1303 Art History I Introduction

1. WHAT IS ART HISTORY?
CONTEXT
Arch of Constanine, South front
312–315 CE, with spolia of the
2nd century, CE. Marble. Rome,
Italy

2. HOW OLD IS IT?
CHRONOLOGY

3. HOW OLD IS IT?
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Etruscan Shield with decoration of
braiding, flowers and animals, 7th
century BCE. Bronze.
Museonazionale di Villa Giulia

4. HOW OLD IS IT?
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
Prayer hall of the Great Mosque,
Córdoba, Spain, eighth to tenth
centuries.

5. HOW OLD IS IT?
INTERNAL EVIDENCE
Seated statue of Gudea holding temple plan, from Girsu
(modern Telloh), Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE. Diorite, 2’ 5” high.
Louvre, Paris.

6. HOW OLD IS IT?
STYLISTICEVIDENCE
Old Testament kings and queens,
jamb statues, central doorway of
Royal Portal, Chartres Cathedral,
Chartres, France, ca. 1145–1155.

7. WHAT IS STYLE?
PERIOD STYLE

8. WHAT IS ITS STYLE?
REGIONAL STYLE
Choir of Beauvais Cathedaral
1284 CE.
Beauvais, France
Nave of Santa Croce
1294 CE.
Florence, Italy

9. WHAT IS ITS STYLE?
THE VIEWER
Menkaure and Khamerernebty(?),
from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth
Dynasty, ca. 2490–2472 BCE.
Graywacke, 4’ 6 1/2” high.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Seated scribe, from Saqqara,
Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2500
BCE. Painted limestone, 1’ 9”
high. Louvre, Paris.

10. WHAT IS ITS SUBJECT?
ICONOGRAPHY
The Four Evangelists, ca. 810 CE.
Ink and Tempera on vellum
Cathedral Treasury, Aachen.

11. WHO PAID FOR IT?
PATRONAGE
Augustus wearing the corona civica
ca. 69 CE. Marble. Glyptothek
München.