Question 1:

Humans generate and use art to create order, explain, and in some cases control their lives in a chaotic world. In 3 well-developed paragraphs, discuss:

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1. What do you think art is?
2. Why do you think it is important to study art as an academic discipline?
3. How is a work of art different from something that is artistic or creative?

Be sure to explain your ideas clearly and support them by discussing specific works of art that you have read about this week, talking about how they illustrate and support your ideas.

Question 2:

While the Italian Renaissance was a rebirth of interest in the classical world, the Northern Renaissance saw other interests take center stage. One interest that both Italian and Northern Renaissance shared was an interest in the natural world, including a concern for creating the illusion of a 3-dimensional world on a 2-dimensional plane. In 3 well-developed paragraphs, discuss:

1. Explain why some artistic elements in works such as the Limbourg Brother’s Très Riches Heures (1411-1416) look realistic to you and which do not look realistic. Discuss whether the figures fit into the space, whether their movements are realistic, whether their clothes fit their bodies properly, and whether there are shadows that make sense.
2. Two of the great innovations of the Renaissance in painting were the artist’s ability to depict a more contemporary world, and to create the illusion of a three-dimensional world in a painting. Two important artists played a key role in helping to bring about this shift, Cimabue and Giotto di Bondone (known as Giotto). By studying and comparing 3 of their paintings, you can see how this innovation developed.
   1. Cimabue. Virgin and Child Enthroned. 1280.
   2. Giotto. Virgin and Child Enthroned. 1310.
   3. Giotto. Marriage at Cana, Raising of Lazarus, Lamentation, and Resurrection / Noli Me Tangeri. 1305–06. (Note: scroll down to image 18-8.)

   Discuss

   • at least 3 specific details or elements that progressively illustrate the artist’s concern for depicting a more natural world.
   • at least 3 specific details or elements that progressively illustrate the illusion of a three-dimensional world on the two-dimensional surface of the painting.

Be sure to explain your ideas clearly and support them by discussing specific works of art that you have read about this week, talking about how they illustrate and support your ideas.