Berthold Woltze's The Irritating Gentleman

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A couple of times throughout my life I heard that art will speak to you even though it doesn’t talk. Not having a real knowledgeable understanding of art or being a big appreciator of it, Berthold Woltze’s ‘The Irritating Gentleman’ (1874) is an oil painting that depicts realism that really draws me into everything in the painting because of the attention to detail he put into it. This particular work is the first time that anything in the art category has made me feel a special way about it and it truly does speak to me. This oil painting is set in the 1800’s according to the author’s time period that he was alive. The context of the painting has the setting take place on a train with three people in the viewer’s perspective: a seated lady …show more content…

She is dressed in very dull black colors from the neck down to her shoes that are out of view, wearing dull black buttons, dark gloves, a black cape to complement her already dark dress, and black ribbons on her dark hat that she’s placed on her lap. With the time period being in the 1800s, the expectations for women in mourning expected them to wear dark, non reflective material while wearing no jewelry at all. Her hair fixed down to her shoulder the way it is leads me to believe she is a younger lady, maybe 15 to 18 years of age because older women’s hair would be put up based on the time period. Placed to her right is a small double locked carpet bag with a flower image sewn on the outside of it. This suggest that she is either going to or coming back from a funeral not to far away and inside the bag are traveling clothes to keep the clean and well prepared. Her hand placement is critical to pay attention to as her right hand looks to not be at complete rest on her upper left forearm and her left hand is clutching a small case similar to the size of a glasses case (maybe a coin purse) and a white handkerchief that looks very wrinkled and

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