Outline the main features in the background and rise to prominence of the twentieth-century personality you have studied. Albert Speer Albert Speer was a prominent figure in Hitler’s quest to build support for the Third Reich. Speer was born in Mannheim, Germany in 1905 to a wealthy middle-class family. His father was a successful architect and with his busy lifestyle Speer’s childhood lacked affection causing an emotional distance between Speer and his parents which would later have an impact on relations which Speer created in the ultimate search for a mentor. After abandoning his dream of becoming a mathematician Speer began his career in architecture and in 1923 attended the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, finishing his architecture course in 1927.
Describe the life of the personality you have studied (2010 HSC) Born in Mannheim, Germany in 1905, Albert Speer was persuaded to take up architecture by his father who made a significant impact on Speer’s life. He pursued his architecture studies at the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe in 1923 and graduated in four years later, two years before the Great Depression. He became Professor Tessenow’s assistant, a supporter of the Nazi Party in the same year, opening the door for Speer. It must be noted that Speer and his family were an apolitical family. Speer’s first introduction to Nazism was in 1930 where he attended a meeting which Hitler spoke at.
Contextual Analysis: La Table Aux Amours (The Demidoff Table) Sculpted in 1845, La Table aux Amours was a commission by Lorenzo Bartolini for his most prolific and loyal patron, Count Anatoly Nicolaevich Demidoff (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History). Lorenzo Bartolini and Count Anatoly Demidoff had little in common, though both came from humble beginnings. Bartolini was born in Vernio, Tuscany. As his familial craft was blacksmithing, so from an early age Bartolini was taught to work with materials in three-dimensional space. However, creating petty decorative metalwork did not satisfy the boy.
It is located east of the Roman Forum in the center of the city of Rome. Unfortunately, Vespasian never saw his work completed as he died before it was finished. His successor and son, Titus, completed the architectural feat in 80 BCE and dedicated it to him in his honor. It is as high as a sixteen story building built of concrete. Concrete was a roman invention and it was less expensive and sturdier than the previously used material, stone.
He eventually became a minister as his father was which was when his passion for art began to emerge. He never married or fathered any children during his life. One of the most interesting endeavors of van Gogh was that he painted over thirty self-portraits over a three year time span during the late 1800s. He did this to develop his artistic skills. One of my personal favorite art works of his is Starry Night 1889.
Despite this, he became the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Desmond Doss was born February 7, 1919 in Lynchburg, Virginia, and grew up living with his mother, father, sister and brother. The family were Seventh Day Adventists, meaning they observed the Sabbath (Saturday) as their day of worship, and would not work on that day. Doss was strongly influenced by a copy of the Ten Commandments that hung on the living room wall. The Commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” featured a picture of Cain killing his brother Abel, and Doss vowed that since he loved his brother, he would never kill.
Auguste Mariette wrote the original script that Verdi would later put to music. The making of Aida by Verdi started when Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, paid Verdi to write the opera for performance in January 1871. But, because of the Franco-Prussian War, the performance was delayed until that December because, Auguste Mariette, who was hired as the opera’s production designer, became stuck in Paris with all of the costumes and scenery. Verdi didn’t conduct the first performance of Aida; he had a fear of going on a boat over the water so he was content with staying home. Therefore, he considered the Italian premiere on February 8, 1872 to be Aida’s real premiere.
Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the chapel’s ceiling. Michelangelo was timid at first about painting the chapel. He claimed that he didn’t have the ability to paint figures very well and sculpting was his stronger suit. However, he agreed to paint the ceiling and it is now one of his most world-renowned pieces of work. Michelangelo began working on the painting in 1508 and finished in 1512.
Heinrich Schliemann Heinrich Schliemann was born in Mecklenburg Germany on the 6th of January 1822. Schliemann’s father was a minister of religion and often told him about ancient times instead of traditional stories and fairy tales. When Schliemann was 10 his father told him about the Homeric tales. Schliemann was obsessed with these tales and his favourite was Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey. After his father told him these tales they would talk about them and after reading Homers tales Schliemann wrote that him and his father “both agreed that I should one day excavate Troy.” Schliemann used these words and his obsession with the tale of Homer as motivation to one day find and excavate Troy.
In a 2008 article David Hockney relates the story of Giambattista Della Porta, a C16th Italian scientist who developed a form of optical projection. He began to give public displays and, for his troubles was 'hauled before the inquisition by the church' (Hockney). In the days before mass media the church was the 'sole purveyor of pictures. It knew the(ir) power' (Hockney). In ancient Rome the republican elite and later the emperors controlled much more than images, they exerted influence on literature, theatre, poetry and staged the games.