blog #3: Ch. 19 Renaissance Art in the 15th century Italy

Throughout Chapter 19, I tried relating to each of the works of art, but couldn't. Many were architecture pieces or had a religious story behind it. In terms of visual aspects though, strangely.. Disney princesses had often come to my mind!

1) ~Annuciation North Corridor--pg. 639-- reminds me of Cinderella, how the fairy godmother, like a needed angel (Gabriel), had come to Cinderella (Mary) when she was all by herself in complete distraught
2) ~Camera Picta--pg. 646-- Beauty & the Beast! there was stunning architecture, espescially the celings w/ the elegant chandeliers & angelic cherubs playing around in the clouds, displayed in the movie during the oh-so romantic scene
3) ~& last but not least... Birth of Venus--pg. 651-- can you guess it? the Little Mermaid! Ariel- my favorite disney princess. How she comes out of a shell...& pretty much is nude like Venus herself
4) & though not a disney princess, Donatello's "David" statue reminds me of Peter Pan. To me it evokes a sense of rebellion & youthful boyhoodness. He fearlessly defeated Goliath as Peter Pan's naive, bold approach to fighting Captain Hook. & the hat has a similarity as well.

But in a more detailed & personal sense, the Primavera or Spring, circa 1482, by Sandro Botticelli (pg. 650) stood out to me. "Botticelli was exposed to a philosophy of beauty & produced secular paintings of mythological (mythology- i find very interesting) subjects inspired by ancient works & by contemporary Neoplatonic thought, including Primavera"

This I find to be a very beautiful & fairytale-like magical tempera painting on wood. It evokes a sense of mystery since it takes place in a dark forest.. yet the airyness of the dresses, the lightness of the way the subjects carry themselves, the colors of the flowers, and their brightness contrast to the darkness leaving a well balanced harmonious play of light & dark/ good & bad

"The theme suggests love & fertility in marriage & provides in the image of Venus a model of the ideal women. Venus is silhouetted & framed by an arching view through the trees."
Adding to the theme of marriage & love, this image reminded me of weddings!
I have been to a lot of weddings in my lifetime (19 years)...I think a lot of Vietnamese families do...& though most of the weddings i've been to are not NEARLY as romantic & beautiful as this image provokes, they still provide the same basics: the gorgeously dressed bride, flower girl, petals on the ground, the arching & centering of the bride...

Flora- the Roman goddess of flowers & fertility (on the right side, in a flower printed dress) represents the flower girl
the cupid- very associated w/ Valentine's day & love.. (Venus's son) represents overall love, the feeling weddings evoke in general
& just the whole mise en scene (term used in film- meaning composition of the image) has a whimsical, playful, romantic feel (except for Zephyr- the greenish wind god on the very right- which could represent creppy guys today chasing after girls who run away from them)

The Three graces on the left of Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thaleia, represent joy, beauty & festivity. There are also certain qualities/characteristics in the 21st century that people often say emulates the 'ideal' girl. It still might be joy, beauty & festivity to some perspectives, or polite, humble, and multiple talent to others. It varies depending on culture, generation & person. In Vietnamese culture, there are four: behavior (the way you carry yourself), how you speak, gracefullness, and cooking and cleaning ability.
This is actually, i think, seen as the "standard" of ideal girl qualities. If I ask my dad, cousin or aunt who were all raised in Vietnam, they know about these...we don't have that in America. thankfully
I don't really follow them, I'm a complete klutz! i guess I do help around the house, can sortaish cook and am polite, but I don't believe anyone should have to conform themselves to other's views on what is the epitome of 'perfect'.
Everyone should have a different, and more importantly.. their own, idea of what is 'ideal'. My vision of what's seen as 'ideal', not a reflection upon myself..though i wish it was.. are: a vivid, intruiging uniqueness, multiple talents (including ability to sing & play an instrument), athlecticism (in @ least one sport), an insightful & intellectual voice, and the ability to kick guys' butts in any arena that guys are superior in! (even if it's video games)

on a different note. the Three Graces dancing in sheer, translucent 'dresses' also remind me of my 2 sisters & me! Mostly by the fact that there's three of them. I'm the middle daughter & we're all 2 years apart (haha my dad wanted boys & got THREE girls instead)
And though, my sisters & I would never dress like that (like our dad would ever let! or that we ever would) or dance like that (it's the 21st century..that would be pretty interesting)...there's a special bond & magic between any sisterhood! (blood related or not) The symbolism of 3 girls have been repeated throughout time & used worldwide.. bringing to the mind different things depending on how one associates them with