Rembrandt van Rijn (1601-1669) was the most important Dutch painter. He was a master in the light management of chiaroscuro. Rembrandt painted more self-portrait than any other artist before, but he painted them in a singular way that any viewer can see part of his or her own life reflected in his images. At the same time he shows his humanity, his heart, and his soul reflected in his subjects. The adversity in his life, successful in his twenties and thirties, bankrupt by his fifties, and he had to bury four of his five children and the two loves of his life; seemed only to deepen his faith and his genius and reveal that his eyes can see beyond the dimension of the visible world, especially the human soul. Scenes from both the Old and New Testament provides themes for Rembrandt throughout his career. Comparing “Christ between the two thieves” and “Return of the Prodigal Son”, both art works represent parts of the New Testament. While “Christ between the two thieves”, looks related to the painting by Peter Lastman, Rembrandt’s first teacher. The Theme is similar but the technique is totaling different. This was made with etching, a method of making prints from a metal plate, usually copper, into which the design has been incised by acid. Some parts showed a detail precision while others are only summarily sketched. The arrangement of the main figures, with Jesus crucified centrally and the thieves to the left and right, follows the traditionally iconography. There are
He is best known for his oil paints, but he is also considered one of the founders of English landscape painting with watercolor. Within his travels of Europe he found his own style, known as “Painter of Light”, which created scenes of luminous imagery using brilliant colors and had only been 17 years old when he received the Great Silver Pallet for landscape drawing from the Royal Society of Arts (2015).
Vincent van Gogh is one of the world’s most well-known artists. He was the son of a pastor and was brought up in a religious atmosphere. He thought his true calling was to preach the gospel like his father. He became a preacher in a small coal mining town. This is when he starting becoming very interested in the people and things that surrounded him. He became an artist at the age of 27.
In all, Rembrandt produced around 600 paintings, 300 etchings, and 2,000 drawings. He was a prolific painter of self-portraits, producing almost a hundred of them (including some 20 etchings) throughout his long career. Together they give us a remarkably clear picture of the man, his looks, and more
The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century was the home of many famous artists, most notably Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, but also many lesser known artists such as Pieter Claesz.. Pieter Claesz was born in 1597 in Berchem (near Antwerp) Claesz moved to Haarlem in 1620 and lived there till his death in 1660. He is most associated with the Flemish and Dutch still life tradition and still lifes make up a vast majority of his work. His 1628 painting Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill is a prime example of the Still Life style called Vanitas, so named as the artist would attempt to display the vanity of materialism.
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most famous painters of all time. His style was post-impressionism. He was a Dutch man, born in an averaged sized town called Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. The reason he became an artist, and the thing that influenced him the most to become an artist was actually his mother. His mother was interested in nature, she did a lot of drawing and watercolors and that really influenced her son heavily and got him into art. When he was fifteen years old, his family was really struggling with their finances. Because of this, he was forced to get a job and help them provide. It ended up that his uncle owned an art dealership, so he got a job there.
The ominous figure in the centre of the foreground - Jesus Christ hanging lifeless on the cross, in Luca di Tommè’s ‘The Crucifixion’, primarily catches the eye. The symmetrical arrangement of lamenting figures around the cross, as well as the gilded background, highlight him as the focal point of this artwork.
The two main characters in the painting display elegant mannered poses and all the figures appear arranged in rather unnatural poses. There is a small scene at the foot of the Saint Catherine and Christ figures. This is thought to be the Christ child with the Virgin Mary and grandmother, Saint Anne. Below these two scenes are three smaller bordered scenes. The central one depicts two enemies reconciled by an archangel and the outer ones show Saints Michael and Margaret fighting demons. All these images show the triumph of good over evil, with the middle characters shedding their weapons and embracing. All these small pictures support that the painting was commissioned by Arigoi di Nero Arighetti to celebrate the end of a feud.
The subject of religion has captured the attention of artists for centuries, working its way throughout the years, in and out of various of styles and movements. The artists of this era often found themselves reliant on this subject matter due to Churches being a steady Patron throughout the Renaissance all the way to the Baroque period. Whether it was because of the rich cultural impact to society or the enforcement of strong divine beliefs, depicting biblical narratives have struck an everlasting cord within this medium. Two particular ones, in fact: The Deposition from the Cross (Entombment of Christ) by Jacopo Pontormo and The Entombment of Christ by Michelangelo Caravaggio. Both of which provide an excellent example of how culture and artistic style combined can alter the message of the same iconic scene and still evoke different emotions.
Rembrandt was also an artist who wished to depict art in a new manner. He is known for being a fashionable portrait painter. In paintings such as Bathsheba, Rembrandt uses classical ideas and studies from nature to achieve balance. He perceived old images in a new light, transforming them into "the light of human experience" (Cunningham and Reich 183). He used contrast between light and darkness, and rich textures in order to create depth and enhance the emotional power of the portrait. Just as Caravaggio did, Rembrandt created a path in art and others followed.
His early paintings had an unconventional, unique, and unfinished look about them. The images were known to everyone in everyday life.
Within each artist’s painting, is a major scene within the Betrayal of Christ known as, The Pact of Judas. This biblical story, is about one of Jesus’s twelve disciples, Judas, who agrees to give up Jesus for thirty silver coins. The chief priests, agree to pay Judas and decide that the night before his crucifixion Judas would kiss Jesus so authorities could recognize him out of the large crowd (King James, Matthew: 26). Once Judas realized, that Jesus was sentenced to die due to his actions, he was remorseful and tried to return the coins to the priests and eventually hung himself, due to his guilt (King James, Matthew: 26). Giotto and Duccio each painted their own representations, of Judas receiving the thirty
art that were emotional, dramatic, and included real people as the primary subjects. Rembrandt showed all of this in his work. Rembrandt was influenced by nature, religion, the Bible, and humanity. His paintings showed his moods and feelings towards all of these. He would study people, especially members of his family, including himself to use as the basis for his work. He created over two thousand works of art including; ninety self-portraits, sixty paintings, and the rest
Each artist is an individual with a unique style, and although these styles can be similar in practice – the individuality of the artist often proves the discriminating factor for a successful artwork. Self-portraits are beneficial when looking at the individuality of the artist as there are two aspects to look at – the artist’s style, and the artist’s view of him/herself. The latter can provide a brief insight into the mental situation of the artist as well as any apparent influencing factors of the artwork. This view can often also include fragmental insights into the society and culture of the time. Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh are 2 artists of whom are well represented by this statement.
Leonardo’s scientific studies resulted in the paintings of rocks, plants, light and atmosphere. We can see hills, fields and the sky in the tree windows behind Christ. This is in a classical style, shown by the coffered ceiling which was introduced by ancient Greek and Romans and re-introduced again by Alberti. The orthogonals run from the coffered ceiling, the table and windows and from the disciples and their gestures which all then centres on Christ. The use of foreshortening in this painting is to emphasize the drama of the scene and to keep the figures in harmonious groups. As we can see on the third figure on the right, St Philip tries to deny that he would be the betrayer and to show this, his arm is foreshortened. While St Matthew, the fourth figure on the right, has his arms outflung which was made by foreshortening. This gesture was to help portray his horror, as well as his mouth opened talking to the 3 men to the left of him. There are other gestures that helped depict the idea of betrayal, as we can see on the left side of the painting where St Peter whispers to St. John’s ear while pushing Judas forward. All these gestures lead the viewers’ attention to the centre, where Christ is positioned. Behind Jesus, we can see the window where the natural light comes in which frames Christ’s head, like a halo. Christ’s position in the centre allowed him to be in front of the three windows, which symbolizes the Trinity. As well as that, we can see that he
During the 17th century, especially after their break from Spain, The United Provinces of the Netherlands became the most prosperous nation in Europe by leading the world in trade, science, and art. Through the huge and one of the first art markets, art became a common household possession and allowed artists to freely express themselves, which is one of the evidential factors in three of the most universally admired artists of the baroque art era. Rubens, an influential Flemish artist of the Italian baroque scene, focused more on the works of the counter-reformation while the masters of the Dutch baroque art, such as Rembrandt, were in the heart of the protestant Dutch Republic. These three artists share similar artistic styles but yet have extremely evident differences and influences. The artists’ work also have a great portrayal of the historical and social impacts of the 17th century.