The Wikipedia stub about Johanna Wolf currently has 3 subcategories, which are Career, Capture, and Refusal to Discuss Hitler. In addition, the stub does not cite any references or sources.

While browsing through Google Books search results, I found a memoir of Leni Riefenstahl who filmed a movie on Nazi Germany. She interviewed Wolf and wrote down what Wolf revealed, so I’m going to add on to the category of Refusal to Discuss Hitler by using the information I learned from this source. I obviously will also cite my source, which the creator of the Johanna Wolf stub failed to do.

The stub also has a bit of information on the Führerbunker, which was located under the Reich Chancellery in Berlin where Wolf, Hitler, and company hid at the end of the war. Google Books had sources that went into detail about some conversations and things that took place in the bunker, so I plan on adding more details to the stub in that aspect as well.

By expanding on different subcategories and properly citing credible sources, I hope I can significantly improve and expand the Wikipedia stub on Johanna Wolf.

It has been very difficult for me to find information on my topic, especially credible sources. None of the school’s library databases have had anything on Johanna Wolf. In addition, when I typed in her name on google, it only went to People’s facebooks, myspaces, and twitters with the same name. Google books has by far been the most helpful. Many books written about Hitler include information about Wolf, so now I just need to check the information to see which facts are most important and relevant to the article I’m going to write about Wolf. I never realized how difficult it would be to find credible sources to use.

Marsilio Ficino was a significant philosopher, translator, and priest during the Renaissance. He lived from 1433-1499. Ficino’s father was the physician for the prominent Medici family, and he was always supported by the Medicis, especially Cosimo de’ Medici. Like his father, Marsilio wanted and pursued the career of a physician, but from an early age he had always been fascinated by the ideas of Plato.

He had only studied Plato through the writings of medieval scholars who wrote in Latin, Fiscino sought out to learn Greek so he could understand Plato more thoroughly. By the late, 1450s, he knew enough Greek to translate several Greek texts. When Cosimo found out about Ficino’s newly acquired knowledge, he asked Ficino to translate a few of Plato’s works, which got Ficino even more inspired by Plato and his ideals. As Ficino became more familiar with Plato, he started writing his own books on both Plato’s ideals and also Fiscino began to blend Plato’s philosophies with his interpretations.

With his immense amount of knowledge about Plato and his philosophies, Ficino began to connect the ideals of Plato to the basic beliefs of Christianity. His chief goal as a philosopher was to prove that the basic ideas of Christianity were compatible with Plato’s philosophy. Ficino believed that God had given the ancient Greeks and Romans, such as Plato, prophets and belief systems similar to those of the ancient Hebrews, and that the two religious traditions had a common source. He claimed that ancient writings foretold the coming of Jesus and hinted at other Christian concepts, such as the Holy Trinity. He believed that the human soul was immortal, and this soul was the source of physical reality. The thought that the immortal soul could unite with God through prayer, thought, and love was accepted as official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church at the Fifth Lateran Council of 1512–1517.

Ficino’s connections between Christianity and Plato also incorporated individualism, or people becoming much more aware of themselves as individuals. He specifically emphasized the power of humans to affect the world around them, especially in the realm humans’ ability to create various types of art. He wrote that this ability made them “seem not to be servants of nature but competitors.”

Ficino’s platonic theory shifted the town’s humanists away from civic humanism, that discussed ideas of good government and public involvement to Ficino’s philosophies which stressed inwardness, quiet contemplation, and the cultivation of the arts. Although his interests in occult sciences did not gain popular appeal and support from the townspeople, Marsilio’s Platonic Theory and beliefs were inspired by classicism, incorporated Christianity, classicism, and individualism, and they ended up slightly shifting the views of humanists. Therefore, Marsilio Ficino’s philosophies were not only influenced by the key values of the Renaissance, but his philosophies also changed the way people thought during the late 15th century.

Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, c. 1475

            Botticelli use of linear and aerial perspective, foreshortening, and contrapposto to convey realism in this Christian scene. This image is obviously Christian because the mother and child are the main focus of the painting. There are many people present in this image, and Botticelli uses contrapposto to convey each person’s reaction or attitude towards the mother and child. There is also foreshortening used because the walls look three dimensional, and the colors get lighter as your eye moves toward the horizon line, creating both aerial and linear perspective. Both realism and idealism are present as well. The mother’s appearance is the ideal representation of a heavenly figure, but the onlookers in the scene look very realistic, so both ideologies are put in use.

 Raphael, The Betrothal of the Virgin, 1504

            This scene is obviously Christian, and it is also realistic. Raphael used contrapposto for all the people, and these different poses show that the painting is realistic, because not all the people look the same. It is very realistic due to not only the people’s position, but also Raphael’s use of linear perspective to make the scene appear three dimensional. The parallel lines on the path behind the people are examples of the linear perspective. In addition, this painting promotes classicalism. The building in the background appears to be of Greek or Roman architecture, which Classicalists favored. Raphael used foreshortening to make the building more realistic, which also shows the importance of classicalism. The horizon line, linear perspective, and foreshortening provide a realistic view of this Christian scene.

 Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1482

            This painting portrays many ideologies. It promotes both humanism and classicalism because Venus was a Roman goddess, and Classicalism and Humanism favored the Romans and Greeks. Botticelli shows Venus idealistically. Venus, a goddess associated with love, beauty, and fertility, is portrayed in that exact manner. The chiaroscuro and lighting focuses the attention to Venus, and her beauty is evident because of the contrapposto and her long golden hair. The people on either side of her also have focused their attention to her, making Venus the key focus of the scene.

When I first glanced at The Virgin and Child Enthroned and Surrounded by Angels by Cimabue and Madonna Enthroned by Giotto side by side, they appeared to be extremely similar. However, after hearing Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker analyze the two pieces of artwork and point out other differences that I had not noticed, my initial interpretation definitely changed.

            The general shape of the two paintings is almost identical. Both are long and pentagon shaped, and they have gold backgrounds, so the setting appears to be in more divine location rather than on earth. The video discussed this as well, saying that the thin sheets of gold symbolize light reflecting from heaven.

            Both the paintings have the Madonna, but she is not portrayed the same way in both the paintings, which I had not really noticed until watching the video. Cimabue portrays her very idealistically with a small mouth and long fingers, making her appear more regal. This portrayal was the ideal representation of a heavenly figure at the time. However, Giotto does the opposite. The Madonna appears very solid and more bulky in this painting, so Giotto gave her a much more realistic appearance. Another key difference between the Madonna which I had not noticed was the drapery of her clothing. In the first painting, her clothing is solely draped with lines, making her appear to be very thin and tall, which is a major contrast to the second painting where Giotto uses shading to emphasize her body parts. This use of shading makes Madonna appear much curvier than in the other painting where the clothes look really loose.

            Another major difference is the angels and prophets in the background looking at the mother and child. I noticed that the angels in Cimabue’s artwork were stacked on top of each other and all looked the same, and I also noticed that they were looking different directions. The prophets are located at the bottom of the painting, so they are also not looking at the mother and child since they are under the throne. In Giotto’s work, the angels and prophets are all located on either side of the throne and are all looking at the Madonna and child. Harris and Zucker also discussed this, saying that the location of the people creates a clear viewpoint at Christ, unlike Cimabue’s, where the angels are looking all over the place and all have an idealized face, which creates multiple viewpoints for the audience.

            Although I did notice some similarities and differences initially on my own, Doctors Steven Zucker and Beth Harris pointed out some major differences that I had not seen before. Cimabue’s portrayal of the scene was much more idealistic, while Giotto used aerial perspective and shading techniques to create a realistic portrayal of the Madonna and child.

Renaissance Art ID Terms

(slide 4)

• Picture plane– noun; the plane that is in the foreground of a drawing or painting; coextensive with but different from the objective surface of the work 
• Linear perspective– noun; A form of perspective in drawing and painting in which parallel lines are represented as converging so as to give the illusion of depth and distance.

–         vanishing point– (in the study of perspective in art) that point toward which receding parallel lines appear to converge.

–         Horizon line- where sky and earth meet. It is on this line that the vanishing point is located.

–         Orthogonal- the diagonal lines that can be drawn along receding parallel lines (or rows of objects) to the vanishing point.

–         Transversal- A line that cuts across two or more (usually parallel) lines.

• Aerial perspective- a technique of rendering depth or distance in painting by modifying the tone or hue and distinctness of objects perceived as receding from the picture plane
• Foreshortening- to reduce or distort in order to convey the illusion of three-dimensional space as perceived by the human eye
• Chiaroscuro- the use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, esp. to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect
• Contrapposto- a representation of the human body in which the forms are organized on a varying or curving axis to provide an asymmetrical balance to the figure

(slide 6)

• Humanism- Cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance centered on the study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome
• Secularism- Belief that religious considerations should be excluded from all civil affairs or public education
• Classicalism- An approach to aesthetics that favors restraint, rationality, and the use of strict forms in literature, painting, architecture, and other arts. It flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, and throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
• Realism- The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form
• Idealism- an ideal representation; treatment of subject matter in a work of art in which a mental conception of beauty or form is stressed, characterized usually by the selection of particular features of various models and their combination into a whole according to a standard of perfection
• Christianity- The religion based on the life and teachingsof Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, sent by God. They believe that Jesus, by dying and rising from the dead, made up for the sin of Adam and thus redeemed the world, allowing all who believe in him to enter heaven. Christians rely on the Bible as the inspired word of God.

While looking through all the different categories of stubs, it was very difficult to narrow down to just one. I wanted to do the project over a topic I was at least somewhat familiar with and interested in, so I thought Nazi Germany and WWII would be interesting topics to browse through. That’s how I found my reasearch topic, Johanna Wolf, who was one of Hitler’s secretaries.
So far, my research has not been too successful because there isn’t a large amount of information on Wolf. My plan is to look for credible websites that discuss her, and to also look up the Führerbunker because that might also reveal some more information about Wolf. I will check the authors of the websites I research on to make sure they are credible, and I will also search around the website to make sure it appears to be credible.
Wikipedia’s guidelines prohibit point of view from being used in an entry, and also they say that usually primary sources should not be used to compose an entry because primary sources are rarely unbiased. For these reasons, it might be difficult at first to follow these rules as I compose my entry. My plan is to keep my entry objective and to find very credible sources to acquire information from.

Mongol peace
Karakorum
Friar William
Shamans
Möngke Khan and Kubilai Khan

Temujin
Genghis Khan
Tbilisi
Uighurs
Changchun

• Hagia Sophia- means “holy wisdom.” It was built by Justinian in Constantinople to be the biggest church in the world, and when it fell down, he rebuilt it.
• Constantinian Model- conversion to a different idealogy or religion begins with a ruler.This model, In Christendom, prevailed for most of the Middle Ages. Almost every conversion of a nation or people at this time began with the conversion of a king.
• Caliph- literally means the “successor” of the Prophet. The caliph is the supreme Islamic authority. According to Christians, the caliph was both pope and emperor. The problem of identifying who was caliph split Islam between rival claimants and incompatible methods of choosing a caliph within a generation of Muhammad’s death.
• Jihad- Arabic word that literally means striving. Muhammad used this word in 2 contexts: 1)to mean the inner struggle against evil that Muslims must wage for themselves. and 2) to denote real war fought against the enemies of Islam. These enemies have to be genuine enemies who “fight against you to the death.” Holy war can also be an appropriate translation for jihad because they both mean doing something being obedient to what are thought to be the Prophet’s commands and rewarded by the promise of martyrdom, extreme suffering due to a belief.
• Bukhara- in Modern Uzbekistan. It was conquered by the Seljuk Turks and became its capital and headquarters. in the early 1000’s CE.
• Magyars and Bulgars(parallels to Islam’s relationship to nomadic invaders?)- Christendom usually dealt with steppelander threats by trying to fight with them or buy them off. The Magyars and Bulgars, who settled in Hungary and Bulgaria, were the only exceptions. They were the only cases in which Europe successfully absorbed steppeland invaders. This parallels to Islam’s relationship to nomadic invaders because Islam successfully absorbed the nomadic invaders, which makes the two relationships very similar.