Art Activity: “Name It”

1. TITLE OF ARTWORK: Pietà

NAME OF ARTIST: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
ERA: Renaissance
DESCRIPTION: The Pieta shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ after his
crucifixion, death, and removal from the cross, but before he was placed in the tomb. This is
one of the key events from the life of the Virgin, known as the Seven Sorrows of Mary, which
were the subject of Catholic devotional prayers.

2. TITLE OF ARTWORK: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

NAME OF ARTIST: Gian Lorenzo Bernini
ERA: Baroque
DESCRIPTION: A deliberately intense work of Christian art, it is regarded as one of the most
important examples of the Counter-Reformation style of Baroque sculpture, designed to convey
spiritual aspects of the Catholic faith. The work depicts an episode of "religious ecstasy" in the
life of the cloistered Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun - Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) - as
described in her autobiography "The Life of Teresa of Jesus".

3. TITLE OF ARTWORK: Mona Lisa

NAME OF ARTIST: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
ERA: Renaissance
DESCRIPTION: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world. It is
sometimes called La Jaconde in French (or in Italian, La Giaconda) because it is believed to be
the portrait of the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, whose name was Lisa (Mona = short for
“Madonna” (lady)). The subject of the portrait is a content woman who exists in a world that is
both comfortable and knowable, yet wild and mysterious.

4. TITLE OF ARTWORK: The Last Supper

NAME OF ARTIST: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
ERA: Renaissance
DESCRIPTION: Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is a Renaissance masterpiece, though it is one
which has struggled to survive intact over the centuries. It was commissioned by Duke Ludovico
Sforza for the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and in order to
paint it Leonardo used an oil/tempera mix and applied it to a dry wall.

5. TITLE OF ARTWORK: The Transfiguration

NAME OF ARTIST: Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino
ERA: Renaissance
DESCRIPTION: The Transfiguration is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master
Raphael. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the later Pope Clement VII (1523–1534)
and conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France, Raphael worked on it until
his death in 1520.
6. TITLE OF ARTWORK: The Conversion of Saint Paul
NAME OF ARTIST: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
ERA: Baroque
DESCRIPTION: This painting represents the moment when Saul (later to be renamed Paul) is on
the road to Damascus to carry out a persecution of the young Christian community. He has a
vision as Christ calls out to him, "Why are you persecuting me?”. In the position of the St Paul
and of the Christ, and in the movement of the horse into the depth of the picture, this work is
still related to the tradition of Michelangelo, but there are decidedly Caravaggesque elements in
the work, such as the face of the angel supporting Christ. amd in the play of light upon Paul's
fallen form.

7. TITLE OF ARTWORK: Las Meninas

NAME OF ARTIST: Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez
ERA: Baroque
DESCRIPTION: Las Meninas is an oil painting by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. The
painting hangs in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the capital of Spain. It was painted in 1656.
The word “Menina” means “lady-in-waiting” or “Maid of Honour”, i.e. a girl who serves in a
royal court.

8. TITLE OF ARTWORK: St. Peter’s Square

NAME OF ARTIST: Gian Lorenzo Bernini
ERA: Baroque
DESCRIPTION: Also known as Piazza San Pietro in Italian, St. Peter’s Square is a large plaza
located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome,
directly west of the neighbourhood or rione of Borgo. The plaza allows greatest number of
people to see the Pope give his blessing. Tuscan colonnades frame the trapezoidal entrance to
the basilica and the elliptical area.

9. TITLE OF ARTWORK: Portrait of Helene Fourment

NAME OF ARTIST: Peter Paul Rubens
ERA: Baroque
DESCRIPTION: This painting shows Ruben’s second wife, Helene Fourment. That love played a
role by the numerous portraits of the young lady, and the other paintings in which she sat as
model. Professional panegyrists praised her beauty and indeed she seems to have lived up to
the contemporary ideal. Rubens in any case staged her as a goddess in numerous paintings.

10. TITLE OF ARTWORK: The Virgin of the Rocks

NAME OF ARTIST: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
ERA: Renaissance
DESCRIPTION: Leonardo’s emblematic and complexly symbolic The Virgin of the Rocks
celebrates the mystery of Incarnation in portrayals of the Virgin Mary, Christ and Saint John the
Baptist. For the first time, these holy figures, bathed in a gentle light, are set in rocky landscape.
The many contemporary copies of the picture attest to the immense popularity of this new
vision of the theme.