The Conversion Of St. Paul (Fig

This essay will analyze, The Calling of St Matthews, an oil on canvas painting made between the years of 1599-1600 by the artist, Caravaggio. Descriptive details of this painting will follow, which will allow an in-depth look into the elements and principles of design that are evident in this Caravaggio’s work. The Calling of St Matthew illustrates a religious scene where Jesus initially encounters Saint Matthew.

St. Paul was originally called Saul. Saul was a Roman Citizen as well as a Jew from Tarsus. He was very highly educated in the Law of Moses and was a student of Gamaliel. Saul hated Christianity and wanted to destroy Christians. When St. Stephen was killed, many Christians in Jerusalem fled to Damascus and other places in order to protect themselves. Because of this, Saul went to Damascus in order to persecute the Christians there.

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.

173) Michelangelo’s art brings out these humanistic ideas in human figures. He learns anatomy to show the beauty of the human form accurately even though it was forbidden. He says, “all forms that exist in God’s universe can be found in the human figure” (Stone Book 5, p. 291). This rebellion of the church’s views makes him great because he refuses to see humanity as evil. This portrayal allows his paintings to stand apart from many others. Also Michelangelo wants to create perfection in life through the arts to perform Gods will. He says to Spina, “I am fulfilling the law of Moses through an art form, to compensate for the spiritual degradation of Allesandro and his bullies” (Stone Book 9, p. 656). Michelangelo integrates the nobility of classical art by showing a form of Christian humanism by not replacing God but rather glorifying him: “If my soul is to be saved, it can only be through sculpture. That is my faith, and my discipline” (Stone Book 3, p. 170). In peoples search for God freedom of thought plays a huge role. Michelangelo’s soul searching to interpret the figures, his striving for originality of vision, and in the way he executes his work is practicing this freedom. It is said that

Both Caravaggio’s and Rubens painting are grotesque and dramatic, yet a beautiful display of their own imagery. (Caravaggio.org 2013)

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.

Paul has never been to a museum before,so he didn’t quite know what to expect. That's why he was to surprised when one of the status leaned over and whispers. Then paul got very scared because the t-rex started chasing him and paul went crazy he went so crazy he thought every statue was chasing him and he was crying and crying he looked like rudolph the rednose reindeer, he was running so fast you could just see the gleem of light that came of his shirt. He threw chairs,pens,and even his shoes

Christian art is respected by anyone who appreciates good art. The aim of Christian art is ultimately to raise the viewer’s mind and heart to that of the eternal, leading a spectator to wonder, reverence and prayer. Christian art achieves this effect through its striving of the good, the true and the beautiful, all qualities found in God. This particular kind of art reached its pinnacle during the Renaissance, the time that Michelangelo painted and sculpted. Michelangelo, one of the great masters, incorporated the Christian element in his works that they perfectly fulfilled the purpose of Christian art.

St Paul of Tarsus is a significant figure in Christianity due to his major contributions of writings and letters which form a significant amount of the New Testament. St Paul is considered to be the forefather of Christianity after Jesus. Paul had a major impact on these spread of Christianity through his mission journeys, contributing to the religious traditions and helping expand Jesus’ original teachings. The reason behind Paul being a significant person in Christianity is because he contributed to the development of Christianity.

The utilization of perspective allowed the viewers to have a more intimate relationship with items of worship in a sacred setting. Many paintings were closely tied to sacred paintings as an item to assist worship or to retell the narrative of the Bible. the renaissance was also a time of fascination with realism, exampled by Vasari’s praise of “the bare torso for its perfection as an anatomic study” in regard to the Piero della Francesca. Art is also very complicated in that it “grounds its persuasiveness in the “truth” of optical experience” (Pardo, Giotto and the Thing Not Seen). The addition of perspective allows sacred paintings to appear three dimensional, adding a complexity to worshippers as it seems as the bible narrative or the person of worship (Mary, Christ, etc.) is appearing out of the painting directly to the worshipper. This interaction caused the viewer to feel more intimate in their worship as they felt that they had a genuine, almost tangible connection with the actual religious figures. Perspective in sacred use is further shown with “the possibility that the

The idea of the hero in Greco-Roman culture was integrated into the idea of the saint (in the process of conversion and totalization) by way of Christianity's adoption of and ancestry in the Greco-Roman culture. As Professor Ambrosio indicates, "The need and the search for meaning is shared by all human beings" (Hero or Saint Saul of Tarsus). Thus, it is no surprise to find that a pagan Greco-Roman title is applicable to a Christian whose virtue is viewed as greater than that of ordinary men just as the hero is viewed as greater (in fame, bravery, strength) than ordinary men. The fact that two of early Christianity's most heroic figures (St. Paul and St. Augustine) were Roman makes this integration even less surprising. This paper will discuss the way in which the hero is integrated into the idea of the saint by comparing Saul of Tarsus with Augustine of Hippo two men who underwent a conversion and rose to "heroic" or "saintly" heights in terms of Christian virtue.

Titian was an Italian artist of international reputation. Like his mentor, Giorgione, put time and talent in creating a mysterious and influential painting, “Pastoral Concert, c. 1508-1510. The Venetian style oil painting on canvas which does not resemble its original color palette; includes two dark haired beautiful females seem evocative and are purposely placed into ‘interactive’ poses, out-to-the—side, near the male subjects.

A Baroque art is an intense movement of explosive energy. Of the three artists, Caravaggio, Bernini, and Gentileschi, each have the own baroque art style. The artist Caravaggio, who had difficult personality, had a controversial art style. For his painting, he used contemporary peasants and common settings for biblical stories. One of the example from Caravaggio work is The Conversion of St.Paul, where he makes a religious experience look natural. Bernini had adopted a style that was passionate and full of emotional and with psychological energy. The Bernini sculpture of David, display that passion and emotion, has his David is a Counter-Reformation Rome anxious for a fight. Artemisia Gentileschi was a fan of Caravaggio and she "Cpainted a

Artists from the baroque period take upon the same honest, robust and dark approach and musings related to human existence, which was depicted in the “Death of the virgin “. Caravaggio’ presented a similar concept of sensibility onto historical representations by exposing the observed reality of their times they also exposed the uncompromising conditions of the human existence.

Saint Paul’s name before his conversion to Christianity was Saul, an individual who devoted his life to the persecution of Christians and early disciples in Jerusalem. He was a Hebrew from the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, and someone who is very literate in Judaism faith as well. He was born into a devout Jewish family in Tarsus of Cilicia, hence known as Saul of Tarsus, one of the major trade centers on the Mediterranean Coast in present day Turkey. During his early life, he was sent to Jerusalem to receive his education in classical literature, philosophy, law, and ethics under Rabbi Gamaliel. Saul’s early profession was tent-making, which eventually became the initial connection with Priscilla and Aquila whom he partnered with and became vital mates as missionaries . Furthermore, he took an active part in the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, first martyr and deacon, by giving his approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him . Following his approval of the mob’s murderous actions, Saul ravaged the church, entering the homes of believers, committing them to prison, and even locking up female believers.