Humanities 110: History and Appreciation of Art

Like many students, I had little interest in History throughout junior high and high school.

It required reading, which unlike math couldn't be done while watching "Get Smart," and "Gilligan's Island."

Fashion designers regularly pose models in the stance of Donatello's David.

As a young boy, however, I strongly related to Old Testament heroes from The Holy Bible that I learned about from Mr. Ball and Dave Willett in Sunday school.

I also loved a few historic dramas on TV like Zorro, Robin Hood and westerns.

For the most part, however, I thought the era when I lived was the only one of true significance to my life.

To me, the characters from history were, as moviedom's Bill and Ted might say, a bunch of old dead dudes.



A class in History and Appreciation of Music opened an entirely new world to me, a world where humanistic movements in bygone eras permeated daily life then as much as the Beatles, The Monkeys, The Smothers Brothers and Batman had once universally influenced my own teen-aged Westminster cohort.

Leondard da Vinci carried his Mona Lisa with him everywhere he traveled.

I found it so enlightening that I became hooked on Humanities.  I went on to take History and Appreciation of Art, despite the fact that I had already met that general education requirement required for a Bachelor's Degree.

Unexpectedly, history as well as art became as fascinating as music.

My parents in their own way had been new Renaissance thinkers, supporting the arts.  They adorned our middle class home with original paintings from local art galleries and filled space on shelves with glass works and statuary purchased primarily on afternoon visits to Virginia's Gift Shop.  Julie's parents did the same; the more genteel Orange County of that period appreciated affordable culture.

When we became adults ourselves, Julie and I browsed street art in beach communities like Santa Barbara, Laguna and Manhattan Beach, where we purchased pictures that still hang in our home.

On cruises, Julie stays away from art auctions, whereas I sometimes enjoy playing Bon Vivant, even if I'm too cheap and lack the wall space to actually buy any new art.

On Star Princess, we once again had the opportunity to attend auctions, but this time I did not.

I did, however, go to some free art classes put on by the gallery.

If you check your Princess Patter or whatever the daily calendar of events may be called on your cruise ship, you may be surprised to find that in addition to Bingo, movies and mini-golf, there may be classes about art, possibly focused on collecting, modern masters or history.

Ancient ideals of female beauty were based on potential fertility

In 45 minutes of the art history presentation, the beautiful speaker on Star Princess brought us from pre-historic works by unknown cave painters all the way up to pop artist Peter Max.

It was an entertaining, fast-paced review of my college art class.

While obviously much less detailed than college courses, a few new nuggets were revealed and dusty knowledge was refreshed.

Our Princess Art Director Lana Potgieter pointed out that Greek sculpture was based on mythological gods, whereas Roman art featured human heroes, which may be helpful in differentiating ancient art you see while traveling.  Beginning around the 4th Century, the Christian era of art brought mostly religious subjects from The Holy Bible to the forefront, which Lana accurately described as "1000 Years of Flatness."  While not as lifelike as the older works of the Greeks and Romans, Christian art stopped short of the heavy handed Islamic approach of forbidding any "graven images"of God or artistic representations of humans or animals.

Italian Renaissance was ideal beauty, but Northern was unflattering realism.

The Renaissance, which followed the Christian era, is to me the pinnacle in art, bringing amazing artists whose works are incredibly realistic.  Many were deep thinkers, "Renaissance Men" knowledgeable in many areas.  For example, Leonardo Da Vinci, in addition to being one of history's greatest artists was a well-regarded scientist and inventor, too.

The Catholic Church became a huge patron of the arts in this new era of "reawakening" between the 14th and 17th centuries, including the commission of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.



Pope Julius II wanted the great artist Michelangelo to take on the major project of painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, but Michelangelo hemmed and hawed before finally turning down the job.  Keep in mind that an artist like Michelangelo had many assistant artists who did much of the actual painting and sculpting in his style based on his sketches and direction.

Beyond design, Michelangelo would also edit and embellish, so the project really was very much his brainchild.

Even with many assistants, a project as large as the Sistine Chapel required all of his resources for a commitment of years.

It must be noted that Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor and had never previously painted a fresco.

Still, Pope Julius II was certain Michelangelo was the right artist for the task, and eventually he persuaded him.  Michelangelo was, after all, a Renaissance Man.

Raphael (another Ninja Turtle name for those keeping score) was also a gifted artist, and his specialty was painting, so perhaps he was more qualified than Michelangelo to paint the Chapel ceiling, despite being eight years younger.  In retrospect, the Pope really was infallible this time, based on the remarkable outcome.

Pope Julius II loved Raphael's work, too, so while Michelangelo received the larger commission, Raphael was selected to enrich the papal apartments with huge murals, which itself was a huge project that required the full efforts of Raphael's own workshop of assistants for years.

One of the prominent frescoes in what became know as the Vatican's "Raphael Rooms" is "The School of Athens," featuring ancient Greek philosophers to represent worldly knowledge.



The embedded Khan Academy video above and other sources go into details about who the philosophers are and other elements of the painting, revealing the deeper genius of such an extensive work.  Of course, the actual philosophers had died long before then, and there were no photos to reference, so artists used models.  In this case, Raphael placed many renowned Renaissance men in the picture in significant roles.  Without names or knowledge of the actual characters or models, it is obvious the man positioned front center left of this historic scene is someone hard at work, while to his right and up the stairs, you'll see another person stretched out across the steps, apparently lazing about or worn out.

According to Lana, everyone of the time would have recognized the reclining man as Michelangelo, a subtle jab by Raphael at his rival, but I always try to verify stories I hear from lecturers for myself.

Based on portraits of the middle-aged Michelangelo, I agree with the video that the hard working philosopher was Michelangelo, about 35 at the time of the painting.

Leonardo da Vinci, seen as Plato in red left center at the top of the steps, was 23 years older than Michelangelo, more in line with the video's identification of the model, who probably didn't actually pose for Raphael.

Still, art is subjective.  To me, the lounging philosopher on the steps could be an older version of Michelangelo, a projection the near future, metaphorically further up the stairs of life and aged by the grueling work of painting the Sistine Chapel.

The youthful Raphael himself can be seen in another part of the fresco among famous astronomers.  Perhaps he was projecting the exhaustion he felt under the strain of his own milestone artistic endeavor onto Michelangelo.

Raphael died a few years later at age 37, long before Michelangelo, who lived to be 89, had grown old and gray.


What do the characters in "The School of Athens" represent to you?

When you go on a cruise, you'll find art throughout the ship to appreciate, and the ships themselves are worthy of spreads in Architectural Digest.

To be a patron of the arts, you don't need to acquire your own extensive fine art collection like our friends Al and Susan have.

By simply taking a cruise, you help promote the arts, funding their efforts to support artists and create floating museums as well as giving you opportunities to visit other great monuments to art in ports.

"Better service leads to better trips!"