The Friday Afternoon Challenge: Special Election Edition!

[CTyankee]

To honor Tuesday's mid term election I submit the following work of art and this challenge:

1)Why has it been chosen?

2)What is its "glaring omission" and what does it foreshadow?

[blogslut]

1. Huh

Well, on first glance it looks like a triptych that doesn't match up.

[CTyankee]

3. It is a wide fresco because it encompasses two distinct areas.

And that is on purpose.

[HopeHoops]

2. It represents the division of wealth in the USA and what's missing are teabaggers on the left side.

[CTyankee]

4. It is actually in opposition to that...

[Madam Mossfern]

5. Hmmm.....

Some Gothic arches, little heads and 'floaty' feet so most likely pre Renaissance. Town and countryside scenes. Why has it been chosen? Urm, because it's Friday and the folks in the city are going to spend the weekend in the country. I don't see any beer and there is a strange empty blob left of center about half way up. What are those people doing on the roof?

[CTyankee]

7. Unfortunately, the empty blob in the center is fraying of the fresco and not intentional.

You are exactly right that it is Gothic and pre-Renaissance. It was making a statement about the importance of something...that same statement is being debated TODAY.

[boston bean]

6. I don't have a clue.

and that's not my answer, I truly don't have a clue.

kick

;-)

[Pathwalker]

8. The nobility/rich vs. the working poor is what I see.

Wealth and opulence on one side. Hard work, with little to show for it on the other with a wall between them. No elections and no choice, depending on which side you were born. Shows why there was a revolution?

[CTyankee]

9. Look again at the country side of the fresco...what is going on?

[Pathwalker]

10. Farming? vs. "city life?"

n/t

[CTyankee]

No, no...just the opposite...

[Pathwalker]

12. The people paying their taxes? I had to blow it way up to see

the people bringing the animals into the walled area.

[CTyankee]

17. I suppose there is a subordinate message on taxes...but not the primary message here...

[Madam Mossfern]

13. It's a feudal village

and the farmers (serfs) are doing about their business tending the fields and wildlife. The nobility is going through on horseback, but I can't discern what the particular situation is. It doesn't appear that the serfs are acknowledging the nobility as they are still doing their work.

[CTyankee]

16. Actually, the nobility is not prominent...because of location...

[Duer 157099]

11. Trick or treating in the Middle Ages?

:shrug:

[Solly Mack]

14. Good city of Good/Bad Government by Lorenzetti located in Siena

Why did you choose it?

Probably because it represents the value of good government (good government = good city)...upcoming election and all that.

The omission? Uh... The rest of it? :)

[CTyankee]

15. Very good on its provenance. Now, can you see the omission?

And, what about the "foreshadowing"? Anything come to mind?

[Solly Mack]

19. No...but I'm sure it is obvious. Sorry!

[CTyankee]

26. Well, it's the 1300s. What's not there?

[Solly Mack]

33. No clergy...that I can tell. No church. Secular painting...more or less.

[CTyankee]

40. And this foreshadows?????

[Solly Mack]

43. Intellectual influences over religious...though not a rejection of religion

...the Renaissance followed and the church wasn't without influence (to say the least)...maybe how people viewed religion then.


Edit to add:

Like pulling teeth,init? lol

Course, I'm probably wrong.

[CTyankee]

47. The Renaissance implies the revival of something...

[Solly Mack]

49. Humanistic view on education...arts, literature, etc. A classical education, if you will.

Well, what's considered a classical liberal education now. Preparations in the humanities to develop a person that can improve society (be involved) through the arts, languages, literature...etc. A cultural (re)awakening, so to speak.

I am now going to be labeled a snob.

LMAO

[CTyankee]

52. Hey, welcome to "snob status"!!! The answer of course is "humanism."

I am hopeful that we progressives will win the day on Tuesday, in the face of barbarism...hence, this post...

[Solly Mack]

53. For you :o)

[CTyankee]

54. Awww...you are sweet!

Thank you so much! I really love doing these challenges.

Come back next Friday...I'll have a pretty tough one for you....

[Solly Mack]

31. No clergy...that I can see.

[CTyankee]

48. Indeed!

[Phentex]

18. I have no idea but

I appreciate that you do these threads!

:hi:

[CTyankee]

21. Thank you so much! I love doing them...but look again and tell me what you see!

[horseshoecrab]

20. from Wikipedia page on Pietro Lorenzetti

"He and his brother, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, helped introduce naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimensional and spatial arrangements, they foreshadowed the art of the Renaissance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Lorenzetti

Foreshadows the Renaissance.


horseshoecrab

[Viva_La_Revolution]

22. Senca pavra ocnvom frinco camini

Elavorado semini ciascvno
Mentre che tal comvno
Mant erra ovesta oona i signoria
Chel alavata arei ocni balia

cool site with close-up hi-res pics
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/governme/

[CTyankee]

24. I am only familiar with modern Italian. Can you provide a link to this translation?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

28. I'm looking, lol

I don't have a clue what it says!

[Lyric]

29. I posted the translation below

:hi:

[Lyric]

27. Translation:

Without fear every man may travel freely and each may till and sow, so long as this commune still maintains this lady sovereign, for she has stripped the wicked of all power.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

34. thanks!

:)

[CTyankee]

41. Lyric, this is great! Where did you get the translation? Is it Latin?

And how did you think of it?

Notice the word "commune." It still describes areas in Italy today...kind of (but not exactly) our counties. Freak out a freeper with this word!

[Lyric]

51. It's an archaic version of Italian. Note the word "Signoria"

If you're familiar with modern Italian, you'll recognize that one and be able to identify the language. ;)

As for the literal translation, I got it here:

http://www.cincinnati912project.com/blog/?p=103

[CTyankee]

55. "Signoria" as in Piazza della Signorina" in Florence. Yes, it is the site of

the governing body of the Republic of Florence.

However, this painting is in the Palozzo Pubblico of Siena.

[Lyric]

57. In old Italian, "Signoria" means "ruler", "governor", or "lord/lady"

A signoria was a medieval Italian ruler. In Renaissance-era Italy, it meant "ruling power"--for example, a city council, the rural baroni, etc. In modern Italian, the meaning has evolved as a more general term for government. But the basic meaning is "ruler" or "lord", as it applied to singular rulers as well as councils. In the fresco, the winged Virtue holding the sign is meant to represent "Security", and the general idea is that when a good ruler (in the case of the fresco, the Lady) is in charge, people can live their lives without constant fear.

Piazza della Signoria generally translates as "Lord's Plaza". It was a kind of city commons--a meeting place for people and merchants, the place where public pronouncements were read, and (sometimes) the place where public executions were carried out. People were burned at the stake at the Piazza della Signoria--for example, the famous Girolamo Savonarola--the rabble-rousing cleric who crossed the merchant rulers of Florence one too many times. The plaza was named after the Palazzo della Signoria (now known as the Palazzo Vecchio)--the "Lord's Palace"--which was the seat of the ruling government of the city.

But all I meant by pointing out the word is that it's a recognizably-Italian word--similar to "Signore" and "Signora"--which makes it easy to tell that the language must be an old form of Italian.

:hi:

[CTyankee]

59. I was at that Piazza last month on an 8 day"art intensive" study.

I read exhaustively on the early Renaissance for a year and a half. Quite an interesting history. Some parallels with today...the basic idea of a republic, the "res publica" has currency today, does it not? And yet, Florence's republic did not last as did Venice's, for so many years. You have to wonder why Florence could never seem to pull it off and Venice glided along for a longer stretch...I was bone tired when I got back from Florence but quite happy with all that I had learned (I'd been to Florence before but without the knowledge I had this time).

My 6 year old grandson, BTW, now corrects my Italian pronunication (my "perche" sounded too much like perKAY instead of perKEH)...he learns it from his Roman maestra so he'll probably get that Roman accented Italian going forward...oh, well, va bene...

[CTyankee]

32. I have seen that website and you are right! It's wonderful.

How do you know this work? Have you seen it in Siena?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

37. nope.

the Google is my teacher. :) I recognized the style and surfed a little till I stumbled on it.

I'm off to explore the other frescoes now ..

[CTyankee]

56. Another goodie: Bonauiti's fresco in the Spanish Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

It was a "training" piece for new recruits into the Dominican Friars...

[pscot]

23. Is this from Assisi?

If I'm not mistaken the foreground is missing. Francis rejects his patrimony.

[CTyankee]

25. No, but it is of the same century...

[Duer 157099]

30. What's missing is the Effect of Bad Government

on the city and countryside

Foreshadows what will happen if the Repukes retake any of Congress?

[CTyankee]

38. Yes, in our sense today (of the upcoming election) it certainly does.

I mention "foreshadowing" in a very general and philosophic way...what spurred the Renaissance?

[olegramps]

35. It appears to be a very serene life. No military or religlous strive that was to follow.

[CTyankee]

39. Excellent!

Look at the buildings...what's missing?

[Madam Mossfern]

45. doors?

there are doorways

[olegramps]

58. Churches!

[Madam Mossfern]

36. It's missing a moat?

Migrant workers?
Illegal aliens and walls to keep them out?

[CTyankee]

44. This was a town and not a castle so a moat wasn't necessary...

notice that the wall are open and merchants are freely travelling beyond them...it's an important part of the fresco...

[Duer 157099]

42. No churches? n/t

:shrug:

[CTyankee]

46. Yup!

So this implies Good Government=no church!

[Madam Mossfern]

50. Ohhhhhh!

Very good.