Art History (Architecture): 3D Gallery

Stonehenge

The Stonehenge located in Wiltshire, England is a masterpiece of stone-age technology. It is made from sarsen stones and Bluestones which were raised to form a unique monument. The sarsen stones were probably brought in from Marlborough Downs, about 32 km away from Stonehenge. On average they weigh about 25 tons. The smaller bluestones, weighing 2 - 5 tons each, are from Preseli Hills in south-west Wales about 250 km away. Nobody is sure about how they were transported but it was probably a mixture of land and water travel. The stones were shaped using various sarsen and flint hammerstones. The larger ones of these would’ave been used to roughly chip and flake the stone and the smaller ones to shape them. There have been many theories as to why it was built. Archaeologists have noticed that its entrance faces the rising sun on the summer solstice. So, many believe that it was used as a solar calculator by prehistoric astronomers to mark the changing seasons. Another theory is that it was used as a burial ground based on the many human bones found around that area. Stonehenge is a masterpiece of pre-historic technological advancement. The movement of the stones, the sophisticated carving of them and their erection on the ground probably required all of the available technology to the prehistoric people of the time. We also see the beginnings of a trend we see through architecture, and that is the manipulation of stone and how we can carve it to our liking. We see that as time progress, because of new tools and techniques the carved stone becomes more and more precise and detailed.

Egyptian Pyramids

The Egyptian pyramids build on what I stated earlier. The Egyptians take the manipulation of stone to the next level. The Pyramids were massive structures built with massive blocks of stone and bright limestone to cover it. Inside the many chambers of the pyramid, there were carvings and paintings engraved into the stone and would have required better tools and techniques than the stone age, to make the intricate designs. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest structure for over 3800 years and took about 2.3 million blocks of rock weighing 5.9 million tons to make. They were probably built slowly using massive ramps and thousands of slaves. It is estimated that it took 20 000 workers 23 years to build the Pyramid of Giza. The pyramids were a burial site of the Pharaoh and were filled with precious gold and jewelry that was expected to help them in there journey in the afterlife.

Colosseum

The Colosseum was opened in the A.D. 80 after nearly a decade of construction. It is primarily made out of stone and concrete. The exterior had three levels of arched entrances that were supported by semi-circular columns. The first/bottom one had columns of the simple Doric style, followed by the Ionic Style and the topmost columns were made using the Corinthian Style. In the second and third exterior levels, the Romans placed statues of their gods and goddess. Here we see the manipulation of stone get even better. Now instead of engraving in the stone like the Egyptians did, they carved the stone itself and made beautiful columns and statues. It is also believed that the Colosseum had technology that most places won’t have for 100s of more years: drinking fountains and latrines.

The evolution of ways to manipulate stone and the invention of concrete allowed humans to create structures, more beautiful and bigger than ever.

The Shrimp Girl

The Shrimp Girl is a painting by the English artist William Hogarth. It was painted around 1740–45, and is held by the National Gallery, London. [more]

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews

Mr and Mrs Andrews is an oil on canvas portrait of about 1750 by Thomas Gainsborough, now in the National Gallery, London. [more]

Flatford Mill

Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River) is an oil painting by English artist John Constable, painted in 1816. It is Constable's largest exhibition canvas to be painted mainly outdoors, the first of his large "six-foot" paintings [more]

The Fighting Temeraire

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 is an oil painting by the English artist J. M. W. Turner. HMS Temeraire was one of the last second-rate ships of the line to have played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. [more]

The Hireling Shepherd

This is a painting by William Holman Hunt, a leading British Pre-Raphaelite.

Ophelia

Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. It depicts Ophelia, a character from Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark. [more]

The Music Lesson

The Music Lesson or Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman by Jan Vermeer, is a painting of young female pupil receiving the titular music lesson. [more]

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Art History (Architecture)