MyHumanitiesStudio Exercises


1			High Renaissance Art (pp. 196-207) Art > Line > Linear Perspective http://www.mhhe.com/HumanitiesStudio/1/1/1/3/1.html The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (Fig. 7.23) is arguably the most famous painting in the world. What qualities make it so arresting? How does its use of color and particularly perspective differ from or improve upon earlier works like Masaccio's Tribute Money (Fig. 7.15) or Botticelli's Birth of Venus (Fig. 7.16)? What distinguishes the Mona Lisa from contemporary works such as Raphael's School of Athens (Fig. 7.28), which might be said to be more technically proficient? How does the painting use flowing lines in the background and in the figure to guide the viewer's eye and to unite the composition?




2			Renaissance Humanism (pp. 183-188) Literature > Poetry > Poetic fiction/poetic form http://www.mhhe.com/HumanitiesStudio/5/7/6.html The Florentine scholar Petrarch was known as the father of humanism for his love of antiquity and his personal accomplishments. Among his achievements were his poems, written in a sonnet form that he perfected and to which he lent his name. Analyze Petrarch's Sonnet No. 134 (p. 184). What are the subject and the tone of this poem? How does the structure of the poem enhance its meaning? What is significant about the personal and confessional nature of the poem? How do the strict rules of the sonnet form, combined with the self-reflective topic of the poem, capture the spirit of Renaissance humanism? Read the excerpts from Pico (p. 185), Castiglione (p. 186), and Machiavelli (p. 188). Why might Petrarch have chosen to write in the rigid sonnet form rather than a less structured free verse style?

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