Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" (Classical
Greek: δρᾶμα, drama), which is derived from
"to do"
(Classical Greek: δράω, drao). The two
masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division
between comedy and tragedy. They are symbols of the ancient
Greek Muses, Thalia, and Melpomene. Thalia was the Muse of
comedy (the laughing face), while Melpomene was the Muse of tragedy (the
weeping face). Considered as a genre of poetry in
general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and
the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics (c.
335 BCE)—the earliest work of dramatic theory.
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form
of drama based on human suffering that
invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure
in audiences. While many cultures have
developed forms that provoke
this paradoxical response, the term tragedy often
refers to a specific tradition of drama
that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition
of Western civilisation. That tradition
has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the
term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and
historical continuity—"the Greeks and
the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians,
in a common activity," as Raymond Williams puts it.
Comedy
In a modern sense, comedy refers to any discourse or work generally
intended to be humorous or
amusing by inducing laughter,
especially in theatre, television, film,
and stand-up comedy. The origins of the
term are found in Ancient Greece.
In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.
The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance
which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or
conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view
characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively
powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes.
In this struggle, the youth is understood to
be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little
choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very
dramatic irony which provokes laughter.
Virgin of the Rocks
The Virgin of the Rocks (sometimes
the Madonna of the
Rocks) is the name used for two paintings
by Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, and of a composition which is
identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, that is the earlier of the two, hangs in The Louvre in Paris and the other in the National Gallery, London.
The paintings are both nearly 2 metres (over 6 feet) high and are painted in
oils. Both were painted on wooden panel;
that in the Louvre has been transferred
to canvas.
Saint Anne
Saint Anne (also known as Ann or Anna) of David's house and line,
was the mother of the Mary and grandmother of Jesus according
to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition. Mary's mother
is not named in the canonical gospels, nor in the Quran.
Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New
Testament apocrypha, of which the Gospel of James (written perhaps
around 150) seems to be the earliest that mentions them.
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (Leonardo)
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is
an oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci depicting St Anne, her daughter the Virgin Mary and the infant
Jesus. Christ is shown grappling with a sacrificial lamb symbolizing
his Passion as the Virgin tries to restrain him. The painting was commissioned as the high altarpiece for the
Church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence and its
theme had long preoccupied Leonardo.
Sagrada Família
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la
Sagrada Família (Catalan pronunciation; Spanish: Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia; English: Basilica and Expiatory Church
of the Holy Family) is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona,
designed by Catalan Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926).
Gaudí's work on the building is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and
in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it
a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral, which must be
the seat of a bishop.
Construction of Sagrada Família commenced
in 1882 by architect Francisco Paula de Villar with Gaudí becoming
involved in 1883 after Francisco resigned as the head architect. Taking
over the project, Gaudí transformed it with his architectural and engineering
style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms.
Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at
age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.
The Four
Apostles
The Four Apostles is a panel painting by
the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer. It was
finished in 1526, and is the last of his large works. It depicts the four
apostles larger-than-life-size. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian I obtained The
Four Apostles in the year 1627 due to pressure on the Nuremberg city
fathers. Since then, the painting has been in Munich and, despite all
the efforts of Nuremberg since 1806, it has not been returned.
