He is extremely angry which can be seen from the way he leans forward threateningly. His wife shows more restraint and sits back, straight backed against her chair and stares at her husband sulkily. The wife’s stoic demeanour and with her arms defiantly crossed at the chest suggest an empowerment which the man is uncomfortable with. Here we see two contrasting halves to the painting. On the left we see anger, discord and noise in the man and the child at his feet. On the opposite side we see calmness with the quiet dog and control with the restrained woman.
The eye is immediately drawn to the incredible brightness on the left half of the image, showing the people who are going to be gunned down mercilessly as the viewer’s eye is further directed by the man’s undoubtedly distressed visage towards the very things threatening his life. The lack of color is apparent as it all feels very muted outside of the only source of light being placed on the men who are in danger. The darkness and tones of brown and gray on the soldiers in contrast to the very bright, and light tones of the one countryman and his compatriots appears to display a sort of good versus evil struggle going on. If your eyes are not instantly drawn to the illuminated men then it is very likely that the guns would command your awareness, being at the literal center of the image painting. The firearms pointed at the men can only signal severe negativity as you only ever point any type of gun at something you intend to shoot, and you only shoot if you intend to kill. The entire painting is very heart-rending as it depicts men taking other men’s lives for seemingly no reason at all.
Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.
The streets are cobbled, the afternoon sky is cloud covered and shows a subtle gradation from rose-gray near the horizon to a cool gray toward the top, and everyone is walking under umbrellas. Many characters look as if they are out for a leisurely stroll, shopping, or just taking in the sights. Men wear top hats and long tailed coats while the women wear full-length dresses, all symbolic of the late 19th century. The artist used deep colors, making the painting appear darker; perhaps to evoke the feeling of a rainy day or that it is sometime between late afternoon and early evening. It is interesting to note that a fashionably dressed Parisian couple (a man and a woman) in the foreground of the painting is walking toward the viewer.
The painting was commissioned by Baron de St. Julien, a wealthy member of the assembly of the French clergy. The artist depicts a man lounging playfully in a luscious green bush watching a young woman happily swinging in an elegant and colorful dress. Both subjects seem overjoyed and caught in the moment, escaping from reality for a fleeting moment. The woman is swinging with such vigor she has lost her shoe, but this doesn’t seem to make her upset. The artist uses softer pastel colors throughout giving the scene a dreamlike feel. The woman is the focal point and has a bright elegant dress. This painting expresses a happy moment where there is no care in the world, and all is peaceful.
This painting depicts an event of human and political aspects that greatly interested Gericault who chose to display it at a monumental scale to portray the horrifying explicitness of the Senegal, 1816 shipwreck in which the captain had deserted his crew and passengers, leaving them to die.
I find it interesting that in the painting there is a young girl with her hand covering her face, it seems she is sad about the bird dying. It appears that her father’s hand is around her, and he is explaining something to her. There is an even younger girl who must be the other girl’s sister. She looks worried and has an arm around her sister. The painting is suspicious and a lot of the people in the painting seem frightened. The older man in the middle looks really scary. Everyone seems engaged in conversation except the man in the middle who is looking at the viewer. The people in the painting are dressed rather nicely and seem well-to-do. It is night time in the photo because there are candles and a moon out the window. I wonder why this
In The Third of May, 1808, you can see the lines of the guns from the men on the right drawing your eye to the men being shot at on the left. While the soldiers wear mostly dark clothes the few to the front grows lighter in their hue as to not be forgotten by the bright light being shown on the victims of the painting. Behind this scene, there are people in dark clothing or ones that almost fade into the hill behind them, that are cowering in fear.
The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink
Delacroix employs several elements of art. Among these is the aspect of chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the contrast of light and dark values. Contrast in any situation attention to things. For example, people wear makeup to create contrast. Red lips against skin color draw the eye to the lips, that is why so many women wear red for special occasions. Delacroix uses chiaroscuro to place a spotlight on Liberty (the woman in the painting). A
The painting does not show the French soldiers facial expressions, but there is a full details on the expression of the brutality the Spanish went through. It shows a several emotion which shows men covering their eyes, while others are praying .The painting shows hate, horror, fear, and the civilization. The color of the painting indicates the mood of the story behind it. The color is very dim , melancholy in the sky and the face of the people. The light in the painting shows forgiveness for the French soldiers. I found it odd that a painting from the 19th century still talks about the way humanity still is today. People in power seems to be unable to feel human emotion. It make complete sense that brutally will never
In the top portion of the image, you see that Jesus and the two other individual simply have fabric tied around their waists to cover their genitals. But one other has a different color of loincloth, unlike the other two. I do not why one of them has a different color of loincloth. The soldiers also have a metal vest with designs , you can see them if you look closely. Towards the middle of the painting, Jesus body is the brightest out of all three. On the right bottom part of the painting, are the Virgin Mary and St. John, they are looking to their left at what is unfolding before their eyes.
In the front of the painting we see the main figure raise his hands along his head while his eyes and his mouth is widely open in horror way, and screams of seeing something scary and dread. In the background seems two people wearing hats, and behind them a landscape of hills.
This painting was created 5 years before the French Revolution occurred and thus this painting has been seen as the spark that ignited the thought of revolutionary thought (Roberts, 2000). This Painting was Jacques- Louis David’s first royal commission, and he chose a scene from Roman history in order to portray a political statement (Roberts, 2000). The painting displays 3 soldiers who are known as the Horatii brothers whom were chosen by Rome to defeat the Curiatti or to die trying (Schnapper, 2009). The man in the center is the father of the three brothers holding three swords of his sons and raises his hand in promise or sacrifice that his son will achieve their task (Schnapper, 2009). Finally, the women on the right who are already grieving for their sons as if they are already dead (Schnapper,
This painting was a direct reflection to what was happening in the July Revolution. Delacroix looked out of his window and saw this happening right before his eyes and was inspired to draw this painting.