EUH 1000
Art of the Later Middle Ages Continued
Portraits of the Effects of Good and Bad Government, by Lorenzetti (1280-1348)
Here we find a good government, which was on the mind of the Florentines' at that moment when the Medieval Period was transforming into the Renaissance in Italy. The monarch(s) and their courtiers are in harmony with the people below them.
In contrast, we find here Bad Government- as painted by Lorenzetti on the opposite wall. Bad government like a devil? And could the minotaur like creatures be like the police in a badly run society? The people live in fear.
The Effects of Good Government on City Life- The late medieval cities in Italy began to be the successors of Athens
And there is always the bad. This haunting picture shows raiders storming a country house- which is in disarray anyway, in the anarchy that results.
Portraits of Medieval Life by the Brothers Limbourg, (1370-1416)
January February
The Brothers were commissioned by the Duke of Berry in France to record his life and the times of his manor- The entire work together is called 'The Very Rich Hours- and is probably the most wonderful portrayl of real late medieval life, for both peasants and nobles, that exists from the original times.
March April
May June
July August
September October
November December
In the end, 'The Very Rich Hours' shows us medieval life and makes us remember how,
until recently, Europeans (and Americans) were going about life in this very same way.
___On to Renaissance Art______>
