Question: Critical essay: Write a critical essay addressing ONE of the
following questions:
1. What is ‘classical'? How has it impacted on what we consider ‘a classic' in the arts? Refer to specific works in your response.
2. How has the concept of ‘chivalry' impacted on poetic or artistic themes? Consider two or three examples in detail.
3. How have images drawn from the Christian tradition influenced the arts? Consider this in relation to at least one major work in the visual or literary arts.
4. Considering the work of Michelangelo Buonarotti, write a critical analysis of his use of the human figure to depict themes and qualities of character.
Reference specific works, such as the sculptures David, Moses and Pieta and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
5. Consider the paradoxes of either Hans Holbein's portrait The Ambassadors (1533) or George Gower's Elizabeth 1 (Armada Portrait) (1588). What does it say about the spirit of science and exploration? In what ways are we reminded of life, death and power in the midst of technological and scientific confidence? Remember to consider the context in which the work was produced.
6. "‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know", concludes Keats in ‘Ode on a Grecian urn'. What was the attitude of the Romantic artists, such as Keats, to Classical art? Make your argument through reference to particular works of the nineteenth century.