Simon Luttichuy's Still-Life

The artwork uses many values and shades of colors. There are four different figures in the painting. One that is a baby covered with this transparent material that is streaming throughout the entire thing. There is a pale women that is admiring her beauty and is not paying attention to her surroundings. She has long, wavy hair which she is fixing while looking at her reflection. The next figure is an older version of her. She is darker than the other women with wrinkles that shows the aging of the lady. The last figure is at the right holding an hourglass on the top of the painting. It is a warning of how much time she has left before death. Her body is all scrawny and her bones are showing. It looks like she represents death with her hair being all fallen out. The pale women is dominant in the painting. The rest of the painting is dark and it looks like the artist only used a few colors for the painting.

It is a famous example of Renaissance art showing portraiture, realism, and some perspective. In this painting there are four distinct characters. Each has a different expression that shows how they are feeling. There is also more detail in the faces then in any other parts of the painting. Another technique it demonstrates is heightened realism. Whereas before the Renaissance the figures may have been painted simply and in only enough detail to get the general idea across, these figures are shown more realistically. Lastly there is the technique of perspective as shown in the background of the painting. The sea stretches out into the sky and the land in the background is shown how it would look if the viewer was actually

At first glance, Pieter Claesz’s oil on wood panel composition appears to be an elegant table scene that leaves the viewer with a desire for lightly salted crab served with a squeeze of lemon, a crusty roll and a quaff of Rhenish wine. To an extent, this painting is indeed a feast for the senses and a contemplation of fine food, temptingly presented amongst handsome dinnerware. Yet, by looking deeper into this beautifully rendered still life, it becomes apparent that a greater moral and religious message sits within this celebration of Dutch life and craftsmanship in the Seventeenth century.

In terms of subject matter, both works are visual depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In each painting, Christ is the central figure, surrounded by two groups of figures. On the left, a group of women that includes the Virgin Mary mourns over the dead body of Christ, while on the right is a group of soldiers and other lamenters. Both works feature a rocky landscape on which the figures are positioned. Encircling Christ are several angels whose gestures of lamentation echo those of the figures below. Highlighting the severity of each scene is the blood that pours from Jesus' wounds. The blood from his feet drips onto human bones that are embedded in the rocky terrain below. The skull serves as a "memento mori," or a reminder of death, an idea that has been repeated in several other depictions of Christ's crucifixion.

One of the most mysterious and thought-provoking images to date was painted in 1889 from a mental health institution in St. Remy, France by non-other than Vincent Van Gogh. The opulence of blues and yellows has the ability bring a viewer to its knees, mostly in a subconscious manner that evokes a kind of spiritual quest, perhaps one that Van Gogh was on himself. The Starry Night is still heavily contemplated and its meaning is still relatively unknown and quite debated, as is the man himself. In an effort to gain an understanding of not only the painting but the painter himself, I chose two articles that provide an understanding of the art and the artist: Van Gogh’s Agony by Lauren Soth and Under the Starry Night by Denis J. Billy. Both writers take a different approach to grasping the elusive understanding of this wondrous work but occasionally find some similarities and understanding of him and his work, which I will elaborate on through the course of this paper.

In the paper I would like to focus on a painting that is almost 120 years old, however it appears provocative even today - in the world of contemporary art, where there seems to be no room left for astonishment. What I find so special about this beautiful painting is the technique and the artist’s vision of the scenery. Even though the second half of the 19th century was the time of rebelliousness in the art world, Henri Matisse managed to find his own niche and create his own style of painting. While “Still Life with Oranges II” appears as a primitive piece of work that neglects canonic rules of proportion, shade and volume, it opens doors to the personal world of the artists, where there is a place for imagination and flirting with the audience. Bright colors and swirls of brush strokes celebrate life and create an uplifting mood, which we often under appreciate in a painting.

After looking at the painting, it is possible to conclude that the artist is trying to portray a

Something this painting has very little of. The first thing the eyes go to in this painting are the dull reds, ironically, the brightest colors in the painting. The quote, “We react on multiple levels of association with colors — there are social or culture levels as well as personal relationships with particular colors” (Harrington, 1) The intensity of the few but sharp colors in this painting The viewer can’t help but feel sad for the deformed figures in this painting, because of what they feel when they see the colors in this picture, or rather the lack of. The coloring in this painting gives more depth on what the artist had in mind.

The contrast of the loose application of paint in the background to a more rigid foreground helps carry this illusion in the composition. The strategic arrangement of the figures also contributes to the breakdown of the social order. The fair-skinned woman is clearly placed in front; she occupies a larger space than her servant who’s placed behind her. This deliberate placement of figures substantiates the idea of racial hierarchy. We see a plate of inscription on the lower left corner of the painting that is elucidating the scene. There are several letters positioned near certain objects throughout the composition. The content of these objects are explained in text, which also supports the idea that the artist wishes the viewer to grasp a certain meaning from the work. These annotations aid the artist’s manifestation of the New World and an idealized social

The “Vanitas Still Life” painted by Pieter Claesz was created in the 1630s. Before and during this time period, many changes were occurring in European culture. People began to question this selling of indulgences and the supreme importance of the Bible over church officials. This led to the rise of Protestantism and the idea of predestination. Many elements of these new ideas and change of culture can be seen through symbolism in Claesz’s, “Vanitas Still Life.”

Portraits historically portray a person and who they are through an artistic eye, these two portraits first being Self portrait of Zeuxis laughing by Rembrandt and the second being Fading Thoughts by Andrew Myers instead of trying to portray a person they portray an idea. This paper will review these two portraits of men from different artistic periods and different centuries. The examination of each portrait via the visual elements such as color, medium, and subjects will explain the formal qualities. Further examination of the subject matter will explain what the portraits are trying to depict through emotional signals or other means of explanation. Lastly this paper will explain how both of these portraits go against the historical standard for this genre of art.

2. Analysis of Form: The sitting woman is the center of interest with other components of the painting surrounding her. The painting is naturalistic. Asymmetry is used with the guitar in the upper right hand corner and the jug-like object in the lower left hand corner, cards, and the lamp. The colors surrounding the woman are warm with soft hues, but the dress she is wearing is a cool blue. It has a split complementary color harmony. The shadows casted on not only parts of the room, but also her face establish a defeated or exhausted mood. The woman is the focal point of the painting, which is emphasized by the contrast of the colors

The precious greenery and flowers are no longer blooming as in the other paintings. The boat looks worn, and the figures on the boat look weak from the many rough waters they have traveled. You can see the man has grown old, and has experienced life, and realizes life’s end is approaching. The man looks content as he is looking up to the light as it is beaming through the opening of the clouds. He can see that the angles are waiting for him to join them in the heavenly place in the sky He hands are held up as if he feels a relief that life’s troubles will soon be over

After reading my peers’ interpretation of the still life by Willem Van Aelst, I came to the decision that most of the student’s responses weren’t what the artist envisioned the viewer’s to see. We all acknowledged similar features, but we were all shown how incorrect we were in Thursday’s class discussion.

This painting is divided into three equal parts by the arches in the background and the characters correspond to each of these arches (TV12). The father is in the middle portion of the painting. The lines of perspective created by the tiled floor, draws our attention to the swords that the father is holding and the vanishing point lies just behind the handles of the sword. Our angle of vision is such that we are looking directly at the main figures groups, particularly the father. A single light source from the left of the picture illuminates the characters and also focuses our attention to the father holding the sword. This creates a ‘theatrical’ effect. The background is simple and stark so our attention is focussed on the figure groups in the painting. The painting has a wide tonal range that makes the composition logical and balanced. The colours used in this