Metropolitan Museum Essay

Painters were not interested in making a picture realistic-they did not use perspective. The more important figures in the painting were frequently made larger than all the others, and often the element of landscape was omitted completely. Members of the Holy Family for example, would be painted against a background of shining gold, which signified the heavens.

Artist El Greco was commissioned to paint The Assumption of the Virgin for the central panel of the high altar of the church for Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo (The Assumption of the Virgin). After El Greco arrived in Spain, this piece became his first significant commission. Some of the characters seen on the canvas

One of the most effective principles Paolo de Matteis uses in this painting is his use of lines and invisible lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the child in his mother’s arms. The shepherds and their animals, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph are all instances of invisible lines in this painting, as their outstretched hands and lines of vision are all pointing to the baby Jesus. For example, the three women and the child kneeling to the bottom right side of the manger are all staring or pointing to the upper left, toward Jesus. Moving to the upper right corner of the painting, the ox and the donkey are directing their gaze to the bottom left, once again at Jesus. The two men to the right of the animals also point in that direction. In the top and center, Mary and Joseph watch their child, creating yet another invisible line pointing toward the point of emphasis, while the angels

First, it is tempera on panel, which possibly could explain many imperfections. But what really catches your attention in Gentile’s painting is an absolute lack of air, along with irrational usage of space. It seems like the artist was stacking human figures in the painting, so that everybody’s face would be shown. There we can see a greater deal of International Gothic style (straight lines, look-alike faces, awkward/illogical body positions, etc.) Still the most significant difference between Rogier’s work and Gentile’s work is the usage of space, presence of atmosphere. While going up the hill, in “Adoration of the Magi”, all the details stay the same as if there was no air. It’s impossible to ignore artist’s very primitive light/shadow usage: not only it’s extremely difficult imagine where the light source is, but you can’t even find a single rational shadow. Rogier van Weyden’s “St. Luke drawing the Virgin” surely excelled the painting of Gentile da Fabriano in many aspects.

The initial focus of the painting is Mary as a whole, or perhaps specifically her face and outstretched arms. El Greco, however, uses a Cartesian grid to relocate the focus to the geometric center of the canvas, a clearly intentional move necessary to create the basis of Mary’s upward motion. “Assumption” is strongly divided into four quadrants. The heavens, occupying the upper-half of the canvas, are divided in half vertically by Mary’s body, while the Earth is split by a clear part in the crowd that extends directly downward from that same line. The divine and mortal realms are separated fittingly by a line of clouds vertically centered on the canvas. The result is a crosshairs locked in on the area just below the Virgin’s feet—the area that will become the most important part of the canvas. The

Throughout history, people have used paintings and art as a tool to express their religious beliefs and values. Illustrations depicting the Virgin Mary and child, often referred to as Madonna and Child, are one of the most recurring images in Christian and European Art through the ages. Though these paintings and sculptures may have similarities in their iconography and style each work of art varies based on the different artists’ and time periods. Two paintings that portray these features currently reside in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The first, Virgin and Child by Rogier van der Wyden, was originally painted after 1454. In the painting, the Virgin Mary is holding Christ against her shoulder as he twists around to face toward the viewers. The second painting is Virgin and Child with a Donor, painted by Antoniazzo Romano and originally painted c. 1480. In this painting, Virgin Mary is supporting Christ who seems to be standing and includes a figure of a man with his hands crossed in prayer. While both paintings depict the mother and child, there are both similarities and differences in style and portrayal. In this paper, I will thoroughly examine these traits, as well as address the similarities and differences associated with the two paintings. This analysis will be done by using information gained from reading Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, in class lectures from ARTH 1381 Art and Society Renaissance to Modern and ARTH 1300 Ways of Seeing Art, and close visual

The subject in each representation is pretty clear to see through artistic elements used by their artists. Emotion in these pieces is much more recognizable in the latter. Giotto shows angels fawning at Madonna and her child, with all eyes on them and all arms in view reaching out to them. Cimabue

Both paintings focus around the same subject, Mary receiveing the news that she will be carrying Jesus by the Archangel Gabriel. Angelico’s painting is a very large fresco. The painting is so large that Mary and Gabriel are almost life size. In comparison, Campin’s painting is a triptych that is small and a portable oil painting. This portability brings us into a new era, where people want this type of art in their homes versus only being able to view them in a church. The left panel allows us to see the donors being nosey, the middle panel is the scene of the annunciation, and the right panel gives us a look at Joseph working. Both paintings have reflective qualities. In Angelico’s painting Gabriel’s wings are reflective. He would have had to use a mineral to create the

El Greco's artistic formation in Rome and Venice, reflects the influence of roman mannerist designs (e.g Michaelangelo's masterfully polished drawings) and that of the Venetian school of painting with its emphasis in the richness and variety of colors, the use of pigments to achieve the impression of depth and brightness,

El Greco was famous for his fidelity to the Spanish religion and his ability to portray narratives so well, and his accuracy was astounding (Christiansen). The authenticity of the expressions and postures make his works so lifelike - another way they embody the Renaissance look (Britannica). In the painting Christ Heals the Blind, done by El Greco, the way he has represented the expressions on the man being healed changes the whole painting’s mood (The Collection Online). Looking closely at the blind man reaching his arm to Christ in hopes of being healed, you can see his longingness. His strong desire to be healed plays a huge role in the story in the Bible, and needs to be represented in a painting for it to even seem accurate.

Stylistic concern is not the only argument that objects the painting’s attribution to Raphael, but also the inferior quality in the rendition of Mary and Christ. Observations of Beck suggest that Mary’s hair looks confusing and unsolved , while the underdrawing revealed by IR investigation shows a clearer representation of the braids that possibly the painter-in-question became more “exclusive on this own during the painting stage that he dropped the refinement of her hair” stemming from mimicking Raphael’s painting when drafting. Furthermore, the current depiction conveys a sense of obfuscation in posing of Mary’s right thigh compared to Small Cowper Madonna (fig. 2) or the Bridgewater Madonna (fig.4), with statically drawn Infant balancing difficultly on the invisible leg of Mary . It is inexplicable that the engravings (fig. 6 and 7) after the painting look more convincing that they have complemented the unnaturalness of the original.

Both past time in history the most biggest dinctintion in their painting was how realistic or alien looking in the middle age people looked fake not so human, but in the renaissance they looked more human. The details in their faces, clothes, and surrounding looked like i said above very realistic. Which make the painting more admirable. Like you say in your last line, "watercolor may have influenced Renaissance paintings, just like the advent of oil paints, because it allowed the artist to layer much more detail into the piece." thanks to this it may the painting looks more realistic and interesting.

Picasso's painting entitled "Standing Figure" depicts a nude woman with her arms crossed behind her head. It was painted in 1908 during a key period of invention and experimentation, as Picasso began to construct his paintings in a new way. The figure is translated into simplified, geometric forms, reflecting Picasso's interest in the art of Africa and Oceania. Using only a few colors, he focuses the viewer's attention on the intersection of these geometric forms. It seems as though Picasso uses the blue lines in this painting like some sort of directional device, drawing attention to the outline of the woman's figure. As we discussed in class, the style of cubism uses multiple or contrasting vantage points. Another element of cubism is simplifying more complicated scenes into geometric forms. Cubism rejected the inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, and foreshortening. They wanted instead to emphasize the two-dimensionality of the canvas.

When looking at the two paintings, the first thing that can be considered is their entry points. After all, the entry point is what ties the viewer into the painting: the way it is crafted either welcomes the viewer into the scene or leaves the viewer feeling awkward and uncertain quite how to interact with the painting. In the case of Messalina, the viewer is left with a very neat and clear entry point. The painting provides a glimpse into a production of the opera Messaline, and while the painting features an unusual perspective - the viewer is looking at the opera through stage-left, rather than looking straight at the performers as the audience members do - it still provides a very accessible entry point. The viewer can very easily imagine

The medium is oil on canvas and it is 319cm x 180 cm, it’s now displayed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid (Ruiz 2007) It depicts the birth of Christ and the admiration and awe of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds as they gaze and admire the luminous being of Christ as a child whom Mary holds with care and tenderness. The kneeling figure with folding hands greatly resembles El Greco in his old age perhaps it is a a self portrait representative of his later developed devotion to Catholicism in his last years (Mena 2015). Later works of El Greco are distinguished by the exaggerated and distorted figures that deviate from reality and proportions of the human body. (Editors, El Greco Biography 2014) The elongated figures and vivid colours are a trademark of his art. The use of intense colours, elongated figures, discordant use of light and the unrealistic portrayal of depth are representative of the elements of the Mannerist style. His audacious brushstrokes and theatrical use of lighting gives the painting a mannerist