Paragone Essay

Dante's use of allegory in the Inferno greatly varies from Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in purpose, symbolism, characters and mentors, and in attitude toward the world. An analysis of each of these elements in both allegories will provide an interesting comparison. Dante uses allegory to relate the sinner's punishment to his sin, while Plato uses allegory to discuss ignorance and knowledge. Dante's Inferno describes the descent through Hell from the upper level of the opportunists to the most evil, the treacherous, on the lowest level. His allegorical poem describes a hierarchy of evil.

Therefore, this introduction and analysis of fifteenth-century Italian painting arises from looking at social relations. Through the institutional authorization, Baxandall examines the integration of social, cultural and visual evaluations. The author explores visual art not only from a social construction, but also looks at the major role it plays in social orders such as interactions between individuals or between larger social groups.

“No painter can paint well without a thorough knowledge of geometry” (qtd. in Butterfield 27). The Italian Renaissance is famous for its art which includes unique style of painting and sculpting, however, the Renaissance made significant remark on the use of scientific techniques which also can be considered as the influence of classical ideas. Although, classical ideas were not advanced like in the Renaissance, it provided the foundation for the Renaissance to revive it again. The Italian Renaissance transformed the manner of viewing the arts. Before, most people in Italy were bounded by religious thoughts and beliefs. Renaissance helped people to shift their mind and behavior towards the secular ideas, instead of vague ideology like

This paper will compare the themes found in the paintings "Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and an Angel" by Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini (Puligo) and "Madonna Enthroned" by Giotto. Both paintings deal with fables from the Christian faith but were executed during different periods in art. The Giotto painting was created around 1310 and the Puglio painting was executed between 1518 – 1520. Here, these two paintings have similar themes both at the extreme beginnings and endings of the Italian Renaissance, and as such they serve to present an exceptional example of the developments in art that occurred within that time. This paper shall compare

In the Bronze Age paintings and specially the Minoan we began to realize how realistic they look and how they are showing movement. We can see that in paintings of landscapes, sport events or even a story or a ritual. Some of the Minoan art is different from each other but some are quite similar in style, technique or in motifs. In this essay we will be showing the similarity of style between the Hagia Triada sarcophagus and the Minoan palace frescoes paintings.

In this essay I am going to answer the question above and I will do this by saying whether or not I feel sympathy for lady Macbeth and I go through different parts in the play. After reading parts of the play and watching the video I don’t’ feel very much sympathy for lady Macbeth, although I do feel some sympathy for her in some parts in the play. Over all I think that lady Macbeth is a fiend as she says stuff that’s not very nice to make Macbeth do the things that she is too scared to do herself. I also think that she is a caring person really but she needed to be made evil by witchcraft, as she would not be able to do what she does through out the play in her normal person.

The visual work I have chosen is the Bith of Venus and is one of the world’s most famous works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it is the first example of painting on canvas. The written work I have chosen is the Stanze per la Giostra. It was written by Angelo Poliziano, written between 1475-8. Both works are examples from the Italian Renaissance era, during the Medici rule, and share the theme of beauty and humanism. The works I've selected share the same subject matter, Venus, and is the perfect example of beauty and humanism. She is the epitome of beauty and her birth from the sea is an example of her metamorphosis of humanism. For this paper, I will compare both works then discuss how the shared theme is seen in contemporary works. How does Venus and her beautiful metamorphosis fit into contemporary forms of beauty and humanism?

From Pollaiuolo creator of the engraving Battle of the Nudes to Michelangelo's David the human form was not about reality but idealism the ultimate portrayal of God's ultimate creation. This perfected view of the human form can also be seen later in Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Michelangelo's muscular figures whether male or female. Humanism’s affects did not stop there. The topics of paintings also began to change. Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus depict this change clearly. Both show mythological themes. The focus on these themes inspired Raphael and Titan to develop their famous pieces as the early Renaissance became the High Renaissance. From here interesting occurrences began to evolve. Humanism itself develops a new school of thought known as Neo-Platonism; an idea that mixes ancient philosophy and Christian truth. For example, the reaction to Botticelli's creations was that of others trying to find a religious meaning within the mythological topic. Slowly however, even this will fade as the Mannerist style develops. Along with the movement toward secular and eventually erotic portrayals of art the artist began to enjoy a new status. Duke explains that they became “practitioners of the high-status liberal arts” someone to be sought after, someone to study and someone to stand in awe of. Humanism’s affect spread north but there

This essay will compare and contrast the work of two sculptors who use the human form as a basis of their artwork. The first sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was created in 1622 and portrays a Romanian story. Where as “Two Women” by Ron Mueck is a hyper realistic sculpture made by an Australian contemporary artist.

For this project there will be a comparison of Francisco Goya’s 1823 painting, Saturn Devouring His Son and Michelangelo Buonarroti’s 1498 sculpture, Pietà. These two works of art have quite a few similarities and differences in their appearance and some of those will be mentioned within this essay. There will be a comparison and contrast of mainly the subject matters. In addition, there will also be an analyzation of the content/meaning of these two pieces.

or art. Women are then seen lacking in male organ,which is representative of male power and

The selection from Leon Battista Alberti’s On painting is mainly divided into 5 paragraphs numbered 25 through 29. Just as the title suggests, the text deals with the art of painting and its virtues. It talks about the benefits painting offers to the artist and why they are valuable, as well as showing the importance a work of art gives to the object being painted. While referring to many examples in history, Alberti also compares painting to the other “crafts” and explains why it is more noble, as well as more enjoyable and self-satisfactory.

The Italian word paragone refers to a type of competitive comparison in an art-historical context. In 16th century Italy, due to the development of artistic practice and theory, various theoretical discussions were raised among the industry. Renaissance artists and theorists were preoccupied with the means and of various arts in the abstract. A debate was generated from the Italian Renaissance in which form of art (such as painting, sculpture, poetry, music and architecture, etc.) has supremacy on all others. The discussion of the relative merits that whether painting or sculpture was more convincing and descriptive form of art got unfolded in both Italy and the Low Countries like Flanders and the Netherlands. From that period, the example of paragone between painting and sculpture mainly involves paintings that emulate sculpture and sculptures that emulate painting. Both painters and sculptors made an interesting statement claiming about the superiority of one art over the other. These debates had laid a solid foundation of the modern system of fine arts. The ultimate goal of art at that time is about imitation, thus, the best means to arrive this goal had a more than theoretical interest. As a notable, one-of-a-kind sculptor from that period, the “divine” Michelangelo has proposed his treatise that sculptures champion the superior on paintings. He expressed his statement with the support of his increased engagement on sculpting. For the issue is imitation. “Every

Beginning with the Renaissance (1400-1600) we see a change in the subject matter being portrayed by artists of the time. We can attribute this change not only to the change in patrons, from the Christian church to wealthy bankers and politicians, but also to the growing body of scientific knowledge. “The Renaissance was

In these two exquisite works of art or shall we call them the grand master pieces of their era’s. Both Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat and Michelangelo’s Pieta flawlessly reflects the untimely deaths of two significant figures that we know of today. The two figures comprised of Jesus Christ in Michelangelo’s Pieta and Jean-Paul Marat in Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat. In the two pieces we see that the pair of artists portray the figures in a divine and yet virtuous way. One work of art almost mimicking the other, yet there is still some differences between the characteristics of each piece still making it its own individual self. In the following paragraphs we will be diving deeper into the similarities and differences