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The Woman from Willendorf was commonly known as the Venus of Willendorf, until art historians conceded that it was unknown if this woman was a religious figure. The Woman from Willendorf is a sculpture in the round that was found in Vienna, Austria. It is a figure of a woman, that was easily held for nomadic people to have access to. Her image represents femininity, fertility, and abundance; which were probably valued traits during the time.
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Bird-Headed Man with Bison is a prehistoric cave painting found in the Lascaux Caves in France, and is painted directly onto limestone. In the image, a story is told of a man hunting a bison. In the middle of the image, you can tell this figure is a man because his anatomy is clearly shown, and he has the head of a bird, which some argue represents his tribe or family name, but there is no record to prove this.
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This prehistoric sculpture of bison was made in France during the Upper Paleolithic Period, but is actually a bit different from most of the art of this time. Most of the artwork we know of this time was made by nomadic groups, so it was very common for them to create sculptures in the round for mobility and easy access. This piece of work alternatively is a relief sculpture carved out of unbaked clay in a cave, so this shows that the artist was living in the same place for a while.
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This vase was created in Uruk, which is modern day Warka, Iraq. The composition of this vase shows four registers of different proportions to show hierarchy in this society. From the bottom of the vase to the top, the registers show plants, animals, and servants in a repeated pattern, and then shows a a more dynamic story on top to show the importance of whom seems to be the king, and of the gifting ritual that is represented.
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This piece is a sculpture in the round, depicting what could be a story of royalty, devotion to the Egyptian gods, and power over other cities. On the front of this sculpture, there is a bottom register with people trapped underneath. Above, there is a man wearing a tail, beard, and kilt, which shows his royalty. There is also hierarchical proportion to show his power and symbolism to show specific regions. Symbolism through animal figures is very prevalent on the back of this piece.
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These votive statues made of limestone, alabaster, and gypsum were found in Eshnunna, which is present day Asmar, Iraq. These figures were each carved in a similar style to show the convention of the time. Each figure has very similar bodily proportions, facial expression, and hand position in order to show devotion to God.
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This piece is a sculpture in the round depicting a woman's figure, carved out of marble. This piece shows some of the first signs of the use of geometric proportion in human figures in Ancient greece. A chart of three overlapping circles can be seen spanning the height of this figure, and creates beautiful symmetry in design. There are also signs in this piece that this is a figure of a woman through the anatomy.
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This sculpture of a Menkaure and his wife Khamerernebty II is carved from Graywacke with traces of paint, and was found in Giza, Egypt. This piece beautifully shows the conventions of sculpting male and female anatomy of the time in Egypt. The male figure's body is lean, strong, and rigid, while the female figure's body is more soft and rounded, with details of her figure including indentations for her knees and belly button showing through her dress.
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This sculpture of a scribe was found near Saqqara, and is a multimedia piece, made of limestone, painted and inlaid with rock crystal, calcite, magnetite, and copper. This piece is different than other pieces of the time because it does not depict royalty or a spiritual figure. It is a sculpture of an everyday person, but it is still showing devotion to his craft and to his spirituality.
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This piece is a bas-relief carving in Alabaster, that depicts a king, and what seems to be some of his army, on an exhibition to hunt lions. In this carving, you can see that they are successful in their hunt, because the two horses driving the king's chariot are trampling over one lion, and the king is dynamically posed facing backward, while drawing an arrow to kill a second lion. There is really a story being told in this piece.
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This sculpture is very interesting because although it is from ancient Roman times, it reminds me very much of the sculpture of Menkaure and a Queen, from Ancient Egypt. This piece was made a bit later than the one in Egypt, and you can tell that the artists of this time had definitely mastered freestanding sculptures more than found in the similar piece from Egypt. There is no structural support around this figures legs, and he is posed in a very similar way to Menkaure.
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This vase was found in Vulci, Italy, and is made of ceramic, with a red figure decoration. This piece depicts many male figures at work doing some sort of construction, but what is really interesting about this piece is the way in which the figures were carved. This red figure decoration was very common during this time, in which they created ceramics out of red clay, carved a relief image into the ceramic, and then painted the raised areas black to create the contrast.
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This piece is a sculpture of a male figure made out of marble from Ancient Greece, and is still located in a museum in Athens. This sculpture really represents the start of certain conventions and innovations in art and design in the Early Classical Period. This is one of the first recorded instances of a figure sculpture posed n contrapposto, which creates a much more naturalistic and dynamic piece of artwork with different interesting views from all angles.
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This is a sculpture carved out of marble, which was originally painted. This sculpture seems to be of one figure, but there is a lot of symbolism in the designs on his chest armor. On his torso, there are small figures depicting Roman gods and goddesses such as Apollo, Diana, Caelus, Tellus, and more. There is also a figure of baby cupid hanging off of Augustus's leg.
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This piece is a sculpture made of marble that is about an accurate size of human scale. This sculpture is of a male figure, clothed in some sort of toga, while carrying a bust in each hand, of what the title shares to be two of the man's ancestors. This piece shows how artists during this time period were really excelling at modeling the shape of the human form underneath billowing clothing. Te modeling of the folds in his toga are very intricate and detailed.
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This piece of architecture was very impressive for it's time because it was the largest building to exist at the time. Hagia Sophia, means "holy wisdom," and this is shown through art and architecture. There were great influences in the mosaic iconography and the dome structure from more western territories, and this in turn also influenced Islamic architecture. The mosaics also had themes of political imagery which shows the political power at the time.
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This piece is a mosaic located on the north sanctuary wall of the church of San Vitale, in Ravenna, Italy. While these figures are almost depicted in an iconic style, they are in fact political figures in power, and not religious figures. This is a characteristic very common for the Byzantine Empire, especially during the Golden Age of Justinian. Justinian and some of 'his attendants' are pictured in a very distinct convention for depicting religious and political figures at the time.
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The Dome on the Rock is a temple celebrated by Jewish and Muslim people in Jerusalem, Palestine/Israel. It is located where Mohammad is said to have started his journey to heaven. The architecture includes a golden dome and a geometric base with blue mosaic tiles on the sides and white tiles at the bottom of the temple walls. The panels of mosaics on the sides are each different yet look curated. And at the top of the tiles is a register of blue tiles with white calligraphy.
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The picture shown of this mosque is specifically of the Qibja Iwan, which is pretty much a giant archway entrance facing the courtyard. This Iwan, shaped similarly to an alcove, is covered in intricate blue tile mosaics, with very interesting cutouts inside, and symmetrical minarets on the sides. There are different types of cutouts, some are smaller alcoves and others are muqarnas, which is a type of archway vaulting, often called 'honeycomb' vaulting.
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This piece of Early African artwork is a bust sculpture made of bronze of a powerful figure in Ife, from Yoruba culture at the time. While based on the title, the gender of the ruler is unclear, this seems to be a sculpture of a woman because there are feminine facial features like soft bone structure. There is beautifully patterned mark making on the face of this sculpture of just simple lines that help contour the shape of her face. And she is adorned with a crown to show her power.
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This piece of bas-relief sculpture is located at the West Portal of the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare. Depicted are many figures, but most notable is what seems to be Jesus Christ in the largest proportion, encompassed in a mandorla, or a full-body halo. On each side of Jesus, it seems as though the figures are separated by the blessed and the damned. The figures used to represent demons are very interesting, and some of the imagery of scales reminds me of Egyptian judgement scenes.
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These carvings are only a a small part of these three archways on the west side of the Chartres Cathedral in Cologne. Carved are intricate and distinct columns that seem to only look supportive to the structure. On the front of each column, there is a statue of a figure, each in billowing clothing with a halo, indicating their religious importance. These figures have elongated bodies, which makes it look as though they are the columns supporting the archways.
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This Chasse was probably used in its time as some sort of altar piece based on its size, but the box shape with a pointed roof is based from the shape of a coffin. This piece is made of a wood and copper, with painted details in champleve enamel. Depicted are many religious figures, and in the center there is Jesus Christ on the cross.
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This sculpture of an arm is made of silver, gilded silver, rock crystal, semiprecious stones, glass, and niello. It is said to be a 'speaking reliquary' which means that the shape of the sculpture tells the viewer exactly what is inside of the piece. It is said that there is the actual bone from Saint Pantaleon within this sculpture of his arm. This piece was started in the 13th century, but was added to in the 15th century.
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This mosque that stands today in Jenne, Mali was actually rebuilt in 1907, but in the style of the original mosque that was built in the 13th century. This style is called the Tukulor-style, which is the type of wall structure that was built. Along the sides of this mosque there are posts that extend out the side of the walls in a pattern, which seems to be a way for people visiting to climb up the sides. Images show people sitting on these posts, and walking on the roof after prayer.
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This page from a bible is actually very representative of most of the two dimensional visual art of this time. The color scheme, including gold background, and blue and red details is very conventional for Gothic artwork. In this piece, there are two main registers with two figures praying at the bottom, and the king and queen enthroned at the top. Each figure is in their own section, that is divided by an archway similar to some Gothic architecture.
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This piece is a painting of tempera on wood panel, with gold detailing. Depicted is an image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ as a baby, surrounded by who seem to be Jesus's apostles and two angels. There is a very symmetrical composition, and Mary has a larger hierarchical proportion that is emphasized, by everyone around her looking upward towards her. Mary and Jesus are sitting in a thrown with archways that mirror some of the Gothic architecture of the time.
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This painting is located in the church of monastery of Christ in Chora, which is in modern day Istanbul, Turkey. This was painted in the fresco method, which is the use of pigments on wet plaster directly onto the wall. This image shows Jesus Christ in the center, with a gradient mandorla, or full-body halo, with many figures on both sides. This could show the duality of his experience with religious figures on one side, and earthly figures on the other.
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This relief sculpture was made in a competition in which artists had to depict the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac, each using the same materials, bronze with gilding inside of wooden molding. This piece, especially in comparison to other artist's contributions to the composition, has such a dynamic and eye catching composition, it is easy to see how Ghiberti won the competition.
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After Ghiberti won the competition in depicting the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, he was commissioned to create these doors to the baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence, Italy. It is interesting to see because Ghiberti uses a different style in these works, even though it is also made of panels of gilded bronze. Compared to his other work, each of the panels on these gates incorporate beautiful use of space by showing architecture using linear perspective.
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This painting is one of the most recognizable in art history, but especially of the Renaissance Period. This piece is painted as a tempera fresco, which was an experimental technique for Leonardo. This is why this painting is in such poor shape. As for the content of this image, there is great use of foreground, background, and linear perspective. The implied perspective lines continue to the vanishing point, which is Jesus's face. And the window behind him is a symbolic halo.
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This mosque located in Edirne, Turkey is very representative of later Islamic architecture, specifically from the Ottoman Empire, in which there seems to be more muted color schemes in materials used. Compared to other mosques of this culture and time period, this mosque has very tall minarets, and a smaller dome. Similarly to other mosques like the Hagia Sophia, one of the minarets is a different color in order to show direction and act as a compass.
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This piece is interesting because it shows the start of artists realistically painting features that they see in their models. The model that posed for this painting was in fact a farmer, and this can be seen in his difference in skin tone on his face and hands versus the rest of his body. This piece is beautiful and dramatic the way he is posed with props and he is styled in a feminine way with red lips, he gives off an sense of androgyny.
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This piece really shows how much baroque artists focused on dramatic lighting in order to tell biblical stories. In this image, Jesus is pictured pointing towards Saint Matthew, while a ray of light from a window behind him parallels his arm. This piece tells a story of conversion, so Matthew is pointing back at himself surprised he is being chosen. Matthew is sitting in some sort of dark tavern, with some other men, who are also tax collectors.
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This sculpture carved out of marble is a baroque take on a biblical story that has been depicted in art throughout history. Compared to other depictions, Bernini's David is posed much more dynamically seeming to be in action while defeating Goliath. His body positions provides a lot of opportunity for looking at this piece from different angles, at his facial position shows a lot of emotion.
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This piece of artwork is a sculpture made of wood, beads, plant fiber, pigment, and encrustation. This sculpture in the round is from the Ivory Coast, specifically from the Baule culture. Depicted is a woman with with exaggerated features to show her fertility. She is holding her stomach, implying that she is pregnant. She has very feminine facial features and is wearing a detailed headband with braids.
