Art & Architecture in Florence 2017: Summer Drawing Workshop & Art History Tour

I am excited to announce that in the summer of 2017 my colleague, artist Geoff Flack, and I are co-teaching a two week art workshop in Florence, Italy!  Geoff and I work together at Gage Academy of Art where we have both worked since 2005.  He teaches Figure Drawing classes and the Flack Drawing Atelier and I am the Adult Program Director and I also lecture on art history.

"Il Duomo" Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy

Geoff Flack is an MFA graduate of the New York Academy and he a master at drawing, in particular drawing the figure and also architecture and perspective. He also sometimes works in gouache and drawing with mixed media.



Gouache study of Italy, Geoff Flack

I am really looking forward to the opportunity to show students around one of my favorite cities while viewing some of the world’s most beautiful painting, sculpture and architecture.  Lecturing on art history will take place both in the classroom and on site at several well-known museums and churches in Florence.  We'll discuss the history of this famous city that is considered by many to be the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. 

Copy of Michelangelo's David, Piazza della Signoria

I have co-taught a Gage workshop in Florence twice before (in 2013 and 2014 with Atelier instructor Juliette Aristides) and everyone had a really memorable time.  Here is what I wrote in a past blog post after I took the students to the Brancacci Chapel (in St. Maria del Carmine) which contains the famous early frescoes of Masolino and Masaccio:

“The frescoes were so gorgeous, the painted equivalent to the Gates of Paradise. I think that Quattrocento Florentine art is really my favorite. The art brought tears to my eyes and my students told me the same thing.  After we all went to Santo Spirito in the adjoining piazza, it was one of the most beautiful churches and the students were really glad they went.”

Brancacci Chapel: Saint Peter Raising the Son of Theophilus and 

Saint Peter Enthroned as First Bishop of Antioch, Masaccio, 1425, fresco (Santa Maria del Carmine)

Outside of the classroom students had many opportunities to draw and sketch; copying sculptures in places like the Loggia di Lanzi, making studies of famous paintings in the churches and museums and drawing both small architectural details and larger panoramic vistas.  Geoff Flack stresses the importance of drawing from life and it shows in both his work and in the work of his students.



Geoff Flack, Gouache study

Geoff Flack, Gouache study



Geoff recently returned from living in Italy for two years where he got the opportunity to really learn about the art and culture.  Here are some painted studies in gouache he made while there.

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli (1486)  Uffizi Gallery

During the day our workshop will include visits to several churches, museums and other sites as a group including these among others: 

• Santa Croce- Contains work by Giotto, Taddeo and Agnolo Gaddi, Donatello and the famous Pazzi Chapel designed by Brunelleschi.
• Santa Maria Novella- Contains work by Giotto, Masaccio, Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi.







Santa Maria Novella, Leon Battista Alberti, 1456-70





• The Brancacci Chapel- Famous fresco cycle by Masaccio and Masolino.
• Basilica di Santo Spirito- Beautiful Renaissance church designed by Brunelleschi and filled with artwork including a crucifix by Michelangelo, sculpture by Sansovino and painting by Filippino Lippi.
• Bargello Museum- Sculpture museum of Florence with many works by Donatello, including his famous David and also sculptures by Michelangelo.
• The Loggia dei Lanzi- Beautiful open air sculpture court looks onto the Piazza dei Signoria and is a wonderful place to draw.
• The Pitti Palace- Contains many museums and the Boboli Gardens, the painting gallery holds many Old Master works including Raphael.
• Museum of artwork from the Duomo- (Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore di Firenze) Museum filled with artwork formerly in the Duomo including work by Donatello (St. Mary Magdalene), Michelangelo (late Pieta), and Ghiberti’s original Gates of Paradise.
  
  

 The Baptistery with the Duomo in the background

Here is some additional information from the current Gage Academy of Art catalog in case you are interested in joining us next summer:

Art & Architecture in Florence: with Geoff Flack and Carol Hendricks

Gage Academy of Art Drawing Instructor:
Geoff Flack, Atelier Instructor
Art History Instructor:
Carol Hendricks, Art Historian & Gage Adult Program Director

Thursday, June 28 to Saturday, July 14, 2013 (16 nights)

$4,300 double occupancy bedroom in shared apartment/airfare not included

Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Fra Filippo Lippi, 1465, Uffizi Gallery

We invite you to join Geoff Flack and Carol Hendricks for this unparalleled opportunity to study the magnificent art and architecture of the Renaissance while refining your drawing skills. During this 2-week Florence Intensive, your drawing instructor, Geoff, focuses on training your eye and your hand to capture the essence of the remarkable city that surrounds you.

Concurrently, Carol, your Italian art history expert, introduces you to some of Europe’s greatest masterpieces installed in the city’s beautiful churches and extraordinary museums.

Additionally,students will have their own apartments for the duration of their workshop and will be able to explore the city on their own.

 Carol Hendricks in The Boboli Gardens in Florence, July 2013

Florence is one of my favorite cities and teaching there next summer will be my 10th visit, it is really a city I know well.  I often keep a travel blog during my trips abroad, feel free to look over some of my past photos and blog posts, both of the workshops and my travels.

http://travelingwithcarol.blogspot.com/

We are both really excited to be teaching drawing and art history in Florence next summer and hope you can join us!

On this Date in History, May 12: Rossetti, Stella and the façade for the Duomo of Florence

What happened in the world of art history on May 12?

In 1828 English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 – April 9, 1882) was born in London.  Rossetti was the founder of a group of artists known as the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" whose style changed the face of 19th century British art.  The Pre-Raphaelites took their inspiration from an earlier time (before the work of Raphael) and looked to Medieval and early Renaissance Art as well as Medieval literature such as the Italian poet Dante Alighieri after whom Rossetti was named.

Rossetti painted dozens of works in his lifetime, often focusing on female figures from classical mythology or literature.  The below work, Beata Beatrix, refers to Dante's muse, Beatrice Portinari and shows her at her moment of death.  The model for the painting was Rossetti's wife Elizabeth Sidall who had recently died.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix, 1863, Tate Britain, London

On May 12 in 1887 the façade for the Cathedral of Florence (the Duomo) was unveiled.  The Neo Gothic façade was designed by Italian architect Emilio De Fabris in the 1860's.  As you can see from Giotto's 14th century Campanile (bell tower) to the right, De Fabris was interested in creating a 19th century façade that blended seamlessly with the rest of the much older cathedral.  The façade until the mid-19th century had a plain front.

The Duomo of Florence is one of the largest churches in Europe, the plans and design for it spanned over 600 years and the unveiling of the façade was one of the last steps towards its completion.

There was a revival of Gothic (12th-14th century) art and architecture in the 19th century, such as in the above example of the art of Rossetti.  With the advent of the Industrial Revolution the Gothic age was romanticized and presented as the return to a simpler time.  In the case of the façade of the Duomo, working in the Gothic style presented a harmonious design which visually unified the cathedral.

Façade of the Cathedral of Florence 'Duomo' in Italy with the Campanile to the right

1936 Frank Stella was born in Massachusetts, today he lives and works in New York City, he has lived there since graduating from Princeton in 1958.  He is well known in art history as a modern painter whose work in the late 1950's and 60's was a departure from Abstract Expressionism.  Instead he developed a style of minimalism and used geometric forms, his work influenced a new generation of modern painters.




Frank Stella, Harran II, 1967, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

12 Famous Artists Known by their Nicknames

Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is one of the best known artists in the world.  However most people don't realize his name wasn't really "Botticelli" at all, it was a nickname which means "little barrel" in Italian.  The name referred to the well-rounded nature of his older brother who was a government official in Florence, and then later  became his own nickname.  His given name was actually Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi.

Botticelli's nickname has gone down in history as being synonymous with the art of the Italian Renaissance which began in Florence in the early 15th century.  Nearly everyone has heard of him, yet if you were to ask people about the paintings of "di Vanni Filipepi" most would not know which artist was being referred to.

La Primavera, Botticelli, 1478, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Nicknames were commonplace for artists in Botticelli's time, especially in Italy.  Let's look at several other well known painters from the 13th to the 17th century whose nicknames are still in use today.  You may have heard of some or all of these artists, often people don't realize centuries later that we are referring to them by their nicknames and not their given names. 

Virgin Enthroned with Angels, Cimabue, c-1290-95, Louvre , 14' x 9' (4.27 m x 2.8 m)

Cimabue

Cenni di Pepi (1240-1302) 

In Italian this nickname means "Ox Head" which presumably refers to the artist's stubbornness.  Cimabue is thought by many to be the Father of Italian Renaissance art, his name is mentioned in Dante's famous poem.  Cimabue was known for his beautiful Madonna and Child paintings and was also the teacher of the painter Giotto.

 The Tribute Money, Masaccio, 1425, fresco, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Masaccio and Masolino

Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone (1401-1428)

Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini (1383 – c. 1447)

The given name of both of these early Italian Renaissance artists is "Tommaso" and both nicknames were taken from that. Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone was better known as "Masaccio" which means "clumsy Tom" or "messy Tom."  Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini was called "Masolino" meaning "little Tom" in Italian.  Both artists worked in Florence and they collaborated on the famous Brancacci Chapel frescos.  Masaccio's fresco of The Tribute Money (shown above) is the first time perspective was accurately applied in Renaissance art.

Monument to Sir John Hawkwood, Uccello, 1436, Duomo of Florence

Paolo Uccello 

Paolo di Dono (1397-1475)

In Italian the word uccello means “bird,” and Paolo was a naturalist who painted many animals, his nickname was inspired by his paintings of birds.  The famous 16th century art historian Giorgio Vasari writes this of Uccello in his book The Lives of the Artists-

"In the house of the Medici he painted some scenes on canvas and in distemper, representing animals; in these he eve took delight, and in order to paint them well he gave them very great attention, and, what is more, he kept ever in his house pictures of birds, cats, dogs and every sort of strange animal whereof he could get the likeness, being unable to have them alive by reason of his poverty; and because he delighted in birds more than in any other kind, he was given the name of "Paolo of the Birds."


Uccello also lived and worked in Florence and during his life created many paintings including the famous Monument to Sir John Hawkwood in the Duomo of Florence.  Hawkwood was promised an equestrian monument as a memorial, but to save money this one was painted rather than created as a life-size bronze statue.

The Doubting of St. Thomas, Verrocchio, 1467-83, Orsanmichele, Florence

Andrea del Verrocchio 

Andrea di Michele di Francesco de’ Cioni (1435-1488)

Verrocchio means “true eye,” in Italian and there are two thoughts on how he acquired that nickname.  The first is that the moniker 'true eye' was used to refer to his artistic talents.  The other is that Andrea received his first training from a goldsmith named Giuliano da Verrocchi and when he started his own artistic career he took on his name.

In art history Verrocchio is best known as the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci.  In his successful workshop in Florence Andrea del Verrocchio trained other Renaissance artists including Perugino (Raphael's teacher).  Verrocchio worked in painting as well as sculpture and his clients included the Medici family.

The Tempest, Giorgione, 1503-04, Accademia, Venice

Giorgione

Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco (1447-1511)

In Italian, "Giorgione" means "Big George" taken from his given name Giorgio. Giorgione is considered to be the ‘Father of the Venetian Renaissance Style” of painting, though he only lived into his early 30’s and is thought to have died of the plague.  Only a handful of his surviving paintings are acknowledged for certain to be his work.  He worked closely with the artist Titian who passed his style incorporating rich colors down through the 16^thcentury.


 

Immaculate Conception and Birth of the Virgin Mary, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1485-90
Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Domenico Ghirlandaio 

Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi (1449-1494)

In Italian 'ghirlandaio' means “garland maker,” which was his father's profession. Ghirlandaio lived and worked in Florence and was one of the most sought after fresco artists of his time.  Michelangelo got his artistic start in the workshop of Ghirlandaio and was one of the assistants in the frescos for Santa Maria Novella.

Descent from the Cross, Rosso Fiorentino, 1521

Rosso Fiorentino

Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (1495-1540)

Giovanni the "Red Florentine" got his nickname from his hair color.  He was a well known Mannerist painter who worked in both Florence and in France in the early 16th century.  Fiorentino was trained along with Jacopo Pontormo in the studio of Andrea del Sarto.

The Last Supper, Tintoretto, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, 1592-94

Tintoretto

Jacopo Robusti (1518-1594)

Jacopo was the son of a dyer (tintore in Italian) giving him his nickname.  Tintoretto was one of the most prolific and influential painters in the Venetian Renaissance.  His hallmark artistic style was to start with a dark background and use bold colors and strong highlights.  His brushwork and use of perspective added much depth and drama to his paintings.

Laocoön, El Greco, c-1610, National Gallery ofArt (Washington D.C.)

El Greco

Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614)

His nickname meant "The Greek" in Spanish as he was born on the island of Crete and spent the majority of his career working in Spain, primarily in Toledo.  El Greco created one of the most distinctive styles of painting in this time period.  He was influenced by both Greek Orthodox icon painting, a Venetian sense of coloring (since Crete was under Venetian rule at this time and he spent some time in Venice) and Spanish art after he moved to Spain.

The Calling of Saint Matthew,Caravaggio  (1599-1600) Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Caravaggio

Michelangelo de Merisi (1571-1610)

This artist came from the town of Caravaggio in Northern Italy and it was not uncommon for artists to get nicknamed based on their place of origin if they later moved.

Caravaggio was an Italian painter of the Baroque period who lived a tumultuous life, he murdered a man in Rome and spent the next several years moving around Italy.  Around 1600 Caravaggio developed his famous style of extreme chiaroscuro (painting form with lights and darks) known as "tenebrism" which was a turning point in art.  Many other artists followed his style of dark backgrounds with dramatic highlights.

This list of 12 famous artists known by their nicknames are only some artists known by a name other than their own, there are actually quite a few more.  All create interesting stories throughout art history.

Bibliography

Hartt, Frederick and David Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art, Painting∙Sculpture∙Architecture. Prentice Hall, 2010.

The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics) by Giorgio Vasari. Translated from Italian by Julia Conway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Santi, Bruno. Botticelli. Milan: Scala, 1999.

On this Date in History, May 1: Birth of Theo Van Gogh, Inness and Beaux

On this date in history: May 1

What happened in the world of Art History on May 1?  During the 19th century three influential figures were born: George Inness in 1825, Cecilia Beaux in 1855 and Theo Van Gogh in 1857.

George Inness, In the Adirondacks, c- 1862. Yale University Art Gallery

In 1825 American landscape painter George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was born in New York.

Inness started studying art when he took classes at the National Academy of Design.  He was also very interested in the work of the Hudson River School artists. In the 1850’s he went to Rome to study the Baroque landscape painters and then went to Paris to study the work of the Barbizon school.   

When he returned to America Inness spent his career as a landscape painter on the east coast and painted dozens of works during his lifetime.  He was influenced by all of the earlier landscape artists that he saw, but developed his own style of panoramic views which are infused with deep color.

 

George Inness, On the Delaware River, Brooklyn Museum

Cecilia Beaux, the renowned American portrait painter was born in Philadelphia (May 1, 1855 – September 7, 1942).


Beaux is known as one of the most important American portrait painters of the late 19th and early 20th century.

She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1877-1879 and later returned to teach there, when she was studying at PAFA the painter Thomas Eakins was teaching at the school.  After she studied in Paris.

During her lifetime Beaux had fourteen one-woman shows and won numerous prizes, she was the first female artist to teach at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  

Dorothea and Francesca, Cecilia Beaux, 1898, Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent Van Gogh's famous brother, art dealer Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (May 1, 1857 – January 25, 1891) was born in the Netherlands.  Besides being a successful art dealer, Theo helped encourage and support his older brother Vincent Van Gogh.  Theo suggested that Vincent move to Paris where he met the French Impressionists, he paid him for many of his paintings and hung them in his gallery in Paris and he gave him a stipend so he could move to Arles. 

Theo also collected and stored his brother's paintings and letters which allowed Theo's widow Johanna to share after his early death at age 33.  If Theo hadn't preserved these and especially if Johanna had not worked to exhibit Vincent's work and have the brothers correspondence published, the world may never know about Vincent Van Gogh.

Today the brothers Vincent and Theo Van Gogh are buried next to each other at the cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise. 

A Wheatfield with Cypresses, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

The National Gallery (London)