UNIT 2 DISCUSSION BOARD RESEARCH

For this Unit Two Discussion Board Research Topic you will be exploring the incorporation and meaning generated by iconography in Northern

Renaissance art. As discussed in this unit, symbolism and meaning were often “embedded” into Northern Renaissance paintings and works of art in

a way that offered vital information pertaining to the artwork’s subject, and would have been readily understood by contemporaries, but may

seem odd or mysterious to us today. You will be researching a work of Northern Renaissance art to present and discuss iconographically and

iconologically based on what you learned this unit.
To complete this research topic, do the following:
1. Research online museum sites and art image resources to discover ONE work of Northern Renaissance art to examine and present. The work

must be by a Northern Renaissance artist in the period covered this unit (roughly the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries). NOTE: You may NOT use

the same work of art as another student.

2. Upon finding and selecting a work of art, before conducting further research examine it in consideration with what you learned this

unit. Is the style used by the artist similar or distinct from other Northern Renaissance art you studied? Is the subject or narrative

presented and the imagery included similar to any works you studied? Make notes regarding what you critically reason the imagery and painting

means, based on historical and cultural contexts you learned about. Remember, this analysis should be based only on what you learned, not on

further research!
3. After making these notes, conduct further research on your chosen work of art and note what historians and specialists have determined

in regards to the iconography of your work of art. Moreover, are there any symbols or images that have meaning corollary to any studied this

unit? NOTE: Depending on your artist and work of art, you may have a few to numerous examples of iconography in the work. You are not expected

to discuss EVERY example in the artwork, but do present between a few and several prominent examples, particularly in regards to how they

relate to the overall subject and tone of the artwork.
4. With your research completed, write a two-to-three page paper in which you present and discuss your work of art based on the

iconography you researched, and considering the following questions:
• Who is the artist of your work, and in what geographic region and period of the Northern Renaissance did she/he work?
• Was your artist impacted by devotional practices or the Reformation and is this evident in your work of art?
• What imagery and subject matter is contained in your work of art, and what have you and other historians determined as the specific

iconographic meaning of certain images in it? (Provide at least three examples.)
Once completed, copy-and-paste your text into your message board post in the Unit Two Discussion Board area, and be sure to either link

directly to your chosen work of art, or attach it as a file to your forum post. Your post (with image attachments or links) must be submitted

before the deadline. After this deadline the message board (and Unit) will close and you will be unable to upload your work, receiving a

failing grade on the assignment.
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This Discussion Board Research Topic is worth up to 100 points and will be graded based on the following criteria:
• following all the instructions carefully and completing the assignment correctly
• the appropriateness of your work of art in regards to the unit material
• the depth of your analysis and research in regards to your chosen work of art
• how critically and correctly you apply concepts, information, and terminology learned in this unit
• the clarity of thought in your writing and organization of your submission
• using proper spelling and grammar

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