Why Do Artist Use Greco-Roman Ideals In Greek Art

The city of Florence has gone through many invaders, illnesses and many other deaths not related to the battlefield. They had survived it all they believed that they had God on their side and have always come out on top, much like the biblical story of David in battle against Goliath. This influenced Florence to take on David as their symbol and used it to portray the success of Florence. Many artists have created sculptures portraying works of David. It has been depicting it in so many different manners, that there is at least one surviving example from each major art periods. Although there are many we will only be focusing on two works of David. First is Donatello’s classically inspired youthful boy depiction of David, and the second is Bernini’s heroic warrior.

From the late fifteenth century to the genesis of the sixteenth, a new movement influenced art in Europe, expanding the bleak limits of past art and created some of the most memorable masterpieces in history. The creators of these artworks during these decades of the Renaissance include Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raphael Sanzio. Influenced and sometimes driven competitively by each other, these artists share differences and similarities in their life, art style and techniques, and interests.

Italy can be looked at as the home of the renaissance and consequently the immergence of great art. Artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci, and Raphael are some of the greats and are looked at for standards. But what about the artists whose lives are mysteries, and their works that were influenced by the greats? These artists hold just as much importance in the history of art as do the artist’s whose names can be recalled off the top of an average person’s head. During the sixteenth century things began to change in the art world, and that change was the Baroque. This new style of art brought a revolution to how subject matter was painted, it brought upon “… a radical reconsideration of art and its purposes…” (249) and how artists of all ranks could learn to paint the up and coming style of Baroque.

The heavy usage of gold around the frame is used to make Alexander the Great seem even more noble than he already is. The usage of gold on the frame-like device also gives this painting a more sophisticated look. Equally important, like I touched on earlier, the position of the human figures in this painting also play an important role in making this historical event biased. The human bodies are clustered and below Alexander the Great’s eye level to show dominance and authority. The Getty also mentions that the text near the bottom of the painting in the “cartouche” translates to “It is for a king to vanquish himself” which includes King Louis XIV. Other hidden symbols that reference King Louis XIV are the Latin motto of King Louis XIV in the side and top borders which translate to “Not Unequal to many [tasks]” (The Getty) and the crossed L’s at the top to represent King Louis XIV symbol. This demonstrates the artist’s bias towards representing this historical

David fills his canvas with numerous details borrowed from Marat’s world, including the knife which was used to kill him and Charlotte’s petition. Having these items be the only ones in the room with any connection towards the assassin almost completely erases her from the picture. Rather than place the attention on her, he shines a light on Marat, allowing him to show a gentler side to the man. The only piece of furniture in the room beside the bathtub itself is the writer's makeshift writing-table which at the bottom had something very interesting on it written in french. On the bottom of the painting, it says year two. (“L’an Deux” translating directly to“Year Two”). We are not in 1793 but instead we are in year two of the revolution. Replacing the old world with the new revolutionary

Rubens is known for painting murals that show the moment of greatest tension. In this piece Abigail is pleading with David to not destroy her town. As a peace offering she brings David and his men bread. David accepts the offering and does not destroy her town. David feels so strongly about Abigail that she eventually becomes one of his wives .

The subject matter of Jacque-Louis David oil on canvas painting is Marat. Marat was a revolutionist and publisher, so his role was important because he helped to disseminate revolutionary ideas and to rally the people during the French-Revolution. His killer Charlotte Cordy used the letter to get in to see him, David is showing, look how duplicitous this woman was. She tricked Marat, he was innocent, he was good. He was working for the republic, for the French Revolution and she came in and brutally stabbed him in the chest. The painting shows the wound on Marat's chest and the knife on the floor. It also shows him holding the letter of his killer, Charlotte Cordy who believed in the monarchy. That area of monochromatic uniformity, which consumes

Firstly, through the nudity, the painter can proceed with a detailed analysis of gestures and anatomy of the body, and secondly, with the naked body, he can bypass questions about the contemporary dress, which are repudiated by the classical tradition because of the lack of nobility (Baecque de, 1997 p.187). Here, David is very influenced by Barnave, whose harmonious body is seen as a perfect aesthetic symbol which reflects the neoclassicism corporeal ideal. Thus, in painting the bodies of the people of The Tennis Court Oath, David focus his attention on three important parts of the body: face, hand, and torso, through which he can emphasise not only the importance of the subject of the drawing, the oath, but also the feelings and the soul of the protagonists of the oath itself (Op. Cit. p, 188).

The conflict in the painting reflects to the French Revolution. The way that they do not have enough food to feed everybody. Having nothing to eat was a big part of French Revolution. It started with MOB of people raiding bakeries and rebelling to the king for being unfair to his people. There is a sick poor child on the left side of the painting. They are all weak and probably haved worked for hours and not making enough money. Everybody seems tired of working and does not have enough time to sleep and eat.

In the painting was a guy named Jean-Paul Marat who was blamed for a massacre. David and Marat were members of the extremist Jacobin club, which was a radical thinking group and they did not like to engage in war. Most people would say David couldn’t be considered as an honorable individual because he had part in the Reign of Terror which he was exiled for. The painting seems to portray

On the Boston College art history website they describe how David also uses some of the techniques of light and dark similar to the Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio. The light is softer as it hits Marat’s face and the light is harsher as it hits the weapon to accentuate the tragedy of the murder. David also keeps some of Marat’s body in shadow that allows for the viewer to feel compassion and outrage at different parts of the painting (Neo-Classicism). David using the medium of painting was very important in his message reaching a lot of people. In the 18th century there was no radio or television so there was limited ways to get information to a large amount of people. Nowadays one could tweet something and it can literally reach the world. David had the twitter of the 18th century, art. David using paint was the appropriate way in that time period to successfully complete his goal of persuading and informing people of the horrible murder and his

Artists use Greco-Roman ideals in their works of art to show an example of what their societies must have in order to be as successful as those from antiquity. Greek humanism is a Greek ideal that focused on human beings rather than religious deities and it placed human beings at the center of moral and social concerns (Cline). This can be seen in Raphael’s School Of Athens (figure 1) where Raphael uses Greek humanism to show that a stable society cannot exist without the help of knowledge rather than just relying on religion. This can also be seen in David’s Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons (figure 2) where David uses Greek humanism to show that human beings, not just the gods, are able to make moral decisions to help benefit society.

purposes. Artwork to the Greeks was used to honor their gods and decorate the temples

David painted Leonidas at Thermopylae using oil on canvas. He had “an extremely laborious working procedure, in which draughtsman ship played a major role”. He made countless studies in preparing for the painting. He would even complete drawings of the skeletons of his figures. David painted on a small part of a picture at a time. The purpose was to create the effect of “the look-out man signals the arrival of the Persians, the trumpeters sound the warning fanfare, and Leonidas looks up from his supreme moment of life on earth”. David’s Leonidas represents the ability

Artists have been defined by many different people groups at many different points in history. Two main views remain prevalent, however. These views are the Greco-Roman view and the Judeo-Christian view despite the fact that they are very different from one another. The Greek dichotomy of the artist does not leave a healthy role for the artist in society; the biblical definition of the artist corrects the pagan view because of the way that God commands humans to steward their gifts and talents.