Destruction is an exterior of tragedy that may come in many forms. When people hear the word destruction they may think of their own personal experience of destruction or tragedy. That may range from a house being torn apart by a tornado to a loss of a family member or president being assassinated. The effects of destruction are tremendous and terrible. That could affect one to thousands of people at a time resulting in massively spread pain and suffering. In the painting Course of Empire Destruction, by Thomas Cole (1836), there is a mass tragedy being painted. The tragedy being painted is the Vandals’ attack on Rome in 455. The pain and devastation was captured in this painting perfectly, through many colors and symbols, which affected thousands of people in many different ways. Cole used many techniques to show the enemy warriors taking over the town. Cole’s use of color and symbols reflect the destruction of the town. In the painting, Cole uses many colors and symbols to illustrate the effect of the attack. An old sandy color bridge is cast upon the middle of the painting, which is crumbling apart and crashing into the water. The water in this painting is dark blue and white showing the choppiness of the water. In the middle of the painting is a white statue with its head broken off, but still standing, holding a black shield leaning forward towards the center of the painting. In the background, fire and gray and black smoke cover the landscape. The gray skies
The work is very smooth and fluid making it appear much like a photograph. The oil is not built up on top of itself keeping it very two dimensional. The colors vary between dark and light throughout the painting. In the top right corner, the sun, outside the painting, shining down, aluminates the castle and also the lone tree at the bottom left corner. Besides the back cliff, the rest of the painting is in shadow and displayed in a much more melancholy tone. The colors that Cole focuses on, to display the sharp contrast between rock and nature, are mostly dark greens and gold. The striking blue of the river stands out dramatically from the rest of the colors and draws the eye after the initial citing. The grey in the cloud is the only place where I can find that shade of gray in the work, and it sets itself apart from the snow white clouds in the background. The color helps draw the eye immediately to the castle on the hill. My eyes then fallow the flow of the river down to the tree, which is illuminated by a beam of sunlight.
The painting is very expressive as it shows the strength of the humanity and nature. The human is actually winning this battle with the horses. The dark colors also accompany this idea. The lighting is rather dim in this painting with a stormy sky above. The perspective is from floor level making the viewer look up in order to appreciate the full specter of this painting. The massive size of the painting proves that Regnault is trying to express power and
In his work, Cole used the method of self-inserting himself into his paintings to get his point across. Cole's 'The Course of Empire' series consists of five parts: The Savage State, The Pastoral State, The Consummation of Empire, Destruction, and Desolation. I will begin by detailing the two main themes in his paintings that recur throughout the series: the
The other paintings in the series depict the course of an empire through states that include savagery, pastoral, consummation, destruction and desolation. The first painting in the series is savagery; this painting demonstrates a forest opposite the river in the middle of a raging storm and a view of wilderness from Cole’s perspective. The details within this piece of art include a hunter wearing skins as well as the encampment of Indians and their teepees. The hunter in the animal skins is representative of the survival strategies used by prehistoric people before the modern era. The encampment shows the being of society as a whole through the use of culture represented by Native
Throughout each episode there is vivid pictures of ruins. This representation shows the mass destruction resulting from war, as well as the lasting effect on humanity.
I believe Cole purposely avoided the appearance of unity in this painting. The separation between the two landscapes was not a peaceful transition. He wanted to show the diversity between the natural land from the cultivated land.
The subject matter of the painting is Watson and the Shark which the painting is indicating. Watson is in the water with the shark. The boat is the center of attention because they are trying to save Watson while he is almost caught by the shark. The painting is a depiction of survival and never giving up until the final moment. The painting demonstrates how to survive they had to go through a series of obstacles which in this case was the sharks.
The brightness of colors is intensified in the whole painting seemingly due to the light source. There are bright and dark complementary colors that make the subjects three-dimensional. For example, the blue sky with the orange swirls on the bottom right. They create the most contrast when put next to each other. The tone of colors in this painting go from dark to fully illuminated.
The feel of the picture lends to emotions of unease and recognition of sexual innuendo. The colors of the painting are vibrant, but for the most part are dark. The heavy tones and shades of the colors are well balanced throughout the piece. It can be noted that the brightest shades of color are found on areas depicting the actual woman. In areas that are understood as landscape, the colors are more dreary and create a sense of instability. Even Hess observes that the
The primary colors of the painting are white, yellow, dark and gray, with the hint of brightness at the center of the
Aiding to the clarity with which he sees and appreciates the landscape and thus speaking out to the unobservant of nature's beauty, and the unconscious harmony of creation. Thomas Cole creates unity in his paintings through texture and the use of the hue green. The texture throughout is soft and created by the near non-existent brush strokes. The repetitive use of green within the painting creates a sense of nature and tranquillity in the scene. His painting does not have a specific focal point but by framing the painting with the trees – the vertical lines lead ones eye down to the grass area with the fence, those horizontal lines lead your eye to the woman standing on the hill, but then your eye is led u the vertical line of the left tree in the foreground to the horses running in the field in the middle ground, and so on until you see all the small hidden detail in the painting (the rowboat, fisherman, house and smoke coming out the
When observed, the first thing a person notices about this painting is the color blue. The color blue is used for both the sea and the sky and it gives the painting a refreshing feeling. The palm tree at the right side of the painting also contributes to this feeling of refreshment. The painting “Dawn of Christianity (Flight into Egypt)” also has many symbolisms.
We can also see the use of black shades to create a hole at the bottom part of the rock. With his excellent use of colors, we can identify the good, healthy and green grass from the bad, unhealthy, brown grasses. Looking beyond the main focus of the painting, he uses colors to separate the sky from the land in the background creating a solid form of perspective on the painting. He also uses colors to create water forms as seen behind the young character. Now, for the sky, he uses shades of white to magnificently differentiate the thick clouds from the light ones. He also uses this to create a source to light to the whole area. All these put together creates a splendid, realistic and familiar atmosphere for the viewers to relate with.
The background of the picture is dark. The artist paints the trees using dark colors and jagged lines to show how scary the moment was for the slaves. The slaves are walking through water that is also dark and filled with rocks and sharp sticks. The background gives the painting the emotion that bad things were happening at this time.
1.In the background of the painting, there is a woman standing by a cabinet that appears to be filled with textiles. This exhibits how women were able to assist in supporting their families by becoming spinners beginning a social change in the Late Middle Ages. The fact that she is in the background of the painting, behind the men, shows that women did not participate equally in labor and were very rarely at the forefront of society.