Essay Prompt: Throughout the history of art, the human figure has been represented in various ways with different emphases, ranging from very naturalistic to highly abstract. Select six works of art from six different periods that show different stylistic conventions for representing the human body. Describe the stylistic conventions that are distinct to the representation of the body in its respective culture. (For example, what makes a representation of Greek man look distinctly Greek? To what degree is naturalism an artistic goal? What does a society’s image of the human body tell us about its broader political, religious, and/or social interests and concerns? ) The primary purpose of this assignment is to help you build your skills in another of the fundamental aspects of all art historical endeavors: comparative analysis. Your task is to describe and analyze both the formal and contextual elements works of art that we studied this term. Successful comparative analysis includes a discussion of works of art both in terms of their formal qualities (that is, visual analysis) and in terms of the specific historical, political, social, and cultural contexts in which they were created. Additionally, effective comparative analysis does not simply discuss each work of art in isolation, but makes connections and points out differences between and among works of art created in different periods.Using the essay prompt located at the bottom of this assignment sheet, write a comparative essay that addresses the topic in detail using the examples of six works of art that we studied in class this semester. These six works should be selected from the object lists provided each day at the start of class. You should select works from six different class meetings (thus, from six different art-historical periods). Three of the works should be from the first half of the class (Ancient Greek and Roman through 18th-century French art) and three should be from the second half of the class (Neoclassicism and Romanticism through Modern Art). You are expected to discuss each of the objects you choose in detail with a focus on how each particular work relates to the theme of the essay question. Be specific in your responses!Six works: Work 1: Black-figure jug: wrestlers and a judge, c. 500-490 BC Time period: Greek Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: Unknown Formal elements (of the piece): Key words on handout: PrehistorystatuettevotiveGeometric paintingsculpture in the roundkorearchaic smilenaturalism (vs. realism) (naturalistic/realistic)kouros (pl. kouroi)terra cottaslipblack-figure paintingred-figure paintingdiscobolobusarchitectural orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian)colonnadepedimenttriglyphmetopevignetterelief sculpturefriezecontinuous narrativecontrappostorestorationfrescoPompeiimosaictessera (pl. tesserae)bust (portraiture)verism Research: In red-figure pottery, the figures are created in the original red-orange of the clay. This allowed for greater detail than in black-figure pottery, for lines could be drawn onto the figures rather than scraped out. This made the painted scenes both more detailed and more realistic, and allowed red-figure painters the opportunity to work with greater perspective. In blackfigure painting, figures were almost always shown in profile, but red-figure allowed for frontal, back and three-quarter views, therefore creating a third dimension to the painting. https://www.ancient.eu/Red-Figure_Pottery/ The advantages of using Red-figure technique for painting on pottery were manifold. Details such as draperies and musculature were more easily delineated on Red-figure pottery because the artist could use thin lines of black paint (relief lines) instead of incisions to make details. This new technique allowed for a more realistic representation of figures, and also allowed the artist to depict bodies in turnings and twistings, unlike Black-figure pottery. Further, in Black-figure it was difficult to have overlapping figures and foreshortening, but Red-figure also solved this problem. Euphronius and his successors were the first to take full advantage of the Red-figure technique. Their pottery realistically depicts the human body and they experimented in foreshortening and suggestion of perspective or receding space. His calyx-krater of “Hercules wrestling Antaeus” is exemplary of these innovations. https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4815.html Details were painted rather than incised, thus allowing more flexibility in the rendering of human form, movements, and, above all, expressions and allowing scope for shading and a more satisfactory kind of perspective. Since most of the ornamentation on Greek pottery was narrative rather than purely decorative, such technical advantages were of utmost importance. Red-figure pottery can be roughly divided into two periods: the first from about 530 to 480 BCE and the second from about 480 to 323 BCE. In the early vases—the subjects of which included heroic and Dionysiac scenes as well as scenes from daily life—the details are added in black pigment or in dilutions of black that appear brown. The artists had mastered foreshortening and could convey the illusion of a third dimension without violating the two-dimensional surface of the vase. The figures were decorative rather than naturalistic. The most important artists from this period are Oltos, Epictetus, Euphronius, Euthymides, Onesimos, Douris, and the Brygos Painter. The vases characteristic of the second period are gaudier, with details added in white and sometimes in yellow-brown, gold, and blue. The subjects and treatment are often trivial and sentimental, and attempts at naturalism and depth perspective violated the intrinsic nature of the pottery shape, reducing the vessel to a mere support for the painting. By the end of this second period, the figured decoration of pottery, having become a declining art, died out in Attica. https://www.britannica.com/art/red-figure-pottery Greek artists sought to endow their figures with mood and character, as well as the capacity for action. Monotony was avoided by the use of different poses, gestures, and expressions to render emotion and clarify the narrative action. The repertoire of subjects was greatly enlarged, using scenes from everyday life as well as the standard heroic and mythological themes. https://www.britannica.com/art/Greek-pottery Work 2: Madonna of the Rocks, 1483-86 Time period: high reniscance Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: Leonardo da Vinci Formal elements (of the piece): Key Word on handout:duecento, trecento, quattrocento, cinquecentoItalian Gothicpanel paintingtempera (not tempura!)altarpieceMaestàhieratic scaleProto-RenaissancestigmatapredellaRenaissancePetrarch (13041374)humanismEarly Renaissancelinear perspective (vanishing point, horizon line, orthogonals)illusionismpictorial spacepatron/clientcommissionattributesclassicismportraitureHigh RenaissanceLeonardo (not da Vinci!)stable pyramidal compositionforeshorteningatmospheric perspective (aerial perspective)sfumatochiaroscuroMadonna of Humilityoil paintingideal beauty Work 3: Portrait of a Man Holding a Statue, mid-16th century Time period: Mannerism Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: BronzinoFormal elements (of the piece): Key words on handoutMannerism/ “Mannered Style”refectoryrecto/versoartists’ workshopmaster artist and apprenticeparagoneProtestant ReformationMartin Luther95 ThesesWittenberg CathedralIndulgencessimonynepotismprinting pressvernacular(Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Christian)denominations (i.e., Lutheran, Methodist, Evangelical…)iconoclasmstill life, genre scene, allegory (Protestant subjects in painting)secular vs. sacredCatholic Counter-ReformationCouncil of Trentopen composition vs. closed compositionDavid and GoliathtenebrismFrench Classicismut pictura poesisLouis le Veau (architect)Charles le Brun (interior decorator)François Girardon (stucco sculptor)le Roi Soleilstuccotrompe l’œil Work 4: Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, 1789-92 (Salon of 1795) Time period: Neo-classism Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: Joseph-Benoît SuvéeFormal elements (of the piece): Key words from Handout:Enlightenment (Thomas Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant)divine right of kingsdemocracydeismScientific Revolution (Isaac Newton)Industrial RevolutionFrench Royal Academy of Painting and Salons (redux)Academic painting (redux)history paintingclassicizing subject matterRoman Republic (509-27 BC)moralizing messagesFrench Revolution of 1789Tiberius and Gaius GracchusPoussinist-Rubenist debate (line vs. color)modelingFirst RepublicFirst Empire, Napoleon BonaparteBourbon RestorationJuly Revolution/Les Trois Glorieuses (July 26-29, 1830)July MonarchySecond RepublicSecond Empire, Napoleon IIIImperialismColonialismOrientalismthe Sublime Work 5: The Saint-Lazare Station, 1877 Time period: Impressionism Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: Claude- MonetFormal elements (of the piece): Key words in handout:Enlightenment (redux)Industrial Revolution (redux)Scientific Revolution (redux)satirecaricaturelithographcapitalism (cf. feudal system)middle class and working classrural lifegenre paintingRealismmodern lifeRevolution of 1848Modernism (1850-1960)urbanismCharles Baudelaire, The Painter of Modern Life (1863)Venus/mythology/allegory (redux)illusionismavant-gardeImpressionismphotographyleisure activities/leisure timeen plein-airAnonymous Cooperative Society of Painters, Sculptors and PrintmakersPostImpressionismDivisionism/Pointillismoptical mixture Work 6: Femme au tambourin, 1925 Time period: Expressionism Contextual elements (historical, political, social, and cultural): Artist: pablo Picasso Formal elements (of the piece): Keywords from handout:Industrial Revolution (redux)Scientific Revolution (redux)urbanization (redux)leisure activities/leisure time (redux)photography (redux)portable paint tubesen plein air (redux)modernism/Modern ArtHierarchy of subjects: (1) history painting; (2) portraiture; (3) genre scenes; (4) landscape;(5) still livesabolishment of perspectiveFauves/FauvismDivisionism (redux)Odalisque (redux)Orientalism (redux)CubismAnalytic CubismClassicismExpressionismart galleriesart dealersart collectorsart market .