly is by piggybacking on exfiltrating air. Again, the foam layers shouldn’t cause moisture problems. I will use EPS with confidence and I’ll be very meticulous about the seams. Martin I gutted my 1955 main bath in a brick veneer ranch in windsor heights, iowa. Any issues with this? If your workmanship is good, there is no reason why your suggested approach won’t work.

Martin, this is exactly the discussion I was looking for, so thanks!

I’m weighing insulation options for between rafters in a walk in attic space. Plus, I’m guessing there’s cost benefit, as I’d outsource spray foam to pros but think I could handle the cobble job myself with the help of friends or low-hourly wage assistants. I’m familiar with the methods, already used on a rim joist last winter. We continue to consider insulating a cathedral ceiling. Foam over in a few years is one option. We are also considering working from the inside sooner, and there is lots of food for thought here. There are soffit and ridge vents, but we don’t know if there are baffles securing the venting channel.

The roof has a couple of dormers, but these are not really part of the cathedral roof and are more conventionally insulated.

We are conflicted as to how to best do this. We’d like to avoid the expense of cc foam. Is there are way or sense in reusing the batts in a new format? Here is a link to an article that lays out all of your options: How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling. Martin and other advisors. I have read your excellent article on cathedral ceilings, more than once and the accompanying links. As I mentioned, we are considering the foam over for an insulation retrofit, and I’ve gotten good info from this site, much of it from Dana. But we are leaning more toward an interior effort now. There are dormers that don’t need foam (not cathedral), and the details from the extra thickness, trim and otherwise would be daunting, including the poss of different levels on the roof. If we go unvented, it sounds like a couple of inches of cc foam on roof sheathing underside would be best.

Is it then okay to do rigid foam on the underside of the rafters?

I should avoid foil faced poly-iso in this stickup to allow for drying to interior, correct? Or is this not an appropriate stack up with vented? Do you have an opinion on whether we should do the vented or unvented? I know of your concerns with vents not working with complex roofs, but the part that is cathedral is on one end of the house and not impacted by dormers, which are in the center of the house. Thanks for any advice. If we go unvented, it sounds like a couple of inches of closed-cell foam on roof sheathing underside would be best. We could then return the 12-inch batts, filling up the rafter bays. The approach you describe is the flash-and-batt approach.

If you follow this approach, building codes require you to install a foam layer that meets the minimum R-value requirements spelled out in Table R806.

R-25 for this layer in your climate zone. My understanding is that 2 inches of rigid foam could be pushed against the roof sheathing and carefully sealed at the edges with tape, caulk, spray foam or all in combo. I don’t recommend the cut-and-cobble approach for unvented cathedral ceilings; this article explains why. There are reports of failures. In any case, 2 inches of rigid foam isn’t enough for the foam-and-batt approach. If we were to do vented (vents already there), could that stack up I mentioned above be essentially the same, starting 2 inches down with rigid foam, pushed against retainers nailed to the rafters? Is this not an appropriate stack up with vented? Thanks Martin for noting my misunderstanding. Keeps us from making that mistake, and I see where you mentioned that in your article (R being the same as what would be needed for an above deck foam over). Do you advise using EPS in the two places we would be using rigid foam, – at top as vent baffle, and under rafters for air sealing, as opposed to XPS? And to avoid poly-iso? EPS would be better than XPS, because EPS is more environmentally friendly. XPS is manufactured with blowing agents that have a high global warming potential.

And to avoid polyiso?

Does there need to be a gap between the rigid insul.

WRB in the stud bays of an older house that lacks sheathing.

Is there any advantage to sheathing the ceiling with rigid foam board below the ceiling joists infilled with batt insulation and overlaying with drywall as opposed a thicker layer of more inexpensive attic batt insulation (no rigid foam overlay)? Either way will work. Adding cellulose on top of the existing insulation is likely to be the cheapest solution, as long as you have enough room in your attic to get the R-value you are looking for. Temporarily remove the insulation above the beadboards, so that the back sides of the beadboards are exposed, and install spray polyurethane foam above the ceiling. My only reservation is that spray foam seems like it could be a serious health hazard. I were to use sprayfoam, would there be a way to reliably “seal” it into the rafter bays to reduce the chances of harmful fumes entering the living space? I was thinking of some sort of heavy duty plastic stapled immediately below the rafters (and above the tongue-in-groove ceiling finish), but perhaps this would need to be so much of an air barrier itself that it would be redundant. Second, I know the contemporary opinion seems to be that a spray foamed (closed cell) roof does not require roof ventilation, but I wonder how much evidence there is of unvented roofs holding up over the long term. Are there risks with using closed cell spray foam to insulate a roof and then venting it anyway? If you have access to recycled rigid foam insulation, why not use the same type of insulation on your roof? I’m not talking about the cut-and-cobble approach. If you prefer to install spray foam from the interior, you can, but this approach results in inferior performance, because you won’t be addressing thermal bridging through the rafters. I wouldn’t count on any air barrier material to keep out the odors from badly installed spray foam.

Jobs with stinky spray foam are very rare.

Moreover, these problems show up immediately or not at all. If there are no odors after 48 hours, there is no reason to believe that there ever will be odors in the future. No matter what type of foam insulation you choose to install, it’s always a good idea to have a vent channel above the insulation layer. Thanks for the suggestions. Even assuming I can get spray foam at cost, it is cheaper. I live in 3B zone, (Southern California) in a 100 year old house. The house is unvented and with no insulation. The main house gets hot and cold, but it isn’t too bad. The attic bedroom gets scorching however all the wood and framing is in excellent condition. A section of the unvented cathedral attic was finished into a 250sq ft bedroom that has kneewalls and ceiling done with celotex boards (put in roughly 60 years ago), however it was not insulated beyond that and gets incredibly hot. The roof does not leak, but will need updated sheathing and maybe some insulation on top of that in the future, however new roofing is out of my budget for a few years. The attic is being rewired due to safety issues and the old battered celotex boards were removed. I cut-and-cobble rigid between the rafters and insulate behind the kneewalls of just this room, will this help with the hot (much hotter than the downstairs) attic room issues I have, without new roofing, or insulating the entire space of the attic? The rafters only have a 4-inch depth, can I put rigid foam between and then a layer over the rafters, or should I add some depth to the rafters? Or should that work be redone.

If one was contemplating disregarding the problems that may arise from a cut and cobble installation in a cathedral ceiling, can you tell me what needs to be addressed in terms of fire rating?

What if anything, must be applied to the surface of the rigid foam on the interior before finishing with drywall or paneling?

• It sounds like you’re planning to ignore my advice, but I’ll repeat: Don’t use the cut-and-cobble method for a cathedral ceiling unless there is a ventilation channel between the uppermost piece of rigid foam and the roof sheathing.
• Paneling is a different matter entirely; you’d have to talk to you local building department to see if the paneling you are thinking of using would be approved as a thermal barrier.
• I have, without new roofing, or insulating the entire space of the attic (for now)?
• Note that you can’t cut-and-cobble between the rafters unless you first make sure that every rafter bay has soffit vents and a ridge vent.

The rafters only have a 4-inch depth.

Can I put rigid foam between and then a layer over the rafters, or should I add some depth to the rafters?

1. You can’t do that with an unvented assembly.
2. This approach (and several more) are described in my article, How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling.
3. Or should that work be redone?
4. If you insulate the cathedral ceiling using a vented approach, you’ll need to seal the vent openings once you put rigid foam above the sheathing.
5. It might make more sense (now) to insulate from the interior using an unvented approach.
6. That approach (as my article makes clear) requires the use of spray polyurethane foam.
7. You realize Joe posted that over a year ago, right?
8. Occasionally, questions go unanswered on GBA, especially when things get busy.
9. I don’t like it when that happens.
10. If you find a library book under the sofa that’s been there for 12 months, you should return it to the library.
11. Martin, a brief flirtation with the idea, but no, I will not be disregarding your advice.
12. Just bought a 1910 house in Seatlle with a walk out basement.
13. Basement needs insulation as it has none and is very drafty.
14. I removed the lath and plaster and found no sheathing between the studs and external clap board, only what appears to be tar paper in good condition.

Question is now what to insulate the stud bays.

Cut and cobble sounds plausible but Im unsure of where to put the vapor barrier, if at all? Fill the bays with rigid foam or go with a rigid foam and fiber glass hybrid? Do I need an air gap between the rigid foam and tar paper? Spray foam is not feasible due to budget and access. What’s on the exterior side of the tar-paper, and how much roof overhang to do you have? In zone 4C you don’t normally need a vapor barrier or vapor retarder other than standard interior latex paint on wallboard, as long as it’s reasonably air-tight. R15 rock wool or fiberglass batts for a total of R18. You could put thicker foam in there and compress R13s if you want more margin.

Overhang is 2 stories up so I dont believe it offers much protection for the area I’m insulating.

I’m doing all of this because basement is extremely drafty. Basement wall is wood above grade and cement above grade on 1 side of the house. Cement wall is thicker than the wood above.

Does this change any recommendations re: a vapor barrier.

Or should I skip the vapor barrier and paint the drywall? I thought compressing FG wasnt advised? Should I seal the interior of the concrete? Dana, are you with GBA or just a helpful commentor? Cut-and-Cobble Insulation for my assembly?

I bought 2 years ago.

I planned to do intensive interior remodeling that will require the ceiling tearing, I’d like to have a from-the-inside alternative. R20, but I don’t really like the idea of the whole chemical thing inside the house, even if I understand that the failure rate is very low (when choosing a certified contractor). The unvented sections in between each joists (red) would be filled with cellulose, leaving a 3-4 inches gap between the top of the lose-filled insulation and the plank deck (green). Then I read about the Cut-and-Cobble technique, which seem like a good alternative to the spray closed cell foam with less active chemical involved, and I could do it myself. I would install two staggered layers of 3 inch rigid foam in between each joist (red), right under the plank deck (green). Each rigid foam board seam would be taped, each sides would be sealed with canned foam. Am I on the right track here? Considering my actual situation, is this the best approach for a from-the-inside solution? The short answer to your question is that you have to follow the advice provided in this article: Insulating Low-Slope Residential Roofs. The longer answer would inform you that the type of ventilation shown in your sketch does not meet the requirements to ventilate a low-slope roof.

You need a “doghouse” vent in the middle of the roof, and lots of air intakes at the roof perimeter.

Finally, the cut-and-cobble technique has been associated with failures (moisture accumulation) unless there is robust ventilation above the insulation. I don’t recommend cut-and-cobble for this type of roof assembly. The poor ventilation of the top section of my roof, and the inexisting ventilation of the lower section, the one I have access from inside, had me believe I should consider the problem from an unvented perspective. You can install a more moderate thickness of closed-cell spray polyurethane foam on the underside of the roof sheathing, supplemented by a layer of air-permeable insulation below that. In my case though, the closed-cell spray polyurethane foam would have been replace by the cut-and-cobble (6 inches thick) directly on the underside of the wood deck (green), and the air-permeable insulation would have been the cellulose below that. I like the idea of improving the ventilation of the top section of the roof with dog house, but this section would still be outside of the thermal envellop, kinda roof over the roof.

One thing that confuse me is that most low-slope roof diagram I see only have one section, not two like mine.

Only one space between the drywall and the roof sheating. The unvented space I have (between blue ceiling and green deck) is almost always inexistent in the assembly I see. My advice is unchanged.

The use of the cut-and-cobble technique in unvented (or poorly vented) roof assemblies has been associated with moisture accumulation and rot.

Install rigid foam insulation above the roof sheathing.

I need to improve the top section ventilation (doghouses) AND create some kind of openings in the wood plank deck (green) to help ventilate the below section, or the whole assembly will dry just as well?

• Do I need to create some openings between top and bottom section to help the air flow of the bottom section?
• There is never any reason to create holes in the green layer in your assembly.
• If you want to create a vented assembly, you need (a) a vented doghouse, and (b) adequate openings near the perimeter of your “attic” to allow exterior air to enter the attic.

I assume those perimeter openings would be at the top section level, not at the below section level where the insulation would be installed from inside, correct?

So in your expertise, the wood plank deck (green) separation would not prevent the below section with insulation to dry properly if the top section is properly vented, am I understand this correctly? So in your expertise, the wood plank deck (green) separation would not prevent the below section with insulation to dry properly if the top section is properly vented. Am I understand this correctly?

You never want to encourage water vapor to flow from your warm, humid interior to your cold, dry attic.

The point of the insulation layer and air barrier is to create a barrier that separates the warm, humid interior from the cold dry exterior. This barrier should be airtight and should have a high R-value. The purpose of the ventilation in your attic is to keep your attic dry, not to remove moisture from your house. For more information on these concepts, see All About Attic Venting.

Would the peanut-brittle insulation method you mentioned could be used instead?

Or does it absolutely have to be closed-cell spray foam for the whole thickness corresponding to the required R value (for me, R-20)? Possibly using a class one vapor barrier? I don’t recommend the cut-and-cobble approach or the peanut-brittle approach for unvented roof assemblies. This approach is risky.

All this is correct?

This code requirement can be met with vapor-retarder paint. That said, you can install polyethylene on the interior if you want. What is far more important is that you install an air barrier at the ceiling. This requirement is usually met by installing taped drywall. It’s also essential to address air leakage through electrical boxes, electrical cable penetrations, plumbing vent penetrations, and access hatches. You are correct that you never want to install a vapor barrier on the top side of your attic insulation. The way I understand it, peanut-brittle method is replacing some of the volume of spray foam with rigid panel to save on cost, and seal the whole thing with an inch of closed-cell spay foam at the end.

Is it risky because of the shrinking and movement of the peanut-brittle layer underneath?

Honestly, we are very uncomfortable with the idea of chemical sprayed inside the house. We understand the vast majority of spraying done by competent contractor are going well, but there is an element of uncertainty that we would like to avoid. Reading on the subject, it might prove to be difficult to achieve a good ventilation across our roof because of the poor access to the sides of the building. There is no soffit communicating, and the external walls are all brick. Most will just say to install 2 – 4 Maximum and be done with it, regardless of the missing intake. All sides of building are brick wall in good shape. We could access the below-deck from inside, but the upper-deck would require the complete removal of the roof sheating from outside or cutting through the deck from inside. Thxs for your time.

I can provide advice, but you have to make your own decision.

Is the peanut-brittle method risky because of the shrinking and movement of the peanut-brittle layer underneath? I don’t have a number. I have heard reports from people I trust of cut-and-cobble failures when the method is used for unvented roof assemblies.See AlsoLegion - PDF Free DownloadFight On! - Issue #010 - PDFCOFFEE.COMWhite Dwarf November 2017 - VSIP.INFOThe impact of traffic accidents on traffic capacity in weaving area of highway under the intelligent connected vehicle environment

I’m conservative when it comes to unvented roof assemblies, because there are lots of failures.

Since I’m giving advice over the Internet, I take my responsibility seriously. I don’t want to provide risky advice. The safest way to proceed (if you want to insulate an unvented roof assembly from the interior) is with closed-cell spray foam. I have also listed other options. Thanks for this article. XPS coated with plastic film, which is then covered by ugly vinyl siding.

My plan is to eventually remove the vinyl and foam and refinish the original wood siding.

G cladding as described in the “insulating walls with no sheathing” article. I could put in more foam. Would it create problems to put foam board inside the walls before I rip off the vinyl siding and foam board (which presumably creates a vapor barrier)? I would like to finish at least some of the inside before I tackle the outside so that I can live there during the renovation. But it will create a temporary (perhaps up to a year) vapor barrier sandwich with wood in the middle. Is that a terrible risk? The house is a cape cod style with two dormer windows. Loose-fill cellulose has been blown into the what is essentially a cathedral ceiling.

The roof is brand new.

But it might also create undesirable air gaps around that first layer.

This type of sheathing was used for at least a hundred years before the invention of plywood, and many builders still install board sheathing. Needless to say, if you see any signs of moisture entry during your renovation work, that would be a red flag that should cause you to reconsider your approach. The house is a Cape Cod style with two dormer windows.

You’re on the right track.

When installing foam board in the walls, is there any advantage to using construction tape like 3M All-Weather tape either instead of or in addition to spray foam? It’s hard to get a tight fit with rigid foam, so the usual method is to adopt a loose fit and to seal the perimeter with canned spray foam. That said, a high-quality tape makes sense for any seams that appear tight (in other words, seams without obvious voids).

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Are you saying that I can fill the whole wall cavity with foam, skipping the air gap? G sheathing, but I suppose there is no air gap with siding over housewrap in modern construction. A house should never have a vapor barrier on the exterior side of the sheathing. You are probably thinking of housewrap or ashalt felt. Neither of these is a vapor barrier. Older homes often had asphalt felt or rosin paper between the sheathing and the siding. In some cases, there was no such layer, and the siding was nailed directly to the sheathing. Unless you note signs of water entry, don’t worry. There’s not much you can do about the problem until it’s time to replace your siding. When you replace the siding, it certainly makes sense to install a water-resistive barrier (WRB) like housewrap or asphalt felt. I hope you still check this post! I have read the relevant articles and all of the posts on this article. I know you advise that if you cannot put rigid foam on the outside your only option is cc spray foam. I am building a tiny house on wheels. My original plan was to have someone spray cc spray foam. Unfortunately we only have one contractor that does this in my area. Everything I’ve read about spray foam emphasizes the absolute importance of proper application which, as far as I’ve read means thin layers, one at a time.

Otherwise it may not dry properly and possibly offgas for years.

In the article about how to insulate cathedral roof assemblies, a couple of times, in parentheses, it says. Again, I understand that you don’t recommend it, but this is what I am thinking. Someone in the earlier post mentioned using an adhesive on the side of the rigid foam against the interior side of the roof shearing.

I was thinking this sounds good as it would make a solid roof assembly where no moisture could get behind the foam because of the adhesive.

Thanks so much for your time!

If you want to avoid spray foam, the best approach is to install rigid foam above the roof sheathing, not below the roof sheathing. If you ignore my advice and install cut-and-cobble rigid foam under the roof sheathing, you are choosing a risky approach. It’s possible that you will get moisture accumulation or sheathing rot. PS i live on the northcoast of California in Eureka. We are in the 4c marine climate zone. I gueas if 3″ of rigid is too much rigid, I was thinking 2″ of rigid foam for the r20, adhered and taped for excellent air tightness etc. Drywall too brittle for moving houses.

And there we Are!

Just saw that you wrote more, sorry.

But I would still like to know what you think of the adhesive idea. Also: i already Installed the expensive metal roof and cannot afford to take it apart and redo it so as to be able to put rigid foam above the roof sheathing. Martin, your article says. In spite of these disadvantages, cut-and-cobble sometimes makes sense. I can point to 2 issues on your list that lead me to this method. So my question stands. Cut-and-cobble sometimes makes sense for walls or vented roof assemblies. As my article makes clear, it doesn’t make sense for unvented roof assemblies. I’ve answered your question a couple of times. My answer isn’t really a yes-or-no answer. Here at GBA, we regularly receive reports of cathedral ceilings with damp roof sheathing.

These reports have made me conservative in my recommendations.

Adhesive and caulk are similar (and in many cases identical). Either method of air sealing (adhesive or caulk) is better than nothing, but your suggested approach can still fail. I already Installed the expensive metal roof and cannot afford to take it apart and redo it so as to be able to put rigid foam above the roof sheathing.

It’s really important to finalize your insulation plan before you begin building.

In your case, it’s too late to take that advice. But other GBA readers might benefit from that advice. Here is a link to a relevant article: Plan Ahead For Insulation. Here’s the fancy European tape. Thank yo for answering so quickly Martin! I am wrong to feel hopeful regarding this part of your article about code? In the 2012 version of the IRC, the language was corrected to include cathedral ceilings. Regarding your comment about how I should have planned better. As I said in my initial contact I Had planned for spray foam, but I began to hear horror stories and have come around to wanting something else.

I am finally building my own home!

I’m restoring a small 150-year-old stone house with a hip roof in France. It has a slate roof and no sheathing. G pine for a ceiling. I’m thinking the rafters are not tall enough for batt insulation. First of all, I envy you. I imagine it’s a beautiful building. Second, it’s important for you (a) to comply with all local regulations, of which I am ignorant, and (b) to get local advice. You don’t want to mess up a historic building. From a moisture perspective, a slate roof is forgiving. It dries readily to the exterior after it gets wet. That said, it benefits from having an air space between the underside of the slates and the air barrier or insulation barrier beneath the slates.

Every insulated roof assembly needs an air barrier.

You need to plan for an airtight ceiling. Remember that tongue-and-groove boards leak like a sieve. They are not an air barrier.

When rafters are too shallow to provide enough room for insulation, it’s common to add extra framing members to increase the available depth.

Some of these techniques are mentioned in my article, How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling.

• I don’t recommend the cut-and-cobble method.
• Below is a cheat sheet with French technical vocabulary.
• Thanks for your reply and the French terms, Martin.

Any insulation would improve this space.

The very low ceiling in this attic (which I hope to use as a sleeping space) precludes lowering the rafters much.

Show us more pictures. The photo you should looks like a tile floor, and roofing that comes almost down to floor level. Is this the attic? It looks almost like ancient barn construction. I’d lover to see more. That makes a big difference. This would be relatively labor intensive with rough sawn (or hewn) rafters, but certainly a big improvement over nothing at all. The rafters don’t appear to be hewn, although they may be rough-sawn (see enlarged photo below). I’m guessing that the roof framing and slates are newer than the stone house. The rafters, skip sheathing, and slates look in excellent shape. Sorry if this comes across as a duplicate. The roof has a good deal of life left in it, so I’m hesitant to rip it off but need to bring the attic space into the thermal envelope. Does this approach seem reasonable with skip sheathing? Most everything I can find for insulating under the rafters assumes plywood or osb sheathing. Along with this I was thinking of adding rockwool batts between the ceiling joists as well, but wasn’t planning on air-sealing the ceiling since the attic would now be in the thermal envelope.

San Jose (a mild climate), your plan to use the cut-and-cobble approach is probably safe.

Our house is in a small village in the Morvan in central France. I had the roof replaced about 15 years ago. The original was slate with under-size split tree limb rafters which were sagging under the weight.

Before that, the roofs in this area were thatch.

The contractor replicated the original look. Attached is a photo taken last year when we had the chimney restored. The second floor has enough height for me to walk along its center, and tapers down to about 16 inches at the eaves. When I bought the house (in 1991), access to the attic was by a crude exterior ladder.

I added a small interior stairway.

Then just alot of fluffy.

No, there is no minimum thickness for a rigid foam baffle (other than the obvious need for the baffle to be strong enough to resist any pressure that occurs when the fluffy insulation is installed).

That requirement applies to walls but not vented cathedral ceiling assemblies. I’m planning a home remodel where I’ll be redoing plumbing, electrical, and adding HVAC. As part of these we’ll be backing out the lathe and plaster on the interior.

We currently don’t have any insulation in our walls and want to remedy this at this time.

Per the instructions on this page. Our current plan, from outside to inside is to leave the stucco as-is. These will be sealed in placed with liquid nails to the spacer and stud bay (if we cut it close enough) or using canned spray foam. On top of this we’ll then install dry wall.

Does this plan sound correct?

Also, I’m unsure if we’ll need a vapor retarder under the drywall with this method? You are on the right track. It sounds from your description that your house has no wall sheathing.

Note: See attached document below.

Thanks for the quick reply! Sorry, my name is Chris, I’ll work on getting that added to the site. Also, I’ll look into that Bonfiglioli strips, that is a great idea. I’ve opened wall before there is evidence of the kraft paper becoming wet (presumably from the outside). From reading this article and a few others you’ve linked to I think leaving the air gap is the best choice. I plan on removing the old kraft paper as it’s damp in some locations and the rigid foam should replace it’s function. Does this seem like a good plan of action given that I don’t intend on removing the exterior stucco? If the kraft paper is getting wet, you have evidence of a flashing problem. Thanks again for the reply and info. We will certainly deal with any flashing issues we discover.

I have a stucco guy coming out soon to inspect the house.

Final exterior wall insulation proposal?

I believe this to be a much better solution then cellulose or just using batts. I’m fairly confident in the window installers. They’re a larger franchise that’s been around for awhile and are using one of the big 3’s windows and have great reviews and warranty. Your comment gives me some concern though. Assuming they don’t follow proper procedures and we continue to have some water intrusion will this installation project exacerbate the issue? My general understanding from reading your comments and GBA articles is that if there are exterior water intrusion issues that those will be issues independent of which retrofitting installation process we go with. I realize there are pros and cons to the different methods but want to make sure that structure integrity is not one of the cons I’ll be dealing with or that we are at least following one of the better methods. In my mind rigid foam with an air gap should be able to better handle these issues then if we want with spray foam directly against the sheathing or with batts or cellulose. I’m certainly not the expert on this though. Increasing airtightness and adding insulation to walls that are currently uninsulated slows the rate of drying and increases the risk of sheathing rot. That’s why you need to pay close attention to flashing issues. Ideally, with stucco, you would have a ventilated rainscreen gap between the stucco and the water-resistive barrier or sheathing layer. Just purchased a 100 year old home in South East Wisconsin and looking to finish the attic into a living space. However, he didn’t do any venting. Previous owner had seemingly “begun” to finish the attic by adding fiberglass insulation and covering with a clear plastic sheet. We want to finish all the way to the ridge, however, which would eliminate the effectiveness (if any) of the box vents. Just having an air barrier between the sheathing and foam wouldn’t cut it, from what I understand. So basically we need to vent with a ridge vent and continuous soffit vent if we cut and cobble, is what you’re saying? Is there any way to avoid venting? I’m curious about why conventional spray foam for unvented attics would be okay and not the cut and cobble approach. I saw your response to a similar comment a while back but wondering if anything has changed. This was our plan. One other thing I was wondering, if we did the above method. Given that the XPS foam would serve as the vapor barrier as well as insulation, wouldn’t thermal bridging through the rafters create an opportunity for condensation between the foam and drywall? Sorry for such a lengthy post. I really value this website and the comments here, so thank you all very much! We want to finish all the way to the ridge, however. You need to consult with an engineer to determine whether these collar ties are structurally necessary. Removing the ties may be a mistake. If we were to simply install XPS closed cell foam board between the rafters leaving a 1-2 inch gap between the roof sheathing, without proper lower and upper vents installed, this would basically be pointless, right? It wouldn’t be pointless, but it would not create a vent channel.

To create a vent channel, you need soffit vents and a ridge vent.

I’m assuming it’s not because of the concerns you’ve already stated.

If we WERE to install another vapor barrier, wouldn’t we run the risk of potentially trapping in moisture (if the first layer of foam was done well)?

• Also, regarding my thermal bridging question; in winter, wouldn’t diffusion of warm, moist air occur through the drywall and fiberglass, eventually reaching the cold rafters within the wall and forming condensation?
• Thanks again for your help.
• There are no code requirements for interior vapor barriers.
• In colder areas of the country, including Wisconsin, there are some types of wall assemblies that require a vapor retarder.
• Note that a vapor retarder is a less stringent layer than a vapor barrier.

Do I Need a Vapor Retarder?

There are no code requirements for an interior vapor retarder for an insulated roof assembly that include a vent channel between the top of the insulation and the underside of the roof sheathing.

1. Your drywall ceiling should be installed in an airtight manner.
2. Attention to airtightness is always essential.
3. Leaving deliberate cracks to encourage air leakage would be nuts.
4. There is no need for either air or water vapor to “escape” from your house.
5. Day, itching to go to Florida.
6. The moisture can stay right where it is, all winter long.

In winter, wouldn’t diffusion of warm, moist air occur through the drywall and fiberglass, eventually reaching the cold rafters within the wall and forming condensation?

Outward vapor diffusion through drywall does occur, although it is slowed down by paint. If you’re worried, use vapor-retarder paint. In general, this diffusion doesn’t cause problems, especially in vented roof assemblies, because the vent channel aids drying and the amount of vapor transmission is small. Air leaks cause far more problems than vapor diffusion. Note that condensation on the rafters almost never happens. Rafters are hygroscopic, which means they absorb moisture. Thank you so much, Martin.

I’ve reconsidered our options and am now considering this approach and hoping you can lend some insight.

The repurposed polyiso foam we’re looking at doesn’t have foil backing on either side – I believe it’s paper.

• We plan to install 2-3 skylights in the attic.
• Of course, we won’t be able to fully vent those rafters.
• What can we do in this case?

Same goes for the rafter that the existing brick chimney goes through and the sections of roof that make up the dormer.

But what are our options for, let’s say, the ridge, where we’d like to have light fixtures hang?

We plan to finish off the walls so they meet 1′ below the ridge, forming a level surface for light fixtures to be installed (and I imagine we’ll need to get creative with how to insulate the space above that). What tape should we use for the last layer of foam below the rafters? Is tape the best option? Keep in mind this will probably be the same foam with paper backing. Thanks so much in advance for any and all advice. The repurposed polyiso foam we’re looking at doesn’t have foil backing on either side.

There is no reason why this should worry you.

There is no good solution to this problem.

• Your options are: (1) Don’t provide venting in the unventable rafter bays and cross your fingers, or (2) Use the unvented approach (closed-cell spray foam) for the unventable rafter bays.
• We plan to build some short knee walls.
• Talk to an electrician.
• You shouldn’t encounter any problems.
• Electricians do this type of work all the time.
• Siga Wigluv is one option, but there are others.

I think we’ll go with this approach.

My concern is that whether we do this or not, the ridge vent will still be there.

So do we try to cover the ridge vent in this area with foam and treat the rafters as unvented? Do we try to avoid cutting the ridge vent it in this area at all? Or, do we let these rafters vent out the ridge and hope that any amount of space between the sheathing and foam is better than none? One more question, regarding the box vents that were already in place, can we leave those there or should we try to cover up the interior portion? A roof with valleys can’t be vented. The only safe approach in your case is an unvented approach. Yes, we have a single dormer which creates 2 valleys. All in all, I count around 20 rafter spaces involved in this part of the roof that don’t lead to a soffit vent – all of them, however, lead to the main ridge and the dormer ridge. I mentioned before, the plan would be to eventually install a continuous soffit vent for all of these rafters. I considered this and asked you in the first place. If so, then I suppose we’ll reconsider our options. Otherwise, if there is a chance to approach this as a “partially-mostly-vented roof” then I am still curious about the questions I posted above. Hi Martin, thanks for all the advice! R30 fiberglass, drywall air sealed.

Site built baffles are heavily recommended, but “cut and cobbling” is not.

What is the performance difference between these assembles? R6 (min R15 in zone 4A), whereas the second assembly has enough impermeable R value to prevent condensation. So what’s wrong with that? However, if the air space is connected to a soffit vent and a ridge vent, you have a vented assembly.

A vented assembly is less risky than an unvented assembly because the air flowing through the ventilation channel carries away accumulating moisture and keeps the sheathing dry.

A cut-and-cobble approach is risky with an unvented roof assembly. However, a cut-and-cobble approach is perfectly acceptable with a vented roof assembly. Thanks Martin for this very informative article.

We are looking to unvent our attic space (for ductwork, storage, etc), but have a metal tile roof with plenty of life on it, so we didn’t want to tear it off unnecessarily.

This drives us to the approaches laid out here. In terms of venting, there are a eave vents spaced every 4ft or so apart, and a couple of vents under two hip roofs that are well below the ridge. Also, there is no ridge vent in the current assembly.

That said, the skip sheathing and metal roof seems to be a pretty airy assembly already (there is a lot of air gap under the tiles).

Leaving an air-gap would drop that to roughly r38, but it would also mean having to install more vents along the perimeter of the attic, which is ultimately something I’d really like to avoid if possible. Does it make sense to install the rigid foam directly to the skip-sheathing between the rafters or should there be an air-gap? If an air gap is required, do I need to add more vents or is the fact that there is an air gap alone sufficient and vents aren’t required? I chose polyiso because it seems to have the highest r-value without going to spray foam (which I’d like to avoid), but this article brings up the point that EPS or XPS might make more sense for its vapor permeability. XPS make more sense?

I attached a photo of the under-roof assembly.

Separate roof over single-story section lower-pitch, hipped, poorly vented, and that attic has some plumbing and wiring, but no heat.

Roof will be replaced sometime in the next 5 years. I was considering the cut-and-cobble method for insulating rafter bays in the two-story attic, but from your article and comments, it seems that’s a lot of labor, and a big risk. To insulate these spaces, does it make sense to plan on unventilated roofs? Maybe blow as much cellulose as possible into the single-story unconditioned attic (which isn’t used for storage or ductwork). For the two-story conditioned attic, maybe have rafter bays filled with closed-cell spray foam trimmed flush with rafters, and then multiple layers of EPS across the rafters on the interior for a thermal break.

Would this approach allow me to add additional rigid foam on the exterior of the deck when re-roofing?

Unless, of course, you want to move your plumbing and ductwork to new locations inside your home’s thermal envelope.

You can’t create vented roof assemblies, because your roof has two big valleys. So you need to create insulated unvented roof assemblies. If you use mineral wool batts, you need to come up with a way to ensure that the batts stay in direct contact with the cured spray foam. Thanks so much for the prompt response and links. PEX supply lines, running in the joist bays for a distance of less than 10′. Needless to say, snow doesn’t stay on my roofs very long, and we get some very impressive icicles. I’ve read the articles you linked, which are very helpful. That seems to leave Option 2 from the How to install rigid foam. Finally, do I have it right that there’s no way to insulate the ceiling plane of the single-story attic with blown-in insulation, because venting is required and being a hipped roof, it can’t be adequately vented? With 4 inches of polyiso on top of the roof deck, could I insulate the rafter bays by attaching drywall to the furred-out rafters and then have dense pack cellulose blown into the bays?

Do I have it right that there’s no way to insulate the ceiling plane of the single-story attic with blown-in insulation, because venting is required and being a hipped roof, it can’t be adequately vented?

Note, however, that ceilings in old houses are rarely airtight. My tentative plan has been to put 2-2. This won’t get us to code but would be better than what we have now. Don’t bother to include ventilation. Seal all gaps with canned spray foam.

Then install a continuous layer of 2-inch polyiso under the rafters to stop thermal bridging.

I just finished insulating my vented cathedral ceiling in southern Wisconsin.

Below the roof sheathing I have site-built OSB vents, all seams caulked. I’m about to start drywalling the ceiling, but a question first. I put that layer in there pretty tight in most places, so caulking would be hard. In your experience what type of spray foam works best for sealing the perimeter of the rigid foam boards in the stud bays? The Window and Door or the Gaps and Cracks type? I was seeing a wishful ambiguity in that, and you intended to say that a ventilation channel of one type or the other is something you consider vital. I’ve got much confidence. My plan was to add standing-seam aluminum roofing once I’m finished with the re-sheathing entirely, since it’s costwise silly to do the metal roofing in stages.

I’ve already found a lot of moisture in the OSB, almost certainly mostly residual from heavy rains during my slow one-man construction process.

But even months later, it hasn’t fully dried, and this has me back to wondering how to provide for drying to the roof side, even if slow, both for this immediate purpose and for any unexpected moisture incursions in the future.

1. Moisture accumulation in OSB could also be from convective-transfer, exacerbated from long duration of work, before the air-barrier was added below.
2. I have good confidence in the impermeability of my painstakingly-detailed sealing of the ceiling and eave-ends with the aforementioned elastomerics.
3. Covid-19 lockdown made me even MORE inclined to sweat the details.
4. If major rework to correct this is required, and assuming I have options as to how to do this, I’d by far prefer to tear off my modbit underlayment.
5. It’s permeability is not specified on the Owens website, but I take it this stuff is extremely low-perm, since it’s mod bit.
6. I could, if needed, torch it off and replace with something – anything – that would provide the needed moisture release.

I’m not even married to the standing-seam roof, if that matters, though their longevity here is unsurpassed.

Might even a simple old-school underlayment (asphalt-paper, even) suffice?

• Can you please clarify, regarding cut-and-cobble steps you listed?
• I was seeing a wishful ambiguity in that.
• The discussion about whether the air gap was optional or not was in reference to walls, not cathedral ceilings.
• I do not recommend the cut-and-cobble approach for unvented cathedral ceilings.
• If you are installing a continuous layer of rigid foam on the exterior side of your roof sheathing (rather than cutting the insulation into narrow strips and inserting it between the rafters), then the assembly is safe.
• I’ve already found a lot of moisture in the OSB.
• I’m not going to provide advice, because it’s impossible to do that without a site visit.
• Suffice it to say that it is essential that you figure out the source of the moisture, because damp OSB is bad news.
• The stack-up is indeed cut-and-cobble, with my iso-board layers fitted tightly between rafters, squeezed directly against the CDX roof sheathing.
• My “top-to-bottom” list of layers shows the details.
• I’d hoped to install.
• I’m not familiar enough with the Hawaiian climate to advise you.
• If you have an impermeable vapor barrier on the interior of your assembly, the damp OSB sheathing will never dry out unless there is a drying path to the exterior.
• Thanks Martin, that’s getting me somewhere.
• I wanted to ask why.

Is it that standing-seam, what with the large direct-to-underlayment contact area, wouldn’t be so great at allowing evaporative transfer?

You’ve mentioned Vapro in some posts, IIRC. And their illustration appears to feature standing-seam being applied directly to the stuff, so maybe that’s my solution? I create a complete air-seal at the bottom, to begin with – and I could thus dispense with all the fussing with elastomerics.

I can’t imagine a batten system that would result in a walkable standing-seam roof, unless it was crazily heavy-gauge – and I’d still have to replace my existing Owens underlayment.

Whatever the materials are, they have got to be light, considering the rest of the structure. I don’t think standing-seam metal roofing allows drying to the exterior. At least here in Hawaii, metal roofs are not expected to be vapor-sealed, so while there is an unintended pathway provided, it’s not predictable nor quantifiable.

Mfr’s rep from the standing-seam company just confirmed with me that they don’t “require” an zero-perm underlayment, and that there are in fact new products out that (like Vapro, apparently) offer one-way breathability while being drip-tight.

You have confused airtightness with vapor impermeance.

Here at GBA, we advise readers who are building wall assemblies or roof assemblies with a vapor-impermeable exterior layer (like rigid foam or roofing) to choose a vapor-permeable interior finish (like drywall) so that the assembly can dry to the interior. Your attempts to make the interior layer airtight were not misguided. It was the selection of a vapor-impermeable interior finish material (rather than drywall, which is vapor-permeable but which can be installed in an airtight manner) that was misguided.

My advice to you focuses on the fact that you know that your OSB is damp.

I was previously going to use mineral wool batts but I’ve come across some cheap fibre faced polyiso that i was thinking of cutting between the studs and sealing with spray foam. Will the polyiso trap any moisture between the stud wall and foam, therefore encouraging mould? Is there a better way to use it in the wall assembly? R-value of the continuous rigid foam layer. A conservative rule of thumb is that you should follow the same rules that apply to above-grade walls with a continuous layer of exterior rigid foam. R-value requirements for your climate zone. I am planning to use the pancake method with several layers of Polyiso sealed with canned spray foam around the edges.

As well as one continuous layer under the rafters for air sealing and thermal bridging.

I was planning to use foil faced throughout, but now I am wondering if I need to use it only on the interior side under the rafters. Would it be an issue if they were all foil faced or if only the exterior and interior layers were foil faced? I understand the main way the cut and cobble method fails is with poor air sealing resulting in condensation either in the foam or on the sheathing. I don’t believe the foil facing will matter significantly, but don’t want have issues later down the road. Also, do you have a recommendation for the tape to use with to air seal the continuous layer? You didn’t mention whether this is a vented assembly or an unvented assembly.

If you have this ventilation channel, the assembly will be safe.

If not, it won’t be, as I explain in my article. If the assembly is a vented assembly, you can use either foil-faced polyiso or polyiso without foil facing. Either type of polyiso will work.

Thankfully our roof is a very simple roof and we have a ridge vent running the length of the roof.

Would a tighter fit and a really good flexible caulk (such as OSI QuadMax) be preferable?

Foam the perimeter, set first in place, then caulk the top of the panel perimeter? Does it matter whether the polyiso has a foil face or a kraft face? Is it fine if all four layers have the foil face? The areas I saw (due to a branch that had punched through) in the middle of the rafter span, were bone dry and had no signs in 50 years of moisture buildup. In general, you’re worrying too much. If you have a good vent channel, just get at least one layer of rigid foam in each rafter bay as airtight as you can make it, and stop worrying. Canned spray foam is fine, and caulk is also fine. Foil facing is fine, and other types of facing are also fine. If you want a reduce thermal bridging through your rafters, finish off your job with a continuous layer of rigid foam on the interior side of the rafters (between the bottom of the rafters and the ceiling drywall).

It is probably as annoying as the DMV lobby most days.

With all due respect (which is gobs), I’m worrying too much because I’ve been reading you for so long and see all the things that I could make go wrong! But I feel somewhat absolved with your guidance here. I would have loved to have added that layer of foam to mitigate bridging, but that ship sailed.

Your wisdom gave me the courage to pull the trigger and get this project done in August.

By working on two sheets removed at a time, I could get three full rafter bays done, and prep the lower or upper half of the next one.

We would then replace a sheet that covered half of the just completed rafter bays and half of the previously done. Regardless, there was no sign of any moisture problems. At the bottom, we started the insulation over the wall plate and terminated the insulation on the outside of the top wall, so both plates are now under the full depth of insulation. In the end, it was two pretty grueling, hot, tough days, with my three landscapers helping me (yeah, yeah, landscapers, but they do what I ask them, they work hard, they don’t complain).

But we got it done, the roof is super solid (5 ply fir nailed properly was way stiffer than the 3 ply that was on there previously).

The results were instantaneous. I experience no temperature gain (I used to struggle to maintain 3-4 degrees above my set point). I will get a dehumidifier for next year to run full time to draw out some of that moisture. So thanks so much! I do have soffit vents.

The roof was completely redone last winter with Grace ice and water and steel.

R values, and because of a relatively low ceiling, I am not willing to give up any ceiling height. My utility bills are already low and anything I do will be an improvement to what is there already. As noted in my article, I don’t recommend the use of the cut-and-cobble method for unvented cathedral ceilings, especially in cold climates like yours, because of the risk of moisture damage to the sheathing. In your case, I recommend that you use closed-cell spray foam.

The blowing agents in XPS are potent, persistent greenhouse gasses.

Pretty much any other material, or nothing, would be better than using XPS. If you’re sold on foam, I’d use HFO-blown spray foam or polyiso rigid foam. Or find recycled product. You stated that you have a solid ridge beam and no ridge vent. Therefore you have an unvented assembly. Without air flow, there won’t be any drying. Would soffit vents not still provide a minimal amount of drying even without a ridge vent? Vented roof assemblies work because of ventilation drying.

Ventilation drying depends on air flow.

To have air flow through a cathedral roof assembly, you need both soffit vents and a ridge vent. Even though I’ve advised you three times that your cut-and-cobble plan is risky, you seem to want to accept the risk. I have also used spray foam insulation to make those roofs reasonably safely unvented. On a current project I am using a tiny attic space and venting at the gables.

Part of this has nothing to do with building science and much more to do with the differing trajectories of our careers.

The current roof sheathing is not in the best of shape and will need replacing once the asphalt shingles run their course (another 10-15 years as the roof shingles are fairly new).

I would prefer to use the foam board due to ease of installation (lots of nails coming through the sheathing) but I am concerned that it will melt when the closed cell foam is applied. Is there a foam board or something else that would work for this application? Thin rigid foam will work; it won’t melt. You could also use cardboard, kraft paper, asphalt felt, or polyethylene. Looking way down the road to your tear-off, I’d use the heaviest poly sheeting you can buy.

Impale it on any protruding nails as needed, to keep it in place, maybe using a bench-sweep in the manner of a hammer.

Nothing in the known universe will stick to that stuff. I’d anticipate it will probably peel away from the foam (vs the underside of your sheathing) when the time comes, though that may not matter. Install closed-cell spray foam against the underside of the roof sheathing. Wood framing expands and contracts with changing humidity levels, raising the possibility that attempts to seal the perimeter of the rigid foam (whether with caulk, SPRAY FOAM, or tape) will fail over time. Is the answer that pro-installed spray foam is a bit flexible while canned spray foam is not? When a spray-foam contractor does a good job of installing closed-cell spray foam, the foam is tenacious.

A thin bead of canned spray foam behaves differently.

And because the cured foam is thinner, it lacks the tenacity and flexibility of professionally installed closed-cell spray foam. Experience shows that cut-and-cobble jobs are more likely to have air leaks, especially a few years after installation, than professionally installed closed-cell spray foam. To add to what Martin wrote: If spray foam fails it is by pulling away from the rafters on either side, leaving the foam still adhered to the sheathing above. Log in or become a member to post a comment. An unvented low-slope roof is showing signs of water damage. Become a GBA Prime member and get full access to GBA articles, enyclopedia, videos, CAD library, and more. This won’t delete the articles you’ve saved, just the list.

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More Than a Cleat or Just a Cleat?

Sometime back, in the canyons of my mind, I said we would do a blog or a video on making a French cleat.

• French cleat I doubt anyone knows, but I will hold to the term in anticipation that a Frenchman did indeed hang a cabinet from a wall somewhere in a French colony or even France.
• Here in Wales I made a cleat.
• Would it be a Welsh cleat?
• I only knew this as a Reverse or Split cleat.

All three would be correct terminology and there may be others too.

A cleat is a common enough woodworking term. Nails are also referred to as cleats. That is how the walls of my workshop display panels were hung when we had the Slavery Exhibition here in my workshop at Penrhyn Castle a few years ago. Wooden cleats on clocks and shelves full of books and heavy items resolve concerns of adequacy. A French cleat, or even two or three, will hold things securely to the wall by an interlocked method that makes the cleat almost unnoticed when the project is hung in place if you pick your cleated positioning well.

Sizing is determined mostly by the ability to securely screw the cleat to the wall and leave sufficient wood around the screw head to preserve the integrity.

The screws can be left visible or concealed behind a wooden plug of like wood. That choice is yours. Another aspect of the French cleat is that the cleat can go directly under a jointed or housed shelf, or, if the unit has a back to it, fixed entirely out of sight behind and to the back altogether. The main advantage of the French cleat is that the cleat can be fixed to the wall without holding the weight of the object being hung.

I then turn the cleat side to side and run the same line from the opposite edge and the opposite face.

With the cleat in the vise I join the line across the end as a guide for my saw.

• I saw along the length of the cleat following the angle and the line with a ripcut panel saw.
• I plane the meeting surfaces even though technically this is not necessary.
• To fix the cleat to the underside of the shelf I cut two recesses near the ends of the cleat.
• I give a little space around the screw.
• These recesses and the screws are not seen when the shelf is hung in place.
• Go gently and in small bites.
• Drill a screw hole into the centre of the recess and countersink slightly.
• Glue the cleat to the underside of the chosen shelf and screw in place.

Choose the position you want to hang the shelf and calculate the position of the reverse cleat.

This is best done having someone hold the shelf and marking the underside of the cleat and the inside faces of the sides of the shelf itself. If on your own, hold the shelf in place and do the same, trying to feel how it will look. Screw one end to the wall using screws into a stud or plastic plugs if a brick or composite block wall. I will leave this up to you.

Using a spirit level, level the cleat and screw and fix the opposite end.

The shelf unit should now hang just fine. If you want to fix the two parts of the cleat to each other, screw through the top and the top cleat into the cleat fixed to the wall. This is not generally necessary, but, in a public place or a place with young children, you may want the added security measure. Very informative as usual! Missed seeing you at the Woodworking Shows in Somerset, NJ this year I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to watch and ask you questions, again, in person rather than all this emailing! Oh, well, mayber next year! Suprisingly, we actually use something similar at work when we have an especially heavy cabinet or a very dodgy bit of wall. I asked about this a last June, but assumed you busy and probably forgot. I just did not think to screw one to the underside of the top. I do not trust the top dados to support the weight of books, so I may put a cleat on the middle shelf as well. Howdy, nice article and clearly written, as usual. Do you think the cleat system is substantial enough for a large hand tool cabinet? You can add more cleats below a top hanging cleat as a safeguard. To do this, put the cleats below the top cleat at respectable intervals on the back of the cabinet but leave the lower marrying cleats longer than the ones now fixed to the cabinet back. With the cabinet rehanging, pass the cleat through between the cabinet and the wall so that it protrudes past the sides of the cabinet.

Mark the position height on the wall.

It seems to have come out all right. We have been using the French Cleat system in the sign industry for years. No one knows, they are probably not even French.

In the electrical industry cleats are brackets that hold large cables in place on trays or racking.

Paul another great and useful blog. I lived in Atlanta but they were made with my table saw. Hand Tools but will now. I have a couple small cabinets to hang and some other things where this would be handy. My home now is made out of concrete block and stucco with drywall on furring strips, even in the shop. Thanks again for the article. My feeling is it would be safer to attach the cleat to the sides of the cabinet. I think you underestimate the strength of the glue, but it would be as good to put the cleat underneath the second shelf or use two or even three cleats. The purpose of the article is to show the cleat functionally. You must enter certain information to submit the form on this page. Please click here to read it before you provide any information on this form. Follow Paul’s technique and project videos over at Woodworking Masterclasses, our dedicated site for honing your skills. Subscribe to Paul’s YouTube to make sure you don’t miss out on his latest videos! Visit our sister site, Common Woodworking, to follow along with Paul’s beginner projects and techniques to build your skill.

You can donate here.

For an archive linking to posts from each month going back in time click here. Happy New Year and of course Happy Birthday, Paul. There are some vertical lines on your workbench apron with degrees for plane and chisel. Brien on Contrariness Creates Individuality31 December 2024Thanks for your sage thoughts on the nature of these unique woods. Sellers, this is a lovely little jig. The company’s registered address is Accsol House High Street, Johnstown, Wrexham, LL14 2SH, United Kingdom. Found a problem with the site? You can contact us by clicking here.

An Introduction to the Human Body1.

How Structure Determines Function1. Structural Organization of the Human Body1. The Chemical Level of Organization2. Elements and Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter2. Inorganic Compounds Essential to Human Functioning2.

The Cellular Level of Organization3.

The Cytoplasm and Cellular Organelles3. The Nucleus and DNA Replication3. Cell Growth and Division3. The Tissue Level of Organization4. Connective Tissue Supports and Protects4. Layers of the Skin5. Accessory Structures of the Skin5.

Functions of the Integumentary System5.

Explain the organization of muscle fascicles and their role in generating force11.

Explain the criteria used to name skeletal muscles11.

1. Axial Muscles of the Head Neck and Back11.
2. Axial muscles of the abdominal wall and thorax11.
3. Muscles of the Pectoral Girdle and Upper Limbs11.
4. The Nervous System and Nervous Tissue12.
5. Structure and Function of the Nervous System12.
6. The Function of Nervous Tissue12.
7. The Peripheral Nervous System13.
8. Spinal and Cranial Nerves13.
9. Relationship of the PNS to the Spinal Cord of the CNS13.
10. Ventral Horn Output and Reflexes13.
11. The Central Nervous System14.

Blood Flow the meninges and Cerebrospinal Fluid Production and Circulation14.

The Brain and Spinal Cord14. The Autonomic Nervous System16. Divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System16. An Overview of the Endocrine System17. The Pituitary Gland and Hypothalamus17. Gonadal and Placental Hormones17.

Organs with Secondary Endocrine Functions17.

The Cardiovascular System: Blood18. Production of the Formed Elements18. The Cardiovascular System: The Heart19. Cardiac Muscle and Electrical Activity19. The Cardiovascular System: Blood Vessels and Circulation20. Structure and Function of Blood Vessels20. Blood Flow, Blood Pressure, and Resistance20. Homeostatic Regulation of the Vascular System20.

The Lymphatic and Immune System21.

Anatomy of the Lymphatic and Immune Systems21. Barrier Defenses and the Innate Immune Response21. The Adaptive Immune Response: T lymphocytes and Their Functional Types21. The Adaptive Immune Response: B-lymphocytes and Antibodies21. The Immune Response against Pathogens21. Diseases Associated with Depressed or Overactive Immune Responses21. Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System22. The Process of Breathing22. Overview of the Digestive System23.

Digestive System Processes and Regulation23.

The Mouth, Pharynx, and Esophagus23. Accessory Organs in Digestion: The Liver, Pancreas, and Gallbladder23. The Small and Large Intestines23. Overview of Metabolic Reactions24. Metabolic States of the Body24. Energy and Heat Balance24. Internal and External Anatomy of the Kidney25.

Microscopic Anatomy of the Kidney: Anatomy of the Nephron25.

Physiology of Urine Formation: Overview25. Physiology of Urine Formation: Glomerular Filtration25. Physiology of Urine Formation: Tubular Reabsorption and Secretion25. Physiology of Urine Formation: Regulation of Fluid Volume and Composition25. Urine Transport and Elimination25. Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance26. Body Fluids and Fluid Compartments26. Anatomy of Sexual Systems27. Development of Sexual Anatomy27. Physiology of the Female Sexual System27. Physiology of the Male Sexual System27. Maternal Changes During Pregnancy, Labor, and Birth28. Adjustments of the Infant at Birth and Postnatal Stages28. Although you may not typically think of the skin as an organ, it is in fact made of tissues that work together as a single structure to perform unique and critical functions. The skin and its accessory structures make up the integumentary system, which provides the body with overall protection. The most superficial layer of the skin is the epidermis which is attached to the deeper dermis.

Accessory structures, hair, glands, and nails, are found associated with the skin.

The deeper layer of skin is well vascularized (has numerous blood vessels) and is superficial to the hypodermics. It also has numerous sensory, and autonomic and sympathetic nerve fibers ensuring communication to and from the brain. Layers of Skin: The skin is composed of two main layers: the epidermis, made of closely packed epithelial cells, and the dermis, made of dense, irregular connective tissue that houses blood vessels, hair follicles, sweat glands, and other structures. Beneath the dermis lies the hypodermis, which is composed mainly of loose connective and fatty tissues. View this animation to learn more about layers of the skin. The skin consists of two main layers and a closely associated layer.

What are the basic functions of each of these layers?

The epidermis is composed of keratinized, stratified squamous epithelium. It is made of four or five layers of epithelial cells, depending on its location in the body. From deep to superficial, these layers are the stratum basale, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, and stratum corneum. Most of the skin can be classified as thin skin. Thin Skin versus Thick Skin: These slides show cross-sections of the epidermis and dermis of (a) thin and (b) thick skin.

Note the significant difference in the thickness of the epithelial layer of the thick skin.

A keratinocyte is a cell that manufactures and stores the protein keratin. Keratin is an intracellular fibrous protein that gives hair, nails, and skin their hardness, strength, and water-resistant properties. Epidermis: The epidermis is epithelium composed of multiple layers of cells. The basal layer consists of cuboidal cells, whereas the outer layers are squamous, keratinized cells, so the whole epithelium is often described as being keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The stratum basale (also called the stratum germinativum) is the deepest epidermal layer and attaches the epidermis to the basal lamina, below which lie the layers of the dermis.

The cells in the stratum basale bond to the dermis via intertwining collagen fibers, referred to as the basement membrane.

Unstained epidermis samples do not exhibit this characteristic appearance.

Interspersed among the keratinocytes of this layer is a type of dendritic cell called the Langerhans cell, which functions as a macrophage by engulfing bacteria, foreign particles, and damaged cells that occur in this layer. Cells of the Epidermis: The cells in the different layers of the epidermis originate from basal cells located in the stratum basale, yet the cells of each layer are distinctively different. If you zoom on the cells at the outermost layer of this section of skin, what do you notice about the cells? The keratinocytes in the stratum spinosum begin the synthesis of keratin and release a water-repelling glycolipid that helps prevent water loss from the body, making the skin relatively waterproof.

As new keratinocytes are produced atop the stratum basale, the keratinocytes of the stratum spinosum are pushed into the stratum granulosum.

The stratum granulosum has a grainy appearance due to further changes to the keratinocytes as they are pushed from the stratum spinosum. These two proteins make up the bulk of the keratinocyte mass in the stratum granulosum and give the layer its grainy appearance. The nuclei and other cell organelles disintegrate as the cells die, leaving behind the keratin, keratohyalin, and cell membranes that will form the stratum lucidum, and the stratum corneum. A similar process of producing cells packed with keratin occurs in the accessory structures of hair and nails. The stratum lucidum is a smooth, seemingly translucent layer of the epidermis located just above the stratum granulosum and below the stratum corneum. This thin layer of cells is found only in the thick skin of the palms, soles, and digits.

The increased keratinization (also called cornification) of the cells in this layer gives it its name.

There are usually 15 to 30 layers of cells in the stratum corneum. This dry, dead layer helps prevent the penetration of microbes and the dehydration of underlying tissues, and provides a mechanical protection against abrasion for the more delicate, underlying layers. Cells in this layer are shed periodically and are replaced by cells pushed up from the stratum granulosum (or stratum lucidum in the case of the palms and soles of feet). The cells in this layer can still be anchored to each other by desmosomes which is why the peeling that occurs with a sunburn peels the damaged epidermal layers in one sheet. The entire layer is replaced during a period of about 4 weeks. It contains blood and lymph vessels, nerves, and other structures, such as hair follicles and sweat glands. The epidermis is avascular and cells of this layer must get their oxygen and nutrients from capillaries in the dermis. The more superficial papillary layer serves as an anchor point for the epidermis above and is intimately connected to the deeper reticular layer. Layers of the Dermis: This stained slide shows the two components of the dermis—the papillary layer and the reticular layer. Both are made of connective tissue with fibers of collagen extending from one to the other, making the border between the two somewhat indistinct. The dermal papillae extending into the epidermis belong to the papillary layer, whereas the dense collagen fiber bundles below belong to the reticular layer. The papillary layer is made of loose, areolar connective tissue, which means the collagen and elastin fibers of this layer form a loose mesh with abundant ground substance supporting the hydration of the skin. Within the papillary layer are fibroblasts, a small number of fat cells (adipocytes), and an abundance of small blood vessels.

In addition, the papillary layer contains phagocytes, defensive cells that help fight bacteria or other infections that have breached the skin.

This layer also contains lymphatic capillaries, nerve fibers, and touch receptors called the Meissner corpuscles. In a growing fetus, fingerprints form where the cells of the stratum basale of the epidermis meets the papillae of the underlying dermal layer (papillary layer), resulting in the formation of the ridges on your fingers that you recognize as fingerprints. Dermal papillae push up on the epidermis creating unique epidermal ridge patterns. Fingerprints are unique to each individual and are used for forensic analyses because the patterns do not change with the growth and aging processes. Underlying the papillary layer is the much thicker reticular layer, composed of dense irregular connective tissue which resists forces in many directions attributing to the flexibility of the skin. The reticular layer appears reticulated (net-like) due to a tight meshwork of fibers.

Elastin fibers provide some elasticity to the skin, enabling movement.

It is not strictly a part of the skin, although the border between the hypodermis and dermis can be difficult to distinguish.

Men tend to accumulate fat in different areas (neck, arms, lower back, and abdomen) than do women (breasts, hips, thighs, and buttocks).

The body mass index (BMI) is often used as a measure of fat, although this measure is, in fact, derived from a mathematical formula that compares body weight (mass) to height. Therefore, its accuracy as a health indicator can be called into question in individuals who are extremely physically fit. In many animals, there is a pattern of storing excess calories as fat to be used in times when food is not readily available. In much of the developed world, insufficient exercise coupled with the ready availability and consumption of high-calorie foods have resulted in unwanted accumulations of adipose tissue in many people.

Although periodic accumulation of excess fat may have provided an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors, who experienced unpredictable bouts of famine, it is now becoming chronic and considered a major health threat.

Not only is this a problem for the individuals affected, but it also has a severe impact on our healthcare system. Changes in lifestyle, specifically in diet and exercise, are the best ways to control body fat accumulation, especially when it reaches levels that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. The color of skin is influenced by a number of pigments, including melanin, carotene, and hemoglobin. Recall that melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes, which are found scattered throughout the stratum basale of the epidermis. Skin Pigmentation: The relative coloration of the skin depends of the amount of melanin produced by melanocytes in the stratum basale and taken up by keratinocytes. Melanin occurs in two primary forms. Eumelanin exists as black and brown, whereas pheomelanin provides a red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale skin.

Exposure to the UV rays of the sun or a tanning salon causes melanin to be manufactured and built up in keratinocytes, as sun exposure stimulates keratinocytes to secrete chemicals that stimulate melanocytes.

The accumulation of melanin in keratinocytes results in the darkening of the skin, or a tan. This increased melanin accumulation protects the DNA of epidermal cells from UV ray damage and the breakdown of folic acid, a nutrient necessary for our health and well-being. In contrast, too much melanin can interfere with the production of vitamin D, an important nutrient involved in calcium absorption. There is a dynamic interplay between the amount of protection from UV radiation that melanin provides and the amount of vitamin D produced. The amount of melanin produced, and therefore UV protection, is directly correlated with the amount of sunlight exposure. The more sunlight, the more UV protection, but the compromise is that with increased melanin there is a decrease in vitamin D produced. It requires about 10 days after initial sun exposure for melanin synthesis to peak, which is why pale-skinned individuals tend to suffer sunburns of the epidermis initially. Dark-skinned individuals can also get sunburns, but are more protected than are pale-skinned individuals. Melanosomes are temporary structures that are eventually destroyed by fusion with lysosomes; this fact, along with melanin-filled keratinocytes in the stratum corneum sloughing off, makes tanning impermanent. Too much sun exposure can eventually lead to wrinkling due to the destruction of the cellular structure of the skin, and in severe cases, can cause sufficient DNA damage to result in skin cancer. When there is an irregular accumulation of melanocytes in the skin, freckles appear. Moles: Moles range from benign accumulations of melanocytes to melanomas.

These structures populate the landscape of our skin.

The first thing a clinician sees is the skin, and so the examination of the skin should be part of any thorough physical examination. Most skin disorders are relatively benign, but a few, including melanomas, can be fatal if untreated. A couple of the more noticeable disorders, albinism and vitiligo, affect the appearance of the skin and its accessory organs. Although neither is fatal, it would be hard to claim that they are benign, at least to the individuals so afflicted. Albinism is a genetic disorder that affects (completely or partially) the coloring of skin, hair, and eyes. The defect is primarily due to the inability of melanocytes to produce melanin. Individuals with albinism tend to appear white or very pale due to the lack of melanin in their skin and hair.

Recall that melanin helps protect the skin from the harmful effects of UV radiation.

Individuals with albinism tend to need more protection from UV radiation, as they are more prone to sunburns and skin cancer. They also tend to be more sensitive to light and have vision problems due to the lack of pigmentation on the retinal wall. Treatment of this disorder usually involves addressing the symptoms, such as limiting UV light exposure to the skin and eyes. In vitiligo, the melanocytes in certain areas lose their ability to produce melanin, possibly due to an autoimmune reaction. Neither albinism nor vitiligo directly affects the lifespan of an individual. Vitiligo: Individuals with vitiligo experience depigmentation that results in lighter colored patches of skin. The condition is especially noticeable on darker skin. Other changes in the appearance of skin coloration can be indicative of diseases associated with other body systems. Tumors of the pituitary gland can result in the secretion of large amounts of melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), which results in a darkening of the skin. A sudden drop in oxygenation can affect skin color, causing the skin to initially turn ashen (white). This happens when the oxygen supply is restricted, as when someone is experiencing difficulty in breathing because of asthma or a heart attack. This ABC video follows the story of a pair of fraternal African-American twins, one of whom is albino. Watch this video to learn about the challenges these children and their family face. Which ethnicities do you think are exempt from the possibility of albinism? The skin is composed of two major layers: a superficial epidermis and a deeper dermis. The epidermis consists of several layers beginning with the innermost (deepest) stratum basale (germinatum), followed by the stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, stratum lucidum (when present), and ending with the outermost layer, the stratum corneum. The topmost layer, the stratum corneum, consists of dead cells that shed periodically and is progressively replaced by cells formed from the basal layer.

The stratum basale also contains melanocytes, cells that produce melanin, the pigment primarily responsible for giving skin its color.

The hypodermis, deep to the dermis of skin, is the connective tissue that connects the dermis to underlying structures; it also harbors adipose tissue for fat storage and protection.

The skin consists of two layers and a closely associated layer. The epidermis provides protection, the dermis provides support and flexibility, and the hypodermis (fat layer) provides insulation and padding. These cells do not have nuclei, so you can deduce that they are dead.

They appear to be sloughing off.

If you zoom on the cells of the stratum spinosum, what is distinctive about them? These cells have desmosomes, which give the cells their spiny appearance. What determines the color of skin, and what is the process that darkens skin when it is exposed to UV light? Cells of the epidermis derive from stem cells of the stratum basale.

Describe how the cells change as they become integrated into the different layers of the epidermis.

The pigment melanin, produced by melanocytes, is primarily responsible for skin color. Melanin comes in different shades of brown and black. Individuals with darker skin have darker, more abundant melanin, whereas fair-skinned individuals have a lighter shade of skin and less melanin. Exposure to UV irradiation stimulates the melanocytes to produce and secrete more melanin. As the cells move into the stratum spinosum, they begin the synthesis of keratin and extend cell processes, desmosomes, which link the cells.

As the stratum basale continues to produce new cells, the keratinocytes of the stratum spinosum are pushed into the stratum granulosum.

The cells become flatter, their cell membranes thicken, and they generate large amounts of the proteins keratin and keratohyalin. The nuclei and other cell organelles disintegrate as the cells die, leaving behind the keratin, keratohyalin, and cell membranes that form the stratum lucidum and the stratum corneum. The keratinocytes in these layers are mostly dead and flattened. Cells in the stratum corneum are periodically shed. This edition, with revised content and artwork, is licensed under CC BY-SA except where otherwise noted. Physiology by OpenStax, are licensed under CC BY except where otherwise noted. International License, except where otherwise noted. Aug 31st and you only have 4 years to do one entire level (even though by the maths of the 3 course allowances it should take 6), so good luck if you have a baby in the middle of that! OCA with a follow up on what this course lead to onto. I enjoyed the art history in this course immensely and I rediscovered my love of drawing.

I have been doing weekly life drawing classes and I draw every day on the train to work.

Choose a town or country house to visit.

The idea of this visit is to look for evidence of how art has been used as part of a way of life, whether aristocratic or bourgeois. A large town house will be impressive and is likely to have classical features. Reception rooms may be spacious, perhaps with murals, tapestries or sculpture. Write an illustrated account of your visit in your learning log. This content is password protected. As with the previous assignments, I have made the assignment as a pdf document which can be downloaded here: Assignment 5 PDF submission and additionally here is the link to the 2000 word review PDF submission. I could broadly keep within the word limits. Again, I found the word count to be ridiculous. There is hardly room for any information.

Even so I could only reduce to 5 pages.

As we get more mordern the content is getting more and more interesting. Whilst I was creating the actual annotations I changed the ordering to be more chronologic because it made sense to see how Braque developed even though I started to study them the other way around. I certainly feel as though I understand Cubism and Fauvism much better after going through that exercise. I can from one and being able to swap it out. I was discussing one architectural movement. Haywood, or the south bank or any of the other successful examples. Smithsons and their other unsuccessful estates in Poplar. I was running close to the line and still needed to do my main review so the notes in this area (the barbican visit post) probably need fleshing out a little. I did keep it in the word limit though for once.

I think I have demonstrated my understanding of the area in this assignment according to the research I have done (see above).

Where possible I tried to go and see the work I was researching in person, but also evaluated the sources I was looking at in books and on the internet for their scholarly worth. I was able to view one of the annotations, Brutalist architecture (which I now notice seemingly everywhere) and some others of Magrittes work at the Tate. Mostly I felt like a pack horse with all the heavy books back and forth to work.

I tried to engage with the concepts throughout part five.

Notes from Thames and Hudson book.

Born in Mexico to a Mexican depressed tyrannical mother and German photographer father. Received her maternal nurturing from her sisters and half-sisters. Enjoyed helping her dad with his work. She was his favourite. Went to study at medical school but had an accident where a bus hit a tram when she was 19 which was nearly fatal. She broke many parts (back, pelvis, etc) and her health was never the same again.

She had health issues for the rest of her life.

Her parents and most of her family were too busy mourning the accident to actually go and see her for the first 3 weeks! Only her sister came. Her father brought her a mirror and paints.

Her oerdeve was made of self-portraits mainly from that first moment.

They fascinated each other from the first moment she demanded him to stop work and see her pictures. They loved and supported each other. She had affairs too, (many of whom she remained friends with). Where he was well received at first. America and was homesick but it features in many of her paintings of that time. There she met Dr Eloesser whom she confided in for the rest of her life. Andre Breton, the founder of the surrealist movement in Paris discovered her in Mexico and tried to persuade her she was a surrealist.

She went to Paris and was disappointed in their lack of professionalism and practicality.

She was disappointed with the number of pictures of hers the the group show too. She said she detested the whole lot of them for being too into the theory. Both her and Diego were communists, often protesting and going on marches together. When Trotsky feed Europe he came to stay with them in Mexico. Even in her last days she was out protesting. She was very prolific during the year due and Diego split. She poured her emotions into paint as she always had. Her one and only solo show was arranged at the very end if her life and she was too sick to attend so they brought her and the whole bed, with sirens blazing, to the gallery opening. In her work, she is very connected to place and what is going on with her medically.

She had a kind of visual short hand.

For a while she was a teacher of Art at the Mexican college and she was take everyone out onto the streets and into the markets for inspiration. Vegetation or its deficit as a metaphor for psychic reality. The Broken Column (1944), the bleak, forbidding landscape becomes a potent metaphor for inner desolation. As a result, most of them did not see themselves as true Surrealists; at the core of their art lay only individual reality. Mexican retablo, he posits that it actually affects her vision not to paint on a surface that is as smooth as skin, something that can only be noticed when viewing the original works. And so, in painting her own image, as if on her own skin, she speaks of the whole sentient world.

He points to Diego and I, 1949 as a sort of confession to this.

Her art talks to pain, mouth pressed to the skin of pain, and it talks about sentience and its desire and its cruelty and its intimate nicknames.

• She painted, for example, the feel of polished wood on a parquet floor, the texture of rubber on the tyre of her wheelchair, the fluff of a chicks feathers, or the crystalline surface of stone, like nobody else.
• I have called the sense of double touch: the consequence of imagining she was painting her own skin.
• Portraits: John Berger on Artists.
• Women artists and the surrealist movement.

A World History of Art.

Magritte and Kahlo is that Magritte is known for doing almost anything to avoid showing faces, he employed apples, birds, flowers, cloth, to cover faces, and more often than not the male figures in his works are turned away.

The colours in this work are much more saturated than the narrow palette of Attempting the Impossible, with contrasting red and blues.

Perhaps influenced by his time in advertising, his illustrative style clearly articulates the content of his paintings, avoiding stylistic distractions. The way in which he is painted reminds me rather of the non-nonsense look of the models in advertisements of the time. Magritte and the impossible by John Berger, in selected essays. Berger points out that Magritte uses the language of painting of Van Eyck, and the last 500 years of artists since. It is what most Europeans still expect from visual art, a realistic likeness of objects and events in a certain setting. Here a naked woman lies dead, the murderer (assassin) stands rather composed listening to the gramophone. Two men (Berger thinks plainclothes police) wait to capture him with a net and a club. Three men stare through the window at the scene. Magritte frequently uses the idea of sound to comment upon the limitation of the visual. These stones frame a nude woman and four large hands searching for her. The painting stresses the quality of tangibility. Yet although the hands can feel their way over the stones, the woman eludes them. Life, the universe, the void, have no value for thought when it is truly free. Magritte explains that our experiences encroach on the ability for our thoughts to be truly free. Surrealists was to tap into just that which floats on the surface of unconscious thought. Au Seuil de la liberte, on the threshold of liberty.

Plain boots would suggest that someone had simply left their shoes behind, cut off feet would point to murder or violence but shoes turning into feet makes you stop and ponder.

Paradoxically, he used a familiar language to destroy the familiar. Our idea of freedom extends, our experience of it diminishes. Magritte: Ideas and Images. A 500-word analysis of a maximum of four works in any media other than painting or sculpture which demonstrate the influence of the political, social and economic changes that have taken place since 1945.

Does Architecture count as a media?

Go for something different from your earlier visits. This could be a tube station, a block of flats or a shopping mall. Make notes in your learning log. I primarily visited this area to discover for myself what the big deal with Brutalist architecture was so that I could develop my 500 words from more than just reading research. Brutalist architecture have been lost to the mists of time and what we are left with today are big, blocky public buildings (whose exterior concrete facades have not aged well), with various social problems such as graffiti and antisocial behaviour. Brutalist buildings, such as the Barbican Complex, are now Grade II listed. The style was popular in the postwar era many people needed rehousing after the blitz, the economy was in tatters so new developments needed to be cheap, with easily sourced building materials such as concrete.

French term béton brut (raw concrete) popularised by British architectural critic Reyner Banham.

The Barbican Estate is huge. Brutalist architecture: a concept made concrete. Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on a Mantelpiece 1911. The obvious choice of Cubist painting to annotate would be a Picasso which is precisely why I choose one by Braque.

Picasso is the household name of Cubism but it seems from my research that they participated fairly evenly in the collaboration, even at times so closely as to be indistinguishable.

I went to the Tate Modern to see it (apolgies for the wonky picture, there was a rope around an adjacent exhibit so I couldnt start square on to get the photo). I learned in reading about the OU study diamond to this painting review. What initially catches your eye? Where do you go next? Valse, then the glass. Do your eyes stray away from the work altogether? Did your eyes keep coming back to a particular part of the art work? Has a wide or narrow palette of colours been used? A very narrow colour palate typical of Analytical Cubism has been used to concentrate the viewer on the forms.

Have contrasting colours been placed next to each other?

Are there more warm colours than cool colours or vice versa?

• Would you describe the colours as being bright or dull?
• Are there more bright colours than dull colours (or vice versa)?

In what way is dark and light colour used?

How wide is the range of colour values featuring in the art work? Are contrasting colour values present in the art work? Use of contrasting colour values pick out the various planes of the work.

The light is not coming from any clear direction.

Are contrasting colour values used to model three-dimensional forms? Contrasting colour values are in places used to model three-dimensional forms, for example the clarinet mouthpiece and holes, which in this part of the painting is lit from above. In what way are the colour values distributed throughout the art work? In contrast to tradition paintins where the distribution of the colour values helps pull your eye around the composition, light here is used almost randomly to separate the various planes and sections. Does the medium impose any limitations on the way the artist works, or allow any particular effects? The oil paint has been applied in various ways across the surface of the painting. Thinly in places, for example at the edges where you can see the the texture of the canvas. Is the medium used unconventionally or is the medium itself unconventional and, if so, does this contribute to the expressive effect of the art work? Does the medium used suggest a particular mood?

Does the medium used prompt the spectator to read the work in a particular way?

Here is one view that i think sets out the main pieces in their places on the mantelpiece.

I see the clarinet, the rum, a glass, a scroll of paper (probably sheet music given the words written on it) it looks to me like he has pages under the objects which jut out and overlap the edge of the mantelpiece. Its possible that this view in blue below is the same scene from the other end of the mantelpiece. There are plenty of diagonal lines radiating out and upwards from the bottom like a fan and a slight overall pyramidal feeling to the composition. The main elements are in an internal triangle section.

There are thick contour lines all around the painting but many are for the contours of the plane not actual for an object as such.

Woods Art in theory 1900-2000 anthology there were quite a few articles which helped me understand this painting (and Cubism in general). I put my research straight into the annotations, the other painting review here and the main research notes page here. Braque: The Great Years. Braque came Fauvism late and left early but for a time was fully engaged. Unfortunately, unlike the Cubist painting, I could not actually visit this one in person so I has to analyse an online reproduction. I have choose to use the one from the official website where the painting resides (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) as (hopefully) this should be the most faithful. I keep the comparison grid that my tutor liked on the previous assignment feedback. The boat in the foreground, then the boats behind in the middle ground, then the sky. My eyes strayed out of the picture at the sky and then back in on the reflection on the water and the boats on the right.

A very wide colour palate which is not all realistic but conveys an atmosphere of joy.

All the colours are bright. The only dark colours really are blues, greens and purples. The distribution of the colour values helps pull your eye around the composition and model shadows without using dark and light tints. Like the Cubist work, the paint has been applied smoothly in some places and in little dabbing strokes in others. Unlike the Cubist work, here the brush strokes are much looser. Its difficult to tell from the small online reproduction anything about the texture or thickness of the application. Yes but very slight. There are implied diagonal lines as you look up the beach from the stern of the boat in the foreground.

From there your eye zigzags across the painting along the towns horizontal line, up the slope of the hills to be carried across by the texture in the sky.

Several points in this visual zigzag are broken by ship masts pointing into the sky or from the edge of the sky, down the masts into their reflections on the water and across the other colourful water reflection lines. True to Fauvist style many of the main objects (such as the boats and waters edge) are outlined in thick contour lines. This has the effect of breaking the colours reactions to each other by circling in dark blue. Other elements are not outlined, allowing the colours to react against each other, for example in the purple of the hills and the red of the sky. Superficially maybe, they both use lots of bright direct colours in their work, not necessarily naturalistic either. They also use similar subject matter.

But the expressionists seem to be full of anger, doom and gloom.

Their colours are used to spit in your eye. The colours in this painting are clearly coming from a different place. French Les Fauves, wild beasts, this was a derogatory term coined from the first Exhibition where these bright colourful canvases were hung all together in one room with a Henri Rousseau and more traditional sculpture for maximum contrast.

Colour was freed from descriptive representation and used to represent emotions.

Braque came to Fauvism late and left early to move towards a more geometric look before fully developing Cubism with Picasso. A pale red leaf might become a fiery red colour in a Fauvist painting, whilst a splash of watery yellow sunset on the sea would become a strong, bold yellow. As with those paintings, here he paints across the water, with no figures and a sense of separateness from the local town although the bright Mediterranean light would have been a much intense than the grey atmosphere of Antwerp. Due to social and economic changes in French tourist towns between the visits from the Impressionists and the Fauves, the Fauves were more likely to make their landscapes nonspecific and idealistic. They evoke a more daytime feeling that this one which seems like it might be painted at sunrise or sunset when you see the three together you can see more of the colours are representational after all. Estaque was a rite of passage for the Normans, allowing them into the fauve circles. Friesz all came from Le Havre, in Normandy. Dubbed The Fauves Havrais, they have a slightly different take than the more Southern Fauves. Dufy had been taught by the same local art teacher, Charles Lhuillier of Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Braque his successor. At different times they all received a grant to go to Paris. Also at different times they all entered the studio of Leon Bonnat at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Braque initially studied art at night school and had an apprenticeship with House painter Laberthe. He did military service 1901-2, then off to Academie Humbert, Paris. All three artist spent some time together in the studio of Bonnat in 1903, having an impressionistic style in muted colours. Spends time in Le Pouldu near pont-aven where Gauguin painted. Maurice Raynal in Honfleur and Le Havre. Braque and Friesz stay in Antwerp painting the harbour. Estaque at the Hotel Maurin. Starts painting in Fauve style. Estaque and writing to Vlaminck notes that Braque, Friesz, Girieud are there and most of the artists from the Salon des Independants are in the region. Matisse spends 8 days there on his was to Collioure.

Matisse is on the hanging committee of the 23rd Salon des independents.

Uhde and 1 by Kahnweiler.

• Art Moderne exhibition that is open in early June, Braque and Friesz go to the south of France.
• Derain convinces Picasso to visit the ethnographic museum at the Palais de Trocadero.
• Art Moderne along with other fauves.
• Kahnweiler buying many paintings from the fauves including braque.
• Friesz at La Ciotat and Matisse visits on his way to Italy.
• Braque and Friesz return to Paris.
• Matisse exchanges paintings with Picasso.
• Braque only one painting.
• Matisse and Marquetry fauves on the jury.
• Estaque, this time at Hotel Maurin.
• Matisse and Marquet on the jury.
• Braque removed himself entirely to show later that November at Kahnweilers gallery.
• It was his first one man show.
• Vauxcelles repeats Matisse cube observations in his review.
• Picasso hosts a banquet for Rousseau.
• See the final annotation here.
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Yellow Seacoast by Georges Braque.

The Museum of Modern Art. I was finger painting with my daughter (who only has primary colours) and tried a little experiment to paint her in a fauvist manner. It turns out to be really hard. The dodgy brushes notwithstanding, choosing the colours for the face from primary colours is quite alarming.

Cubism is such a vastly written about subject there comes a time when I need to stop reading and start writing before I run out of time again.

I can get it out of my head before my more focused annotation task. Picasso in Cubist and Fauvist-inspired hues and forms. Matisse lead the short-lived Fauvism movement before developing it into his own mature personal style. Critic Apollinaire helped make it fashionable. Everyone loved Cezanne in their own way. Picasso was a child prodigy. French officers were hunting black people for amusement like lions, and set with gunpowder like human firecrackers, and generally being degraded and murdered. In a direct rejection of this was Picasso. Iberian (pre-Roman Spanish) sculpture. This was a revolutionary break with Western illusionistic art. Rejected coherences of representational art. It was named after a brothel in his home town, it was originally to have a sailor and a student with a skull but they were soon dropped. Fauvre painters introduced Picasso to African art, whose influence can be seen in the right hand two figures. He deemed African art to depend on knowing rather than seeing. He also had many African, Iberian and Oceanic sculptures. The formation of Cubism was in sharp contrast to that of Fauvism. And whereas the Fauves borrowed restlessly from the art of their predecessors, the Cubists reverted to fundamental principles; they began, so to speak, from the bottom upwards. In short Cubism was a completely new pictorial language, a completely new way of looking at the outside world, a clearly-defined aesthetic. As such it has shaped the course of almost all twentieth-century painting. Paris was Fauvism, which came first and was essentially lead by Matisse. Cubism and Fauvism approach the move towards abstraction entirely differently however. Cubism was expression through line and form, and Fauvism was expression through colour (sounds like the age old colour vs line argument popping up again in a new format).

Cubists, on the other hand, were led to still greater abstraction by the fact that their vision was conceptual and intellectual rather than physical and sensory.

Interestingly, Braque was a Fauve before moving on to develop Cubism with Picasso. Both, the Fauves (especially Matisse) and the Cubists admired Cezanne, and tribal art but they put these influences to different uses. Impressionism, Divisionism, the decorative rhythms of Gauguin and the expressionism of Van Gogh, all contributed equally to its appearance. And since Fauvism evolved no really consistent technique of its own and was not governed by any very clearly-defined aesthetic, it was not a style that could have anything more than a very fleeting existence. It could well be interpreted as a sort of final paroxysm of post-Impressionist painting. The assignment calls for several aspects that various chapters in this book will provide interesting research for. However, it poses a problem of secondary sources.

I see the point of trying to get some of the translated texts as primary souses.

Work to perfect the mind.

Parisian avant-garde circles in the first two decades of the 20th century. Impressionist-Fauvist work this plugs directly into my annotation comparison. Cubism is the most noble undertaking in French art today.

Equally, perspective is an object only from one point of view and is subject to the same issues.

He outlines the mistakes he feels the Cubists have made, that instead of showing enough faves of an object to suggest volume they show all its faces, they fill the empty space in the picture with walls and fortifications. It remains a central paradox of the new art that it sought its authenticity in a remote Nature, but that this repeated incantation to Nature was made under urban circumstances. With cubism the situation is different.

By a strange inversion, it seems as if the modern picture, rather than depicting the machines and buildings which made up the modern world, had internalized its modernity.

Imbuing the form of the art with modernity. Tension between two ways of conceiving art theory, the Realist view (Barnes below) and the view in which the artist is unquestionable author and the theorist attempts to follow on and document after the practice. Curvilinear rather than rectilinear.

Decorative rather than structural.

Many of the points he made I found more easily applied to Cubism than his own art which us strange. He explains that he sacrifices some of the decorative charm of his paintings to plough past fleeting sensation such as the Impressionists are drawn to depict. Like the Cubists later, he is looking to express a more full interpretation of a scene or object. To find, is the thing. We all know that Art is not truth. He lays out his opinion on the lack of universal rules and his opinion of Raphael, Titian, Manet and Renoir. He thinks artists should be of their time and not slavishly copy the greats. Automne, they were all in room VII, 2 by Charles Camoin, 5 by Andre Derain, 4 by Henri Matisse, 5 by Henri Manguin, 5 by Albert Marquet and others by Maurice Vlaminck, Van Dongen, Frieze, Puy and Valtat. A mixture of subjects, nudes, landscapes, still life, and portraits. Additionally a huge jungle picture by Henri Rousseau. Added for contrast in the middle of all that colour they put a traditional marble bust and bronze Statue by Albert Marque. Everyone in the room was hated by the public and ridiculed by the critics. This new art was an evolution too far for them. Syntheism (ie the works of Seurat, Van Gogh and Gauguin). And the large areas of flat colour of the latter. By 1908, the public was coming around to the fauves and with a slightly younger generation of critics, people were starting to understand it a little.

Braque sent canvases covered with little cubes.

He started as a house painter, taking courses at the Academie Humbert. He rented a studio in Antwerp with Friesz in 1906 doing Fauvism. From 1943 he started making massive canvases and sculpture. See also research put straight into the Assignment annotations and the assoicated painting reviews here and here. P158 of the the course notes requests that we write a short review of the set text. I liked that each chapter had a few introductory paragraphs. I liked that it was full of pictures. I either Googled it or looked at the picture, too many art history books rely on text mostly. I absolutely hated the weight. The one thing I regret is not buying another second-hand copy at the start that I could cut down to just carry what I needed. NY overtakes Paris as cultural capital of West. Bauhaus figures (as previously mentioned) who established Institute of Design, Chicago.

Purist-abstracters eg Leger, Mondrian, thus transferring the 2 major movements.

Berlin wall erected in 1961, Capitalist Realism of West Germany forming the front line against soviet bloc Socialist Realism.

1. Kennedy years replaced post-war austerity in 1960s bringing changes in artistic climate.
2. Home TV sets with satellite transmission from 1962.
3. Revolutionary Cuba, Che Guevara (killed 67 guerrilla fighting against right wing Bolivian gov).
4. Art just another commodity.
5. Hamilton foreshadowed importance of Photography from 1980s onwards eg Gilbert and George, Cindy Sherman etc.
6. Reproduced in every format imagined rather writing since.
7. Liberated from representation, a record of his emotions in his transported state engaging with paint, creating texture eg Autumn Rhythm, 1950.

Beuys p845 and experimented with future uses of technology in art.

Hoffman created form with colour tensions.

Op (Optical) Art eg Bridget Riley.

Michelangelo Pistoletto (b 1933) moved from 2 to 3d in Minus Objects series.

Art market where they hoped to elude the system. Mainly American responses to landscape. Walter De Maria (b 1935) lightning field in New Mexico.

Christo Javacheff (b 1935) often survive only as concepts with detailed plans etc.

James Turrell (b 1943) took over a volcano for Roden Crater project, 1974 to function as observatories for celestial events. Photo realism, rejection of minimalism but just as targeted. The Estate of Francis Bacon. Abstract Expressionist Philip Guston (1913-80), who also invented New Deal Style murals mid-century. Post-Modernism, last stage of modernism seen as purist trends from post painterly abstraction to minimalism during 70s. Frank Lloyd Wright also felt hostility after 1945. New Orleans, Charles Willard Moore.

Influential teaching of Hoffman.

Matisse continued to influence all sorts of artists eg Louis. Process artists, art can be made from anything. Walker Evans inspired new generation of photographers.

Photographers eg John Baldessari became influential on later developments and students.

Critic Harold Rosenberg unofficial spokesman of Action Painters, 1952. Italian critic Germano Celant coined the term Arte Povera in 1967. Critic Lewis Mumford wrote against Van der Rohe in The Case against modern architecture, 1964. Learning from Las Vegas by Denise Scott Brown (b 1931).

I feel like information overload.

I struggled to get to grips with the concepts. This chapter tied up a few things but I think was slightly confusing too. Formalism is a subset, a radicalisation of Modernism. Postmodernism is really only touched on by architecture. Le Corbusier in the 1920s and the post modernisation being pushed again by architects.

I really enjoyed the Hokusai exhibition at the British Museam on friday.

Japanese were equally influenced the other way too from pigments used to different perspective. For conservation reasons there was a rotation of about half the artworks halfway through the exhibition run because some works can only be displayed for a limited period of time due to their light sensitivity. He started off as a wood block print cutter but mostly he made print ready drawings and other people cut and printed them for him, he had close working relationships with his publishers. His most famous picture is the Great Wave, reproduced on pretty much everything by now. The original Great wave was printed 8000 times, using four seasoned cherry wood blocks carved on both sides. Under the wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) from Thirty-six views of Mt Fuji. Acquired with Art Fund support. He used many different names throughout his career, sometimes passing them on to pupils. Red stamp is painters seal, different for each new name. His daughter helped him in old age complete his work. She tried to pass off her work as his because it brought in more household income. He designed hair comb and illustrated books with woodblock prints. Loved his ghost stories. His sketchbooks of ducks and frogs and insects. Imported Prussian blue pigment. Weeping cherry and bullfinch. Thirty-six Views of Mt Fuji. Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji.

Amida waterfall, deep beyond the Kiso highway.

The Tōyō Bunko, Tokyo. Ujiie Ukiyo-e Collection, Kamakura. Thirty-six views of Mt Fuji.

Still life took on renewed vitality in the twentieth century.

Look at the work of Matisse and the Expressionists, for example. Research how the Cubists also explored new ways of painting objects by treating them as faceted volumes or fragmenting their appearance and reconstructing them from several different points of view. With the exception of some Synthetic Cubist works, early twentieth-century artists still portrayed objects in ways that suggested their individual histories. A Glass of Absinthe, included an actual spoon, which feels as if it had been taken straight from the table of a Parisian café. By the 1960s, however, Pop artists were beginning to portray soup cans and cleaning products in their pristine packaging as anonymous cyphers of modern life.

If you can, find out what the artist had to say about their choice.

What, if any, are the criteria for still life? Impressionism going on at the time choosing a simple set of traditional items and treating it differently creates a different focus to the art. Henri Matisse Still life with Blue Tablecloth 1909 Oil on canvas. Similarly with the Cubists, focus was not really on the objects and dipicting them traditionally but on new ways to treat and old, easy at hand subject. Braque started making relief constructions in 1912, which extended traditional still life painting into three-dimensional space in his Analytical cubism phase. Chair Caning pattern and rope in this image below introduced commercially made parts as raw materials into fine art work rocking the art market and forcing the discussion over the importance of craft skills for artists. Still life, 1914 appears to depict a small sideboard, with a knife, a beer glass, two slices of sausage and a slice of cheese or pâté. This is paintings of the time, the subject is less important than emphasising the painting as an object in itself. He incorporated found objects (thanks Duchamp), here including real upholstery fringe representing a table edging.

Soviet Union and of international communism, turned on its head.

Later, artists like Patrick Caulfield are back to using simple neutral items for formal experiments.

• SPOILER ALERT: this post contains pictures of the work so if you want to save your first impressions then dont read any further!
• Then I saw Lava blobs (16) outside the walkie talkie building.

Sculpture in the city time again!

Here is the map of all 18 locations around the square mile where the sculptures have been placed. Pokemon I just had to see them all. I tried the smartify app on a couple, dont waste your time, it doesnt seem to work (on android anyway). If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

Bugs Bunny sketch, where a door in a frame freely stands on a cliff in a landscape.

As I walked up to this one I got a lovely sense of wonder that you sometimes get with Surrealist work. Without even reading the blurb on the plaque I knew this must reference Magritte but I love that he also mentioned bugs bunny in the list of inspirations. Duchamp did one similar, since this is not a readymade, just made to look like one from bronze, tradition sculptural material. The sculpture was made with the help of advanced technology, scanning a racehorse, part owned by the artist, named Rivera Red. The horse is a subject with deep emotional and historical meaning. Though bent to our will the thoroughbred represents unfathomable instincts. It was first developed at the beginning of the 18th century in England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Arabian stallions.

Every racehorse in the world is descended from these animals.

This was one of the handful of the sculptures which had a homeless person taken up residence nearby.

1. In this case, I thought the big issuer seller and his dog were an interesting subversion of the context of the work.
2. It reminded me a little of the recent saga of the Bull in New York and the subversion of that work by Fearless Girl, then the resubversion of that by Pissing Pug.
3. Plastic bags, Dimensions Variable.
4. Merging art and life, Martin Creed uses ordinary materials and everyday situations to create multimedia works that have confounded and delighted viewers and critics for nearly 30 years.

To be honest, I dont think one person noticed this while I was standing watching, until I raised my phone to take a picture.

I think if he wanted to make it more absured than the everyday he would need lots more bags here! The contents of the aid parcel are listed on an etched, metal plaque placed nearby. This one is just damn strange. Two flesh coloured European size 38 ladies thongs and two pairs of ladies flesh coloured mesh briefs, also European sized 38, purchased by an assistant of the artist from the retailer Topshop. Hummel series, executed on a monumental scale. The kitsch mid-century German figurines depict rosy-cheeked children in idyllic repose. Aryan naïveté becomes a target for parody, and ultimately, defilement and disfigurement. The figures deformed innocence suggests the conditioning of children, from Hitler youths to contemporary, TV-addled teen consumers.

The miniature Adam and Eve find themselves reborn as 18 foot Überkinder; they remain only a suggestion of their former selves, sweetly deformed to the point of abstraction.

The implicit naïveté of the Hummel motif is materially deconstructed, portraying a sophisticated fall from grace for these darling figures, in simultaneously literal and metaphorical terms. This one was creepy. The texture was very interesting though. The wooden shed, painted with black bitumen, emanates an eerie acid-yellow glow from the white strip-lighting inside it reflecting off the painted walls of its interior. The structure appears to be exploding, split apart by the force of the light within.

Referring to garden sheds throughout the suburbs of London, the work has an equally universal impact in its depiction of such a familiar, domestic structure.

It taps into the cultish standing recently of the humble shed. I wonder if he is a follower of shed porn or fifty sheds of grey of twitter? Daniel Buren has explored in several public works, which play with outdoor light, the movement of the sun, architecture and coloured shadows.

They are critical tools addressing questions of how we look and perceive, and the way space can be used, appropriated, and revealed in its social and physical nature.

In his work life finds its way into art, while autonomous art is able to reconnect with life. I think I visited this one at the wrong time of the day. I saw a picture on the internet where the colours were reflected onto the pavement, so presumably they move around the structure with the sun. Probably mid-day would be best.

When I went after work the sun was so low it was behind all the buildings but I could still go into it and look up through the colours which was fun.

Fernando Casasempere (born 1958) is a sculptor working with ceramics, the traditional material of pottery, and his work explores ideas relating to landscape and the environment. Land or Earth Art movement, but Casasempere works out of a very different cultural tradition, being profoundly inspired by the Pre-Columbian art and architecture of Latin America. Reminiscence (2017) evokes not only geology but the remains of a once-grand ruined structure or even a construction site.

Placed in the heart of the City of London it is a powerful statement about the relationship between nature and culture.

The visibly complex surface of these cocoon-like structures is generated by loops of agglomerated tape.

The surface is alluring, even seductive and gently catches both daylight and artificial light, which animate the work further.

1. These works are like small pieces of architecture inhabiting the manmade environment like nests or protective cocoons.
2. Signory Weaver when you need her?
3. I had to go back to see 12 and 13 since apparently I walked right past them without spotting them.
4. Dreamy Bathroom, 2014, Aluminium, bronze, automotive grade paint and lacquer, Dimensions Variable (depends on site location), Approx.
5. The use of bronze, which lends Dreamy Bathroom a sense of sculptural gravitas, is pitched against the colourful, aesthetic playfulness of the shapes.
6. The reflective, brightly coloured surfaces allude to, or parody, the kitsch appropriations of Pop Art, whilst the forms themselves are a nod to the post-industrial rigours of Modernism.
7. Rendered in a combination of industrial, organic and classical materials, Webb combines traditional craft methodologies with modern technologies, in order to create work that evades categorization, and tends towards the inscrutable.
8. Recycle Group reflects on what our time will leave behind for future generations, what artefacts archaeologists will find after we are gone, and whether these artefacts will find their place in the cultural layer.
9. As their name suggests, the duo is concerned about the rising level of material waste as a byproduct of widespread consumerism, creating work through the use of recycled materials.
10. Sculpture in the City features a scene of a person falling into the virtual world executed in traditional saint-like image in mesh bas-relief.
11. The mobile gadgets act as an emphasis that technology has on the modern world and questions yet again the idea of virtual archeology.
12. The work draws inspiration by the futurist novel, Simulacron 3 (1964).
13. Photo by Suzy Walker.
14. Made in 2008, it presents a male torso whose partial exposure reveals the underlying musculature and organs.
15. I wondered if they put it in this out of the way space because people would travel further to see work by a familiar name?

Extracting dried volcanic magma from the Ceboruco volcano in Mexico, and selecting each rock for its formal qualities, he glazes the brittle surface before firing the sculpture at extremely high temperatures for three days.

Each stone, having been subjected to variable elements, such as atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature, reacts in unique, sometimes destructive ways. The artist creates an incongruity between the setting and the course, and the exterior and core, of each piece. I walked passed them both times in a bit of a hurry and must admit to being a bit disparaging about the look of them. When I took the time to read the blub (far enough to the side not to be immediately obvious if you go sailing past) I was amazed to see that they are actually real lava, glazed over. During the past 30 years he has gained an international reputation through his sculpture, drawings and prints. Envelope of Pulsation (For Leo) 2017, is carved from a rare block of granite from Blackenstone quarry on Dartmoor. Leo, who owned the quarry.

Another one where the homeless man is getting more attention that the work, well he was there first!

Its also another one which is easy to overlook, when coming from the other direction you see the giant and green and yellow of the one below pulling you eyes first. I have to say, I still dont like this one. I thought it would grow on me, and perhaps it has a little, but its still meh. In post-WW1 Germany, belief artists could help new social conditions, The Bauhaus, launched 1919 by Walter Gropius, centre of this aspiration in Europe. Surrealists had connections to political revolution including Communism.

Freda joined Mexican national movement after end of 10yr Mexican civil war.

Gov wanted public art for masses. Eg Rockefella, JPMorgan, Ford, San Francisco stock exchange. Had spent a yr in communist USSR (established 1923). Hoped to spread communist ideals in US during Great Depression (caused by Wall Street Crash 1929), Rockefella work rejected when he refused to remove Lenin. Breton stayed with Riveras, collaborating on 1938 anti-Stalinist manifesto.

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936, PhotographDestitute pea pickers in California.

Mother of seven children. Her marriage to Rivera subordinated her as seen in The Two Fridas, 1939, painted during her divorce, p812. Photography still regarded as inferior art to even etching, pictures taken by millions of amateurs. During war years photographers joined pictorial avant-garde. The Bauhaus influential teaching institution. Max Ernst developed the visual equivalent, frottage (rubbings on surfaces).

Head of a Bull, made from bits of bike.

Iron introduced to studio caused 2nd sculptural revolution when Picasso moved from closed to open form works, welded around empty space when he collaborated with metalworker Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942). Gonzalez completely reworked items into constant state of flux as viewer moves. Sheeler pioneered sharp-focus in photography.

Les Champs delicieuses (Delectable fields), 1922, see online here.

Conveys dreams of flight. Conservative sensibility lead to decline of post WW2 work. Picasso painted in multiple styles at once. French ideal, extension of impressionist style with soft natural colours.

Picasso thought them old-hat.

Cult of non-art negated itself. Anarchist Marcel Duchamp caused scandal with his futurist Cubism Nude Descending a staircase, 1912 but his Dadaist ready-mades represent total rejection of artistic canon. Only completed by being accidentally broken in transit in 1927. Surrealism continued provocative gestures eg visitors to an exhibition were handed an axe to destroy the work.

He denied authorship of his 1911-19 work of disturbing desolate Italian piazzas when praised, made inferior copies to confuse, going onto contrived academic styles which embarrassed the Surrealists.

Landscapes man made but unpopulated.

Later work less political more secular. US homeless photography (see above). French Street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) caught vagaries of human behaviour as impartial observer. Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), who made completely abstract assemblages, turning architectural later. Socialist Realism banality of Russian Official style.

Piet Mondrian resigned from De Stijl 1924 over a principle.

Forward looking urban planning, of Le Corbusier, marginalised (skyscrapers in parkland, complex traffic systems etc).

1. WWI great influence on all artists.
2. Cubism impacted Western Art as radically as Renaissance naturalistic style did.

Rivera spent time with Picasso but was unaffected by Cubist aesthetic other than love of geometry.

Nabis group foreshadowed later developments. French art and living thru Great Depression. Matisse still great influence on many artists. Large Glass, became a talisman for artists for compelling active viewer participation p801. Dada a protest against the purely visual. Picasso influenced Vladimir Tatlin. Dali detailed his creative Paranoiac-critical method in book La Femme Visible, 1930. Simone de Beauvoir, author of The Second Sex. I had to chop and change and rearrange. I suppose this was good because it highlighted that it was all going on simultaneously but it made the note taking less smooth than previous chapters.

Really enjoyed finding the pictures online to illustrate my notes.

I think it would be me to do that for the older Assignment notes too. Also found this interesting post on how Constantin Brancusi went to court to prove his Bird in space was art so he didnt have to pay taxes on it when it was designated a kitchen utensil! The visit for this section is actually a choice of two (or both if I get time). I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out something about my local environs. There are no other benches in the area. Prize winning sculpture in a competition for British scultpors under 35 years of age. And it lists the sponsors and judges etc. Before reading the inscription I would have said this might represent a woman or a mother, with a flared skirt, tiny waist and big arms coming in for a giant hug. I research this a bit. As you move around the sculpture, even fractionally, the distorted reflections on every surface change and swirl.

Ritual of Absinthe prep?

David Hockney retrospective at the Tate Britain. I actually bought the catalogue too. After this intro room the show progresses mostly chronologically. It also allows the show to come full circle as some works in the last room of the exhibition relate to those in this room. Showing, through the exhibition Hockneys subtle use of repeating themes. This room sets the scene for the rest, setting the viewer thinking about how Hockney questions the conventions of picture making and illusion of 3D space on a 2D surface. Inspired by the image of his friend John Kasmin, pressing himself against the glass door of the gallery, this large painting plays with illusion, reality of 3D space with theatrical panache. A plexi-glass sheet is a few inches in front of the canvas with his pressed hands and body imprinted on that so what appears real is an illusion and what appears to be an illusion is actually there. Fresco as his starting point here. Similarly with 4 Blue Stools, 2014 (also in the room), Hockney is playing with illusion of space and reality. William Hogarth with his engraving Satire on False Perspective. Whoever makes a DESIGN without the Knowledge of PERSPECTIVE will be liable to such Absurdities as are shewn in this Frontispiece (Hogarth). This is another example where the scene, which on first glance looks real, is actually impossible. David, presumably some sort of artistic in-joke. Hockney in this one is actually a picture within a picture. And the curtain in both paintings looks to be the curtain attached to yet another, unseen painting on an easel behind the sleeping figure of Hockneys boyfriend. I think of all the paintings in the first room this was my favourite.

A witty take on abstract art, which is blasted once you read the title and cannot unsee the realistic representation.

Here, child-like scrawled bodies, identified by numbers corresponding to letters of the alphabet, are situated in areas of spatial ambiguity, offering recognisable representation while drawing attention to formal qualities such as texture and brushwork.

Largely based on his first exhibition, Paintings with People In, at the Kasmin Gallery in London in 1963. A few from his series Domestic Scenes, celebrating longer term gay relationships with portraits of the domesticity between couples. The paintings from this point start to be more observational. Illusion and artifice remained a strong feature of his work of this period, typified by paintings including a curtain.

The images in this room reflect his sunny outlook where he found inspiration in the outside spaces, geometric office blocks, patterns in swimming pools and gardens.

I wondered why not have them all on one wall so you can sit in one place and look to see which one you want?

I wondered how much of this was staged. I love his series of double portraits. As I discovered when researching the Arnofini Portrait, a double portrait is a complex thing. For a double portrait he has to think about all that for two sitters, plus the relationship between them. Fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell with their cat in their Notting Hill home shortly after their wedding (where Hockney was best man). This is much larger than I imagined.

Hockney really must have laid the acrylic paint on thickly here because can hardly see the texture of the canvas at all, the surface is completely smooth.

His expression seems very serious.

• His bare feet are buried in the rug, and as with the AP, Celias long dress covers hers entirely.
• Traditionally lillies were symbol of the Annunciation and feminine purity, they sit in the foreground close to her.

Hockney subconciously picked up signed that their marriage wouldnt last right from the beginning?

AP is not their bedroom but everyone thinks it is (because of the bed)! English novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood (right) and his partner, artist Don Bachardy, in their Californian home. Interestingly, in this portrait, the background is strangely similar but this time the blinds are firmly closed. Both figures are seated and the light streams in from the right. One looks to the other, who looks at the viewer, creating that aforementioned cyclical relationship. There is a bowl of fruit between them on the table and a stack of books on either side, one more book on the left that the right presumably to break up the symmetry? The power somehow feels more balanced in their relationship as represented than either of the one above or the one below. This one is interesting, when continuing to think about the power distribution in the relationship. This window has no blinds at all, combined with the view of skyscapers one could assume they are in an expensive high rise appartment.

Hockney to play again with three different interpretations on the transparnecy of glass.

Although the window is behind them, the light is coming from an unknown source from the left, and since the lamp is not on, this is most likely daylight from another great window. American art collectors Fred and Marcia Weisman outside their modernist Los Angeles house with sculptures by British artists Henry Moore and William Turnbull in the garden. Some of Hockneys work reminds me of the work of artist Jason Brooks (famous for Hed Kandi Illustrations). I wouldnt be suprised if Brooks if heavily influenced by Hockney. They live in the same sun drenched, stylish, happy flat world.

It makes you assume from the picture that something was going on romantically between the two figures in the painting and perhaps this is the reason for the break up (I have no idea if this is true or not though).

Why would you paint someone like this if you were broken up with them? Was this painting, getting them together like this the cause of the breakup? The blurb poses more questions than the painting alone would have done. Kenneth and Laura Hockney. Remembrance of Things Past visible on the shelf. Baptism of Christ (now in the National Gallery; see below) is reflected in the mirror, forming a triptych with the two figures.

Placing himself in the middle connects the two figures of his mother and father in a familial relationship.

Baptism of Christ in the middle, as it was in the middle of the altarpiece, makes the two painted portraits of his parents essentially panels either side (as there were panels either side it on the altarpiece painted by another painter). Is this another art history play with reality vs painted surface conundrum? God the Father (the third member of the Trinity) which may have originally have been represented in a roundel above The Baptism of Christ.

The last one on the way out of this room caught my eye.

This was directly inspired by a window in the Lourve. I saw this window with the blind pulled down and the formal garden beyond. So I took some photographs of it, made a drawing, and started painting. Consciously drawing on a traditionally French style, the pointillist technique of the neo-Impressionists, helped him to loosen his brushwork again, and from the start the painting went well.

The result beautifully depicts the light passing through the translucent blind and its reflection in the parquet floor.

I love the outline ink on paper portraits and seeing the difference using a camera lucidia had on his drawing. And his study of water, phonex arizona 1976 crayon on paper. Too much looking and not enough note taking for this room thou! The earliest work here, a self-portrait, was made when he was a teenager. For Hockney, drawing is primarily a way of looking more intently. Because Hockney tends to make drawings when away from the studio, many reflect his travels and include friends and boyfriends in exotic places, the loneliness of hotel rooms or the pleasures of a lazy lunch.

In the 1990s, Hockney proposed that many artists since the Renaissance had used optics as aids to depiction.

He made a series of drawings using a camera lucida, a device which transfers the observed object to enable the artist to draw it with optical accuracy.

• I remember being especially inspired by this when I was at high school.
• I can see why he used polaroids to start with which he got used to the technique.
• A continuation of Hockneys issues with single-point perspective and a revisit to many familiar themes.
• Taking a cubist approach and trying to communicate the experience of the world as it actually is in 3 dimensions.
• In contrast, he sought to create a photography that could accommodate different viewpoints as well as time and movement.
• Collection of the artist.
• Capturing the motion of a swimmer around the pool.
• He got tired of the annoying white borders so swicthed to 35mm photographs.
• This was an extrodinary collage of 35mm borderless images with the artists foot right on the edge of the cliff.

Another foot one, which shows a tranquil walk around a Japanese Zen garden.

I love this slice of family life one, reminds me of playing scrabble (very badly, and taking pictures) at my husbands family. This is the famous one that everyone knows. I wasnt so keen on the this room.

The discordant colours made my eyes sore.

I love everything about them, the setting. This looks abstract at first glance but is actually very realistic view of winding roads and a high up view of Santa Monica (very small buildings on a giant curve of the bay). It has lots of texture. The post-cubist space that he created during this period was applied to landscapes and interior scenes of his new home in the Hollywood Hills.

Landscape became the subject for paintings that were about moving through the terrain, the winding roads of Nichols Canyon and Outpost Drive being routes from his hilltop home to his studio.

In these works flatness collides with illusion of spatial depth. But above all, these are paintings through which the eye dances, drawn by a sensuousness of line and colour where edges of viewpoints fold into and across each other. One tool he exploited was reverse perspective, which in his stage designs was intended to make the audience feel directly involved in the production by exploiting fluctuations of deep and shallow space. This room concentrates on Hockneys time in the late 1990s when he was producing landscapes (East Yorkshire where his mum lived, Grand Canyon, his house in Hollywood).

Dorset where you get glimpses of bright yellow rape seed, greenary and various other amazing field patterns whilst trying to fight off the spectacular carsickness.

He used multiple viewpoints to create a sense of his movement through the landscape, in particular up and down Garrowby Hill which rises from the Plain of York to the higher Wolds. His multi canvas work is so big it lends some of the vastness of the view by being so vast itself. There is apparently a 60 canvas version! Hockney also determined to paint the vast spaces of the American landscape. In depicting such places Hockney created an illusion of depth by the use of a foreground plain on which were arrayed objects, whether bails of wheat or small desert bushes.

Huge studies of the English landscape across multiple canvases, May blossom on the Roman Road 2009 in particular clearly has a Van Goghishness about the sky.

In 2006 Hockney returned to his native Yorkshire to paint the changing light, space and landscape of the Wolds. March 2006 show that Hockney was painting outside on larger canvases, sometimes moving between several before assembling them to create the effect of a single image. His move to a warehouse studio in Bridlington enabled him to create ever more complex and expansive pictures and begin exploring computer-generated images to aid their production.

Hockney shares with earlier artists including the Romantics an engagement with the landscape based on memory and observation, but his focus is different.

But in the 21st century, I know that is not verisimilitude. I do not think the world looks like photographs. Following on from the big trees and woods pictures in the previous room, this video room gives a slightly motion-sickness-inducing look at a similar scene across 4 seasons. Hockney did video installations but here they are. On each wall is a giant bank of screens showing one season creating an immersive environment. In 2010 Hockney began making multi-screen video works by fixing a number of cameras (one or each screen in the final work) to the outside of a vehicle which was then driven along the road at Woldgate, near Bridlington, Yorkshire. The result was like a cubist film, showing different aspects of the same scene as perceived by a moving observer. As well as an exploration of the way a subject is seen over time, this work was a celebration of the miracle of the seasons. The experience of spring in 2002, after more than twenty years in seasonless California, had been one of the stimuli for Hockney settling in Yorkshire for about a decade. I didnt write any notes for this room. Yorkshire back to the Hollywood Hills in 2013 was marked by two different views of the landscape. Bridlington and Kilham that had provided him with much of the subject matter for his painting of the previous years. The first works he made on his return to California were two charcoal drawings of his poolside garden at morning and evening. Despite the difference in technology his style still completely shines through. This is amazing use of technology but given his age its extraordinary. I found it very inspiring. Hockney has always welcomed the challenge of picturing transparency. The sheen of glass, passage of light, splash of water, all predominate within his paintings, drawings and photography since the mid-1960s. Something else that has characterised his work from the outset when, as a student, he started printmaking, is his constant desire to master new media. In 2009 glass and technology came together in his discovery of the iPhone, and the following year the iPad, as a new drawing instrument. On the iPhone he drew on the small back-lit glass screen with the side of his thumb, changing to a stylus with the larger screen of the iPad, to offer a different variety of line and a new luminosity of colour. I bought the catelog to the show but havent had a chance to read much more than the first few pages yet.

Tate Britain (2017b) David Hockney Exhibition Room Guide.

Start of 20thC saw revolt against all forms of naturalism, pre-war era most daring. US (better known than Cubism), not solely concerned with the arts. Paris still artistic capital for Avant-garde Western art. Moscow merchants whose collections were open to public meaning Russian artists aware of latest European trends.

US architect Wright achieved international fame (but little influence) by 1910 publication of his work in Berlin.

Revolutionary break with Western illusionistic art. His earlier Improvisations had spiritual relationship with primitive art and artists. Painting from subconscious, reactions to own reactions.

Berlin was an innovation in theatre design, high stalactite covered ceiling with central circular stage.

Synthetic Cubism, mirror image of Analytical Cubism working back from abstraction to representation, developed alongside collage, object depicted with forms not derived from it, decorative and disunity.

Inspired by light itself, the sun, the source of life. Contrasts of both line and form, instead of light, his subject was dynamic, discordant, urban, modern life. He became the artist of the machine age after the war. Futurism, short lived, high impact movement. Subjects moving through, or gone. The aims of the movement fully realised in his sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913. Although deeply Christian, Malevich interested as Kandinsky in theosophical speculation. Impossible to detect subject but based on nature. Cubism influenced abstract movements such as Orphism, De Stijl, Constructivism etc. Bird in Space, 1928 (eloquently embodies futurism). De Stijl influenced by Calvinist background. Georges Braque, Aphorisms on art published 1917, emphasised the autonomy of cubism. Cubism 1923 with critic Marius de Zayas, he was sceptical of intellectualising it, should be judged on results not intentions. They exhibited in the Saloons together, they got criticised as a group.

The main thrust of this chapter is the radical changes in such a few short years.

In art, each ism moved it that little bit closer to the complete break with traditions of Cubisms new pictoral language and revolution in sculpture of open form. And the post war optmism of Futurism. Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition looks back at his work through a collection of 450 objects from scale models to architectural drawings. I was just reading about him in WHA today. Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens and others.

Nicolaas Rockox had been a crucial patron of Rubens after he returned to Antwerp.

He was instrumental in the artists being awarded the commission for Adoration of the Magi (1608-9) for the town hall of Antwerp. Formal parallels between the Adoration and Samson and Delilah suggest that Rockox commissioned the latter at about the same time. The sketch is a ravishingly beautiful little study that compacts and condenses all the power and drama as well as the flowing color of the large final version into the intimate confines of a small panel. Antwerp, the sketch advertises his admiration for his Italian sources, with homage not only to Michelangelo but also to Caravaggio and Tintoretto, while displaying brilliantly confident brushwork.

The awkward crossing of his hands is surely intentional and meant to convey a specific reference to betrayal (see Kahr 1972, p295 with further references).

Rubens might have known that painting as well. Chatsworth and one in the John and Mable Ringling Museum, (see below). A great swag of curtain at the top of the composition heighted the closeness of the room, with the added effect of permitting us a covert glimpse of a clandestine act. Also the shelf with glass jars and a towel hanging below, possibly another reference to the work of prostitution (Brown in 1983) but also interpreted as wine vessels alluding to drunkenness of Samsons downfall (Held 1980). The capture of Samson (below).

Since my original post on Rubens, the national gallery have put a video of a lunchtime talk on the page by Freelance lecturer James Heard.

He also looks at how this painting was created specifically to hang above a fireplace in the house of the mayor of Antwerp at the time. I pointed out in my first post, when you see the painting hung in the gallery (high up and angled as though it is above a great fireplace) it is much less flat than when you see the painting online. Rubens sometimes painted on site. Light in the painting, there was a large row of large windows on the left in the original room for which this painting was commissioned which Rubens has taken advantage of in his lighting. Eg the light on the feet. Caravaggio never painted a bare flame, but German painter Elsheimer did (who was his friend). Starting with the brazier, the wind is blowing the flames in the direction of the next light source, the flame of the candle that the old lady is holding. The poses: Michelangelo-esk about the pose of Samson. Rubens made endless drawings to work from while he was in Italy. Checks and balances in the painting. His family were both Calvinists and Catholic so he knows about seeing both sides. He mentions the scandal of his dads affair and imprisonment. He was a measured and sober sort of person. Purple drapery hanging above Samson like the sword of Damocles. Hands and fingers point of interest.

Her hand not quite touching his back, seems as though its floating.

Relationship of verticals, a pattern of verticals against the diagonals, unstable lines.

They are a pause against the curves of Italian inspired drapery.

1. The painting is made on wood.
2. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens: A Critical Catalogue.

John and Mable Ringling Museum.

Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens. Euro-centric focus of the course so far and, arguably, less emphasis on painting as a mode of artistic expression. I expect that continues, also there are two world wars, perhaps items brought back from those would influence artists. Perhaps photography gained more momentum. I know very well, the ruins of 13th Century Hadleigh Castle. I was able to paint over 3 lunchtimes that way. In the eighteenth century ruins were a very popular topic for artists. Turner were among those who toured Britain in search of ruins and picturesque landscapes. Whatever high viewing place he was situated on no longer exists. Neither does the large tree or half of the castle ruins.

I could only see the sea as a tiny blue line in the distance from where I stood.

Morning after a Stormy Night.

1. My paining is not as true to life as the photo.
2. I thought it needed something other than blue sky.
3. Also, Constable always had interesting skies in his pictures.
4. He took scientific study of clouds to get them more accurate.
5. Also, the colour of my sky is wrong, too deep.
6. C of me because they were painstakingly meticulous and would have drawn it all much more accurately than I have the patience for unfortunately.
7. I think this sketch was more successful than the last one (of St Pauls), because I am more comfortable indoors generally.

Also, the clips (and lack of wind) really helped with curling paper situation.

Constable also didnt do his giant canvas in the field, he created this pencil sketch in 1814, the only time he visited Hadleigh. Hadleigh Castle, near SouthendPencil, Page from a sketch book. Pencil drawing of Hadleigh castle.

As an aside, the technical paper on this sketch is very interesting.

Explaing how they know that someone other than Constable has extended the canvas to add to the sketch and composition on the left (and slightly less on the right). Even in the small reproduction, once its been pointed out, you can clearly see the slightly yellow tone to the edge of the sky on the left and far right. Morning after a Stormy Night to the Royal Academy exhibition in 1829, the year in which he was elected an Academician. Maria died in November 1828, and the sombre, desolate tone of the work is generally assumed to reflect his mood at this time. Yale Centre for British Art. As with the previous assignments, I have made the assignment as a pdf document which can be downloaded here: Assignment 4 PDF submission. I have it right this time. I ordered for specific parts of this section took forever to come in so I found this quite difficult this time, meaning my studied were a bit disjointed as I kept having to put bits aside to wait for another book.

I found this useful especially this time for both the annotations and the analysis.

I really enjoyed reading the John Berger essays and I hope to get some time to read some more of them. I did preparation blogposts which allowed me to get my notes out of my system so i could broadly keep within the word limits. I did as direct preparation for the assignment. Since i wanted to do industrial revolution for the 500 words, I wanted something that would reflect the impact of imperialism to annotation, but also something which was a recent event. I hedged my bets and did Goya first, thinking that it is both a contemporary event AND shows the (negative) impact of imperialism. My other thought was to do Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa by Gros as the imperialist work. I found the idea of comparing the raft more compelling. I did better on sticking to the word count in the assignment analysis this time, putting all my long-winded thoughts and research into ancillary blogposts on my learning log. I learned (well after the visit) in section 4 on the 18th century. Age of Reason, due to the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement which swept Europe much as humanism had done in the previous century. Hylands exhibits both styles, its fascinating to see the Rococo interior of the main rooms balanced out by the Neo-classical alterations which were added later. The history of ownership of the estate has been tracked through nine private owners since it was finished in 1730, each making modifications and redesigned. Sir John Comyns was a wealthy, well respected local lawyer. He commissioned a fashionable new red-brick house in Queen Anne style with two storeys and grounds set out in formal geometric design. There was a pleasure garden and small kitchen garden to the north of the house. This was completed in 1730 and is the central part of the house we see today. He left the estate to his nephew, John Comyns of Romford, who, in 1759, commissioned a monument to the life of his uncle, (currently at the family vault in Writtle Church).

Humphry Repton, who is now generally regarded as one of three outstanding designers who dominated the English Landscape movement from about 1720 to 1820 to update the Hylands estate to the fashionable Romantic Movement (eg landscape gardening and neo-classical architecture).

Hylands House became a winged, neo-classical villa, covered in white stucco. With its portico and Ionic pillars, Hylands was considered the height of Georgian elegance. Kitchen Garden, Ice House and Pleasure Gardens, the Serpentine Lake and a lodge to the entrance near Widford.

Kortright sold the house to move to a larger estate in Fryerning to support a larger family before the house redesign was finished.

Pierre Labouchère, a Dutch merchant banker, bought the estate un 1814 and finished off the Humphry Repton redesign of the house and parklands. This is the symmetrical building encased in stucco, fronted by a huge neo-classical portico we see today. He also added a pleasure garden, stable block, and is responsible for filling the interior with neo-classical statues, replicas of which can be seen in the house today, including works by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Attwood wanted peerage so needed the place to be more impressive, so set about updating and enlarging the house to better show his status and wealth.

Hylands, privatised the road from Writtle to Margaretting that ran through the estate and considerably enlarged the house and fully redecorated.

John Attwood eventually moved to France, where he died a pauper, never having realised his dream to become a peer. Arthur Pryor was a partner in the Truman, Hanbury and Buxton Brewery and purchased a much reduced Hylands Estate in 1858. He did little to the house other than some redecoration, although some of the exuberant decoration in the Banqueting Room is credited to him.

Pryor served as a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant of the County and High Sherriff of Essex, and became a patriarchal figure in the community.

He purchased the living of Widford Church, and had it rebuilt, as well as commissioning an entirely new church for the community in Galleywood, the only church in the country built on a racecourse.

1. Hylands House rather than living in it himself.
2. Sir Daniel Gooch was a Edwardian country gentleman who, having initially rented the house and estate in 1905 finally bought it in 1907.
3. He modernised the house and installed electricity and telephones and entertained regularly.
4. Gooch was a keen explorer and part of the Shackleton polar expedition, but had to return home with frostbite before reaching the South Pole.
5. In 1912 the Gooch family hosted a society wedding that made national headlines, as the groom (Mr Claude Graham-White, a well-known aviator) and his friends flew in and landed their aeroplanes in the estate.

During World War I, Hylands was requisitioned as a military hospital and Sir Gooch had installed the most modern medical equipment at his own expense.

She made a lot of changes to the grounds, including adding rhododendron borders and a lawn tennis court.

During the second world war the SAS had their headquarters at Hylands, it was a POW camp and also a wireless command post for the 6th Anti-Aircraft Division. Jeep up the Grand Staircase for a bet. The incident caused much commotion and Christine Hanbury dispatched the men to bed with instructions to remove the Jeep in the morning when they had clearer heads. The Jeep had to be dismantled before it could be removed. In 1962 Christine Hanbury died, leaving Hylands to her trustees. Chelmsford City Council bought the estate and opened it up to the public in 1966, since then the house and grounds have been restored in phases to their former splendour. By 1996 the external work to the House had been completed, the Entrance Hall restored to its Georgian grandeur and the Blue Room and Boudoir were refurbished. The east wing was fully restored and opened to the general public at Easter 1999. The west wing and basement restoration quickly followed and their grand opening took place at Easter 2004. The restoration of the basement area has brought to life the original red brick Queen Anne house and a number of exciting discoveries were made.

Interpretation boards throughout the house offer visitors an informative and photographic display of the restoration process.

By 2005 the house was finally completely restored. The main elements of this project are detailed below. Repton room located with Hylands house. Georgian stables have been restored and converted into The Stables Visitor Centre which incorporates a new visitor centre, with craft studios. Hylands Park is now used stage large events for example the V Festival (since 1996) and it was the venue for the Essex overnight stop of the 2012 Olympic torch relay. A Tetrastyle Ionic portico, four column colonnade topped by a pediment. The columns have the ionic volute capital but the shaft is smooth here rather than fluted. Ornate dentil on the classic cornice. The main entrance door is a double panel door, with Fanlight above. The place had a rather good set of information for visitors. They handed us a sheet with a map on it (luckily it was laminated and dribble proof for my toddler). I took photos of them and tried to relocate them appropriately in my notes here. The same principles apply to a palace on a grand scale, like Versailles or Hampton Court, where a clear distinction exists between state rooms and private apartments. We started in the small dining room (the main entrance was full of people) which had no door to it but was accessed through columns from the hallway. Victorian Oval Stretcher table (2 in the plan) but that now resides upstairs in the saloon. On the right hand side wall beside the columns is a door with tiny faces in the frame (pictured), next to that opposite the mirror was a hanging space for a painting but with no painting hanging there anymore. The wall lighting fixtures and mirror match the style of the chandelier with little cherubic faces etc. Each of the curtained windows actually also has folded back wooden window blinds (pictured). Oppoisite the small dining room is the study. Its a very small wood panelled room which seemed to be part comfy meeting room for bridal prospectives and part storeroom. There was a modern display case along one side of the room, a desk with wedding album on it and a comfy sitting area.

Flamboyant decoration is decreased to create a more intimate, relaxing atmosphere.

Next to the small dining room is a rather ostentatious gold and pink banqueting room.

• In here is plenty of hanging artwork as well as mouldings and soft furnishings.
• At one end of the room, so you see it as you enter, is a large oil painting, Portrait of Arthur Pryor, 1865, (and his dog Satan), by Sir Francis Grant.

Opposite him, at the other end of the room (just beside the entrance), hangs a another large oil painting, Portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Pryor, also attributed to Sir Francis Grant, 1861.

On the left in front of a large mirror is a fireplace with a Victorian Mantel Clock sitting on top. The ceiling and mouldings are ornate with gold patterns and four symmetrical coats of arms (all the same), above the fireplace, window and large portraits. One assumes this is the coat of arms of the Pryors given the other decoration? Jean francois de Troy, reminded me very much of these Rococo decorated rooms, the wall paper, the mouldings, the fireplace with mirror above, and even the ornate clock. The Terrance had large viewing windows onto the gardens but it was a rather funny shaped room.

In this room I could just imagine Mr Darcy chatting in the corner during a ball.

I think this must primarily be used for weddings now given the decor and lack of furnishings. We skipped straight through when we arrived because there were people there arranging their wedding. However when we exited the Terrance they were gone and we were able to appreciate the entrance and its Venus status. Venus with Apple statue in a blind archway. Refer back to section 2 notes on Venus. Diagonal checked floor directs you towards the hallway doors. Hylands House information panel from the Saloon about the Venus statue in the entrance hallway. Raffle-leaf design, scrolling leaf-like ornament found in Rococo decoration. Onwards from the Entrance was the staircase hall. The grand staircase was designed by Humphry Repton.

This seemed more of a very wide corridor connecting all the rooms than a room of its own, perhaps its because all the doors were open.

It had lots more objects to see than the first few rooms though.

• The drawing room is the room with a piano.
• This room was highly decorated with cherubs and gilding.
• Also, some painted decor to match the raised relief patterns.
• The paintings in here were piled high, much like in the Hogarth works.

The sitters of the paintings were all in contemporary dress.

Going back through the Saloon, we went up the Grand staircase to the Grand Staircase Gallery (the little landing outside the Repton room). Nice views of the garden from here. Whitmore, c 1808, when stationed in Chelmsford during the construction of the Napoleonic defences between Gallerywood and Widford. In front and behind the house in the views I saw from the windows its just picturesque natural style gardens with grass and trees and walkways from which you can appreciate the view of the House as you approach.

Reading Architecture: A Visual Lexicon.

Franco-Prussian war ended in humiliating surrender 1870. Next yr, 1st German emperor crowned at Versailles, the Paris Commune was viciously suppressed (Courbet imprisoned for his part). Sisley went to London. Paris a city for men, women and children preferred society in the suburbs, (as painted by Morisot). Public have difficulty comprehending the work of the Impressionists.

Japanese woodblock became widely accessible after 1854 when Japan reopened to foreigners by USA, closed since 1638 expect for Dutch.

Devastating fire in 1871 caused an architecturally innovative building boom in Chicago Changes in bourgeois social living stemming from new domestic architecture as middle-class architects designed medium sized detached houses.

1. A regular feature of 19thC were attacks of outrage on artists by the public.
2. Salon des Refuses opened 1863 to accept works rejected by the Salon including those of Impressionists providing an alternative avenue for success.

Impressionists eventually recognised by cultivated intelligentsia if not the official art world.

Successful artists had good standard of living, eg Monet had 6 gardeners! More artists working without commissions due to independent economic means, amateurs taking up art as a passion, art as a way of life became common changing the status of artists. Scottish Art Nouveau architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) more appreciated in Vienna than Glasgow due to the style spreading via lavishly illustrated magazines which had international circulations. International exhibitions which were a feature of 1890s which would make artists well known v quickly. Japanese prints, a way of seeing form.

With the exception of Degas, the Impressionists completed their finished works in open air, not just sketches.

Positivism influenced the Realists already in their rejection of past and future as subjects.

They should invent nothing, their concern was with truth and contemporary experience. Landscape or outdoor subject, usually small in scale, painted on the spot. Relied on colours blending optically when viewed at the right distance, not much tonal contrast. They combined all these elements that prior artists had used separately.

Paintings appear flat, as per scientific theory at the time that we do both see the third dimension.

Manet, Monet and Renoir often painted together. Edouard Manet (1832-83) was associated but never exhibited with impressionists, seemingly concentrated on exploitation of women eg Olympia. And Degas (1834-1917) who created finished works in the studio with only studies done on location, scenes of modern life, cafes, ballet dancers, nudes etc. He was also a sculptor, highly regarded by Renoir although his sculpture mostly only cast after his death. Influence on Degas not immediately obvious, but it showed him what drawing really meant.

First of the indigenous arts that helped to develop modern western art, followed by African, Polynesian and indigenous American.

His subject matter was more working class, less bourgeois. Symbolism: was main subjective current of anti-Impressionism in last two decades of century. Turned away from objective naturism to imagination and fantasy.

Went to Brittany for backwards village life, Pont-Aven school.

He gave up profitable career as stock broker in 1883 to paint. Belgium, becoming an artist instead to satisfy spiritual craving. Another moody, broody individual was Munch, his unbalanced work having a cumulative effect. Theme of suffering through love, fin-de-siecle disillusion eg Frieze of Life, culminating in the scream, 1893. The Gates of Hell, also shows psychic distress of fin-de-siecle period. He objected to being called a Symbolist, working from nature like impressionist painters his sculptures were naturalistic feats, that also portrayed states of mind. Last great sculptor of old tradition, not innovative as Degas. Historicism provoked demand for a style of the 19th Century, Art Nouveau was the 1st attempt to break from the past. Art Nouveau, though there is no emotional turmoil in the new style, the patterns are purely decorative, flat and relaxed. Art Nouveau designer created buildings with whacky asymmetrical, jagged planes, extravagant forms, often having no straight walls or right angles, everything undulating with organic interplay of exterior and interior. The Red House for artist William Morris. New depth of understanding of Impressionism, art, nature, perception and reality, his paintings had deep level of personal spirituality. Every major painter (except Cézanne) affected.

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes influenced Gauguin.

Craft movement but essentially new style. Scientific theories of 19thC were important to the Impressionists new modern way of seeing. Positivism was a philosophical system created by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), non-scientifically variable explanations are inadmissible. Maupassant also took urban night life as inspiration. Théodore Duret wrote 1st serious discussion of Impressionism 1878.

Academician Jean-Leon Gerome stopped French President entering room of Impressionist work.

Symbolist Movement heralded for poets by Jean Moreas with Socialist Manifesto 1886, who rejected Zola. Poet Gustave Kahn, gave further explicit declaration. Wilde, the importance of being earnest. Assignment 4 instructions requires a 500-word analysis of a maximum of four paintings or sculptures, which demonstrate the influence of political, social and economic changes on either the portrayal of the city or the perception of women in the nineteenth century.

I wanted to focus on the effect of the Industrial Revolution on the art of landscape at this time.

The Industrialisation revolution from 18th to 19th century is not only responsible for our modern way of life but also sowed the seeds that would later blossom into modern art.

• The Industrialisation revolution began in England in 1780s because no guild restrictions or customs barriers as per Europe.
• Exploited still growing colonial empire and overseas trade but cost of lower social level human suffering was very great.

This caused great stress on those cities for the poor, horrific working conditions, bad sanitation, child labour, starvation, the factories created air and water pollution.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the landscape genre was the lowest of the low. Landscape was included in art as background at best. Pilgrimage to Cythera, which was an important turning point for 18th century art.

Based on the Greek Myth of the Isle of Cythera being the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of love, these amorous couples fall in love there.

The painting leaping horse is one such example.

He elevated landscape painting out of obscurity to the size of history paintings, laying the groundwork for the impressionists later in the century. The Leaping Horse is from this series and depicts a tow horse jumping one of the barriers erected along the path by the River Stour to prevent cattle from straying. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1825 but remained unsold. Constable then altered the composition by painting over an old willow stump which was in front of the horse, although a faint trace of the tree can still be seen. The removal of the willow stump and the addition of the half-furled sail on the barge gave the composition greater strength and direction by concentrating the eye on the dramatic leap of the horse. Air polluted by in industrialisation meant introduction of public parks, lungs of the city. Country estate views now available to those classes. He painted his giant canvas in the studio but did many outdoor sketches and delighted in capturing fleating weather conditions in paint. He studied meteorology and was able to lend that scientific precision to his cloud formations. Constables contemporary Turner was famous for his wild seascapes and dramatic skies. In his painting The Fighting Temeraire, he mourns the lost of the glory days of sail over steam. Rotherhithe shipyard to be broken up as the sun sets on past times. In fact, much of this is artistic licence, the actual event note that the old ship had been shipped of its sails, guns and much else, even the sunset would have be in the wrong direction. Like Constable, he is painting an idealised memory, even using white and gold paint rather then her dark yellow and black. Temeraire (the first time this verb was used) along the winding 55 mile stretch of the Thames between Sheerness and Rotherhithe. One tug pulled, whilst the other was behind the Temeraire, acting as a brake. No Longer owns her. Instead, a white flag flutters from the mast of the tug. This shows that a ship was in commercial hands.

Loutherbourg, from 1801 with its great fiery sky from the great blast furnaces of the iron making town of Coalbrookdale, the horse drawn carts in the foreground are a direct contrast and hark back to the simpler times of Constables world.

Painting, Coalbrookdale by Night by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1801. Open coke hearths give off vivid flames and smoke. Archetypal image of the Industrial Revolution. A photograph taken from the tower of a factory with Trafalgar Street on the right and Westgate on the left. A pall of smoke hangs over the mills making it impossible to see the surrounding hills. Sandygate bridge in the foreground to the Mitre Bridge. The river Thames in London was particularly polluted, causing hundreds of deaths from cholera. Satan standing on what could be opposite Westminster, with the Thames turned into a fiery lava flow. Everything has been more or less sacrificed to the optical precision of its colours and tones.

Spacious, measurement, action (history), identity all are submerged within the play of light.

When we look at a landscape, or a crowd of people, we do not instantly see every face, or leaf in detailed focus, but as a mass of colour and light. Impressionist painters tried to express this experience. You cannot enter an impressionist painting; instead it extracts your memories. Like Constable the Impressionists did their painting out of doors, unlike him they often started, and sometimes finsihed the painting outside, rather than making sketches from which to work in the studio.

Impressionism appeared as a liberation to the claustrophobic mid 19th century bourgeois culture.

While working on his London series, he rose early every day to paint Waterloo Bridge in the morning, moving on to Charing Cross Bridge at midday and in the afternoon.

1. He observed both motifs from his fifth-floor window at the Savoy Hotel.
2. He worked on all of his London paintings in his studio in Giverny, refusing to send any of them to his dealer until he was satisfied with them as an ensemble.
3. Another of Monets London paintings was this one, currently held in the National Gallery, done when he lived here for a year during the Franco-Prussian War.
4. Thames, but puts more emphasis on the industrial nature of the river.
5. An early work of the post impressionist artist Paul Signac also took inspriartion from the urban, industrial landscape.

His painting The Road to Gennevilliers (below), shows the industrial town of Asnières (where he lived with his mother) is pushed right back onto the horizon with a bleak, blank forground taking up much of the picture.

This area was awaiting future development into factores and houses. All of this all describes a landscape entirely shaped by human activity. National Gallery of Art.

Royal Academy of Arts Collections.

The man on the horizon looking left with his arm outstretched to the right.

1. Then the darker skinned person waving the red cloth, then the rest of the people on the raft.
2. The dead at the front of the raft and the waving man at the back.
3. The warm colours of the raft, the sky and the live people contrast with the cold sea and the deatlhy pallor of the dead.
4. The palate is mostly warm in the middle where the drama is and cooler around the edges where there is only sea and death.
5. Like the Goya 3rd May, here we see again most of the colours are quite dull but the bright red, accents are fresh, dramatic.
6. As with the 3rd May, there is a wide range of colour values, the mood is tense.
7. Use of contrasting colour values pick out areas of interest, the people on the top of the raft are dark against the bright horizon, the pale dead bodies in the bottom of the frame are quite braight agains the gloom.
8. Contrasting colour values are also used to model three-dimensional forms of the bodies, the dramatic lighting and treatment of the people is reminincent of Caravaggio.
9. The distribution of the colour values helps pull your eye around the composition.

Unlike the 3rd May, the oil paint has been carefully applied and blended to be almost classical in style.

Yes, the heroic history painting, which of course this is not. They overlap the parts of the raft such as the man with his hand draped over the woodern bean in the forground and the people sat in front of the base of the mast. This gives the illusion of depth. The edge of the raft and the slats in the rafts construction fool your eye with linear perspective. Unlike the 3rd May, the modelling is very detailed in every aspect of the painting from the frothy waves, to the textures of the dead peoples skin, clothes and clouds in the sky, othing is roughed out.

The lines of the raft form a base as an implied diamond shape on which the drama unfolds.

This is countered by the mast and rigging.

1. This is countered by the lul of the waves next to the raft.
2. The vertical is created by the shear number of people and the forshortening of the people, two main verticals are the mast and the waving people.
3. The horizontals are all formed by nature, the curl of the wave on the left, the horizon and the stormy clouds above.
4. The forms are much more realistic that those in the 3rd May, making it much more grusesome to look at the details.
5. WHA details a little of this painting so I already know a little of the background context.
6. This horrifying incident was famous from the papers, the audience of the Saloon where it was first exhibited would have known the story well.
7. These people were truly victims of incompetence of the royalist captain, suffering for no noble cause.

So the piece is about corruption of the newly restored monachy (for appointing the captain a newly returned royalist emigre).

Greek athletes (WHA, p647), rather than emaciated, bearded and covered in sores which is actually how they appeared when rescued. On the face of it though, the focus of the work is on suffering and hope. You assume that the people waving with their backs to you are wearing expressions of hopeful desperation. In this, at least they have hope. Both works are both gruesome and physically imposing. They are both political. Both of the paintings are breaking with the traditions of a history painting. Both depict senseless loss of life by ordinary people, not heroes especially, innocent people. Both have been picked up as political allogory and inspired modern interpreatation by later artists. Goya had a patron for his work, and was already an established artist, conversely Géricault expressly picked this subject to launch his career (because he was comforatably middle class enough to be able to afford to work without commissions). Louvre catalogue as indicated. Interestingly it draws parallel between some of the figures from the raft and some of the figures from Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa by Gros which I was going to annotate instead of this against the Goya work. Géricault apparently greatly admired Gros. Pygmalion and Galatea (which triumphed the same year). Monsieur Géricault seems mistaken. The goal of painting is to speak to the soul and the eyes, not to repel. There is some conflicting information whether it was 15 or 10 that survived, i think this is because 15 survived by 5 died shortly afterwards so they didnt really survive long.

Two of the survivers wrote a book on their experience.

Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys who hadnt been to sea for 20years and was wildly inexperienced for such a commission, the king came under fire for allowing his appointment. Dispite all this he tried to play down the political nature of the work by exhibiting it under the name Scene of a Shipwreck. He employed the original maker of the raft to make him a replica from which work work. The dimentions of the painting are such that this wouldnt be beyond the realm of possibilty. I did check Hockneys book but this painting isnt mentioned. Obviously inspriartion for the painting came dirctly from the story and Géricault did meticulous research into dead bodies etc but there is clearly artist license being taken with the figures and the composition. Michelangelo sent shivers up my spine, these lost souls destroying each other inevitably conjure up the tragic grandeur of the Sistine Chapel.

Its possible that some inspiration came from this painting by American artist John Singleton Copley which caused a stir in Londons Royal Academy in 1778.

Brook Watson, who in 1749, had been attacked by a shark while swimming in Havana Harbor. Géricault visited London but it would have been well known while he was doing his research. According to Eitner, the composition when through several iterations as the artist progressed, he first had the raft much further back in the scene.

Argus, in the background so tiny, that tiny strip of ocean between the top of the raft and the horizon is interpretaed by the eye as miles and miles.

Eitner also points out that Géricault violated certain expectations that the audience would have. He radically broke with contemporary art when he created a major public image without traditional religious or political meanings, on such a large scale which was usually reserved for such. Additionally, Géricault omitted from the Raft all devices for placing human suffering in an ideological context. Its drama has no heros and no message. No God, saint, or monarch presides over the disaster; no common cause is in evidence; no faith, no victory justifies the suffering of the men on the Raft: their martyrdom is one without palm or flag.

One polarizing element was the inclusion of a black man holding the flag that could bring about their salvation.

Political digs like these were what kept the public talking.

1. The man in white, then the soliders, then the bloody bodies on the ground.
2. The dent in the mans hand, stagmata?

A narrow colour palate with lots of earthy colours in it makes it feel realistic but also doesnt distract from the tonal lights and darks.

The mostly warm palate this increases the tension, too much heat on a cool night in spain. There is a wide range of colour values, the mood is tense. Use of contrasting colour values pick out areas of interest, the light is coming from the lanturn, illuminating the man and the crowd but the soilders are a dark force cutting over the corner of the light. The oil paint has been applied in what looks to be a hurried fashion, which scratches to reveal layers of colours underneith on the texture of the background.

The main figure in white would actually be massive if he stood up so his size has been manipluated to to larger than life.

The diagonal line of soilders pressing in is quite dramatic, they aim the guns as a strong horizontal at the man in white. The leg of the first soilder is the diagonal towards the pile of bodies, countered by his sword hanging down. Goya, in WHA so far so I already know a little of the background context. Spain in 1808, the two paintings 2nd of May and 3rd of May are a pair, representing the uprising of the Spanish against the invaders (2nd May) and the subsequent consequences of that uprising seen here in the 3rd May. French soldiers are in the middle of executing the local patriots, the bodies pile up beneath the kneeling man in white who raises his arms in surrender, defeated, he represents the nation defeated, he appears as a heroic martyr. His face looks desolate, he knows what is coming next. He monk preys next to him and others in the waiting crowd cover their eyes.

All this plays out in front of the church which did nothing to intervene.

Goya uses broad, loose brushwork, blazing colour, and dramatic chiaroscuro lighting to stress the realistic scene. The composition is chock full of Christian symbolism, perhaps this scene is taken from a variety of sources of inspiration to represent what actually happened. Pyrenees into allied Spain under the pretext of invading Portugal. Once in there, he started to take control of regions of Spain. King Charles IV of Spain attempted to flee to South America when he realized what was happening but was forced to abdicate before he could. His son Ferdinand VII took over rule. Napoleon invited both Charles and Ferdinand to France. Fearing their leaders would be executed, the people of Spain rose up against the army (on the 2nd May) and were brutally suppressed (3rd May).

Two days later, Napoleon took control, forced both kings to abdicate.

Along with its companion, The 2nd of May 1808 in Madrid: the charge of the Mamelukes, this work was made at the initiative of the Reagent, Luis de Boubon in 1814. Both works may have been used to decorate a triumphal arch during the return of Fernando VII to Madrid, or to commemorate the celebrations of the second of May. The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid, The Executions, The Shootings on the Príncipe Pío Hill, (for the location of the scene) and The Third of May, 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid. It is my ardent wish, to perpetuate by means of my brush the most notable and heroic actions and scenes of our most glorious insurrection against the tyrant of Europe. The lower left side still shows the marks of damage suffered when this canvas was transferred to Valencia in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The focal point of the composition is the illuminated figure of the main figure whose glowing white shirt and disproportionate size immediately draws your eye.

One suddenly realises how much rhetoric even the greatest painters have employed in their efforts to make us believe in their subjects.

With Goya we do not think of the studio or even of the artist at work. We think only of the event. Does this imply that The Third of May is a kind of superior journalism, the record of an incident in which depth of focus is sacrificed to an immediate effect? I recognise that I was mistaken. West has ever seen.

Most of the victims have faces.

The killers do not. Third of May, and rightly so: with this painting, the modern image of war as anonymous killing is born, and a long tradition of killing as ennobled spectacle comes to its overdue end. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes was born in a village called Fuendetodos in Aragon, to a modest family in 1746.

He studied painting from age 14 under José Lúzan y Martinez.

This had a profound impact on his art, which became increasingly visionary and strange.

He married Josefa Bayeu in 1775, sadly they had many pregnancies and miscarriages during their life together.

1. He was the court painter before, during and after the war but images he created during and after the war were much darker, both emotionally and visually, than anything he had done previously.
2. He saw many of the war atrocities first hand, prompting him to create a series of anti-war etchings Disasters of War (Desastres de la Guerra) from 1808, these intended for private consumption and were not published until much later in 1863.
3. Goya focused on how war brings out the basest human instincts.

May present a more politically charged version of the actual historical events.

In his works it is not, as with all those who romantically frighten themselves, the dark that holds horror and terror.

The light in his work is merciless for the simple reason that it shows up cruelty. Goya was honest in facing the facts whilst still preserving his ideals. The painting has had tremendous influence on artists since the 1800s, for example Manet, Picassco, and many war photographers. Picasso was ardently anti-war, in his Massacre en Corée he depicting an assassination by firing squad during the Korean War and you can clearly see the influence of the 3rd May here.

Derry buildings in the background.

The setting has poignant resonance with another date. Its the corner of Glenfada Park where just feet away Jim Wray, William McKinney, Gerard McKinney and Gerard Donaghy were shot and fatally wounded on 30th January 1972. Francisco Goya, The American Revolution, and the Fight Against the Synarchist Beast-Man. What can I see just by looking at this art work? How was this art work actually made? When was it made, and what was happening in art and broader history at that time? Why did the artist create this work and what is its meaning to them, and to us now? In early 19thC revolutionary changes in philosophy and science made the universe seem more mysterious rather than less, the Age of Reason was over.

Press censorship caused artists such as Honore Daumier to satirized in lithographs.

Unionist View of the state of the nation.

They were still excluded from the Saloons from 1850 though. Artists such as Ingres petitioned against the ruling but Delacroix refused to add to the petition. The poet Alphonse de Lamartine thought that photography was a collaboration between artists and the sun. Artistic thought changed last decade of 18thC and 1st of 19thC, out of the radical changes brought by revolution came notions about artistic freedom, identity, sincerity, uniqueness.

When the Louvre opened to the public, artists were able to freely study the works of the old masters which were previously unavailable to view.

Exhibiting in London, Paris and Berlin enabled artists such as Albert Bierstadt to achieve international reputations. David, reflected aspirations of empire as well as David had of the republic. Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) was a painter of a new type, middle class with a private income enough to support him working without commissions, this allowed him artistic freedom to choose his own subjects. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) had academic backing, based on precedents of Claude and Poussin. Drawing in the open countryside became the equivalent of life class where they could make etudes. Roger Fenton (1819-69) was sent by the British gov to the Crimean war to take photos to disprove blundering military leadership. Multi-storey factories were built of iron to reduce the risk of fire, this impressed Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

Artists such as Blake coloured of prints by hand using watercolours.

They started with etudes, precise studies of bits of the countryside (observed from life) which could be used in later studio compositions. Oils of the same period relied on heavy scumbling and much use of palette knife, these departed much more radically from accepted academic manners, shocking conservative critics. Constable prepared works with drawings and full size painted sketches, worked with bravura of handling of fully loaded brush or palette knife. Turner clashed with this sentiment whilst at the academy, with violent colour and handling of paint that shocked the critics. Turner wrote a poem The Fallacies of Hope, printed in the catalogue.

Camera Obscura developed in his mind.

Fox T independently experimented with a different process, two stages because his camera recorded negative images on transplant paper which had to be fixed, placed over another sheet of sensitised paper and again exposed to light to make a positive print.

• USA for the rapidly growing demand for portraits.
• However figures stiffly posed with serious expressions they could hold for the long exposure time.
• He called his negatives calotypes, beautiful images.
• Daguerreotypes because of the rough paper, this was superseded when glass negatives came in 1850s which helped provide greater definition and sharpness but some artists preferred the fuzzy ones as works of art rather than visual documents.
• Critics were against photography becoming a new art form.
• Some artists such as Delacroix incorporated photographs into their workflow to draw sketches of nudes.
• His photos, which he made into lantern slides enabled the middle classes to go slumming without discomfort.
• His compositions actually had the effect of distancing the sordid subject matter, insidious in their supposedly innocent objectivity.
• Romantics only guiding light was their inner feelings.
• Neoclassisc not rejected but fragmented.
• Non-European people began to be seen as individuals rather than exotic.

He was employed at the Royal Court, welcomed the enlightenment, shared hatred of injustice, religious fanaticism, superstition and cruelty.

July: Liberty leading the people.

John Constable (1776-1837) said that painting was another word for feeling (as did David Friedrich), his sketches are full of feeling but his finished works seem over-elaborated to our modern eyes. His subjects were of landscapes with manmade canals or other manually worked land. Gothic Revival in England in early 18thC. Classical, although the result was a compromise.

Gothic revival from being a deception.

Sometimes, such as in Italy they also had overt political overtones. Socialist, self-taught Frenchman Gustave Courbet (1819-77) did, albeit in a different way, with Realism. Realism encouraged choosing of unconventional subject matter including sordid or industrial scenes. Jean-Francois Millet (1814-75) specialised in depicting rural working class people. He was a Socialist but came from a respectable bourgeois family. He wanted to be accepted by the Salon but also to shock, which he did with several of his paintings. America presented artists with landscapes of the grandest scales. Paris inspired by Ancient Rome to bolster his right to rule. He also included Ancient Egyptian influences eg Egyptian obelisk on the Place de la Concorde. His architects sent these designs abroad to inspire other nations too. May 1808 might be seen as replies to Capitulation of Madrid by Gros.

Painted portraits influenced photography more than the other way around.

Far West was influenced by Turner. Charles Darwin (evolution of species). This heralded an end to philosophy being a branch of natural science. Goethe, greatest creative writer of the time, wrote essay in 1799 on Wincklemann, he deplored the movement of Romantic philosophy. Concerned with theoretical certainties rather than rights of man or systems of gov. Robert Owen (1771-1858) wrote factory essays, involved in trade unionism and co-operative movement. Liberty leading the people for the Salon. Romantic architecture, no singular overall style but dictates each architectural design must be one style.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) was a brilliant architect who tried pretty much all the styles looking for one of his own.

Gothic revival more exposure.

• Historian Francis Parkman (1823-93) wrote about the American wilderness.
• Carlyle and the astronomer Herschel.
• I have all three chapters covered.
• I think much of the early century info on Napoleon will collapse down nicely when this and the last chapter are written up together.
• Also, many of the critical facts could have been put into multiple sections so with the template as it is there seems to be quite a bit of crossover, although I tried to avoid duplication.
• The impulse to modernity was expressed in the nineteenth century in three main ways: through Romanticism, the realism of Courbet and the work of the Impressionists.
• Seeing this exhibition was not only recommended by my tutor as part of the A3 feedback but it was already on my todo list anyway after researching him during part three.
• It starts by looking at his early years in Rome where he painted The Cardsharps (this was not in the exhibition though, see my previous post) and Boy bitten by a Lizard (see below).
• Many of his followers not only emulated his style but also his subject matter.

Both sides are well argued.

At the bottom of the piece is a poll, I voted yes and apparently so did most other people. House at 18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields. My previous visit to Hylands House in Essex was supposed to be for part 3, but on reading that part 4 required a visit to a Neoclassical house I realised I that needed to replace that part 3 visit with another. Century house, which he lived in with no modern amenities such as electricity etc, which he could show people round as a way to make a living. He wanted people to be able to walk through the picture frame of an old 18th C masterpiece into his house. He came to live in England in 1967 after falling in love with the England he saw in old black and white movies and started out running tours of London in a horse-drawn carriage. He slept in each of the houses ten rooms to sense the atmosphere that each room had and then set about amplifying that so that ordinary people might see what he saw. Your senses are your guide. Room One: The Cellar.

You join smart Georgians in rising above low prejudice to move up the stairs and onto the piano noble.

Baroque, and you arrive within the light of reason to be greeted by the sight of things so delicate that they would never survive a night on the street. All this to sharpen your skill at balance so that the fear of your own clumsiness might persuade you to take closer care and join the quest for harmony for which the mid-to-late 18th Century was so committed. Room Four, The Smoking Room, as to the practical disadvantages of all-male extremes; pure Hogarth. It is the reforming climate of this aftermath that prepares you for further refinement.

In Room Five, the withdrawing room, men and women are brought together in a regulated state of harmony.

However, on the Top Floor, now stripped of any prettiness and filled with lodgers, what good are Reason and Romance on their own? Albert Memorial was once intended: as representative of the call to the wisdom of the inner-soul for help in dealing with the outer life. In that room you are at home. Those in the past were also dizzy and dumbstruck by the same series of spells that, though they conformed, they probably missed it all too.

It was your humanity in response to the house that adds life to it and makes tending it so worthwhile.

You are our television. I missed the first entry. I wanted to take a photo of the outside but there were too many people in the way. They only allow 10 in per time and they stagger entry. I took a photo of the front door over the heads of the others. I assume that in the evening they light a lot more candles. Servers severely frowned upon in his book. The cellar is very spooky, with the sound effects of a beating heart and the cold damp smell. When everyone is around you the recorded sounds go unnoticed because of the tourist clomp on the wooden floor.

The imaginary Jervis family, who fled persecution in France in 1688, and bought the house in 1724, were always out of sight but the sounds and scents evoke a time or a scene.

The floorboards creak (not just with tourist feet), and the real fires crackled.

1. Distant horses hooves reminded me of his book and of past times.
2. Elaborate open air festivals had played an important part in European court life ever since the Renaissance, combining entertainment with instruction about the magnificence, wisdom and power of princes.

Hence the creation of Zwinger in Germany.

Roman republican virtues of Cicero taught in schools, ideas over the landscape garden began to change. Natural signified not the wild and lawless, but the divinely ordered universe, as revealed by Newton, in which everything had its appointed place. Pompeii (from 1748) fed new insights into ancient culture into Classicism. Museums regarded for first time as institutions for public education. Louis XVIs minister for the arts but became a symbol for impending revolution. Declaration of Independence meant US became the promised land of the Enlightenment.

Frenchman to take a side.

When more moderate views came in many were imprisoned, including JL David. Napoleon Bonaparte rose in prominence, leading a coup in 1799. In 18thC France, private collectors were prominent enough to provide work for artists. Louis XIV changed favour from those artists who supported the Academy to those who dissented. England where industrialisation was more advanced. Royal Academy (RA) founding in 1768 with first president being Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), knighted year after founding, who was obsessed with status. Dead Minotaur was a success, he was awarded important commissions in Rome despite his youth. Industrialisation was the theme for 18th C processes, factory-like efficiency pervaded. Silk Mill by the River Derwent, for twisting or doubling silk into thread. The 1st spinning machine was patented in England in 1738, the first spinning mill in 1771 which was developed by Richard Arkwright in Derbyshire. In painting, secular works were in minority but the innovative art of the time, more romantic themes emerged.

Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) painted fête galantes, fanciful paintings of well-dressed people frolicking outdoors.

Early 18thC style of architecture (as seen in French townhouses and German churches) was one of a plain exterior and lavish interior, more concerned with manipulation of space than with form. Juste-Aurele Meissonier (c1693-1750), with pictorial motifs such as shells and tendrils with defined structure. Eg Hotel de Soubise in Paris. Both appealed to the same patrons though. Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809) whose work was more solemn and classical in style and almost a direct critical opposition to Rococo. Church interiors were designed to give a vision of heaven. Painting, architecture, and sculpture (stucco figures and huge shells in the corners) interpenetrate to create a total environment masking the frontier between realty and fiction. Scottish architect Colen Campbell (1676-1729) was one of several architects who wanted to return to Classical principles by way of Andrea Palladio. Grand Tour which rounded off a classical education for the wealthy where they could see old masters painted in the grand style. George Washington were depicted in contemporary dress (by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), leading sculptor of his day). Rococo finally renounced in 1750s, seen simultaneously in France, Germany and England. His were the first great works of art to be was specifically intended for Museums. The emphasis on geometry as opposed to free-flowing space. German naturalistic style dating back to Middle Ages.

Bolognese were influenced by their own early 17thC masters.

Grand Tour influenced everyone. John-Baptiste Dubos (1670-1742) furthered this, writing what appealed to the senses outweighed what appealed to the mind. In 1711, Alexander Pope wrote a key essay on Criticism.

I must say, I should have studied this section before my visit to Hylands house!

It will certainly help me with the write-up and background reading on what I saw. Hogarth and the décor for example. I can check that bit out from above in google maps when I come to write up the visit in more detail. This was the Age of Reason, due to the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement which swept Europe much as humanism had done in the previous century.

The condemnation of despotism, criticism of the established church and state ended up with demands for liberty and political representation culminating in the revolutions, both American and French.

I noticed that painters of the time are much more politically involved and this is shown in their art, especially JL David. I found his painting of The Tennis Court Oath really interesting because of the reportage contemporary look but with poses from antiquity making the scene like so many new Romans gathered. The images we see today are often politically motivated in the same sort of sense, lots of propaganda. Ditto the landscape, this was the age of the more natural looking landscape garden in England and much of the beautiful picturesque views that I drive past when I visit family in Dorset probably came out of these ideals. Grandma who passed that on to me from a young age of seeing the reproductions in her house. It helps that much of the famous views in Venice still look like that when you visit them now (except filled with modern tourists). Another student directed me towards this interesting link, from March 2007, apparently a Milanese art historian had discovered that Michelangelo Merisi was not actually born in Caravaggio as previously assumed. He was born in Milan, on September 29, 1571, and baptised at the church of Santa Maria della Passarella according to the baptism records. Citizens of the town of Caravaggio were a bit sceptical (tourist revenue is at stake of course).

His parents were married in Caravaggio and there is documentary evidence that he said he was from Caravaggio so perhaps he was brought up there and maybe even unaware himself of his birthplace?

The best-known names in nineteenth-century English landscape are JMW Turner and John Constable. As always, new materials and process were important. Both painters worked in watercolour and oils; Constable made his preparatory studies for the large oil paintings in watercolour. Turner retained historical or mythological references in some of his pictures, especially his oil paintings. Constable, on the other hand, was a strong advocate of landscape as important in its own right, independently of such references. The growing popularity of the genre in England saw the appearance of numerous books of instruction for the landscape painter, each with their own approach.

Writing in the late eighteenth century, the English watercolour artist Alexander Cozens emphasised creative imagination and the demands of the picture as a whole.

In 1842, T H Fielding was publishing an elaborate chart of colours with comments on their use. The cartridge paper which he was the first to use has a warm tone, yet by a cunning opposition of blues this same paper, where it is left blank for the gleam of falling water, appears pure white. The precision of the brush seems perfectly spontaneous, as it moulds the rocks and evokes the shapes or foliage and defines the interrupted threads of spray. In watercolour, accurate attention to effects and the means which produce them is vital; washes and opaque passages have their own qualities. In your learning log, reflect on the properties of the medium that made it so popular for this type of work, both for artists and audiences. Encouraged by 17th century Dutch landscape painting and exposure to Italianate landscape painting as part of the Grand Tour classical education. During the industrial era, nostalgia for fresh air and simple country ways provided the impustus. British landscape, ie those elements of a landscape which could form an appropriate landscape painting.

The watercolours of the 18th century are more like lightly washed tinted drawings on paper.

I noticed (through a quick google image search) that they are often incredibly detailed and accurate looking and not at all like the wishywashy watercolour that i remember from A-level art 20years ago. I decided to have a go at painting st pauls in my lunch hour in the 18th century style. On reflection I can see a few things that would have helped me get a better result (short of extra talent or training in watercolours, one of the reasons for doing a photography degree). I was using the wrong paper. I used my normal sketchpad, not the lovely, thick, textured almost card paper of a watercolour pad. Consequently when the paper got a bit wet towards the end it started to curl. Not helped at all by the wind which had picked up during my time painting which seemed to whip in under my brush and curl the paper.

Also, I was cold and short on time.

Perhaps with some ink rework over the top it could be salvaged.

I think I did much better with the WHA chapter notes (although I fell off the wagon a bit with the Arnolfini books).

I tried to condense my material into one set of comments per section.

• I got there so I still overshot a little and had to trim slightly for the assignment.
• I used this advice with the annotation of the Arnolfini portrait as there are many different interpretations of that.
• There were lots of comments on annotations in both sets of feedback so I obviously needed to work on that.
• I spent a long time researching the Arnolfini portrait across several books (as well as websites).

I found space in which to put all the annotations I wanted to say an issue in all three assignments.

I expect it boils down to making my comments more concise and far-reaching rather than stating the obvious or anything too long and wordy. I created a full blog post for each of works to discuss them individually so I could comfortably get my head around them both (and all my words out) before comparing them and selecting only the salient points for my annotations. I need to find a place to store all my research and the blog is supposed help me with my learning. I also took a look at the Open University study diamond model as recommended. National Gallery were very impressive. I took a similar post, per topic approach to comparing two artists for the 500-word analysis. Rembrandt, also Frans Hals and Jan van Goyen seemed less interesting in the WHA. I really enjoyed this section, probably my favourite so far.

I think I was quite through for the Arnolfini Portrait but possibly a bit light on the Rubens, which might be picked up on in the feedback?

I actually completed, I knew I was running short on time so I skipped ahead to the assignment and have yet to do some of the exercises. I meant of photographic subjects. Associate Artist, George Shaw, has been busy creating new work in response to the collection since autumn 2014. Humbrol enamel paint, typically used to colour model trains and aeroplanes. For the second annotation I choose a narrative painting from Rubens, Samson and Delilah. I learned in reading about the OU study diamond to this painting review too.

A narrow colour palate with lots of warm colours in it makes it feel sensuous.

Not really, this brings a warm harmony to the painting. Many more warm colours makes the place seem inviting sensuous. There are both, the background is a dullish wooden brown but the colours of the satin materials are bright. This brings the foreground as the main focus of the painting. There is a wide range of colour values. Use of contrasting colour values pick out areas of interest and are heavily used to dramatic effect to pick out the details and two focus areas al la Caravaggio. This seems a pretty conventional use. His arm leads up and back to his face and the face of the man behind him. Armed men in the background seem to be glaring at each other to keep quiet and not wake the man. He is big and muscly but still, should they be worried? You feel sorry for the deeply asleep man. This is based on a bible story (Old Testament, Judges 16: 17-20) where a Jewish hero, Samson, fell in love with Delilah.

Philistines so they bribed her to find out the secret to his great strength and help to capture him.

She asked him many times and each time he gave her a false answer but eventually he gave up and told her that his strength was there because his hair had never been cut. So while he was sleeping they cut his hair, his strength left him and they captured, blinded, imprisoned and humiliated him. Then when his hair grew back his strength returned and he pulled a temple down on everyone, including himself and all the Philistines rulers. The Philistines wait just outside the door, trying to be quite.

According to the blurb on the National Gallery page, this painting was commissioned by Nicolaas Rockox, alderman of Antwerp (and personal friend of Rubens), for his town house in 1609-10.

Apparently it was designed to hang above a giant fireplace, so all the warm colours would look all the more sumptuous in that setting. The painting is hung at the same height in the gallery because it is a best height from which to appreciate the perspective. 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).

A modello is a small preparatory oil sketch on a wood panel, they could be used as a draft to get the clients approval and as a guide to composition for the finished work.

Rubens often then handed over much of the preparation and painting of the main version to his assistants and pupils, carrying out only the final finishing touches. This painting, like the Arnolfini Portrait, is on Oak as was the early Netherlandish tradition. This is made up of 6 horizontal planks glued together, probably by a professional panel maker. The panel was prepared with a white chalk ground with a binding of animal glue, another Netherlandish tradition. He also uses a limited number of pigments. The painting is hung quite high but it seems to look much better according to the perspective than when you see it online, which is line with what I read about it being desinged to be seen at this height. Keeffe at the Tate Modern.

Keeffe retrospective before the show and I was really glad I did.

Oil paint on canvas.

I really liked her use of contours. I like the simplicity of shape and I love the gradations of colour. Kew Gardens, taking colourful close up photographs of the flowers for a past assignment. Photograph for Colour Assignment in OCA module Art of Photography. I think she just zoomed into the perfect bits.

I agree that the critics see something that perhaps she did not intend.

Room 10: the black place and the white place. This has been a very exciting visit. I did take a picture from the balcony of the shop while I waited though.

So here I wanted to note down what I found out about the Open University study diamond model (as recommended in the last feedback) and combine for my own reference the feedback on annotations in general.

Continue to show further evidence of a developing critically evaluative and self-reflexive learning narrative. So what is the OU study diamond model? The Study Diamond represents an approach to analysing and interpreting texts such as poems, works of art, pieces of music and works of literature. When used methodically, the Study Diamond provides a reliable and reusable formula for arriving at well-argued conclusions when interpreting a particular work. The top point of the diamond is Effects. Art work often has a Meaning behind it and that can change depending on its Context. Perhaps the most important evidence is that which records your own reaction to these art works. The model encourages us to record our thoughts and feelings the very first time we see an artwork because the more we study and find out about it these initial thoughts will be changed. Arnolfini portrait for a while now and cannot recall what my initial reactions were. Form is the overall shape of the art work and various techniques such as use of colour, medium and arrangement of composition are used to create this. For each of these questions we can identify what technique and effect they have. Basic colour theory comes into play when assessing the mood a combination of colours have in an artwork. Tonal values (eg light and dark areas of colours, tints and shades) can be used in paintings to create visual contrast and to model three-dimensional forms. The breadth of the value range in a painting can be effective in helping to convey mood.

For example, a painting comprising mostly dark colour values can make a work appear gloomy and sombre; whereas one with middle range colours can convey softness and harmony; and a painting comprising mostly light colour values can suggest optimism and cheerfulness.

Concentrating most of the light values in one area of the composition and most of the dark values in another can be effective in emphasising one area of an art work over the rest. Diagonal lines produce the most energy or movement in terms of the way that they draw the spectator into the pictorial space and control their reading of a composition. Lines can be directional or contour: consider the impact of vanishing points and directional lines (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal). Contour lines can be used to outline forms; such contour lines can be described in terms of their thickness and sharpness.

Always bear in mind questions of patronage and any interesting or unusual facts.

What are the most significant lines in these works? What are the major geometric and human shapes, and how are they used? How is it deepened and varied? Are any other devices used to convey a sense of the shifts within the human body? Try to add to your notes and observations to produce more substantive sections of visual analysis. Eg: Make sure that your contextual material incorporates a few comments exploring what the pediment would have meant to the Athenian audience. This model seems quite an effective way to compare works consistently and fairly. I got this book from the library but actually discovered and handy online copy here if anyone else is interested in not carting the book around. It seems a bit silly since the split out of CE and BCE is still based on the Christian dates! However, regardless of categorisation, all definitions of art are mediated through culture, history and language. To understand these differing concepts of art, we need to look at their social and cultural origin. No concept for them of artists or art, only craftsman who made objects for particular purposes.

From 19th C onwards avant-garde artists have challenges this notion on conventional subject matter and traditional media.

The success of an art work became, in large part, dependent on the extent and ease with which spectators were seduced into suspending disbelief, forgetting that they were in fact looking at a flat, two-dimensional surface. I picked this one first mainly for practical reasons because from all my library books this was by far the smallest for reading on the train! It explained that Vermeer had just 34 surviving paintings and almost two thirds of them had remained in Delft in the collection of his wealthy patron, Pieter Claesz van Ruijven (1624-74).

And even though he was later in his career by the time the French invaded in 1672 he was not immune to the fall out as he was an art dealer as well as a painter.

The art market virtually collapsed, all artists ran into financial difficulties, less artists were being trained and those who were already working produced less. Genre painting was so successful in 17th century Holland because mastery of technique matched treatment of subject matter. The courtyards and interiors seen in works by de Hooch and Vermeer are drawn according to surprisingly rigorous perspectival systems offset by opalescent light and carefully selected colours.

What begins as geometry ends as poetry.

In such paintings the viewer is witness to a whole range of intimacies that remain in the world of ambiguity: it is the uncertainty of the outcome that is arresting. Vermeer but more on that later. Lloyd seemingly lifted it straight from the earlier Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002, but perhaps he wrote that too, I did not investigate. The viewer feels at once invited yet excluded, just as the artists technique appears to be seductively simple but is in fact awesomely intricate in its application of paint and choice of colour. Music is a companion in pleasure and a balm in sorrow.

Andreas Ruckers the Elder which still exists in museums today.

Camera than as many as 6 of the 34 paintings can be identified as different scenes arranged in that same room. So it seems, like Caravaggio, that Vermeer also painted from observed life. The problem with his hypothesis is that the paintings, although the correct size to be camera obscura images are not mirror images as they would have to be, also, how would the painter paint in such low light? Vermeer did use a camera obscura and optical device in his work. I found it really fascinating that both of these artists, Caravaggio and Vermeer, whose work is so different, may have had similar unorthodox working practices. Of course, it also plumbs right into my interest in photography and makes me feel a certain kinship with them. In the 17th C, the mirror was a sign of vanity, a worldly attribute. However, for the lady and gent above, is there another interpretation? Does the presence of the mirror represent a judgement on this couple, or perhaps this lady? They are both quite small which is interesting and on the theme of music and love, which seems to be a recurring one for him. I noticed especially the hair around the faces of the young women are painted as little dots, which looks a little odd. The two are not hung together so I could see that they were similar but not quite how similar until I got home and reviewed the pictures side by side. In fact the National Gallery website seems to suggest that these two could have actually conceived as a pair (a pendant) because of the similar size, date and related subject matter. Jan Vermeer created extraordinary luminosity in his paintings by techniques based on optical experiments and meticulous observation of reflected colours, eg unique capture of sparkle light in minute pearl-like dots. Lots of research has been done on them (and other loaned Vermeers).

I know that I should be interested in the nitty gritty details of the how the canvas was prepared because this information can shed valuable light for art historians but really reading all about left me very cold.

What I did find fascinating was the infrared view which showed all the paintings alterations. Also, very interesting was the analysis of the pigments used and the way he combined such a limited palate. Dutch 17th C paintings have long been enjoyed and admired for the apparent clear and precise way they allow us to enter the domestic world of Holland in the 17th century. Enchanting the Eye, Dutch paintings of the Golden Age. UCL Lunch Hour Lectures, YouTube. I saw this painting in my Gallery Visit (Room 32) and made very brief notes in that post (here). Caravaggio (and this painting) in my reading, it could do with a closer look. Who is Emmaus and why do these guys with Jesus look so surprised? While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. This is the two disciples just discovering that they are sitting with a recently risen Christ as he blesses the bread. Caravaggio has broken with tradition here (as he did in many of his paintings) and represented the scene in a contemporary setting. The background is dark and vague on any details of the setting, the lighting is dramatic so the attention is focused on the scene. The disciple with his arms out (as though talking of the crucifixion) extends into the viewers space to draw us into the scene, hence the drastic foreshortening (I noted it as strange perspective on my gallery visit). Also, the shell on his coat is a scallop, a pilgrims emblem of Santiago de Compostela (named after St James). Easter but apparently over ripened fruit (apples and decaying figs) stand for original sin, grapes (which make wine) and pomegranates are conventional symbols of the resurrection.

The disciples look like country bumpkins on a pilgrimage.

Caravaggio painted another Christ resurrection story, one of Doubting Thomas, in 1603 called the Incredulity of Thomas. Christ is building his finger into the spear wound he received on the Cross. The painting also includes Peter and John, also looking on with intense concentration and undisguised curiosity. Again, there is nothing extraneous to distract attention from the main scene. Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. As I noted in my gallery visit, all the reproductions of this painting seem a lot more gloomy than the original. Rome as a nobody. His short life story is extremely interesting and you can see how his art develops over the course of his career. He is known to get into lots of trouble (hence the documented police reports) and sounds like a very volatile individual. His early training was a four year apprenticeship with Simone Peterzano (in Milan). He was originally from a town called Caravaggio (hence his name, his given name was Michelangelo Merisi). Rome he had nothing and he painted still lives and heads of people to sell in the street which was good training for his later years where he painted from live models which was not the custom in those days. You can see that the figures in The Supper at Emmaus are much more naturally proportioned than the Boy (with the lizard). His work The Cardsharps, 1595, caught the eye of the influential Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte who offed him lodgings in his palazzo became his patron, and for whom he painted boy with lizard amongst others. This raised his profile in elite circles and he ended up having the opportunity to do his first public works for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

Rome in those days was the artistic center of Italy, artists came from all over Europeto see Classical buildings and famous works of art.

He spent a short time in Naples then moved to Malta to join the order of the Knights of Malta in return for painting Beheading of St John the Baptist.

He was holding out for a Pulpal pardon so he could return to Rome and induction into the order secured him high social standing. Unfortunately he got into trouble again, fighting with another knight, and got arrested. He escaped prison and went to Sicily. Eventually he did get his pardon so could return to Rome.

He loaded his belongings onto a ship but, for some unknown reason, was then arrested and had to buy his way out of jail.

By the time he was released, the ship and all his possessions had sailed without him. As he made his way along the coast he fell ill, perhaps with malaria, and a few days later, alone and feverish, he died. This report from the BBC suggests that researchers think he died of sunstroke while weakened by syphilis. On the same day in 2010, this article from the Guardian reports that they think he died of lead posioning from the paints! However they do also mention sunstroke. Paul looked like an accident in a blacksmiths shop. He used live models of local people which was also a new way of doing things, to draw from nature. Rome when he reportedly used a famous prostitute as a model for the madonna. As a technique he painted directly on the canvas and no preparation drawings or sketches were found. Some researchers even suggest that evidence points to him using camera obscura techniques and chemicals to burn an initial image onto his canvas and sketch directly onto it with white lead paint and luminous barium sulphate in the dark!

Its actually quite amazing.

Landscape with the Father of Psyche sacrificing to Apollo.

Classical landscape artists like Lorrain made use of both linear and aerial perspective in their work. Do some research into the theory and practice of perspective. Prior to the discovery of perspective the scale of figures in paintings were based on how important each figure was. Jesus would be depicted much bigger than the saints or angles for example and the picture out appear flat. A tiny inscription on the left of it is illegible but was recorded in1801 as: IL TEMPIO DI APPOLLO CLAUDIS GILLE INVEN.

Temple scene at left, bridge over river at centre, landscape in background.

Claudes at his London house.

1. The woman by the trees on the right is much larger than the people by the temple and the bridge in the distance, this is a consequence of linear perspective.
2. As we look into the distance the colours get both bluer and paler.
3. This is known as aerial perspective.
4. This picture shows a king praying that his daughter, Psyche, will find a suitable husband.
5. Venus, who condemned her to marry hideous creatures.
6. The painting was made in 1662 for Angelo Albertoni, a Roman nobleman, whose son Gasparo Altieri commissioned a second picture, The Arrival of Aeneas at Pallanteum, which was completed in 1675 as a pendant to Psyche.
7. A google image search Claude Lorrain provided me with a beatiful overview of his work, I espeically like Seaport at sunset (1639), Louvre.
8. His system, which helped show how objects shrink in size according to their distance from the eye, is now lost but the basic idea is pretty simple for one point perspective.

The artist imagines a horizon line, with a point in the middle of it (the vanishing point).

According to William M Ivins Jr of the Metropolitan Museum of Art there are three outstanding renaissance texts on perspective, those of Alberti, Viator, and Durer.

B C is the near side of the square to be projected. D A and does not have to be centered above the points C and B, and that because of this fact the costruzione legittima and the distance construction have an ostensible exact similarity when the lines BA and BE happen to coincide. So that seems confusing! I applied the text to my diagram (I had to redraw it to make the letters fit on) and it made much more sense. Unterweysnng der Messung (first published in 1525). Aerial perspective is also known as atmospheric perspective. The colours get fainter and more blue as the distance between the eye (or picture plane in this case) increases. The effect is caused by the effect of the light on the particles in at the atmosphere, more distance means more particles so the scene is fainter and less distinct.

The blue effect is all because of the wavelengths of the various colours of light in the spectrum.

I see the same thing when I take photographs underwater to a much more exaggerated effect. Leonardo ever actually went up this high! Did Albrecht Durer Secretly get it Wrong?

Papers: On the Rationalization of Sight with an Examination of Three Renaissance Texts on Perspective.

Amsterdam and compile a select catalogue of up to a dozen prints to be able to offer to our regular clientele, who are mainly from the Amsterdam merchant class but they have a variety of artistic tastes. Devotional, Narrative and allegorical, Dutch landscapes, domestic interior scenes, still life compositions and any portraits likely to be of general interest. Christ, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds it empty. She sees a gardener who she asks for information about where the body might be but she realised he is Christ resurrected when he speaks her name. In this fine religious painting, Rembrandt recreated for us the moment of realisation just before the actual recognition. Buy this now to bless your artists guild with the power of the patron saint of artists. This genuine Guercino was bequeathed by the artist to Benedetto and Cesare Gennari. We extremely lucky to have a real Rubens! King Philip IV of Spain to decorate his hunting lodge. Aurora, the goddess of light, steps down from her chariot to embrace the huntsman Cephalus, whom she was trying to abduct. See this beautiful local seascape hanging in your own room.

This tranquil pastoral scene is a typical Aert van der Neer piece, the light blesses the landscape from the horizon at dusk.

Dutch landscape painting associated with the town of Haarlem. Dream in the clouds with the people by the windmill. Purchase this original saucy piece by Gerrit Dou, famed founder of the school of the fijnschilders (Fine-Painters) in Leiden. See reality painted as never before with meticulous brushwork and close observation of objects.

See behind the kitchen curtain!

Lascivious kitchenmaids were frequently the subject of comedic literature in seventeenth-century Holland, and painters emphasised their charms by the use of symbolism based on contemporary emblem books or proverbs. In addition, the kitchenmaid looks straight out at the viewer whilst suggestively engaged in chopping onions, which in the seventeenth century were used as an aphrodisiac. Are you an aristocratic hunter? Buy this print of a still life picturing dead game and a fine hunting horn and dagger (with rock-crystal handle) both complete with sashes and tassels for your wall. Want to show off your luxurious lifestyle to your friends?

For our Jewish clients.

America, which has been carved into a panel for a door before being used as a painting support. Antwerp to show that it could still produce the variety of superlative craftsmanship in painting for which it had been famous over a period of 150 years. About half the works have initials, which can be matched (sometimes conjecturally) against known painters.

Gypsies in a Crypt by Antoine Goubeau (1616-98); Fruit in a Landscape by Jan Davidsz.

Life of Arms and Armour; Rape of Europa; Christ on the Cross; portraits of Rubens and Van Dyck; Moonlit Landscape; Still Life with a Skull, possibly by Harman Steenwyck (1612-56); Wooded Landscape by Pieter de Witte II (1617-67); Insects, Flowers etc. It is possible to see a pattern in this grouping: the majority of identified artists were from Antwerp and in their thirties or early forties at the time, which suggests that such works involved like-minded colleagues clubbing together. Presumably the elusive author of the work, Jacob de Formentrou, belonged to this generation. Calvinism was overriding religion but others were tolerated. New prosperity was founded on free enterprise and worldwide maritime trade rather than agriculture.

In England too, where the new parliamentary government was being accepted.

The century heralded in great advances in science, philosophy and mathematics, techniques based on scepticism and trial and error (eg the time of Newton). Rome recovered from protestant reformation and was once again a centre for the arts. Carracci organised meetings of artists to free them from the craft guilds. Jean-Baptiste Colbert reformed the Parisian Academy of arts and crafts.

Also, the subject of the paintings in demand from the various patrons differed, middle class households wanted landscapes and simple still lifes for example whereas Kings and Queens wanted portraits as propaganda pieces and the Counter Reformists wanted glorious Baroque epics.

Artists under the patronage of the monarchy rose in prominence in society eg Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, and reflected this in their works eg Las Meninas by Velázquez. Rembrandt used 250 or more etchings to spread his fame across Europe, (including the famed hundred-guilder print). Lorraine spent many solitary hours with his sketchbooks observing different effects of natural light on the landscape.

S Ivo della Sapienza resulted in spatial unity without intervening elements or loss of variety or movement.

Two artists breathed new life into Rome with their new styles in 17th C, Annibale Carracci (idealism), and Caravaggio (naturalism).

1. Only superficial differences define the distinction between Baroque and other 17th c styles such as those of the Naturalists, and the Classicists.
2. Some of the greatest European artists came from this period, Rubens, Poussin, Bernini, van Dyck, Velázquez and Rembrandt.
3. The later, Louis XIV style, was Baroque style on steroids, flamboyant and rich to excess.
4. Lorraine into one of highest art forms and an independent genre (outside of the netherlands) representing a pastoral world of a Classical Golden Age.
5. In the Dutch republic, easel painting, driven by the demand for art dealing, promoted the development of many independent genres we know today, landscapes, seascapes, portraits, low-life scenes, still life etc.
6. Rachel Ruysch was the first female artist to gain a major international reputation with her specialism in flower pieces.
7. In the 17th Century artists continued to influence each other and finding inspiration from Antiquity, High renaissance artists and Venetian artists such a Titian.
8. Flemish artists such as Rubans were influenced by Italian artists.
9. Artists also took inspiration from Nature like never before.
10. Caravaggio influenced artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi.

In France, the academy was very formally Classical but towards the end of the century voices raised in dissent admirers of Rubans contested the supremacy of Poussin, p606, and Dutch and Flemish work started to influence the path of french artists.

In the 17th Century there was a revolt against established thought and they were more experimental, starting with Francis Bacon (1561-1626). Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613-96) was an influential art theorist and biographer of Carracci, claimed he rescued art from the Mannerists and criticised Caravaggio. Francisco Pacheco (1564-1654) was an inspector of art for the Inquisition of Seville the most important spanish art writer of the time (and father in law to Velázquez). Samuel van Hoogstraten was a Dutch painter and art theorist. This exercise is to research portraits and make your own version. He made several versions. Renaissance type of man, the aristocrat of the intellect.

The third one currently in the Louvre in France, shows him in portrait, again ¾ length but almost with his back to us, an action pose, a man of letters writing away.

Martin Luther, on the other hand, is shown without any visual clues at all, but this is significant in itself. Again, I found several online. The one in the Met is as stated above, however in the one in Vienna, he is holding a prayer book. Pope Paul III when I came across an article covering Papal portraiture by Joseph L Goldstein. Basically Raphael revolutionised the world or portraits of popes with his ¾ pose on the Papal throne in the Papal finery. Before 1500 the portraits were a mixture of him kneeling in prayer or with his cardinals.

This pose has been repeated since then.

Innocent X was arguably the worst of all popes; he was hot-tempered, paranoid, ruthless and unscrupulously duplicitous in taking the name of Innocent. Papal portraiture from Raphael to Titian to Velázquez. Titian, Pope Paul III. Museo Nazionale di Capondimonte, Naples. Palazzo Doria Pamphili, Rome.

Nathan Emory Coffin Collaboration, Des Moines Art Centre.

Pope Innocent X by placing him in an electric chair, surrounded by a yellow hexagonal rail. There are vertical lines that run up and down the painting like bars of a prison cell. He is dressed in bloodstained clothes and gripping the chair arms and screaming. In 2008, an artist called Glenn Brown, reinvented this yet again by making his canvas glossy and smooth like a magazine and turning the pope on his head.

Brown distorts the image of Pope Innocent X by removing his cape and cap, painting his hands gangrene green and rotating his body 180 degrees.

Only the white apron and the Ring of the Fisherman are retained. In this painting, Brown literally turns the 500-year-old field of papal portraiture upside down and on its head. In the introductory blogposts I researched portraits and self-portraits too, I noticed then the prominence of the ¾ length pose turning to the viewer during this period and made a copy of this Rembrandt self-portrait with an app on my phone. Ie, it overlays a ghost image on your page, so you look at the screen but your pen is under the phone on the paper. I tried to make a pencil copy of Pope Innocent X (the Velázquez version). Here it is, I took a picture with the pencil in the frame so you can see how tiny it turned out! You can still disern his meaness though. I think it would take a bit of practice and skill to use a real one. Issues include knocking the device or the paper and then the image goes out of alignment. I hope to revisit this post. I was wondering what props I would use if I were to make a portrait of my tiny daughter.

I was thinking maybe I could use a balloon to represent her innocent joy or my hopes and dreams for her?

A clear glass of water seems to represent purity.

1. Perhaps some favourite toys?
2. She has a good sense of humour, how would I interpret that?

Will have a think.

Edit: So my book on symbols arrived. Its mostly religious and classical stories which is a bit disappointing. I was able to glean that unicorns symbolised purity which is why the Christians commandeered it to represent Jesus and female chastity (which has kind of ruined them for me now) since the unicorn is usually seen with the Virgin. Innocence is represented by a lamb. I might try and go for my original ideas of her with a balloon, clear water and now a lamb. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (introduction by Kenneth Clark). Contrasting colours of red and green of her dress and the furnishings make her appear prominent in the picture, his dark clothes make him seem to recede in comparison. The slightly warm palate makes the place seem inviting and homely, she is in green with a quite peaceful if not exactly happy expression, the red and green contrast add tension to her.

The woman is painted in bright colours and the man in dark, this also draws your eye to her first.

Contrasting colour values are also used to model three-dimensional forms of the folds of the giant dress and lush fabrics on the furniture.

• The oil paint has been carefully blended to make the soft, seamless shadows to model the scene with such accuracy.
• He has used translucent glazes applied in layers to generate the rich colours of the different fabrics and showing the other different surfaces and textures such as the beads, the wood and the peoples skin.
• This seems a pretty conventional use but maybe not at the time it was painted?
• Directional lines (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal): Diagonal lines of perspective of the bed and window conflict with the V shape that their arms make.
• The man and woman are standing vertical in the composition either side of the mirror on the back wall.
• The hanging bit on the front of the bed is also effective at stopping your eye before you reach the edge at the left and the vertical sections of the window stop you on the right.
• The rug between them, and the lines of the floorboards are vertical lines which leads from the couple back into the room.

The few horizontal lines are mainly at the back of the room and the line of the floorboard and check where the oranges are sitting but they are not really dominant.

The contour lines are mainly soft and realistic. I had not and I only had my answers above to go on I might make the following conclusions as to the meaning of the painting. There are lush furnishings and fur trimmings to their clothes so they seem comfortably well off, although it seems weird to be welcoming people into their bedroom, maybe a bedsit, so probably lower middle class? The mirror with a couple of people in it is obviously important so his gesture could be seen as a greeting to guests as the couple welcome people into their home. So I already know that this likely not what the meaning of the picture is from my reading in Girl in a Green Gown: The history and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait.

I went back to the National Gallery to take a closer look.

The light shines on it a little so I took some close up pictures with my phone of the higher up details. I was earwigging to one of the many tour groups that stopped past it while I was there, the tour leader thought she was pregnant which was interesting. He also said the little dogs hair had been painted with a one hair brush, which I could totally see being true given the detail. Also, he said that recently scholars now think that the one candle is the key to unravelling the whole meaning to the painting and that it could be a memorial to the wife, painted after her death. I suppose this would explain all the odd things about her, her out of fashion dress and classical, generalised features, if he was not painting her from life (as with the man). Clearly two people in the mirror, also the tiny religious paintings all around the mirror. The detail on the dog has to be seen in person to be believed, no reproduction can do it justice. Also, the detail on the clogs and floorboards is more pronouced in person than in reproductions.

Jan van Eyck was born in southern Netherlands, worked in the Hague.

Van Eyck was totally at the Dukes disposal and paid handsomely for it but allowed to take other commissions too. He painted many religious paintings too, including the Ghent Altarpiece. The first seven years (from 1425) he lived in Lille (except for foreign extended visits and to Ghent for the altarpiece) then in 1432, he moved back to Bruges where the duke spent much of his time. Castile, wine from Greece, spices from Alexandria, furs from the black sea, silk and armour and all sorts of luxury imports.

At times the harbour could serve over 700 ships per day.

Foreign traders were not allowed to sell these local, only for export, strictly enforced by guilds. The town was not very tolerant of poor people though, and some were starving. It was probably a source of pride for the Duke that his court painter was being chased for work by prominent Italian families. Genoese Lomellini family also commissioned a tryptic that was eventually bought by King Alfonso of Naples, Lorenzo de Medici acquired St Jerome. Scholarly debate still rages but the first owner is assumed to be the man who commissioned the portrait of him and his wife, Arnofini. Arnoult fin references in the early inventories. No one can decide on which Arnofini though. The Arnolfini family were originally from Lucca, Italy and in 1439, the Medici bank opened a branch in Bruge, many Italian merchant families moved in for trading. The first recorded owner was Don Diego de Guevara, a Spaniard working in Flanders. There seems to be uncertainly whether he added the shutters of if they were originally there. He gave both his van Eyck portraits to Marguerite of Austria, ruler of the Netherlands by 1516. Hernoul-le-fin with his wife within a room, which was given to Madame by don Diego, whose arms are on the cover of the picture. Made by the painter Johannes.

Madame ordered to be made.

Her niece Marie of Hungary inherited the role of Regent of the Netherlands and the Arnolfini Portrait in 1530. In 1558 her nephew, Philip II inherited it and took it to his home in Alcazar. Where it popped up in another record in 1599 (after his death). See that you promise: what harm is there in promises? Both Phillip and Marie appreciated Ovid (Titian commissions) so perhaps they had it added or was it there originally but not mentioned before this?

This documented that the wooden shutters had been painted imitation marble.

It survived a fire in 1734 and was next seen in the new Palacio Real by Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV.

1. This might be where the original frame and the shutters were removed.
2. In 1794 another inventory mentioned that it was keep in the retrete, lavatory!
3. Joseph Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon, made king of Spain) used the 1794 inventory and the painting ended up in the new national art gallery in the Prado.

He took it with him back to France when he left though.

It was looted from his baggage by the British Army at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813 by a British army officer, Lieutenant-Colonel James Hay.

1. What the scholars think?
2. He also thought that many of the items in the painting have dual purpose as household item and an additional symbolic meaning.
3. Art historians since Panofsky have used his arguments as a starting point to either refute or agree with his points.

He thought that viewer could understand that items could have multiple associations so van Eyck uses those as devices to tell a story.

This seems more reasonable to me than the two extremes, as in advertising today we use visual puns and multiple meanings to be witty etc, we know that Chaucer did in his writing, why not van Eyck.

• Edwin Hall wrote a book about the painting representing a betrothal ceremony rather than a marriage.
• A betrothal scene would require members of her family there.
• She claimed it would serve practical purpose of a visual record of that PoA, not binding in a legal sense but permanently on display.
• It also demonstrated his piety in an age when merchants walked a difficult path of accumulating wealth whilst avoiding damnation.
• What I found particularly interesting was the information where she details a documented incident from the court 1470 where a woman sues Arnolfini for breach of written promises he made in 1458.

She claimed that he raped her when she came over to request his help, her husband had been banished and she wanted Arnolfini to use his influence at the court.

In an attempt to keep her quite he made her his mistress and drew up a contract promising her two houses among other expensive gifts but she claimed he took back the gifts and refused to make good on his promises.

• This made me think about that Ovid verse about promises on the frame of the portrait.
• In light of this information, perhaps that verse was added after this event?
• Apparently he never remarried.
• In Promises Anyone Can Be Rich!
• German custom of a husband promising a gift to his bride on the morning after their wedding night, a Morgengave.
• He has also suggested that the painting may have been a present from the artist to his friend.

The clothes: They wear products of Bruges (and associated luxury imports), fur, silk, wool, linen, leather, gold.

All very expensive at the time. Their shoes would have been status symbols much as Jimmy Choos are today. Or was it too early to be in fashion and he is in mourning for his lost love? No conclusion can be drawn here then. Bible or to lavish Wealth? For example, in his secular work, Woman at her Toilette, the room echoes that of the Arnolfinis down to the orange on the sill, the shutters on the window and furniture. There no shutters in any of the Madonna paintings. Aonneurs de la Cour. She may or may not be pregnant but van Eyck has given other women who are not pregnant the same stance. Cumaean Sibyl in Ghent Altarpiece, and St Catherine in the Dresden triptych. The belt below the bust on her dress creates high-waisted effect giving the impression of a protruding stomach. The beads and chest are conventional bridal gifts of the time so they represents the stability of marriage. On the very top of the chair back is the carved figure of a haloed woman, her hands clasped in prayer, apparently emerging from the body of a scaly winged dragon whose paws clutch the wooden frame.

This could be St Margaret of Antioch, a mayor saint and patron said of childbirth.

Or it could be Martha, patron saint of housewives. In secular terms de Poitiers specified there must be a carpet next to the bed in the reception room or birthing chamber. Carroll seemed to allude to the possibility that maybe all the child birthing references were actually about money? Making investments bear fruit, not in a sinful interest way but in a respectable capital investments way. Bernardion: pious, wealthy, and ethical, whose investments bear fruit, and whose gestures of convent and good faith convey an enduring commitment to his wife and his contractual obligations. So, at least, the painting would have us believe. So, not solid conclusions here either! Some say that this means that the two people in the mirror might be the artist and his assistant. Imply artist functioning as notary. All viewers, after all, would have been struck by the incongruity of the appearance on this object of such a sort of text. A favoured device of both Ovid and Chaucer (along with many others) was the introduction of a narrator to set the frame for their texts. Overhead lighting was one of the greatest luxuries in the middle ages but this would have been too ornate for a domestic setting and seems too large for the space available in the room. He is a breed called the Brussels griffon, another distinctly local product, descendant of a long line of Flanders terries bred to catch rats.

Dogs feature in the art of the day on tomb effigies, faithful unto death, also noblemen were painted with their hounds and wives with their lapdogs.

Bedford book of hours, so another point for socially aspiring.

• Eyck was also using the dog as a device to connect the modern and the biblical world, making the past and the present and brining holy characters to life by associating them with familiar objects and images.
• Or is he alerting the couple to the two people entering the room?
• The identity of the characters: The national gallery just lists the painting as The Arnolfini Portrait because the identity of the sitters has only increased as more documents emerge.
• First mention of the Arnolfini name was in the 1516 inventory, was revived by Crowe and Cavalcaselle in the 1857 claims that the paining was aligned with the Italian merchant of Bruges, Giovanni Arnolfini and bride Giovanna Cenami.
• Could it be a cousin, Giovani di Nicolao Arnolfini and bride Costanza Trenta (married in 1426).

Costanza had died a year before the painting was made.

Does it show Nicolao with second wife or was it a memorial to Costanza (maybe dies in childbirth)? This is possible, Pliny claimed that mirrors reflected the shadows of the dead. Three 16th c inventories reference the painting, the closing wings and the Hernoult-le-fin eg Arnoult Fin association.

Scolarcs cannot seem to agree if there were shutters on the orginal piece or if they were added later.

Dresden Triptych is behind closed doors, perhaps the Arnolfini Portrait had the doors on originally and it was only meant to be seen on special occasions, like the Ghent Altarpiece? The fire in 1734 may have been the reason for removing the frame and the shutters. Dresden Triptych were quite plain.

A later inventory records that an Ovid verse which tells of how the couple deceive each other.

Incidentally, Giovanni had a recorded subsequent infidelity, could this be related?

1. Eyck would have done to provide a literary context for this painting on the frame.
2. Or perhaps it was added later by an owner of the painting?
3. Duke himself as a little in-joke in court circles at Arnolfinis expense?
4. Duke (lent him money).
5. All the references to social climbing and over ostentation.

The inscription (artist as storyteller).

Ovid verse as the satirising punchline. This might even explain the departure of the painting from its underdrawing. The chandelier, patterns, sandals, oranges, beads, chair by the bed and the dog were absent from the underdrawing. The most modifications were made to the figures. The hat was made more impressive and the hem of tabard lowered. The feet were also changed to give a more elegant stance. Could something at court have happened to put Arnolfini in disfavour, prompting perhaps a picture already underway to be subverted into a satire?

Girl in a Green Gown: The history and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait.

Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon. The sections of the book are interspersed history of the painting since it was painted and details of the individual bits of the painting. I found the constant back and forth in the book a bit irritating. He married Margaret of Flanders so he had lands in Flanders, Brabant and Artois. Someone killed or tried to French royal? It was chic to wear black at court because the 3rd Duke, the Good, (from now on refered to as PTG, or Philip in these notes) stated his would wear black in eternal mourning for his murdered father. He viewed the French king as enemy rather than overlord and ran the Duchy as a monarchy. This was in the Hague, which he helped decorate.

So he moved to Flanders, perhaps because his brother was working in Ghent.

He got sent to make bride-to-be portraits of Infanta Isabel (who was 31, so this was more for curtesy than to assess her beauty), daughter of King John of Portugal. Cathedral altarpiece at Ghent that he painter. Eyck was totally at the Dukes disposal and paid handsomely for it but allowed to take other commissions too. He mentions luxury goods such as oranges and lemons from Castile, wine from Greece, spices from Alexandria, furs from the black sea, silk and armour and all sorts of luxury imports. The 1st ever bilingual phrase book was made here in the 14th century to facilitate the trading. Recent political conflict from an uprising over taxes against the duke in 1437 left high gallows and heads of dead men on display, he also fined them, hence some starvation in certain parts. The Arnolfini family were from Lucca, Italy. It was probably a source of pride for PTG that his court painter was being chased for work by such prominent Italian families. The first owner was the man who commissioned the portrait of him and his wife, Arnofini. However, the first recorded one was Don Diego de Guevara, a Spaniard working in Flanders.

Skim read much of this history.

Buying a work by the great Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, and later presenting it (possibly as a bribe or a reward) to a Habsburg ruler, was typical of How Don Diego had reached the top in his chosen career. Eyck portraits to Marguerite of Austria, ruler of the Netherlands (and the most powerful woman of her day) by 1516 (according to an inventory of her art collection). Burgundian style rather than the modern renaissance of her palace. The one up-to-date detail was her dog Bonte (lucky).

Skim read much of this chapter on her history and how she was a princess pawn, forced to marry several times for strategic reasons and how she was a painter herself and a great collector of artworks.

She had a life very much like Marguerite. But she still treasured the AP, she took it when she quit as regent. He made Spain his home base rather than a travelling court. Both Phillip and Marie appreciated Ovid (Titian commissions) so perhaps they had it added? British Army at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813 by a British army officer, Lieutenant-Colonel James Hay. His greyish eyes are deep-set with a cold stare.

Her face is tilted down modestly, her skin is very smooth and her face oval.

Delicate highlights are cast by the reflection of her creamy linen headdress onto the underside of her plump jaw. Her mouth is small with a curvaceous lower lip and she has a tiny dimple in her chin. However, something is not quite right with the proportions, her eyebrows are too high (and too thin but this could have been the fashion to over-pluck). Vision of idealised holy beauty.

They wear products of Bruges (and associated luxury imports), fur, silk, wool, linen, leather, gold.

The headdress is made from one long strip of material folded into layers, this is a simple version and she could have shown even more hair then she does within propriety.

Must have been out from a circular pattern because the front is as long as the back.

• The belt below the bust creates high waisted effect giving the impression of a protruding stomach.
• This was socially desirable as fertility is a vital quality in a wife, those who are not in a recurrent state of pegncuy are failures.
• Cumaean Sibyl in Ghent Altarpiece.
• Scottish peasants were banned from wearing them in 1430.

Maltese crosses, trimmed with pink shears to stop them from fraying.

Colour also out of date as bright colours were not so in vogue anymore.

• Rogier van der Weyden pointed Mary Magdalene is a similar gown (1445, National Gallery).
• This may have needed as many as 2000 squirrel skins.
• Italy, so may have also been an advert for Arnolfini wares too.
• Red leather with brass studs.
• Red made from Brazilwood (imported dye from redwood sappan trees in India), these would have been a status symbol much as jimmy chaos are today.
• Their jewellery is restrained but costly.
• Rogier van der Weyden portrait of a lady, 1460, wears the same.
• Also she has a double-stranded slim gold chain crafted from droplets of filigree.
• The Beads and the Brush.
• The beads and the brush that hang on the back wall either side of the mirror have a double meaning (and belong to the man).
• Made locally by the Bruges guild of paternosters.
• They are not a necklace but one long strand, hung asymmetrically over a nail in the wall.
• The amber is painted as transparent, revealing the green silk thread running through the centre.
• It was a device that could link the everyday world to that of the bible.
• The bush is made from the softest of twigs band together at the top by coarse pink thread to form a handle.

Its presence in the formal reception room was another artistic device rather than reality.

Poitiers, daughter of one of the ladies who came to Flanders in 1429 in the train of Isabel of Portugal, the dukes 3rd wife wrote down the rules (in the 1480s) in a manual of conduct les Aonneurs de la Cour. The AP shows this couple welcoming guests (the two tiny topics in the mirror). This means this is the reception room. These are present in the picture along with a draped, cushioned settle beside the chair, and a chest under the windows. Chests were a way of showing people that you owned things. Could be furniture or luggage. This chest is of standard type, probably made of oak.

Mother, like other pieces in the room.

The room was not used for sleeping, it implied the master of the household was of a sufficient status to exhibit such a possession of adornment in his reception room.

Bruges; the some etiquette was observed with placing of a bed in the state room at the marriage of Philips son to Margaret of York in 1468. Displaying such a bed to select visitors rubbed in the superiority of the host, not only for owning one, but especially for being able to afford the hangings. The perspective of the bed gives a distorted shape. It stands on a low platform and its canopy is separately hung from cords from the ceiling. These could be made of extremity expense materials. Gold, green or red were the colours favoured by the nobility and were often highly embroidered.

The curtain by the head of the bed presumably hangs straight down, the other side is looped up in the manner described by Alienor.

Its possible this was not an actual rug but from a set of patterns which he alternated throughout his paintings.

Madonna paintings but there are in the Woman at her Toilette, whose room echoes that of the Arnolfinis down to the orange on the sill and the storage chest below the window.

Similar to the cherry tree, the mirror challenges the viewers eyes, making them refocus on items in the distance, changing perspective. Van Eyck included mirrors in many of his works eg the titillating bath scenes to see a different perspective. You see two little figures entering the room from the viewers vantage point in this mirror creating confusing sense of 3-dimensionality revealing more in the mirror than the real painting does.

Another status symbol, more rare than glass windows, ordinary people could never see their reflection but the elite could.

Circular and convex was the only available shape for mirrors made of glass. Highly polished metal could provide a flat surface but was not as reflective. The centre of mirror making was Nuremberg, also clocks, scientific instruments and armour made for export. Mirror makers were regarded as alchemists. Early 17th C theorist Roger de Piles insisted that artists must use convex mirrors in order to achieve harmony.

Passion and resurrection: The Agony in the Garden, Arrest of Christ, Christ before Pilate, Flagellation, Christ carrying the Cross, Crucifixion, decent from the Cross, Entombment, Harrowing of Hell and Resurrection.

Mirrors could stand for good or evil. Vanity, and sometimes even symbolised the power of Satan, who was believed to lurk within the glass to lure and deceive; the Devil was sometimes represented in art by the image of a monkey holding a mirror. The virtuous figure of Prudence might also carry a looking glass, and the Virgin herself was compared to an unblemished mirror. He included the words speculum sin macula (mirror without a blemish) on the trades of two of his Madonna paintings and on the Annunciation panel of the Ghent Altarpiece. Some think the candles signify the drafting of a dowry agreement (binding when it burns out), while others say that the snuffed out candle signifies a death. Having such a chandelier in a domestic chamber was a mark of aspirational wealth, offset however, like the rest of the rooms connected, by its association with images of the Virgin.

Other religious paintings including chandeliers are from Dieric Bouts in his Last Supper and Annunciation, the latter perhaps homage to van Eyck or van der Weyden because there is also a red settle and oranges.

St Gilles Nieuw Straat.

• Next the wooden board was made for the painting, the AP board was made of oak that Netherlandish painters favoured, Italians liked poplar, Germans limewood.
• The board is 3 panels joined together by tiny mortice-and-tenon Van Eyck usually used the same plank for the frame too although the original frame no longer survives.

Then he or his assistants planed the board, rubbed it down and covered it with layers of warmed animal glue, then a ground of glue and chalk which hardened when it dried.

Smoothed down, this concealed any trace of the wood grain, and became the basic surface of the painting. The brush was also bigger, the rug longer, the windows and shutters had different proportions and the base of the chest was a different shape. The mans facial features were moved down and resized, and his shoulders also lowered. Her face was originally tilted and smaller, her eyes have been moved up and now look more towards the man. Vasari in his Lives started the myth that van Eyck had sound the secret recipe for oil painting.

Secret Knowledge (2001) about whether van Eyck used optical devices to turn a scene into a camera obscura and project the image onto the surface to copy.

Many changes to the mans face from the underdrawing disprove this theory. There are no da Vinci code conspiracies, we probably just living in the wrong period to unravel the symbols that would have presented no trouble to the original audience. The national gallery just lists the painting as The Arnolfini Portraits because the identity of the sitters has only increased as more documents emerge.

First mention of the Arnolfini name was in the 1516 inventory, was revived by Crowe and Cavalcaselle in the 1857 claims that the paining was lined with the Italian merchant of Bruges, Giovanni Arnolfini and bride Giovanna Cenami.

Art historian Otto Pacht pointed to naturalism rather than a system of symbols. The women can only be pregnant if it not a ceremony but just a portrait of an already married couple. Eg review in 1902 in Fortnightly Review thought it was a birth announcement painting.

P212 More recently Pierre-Michel Bertrand argues that the women is the heavily pregnant painters wife Margaret van Eyck.

Recent feminist interpretation by Linda Seidel is that it demonstrated the legal moment when the man is officially giving his wife the right to act for him and run his business in his absence. Richard Hamilton turned it into a pop-art screen print in the 70s Other artists have been influenced too including photographer Anne Zahalka, sculptor Gavin Turk, Oisin Roche, Alyson Shortz, Frida Kahlo, Benjamin Sullivan, Sandor Dobany, and David Hockney. Advertisers have also got in on the act eg Habitat and cartoonists eg Dave Brown and Martin Rowson. The portrait has become a symbol of marriage.

It is more likely however that Arnoult Fin was written somewhere on the original frame.

Craig Harbison identified the Ovid source as the Art of love, representing the couples love for each other with an element of irony or satire. Having said that English merchants at the time did write their receipts on tally sticks, ie ink on wood. I found these videos very helpful in setting the scene on the 16th century.

The chapter in WHA is very long and I read it in tiny chunks.

In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation called into question teachings and practice of the Catholic Church, the invention of printing allowed the spread of information amongst the masses.

1. Plague and sickness were seen as punishment for sin.
2. Large devotional donations were made for the sake of the soul by wealthy men.
3. In Germany, new urban culture developed on the recovery of trade and industry after the Black Death.
4. Protestant art started appearing after the Peasants War (against the landed nobility and higher clergy) of 1524-6.
5. Partoniage declined and artists and sculptors were forced to take up other occupations or emigrate, including famously, Hans Holbein the Younger who moved the England to the court of Henry VIII.

Across Europe, war, riots and political stress broke out as countries struggled to accept of reject Lutheranism and later the Counter Reformation.

Last Judgement was condemned.

In Germany, the woodcarvers gained recognition of craft and belonged to the middle ranking of society, were members of guilds, with one, Tilman Riemenschneider, becoming mayor of Wurzburg.

Titian maintained his independence turning down offers from Popes and Kings and made himself the most sort after artists in Europe, so much so he could work largely for who he wished and on what he wished. The 16th century saw new techniques of pictorial representation, invented or perfected by da Vinci. Chiaroscuro (effect of light and dark to create effect of relief or modelling), sfumato (misty, soft blending of colours), hazy atmospheric effects, indicating distance by grading tones and muting of colours. He was the first to draw anatomically correct figures (from dissecting corpses)! The Contrapposto principle was also developed to convey even more natural poses which contribute to overall rhythm of compositions.

The idea of Harmonious unity developed which inspired architects as well as painters.

Vatican use contrasting colours to create an animating pattern but the great innovation in them is the relationship of the figures to their architectural context (conceived after the arrangement of the figures). He invented the relaxed ¾ length and ¾ face pose for portraits (later developed by Titian). Whilst painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo innovatively solved the problems with painting curved surfaces.

He also started the process of making full sized models mostly carved by assistants, added finishing touches himself, a process used for next four centuries.

Titian who really exploited the possibilities it presented for the first time using vigorous brush strokes on the rough texture of the canvas. Titian had a new attitude to painting displayed in new techniques of bold, heavily loaded brush strokes and smudges, finishing paintings with highlights and smudging to tone down contrasts. He also designed mathematical harmoniously proportioned private villas. Contrapposto was developed further by 16th century sculptors. Gothic styles, Perpendicular, in England and Flamboyant style in France, persisted until mid to late 16th century. Hieronymous Bosch (Jeroen van Aken 1450-1516) had a unique style with disturbing and creative visions.

Protestant art reflected Lutheran ideas, and in protestant countries there was demand for portraits of the reformers, provided by artists such as Holbein the Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Dürer.

In Architecture, da Vinci experimented with designs for a free standing church which is centrally planned with a hemispherical dome crowning it, which was realised by his friend Bramante in the Tempietto, Rome.

In this amazing period, the Mona Lisa (Leonardo), the Stanza della Segnatura (Raphael) and the Sistine chapel (Michelangelo) were all painted. Another rising Venetian star of the period was Titian. Later came the Mannerist style, associated with generation of artists after the fab three, it has been defined as the antithesis of naturalism, later art historians have interpreted this style as an intentional deviation from the previous generation.

Notable artists associated with this style are Tintoretto, Correggio and Parmigianino.

Humanism continues to influence artists across Europe, additionally Lutheranism.

1. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael influenced each other and everyone else.
2. Michelangelo was influenced by Neoplatonism.
3. Two young Venetians, Tintoretto and Veronese were influenced by the colouring of Titian and the drawing of Michelangelo in the 1550s.
4. Leonardo da Vinci, had thousands of unpublished pages of illustrated notes on artistic theory, human anatomy, natural history and many other topics.
5. Imitation of Christ possibly by Thomas a Kempis was a work of anti-worldly and anti-intellectual piety.

Translated and printed in four languages is said to have had almost as much influence a the contemporary vernacular translations of bible.

Rome and the initiation of new phase of Renaissance architecture. At the start of the 15th century, ally to the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany, Giangaleazzo Visconti (from Milan) threatened the independence of the Florentine republic. His death in 1402 meant that the Florentines could expand towards the coast, transforming from citystate to region state. They gazed inwards and outwards but not generally upwards. Intended to inspire philosophical thought, just as religious images inspire devotion.

Renaissance thought between Christianity and the humanism which encouraged the enhanced view of the dignity of man and the beauty of the physical world implicit in such works of art.

The university in Padua was one of the main centers for humanist study in Europe. The world economies were starting to slowly recover from the major depression of the dark ages. WHA p444 Large scale oil paintings became popular because they were often conceived as an inexpensive substitute for tapestries. Flanders were the two most densely urbanized areas of Europe and two great centres of art. Flemish art was exported to all parts of Europe.

This was a period of reform movements for the church, famous religious images were created (much of them as frescos) by Fra Angelico and Paolo Uccello in Florence in the 15th century.

Italian devotional paintings, previously popular gold backgrounds gave way to landscapes. Gold was expensive and there was a shortage but also, there was a hostility towards the conspicuous display of wealth. Renaissance attitudes draw a distinction between architect and builder, artist and craftsmen. Although only in Italy were artists worthy enough to appear in collections of writings about famous men (so the inventors of oil painting in Flanders were never recorded). Dutchman Jan van Eyck made it into writings from the court of the king of Naples. Albert Dürer was obsessed with his status but still ranked with other mere craftsmen in Germany. The shift in attention from the value of materials to the skill of the artists coincide with a shortage of gold and silver (which would have been used in gilding). Prominent goldsmiths turned to painting such as Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Verrocchio, Botticelli and even Dürer. Ironically, their work as painters has been preserved partly because painting materials had little intrinsic value. WHA p444 Most goldsmiths work would have been melted down by now. Patrons commissioned arts for aesthetic reasons.

Public art competitions funded by the guilds promoted art and culture.

Baptistery but established himself as an independent artist who revitalized every form of sculpture. The 15th Century saw a blend or the arts and sciences. Many artists were fascinated with mathematics and geometry such as Uccello and Piero della Francesca.

New interest in light and optics, and colour harmonies.

Brunelleschi is credited with the invention of linear perspective producing a scientific method of working out how to render relative distances. The key to his system is the idea of a central vanishing point on a series of orthogonal lines and that any objects along these lines would be subject to the laws of geometry. Taken up by Masaccio, who also revitalized the human figure, he created convincing illusions of mass in his frescos in Brancacci Chapel, Florence. At the same time, the Flemish discovered linear perspective by trial and error. Those using oil could build up a picture of shimmering tones slowly, allowing for more precise detail than before.

Paintings of the two were so popular that painters of these had a special name, madonnieri.

WHA p427 Watercolour on paper technique developed before 16th pigments mixed with gum that dissolved in water, required the same quick dexterity as fresco (but on a smaller scale).

1. Demand for wooden marriage cassoni and chests effectively started a new artform of carved and painted wood.
2. The revolutionary art of printing developed mid-15th century in Venice, started with woodcut printing techniques, then engravings in metal.

The Italian Renaissance in architecture began in Florence, the first Renaissance building is usually cited as the Foundling Hospital (designed by Brunelleschi in 1419).

The Pazzi Chapel, 1440, is also ascribed to Brunelleschi. Main features are geometric forms and purity of mathematical proportions rejecting fanciful Gothic design and embracing the Roman column, the round arch and the rectangular window. No mysterious depths or soaring heights, no sense of the beyond. WHA p417 The local style in Padua remained mostly Gothic despite being a center for humanist thought.

In painting, the new style was all about naturalism and realistic 3D illusion.

Van Eyck was one of the first great descriptive painters of portraits and Rogier van der Weyden with less attention to detail. Flemish artists preferred the three-quarter view which introduces a sense of movement as the sitter has to turn, advancing from the pictorial spaces and establishing a rapport with the viewer. Italians of the same period favoured pure profiles, reminiscent of heads on antique coins and dissociating the sitter from the viewer.

The Flemish paintings were full of spiritual significance and symbols even though they were of contemporary landscapes.

He was also influenced by Tuscan Romanesque architecture.

Flemish and Italian artists influenced each other during 15th and 16th century. For example the Domenico Ghirlandaio decoration and frescos in the Sassetti Chapel, Florence, where the altarpiece is an oil painting (a Flemish technique at the time) and two of the figures derive from a Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes. St Sebastian was an influence at a time of plague and sickness being patron saint of the sick. Century were Humanist scholars. Bartolommeo Fazio was a mid-15th c humanist scholar employed in the court of King Alfonso V of Aragon at Naples. He wrote about Jan van Eyck (called Jan of Gaul) and Rogier van der Weyden in his book of famous men in 1456. The only other painters he discussed were Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello. Carlo Marsuppini was a classical scholar who first translated Homer into Italian verse. Venetian Mantegna that his idealisation of faith and style was deeply indebted to antiquity. Renaissance and include a history of art plus account of art from mid-15th Century. Piero della Francesca published many works including a treatise on geometrical bodies and perspective and a book on abacus for merchants. In architecture, Gianozzo Manetti (1396-1459), declared, the truths of the Christian religion are as self evident as the laws of mathematics.

Antonio Filarete (1400-49), architect and theorist, blessed Brunelleschi for reviving in Florence the ancient style of building in such a way that today in churches and private buildings no other style is used.

Architect Leon Battista Alberti wrote treaty of painting, architecture and sculpture. Reading notes It was good to see you using the suggested headings to help you, but rather than producing two sets of notes for each chapter, try to condense your material into one set of comments per section. I would encourage you to concentrate on producing only one set of reading notes of the length you submitted as part of the assignment. This material was comprehensive but concise. I tried to moderate how many notes I took re this feedback. Choose two or three paintings of a mythological subject and research the story behind these paintings. Where did the story originate, for example?

Find two paintings by different artists that represent the same mythological story and make notes in your learning log on the similarities and differences between them.

Think about why the two artists may have made the different artistic choices that they did. Do some drawings and sketches in your learning log. The tragic story of the nymph Callisto is represented time and again in art. Callisto (Kallisto) is a favourite of Artemis (Diana), chaste goddess of the hunt.

The girls who follow her have also taken a vow of virginity.

Diana to approach her closely and then rapes her. She is found out when she is forced to strip when bathing after hunting. She gives birth to a son, Arcas (meaning bear). Juno (Hera), jealous wife of Zeus turns Callisto into a bear so the hunter becomes the hunted. He puts Arcas there too as the little bear Ursa Minor. Juno is cross that her plan for revenge failed so she appeals to Oceanus to never let them dip into the ocean at the horizon to have a drink. Great Bear constellation do sink below the horizon from Rome and especially from Athens; however, Ursa Minor (Arcas) does remain completely above the horizon, even from latitudes as far south as Honolulu and Hong Kong.

Here are two different interpretations of that story from the 16th and 17th century, specifically the scene at which Diana finds out that her favourite nymph is pregnant and has broken her vow of chastity.

The two artists have treated the same scene very differently. An accusing finger is pointed at a tearstained girl (who barely looks pregnant, certainly not 9 months) and the other girls barely look bothered. The scene is sumptuous and full of nakedness. The goddess is the same as size as all the other figures. There are a group of figures cowering in the light in the bottom third of the image.

The goddess is out of frame on the right passing judgment (assuming this is the source of the light).

This scene is not really about the nakedness (even though there is some). Did an interest in humanism mean a movement away from Christianity? How was an interest in the classical world reflected in Renaissance art? Was it possibly successfully to combine Christian and classical elements in painting, sculpture and architecture? Humanism, also known as Renaissance humanism (because there are still Humanist societies and groups around today) spread during the 15th and 16th centuries. Christianity though, Humanist were not anti-clerical, or anti-Christian, they were just more focused on the here and now. Most of them had a scholastic upbringing the same as many clergymen. Visual arts in 15th Century remained primarily religious. The Humanists of the Renaissance differed from medieval theologians and others who has studied Aristotle, Cicero and the Neoplatonists.

The humanists found in Classical antiquity absolute standards by which cultural and, indeed, all human activities could be judged.

Interest in the classical world was reflected in Renaissance art with the reintroduction of mythological subjects, allegory and elements of classical architecture.

From the sixteenth century, for example, some artists were interested in how the body worked and how they could represent it with an accuracy based on scientific knowledge rather than classical ideas of harmony and proportion. We tend to think of Leonardo as the pre-eminent figure in this quest for anatomical knowledge, though his drawings were not published in his lifetime. Andreas Vesalius, often regarded as the father of modern anatomy, is arguably a more significant figure. Vesalius published his De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) in 1543. He had thousands of unpublished pages of illustrated notes on artistic theory, human anatomy, natural history and many other topics. He was the first thinker to be independent of classical and medieval thought. The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism. As with assignment 1, I have made the assignment as a pdf document which can be downloaded here: Assignment 2 PDF submission. Four pages of notes (covering 3 chapters in WHA). I find using the template really quite hard. For the Greek section I wrote up loads of notes that I just couldnt use in the final summary (which was challenged to be 4 pages for 3 chapters). I tried to economise on space by using abbreviations and also ended up formatting with a small font (I hope the assessors have good eyesight or a zoom button). More detailed and easier to read notes can be found on the blog posts for each chapter, Greeks, Romans and Medieval.

See my double length draft and further reflection here.

I think that might be reflected in the feedback this time, my tutor will probably suggest some rework anyway so perhaps I can include consulting that book then.

I am still not sure of the language though, I have tried to make my writing style more formal for the assignment this time and to use more words that one might find in a glossary.

The Parthenon characterises the Classical period in Greek art and I was lucky enough to see the sculptures from it during my British Museum Visit. Pediments are the triangular spaces formed by the pitch of the roof of a Greek temple, one at either end of the building. They were often filled with sculpture representing mythological subjects. The triangular frame of the pediment presented a challenge to the designers of the sculpture placed within. There was a danger that figures at the centre would appear as giants compared with those that occupied the corners. This discrepancy in scale was lessened by allowing figures towards the corners to sit, and right in the corners, to recline. Three goddesses were seated along the right hand side of the east pediment, witnessing the birth of Athena from Zeus (in the centre now lost). The furthest two are pictured here. One languishing in the other ones arms, their posture was designed accommodate the slope of the architectural mouldings that framed the pediment. The reason I picked these figures from all that I saw in the Parthenon sculptures gallery is that these are thought to be Aphrodite and her mother Dione.

Thalassa, Personification of the Sea, in the lap of Gaia, Mother Earth or The Fates.

The garments of the Parthenon statues are carved in ridges and deep furrows, which catch the light and hold the shade. No cloth naturally rumples in this way. The effect is entirely artificial. These sculptures were made about a century before the first nude Aphrodite which annotation one (above) is based upon, so that this figure appears clothed (in a manner of speaking) is not a surprise. However, the whole demeanor of the goddess has changed from one representation to the other. The Parthenon goddess is relaxed, draped across the lap of her companion. Her body is twisted to face out of the pediment, emphasizing her curves, but from her posture we can imagine her lounging on a bed in much the same manner. Even without her head you can tell she is sexy and confident within her own skin.

Venus is a complete contrast.

She is trying to cover her nakedness with this pose, and not even in the half-hearted, for-the-censors, one hand type that the first nude Aphrodite employed.

1. In that crouching pose she is using her whole right arm in a very defensive manner.
2. Parthenon statues, at that time the reclining figure still had her head.

Just 13 years later, a lot of damage was done by a massive explosion when the invading Venetian army pelted the Parthenon with cannonfire because the Turks had hidden their armory inside.

Description: In this section you need to describe the form, medium, scale, key shapes, and palette.

Interpretation: You should interpret the work by addressing the question of function and meaning, analysing distinctive elements, the effect of compositional devices or artistic choices, and why the artwork was created (context) with reference to evidence from other sources. Gauge the influence of the painting on later artists. Describe what you see. Interpret its historical and artistic context. Evaluate how successful the image is and how it compares with similar images by other artists or other works by the same artist.

I really struggle with the word count though.

I edited it right down to barebones to get it nearer the assignment mandated word count.

Also, I found it very hard to separate out the evaluation and interpretation. I felt like i was repeating myself or otherwise missing out info or putting it in the wrong paragraph. North and South Transept and the long part of the cross, represented by the Nave. The interior itself is filled with a light airy feeling owing to the many windows, (some with stained glass), and the very high vaulted ceiling. This was especially felt in the Nave, Transepts and Crossing at the time day I visited (almost 6pm when the sun was low in the West). The ceiling above the central column of the church, the Nave and the Sanctuary is two stories up, with lancet windows at the clerestory level windows and a blind arcade with thin columns at gallery level. The vaulted ceilings in the Transepts are equally high, with large pointed arched windows (north, with stained glass and octofoil window and south with plain glass but elaborate curvilinear tracery). Stained glass windows line the walls. The Choir has an ornate wooden seating area (the stalls) and elaborate wooden screens, tombs and monuments across the 5 bays each side, the piers are alternately circular and octagonal leading up to triple vaulting shafts for the ceiling.

The High Altar has an altarpiece with geometric patterns and religious sculptures which looks to be covered in gold leaf which melts into a wall of statues on the Great Screen.

The Crossing under the central tower has four piers, flattened on the inner sides with a flat patterned ceiling that the chandelier hangs down from. Next to one of these piers stand the pulpit. The Transepts are quite small and filled with various 17th and 18th century monuments. Most of the capitals were quite plain but there was one column at the back of the Nave (by the Font) which looked to be a stiff-leaf capital. The exterior, at the East end (the retrochoir), has a symmetrical set of chapels with pointed arched windows and pointed roofing. Above and behind them there is a small rose window visible on the sanctuary tower (which I could not see from inside). Behind that rises the central tower with four spiral pinnacles and a clock.

South Transept pointed arched windows and the sweep of the flying buttresses as they support the upper level of the building.

At the west end of the nave, showing equilateral arch stained glass windows with, for symmetry some blind tracery arches. Above these are two pointed medallion moldings with religious scenes in them and above that a strip of arabesque molding. Above that are some more lancet windows with what looks to be shutter blinds in them. This gives a very pretty edging pattern.

The oldest complete part of the building, the Choir and Retrochoir, still dates from 1212 and is now the oldest gothic building in London.

The Nave has been replaced several times since then, the current one dates from 1897 (designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield) in the Gothic Revival style. The North and South Transepts were built in 1283 and 1310 respectively, however the current south transept is the result of another fire related rebuild in the 1390s. At this time they also increased the height of the tower and restored the chapel. The tracery in the South Transept looks to be of Decorated style (equivalent to flamboyant style). The style of the church is a hodgepodge of styles but mostly Early Medieval Gothic and 19th Century Gothic Revival but overall architecturally majestic.

To evaluate how successful this is as a Gothic cathedral we have to remember that this was only made a recognised Cathedral in 1905.

There was some embroidered material on the High Altar but I do not know its age.

1. As a Gothic Revival Building I think it is very successful.
2. Victorian windows (designed by Charles Eamer Kempe) of famous literary figures who were Southwark inhabitants (such as Geoffrey Chaucer) along one aisle wall.
3. Other more modern stained glass has been added too.
4. The exterior of the building has typical Gothic elements, flying buttresses and use of symmetrical sets of pointed arched windows with conspicuous curvilinear tracery.
5. Venus I saw in the British Museam.
6. To see the large view click the image.
7. Aphrodite to the Greeks, Venus to the Romans.
8. The beautiful goddess has been depicted nude numerous times across the ages in sculpture and paintings.
9. The first monumental female nude in classical sculpture, challenging the accepted norm at that time because only the male Greek sculptures were nude (perhaps reflecting a rising social status of women).
10. It was placed in a shrine in the Aphrodite temple at Knidos in south-western Turkey and has inspired and affected the course of female depiction in art ever since.

She has a typical Hellenistic hairstyle, an elaborate top-knot, with her hair hanging down over her left shoulder leading the eye around the sculpture.

Roman copy (Antonine period) of a Greek Original from 200 BC, where the original was made to be seen in-the-round but this sculpture was clearly intended for a corner or niche because the backside of it is only basically roughed out. It was in the collection of the Gonzaga family, Mantua, where it was inventoried in the Gonzaga collection in 1627. It was to deeply affect Peter Paul Rubens during his time there. It was acquired by King Charles I (an avid collector of Roman antiquities), sold by Duke Vincenzo II of Mantua. It was bought by the artist Peter Lely. Since 1963 it has been on long term loan to the British Museum.

Classical Art: from Greece to Rome.

Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in stone. Your second visit should be to a Gothic or Victorian Gothic revival church or cathedral. Its plan is a traditional cross shape with western entrances and other adjacent buildings connected via a modern glass covered walkway. At the end of the Choir is the Great Screen built in 1520 and embellished with statues in 1905 (when it was officially named a Cathedral). The Nave has been replaced several times since then, the current one dates from 1897 designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield. This view is from standing at the back of the crossing (by the choir), showing the crossing and nave. We can see the effect of the light pooring in through all the many pointed windows in the nave and illuminating the vaulted ceiling.

At the back you can see the western pointed arched stained glass windows and blind windows.

The stained glass windows along the North aisle of the Nave are Victorian, designed by Charles Eamer Kempe. These depict famous inhabitants of Southwark with literary connections including, poet Oliver Goldsmith, author Samuel Johnson, Chaplian Henry Sacheverell, Alexander Cruden (author of the King James Bible), author and preacher John Bunyan, poet John Gower and author Geoffrey Chaucer. The stone roof collapsed in 1469 and was replaced by a wooden one, some of the carvings from that ceiling still survive.

At the West End is a window designed by Henry Holiday showing scenes of the Creation.

Most of the clustered column capitals throughout were plain but a couple of columns at the back of the Nave looked to have a stiff-leaf capital. The Aisles also have vaulted ceilings one level lower (supporting the gallery level gabled roof) and stained glass windows. The North and South Transepts, filled with various 17th and 18th century monuments, were built in 1283 and 1310 respectively, however the current south transept is the result of another fire related rebuild in the 1390s. This time they took the opportunity to increase the height of the tower and restored the chapel. The tracery in the South Transept looks to be of Decorated style (equivalent to flamboyant style in Europe). Arches leading to the choir aisles differ slightly in shape on each side of the church, on the south a usual equilateral arch, on the north is a stilted arch, (one side has been flattened) to allow for the tower staircase. The stilted arch can be seen in this photo below, to the left of the pulpit. In this view of the crossing and into the choir leading to the high altar, you can clearly see the stilted arch on the left hand side is not symmetrical. The Crossing under the central tower has four piers, flattened on the inner sides, dating from the 14th century. This is looking up at the ceiling of the crossing. This is a slightly older part of the build, in the choir aisle looking at the first chapel in the retrochoir. The Choir is Early English style. The Choir stalls are of ornately carved wood. There are also elaborate wooden screens, tombs and monuments across the five bays each side.

The Choir has elaborate wooden screens in the arches.

The piers are alternately circular and octagonal leading up to triple vaulting shafts for the ceiling. The Altarpiece has gold leaf geometric patterns and religious sculptures which melt into a wall of statues on the Great Screen. This is looking at the alter and great screen in the santuary. You can see the light shining through the stained glass pointed arched windows here.

The oldest complete part of the building, the Choir and Retrochoir, still dates from 1212 making it the oldest gothic building in London.

This is medieval blind tracery in the retrochoir. Outside, the retrochoir is seen as a symmetrical set of four chapels topped with gables and lancet windows. Behind them on the sanctuary tower above the main stained glass is a small rose window not visible from inside. The square central tower rises up, with four spiral pinnacles and a clock. Symmetrical set of chapels with Pointed arches. This is the oldest part of the building, the back of the Retro choir, you cannot tell from this exterior view but all of those windows have stained glass. Apologies for the condition of the photo, my camera-phone struggled with the dynamic range at this side of the building at this time of the day.

South churchyard, you can see medieval pointed arch windows with geometric tracery (retrochoir) and further along, that newer curvilinear tracery in South Transept windows and the sweep of the flying buttresses as they support the upper level of the building.

Higher up there are some more lancet windows with shutter blinds in them.

This exterior view is of the West end of the nave, showing equilateral arch windows (with stained glass, see later picture from inside) with, for symmetry some blind tracery arches too. Detail of the last picture, of the exterior view of the West end of the nave. This shows two pointed medallion moldings with relgious scenes in them above the arched windows and a strip of arabesque molding along the top. I have captioned the following images in detail to explain each feature of the photos: Click them for larger. There are some extra ones in this gallery that are not above. Vaulted ceiling in the Nave. South Choir to Retrochoir. Here you can just see lancet windows at the clerestory level windows and a blind arcade with thin columns at gallery level.

Large pointed arched windows.

The main window (on the far right, partially obscured) has plain glass but elaborate curvilinear tracery. The centre window on the side of the transept has stained glass but it was too high for me to see the images. South Aisle stained glass, above the Shakespeare memorial.

I tried to use my phones panorama mode to show how the ceiling fitted together but it looks a little odd.

The interior is filled with a light airy feeling owing to the many windows, (some with stained glass), and the very high vaulted ceiling. The window at the end is stained glass but the low sun has blown out the photo. North Transept, unlike the south transept, the side windows here are plain glass. Also one is not a full window but obscured by a little doorway. This is a view from the south side of the nave of the crossing, part of the north transept and the great screen in the sanctuary. At the back of the nave is a row of blind pointed arches.

In front I presume these are the rescued wooden carvings from the previous ceiling.

This is looking up at the huge stained glass window at the back of the nave. This is looking up at the beautiful pattern the light from the windows makes on the vaulted ceiling (at the back of the nave). The light from the windows accentuate the ceiling form. This view it looking up at the clerestory level windows and the blind arcade at gallery level above the choir. Exterior view of the South Transept and tower above the crossing. You can see Flying Butress supporting the higher level and pointed arched windows. Symmetrical set of chapels with Pointed arches (detail). The complexities of early medieval civilisation, reflect its origin in the turbulent centuries following the death of Charlemagne in 814. The Roman, gem encrusted side faced the emperor and the crucifix embossed side faced the clergy during ceremonies p358. Pisa growing rich from shipping Crusaders to the Holy Land, reflected in building beautiful buildings (Baptistery, Cathedral and leaning tower). Much stricter, vows of poverty and denunciation of fanciful Romanesque sculpture and artworks in manuscripts (St Bernard).

P369 Romanesque cathedral Santiago de Compostela in Spain was a very popular pilgrimage symbolised by the cockle-shell badge of St James.

Chartres, 1145, where the money ran out to finance the church building and over 1000 locals turned out with their carts to haul stone etc. The wealthy donated large one off items which they could attach their names too, such as specific stained glass windows. Their lives revolved around it once built. In England a new sense of national identity was forming in the mid-13th century as English was first used in an official document. St Francis of Assisi founded a new religious order, took a vow of poverty and got papal sanction to be wandering preachers, Fratri minori, lesser brethren (not priests) in 1211.

St Clare was his first female disciple (who founded nuns order).

S Francesco in Italy was a church with direct, non-allegorical frescos (attributed to Cimabue and perhaps Giotto) of Christianity by popular demand. Cistercians tried to suppress Franciscans (Grey Friars) because they were outspoken about the church and clergy owning wealth, land and estates. At the same time St Dominic of Spain started the Dominicans (Black Friars, who later manned the spanish inquisition). These two orders had a direct effect on literature and visual arts of the 13th century with the demand for plain talking and evocative religious stories which would have widespread appeal amongst the educated and uneducated alike.

Alterpieces came into being in the 13th century as a result of the change in the way mass was given with priests now having their backs to the congregation.

The conventual life provided women with an alternative, often the only alternative to arranged, loveless marriages and frequent childbearing.

1. The black death (bubonic plague) swept across Europe in 1348 wiping out a third of the population.
2. It was believed to be divine retribution.
3. The feudal system collapsed through lack of manpower.
4. Palace, a Venetian version of Gothic.
5. Pisans recorded the names of the individual architects in the inscriptions on the fabric: Busheto, Rainaldo, who began the cathedral facade, Diotisalvi, who designed the Baptistery.
6. Masons and master-masons or architects travelled widely and it is more than likely that many made drawings of features of buildings that caught their attention.
7. The Gothic architects names recorded but not much else about them.

The influence of Giovanni Pisano was pervasive throughout the early 14th century in central italy.

He and his father created a new more vivid visual language for representing religious ideas. However artists were still paid by the day as wage labourers by the cathedral authorities and were soon forgotten once the work was up in the churches. Romanesque: Use of stone tunnel vault ceilings on churches (instead of flat wooden ones).

Efforts were now being made to recover the ancient Roman art of large stone vault construction.

Bayeux Tapestry not a true tapestry but made from a long strip of embroidered linen. Ceilings: Tunnel vaults gave way to Transverse vaults, to Groin vaults, to Rib vaults. Mosaics were costly and slow to execute so painted murals were seen as a cheap alternative until the frescos of Scrovegni Chapel. True frescos are almost as durable as mosaics. Painted on fresh damp plaster with pigments that chemically unite as the plaster dries, it takes great skill to get it right as whole sections have to be done very quickly. Pigments which could not be absorbed into the plaster like this were mixed with adhesive and added as a secco to be applied on top of the dried plaster. Naked figures owe little or nothing to the Classical tradition of heroic nudity. Gothic architecture was born in St Denis, Paris.

Gothic churches often had vine-leaf patterned carvings on the capitals of columns.

Carved relief sculptural figures were more natural, individual and breaking free of the buildings. The allegorical significance is less boldly stressed than before. Direct images and stories. Monks with grey woolen habits and ropes with three knots in them (poverty, chastity and obedience). Famously Giotto Di Bondone was particularly noted owing mainly to the first histories of Italian art being written by fellow Florentines although no surviving work attributed to him is full documented. Example Wilton Diptych, after 1395, National Gallery. Northern artistic traditions of intricate flat patterning were to contribute much to the creation of medieval art in Western Christendom. I really did struggle through this chapter. The gothic churches were quite interesting with their beautiful interior spaces but I found the religious medieval life deathly dull. I was born in this century where there are more choices than loveless, arranged marriages or becoming a nun! Today we admire Romanesque and Gothic art for their formal qualities; the strength of their religious imagery is less evident except to devout Christians.

To the uninformed (as I was when staring this chapter of the course) when you think of Gothic, you think of creepy gargoyles, towering spires and Edgar Allen Poe.

Western World videos, it now seems to me that Gothic architecture was more practically born out of a desire for extra height, terrifying beauty and magnificent, exaggerated grandeur in building design, specifically religious buildings, for the glory of God. It originated in France in 1144 when the Abbey of St Denis was built. The style spread to England where we emphasised length over height (unlike the French).

Europe was more stable and prosperous so consequently there was a massive population boom, people were getting married younger and having bigger families.

More people means bigger churches and more contributions with which to fund them. It was not all superstition and church scaremongering though, Oxford and Cambridge universities were founded during this period too. As the style gained in popularity, designs got more fantastical, ornate and ambitious, resulting in High Gothic.

Renaissance, as a derogatory term when it fell out of fashion.

The term related back to Goths as barbarians who wreaked havoc across Europe centuries earlier, inferring that this architectural style had wreaked havoc across Europe too. So what are the main features of Gothic architecture? Internally, the innovation of the Pointed Arch allowed for massive windows compared with previous designs. As an illiterate medieval peasant the bible stories must have come to life before their very eyes by the power of God as the sunlight hit these windows. The Gothic stained glass style played the role of storyteller, offering Christian and secular scenes through intricate design and inspiring color and light. These windows shared the teachings of faith with all worshippers, whether literate or not. The clergy would use the windows to teach the gospel, ultimately elevating the art form as a symbol of the divine. The same pointed arch design allowed the force of heavier ceilings and upper floors to be distributed across pillars creating a Vaulted ceiling.

This catered for extra vertical height which was especially good for grand churches to reach into the heavens.

Previously, vaults could only have been circular or rectangular but with the distribution of force within the vaulted ceiling vaults could now to be built in different shapes and sizes. Aesthetically, the combined arches in the ceiling added to the impression of height and elegance, these modern style churches were (and still are) truly magnificent places of worship, especially so for the congregation who most likely lived in medieval squalor. These little stone creatures serve a double purpose, firstly, a practical purpose of allowing rainwater to clear the walls when it pours down from the roof. Usually the water pours through the mouth of the creature. Secondly, these creatures are grotesque and creepily decorative, especially designed to scare the superstitious villagers into the safety of the church. Another notable external characteristic of Gothic architecture is the Flying Buttress. These buttresses spread the weight of the taller designs, taking the weight off the walls and transferring force directly to the ground, allowing windows to be bigger and external walls to be taller.

Often these supports were elaborately designed, seeming to dart and sweep around the building, giving an impression of movement and of grandeur missing from previous architectural styles.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, for example, AWN Pugin was arguing that Gothic was the only proper Christian architecture, a view strenuously reinforced by Ruskin.

Chapter, on Romans and Hellenistic Art.

By the 2nd century BC Greek gods had lost much of their influence.

• The philosophy of the time reflected a shift from those of human relations to the inner life of the individual.
• In Hellenistic art the first representations of allegory were seen.

The transformation of Rome into a monumental imperial capital happened in the 1st century BC and an extensive building program was carried out under Augustus.

Utilitarian, as opposed to religious structures were seen as more economically justified, and temples were relatively small in size. Luxury objects and art were in demand as a representation of wealth and taste. Architects were highly regarded however, Roman painters and sculptors were not, despite the high prices of their work.

Art collecting increased (private collectors first appeared in the 1st century BC), as did the promotion of famous artists.

A system of perspective was devised and various pictorial styles were developed and by 79AD all genres of painting were being practised. The Romans copied Greek statues (often of bronze) and translated them into marble, often at increased scale so having to alter the compositions slightly to include supports to the heavier material. Marble was also used extensively in Roman architecture as a symbol of magnificence. However, the development of concrete and its use in conjunction with the arch and vault (none of which were Roman inventions) revolutionised architecture.

It was a Hellenistic innovation for ruler portraits to idealize the body but represent a likeness in the head.

Romans often made full-length portrait statues by adding a portrait head to a body copied from a Greek original. The structure and movement of the figures beneath the clothing of sculpture were very naturalistic and show a mastery of 3-dimensional form and technical workmanship. The portrait bust was popular with the Romans as a way of immortalising the person, creating very realistic likenesses based on the ancient belief that the likeness preserves the spirit. So much so that their portraits are direct and often unflattering. Decorative schemes first appeared in the 1st century BC, visually enlarging the space of the rooms. New importance given to the decoration of private houses, with painted walls and elaborate pebble-mosaic pavements. In 1 AD fake architectural features such as imaginary windows were treated with increasing fantasy.

Romans excelled in urban design and in new construction methods which facilitated programs for roads, drainage, bridges, aqueducts, apartment blocks and public buildings.

Architects created an entirely new concept of architectural mass based on axial symmetry (one space flows harmoniously into the next). Hellenistic, Egyptian and Greek. Hellenistic and Roman art. Cities were built conforming to Greek orders of architecture and adorned with sculptures embodying the Greek ideal of the human form. The Roman upper class absorbed Hellenistic culture, which had heavy Greek overtones. Thus statues, paintings and temples came to be thought of as works of art, created by individuals or artists. He wrote that imitation in itself is pleasurable. Plato however claimed all imitations are false and harmful.

Pliny claimed an artist of the Augustan period that he painted walls with any scene that took his fancy.

Architect Vitruvius wrote a book on architecture and Roman painting in the age of Augustus. On p68 of the course notes we are tasked with drawing some classical figures, preferably from life. I undertook this task during the visit to the British Museum.

Do your images help you to understand classical figures?

How do you interpret the figure? I found the experience of drawing in the museum relatively unpleasant. I usually find drawing relaxing and peaceful but with all the other visitors shuffling past and around me I felt self conscious and way out of my comfort zone. I would say that the two positives of drawing the figures were, it made me slow down further, look for longer and I had a greater understanding of how the gallery lighting affected the look of the sculpture.

This would not have been the same lighting the original owners of the sculpture would have used (pre-electric) so the folds and shadowy sections would have appeared differently to them.

The figures here were very skillfully rendered. Being Veins was a little heavy in the trunk but that might be cultural (maybe they liked more pear-shaped women in those days) or perhaps it was altered the translation from the Greek original to this Roman marble copy? The marble would be a lot heavier so some adjustments to the composition may have had to have been made. As the caption points out, the original would have been made to view from all sides but this is less well rendered on the back. His torso is beautiful carved but the folds of the cloth on his shoulder seem a bit basic when compared with the care taken over the hair carving on Venus. Greek athletes used to compete in the nude so it would have meant nothing to them but women were rarely depicted nude. They both seem idealised but the man seems to have more personality to his face, that strong jawline, than the more generic beauty of Venus face. Course Task of drawing some classical sculptures.

The Parthenon characterises the Classical period in Greek art.

Interestingly there is a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Nashville (including the now lost to time Athena chryselephantine and plaster versions of all these sculptures). Here at the entrance I took a panorma photograph. They have done the best they can to make it an attraction for the tourists (with the funcky lights and wireframe gladiators). They have a sound track with cheering too, to simulate really being in the arena (I suspect it would have been much loader and more smelly though)! I was suprise the timber drainage system survival all these years.

I went to see as many pieces of the London city wall as possible.

Right in front of the panel is this preserved bit of medieval postern.

I couldnt see any actual Roman wall here though (and in many places on the walk there is a plague but no wall remains visible).

• It had the usual blue lined panel but also this additional one.
• I found it really interesting that for this part of the wall you can really see the different techniques of the Roman and Medieval builders, separated by the red tiles.
• Between panels 3 and 4 is America Square Conference centre.
• Its really interesting to see how modern buildings have to preserve and build around anything like this that they find while excavating a site.

This sign does indeed not appear to be present.

I could see no evidence of wall remains either. I suspect it might have been in here where this car is (from the google map marker). Couldnt see any evidence of wall anywhere around though. I tried to zoom in on the camera without much success. The write up on the google maps marker provides the information though. This sign explains the names of local areas, really interesting. No visiable remianing wall though. Between panel 8 and 9 markers was this church hall and little garden walk though. There also was a very usefual looking map which marks on it existing bits of Roman wall.

I think it must be here, one can only assume this is the wall because its different to the adjoinging wall but that would be a dangerous assumption.

It does have a line of red bricks in it though near the top. No visible remains of wall here. At this point it started to rain so I went into the museum. These panels are no longer there but they are both from Noble street and there are whole sections of the wall excavated and annotated with informational plaques. This is the end of this bit of the wall (probably where panel 19 would have been). I walked back a different route from the museam (via a cafe to get lunch) and saw this bit of the route, its actually the first plaque I saw which started me off hunting down the rest. No visible wall here though. That is the end of the offical walk.

I did see this on the southbank inside the Southwark Catheral lobby (which I visited because its a gothic church, more on that later).

Roman remains or artefacts in my area. London, and what better place than Londinium? My first thought was to hot-foot it up to the Museum of London (just up the road from me) where I knew there to be some Roman artefacts, I wrote this visit up here.

Roman Amphitheatre in the basement of the Guildhall galleries.

I wrote about this here. Roman collection in the British Museum, which I wrote about here. This video gives a great introduction to a lot of the things covered in WHA. The Hellenic world was not just Greece, it was in Italy, France, Aegean islands, Sicily and Spain. Dispersed, not centralised, maritime and linked only by the sea, not territorial and closely integrated, it lacked any political unity and even a common system of government. The Greeks called themselves Hellenes. Anyone who didnt speak Greek was a Barbarian. They put geometric vases on graves in Athens but Greeks were not really interested in the afterlife. They love male nudity but females always clothed in art (except pornography). Aphrodite was originally Phoenician mother goddess Astarte (who was nude). The god Zeus was the most powerful and Hera was his wife. Games in Olympia (and elsewhere) were like religious festivals. Athletes were naked and also soldiers, from the upper classes. Athens, for example was no more than ¼ of million people and only 1000 sq miles.

Artists in search of patronage would travel from one to another so potentially could find more work than bigger empires such as Egypt where the social structure was less varied and a lot more hierarchical.

However, the Egyptian patrons could afford to commission work on a much larger scale. Euripides, comedies of Aristophanes (poetry) and teachings of Socrates (philosophy). Mid 7th century BC, learned new stone working processes from the Egyptians which they adapted to marble. Kritios Boy (so-called because of similarities with statues by Kritios, the 5thc Athenian sculptor, whose works are unfortunately known only from later descriptions). Sculpture was painted with vivid colours and not bleached white with age as we see them today. This is a carefully contrived illusion. The lines are not straight, nor are the columns equally spaced.

Orientalizing Style (p119), 7th Century BC, especially pottery made in Corinth.

Also Kneeling Boy from Samos, c 600BC, Ivory. The Parthenon characterises the classical period in Greek art. Mid 7th century BC, trading station with Egypt supplied exposure to monumental sculpture and architecture in stone.

Until later into the 6th century BC painters continued to render figures in the conceptual Egyptian manner.

The Greeks learned the technique of building with posts and lintels, or rather stone columns and entablatures, from Egypt. According to Homer: metalwork (especially shields) was the most highly regarded art in archaic Greece. Athena inside the Parthenon which no longer survives. Powerful constituencies in every society construct a notion of what is bets. This is called a canon.

When going to museums and galleries we need to remember that what we are seeing has been curated specifically, decisions potentially made for reasons of finance, specie requirements or intellectual considerations.

Looking is a matter of self-education. Many people spend very little time in front of each work of art because they are already acquainted with it through reproductions so may miss the extra information that standing in front of the art work in person would gain them. As I discovered myself, the book recommends several short visits to a museum (entrance fees permitting) rather than one long exhausting day. The book advises to plan the visit carefully and mix a bit of looking at things you already know about (from reproductions) with a bit of new things. Basic equipment of art historians are pencil and notepad. Drawing and sketching help us develop a good visual memory. Organisations such as English heritage, national trust, Georgian society and Victorian society will provide information about buildings of interest in your area.

Many churches and country houses are closed oct-mar so writing in advance to the vicar, estate manager or curator to request permission for access.

When looking at architecture, you need to think about what the typical conditions for viewing that building are. Consider the weather, the season and the time of day. This is not something you would usually have to worry about when appreciating sculpture or paintings (unless they are outside). Also, at certain times of the day, the function of a building becomes more obvious, for example a school or an office block are different when busy.

Another fundamental thing to consider is the relationship of exterior to interior.

When looking at sculpture you need to consider where the original intension of where the sculpture was to be placed. For example, architectural sculpture (such as the figures from the Parthenon) which were originally designed to be seen from below, at a distance, in sunny Greek weather are now seen much lower down under strip lighting in the British Museum. Their integration into the building design as a whole has been lost with the relocation.

With both architecture and sculpture its important to walk around it and see it from all its viewpoints.

The canon is a long cumulative process of artists who have had influence on other artists and critical thinkers.

• There were no named great artists in the middle ages.
• We need to be asking questions about historical process not just relying on the canon.
• The last 3 decades has challenged the notion that a group of people work out the historical facts about works of art and another group interpret those facts.
• The idea of academic objectivity brings to bear the choice of questions which goes into fact finding.
• Art historians now recognise that reading paintings would produce different meanings depending on who is doing the reading.
• More recently the status of artists has become elevated and a signature can dramatically increase the market value of a piece.
• For example many works we only know though copies, eg Roman copies of Greek originals or Engravings of Renaissance art.

One branch of Art History is concerned with changes of taste and how the history of art is constructed as a sequence of conceptualizations, one artist climbing on the backs of his predecessors.

Eg Cimabue leads to Giotto, leads to Masaccio. An art historian working on Giotto might address how the artists composed his compartments, which subjects he selected and what pigments he used. West at different times desire stories to be told, what the structural relationship between the beginning, middle and end of the story might be, and what different stories have in common with one another. It has revolutionised discussions about the role of women in the works of the canon.

Many architects have also been painters and sculptors eg Michelangelo.

P48, eg Chiswick House near London. In questioning What is art? Psychologists have helped to demonstrate the superior power of the visual images over the written or verbal description in arousing immediate and strong responses. P54 Important propaganda value.

Pictorial documents can be misleading in looking at what people actually wore at that period in time.

P54 Photography is similarly not really to be trusted depending on the context the same image can be used to describe two things eg royal procession crowds or rioting. Also, painter-poets and poet-painters whose works needs to be considered as a whole eg William Blake. Responsible for writing histories of art, research and documentation.

Frequently the only way to understand the characteristics of a material is to physically try them out.

For this reason many art historians avoid the term work or art altogether.

Condition or the work may also be assessed because many works have suffered damage or aging since they were originally made so may not look as it once did. Photographic reproductions remove the element of the original scale of the work that only seeing the work in person can give you. Sometimes the artist has specially made the frame to reinforce the statement of the painting, I saw several like this in the NPG. P65 eg William Holman Hunt had texts and other emblems on them. Attributed to, or school of, who painted the picture? Finding out when an artwork was painted is another guestimate unless studio logbooks or exhibition catalogues survive from the artists lifetime. We may interrogate and question its meaning as we would a text. Think of it hung in a ghetto or part of a collection which feature artists houses. The referent of the image is a thing in the image with point out the image represents rather than reflects the seen world.

The story is told through the details of the fold of a dress or various shades of gold and red throughout the painting without deliberate reference to its meaning.

However since we have no actual photographs of Dutch interiors we cannot take it as fact that these were not cunning illusions. Important to identify myths of personalities. Most artists painted pictures for people and sold in their lifetimes. History of painting also includes history as a piece of property. To what extent, if at all, the artists intentions are relevant to an art-historical enquiry is open to debate. For some it is the How of communication rather than the What that matters. Art History is simply a lazy way of avoiding serious consideration of individual artists or of historical events. C with an amorphous mass of artists, writers and musicians generally believed to have subscribed to a vague artistic philosophy based on individuality and nature. This sort of art-historically Happy families is not very helpful. P75 Art historians should ask why and how one group of people, one event or one work of art provokes such reactions, artistic, political, social or all three. This is the list of refernces I made for section one of the course before I was told it should be on each post (not one giant list). I have tried to retrospectively put the right references onto each post but this page remains for reference in case I missed any. In: Grove Art Online. Canal Educatif à la Demande (CED). RIBA Stirling Prize 2015: Which is the greenest of them all? Why are there no great British nativity scenes? Pt 1: Why Did Suffragettes Attack Artworks? Mediateca di Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The Anne Boleyn Files. The Ambassadors: A Renaissance Puzzle? Suffragist prisoner in court. UCA Harvard Referencing Guide. Tracey Emin: Why are women artists paid less than men? Whitney Museum of American Art.

Assignment 1 PDF submission.

A4 page sizes and in a pdf is easier to tell than a never ending blog post page.

• I did try some sketches (and put them on my blog under a new category of sketchbook), however since my tutor advised that a purely digital submission is possible it seemed neater to do them as I have done them.
• For the second painting, Rokeby Venus, I did make a smaller image in black and white to draw arrows over, had I done this as a hand writen page with the postcards from the gallery I would have sketched that.
• Perhaps for future ones sketches will be required?
• For each I tried my best to describe them in detail rather than just the really obvious bits.

I am eagerly anticipating feedback from my tutor to see if I have the right end of this particular stick.

I tried to use the headings from the course note guidelines in this section for organising the notes. I did not manage to fill each heading for all of the paintings though. I got in the first two points but not the last in 508 words. I tried to make a beginning, middle and end, where one paragraph flows into the next but still cover a lot of the points I wanted to make.

Its quick tricky though getting hold of some of the material in a decent timeframe.

I used was not scholarly really at all but I did list its references and on it were some of these books. I put the references for the assignment actually in the pdf but all the references for the blog so far are in one giant bibliography. Perhaps my tutor can advise before I go much further into the course? For books and other materials it makes sense but it seems very laborious to document webpages in this manner since as a blog they can easily be incorporated into the text (and are anyway so the bibliography is extra). I have tried to research my chosen paintings using the course template such that I get a broad range of knowledge about them and their historical context. It is a bit like falling down the rabbit hole but incredibly interesting. I went to see the paintings I chose to annotate in person but also evaluated the sources I was looking at in books and on the internet for their scholarly worth. When using youtube for example I tried to look at reputable videos such as those uploaded by the National Gallery. I tried to engage with the concepts though out part one within each of the exercises. I am not sure of the language though, whether my writing style is too informal for an assignment. While I was going through the online catalogue room by room feature on the National Gallery website, this one caught my eye as one which might be interesting. The Doge of Venice (with his back to us), the Pope (facing us), and King Philip of Spain (in black), kneel amid the heavenly hosts. Above, angels adore the monogram of Christ. The jaws of hell are represented on the right, and in the distance figures are cast into a fiery gulf. I viewed the painting online, a purse perhaps? I guess in the time it was painted lighting would have been much more subdued anyway, possibly lower and from candles. The light level in this room is controlled by the sensor in the caption beside the painting. During your gallery visit, take a look at one or two religious paintings. These can be quite hard for the modern viewer to interpret because few of us now have the level of biblical knowledge that contemporary viewers would have had. I had noticed it when browsing the catalog.

This looks like a portrait and not really a religious painting because of the little depiction of Venice in the back ground.

She stares out from the picture at you and her cloak is luminous. It looks so real. I think its just her hand. Quinten Massys, about 1513, National Gallery, London. The texture of the surface is very smooth. They look so realistic. The lace, the embroidery, really really amazing. This was one of the grand old rooms with sofas still in it instead of seating. The first thing I noticed when looking at this is that the artist has chosen to make Christ look extremely feminine with soft round features. Also, the colours are nicer and the whole painting is a lot brighter than the gloomy online reproduction.

I did not see a postcard for this one so could not compare that.

Also, its slightly bigger than I imagined.

1. The white scarf in his pocket attracts the eye, so I assume it means something significant.
2. Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, National Gallery, London.
3. I did very much enjoy seeing this painting despite not being able to see it in the context of the exhibition mentioned (which I missed unfortunately due to having a sick baby to look after in its final week).

The skin tone on the face did look a bit pallid but it is such a beautiful portrait.

You can see the brushwork of her veil against the light for example. These were all I wrote notes about (by this time I was a little arted-out for critical looking) however, I took a few more photos of interesting paintings that caught my eye. This room held a small exhibition which I wrote about in this blog post. Reflection on the visit. Thinking about it now and looking back at my notes I really did try and cram too much into my visit. I have my baby to look after.

I tried to prioritise those that I was intending to write about for the assignment near the start of the visit, however it did mean that my trip to the National Portrait Gallery afterwards was a bit of a washout.

I guess todays equivalent would be an 80 year old in a mini skirt, no one wants to see that! It is beautifully painted. Also, the surface is very smooth even though it looks cracked you cannot see that against the light.

The downloadable reproduction (above) seems a lot darker.

This painting is one of the few I saw that was actually behind glass.

One of the things I noticed when standing in front of it was that her face is weirdly big, grey and smudgy in the mirror. Also, up close, her feet are smudged too (almost like motion blur). I think this is just part of the painterly effect. The brushstrokes are very visible in this painting (unlike the others I viewed) for example in the dark bedclothes. However, Cupids face is so delicately painted that from far away you see a small boys face but from close up the features seem to disappear. Venus reclined on a bed before the mirror held up by a winged Cupid. The reflection shows her face, suggesting that she is observing the viewer rather than herself. The female nude is very rare in Spanish painting at this date. During the 19th century the painting was at Rokeby Park, hence its subtitle. I chose to do my assignment 1 annotation on this painting which includes all of my other notes and observations. Given the photos of the damage its an incredible restoration.

I wrote in my notes that the postcard colours seemed fairly faithful to the painting but in my photo it seems something funny happened with the white balance because the original in the background looks a lot more yellow.

I also noted that the highlights on the clothes at the front right and far back seemed more defined. He reserved the latter term for an ideal figure, usually derived from classical precedents. When Clark first wrote his book in 1956, he was criticised for hinting that there might be some element of physical attraction in the portrayal of the human body. Clark, art historians were already more open about the political, social and sexual context for the nude. Venus is a very sensual, full frontal nude, reclining on a bed and gazing directly and rather coyly back at the viewer. Rokeby Venus to see it in person. For this exercise however, we are presented with another sensual but more decorous nude. With her back to us, she gazes at us from the mirror. Venus because her son Cupid is accompanying her in the bedchamber. However, Venus is usually depicted as a blonde, here she is brunette. The nude in this painting by Ingres is not Venus but an odalisque (a concubine from a harem). This casts a very different context and a sexual connotation on the image from the start. Velásquez, she is composed with her back to us but this time she is turning slightly to stare back at us, her expression does not look very inviting though. As with the Titian, the female anatomy has had liberties taken with it to emphasise the sensuality over the realistic.

Velásquez nude has a more natural female anatomy.

The painting is again of a full frontal reclining nude such as Titian. Salon where it was first shown. Venus has become a prostitute, challenging the viewer with her calculating look. Picture not uploaded here due to copyright on reproductions but I found this youtube video which is just the picture set to music. This nude by Gauguin gives a different vibe altogether, I think it is downright creepy!

By the bed is a sinister figure just staring at her.

She looks frightened and I would be too. The title rounds off the creep factor. This is just one of the many nudes that Gauguin painted when he was in Tahiti and many were of sensuous beauties frolicking in the sunshine. I found this interesting article on how what he painted was actually a myth from his imagination and the natives were actually more likely to have been wearing Christian missionary gowns at that time. Marina Abramović is a Yugoslavian performance artist.

She uses her nude body in her performances.

Descriptions of her early work sound dangerous and exhausting, for example this description of Rhythm 0 (1974) where she invites the audience to use 72 items on her body in any way they liked! Here she is talking about that 6hr ordeal. Here is an audio clip of her speaking about that. Seemly for Abramović the nakedness in her work is anything but sensual as it was in the paintings by men we looked at above. In the 2007 Venice Biennale, Sam Taylor-Wood exhibited in the Ukrainian pavilion a video with a nude girl with decomposing swam lying on top of her (yuck)! David Beckham is an hour of David Beckham asleep. For a man as photographed as David Beckham this is probably the only way he had yet to be viewed by the public. David Beckham were titillated nonetheless.

Even the frame is ostentatious.

The colours are different from how I imagined from the reproduction online, a much lighter red.

1. The Grand Tour was fashionable around 1660-1820 and was supposed to educate young English noblemen by exposing them to the other cultures across europe.
2. They stayed away for years and did not travel light, taking with them loads of stuff and of course servants.
3. They collected art and furnishings along the way for their estates back home.
4. Many picked up vices such as gambling on cards and other less salubrious activities!
5. Rome at the time and it was de rigueur to have a Batoni portrait to commentate your tour.
6. While I was there I also popped into the Visions of Paradise exhibition in the Sunley room.
7. Medici family, rulers of Florence.
8. The other side of the exhibition was all about the altarpiece.
9. It was condemned for heresy because of the mixing of Saints and Angels in the tiers of heaven was apparently not done in those days.
10. Additionally, there was a bit about the church, the other altarpiece and some other related prints, drawings and paintings.
11. And a room off to one side where you could watch the video below.

I went (which was the basis for me wanting to see the exhibition).

Unforuntaly I was not allowed to take photographs.

• I found taking so many accurate notes to be both time-consuming and dull and was very thankful the rest of the National Gallery was photograph friendly so I could just photograph the captions for my reference.
• I think the video was actually the highlight for me but the altarpiece itself was very beautiful.
• Jean de Dinteville from The Ambassadors, admittedly rather badly.

Do you think I could get it to work?

I tried all sorts of light from lamps to torches to daylight and all sorts of levels of darkness in the room. The original is massive, and mine is only tiny to fit into my A5 sketchpad. I had to come back to this one because on the first pass through this room there was a big group of kids having a story time next to it and lots of mums with prams. I think its the skull curiosity or perhaps its also on a must see list somewhere? The first thing I noticed is that its very large!

The painting is a portrait of two men in front of a green drop curtain with a shelve between them filled with various objects.

At the bottom of the painting there is a perspective warped skull.

• Pink vest is wearing a Henry the 8th type get-up, very fancy, and probably fashionable at the time.
• The other guy is dressed very plainly in a floor length robe type coat and has a different shaped hat, his white collar looks religious?

One of the strings has gone on the main lute.

Christ in the top left hand corner peeking out from the green back drop. Brown robed guy looks nervous and uncomfortable, he seems to be gripping his coat. The other guy (pink vest) looks at ease, puffed up with pride even, maybe its because he had two weapons on him and brown coat has none? The painting style is very realistic with amazing details, especially on the objects. The skull seems to be only properly visible at a tall angle on the right. I thought people back then were shorter? Perhaps this was hung closer to the floor originally? After reading the caption, I was pleased to be right about a few things. The timeline from the clothes fits Henry VIII and the second man is a Bishop. If this was a time of political discord between King and Church as the caption suggested, that might explain the Bishop looking uncormfortable.

The online description has slightly different information.

Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe. The main photo I took was a pretty bad photo. I bought a postcard from the gift shop and went back and compared the reproduction. The colours in the postcard have less yellow in the greens and his pink vest has a noticeably less luminous quality.

Also, when looking at the right hand mans brown coat it looks a lot darker than the original.

I took a photo of one in front of the other for my later reference. The downloaded reproduction (top picture above) seems the same as the postcard (probably what it was printed from). On pages 46-48 of the course notes there is a task to visit a gallery. Not only that, they have an excellent website which will allow me to re-examine the pantings by zooming right into them in case I missed anything on my visit or to aid my research. The National Gallery dominates one full side of the square. On the day I visited there seemed to be some sort of winter fun run being organised.

Actually, I think that the run had already finished, otherwise the place would have been more packed with people.

View from National Gallery, what a mess. They originally tried to reuse some of the columns of the previous building inside, the kings mews. The various statues and reliefs in the upper parts of the walls and the various mosaics that hundreds of tourists walk over daily, both inside and out. The gallery is committed to free entry (and always has been), so theres not a lot in terms of free handouts and printed materials. The paintings that I went to see were all on level 2 (the main level).

Look at the galleries themselves.

How do they complement the experience of seeing the works? Are there too many or too few works in each room? Is the lighting good? Can you get close enough to the works of art to study them properly? Can you sit down?

Can you easily get back to revisit earlier parts of the gallery or exhibition or do you feel propelled along from beginning to end?

Inside the individual gallery rooms the light is mostly natural, coming through the huge windows in the ceilings however this is supplemented sometimes by electric lights. Some paintings have light censors on the captions so the light levels can be monitored and adjusted to protect the delicate pictures. See the sensor at the bottom of this Titan caption (see right). I did notice that this painting did not have a sensor though. The captions themselves are quite detailed but slightly different from the information on the corresponding webpage for example see the Titian page here.

Some areas of the gallery are so beautiful, with high domes and gilded columns.

The ceilings are very high, probably because some of the paintings are absolutely massive. This one of Charles I you can see two or three galleries away. Equestrian Portrait of Charles I by Anthony van Dyck from two rooms away. The gallery is huge and full of so many great paintings that its tricky to just stick to the ones you went to see. I ended up walking around most of it (mainly because the paintings I wanted to see where in such disparate rooms). And yes, you can sit down in most of the galleries but not always in front of the painting you want to study. Most of the galleries had bench seats (see above in room 6) but I did spy a few of the old comfy sofas still in some of the bigger rooms. I ended up not staying as long as I would have at those paintings.

I went to see into other posts.

This is on my todo list to come back and edit.

1. Following on from my previous post about portraits, again on Page 49 of the course notes, a research task on self portraits.
2. Go online and compare the self-portraits of Dürer, Rembrandt, van Gogh and Munch.

Amongst more modern works look at self-portraits by Lucian Freud, Bruce Nauman, Cindy Sherman, Sam Taylor-Wood and Sarah Lucas.

What new problems arise when an artist decides to portray themselves? The first thing I noticed about this portrait was the fabulous hair and clothes, perhaps because its in stark contrast to the portrait of his father whose hair and clothes are rather dull. Dürer has painted himself in a really snazzy outfit. The next thing I noticed was the detailed view out throughout the window. Clearly Dürer is trying to be a social climber and this portrait is helping him do that. Apparently the inclusion of a view through the window was inspired by this portrait. This portrait by Rembrandt, painted a century and a half later, has the same three quarter length side-on pose as the Dürer above. I expect you see this much more clearly if you see the painting in person.

Here, Rembrandt is 34 but he looks much older around the eyes.

According to the blurb on the National Gallery website the Dürer portrait was actually an influence so perhaps the similar pose was not an accident but a revival. Also, looking at the dimensions, this one is twice the size of the Dürer. He is lit from below (in my imagination its by some lights on tables in said smokey club) which is probably why he appears a little sinister. Like the first two portraits though, the pose emphases the artists face and hands. This is painted two and a half centuries later than the Rembrandt, about the same size and is much more painterly. Painted only two years later than the Munch (above), this self portrait by Van Gogh is very different and even more painterly!

Despite the dour look on his face, this painting seems full of light because of his clever use of colours.

The blue of his jacket an the background boldly compliment his bright orange beard. Unlike the first three portraits this artist has chosen NOT to show his hands in the painting. He is painted in a passport photo type pose (before passport photos were invented though) with just the head and shoulders. The painting is also very small compare with the others, even smaller than the Dürer. One of the downsides of having a public blog is that sometimes images canont be shown for copyright reasons.

This image by Lucian Freud is represented by Bridgeman Images which have to be specially licenecd.

If you have a Bridgeman Images account you can see the image in the link above, if not I found it also online representing a previous exhibition at the national portrait gallery here. According to the dimensions, this one is about the same size as the Dürer, so smaller than the others mentioned above except the Van Gogh. Like the Van Gogh, this is a head and shoulders pose, no hands, so full focus on the face. Unlike the Van Gogh the colours are of a much more limited palate, all browns and fleshy tones.

The (rather harsh) light comes from above which emphasises the artists craggy face and all the contours of his shoulders.

Unlike all the portraits mentioned so far, the artist in this one has chosen to remain without clothes. Going from the first two, where they are using the clothes as a statement, to no clothes makes me wonder if this too is some sort of statement? Lucian Freud picture the artist appears shirtless. He is pretending to be a fountain by spitting out (and upwards) a stream of water from his mouth. The lighting is a bit strange, I think there must be two light sources because it looks like its coming from slightly below and left but also from the right. This playful illustration of the statement satirizes the cliché of the artist as a prolific genius who spews forth a steady stream of masterpieces. Where do I even start selecting a self portrait for Cindy Sherman? She has so many faces but none of them her own. Cindy Sherman is well known for experimenting with identity in her work from the 1970s onwards. I screenshot the image above from their website from this interactive exhibition mini site showing many Cindy Sherman images. Its amazing how different she looks in each one.

I found this old (2011) interview from the Guardian online with Cindy Sherman really interesting.

And, through her deceits, she looked for truths about identity, vulnerability and power. Its a full body pose with a stuffed hare in one hand and the camera trigger in the other. Her foot is out at and angle so her weight rests on one leg.

From the tiny reproduction above I cannot really tell whether she is gazing at the viewer or just passively forward (like a statue).

The stuffed hare is both a traditional symbol of lust and passion and also a reference to the loss of hair associated with chemotherapy treatment. Its on display in room 33, I might see if I can visit it when I go there. From the dimensions its quite big for a print so its probably quite impressive in person. Since the copyright is with the artist rather than the Tate I have only provided a link to this one too. Another photographic self portrait. In comparison, this portrait is very scruffy. The view point of the camera is interesting, as if the viewer is standing looking down on Lucas. She is staring challengingly at the viewer as if daring them to mention the two fried eggs on her breasts. I read the blurb, this one is similarly inspired. Not sure what else the eggs might mean? Eggs and breasts are often symbols of fertility and life. Taylor-Johnson portrait look to have almost been parodied here (expect this work came first) with nasty looking black and white square lino, fags and ashtray visible by the chair and a cluttered untidy background. The whole place, (including the artist), looks like it could do with a wash.

A far cry from the social climbing status portraits in the earlier part of this post.

Also, the clothes, the pose, ciggies and perhaps even the layer of grime are enhancing her masculinity for the eggs to work their magic in the photograph. When seen in the context of the series this is more obvious. In all these images her gaze back at the viewer is direct and uncompromising.

The modern images are challenging to interpret because they are more conceptual and sophisticated.

They have to decide what the portrait is for before doing it because it will be analysed and assumptions will be made. When you are having your portrait done by someone else, there are two people in the representation (the sitter and the artist) so analysis and assumptions can be pinned to the wrong person. Choose two or three portraits for special study, as described above. Have you ever attempted a self-portrait? If not, now might be a good opportunity to give it a try. What would you include?

What would you leave out?

I have actually done a couple of self portraits in the past but they have more in common with Cindy Sherman than with the others. I wanted the image to be funny. I had various technical challenges though, mainly the lack of space to shoot (my flat was very tiny).

My knowledge of photography was just beginning, I look at this now and see all the newbie clangers like horrible white balance etc.

I did a bad job, considering. I still find it amusing even if no one else does! I wanted to have many tiny me across the image so this was sort of an experiment. For example the fancy trim on his shirt collar or that he has blue grey eyes.

When you look at a portrait, try and find out something about the sitter so that you can judge how the artist has interpreted their character.

Focus on two or three personalities. As well as looking at how the artist has portrayed the sitter, think about where the picture was originally displayed. Luckily for me the terms of use of their website allows use of the images for research and study as long as they are properly credited. The flowers and jewels (a pendant and three finger rings on a bolster) may well refer to her betrothal. The painting has in the past been attributed to the young Fra Bartolommeo, when he was much influenced by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Costanza Caetani, is of a woman from the famous Medici family in Florence, wealthy patrons to the arts.

The first thing I notice about this painting is how big her head is in portion to her body.

Is this a style or did she just have a really large bonce? The background is intriguing, obviously some sort of interior with large window views onto the countryside, presumably to balance to composition, but why the writing? Was it there in real life (unlikely) if not then what does it mean? The gallery text mentions the pendant and rings before her but leaves out the other items, pins and the little thimble. I suspect these must indicate something too, a seamstress or hat maker perhaps? Seems like the painting raises more questions than it answers.

Apparently the blob of grey on the right hand side which I was struggling to identify is a dog!

Which, alongside the flowers, pendant and in fact pins, all allude to her marriage. But her Medici face is more intriguing than her marital status. Medici as portrayed by Botticelli in his Adoration of the Magi in the Uffizi (c1475). Botticelli and there are several webpages about the museum which show different paintings! I tracked down the official Uffizi website to see if I could see the right one. Lorenzo and Giuliano from the crowd. I guess there might be some resemblance but its very tricky to tell with the bad reproductions I could find online. Now I see what all the fuss is about with regard to checking the integrity of your sources though because you could end up looking at the wrong image. Since the Medici family was so famous in Florence at the time, the sitter would have probably been well known too. Nuremberg goldsmith of Hungarian origin. Several versions of the portrait are known. This one is probably the picture presented to Charles I by the City of Nuremberg in 1636. Although the face is quite skilfully painted, the painting is probably a copy after a lost original by Dürer. This man has a rather stern look, it makes me wonder what sort of relationship Dürer had with his dad.

Perhaps it was disapproval, but he is sitting for a portrait (unless this was done from memory).

He has on a rather austere hat and a dull brown cloak but maybe that was all the rage in the 1400s? When you zoom in, it looks almost like a pencil drawing in the shading on the face. This one also has an inscription at the top, with the date and not sure what the rest says, perhaps thats how they know its his father? Also, there is a number, 208, at the bottom right on his sleeve.

The background is a funny red texture, almost like its just been blocked in and is in fact not finished yet.

There are a couple of links from the NG page for further study (here and here) so I checked these out next.

1. The first is a really interesting article explaining why they think its a fake Dürer but actually the one the King received and the evidence supporting that theory.
2. They mention that the eye is not up to his usual realistic style and that the painting has used some colours he would not usually have used.
3. Also, the red background is significant as this had been applied thickly, and quickly and had cracked.
4. The second link is where the theory for the first link originated I think.
5. The course notes were quite confusing on whether you needed to write down extra notes about the introduction of the set text or not (since many notes were already written as an example of how to use the template).
6. Until the nineteenth century few, if any, great works of art were made to be seen in art galleries.

Most were made in the service of religion or magic or of some secular ideal or, more rarely, to fulfil the private longings of the artist.

In the twentieth century verisimilitude was completely disregarded by many Western artists who conceived sculpture as the art of creating three-dimensional forms often only barely, if at all, representational in intention. Despite the great achievements of so many photographers, it has only recently won widespread acceptance as a vehicle for artistic expression. This image of docile subservience was to be repeated time and again in large as well as small works of painting and sculpture. But in fact it betrayed rather than advanced the cause of racial justice and equality: it perpetrated the notion of the inferiority of blacks, enslaved by whites on whom they were dependant even for their liberation. France called practiciens, practitioners of their craft, as distinct from creative artists. The framed picture on canvas is a Western phenomenon (not imitated elsewhere before the nineteenth century) and its popularity in the West accounts for the prestige acquired by the art of painting from the sixteenth century onwards. Iron chisels and drills, which came into use in the West in the first millennium BC, greatly lightened the carvers task and opened up new possibilities, especially in undercutting, though they resulted mainly in increased production. For painting on panels of wood, the technique generally adopted in Europe from about the twelfth century onwards was tempera: powdered pigments made workable (tempered) by egg-yolk and mixed with some form of gum.

Determined to depict only what they saw at a particular moment, the French Impressionists did their best to forget what they knew of the local color of objects and record only their optical perceptions.

One artists lonely quest for a new and more effective means of expression might inspire others and lead to a modification in the style of a whole group of artists. Gothic, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical, originated as terms of abuse or disdain for the outmoded. The adoption of wedge-shaped stones to construct round arches and vaults, already known in ancient Egypt, was exploited by the Romans and later carried a stage further by their invention of concrete. Woodcut Relief Print was first used in seventh century China (for printed images of the Buddha), then in Europe in the fourteenth century for Christain images. Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors, first published in Florence in 1550. I now have a spreadsheet which does this when typing in the various info that it needs.

With millions of images available online, is there still a place for the traditional art gallery?

Make some brief notes in your learning log. Personally I think that these days modern fine art is very conceptual whereas popular culture tends towards the obvious. Online images (or in fact images in books) will never replace the feeling of seeing the same work in person. Some artists play to this especially by having very large work whose scale cannot be comprehended outside of actually seeing the work.

Rothko springs to mind and also some of the large photographs by Luc Delahaye I saw in a Prix picket exhibition for a study visit in a previous module.

Also, sculpture and art installations must be seen in person to be appreciated properly. Can you think of any other non-western influences on western art? Try and come up with two or three examples and make some brief notes in your learning log. If you can, identify the route by which this influence came about. I was going to say that Mayan culture would have had an impact on Spanish art but it seems from the link above that it also influenced Art Deco, as well as Aztec, African and Japanese arts. Read some reviews of exhibitions or articles about art in the newspaper or in a magazine. What is the role of the art critic today? Article: Why are there no great British nativity scenes? Even when they dislike a show they write the review in such a way as makes you wish to go and see for yourself if you agree with them. They provide a background and context for the show they are reviewing and a description of what you will see when you get there. When they do write a piece which is not a review for something specific (such as the first link above) they can be quite entertaining. The article is explaining why there are no nativity scenes painted by British artists.

Throughout its history, British art has been drawn to raw reality.

The nativity is a magical story, a vision, a moment of revelation. In art, that happens far from British shores. For example if I paint something that looks a bit Picassoish I might say the style is cubist. I guess I was part right. I forgot about a personal style that an artist can have.

Question from p34 of the study guide.

Quite often you get flat screens in art galleries instead of printed works.

Its not just bricks and mortar anymore.

1. How would you describe the status of artists today?
2. Are they still predominantly male?
3. Is there still a hierarchy that privileges painting and sculpture over art forms like textiles?
4. Make brief notes in your learning log.
5. I would say that there are certainly many famous artists who are treated like big stars today.
6. I did a quick net search and of the Mall Galleries Top Ten Painters of 2015 only 3 are women.

Tate on a bathroom shelf as an oak tree.

No photograph has ever sold for more than a Picasso for example. Question from p26 of the course guide. What political, economic or social factors might be influencing practitioners of art in the west today? Before you move on, make some brief notes in your learning log. I got to these below with some research to back them up (and fetch links to what was in my mind). Chanarin in 2013 and Richard Mosse in 2014, also since the recent paris bombings artists of all kinds around the world have been flooding social media with anti-terrorism art. The new world trade centre was designed with anti terrorism in mind (obviously). I found this link about his work and some images in the Bridgeman Library here. Climate change and sustainability issues are definably up there. Found this interesting article on sustainable design of the sterling prize contenders for 2015 from the Architects Journal. Whilst searching for this I found the wikipedia link for Surveillance art. This must be a source of inspiration to artists.

Of course Andy Warhol is the consumer culture artist that instantly springs to mind (pre-iphone mind you).

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