Michelangelo buonarroti (1475 – 1564)

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in 1475 in a small town near Florence. When Michelangelo was thirteen he was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio for three years during which time he showed a definite preference for sculpture.

In 1494, he visited Venice and Bologna before going on to Rome to execute his Pietà for Saint Peter’s (1498 – 1500). The subject is a very difficult one, for the Virgin holds the body of Christ across her knees. Earlier Renaissance sculptors had added Saint John and Magdalene to the scene to help support the inert body and prevent it from seeming to crush the frail Madonna. Michelangelo excluded the two figures and by subtle positioning and by exaggerating slightly the scale of the Virgin he created a compact and isolated monument of extraordinary emotional force.

Within the majestic dignity of the group there appear countless delicate contrasts. The rigid lines of Christ angle across and around the graceful curves of the Madonna as she rests resignedly, her knees sloping forward, her body arching back and then forward, protectively above. This is the first work Michelangelo ever signed. Legend has it that after the group was installed in the chapel, some northern visitors were overheard attributing it to one of their own countrymen. Whatever the cause, he carved “Michael Angelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat” on the broad strap that runs across the left breast and shoulder of the Virgin. Before long, however, his distinctive style would grow to be as good as a master’s signature.

On his return to Florence in 1502 Michelangelo signed a contract to make the famous statue of David which was to commemorate the deliverance of the city from her enemies. Contract in hand, he started in at once. Around the marble he built a shed which was locked at all times, a precaution that implies a preference for his own company, a distrust of his fellows, and, very possibly, a sharp sense of publicity. He worked with a furious energy so great that he often slept in his clothes, grudging the time it took to take them off and put them on again.

Technically this statue marked a change in Michelangelo’s development. In a single work he achieved the difficult transition from normal scale to the colossal without a flaw, setting back the chin slightly, so that it would not cut off too much of the features from the spectator’s view, building out the nose and forehead, placing the eyes on a subtly slanting plane. He relied on the sharp turn of the neck to animate the profile and selected veins and sinews to give telling vitality to the surface.

At the age of thirty Michelangelo was called to Rome and for the next thirty years he worked there for a succession of Popes. Apart from the unfinished tomb for Pope Julius II, which was to have been his masterpiece in sculpture, the most important work of this period is the magnificent and elaborate painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. This immense ceiling, almost an acre in area, is forty feet above the ground, curved in form and interrupted by window openings. It would have been a tremendous problem to any experienced painter; as for Michelangelo, who had as yet done very little painting, and nothing at all on an overhead surface, it was a formidable challenge.

The Prophet Jeremiah on the Sistine ceiling is one of the most expressive figures; the bent shoulders and general downward movement symbolize the sadness of this great seer, who sits, chin in hand and eyes half closed, revealing his thoughtful dejection. Most masters of the High Renaissance were able to express the emotions of their figures through positions of the arms and legs or postures of the body; they attached as much importance to these factors as to the expression on the face itself. This is as true of Jeremiah as of Adam in the Creation scene (also on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) or Leonardo’s “Madonna of the Rocks”.

What is especially striking and characteristic of Michelangelo in the portrayal of Jeremiah is the illusion of a three-dimensional space in which the figure can actually move. This is effected through the powerful contour line of the form itself, and the painted recess of the niche in which it is set. Jeremiah’s legs are drawn in under him, implying the same possibility of movements as do the hunched shoulders and sunken head.

When the monumental painting in the Sistine Chapel was finished, it was signed: “Michelangelo, Sculptor”.

Michelangelo’s thoughtful, passionate force of character was reflected in his work, with its abundance of contorted nudes whose emotions are expressed through the device of turning one part of the body in a different direction from another, and yet balancing the parts of the body. In a study for Sistine Chapel ceiling the Libyan Sybil is drawn in red chalk. The chalk lines model with great force the forms of the head and the mighty back and arms. Great care has been given to the anatomical structure of the figure and the muscles show with more distinctness and salience than they would even in the most highly trained athlete. The figure has been thought of “in the round”, from all sides, as a sculptor would conceive it, and not as an appearance of the model from one position only – the usual practice of painters.

TASKS:

I. Give Russian equivalents of the following.

1. to show a definite preference for smth; 2. to execute (a picture); 3. majestic dignity; 4. to rest resignedly; 5. Legend has it that … ; 6. to attribute smth to smb; 7. from this time on; 8. on smb’s return; 9. statue to commemorate (some event); 10. a preference for one’s own company; 11. a sharp sense of publicity; 12. to grudge the time it takes to do smth; 13. (a piece of art) marks a change in an artist’s development; 14. a succession of Popes; 15. the ceiling interrupted by window openings; 16. to attach importance to smth; 17. to effect an illusion through smth.; 18. to draw in one’s legs under oneself; 19. an abundance of smth; 20. through the device of (doing) smth.

II. Give English equivalents of the following:

1. отдать кого-л. в подмастерья кому-л.; 2. не дать чему-л. показаться каким-л.; 3. преувеличивать что-л.; 4. линии (какой-л. фигуры) пересекают наискосок что-л.; 5. случайно услышать как кто-л. делает что-л.; 6. соотечественник, земляк; 7. чей-л. характерный стиль; 8. избавление города от врагов; 9. подразумевать что-л., свидетельствовать, «говорить» о (чём-л.); 10. недоверие к кому-л.; 11. особое умение заинтриговать общественность; 12. беупречно; 13. загораживать черты лица от зрителей; 14. придавать особую живость (произведению искусства); 15. Сикстинская Капелла; 16. сложнейшая задача (2 варианта); 17. Это можно сказать как в отношении (кого-л.), так и в отношении (кого-л. ещё); 18. сгорбленные плечи; 19. склонённая голова; 20. уделять большое внимание чему-л.

III. Match the definitions below with the following words:

abundance; an apprentice; to attribute; to commemorate; dejection; dignity; to exaggerate; a flaw; frail; to imply; a precaution; publicity; to rely; slanting; a succession; three-dimensional.

1. activity meant to stimulate the interest of the public; 2. set at an angled position; 3. to make smth. seem more superior or inferior than it is in reality; 4. the condition of being worthy of respect, esteem or honour; 5. to claim that smth was produced by a particular person, often wrongly; 6. to honour the memory of smb or smth; 7. appearing to possess the dimentions of height, width and depth; 8. to suggest smth indirectly, as a logical consequence of smth; 9. a young person working for a skilled person for a fixed period, usually for low wages, in return for being taught his employer’s skill in art, craft or trade; 10. a mistake that prevents smth from being totally perfect and detracts from its value; 11. physically weak or delicate and vulnerable to injury; 12. to have faith or confidence in smth or smb; 13. a sequence of people or things following each other in time or order; 14. sadness and lack of hope, especially as a result of disappointment; 15. an action taken in advance to avoid danger, to prevent problems, etc.; 16. a quantity that is more than enough.

V. Match the adjectives with the nouns the way they are used in the text.

1. emotional A. body

2. delicate B. dignity

3. inert C. curve

4. furious D. plane

5. graceful E. turn

6. slanting F. contrast

7. distinctive G. force

8. telling H. energy

9. three-dimensional I. style

10. elaborate J. ceiling

11. immense K. problem

12. sharp L. vitality

13. tremendous M. painter

14. experienced N. painting

15. formidable O. dejection

16. thoughtful P. challenge

17. majestic Q. shoulders

18. hunched R. space

VI. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding non-final forms of the verb from the text.

The Present Participle	The Past Participle	The Gerund	The Infinitive

VII. Match the underlined verbals with their syntactical functions. Specify the verbals:

1. In 1494, he visited Venice and Bologna before going on to Rome to execute his Pietà for Saint Peter’s.

2. Michelangelo went on to Rome to execute his Pietà for Saint Peter’s.

3. Earlier Renaissance sculptors had added Saint John and Magdalene to the scene to help support the inert body and prevent it from seeming to crush the frail Madonna.

4. By exaggerating slightly the scale of the Virgin he created a compact and isolated monument of extraordinary emotional force.

5. She rests resignedly, her knees sloping forward, her body arching back.

6. Some northern visitors were overheard attributing it to one of their own countrymen.

7. He often slept in his clothes, grudging the time it took to take them off and put them on again.

8. This immense ceiling, almost an acre in area, is forty feet above the ground, curved in form and interrupted by window openings.

9. The bent shoulders and general downward movement symbolize the sadness of this great seer.

10. Jeremiah’s legs are drawn in under him.

11. Great care has been given to the anatomical structure of the figure.

12. He relied on the sharp turn of the neck to animate the profile.

A. The Adverbial Modifier of Cause;

B. Part of the Compound Nominal Predicate;

C. Part of the Simple Predicate (Present Simple, Passive Voice);

D. The Attribute;

E. Part of the Complex Subject;

F. Part of the Simple Predicate (Present Perfect, Passive Voice);

G. Part of the Absolute Participial Construction modifying the attending circumstances;

H. The Adverbial Modifier of Time;

I. Prepositional Object;

J. The Adverbial Modifier of Manner;

K. Part of the Complex Object;

L. The Adverbial Modifier of Purpose.

VIII. Translate the following words and their derivatives. Single out the root and the affixes of the words. Arrange the words after Pattern I to show their derivational relationship. Analyse the combinability and grammatical meaning of the affixes after Pattern II:

Pattern I	Pattern II
defin-e defin-ite in-definite definit-ive definite-ness definit-ion	root: “defin-“
	root + “-ite” [-ɪt] = adjective¹
	root + “-ive” [-ɪv] = adjective²
	“in-“ + adjective¹ = negative adjective
	adjective + “-ness” = noun

to deliver, deliverance, delivery; to prefer, preference, preferable, preferably, preferability, preferential; to execute, execution, executable, executive, executory, executor, executrix, executioner; to exaggerate, exaggeration, exaggerative; to appear, to disappear, appearance, disappearance; to stall, to install, installation, installment; to suffice, sufficient, sufficiency, insufficient; scene, scenery, scenic; help, helpful, helpless; ordinary, extraordinary; count, contable, uncountable, countability, countless; grace, graceful, graceless, gracious; tribute, tributary, to attribute, attribution, attributive; memory, memorable, to memorize, to memoralize, to commemorate, commemoration, commemorative.

IX. Answer the following questions:

1. How was the subject of the Pietà treated by Renaissance sculptors before Michelangelo? 2. What solution did Michelangelo find for executing his Pietà? 3. How did Michelangelo achieve the difficult transition from normal scale to the colossal in his “David”? 4. What effect did Michelangelo achieve with the sharp turn of the neck? 5. How did Michelangelo and certain other painters of the High Renaissance convey emotions in the figures they painted? 6. Why did Michelangelo start to sign his paintings? 7. Why was the painting of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel such a challenge to Michelangelo? 8. What means did Michelangelo use to convey the sad, reflective mood of the Prophet Jeremiah? 9. What were some of the devices he used for creating the illusion of volume and three-dimensional space? 10. What do you think the characteristic features of Michelangelo’s work are?

X. Work in groups. The class splits into two teams to advocate the contrary viewpoints as to the following statements. Each sensible argument wins a point. The team with the most points is the winner. Make use of the vocabulary phrases (p. 88).

1. Michelangelo should not have excluded the figures of Saint John and Magdalene from his Pietà, since the Virgin is too frail to support the inert body of Jesus all by herself. 2. The figures of Christ and the Madonna seem to contrast with each other, but the contrasts are too delicate and subtle for us to believe they were deliberate on the part of the master. 3. There was no need for Michelangelo to sign his works, as his style was distinctive enough to identify the master. 4. The furious energy with which Michelangelo worked upon the statue of David may be accounted for by his artistic excitement and all, but it might be just as well due to his want of money. 5. The colossal scale of David weakens the impression that David is real. 6. The painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel could have hardly been such a formidable challenge for Michelangelo, now that he had already done a number of works.

XI. Speak on the following points:

1. Michelangelo’s most famous pieces of work. 2. Michelangelo’s style.

UNIT IV

PRE-TASKS:

I. Practice the pronunciation of the following words and word-combinations and learn them.

a cloth merchant [ə 'klɒθ 'mз:tʃənt] – торговец сукном

to evince smth [ɪ'vɪns] – проявлять, выказывать что-л.

a marked inclination for smth ['mɑ:kt ɪnklɪ'neɪʃn]

– ярко выраженная склонность к чему-л.

rococo [rə'kəʊkəʊ] – рококо (стиль)

to prize smth ['praɪz] – ценить что-л.

“genre painting” ['ʒɒŋrə / 'ʒɑ:nrə/ 'peɪntɪŋ] – “жанровая живопись (картина)”

to influence smb ['ɪnflʊəns] – влиять на кого-л.

sought-after ['sɔ:t 'ɑ:ftə] – востребованный, популярный

N.B.: “sought” – the Past Participle of “to seek” (“искать”)

self-taught ['self 'tɔ:t] – самоучка

N.B.: “taught” – the Past Participle of “to teach” (“учить”)

to rely upon smth / smb [rɪ'laɪ ə'pɒn] – полагаться на что-л / кого-л.

rival ['raɪvl] – соперник

sitter ['sɪtə] – натурщик

(to sit for a portrait – позировать для портрета)

a brush stroke ['brʌ∫ 'strəʊk] – мазок кисти

a colour scheme ['kʌlə 'ski:m] – цветовая гамма

rustic ['rʌstɪk] – сельский, деревенский

anxiety [æŋ'zaɪətɪ] – волнение, страх

a forerunner of smth ['fɔ:ˌrʌnə◡rəv …] – предтеча чего-л.

II. Practice the pronunciation of the following (a) toponyms and (b) proper names:

(a) Bath [bɑ:θ] – г. Бат

(в графстве Сомерсет, юго-западная Англия; курорт с мин. водами)

Ipswich ['ɪpswɪtʃ] – г. Ипсвич

(главный город графства Суффолк, восточная Англия)

Italy ['ɪtəlɪ] – Италия

London ['lʌnd(ə)n] – г. Лондон

Sudbury ['sʌdbərɪ] – г. Садбери (в графстве Суффолк, восточная Англия)

Suffolk ['sʌfək] – Суффолк (графство в восточной Англии)

(b) Constable ['kʌnstəbl] – Констебль, Джон (1776 – 1837)

Elizabeth [ɪ'lɪzəbəθ] – Элизабет

Geiorgione ['dʒɪəˌdʒɪənə] – Джорджоне,

Джорджо да Кастельфранко (1477 – 1510) (итальянский художник)

Gravelot [greɪv'lɒ] – Грейвло, Юбер (французский художник)

Hamilton Nisbet ['hæmɪltn 'nɪzbət] – Гамильтон Низбет, Фрэнсис

(жена адмирала Нельсона)

Mary ['meərɪ] – Мэри

Reinolds ['reɪnəldz] – Рейнольдс, Джошуа (1786 – 1788)

Renoir [rə'nwɑ:] – Ренуар, Пьер-Огюст (1841 – 1919)

Robert Andrews ['rɒbət 'ændru:z] – Роберт Эндрюс

Rubens ['ru:b(ə)nz] – Рубенс, Питер Пауэлл (1577 – 1640)

(фламандский художник-портретист)

Ruisdael ['raɪzdɑ:l] – Райсдаль, Якоб Ван (1628/29 – 1682)

(голландский художник)

Thomas Gainsborough ['tɒməs 'geɪnzb(ə)rə] – Томас Гейнсборо

Turner ['tз:nə] – Тёрнер, Уильям (1775 – 1851)

(английский художник-пейзажист)

Van Dyck [ˌvæn 'daɪk] – Ван Дейк, Антонис (1599 – 1641)

(фламандский художник-портретист)

III. Scan the text and single out the main points of each paragraph.

IV. Try to guess the meaning of the italicized words. Match them with the corresponding cognate words in Russian where possible. When translating the words, mind the so-called pseudo-international words.

1. Thomas Gainsborough was the son of John Gainsborough, a cloth merchant. 2. He became familiar with the Flemish tradition of painting. 3. The Flemish tradition of painting was highly prized by London art dealers at that time. 4. He executed a great many portraits. 5. He became a fashionable artist. 6. His pictures of women in particular have an extreme delicacy and refinement. 7. He used the colour scheme where blue and green predominate. 8. He emphasized that the natural background for his characters harmonious manifestations of nature. 9. In the portrait of “Robert Andrews and Mary, His Wife” the beauty of the green English summer is communicated to the viewer through the sense of well-being and delight which the atmosphere visibly creates in the sitters. 10. Emphasis is placed on the season in both the landscapes and the portraits. 11. The landscapes anticipate the marine paintings of Turner.

V. Look through the text and write out all the unfamiliar words and phrases. Look them up in your English-Russian Dictionary. Single out the terms on the fine arts and learn them.

VI. Put the words with”-(e)s” from the text into appropriate columns. Pronounce the words minding that there are three ways of pronouncing “-(e)s”: [-z], [-s] and [-ɪz] (revise the rule if necessary).

Noun in the Plural	Verb in the Present Simple, 3rd Person, Singular

VII. Read and translate the text.