Tenebrism In 1600s

The focal point of the painting is the woman with infant. This is shown by the lighting in the painting being directly on her, the bright red that she is wearing, and the circling of the putti around her figure along with the majority of their gazes being directed at her. The bright light directly behind her and the infant could possibly be coming from the sun behind the clouds in the sky, the putti to her upper right holding the torch, or it could be symbolic in that it is the infant’s halo and representative of his divine nature. The overall piece is not overly dark but the lighting seems to be most focused on the woman, infant, her other children, and the flying putti. This is an example of tenebrism.

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

In this artwork, the moment of the beheading itself, those things painted are display in a flat stage, emphatically lit from the margin, segregated against the dark, shadowy background. Judith and Abra, who was her maid and stand to the right in the picture, partly over Holofernes, who was susceptible on his back. During the creation, Caravaggio adjusted the position of Holofernes' head as he proceeded, isolating it slightly from the middle and moving it marginally to one side, which was uncovered by X-rays (Bissell, 2005). His mastery of feeling and emotion was demonstrated by the faces of those characters, Judith was specifically appearing in her face a mix of repulsion and determination. Artemisia Gentileschi and other artists were profoundly influenced by this work, and even surpassed Caravaggio's physical authenticity, but it has been contended that none matched his catch of Judith's mental inner conflict (Varriano,

With a firm understanding of the piece, the significance of the piece becomes much easier to comprehend. One of the main reasons why Procaccini's The Scourging of Christ is important is due to its display of the evocative powers of art. One of the most striking traits of this piece lies in its use of chiaroscuro. Through the use of dramatic lighting, Procaccini is able to evoke within the audience a clear sense of the pain and agony of Christ. This sensation is further augmented by the ominous faces that lurk behind Christ, and Christ's expression of extreme agony. Even for somebody like myself, who did not at once recognize it as a piece about Christ, it was inevitable to understand that the piece depicted some form of extreme

Caravaggio’s, however, was darker and more dramatic. Caravaggio started an intense style called tenebrism. Tenebrism is a more prominent form of chiaroscuro, where there are vehement contrasts between light and dark. Fred Kleiner best describes Caravaggio’s style, “In his art, Caravaggio injected naturalism into both religion and the classics, reducing them to human dramas played out in the harsh and dingy settings of his time and place” (Kleiner, 681). Caravaggio painted during the Italian Baroque in the 1600’s. Italian Baroque artists like Caravaggio embraced theatricality and extravagant ornamentation, while Renaissance artists focused more on precise classical models. Now Caravaggio wasn’t exactly an upstanding member of society, most of what the art world knows about him is through his police reports. Caravaggio’s Entombment was created in 1603 and, like Giotto’s Lamentation, depicts the death of Jesus. While they both depict the same religious scene and use styles that are new for their time, Caravaggio’s painting has some drastic differences from Giotto’s. Caravaggio’s painting is oil painted on canvas, which gives Caravaggio the opportunity to be more detailed in his painting than Giotto can with fresco. Caravaggio creates these intense dramatic scenes of diagonals and intense movement. Unlike Giotto, Caravaggio uses linear perspective to direct his viewer’s attention to the body of Jesus. Caravaggio does this by using a diagonal cascade of mourners descending towards Jesus’ body. Inclusively, Caravaggio started a darker, more dramatic movement that gave naturalism a new realistic element.

In the right panel of the painting, the guards are shouting their orders to the men who are obeying because they probably would be killed had they not. There are dark clouds rolling in to cover the sun representing possible sadness, evil and pain. On the left panel of the painting, there are priests, woman and children cringing in fear and horror. This division of anger, hatred, fear and sadness evokes many mixed emotions. Reubens use of light and dark colors create a sense of emphasis and subordination. He puts emphasis on innocent characters such as a woman and children and Jesus. Everything else in the painting is dark and creates the subordination so that it is not the main focus in the picture. The one facet that brings a sense of normality back into the painting in my opinion is the random dog in the middle panel; it is neither sad nor angry. Perhaps this is Reubens attempt to truly represent the middle of the emotional realm in this painting.

There is a spotlight on St. Peter’s face and half of his accusers face, indicating that the focus of the painting with light, that Peter is the main figure. Caravaggio uses light to portray a specific moment in the Denial of St Peter, the light shines directly onto Peter, half of the woman accusing him and no light on the soldier. The soldier is in the shadow but the light is slight directed on his back. With the light centered on St. Peter and his accuser’s face, the lines are contoured, to mimic reality in the pictures. The figures facial expressions, (emphasized on St. Peter) look more realistic. The lines and textures on Peter’s face, suggest that he is rejecting the accusation, as the lines in his forehead are creased as he shrugs up his eyebrows and St. Peter’s hands are placed inward. The drapery on the garments on the figures look realistic, but looked as if they were placed like costumes. St. Peter’s face is the one most accented.

The two main characters in the painting display elegant mannered poses and all the figures appear arranged in rather unnatural poses. There is a small scene at the foot of the Saint Catherine and Christ figures. This is thought to be the Christ child with the Virgin Mary and grandmother, Saint Anne. Below these two scenes are three smaller bordered scenes. The central one depicts two enemies reconciled by an archangel and the outer ones show Saints Michael and Margaret fighting demons. All these images show the triumph of good over evil, with the middle characters shedding their weapons and embracing. All these small pictures support that the painting was commissioned by Arigoi di Nero Arighetti to celebrate the end of a feud.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio better known as simply Caravaggio was an Italian Baroque master painter born in Italy around 1571. After he apprenticed with a painter in Milan, he moved to Rome, where he lived for most of his life. His work influenced painters around Europe. He’s most known for his gruesome subjects and use of Tenebrism, which was a technique that used heavy shadow to

Most forms of Catholic Baroque art are assertive and, as intended, assault ones senses. The evolution of religious art from the uniform composition characteristic of the Italian Renaissance through the evolving Mannerism in to the bold and striking Baroque was striking to say the least. The stylistic changes from Da Vinci's The Last Supper to Tintoretto's version in the 1590's bear a perfect example of this transition. The point of view in Da Vinci's was central and allowed for a

Many of this pictures contributed to studies of various emotions, which were later used in his religious and historical paintings. The may have also been used to illustrate his command of chiaroscuro, or the use of light and shade without color. In one painting deep shadows cover his face, leaving his features almost unrecognizable. In Protestant Holland during this time, religious art was valued as not being important. Even so, biblical and religious subjects accounted for about one-third of his work. Drama, as part of the Baroque period, was fully accentuated.

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.

4. The Persuasive Art by Caravaggio and its Influence on other Painters After the Counter Reformation, Caravaggio's emerging ability to depict new religious paintings highly depicting the human feelings and dramatic emotion in his Chiaroscuro style provided to be an important inspiration for many artists throughout the ages which included masters such as Georges de La Tour in France and Gerard van Honthorst in the Netherlands. 4.1 Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) Italy The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599–1600) Caravaggio’s technique was one that highlighted realism through which he remained faithful to truthful details and never beyond that normally seen. He created a type of realism that griped the spectator’s attention to the symbolic

The Baroque time period had numerous artwork revolving a lot of lighting, movement, and narrative. One artwork example would be the "Calling of St. Matthew" by Caravaggio (1597-1601). This oil on canvas painting has St. Matthew, one of Christ's disciples, In this painting, St. Matthew appears to be called by certain people. The overall style of the painting has a lot of cellar lighting. The reason for this is because the painting blends strongly with brown and tan colors.

When we look at the history of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, we always like to use the confinement of thinking and the liberation of ideas to sum up the two, especially in the art, the medieval paintings are often used in dark colors, deformed three-dimensional concept Showing the real world, and often less a bit human nature. And after the Renaissance, the painting masters are the opposite of it. I am not here to comment on their good or bad, but from the artistic point of view, to explore whether a good form of art needs to reflect the community and a wide range of civilizations