Looked at the Albertinelli Creation painting again this morning, and compared it to Cranach's upstairs. I can see this making a good project if it can satisfy the thematic requirements. (NB / pic attached is only the right-hand side, Google can't find me a full-length .jpg!)
For "making" and "viewing" I don't think this should be too hard. "Making" could cover techniques such as: use of sfumato, shell-gold on angels wings and robes, aerial perspective in the landscape background... and much more. Regarding "viewing" I would point out that this was intended for a domestic setting (a named Florentine family is specified in the label), and would go on to investigate if and how this may have affected the pictorial language, especially the serpent's "eve-mask" (must find the name for this, a student giving a talk on this piece a few weeks back mentioned there is something in the Jewish texts...).
This leaves "locating". Unlike other project ideas, I don't see a screamingly obvious cross-cultural starting point on which to hang this section of the essay. Albertinelli was a Florentine, painting for Florentines, in what appears to me to be a style that, for sure, had its roots in Netherlandish art (the deep and naturalistic landscape, the oil medium, the attention to minute detail), but by the picture's date (1515, from memory) was surely more universal. A more direct and contemporary influence would surely be, his fellow Florentine(!), Leonardo.
My other reservation is of course that Albertinelli is not shall we say from the absolute top-rank of Italian renaissance artists and as such has not been studied internationally in the way that, say, his partner Fra Bartolommeo has been. As such, most of the literature is in Italian. Will I end up just half-inching a raft of quotes that really relate to Fra B? Tutor's advice would be good here.
One last thing - the label reminded me that there are (or were), as you would expect, two sister panels to this one... as this one depicts days 5 and 6 of the Genesis creation, they must cover days 1 to 4. I wonder where they are??? Will find by time of next post.
One last thing - on this my third viewing, I like the painting, and the viewing environment, even more! Dead quiet in Gallery 1 of the Courtauld, painting is perfectly positioned and lit... there's even a comfy bench betwixt it and the Seilern altarpiece, so I can make fatuous comparisons from time to time!
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