Renaissance Art

The lecture on 14th century Italian art was very interesting, especially the works by Botticelli. I thought it was very interesting that he would put himself in one of his own paintings, and that it says a lot about him. Some would call it arrogance, perhaps. Compared to other artists, though, its not so bad. It reminded me of another Renaissance painting, one that convinced many people of the artist's vanity. It is a self-portrait by Albrecht Durer. Of course, he did quite a few of these, many of which portray him as rather wealthy. In this particular painting, however, he paints himself to look somewhat like Christ. His clothing and hair are similar to many renderings of Christ, and his hands are posed near his chest, in a gesture that looks as though he is about to reach out and bless someone or something. Whether or not he actually intended to portray himself as Jesus, I don't know, but it's obvious he, like Botticelli, had, well, you know.

On the Ascent of Mount Ventoux

This piece really resonated with me. I especially liked the reference it made to the 'Inferno', in which one must go down to go up. I've seen other people on that sort of journey. Where they, like Petrarch, had to take a long, winding, easy path (down into sin and vice) before they were able to lift themselves up, so to speak, to the top of the mountain. Almost as if they needed to hit the bottom to get some sense knocked into them. They, like Petrarch, after continuing on that path for some time, realized they were not going the way they had intended, and tried again and again to correct their course. I also, as one who has experienced the transcendent self-contemplation induced by mountains and nature's beauty, thought it was interesting that not only did Petrarch have to go down to go up, but that he had to go up literally in order to go up spiritually. He went down into himself to go up, while at the same time going up to go up. That's not confusing at all, is it?