THE BODY AND SOUL OF FRA LIPPO LIPPI
Robert Browning’s 19th-century poem entitled “Fra Lippo Lippi” centers thematically around the discussion of art. Fra Lippo Lippi is a 15th-century monk and artist whom engages in a dramatic monologue with the law. As an unreliable narrator, he reveals things about himself and those around him that perhaps he is unaware of revealing. Fra Lippo Lippi expects that his behavior is seen as wrong but dismisses it with his poetic narrative of how life has tried to shape his art, imprisoning his God-given eye. As the verse unfolds the silent audience is acquainted with the aesthetic theories of the Prior and of Fra Lippo Lippi. Fra Lippo Lippi states the artist can capture what
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Fra Lippo Lippi will give his soul to God in order to paint the body but the Prior will only allow his body to work as an instrument to paint the soul. Fra Lippo Lippi begins to draw monks and church folk in their true and real form of being black, fat, gossips and criminals. At the Priors’ first sight of such realism on canvas, the conflict of the artist and art begins as Fra Lippo Lippi’s aesthetic theories do not match his own.
The Prior’s complaint about Fra Lippo Lippi’s art is that he does not draw the man’s soul; only drawing the body parts is not useful as it promotes entertainment and not prayer.
“Your business is not to catch men with show,
With homage to the perishable clay,
But lift them over it, ignore it all,
Make them forget there’s such a thing as flesh.
Your business is to paint the souls of men--” (lines 179-183)
His aesthetic theory is that of religion and lifting the soul up over the body. The Prior views Fra Lippo Lippi’s painting as the “devil’s-game” (line 178) because of the reality it exposes of the church. “Oh, that white smallish female with the breasts, She’s just my niece...” (lines 195-196). The ‘niece’ is really the Prior’s mistress and along with other true to life figures he captures from the church, Fra Lippo Lippi paints a sinful portrait of real life. How to draw the soul without the body is what the Prior
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Borrowing from Hans Holbein the Younger, Wiley chooses another black male model to take the place of Jesus in the original. The black model lies horizontally across a long, flat table against a pale,green, fall leaf patterned background with light pink,white, plush blue and purple blooming flowers . Black males continue to be in use , the use of name brand clothing, body decoration, abstract background of a repetitive designed and the african american race are the similarities between piece (1) and piece (2). The eyes continue to look directly at the viewer, his mouth is open in a sense of awe; though, instead of the subject being fully clothed, he’s only wearing pair of navy blue ‘HANES’ boxer briefs. In replacement of the the jewelry from painting (1) this subject only has body decoration from tattoos and the brand name written on his boxer briefs. There are two tattoos that appear in painting(2), one tattoo of a rose covers the lower part of his upper arm above the elbow. Located in the banner tattoo below the roses , the word ‘MAMA’ is written in all capital letters. There is a second tattoo above the roses though it is very faint and more of an impression. The hand jester in Wiley’s piece matches the expression of the original of Hobein; slightly bent, thumb tucked and the middle finger extended, sending a message I think everyone can recognize. Wiley’s choice of
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Although Eichendorff’s story displays religious elements, the pious facets take on a different form than in Psyche. In “The Marble Statue”, Sunday remains a holy day where evil subsides. God and Satan manifest into the metaphysical through characters, settings, and motifs. Fortunato is a pure character directing Florio towards the path of the righteous man while Donati is a sinister man leading the boy into temptation. The seductress is the embodiment of evil while Bianca is the good. The aspect of religion is demonstrated in a more direct manner in Psyche. The artist abandons a life of art to become a brethren of the covenant where it is proclaimed the Goddess of Art is “a witch who carries towards vanity, towards earthly pleasure”. The
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It looks like the main focus of this painting is literally in the center of the piece. Anyone that were to ever view this painting could tell from the beginning that the overall view of this content is pathos. In the main section of the painting, there is an image of a person who is getting poured some type of liquid over their head. In this image, we can see the person in the center with no shirt on, and they have a small blue robe type of clothing tied below their waist. Around this person there are two figures with wings, they are wearing mini white gowns and their wings are white also. There is a person next to the wing like figures, that is pouring some type of liquid above the other person, this other human like
This is a representation of how the political and religious systems in the Late Medieval Ages treated women as the subordinates of men. It is the woman who attempts to bribe the skeletons with a bowl of coins to try to cheat out of death. None of the other male figures attempt to cheat death. This is significantly similar to the Christian biblical story of Adam and Eve and how it was Eve’s fault for eating the apple and causing orignal sin. The Christian idea and stereotype of women trying to cheat the system and sinning has still be translated through this painting. However, it is clear that the attempts to cheat death are futile and that death has no biases or judgements.
The artist depicts an initial confusing and weirded-out thought for the viewer at first glance, but as one deeply examines the art, the subject matter begins to become more clear. The vision being shared in this non-objective painting has a context of placing one in the standing of Mr. Man by gaining height and freedom from the (white) bars that are rising on each level that represent conflict which traps one in a “cage” of misery. The unbalanced symmetry of having the left side take up more space with little action, and the right side being smaller with the action unraveling, makes the viewer break down each composite perspective. For the left side, the mysterious female muse, Moon-Face, has an unproportional face that is almost blushing with shades of light pasty orange, with the mouth wide open. The energetic mood is amplified by the tone of yellow that is splashed in the mouth, representing a loss of words or at a state of disbelief. The female’s lower half is created with tints of red that enhances the curves on her body, as if chiaroscuro connects the light and dark contrast to show outline of the breasts, stomach, and hips in
The great thing about art, is that there are multiple portrayals of one idea but, the artist’s own personal style allows one to feel something that another may not. Early Renaissance painters, Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna established their own unique style to depict a biblical scene known as, The Betrayal of Christ. Through a close analysis of each artist’s representation of, The Betrayal of Christ, one is able to compare and contrast the artists own understanding of the scene through their attention to detail, character, and space throughout the painting. When examining these two works, one will have a stronger emotional response towards Giotto’s interpretation rather Duccio’s, due to his methods of handling organization, figures, and space.
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.
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