Portraits have always been an important genre in painting. Portraits were primarily created for royalty and nobles because they exuded power and wealth. If you were able to commission a portrait of yourself, you were a very important person. As time went on though, portraits became less exclusive and middle-class people were able to commission or purchase portraits as well. After a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where I observed several paintings, I found three portraits that interested me that I will now analyze and compare - Bartolomeo Passarotti, Portrait of a Man Playing a Lute, 1576; Jan de Bray, Portrait of a Boy Holding a Basket of Fruit, 1658; and Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche, Marquis de Pastoret,1829.
Bartolomeo Passarotti is an Italian painter in the Late Renaissance/Mannerism period. His painting Portrait of a Man Playing a Lute is from 1576 and features a man with short brown hair
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It has the realism that many painters use. There is no beautification to the subjects. They are painted as they truly appear - flaws and all. The boy is painted without de Bray changing anything to make him fit the characteristics of classicalism. The boy is not painted to create a certain mood and his emotion-less expression doesn't have an effect on the painting as a whole. The colors of the painting do reflect the Dutch Baroque, with the rich red of the ribbon under his chin and the cuff on his arm and the deep green of the ivy draped over his left arm; these dark but vibrant colors were very common in the Baroque era. I did not find any special interpretations of the subject when I first saw the painting, but the placard suggests that the ivy, which is known for being invasive and usually overruns other plants, and the fruit, which is something that comes from diligent cultivation, may symbolize a poor and good upbringing of the
SHELDON NODELMAN from E. D’Ambra, ed., Roman Art in Context. NY: Prentice Hall. 1993 pp. 10‐20 Like all works of art. the portrait is a system of signs; it is often an ideogram of “public’ meanings condensed into the image of a human face. Roman portrait sculpture from the Republic through the late Empire-the second century BCE. to the sixth CE -constitutes what is surely the most remarkable body of portrait art ever created. Its shifting montage of abstractions from human appearance and character forms a language in which the history of a whole society can be read. Beginning in the first century B.C., Roman artists invented a new kind of portraiture, as unlike that of the great tradition of Greek
Through art, man started to change their view on themselves. Paintings during The Middle Ages focused a lot on God and religious views, but not a lot on man itself. During The Renaissance, however, paintings shifted to being much more realistic with humanistic features. Berlinghiero’s Madonna and Child from 1228 shows a woman holding a small child (Doc. A). There are a few facial and body features added such as on the nose and the hands. It shows Mary holding her child, showing that he is “the way to salvation” (Doc. A).
I remember viewing Portrait of Dr. Heinrich Stadelmann by Otto Dix during an eleventh grade field trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario, and being completely entranced by the painting—unable to look away from it. At the time, I was not fully aware of the world of art and did not have the vocabulary and knowledge to articulate my interest in this particular painting. Now, after returning to the painting three years later, the experience is quite different. Being recently exposed to a fairly wide range of art last semester has allowed me to experience the painting under a more knowledgeable light. During this most recent viewing of the painting I paid more notice to the painter’s decisions regarding the paint application, the textures, the colouration, the lines, the composition, etc. The core of this different experience during this viewing is due to a newfound consciousness of artistic choice.
Artwork, too, was just as divergent. Consider the Rococo masterpiece The Swing, by artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The delicate coiling of the tree branches, the ruffling of the fabric and lace on the subject’s dress, and the play of light and shadow in this painting of a woman on a swing in the forest are all visual hallmarks of the Rococo style. Again, contrast with a Neoclassic masterpiece Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David. This work, which shows
In the realm of art, the portrait is one of the most intimate and relatable subject matters to the average human. In the past, the main purpose of the portrait was to capture the essence of the person that commissioned the work. The beauty of art is the fact that every artist views the world in a different light, which is reflected and understood when many works of the same subject are compared. No matter how hard one attempts to emulate someone else’s work, their own personal touch will innately shine through the piece. Many artists’ styles are so distinct that the viewer will instantly recognize their work, which is the same idea that great musical artists’ work can be identified within the first few seconds of a song. In order to develop a style that is exclusive to one person, they must first master the basic and essential aspects of the visual arts such as composition and the creation of still life pieces. Getting a solid understanding of the world and the skill of close observation is a step that mustn’t be skipped in the development of a personal style or look. Amedeo Modigliani’s portraits can be identified almost immediately, because of the distinctive features he incorporated into his subjects. His diligence in art school and his general desire to become a better artist were crucial aspects of him eventually finding and solidifying his iconic style.
For my term paper I decided to go to the Cantor Museum in Palo Alto, and I chose to focus on two portraits of women from two distinct time periods. First, I decided on the portrait of Margaret Blagge, Wife of Sidney, 1st Earl of Godolphin. This portrait was painted by the artist Matthew Dixon in 1675, in the Baroque period of art. The portrait of Margaret Blagge was done in England, and it was painted as an oil on canvas. The second artwork I chose to compare was the Portrait of Sally Fairchild by John Singer Sargent. This portrait was done from the year 1884 to 1887 during the Realism movement in art. The portrait of Sally Fairchild was painted in the United States of America, and was painted as an oil on canvas. When comparing these two portraits
Man has been creating art for over 30,000 years. There are cave drawings, sculptures, Egyptian art, Greek Art, Modern Art and plenty more but to many, the Renaissance Art period is considered to be most important. Never had so many geniuses in art lived at one time and never had so many pieces of cherished art been produced. Two examples of Renaissance paintings are Cigoli’s Adoration of the Shepherds and Moretto da Brescia’s Entombment. Both paintings posses the attributes that were popular during the Renaissance period which I will now contrast and compare.
This art study will define the important role that Thomas Sully (1783-1872) had in painting portraits for American presidential elites in the 19th century. During early part of the 19th century, Sully was known as the premier portrait painter of John Quincy Adams and President Andrew Jackson as major works of his career. Sully had studied under the famous American portrait painter, Gilbert Stuart, which provided him the techniques and political access to paint presidents as part of a career in the arts. These works defined a high level of sophistication for an American painter, which relied heavily on Sully’s training as a painter in America and in Europe. Sully became the premiere painter of American elites due to an ability to capture the
6.Portrait paintings have primarily memorialized the rich and powerful. Over time, however, it became more common for middle-class patrons to commission portraits of their families and colleagues. Today portrait paintings are still commissioned by governments, corporations, groups, clubs, and individuals. In addition to painting, portraits can
The iconic imagery of George Washington is present in various aspects of everyday life to the average American citizen; his portraits are displayed in government buildings, museums, a mountainside, and even loose pocket change. In a sense, his image has become a pseudo-allegorical figure representing the stability and power of the United States. Although the humble Washington has been documented as discontent with the act of sitting for artists, he patiently allowed hundreds of painters and sculptures to capture his likeness throughout his lifetime. None more frequent than the prominent renaissance-man and close friend, Charles Willson Peale and his family of artistic prodigies. Therefore, on account of his father’s status and success, Rembrandt
One of the most visually intriguing pieces in the exhibit is the Portrait of Père Bouju by Maurice de Vlaminck. It was painted around the year 1900 by the French artist. It is not particularly beautiful by normal standards. At first glance, the texture of the paint stands out more than any other feature. It has very strongly defined brush strokes and thick paint in portions, especially the face of the man and the background. The lines in the paint are mostly straight, short, and wide with some that are thinner and wavy, like the smoke. The man is in the center of the canvas, he is the only discernable image, and he is almost devoid of detail aside from the face and the hat. The colors are almost entirely neutral aside from the red scarf. In this oil on canvas portrait the man is wearing a
Throughout history, specifically in ancient Rome and Greece, people admired painting to the point where it was taught to every son of respectable families, yet forbidden to the slaves. This goes to show how this form of art in particular was considered fit only to those of high social class. Although it was reserved for the educated and cultured, painting attracted everyone and pleased them equally. In particular, “[n]ature herself delights in painting.”(Alberti 64) Alberti persists in showing us how painting is of nature; he first references nature by saying that Narcissus was the inventor of painting. In the myth of Narcissus, nature plays the role of the artist who paints a portrait so beautiful that Narcissus cannot take his eyes off of it. To further convince the reader of the pleasures painting gives, the author recounts a personal anecdote of how gratifying and relaxing painting can be.
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.
Portrait of Federico da Montefeltro with His Son Guidobaldo is painting from the renaissance era by many artists. The main contenders to the painting are Pedro Berruguete and Justus van Gent. The painting shows three main points that the Duke wanted to be remembered by wealth, education, and military.
Portraits to me are art in a different sense. Some of my favorite portraits are by Martin Waugh. It is what he calls Liquid Sculpture. He uses high speed photography to capture drops of liquid as the splash into lakes and other bodies of water. To me there is just something so soothing about his work. It is amazing how a tiny drop of liquid can create such a beautiful work of art. His work impresses me, because I never really thought of liquid as art before I saw one of his photos.