KF
KENDALL
FRANCIS
 The Destruction of Sennacherib |  Due Uccelli (Dulce est Amare) |
|---|---|
 Post-Coital Study #1 |  Pheasant |
 Swan |
Art History Essays
I am currently studying Art History at Plymouth University where I use my research to stimulate and shape my fine art practice. My specialist area is Renaissnace art from medieval to High Italian Renaissance.
Essays are not complete due to plagraism
Titian’s ‘Sacred and Profane Love’ completed in 1514, is the one of his earliest surviving masterpieces and is the most mysterious and enigmatic works which has been continuously debated about and viewed in many different ways as the audience has changed through time. Guided by an understanding of the cultural environment in which the painting was commissioned and executed in the 16th century, it was believed to be a marriage picture by its original renaissance audience.
The Cloisters, which opened in 1938, is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. It is situated on a hill top in Fort Tryon Park, overlooking the Hudson River and evokes the architectural grandeur of a medieval monastery. The Cloisters today concentrates on providing a medieval atmosphere to an American audience, however as a museum, The Cloisters should promote essential understanding of the middle ages and not just experience. The museum presents idealised themes in a Western-Latin context, displaying only European Christian and secular art.
Washington D.C. from its inception was a capitol city intended as a monumental symbol, a symbol of post-Civil War patriotic American principles; liberty, freedom, equality and justice. However this libertarian symbolic meaning which is alive in the National Mall is in constant battle with the historical realities of its history. Being built in the guise of autocratic neo baroque and classical architecture, the elitist representation resonates within the civic monuments and is heightened by the reinforced ideals of the ‘American Slave Trade.’
Gender histories, theories and debates on the Renaissance
The historiography of art history has been polluted by the masculine canonical male, resulting in the omission of women artists and their disappearance from history books. From the rise of the art museum and the white male connoisseur in the 20th century, the Renaissance fell into to this gender bias. With the emergence of a new art history and gendered approaches, feminist art historians began to tackle these gender issues focusing on canonical art movements like the Renaissance.
The Estensi family ruling in Ferrara from c.1395 to 1598, were great patrons of the arts and saw their patronage of artists as “the means of fulfilling what they must have perceived as very political, dynastic, religious and social obligations.” In their centuries of governing the Estensi family built and developed many palaces requiring artistic capabilities to decorate the interiors and domestic surroundings.
The concept of the early Italian artist and the Saint Francis Cycle in the Upper Church at Assisi
Contact for more information and a copy of the dissertaion
In my dissertation, I trace the restoration campaigns which have taken place on the fresco cycle and examine the topographical evidence which has arisen from this. I then discuss how this evidence has been interpreted by the restorer and subsequently the art historian, arguing the implications this has had on the historiography of Giotto and the changing concept of the early Italian artist.
I firstly discuss the 19th century restoration campaign which was directed by the connoisseur Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle in 1871. Cavalcaselle was the first to marry his topographical evidence to his art historical interpretations, however his interpretations still rely heavily on Vasari and the humanist tradition of honouring Giotto as artist Genius and the single handed resuscitator of a moribund past.
I then discuss the 20th century restoration by Leonetto Tintori and the collaboration with art historian Milliard Meiss and argue the interpretations made by their restoration observations coincide and strengthen the renowned 20th century Giotto-Non Giotto arguments.
Lastly I discuss Bruno Zanardi and his comprehensive observations in the 21st century. Examining his deconstruction of the Giornate, reflections on the 3 different patroni and flesh modes and how he has interpreted these to argue workshop organisation. Disputing the involvement of 3 capimaestri and several painters with different specialities working on the mural at once.
I conclude the contemporary idea ofthe concept of the early Italian artist as a collaboration of several distinct agents.