WEEKLY READING
RESPONSE ASSESSMENT
WORD COUNT = XXX of a 400 minimum required
Availability for Response #5/5 DUE = 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 points
5 = A A- Exceeds objectives and expectations at a superior level
4 = B+ B B- Meets objectives and expectations adequately
3 = C+ C C- Meets some objectives and expectations
2 = D+ D Meets fewer expectations appropriately
1 = D - Does not meet expectations, far below
0 = Unable to score
YOUR SCORE: XXXX
Comments embedded into student essays with grade
REVIEW RESPONSE #5/5:
Question #5/5 Resources:
A Siren and a Centaur (detail) in a bestiary, c. 1278–1300 CE, unknown illuminator, Franco-Flemish. Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment, approx. 5 x 5" The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Link here for info > Getty Museum "Enchantress of the Medieval Manuscript"
compared with...
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France c. 25,000 BCE
> Comparative analysis of two images.
At the conclusion of the semester, I would like to see each of you compare the Medieval manuscript image of mythological figures above, with one from our text, "Spotted Horses and Human Hands," from the Pech Merle Cave in France.
1. In your 400 word paper discuss the contrasts between a specific Medieval manuscript page illustrated above and that of Spotted Horses from our text on page 18.
2. In your essay you should bring in as much information as you can regarding illuminated manuscripts in general from Chapter 10 and Prehistoric cave painting, Chapter 1.
3. You should also bring in outside research material you have found on the internet
This should include thorough information on the following:
- the people making the paintings
- materials
- application
- reason for making these paintings
- conceptual / allegorical reasons for creating the specific subject matter
- Formal principal of design > i. SCALE of painting, ii. RHYTHM + iii. DEPT FULL ILLUSIONARY SPACE
INCLUDE:
- Note the complete details of the objects you are speaking of including: title, date, location if appropriate, page number of where it can be found or source url.
- Point to facts you have learned from your text and additional research you have engaged in.
- Embed illustrations of your examples (all of them) into the end of your paper
- Include a Word Count at the bottom
- Include a bibliography
- Name your WORD.doc file Your name.Response 5/5.doc
- Send it to me at jpepper@cazenovia.edu
- 400 words minimum
- Be as thorough as possible.
- Respond in narrative form.
FA-111
4/28/2020
Review Response 5 of 5
The Siren and The Centaur, and the Spotted Horses and Human Hands are two pieces vastly different in terms of the times they were created in. One created at the beginning of recorded art history and the other, The Siren and The Centaur, in the late 1270’s to 1300’s. Both, sadly, have no known artist, yet both are well known in the art history community.
The materials used in the pieces are also vastly different, however share similar attributes. They are both comprised of pigments but applied differently. The way the Spotted Horses and the Human Hands were created was made using earth powders combined with human urine as well as blood. Some methods to apply these powders was by a spitting technique which was done by taking a reed, sucking up the substrate, and blowing it onto the rock. The horses however were created by hand, smearing and dotting with fingers and palms.
Contrasting the Spotted Horses creation, The Siren and The Centaur were created through many techniques. The parchment they used was unlike the stone from the Spotted Horses, it was created from nature and was more absorbent than stone. The artist also used ink, gold leaf, pen, and paint, which are very different substances used from 25,000 BCE. Instead of hands the artist used a brush and pens to create intricate details as well as perfect anatomy and design of the creatures as well as the background of the painting.
The Spotted Horses and Human Hands were most likely created for enjoyment, but some could say that it was a warning or a story to future generations or even to those who used the cave after him. The horse painting could also be showing the affection or admiration for the creatures. However, due to the vast time distance and the lack of written history we may never know what the artist truly was trying to represent in their creation.
The same can be said for the image known as The Siren and The Centaur. However, even though we don’t know who created the image, we do know the meaning behind the creatures in it. The siren and the centaur, as creatures, were used as teaching methods in Christianity. The siren was a creature that lured sailors to their deaths by singing, this tale was told to show that those who gave in to desires or vanity would be killed by them. The centaur was a creature that appeared human but also had a beastly side to him and represented the hypocrisy of sin in Christian culture (J. Paul Getty Museum 1-2). Both in the art piece depict the horrible reality of mixing the two and that if one gives in to selfish desires, they could be a beast of sins.
Of course, even though these paintings are different both in time and creation they do hold elements of design. Scale used in The Siren and the Centaur is quite small as the piece itself is small since it is displayed on a small portion of a book. However, the detail in the piece is used well enough to make it seem big and display well on the page. Rhythm in the piece is displayed in the background, as the repeating pattern is displayed all along the back, the royal blue with the orangish red show a color of royalty with a complementary color. Perhaps the blue along with the Centaur and Siren could depict greed for wealth and royalty. Space is also used in this piece and is shown by the overlapping creatures with the Siren in front of the Centaur. This may be saying that vanity and greed is a greater problem than sin, or even that vanity leads to sin and that sin lies in the background of vanity and desire.
The image of the Spotted Horses and Human Hands has these designs as well. Scale is used in this piece very well contrary to some belief that cave people had no thought or idea of good composition. The way the horses head lies on the portion of the rock shaped like a horse head shows a great example of scale as well as the different sizes of the two Spotted Horses. Perhaps one was an adult and the other a younger foal. Rhythm is also used heavily in this piece with the repeated pattern of the spots all over the horses and around the piece. These spots must have been an important part of the horse to hide them from danger, or for the piece, a way for the cavemen to identify them. Space is also used in this piece from the overlapping of the horses and the hands. The overlapping of the horses shows space and that they were standing near each other, while the hands overlapped over the horses showing that these hands came after the painting. These hands also showed that people had seen this creation of art and that either, they lived there after the creator had left, or even that they respected the piece they had seen.
While separated by time and advancement of skills these pieces are very unique and beautiful. They both show that even through time humans can still create art and recreate them to look similar to the things they see in real life or how they wish to depict them.
Word Count: 896
A Siren and A Centaur
c. 1278–1300 CE
Unknown Illuminator
Franco-Flemish Culture
Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment
Approx. 5 x 5"
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Spotted Horses and Human Hands
Unknown Artist
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France c. 25,000 BCE
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France c. 25,000 BCE
Work Cited
Boston University, “Centaurs and Sirens”, Digication, https://bu.digication.com/centaurs/Centaurs_and_Sirens_Symbols_of_the_Middle_Ages.
Cohen. Jennie. “Cave Painters Didn’t Dream Up Spotted Horses, Study Shows”, History, November 8th, 2011, https://www.history.com/news/cave-painters-didnt-dream-up-spotted-horses-study-shows.
J. Paul Getty Museum, “A Siren and a Centaur”, Conservation Research Foundation Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4802/unknown-maker-a-siren-and-a-centaur-franco-flemish-about-1270/.
Pepper, Jen. “Chapter #1 Prehistory in Europe”, Blogspot, https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html.
Pepper, Jen. “Weekly Response #5/5”, Blogspot, April 28th, 2020, https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/04/weekly-response-55.html.
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Weekly response #5
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Work Cited:
April 28, 2020
Comparative Analysis
A Siren and A Centaur-Spotted Horses and Human Hands
The Medieval manuscript page “A Siren and A Centaur” (Siren) of the illuminated book the “bestiary”, of the Book of Beasts is identified as an iconic, Catholic method of teaching using the account of half human and half beast. Throughout the mid 1400’s, Manuscripts were created by Monks and nuns “in a workshop called a ‘scriptorium’ within the monastery”. Created by hand, each book was unique in that no two were alike.
The folio the page of “A Siren and A Centaur” within the bestiary “Book of Beasts”, is an illuminated Manuscript that would be created by Monks and nuns. Commissioned by wealthy leaders of church and state for “religious services and clerical instruction, for personal study and meditation “(Stokstad and Cothren-2016).
Within the content of the paining, the context is religious and communal in nature and communication is directed towards the community and their patrons of the art. Representational in style, its intentions are educational in purpose.
The page, of a codex was created using “ink and Tempera” method of painting (The Iris-Behind the Scenes at the Getty-2018) which is a method of using egg yolk, linseed or poppy oils and combined with a grounded, and intensely colored compounds to create the various pigments and applied with sable brushes (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica), (Mercado, A.-2020) or other Tempera methods and was written with pen and ink painted on parchment, a specially prepared, animal skin (SP2020.CAZ.FA111.ARTHISTORYONE).
Unlike “A Siren and A Centaur”, The Spotted Horses and Human Hands” (Horse) was created during the Upper Paleolithic period of the Pre-historic 25,000-24,000BCE era. However, not to be construed as art, the Horse similar to the Siren is a two-dimensional painted mural (Stokstad and Cothren-2016), on distinct and unconveyable medium. Unlike the “Siren” the “Horse” painted on limestone is fixed and cannot be relocated and unintentionally suspended for lifetimes.
The painters of the “Horse” too utilized the method of “Tempera” painting. Previously described, the technique of Tempera painting during the Pre-historic period was similarly prepared by use of natural elements and binders. However, the method of application was dissimilar in that of the painters of the “Siren” which areas were applied with a brush whereas the painters of the “Horse” used their mouth to blow the pigment onto the substrate to create the outline of the “Hands”. Both paintings appear to use similar pigment understandably by use of the incorporation of naturally crushed earth.
Although the period of the two are identifiable by form and composition, the contents are noticeably directed at a distinct audience. The nature of the “horses” content cannot not be readily explained or interpreted (Stokstad and Cothren-2016), however the “Siren” is noticeably a creation of religious context.
A Siren and a Centaur (detail) in a bestiary, 1278–1300, unknown illuminator, Franco-Flemish. Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment, 9 3/16 × 6 7/16 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 4, fol. 81v. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program
Spotted Horses and Human Hands
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France. Horse on right 25,000-24,000BCE; hands c. 15,000 BCE
Paint on limestone, height 5’ (1.5m), length of horse on right 5’ (1.5m).
Work Cited
Encyclopedia Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica-Britannica's editors include Adam Augustyn, Patricia Bauer, Brian Duignan, Alison Eldridge, Erik Gregersen, Amy McKenna, Melissa Petruzzello, John P. Rafferty, Michael Ray, Kara Rogers, Amy Tikkanen, Jeff Wallenfeldt, Adam Zeidan, and Alicja Zelazko. Mural, September 3, 2019,
The iris Behind the Scenes at the Getty, Tandjung, B., The Enchantress of the Medieval Bestiary, May 11,2018,
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Art A Brief History, Stokstad, M., Cothren, M., - 2016 (Starter Kit pp XIV, XV, XVI, XVII) (pp 1, 18, 19, 159, 176, 236)
Art history
Professor Pepper
April 29, 2020
Weekly response #5
“A Siren and a Centaur (detail) in a bestiary, c. 1278–1300 CE, unknown illuminator, Franco-Flemish. Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment, approx. 5 x 5" The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA” (Pepper)
“Spotted Horses and Human Hands
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France c. 25,000 BCE”
(Pepper)
In the two images above, one of an illuminated manuscript and the other being a prehistoric cave-painting we see a wide variety of similarities and differences throughout the two. An illuminated manuscript is essentially a manuscript with decoration like initials, illustrations, and sometimes borders. Illuminated manuscripts “illuminates the mind painted in gold and color.” (Pepper). Cave Paintings are prehistoric pictures. They are usually found on ceilings or walls in the interior of caves. The most common cave paintings portray animals. These two artworks show many resemblances as well as differences in the materials that were used, the reasons why both of these artworks were made and the principals and elements of design that we see within these two images.
In the first image we are looking at an illuminated manuscript called A Siren and a Centaur. This dates back to c. 1278–1300 CE (Pepper). The people who created this work were the people from the middle ages. The materials that were used in this illuminated manuscript were, “Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment” (Pepper). In this illuminated manuscript we are looking at a siren and a centaur. These are both non-human creatures. “Sirens are half woman, half bird, with a sweet melodic voice that beguiles sailors from afar.” (Tandjung). A Centaur is a creature of half a half human torso with a lower body of a horse. “In this text, however, the siren has become a moralizing symbol of vanity. Just as sailors are enticed by sirens, so ignorant and incautious human beings are seduced by pretty voices, when they are charmed by vain desires and pleasures.” (The J. Paul Getty Museum) To clarify this painting shows classic mythology. Is depicts medieval art. It shows us that the siren represents pride. The Centaur is being attracted to this “pride”. These non- human creatures were used as a way to help with Christian teaching and learning. Within this painting we see the use of many elements and principals of design. We see pattern in the background, the use of a split complementary color scheme, line, both geometric and organic shapes as well as repetition that we see in the body of the bird as well as the background pattern.
In the second image we are looking at a prehistoric cave painting. The name of this painting is called Spotted Horses and Human Hands, it dates back to 25,000 BCE. (Pepper) This particular cave painting was found in Perch Merle located in the lot department of the Midi-Pyreness area of France (The Horses of Perch Merle). This cave painting was made by outing pigments onto the cave wall by using a binder. This binder helped the pigment to stick to the wall. They used substances such as milk and blood to create these cave paintings (Pepper). This particular cave painting scientists believe it was to show the animals in their environment (The Horses of Perch Merle). In this cave painting we see many different elements and principals of design. Some of the ones we see are similar to the first image of the illuminated manuscript. For example, we see the use of organic and inorganic shapes, pattern, texture, and line.
Furthermore, these two pieces of artwork were created for different reasons and at different time periods. We see similarities in the elements and principals of design as well as the conceptual idea. Both of these artworks were made for people to view and learn about the culture as well as them both showing animal like creatures. We see differences in how they were made and what they are depicting. Overall, this medieval illuminated manuscript page and cave painting have many difference’s as well as likenesses.
Word Count: 740
Work cited:
“The Horses of Pech Merle.” Bradshaw Foundation, 2015, www.bradshawfoundation.com/news/cave_art_paintings.php?id=The-Horses-of-Pech-Merle.
Pepper, Jen. “NOTES: Chapter #1 > Prehistory in Europe.” NOTES: Chapter #1 > Prehistory in Europe, 2020, sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html.
Pepper, Jen. “Weekly Response #5/5.” Weekly Response #5/5, 2020, sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/04/weekly-response-55.html.
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Professor Pepper
Chapter Response #5/5
Art has been around since humans walked the earth. It has provided structure for capturing cultures of time and giving civilizations a way to express themselves. A very popular medium throughout history has been painting. It became this way because of the many substances that could be used to create paints. Painting has become a universal language for a number of time periods. Since that is the case it makes comparing different works much easier with the elements and principles of design.
A very interesting use for paintings can be seen in illuminated manuscripts. Illuminated manuscripts are handwritten books with paintings on each page. They became quite popular at the start of the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE, when iconoclasm sought out to destroy religious icons. People used them as a way to mock iconoclasm and it was a way for Christians to get their icons back. According to Stokstad and Cothren, “Manuscripts were used for spiritual and liturgical teachings that established the monasteries - also used for missionary activities. Books were often highly ornate, in jeweled covers and placed on altars.” These manuscripts reflected the word of God and they were treated with such high regard. Their styles paved the way for how future manuscripts would be created in the 13th century.
Figure 1 A Siren and a Centaur is a good example on how past knowledge was used to create a beautiful painting. Like with most manuscripts this one was created by using vellum, stretched out calf skins, to create the pages. The tempera colors were quite unique in that it wasn’t just pigments but also precious metals mixed in with them. The most commonly used metal was gold and to add to that they also used a material called gold leaf, which added texture to the painting. This particular piece is a part of an illuminated manuscript which shows mythical beasts that act as lessons for Christian teaching. In this painting there is a siren looking into a mirror while a centaur passes her, mesmerized by her beauty. According to blogs.getty.edu, “Sirens are half woman, half bird, with a sweet melodic voice that beguiles sailors from afar. By the seductiveness of their voices, the sirens entrap and kill incautious and unmindful men. The moral? Fall for the beautiful and ostentatious, and you shall be damned.” This painting showed that even a siren can captivate non-human creatures like centaurs. Lessons like these using mythical beats really were focused upon at the time. People creating these manuscripts wanted to illustrate that in a book dedicated to God and his teachings.
Before the finding of religions like Christianity it was a much simpler time in an era called prehistory. This encapsulates human existence before writing was created where all historians can rely on is the art left behind by the first known Homo sapiens which appeared around 120,000 BCE. This time involved civilizations traveling in groups and living together, they have to travel to survive and hunt for their food every day. At the time they had no concept of what art was and they didn’t think of the significance of what they were creating. During the Ice Age period it seemed to be accustomed for groups of people to gather in caves while traveling. This gave them the chance to create life like paintings of all different kinds of animals. Since people of the time couldn’t just go to the store and buy paint they had to make it themselves. They used a number of different substrates mixed together to create different paints. The more commonly used paints at the time was black and red considering the limited resources they had, charcoal was a big resource for black paint. According to Jen Pepper, a professor at Cazenovia College, “Painting onto cave walls, - put pigment onto a cave wall, additively with a binder (some substance to make it stick (to bind). Substances such as milk, blood, other enzymes.” These cave walls would be considered murals with all of the paintings tied together, close in proximity which created a beautiful scene. These paintings provided a social function for the civilizations at the time, it was a cultural bonding moment. A good example of these cave paintings is figure 2, Spotted Horses and Human Hands, which is one of many paintings found in Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France. This interesting painting consisted of a couple of spotted horses. There are handprints around these because that was what people did to show that they were there and perhaps provide a landmark for them. There is a lot of speculation on if these paintings represented actual animals or if they were glamorizing them. According to history.org, “Some archaeologists have pointed to these spotted steeds as evidence that Paleolithic artists weren’t just documenting the world around them; instead, like their abstractionist successors, they imbued their work with symbolic meaning.” There is no true way of telling since our early species didn’t know how to write. One thing is certain, they could create giant very realistic paintings with minimal resources. The Paleolithic age really set the ground rules for the creation of art.
Spotted Horses and Human Hands and A Siren and a Centaur are both very different styles of paintings but the elements and principles of design really show their similarities and differences. The principles of design are definitely apparent in each work. The most noticeable principle is scale, the size of one object in relation to another in an artwork. A Siren and a Centaur has a pretty small scale because it is on a page of a book. If a viewer were to look at it as intended it would only be on the lower third of the page and the rest would be writing. On the opposite scale is Spotted Horses and Human Hands. Looking at a picture of this doesn’t justify on the actual scale of this piece. If a viewer were to actually encounter this it would be roughly a large size. Cave paintings were created to be massive murals so the details could be seen. Both of these works have a good sense of scale to really emphasize the forms of what their subjects are. Another important principle is rhythm, which is created when one or more elements of design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized movement. In Spotted Horses and Human Hands this can be seen with the pattern of spots all around the horses as well as the repetition of hands throughout the work. Just like this piece a pattern is created in the background of A Siren and a Centaur. In this instance there are a number of lines used as well as shapes to create repetition in the background. Both of these works have shapes as their repetition which brings them closer together as paintings. Finally, there is a sense of illusionary space in each work, the sense of depth and space on a 2D surface. There are a number of ways to create illusionary space, linear perspective, overlapping, size, placement, color and value, and detail. A Siren and a Centaur creates this illusionary space by having the two figures overlap. It is also implied that the siren is closer because she has more detail than the centaur. In Spotted Horses and Human Hands illusionary space is created by having one horse placed lower than the other, this makes it seem like the one lower is closer to the viewer. The two horses also overlap with each other, creating more depth. Overall both of these pieces use the same methods of creating illusionary space within their 2D space. A Siren and a Centaur and Spotted Horses and Human Hands are two wonderful pieces that show that painting is a universal language that is connected through the elements and principles of design.
Images
Figure 1. Unknown. “A Siren and a Centaur”
Tempera colors, pen and ink, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment
5 x 5”
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Figure 2. Unknown. “Spotted Horses and Human Hands”
Chapter #1, pg. 18
Paint on limestone
Pech-Merle Cave, Lot, France
Works Cited
Cohen, Jennie. “Cave Painters Didn't Dream Up Spotted Horses, Study Shows.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 8 Nov. 2011 https://www.history.com/news/cave-painters-didnt-dream-up-spotted-horses-study-shows.
Pepper, Jen. “NOTES: Chapter #1 > Prehistoric Art in Europe.” SP2020 FA111.ArtHistory.Caz,
30 Jan. 2020, https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html.
Pepper, Jen. “NOTES: Chapter #1 > Prehistoric Art in Europe.” SP2020 FA111.ArtHistory.Caz,
30 Jan. 2020, https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html.
Stokstad, Marilyn and Cothren, Michael W. “Art: A Brief History.” 6th edition, Pearson, 2016.
Unknown Artist(s). A Siren and a Centaur. C. 1278-1300 CE, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
bestiary.
Tandjung, Beverly. “The Enchantress of the Medieval Bestiary.” The Getty Iris, 21 June 2018, blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-enchantress-of-the-medieval-bestiary/.
Unknown Artist(s). Spotted Horses and Human Hands. 25,000 BCE, Pech-Merle Cave Lot, France
Retrieved from https://sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html
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Weekly Response #5/5
Even with thousands of years between them, these two works still have similarities along with many differences. The first major difference is their size- the cave painting is at a much larger scale than the small 5” by 5” manuscript. The illuminated manuscript belonged in a codex book along with many other illustrated pages that was probably created in a monastery by monks or nuns. The act of making these small manuscripts were contained together in many folios that resembled the Holy Bible. The word "illumination" comes from the very fact that in addition to tempera paint mixed with various binders and applied to substrates either of parchment paper, or calves and lamb's skins called vellum, the paintings were often adorned with gold and silver leaf. This would thus, produce a glittery effect when light shone on the page, visually enlivening the illustration. But, illuminated manuscripts did something else very important for the Medieval maker and/or reader. Each page illuminated the mind with the spiritual stories. The idea behind using vellum, was to paint upon not only a very hard-wearing substrate, but one that was a calf or especially a lamb. This provides the symbolic idea that the narrations were painted physically upon an innocent animal, one of the herd or flock, so to speak, that The Good Shepard tended to.
The Spotted Horses of early Prehistory (prior to when writing was invented), could almost be actual size to what science has told us, is that there certainly were spotted horses found in the Upper Paleolithic period in Southern France around 25,000 BCE. The work is made from Earth colors, pigments directly taken from the earth, with enzyme filled binders added to make the earth colors "stick" to the wall. The makers of this mural sized painting could have produced it with their hands, with some sort of natural, organic materials, such as a leaf. But one thing we know for sure, is that the hand prints that float above the ponies were created by putting one's hands to the wall, sucking up liquid red ochre through a hollow read and blowing through it like a straw. In many respects, this could have been our first drinking straws?
At first glance, their similarities start at the composition. Both contain two animal figures, one overlapping the other. The Spotted Horses and Human Hands, are meant to be a horse while the figures in A Siren and a Centaur, one figure takes on a half-bird-human and half-horse-human. Though they differ, both of these pieces are meant to tell a story.
Much can be inferred from the cave painting, it can be assumed it is one based in real life- as it contains realistic subject matter. Because of the spots, it is thought these horses are meant to be the ancestor of the modern appaloosa. But what about the spots outside the horse's bodies? They are not only depicting possible spots on the hide, but something else floating in the air. Could this be a representation of some sort of symbol? Some sort of magic? Why are they there? We can not know this answer, but being adjacent to the Medieval work, the viewer can definitely see the similarity of some sort of "other worldly" thing happening, where it is myth, magic, or other.
The illuminated manuscript painting is much less realistic, its story is based in myth- showing creatures that cannot be found in real life. The creatures are created from the imagination. The bird- woman depicts a siren, a creature with the power to lure sailors by charming them with her song. She was a symbol for vanity. The horse-human, known as a centaur, represents the sin of hypocrisy.
Though both of these works are paintings, the material used in the creation differ. The years between them left time for innovation and better use of pigment. The cave painting describes something that may have been seen in the environment back then. Along with some other thoughts that are visually communicated; floating spots on the exterior of the body, and floating human hands on the back of the horses. A Siren and a Centaur has a much more intricate process of creation, using more materials than the previous. It combines tempera painting with gold leaf- done on paper opposed to a cave wall. Tempera is a type of paint that uses egg yolk to bind the pigments. This piece is in the style of an illuminated manuscript, a style common in books and artwork of the 14th and 15th centuries. They differ in style, subject matter, material and perhaps in meaning. But, in another aspect, they share a commonality.
Bibliography:
“A Siren and a Centaur (Getty Museum).” The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles, www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4802/unknown-maker-a-siren-and-a-centaur-franco-flemish-about-1270/.
“Pech Merle.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pech_Merle.
“Pech-Merle Cave Paintings (C.25,000 BCE).” Pech-Merle Cave Paintings: Location, Description of Parietal Art, www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/pech-merle-cave-paintings.htm#location.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Illuminated Manuscript.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 21 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/art/illuminated-manuscript.
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FA 111
Weekly Response 5/5
Humanity has made paintings since as far back as 25,000 BCE and earlier, as we know from cave paintings like Spotted Horses and Human Hands in France’s Pech-Merle Cave. The painting, as the name implies, depicts spotted horses, a now extinct species of horse. Painting has come a long way since then, and the means, methods, and subjects of what and how we create art have changed too. For instance, the painting of A Siren and a Centaur from a late 13th century bestiary. It shows a marked advancement in the materials used, while still being somewhat similar in appearance to the basic style of the horses in the other painting.
Spotted Horses and Human Hands was made with colors pulled from the earth, clay and the like, and mixed into a paint with a binder, probably egg. Similarly, A Siren and a Centaur is an illuminated manuscript, and was painted with tempera, a kind of paint that is also often made with egg. The difference however is in the color. The color in the latter uses a much wider range than in the former, representing an advancement in what pigments were used. Of note is the blue and gold, the gold being actual gold, and the blue possibly being ultramarine, a somewhat rare and expensive pigment made from lapis lazuli, a mineral imported from Egypt (Taggart). Considering the materials, the painting was probably rather expensive, along with the book itself given how it was made with vellum, or calfskin, rather than paper. It was likely also important given the price, but one could imagine the cave painting was too, after all they were not small paintings by any means, and must have taken a fair amount of time.
The reasons why cave paintings were made are speculatory at best. This was before written records after all, so for all we know they could have been made for reasons spanning from something religious to record keeping by way of pictures. The reasons behind the bestiary are much more well known, and also absolutely religious. The stories held within told of beasts and monsters when read literally, but also held moral lessons when read allegorically (Badke). Perhaps the cave paintings were similar.
As art alone, the two are interesting pieces. Different in some ways, but certainly similar enough to be worth comparing. Both lack any sense of depth, as there is neither shadow nor any sort of horizon or background to compare it to, which also makes it difficult to tell scale, though the cave painting at least has handprints that you could potentially use.
Word Count: 433
Work Cited:
Badke, David. “Medieval Bestiary : Introduction.” Medieval Bestiary, 31 Jan. 2010, bestiary.ca/intro.htm.
Pepper, Jen. “NOTES: Chapter #1 > Prehistory in Europe.” SP2020.CAZ.FA111.ArtHistoryOne, sp2020cazfa111.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-chapter-1-prehistory-in-europe.html.
Taggart, Emma. “The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries.” My Modern Met, 12 Mar. 2018, mymodernmet.com/shades-of-blue-color-history/.
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