Art & Music Appreciation: Week Eight (September 22, 2025 – September 26, 2025)

ART APPRECIATION

Jonah Swallowed up by the Whale (Pre-Renaissance) by Giotto di Bondone

As with most painters of this time period, Giotto’s works were all religious in nature, and most decorated chapel walls. He was commissioned to do several chapels, but the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, which depicts The Life of the Virgin Mary and The Life of Christ, is considered one of the most important masterpieces of the early Renaissance. Jonah and the Whale and other Old Testament scenes were painted between scenes from The Life of Christ.
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Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) was born in Florence, Italy. As a boy, he was a shepherd who was known for drawing in a book while watching sheep. There is debate as to whether Giotto was apprenticed as a painter or not. But either way, his skill caught the eye of religious leaders, and he was commissioned to paint frescoes. Giotto is known as a great artist from the Middle Ages for the Italian Renaissance. 
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MUSIC APPRECIATION

Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K. 331:III. “Alla Turca – Allegretto” (Turkish March)  (1783-1784)

Mozart’s Turkish March is the third movement in Piano Sonata No. 11. It is considered to be one of Mozart’s most well-known piano pieces. He named it the Turkish March because it imitates the sounds made by Ottoman military bands which were popular at that time.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences.  ⁴