There are a million ways to make art, one of the most popular though time has been painting, but even within that category there are a few different options. The ones that appear most often in the AP Art History Curriculum are: fresco, tempera, & oil painting.
Fresco
Frescos are the preferred method of antiquity, especially famous are the frescos of the Roman town of Pompeii. This style was also heavily used during the Renaissance to emulate the style of the ancients. There’s a little chemistry lesson needed to understand this enduring art medium.
From the 250:
- Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci
- House of the Vettii
- Catacomb of Priscilla
- Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel by Giotto di Bondone
- Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescos by Michelangleo
- School of Athens by Raphael
- Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco by Giovanni Battista Gaulli
- Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park by Diego Rivera
FUN FACT: Benjamin Moore has a color called “Pompeiian red” after the town of Pompeii.
Tempera Painting
This style of painting was certainly the most prevalent during the Late Middle Ages in Europe and continued to be important well into the Renaissance in Italy. This type of painting is egg-based and allows for nice layering.
From the 250:
- Madonna and Child with Two Angels by Fracked Filippo Lippi
- Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
- Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci
- Screen with the Siege of Belgrade and hunting scene (partial)
- The Scream by Edvard Munch (partial)
- The Migration of the Negro, Panel no. 49 by Jacob Lawrence (partial)
Oil Painting
Oil paint is reported to have been invented during the Northern Renaissance (some even think by Jan van Eyck himself) and was heavily used all through out the Renaissance into modern times. It allows for much greater detail and precision than tempera paints. Biggest benefit is certainly the crazy amount of detail you can get in one painting; things that I can’t even see until I zoom in! However, oil paints take FOREVER to dry, which can be a bonus or a negative, depending on your opinion.
From the 250:
- Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece) by the Workshop of Robert Campin
- The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck
- Entombment of Christ by Jacopo da Pontorno
- Venus of Urbino by Titian
- The Virgin of Guadalupe by Miguel González (partial)
- Isenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald
- Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci
- Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- Calling of St. Matthew by Caravggio
- Henri IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de’Medici by Peter Paul Rubens
- Woman Holding a Balance by Johannes Vermeer
- Portrait of Sir Juana Inés de la Cruz by Miguel Cabrera
- Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
- Fruits and Insects by Rachel Ruysch
- Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez
- The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth
- A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrey by Joseph Wright of Derby
- The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David
- Self-Portrait by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
- La Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- Liberty Leading the People by Eugéne Delacroix
- The Oxbow by Thomas Cole
- Slave Ship by J.M.W. Turner
- The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet
- Olympia by Édouard Manet
- The Saint-Lazare Station by Claude Monet
- The Valley of Mexico form the Hillside of Santa Isabel by José María Velasco
- The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
- Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by Paul Gaugin
- Mont Sainte-Victoire by Paul Cézanne
- Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso
- The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
- The Portuguese by Georges Braque
- Goldfish by Henri Matisse
- Improvisation 28 (second version) by Vassily Kandinsky
- Self-Portrait as a Soldier by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian
- The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo
- Woman I by Willen de Kooning
- Tamati Wake Nene by Gottfried Lindauer
- Trade (Gifts for Trading Land with White People) by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (partial)
Read my post on the Churches of Florence for more information on the Entombment of Christ!
So, you’ve probably noticed that the Last Supper falls in to ALL three categories! That is not a mistake. Da Vinci decided to seriously “experiment” with his creation of the Last Supper and it is not doing well. Will and I got to visit while passing through Milan and I hate to say it but the textbook versions are better. However, it is a UNESCO Site!
Read more from the Art History Blogger about the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death on May 2nd.
JMF
