John Shearman's Use Of Color In Renaissance Paintings

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Many Renaissance paintings have many colors that stand out, rather than a single color to act as the focal point. John Shearman discusses the stylistic use of color in his essay Leonardo’s Color and Chiaroscuro. To distinguish between objects and lines, artists had to use sharp transitions in their color choice. Each object in a painting would have to be different from the colors next to it so they did not blend together (Shearman 411). Shearman also looks at Leonardo da Vinci’s A Treatise on Painting as he discussed colors, shadows, and light. Da Vinci wrote in A Treatise on Painting that,
L'azzurro & il verde non è per se semplice, perché l'azzurro è composto di luce e di tenebre, come è quello dell' aria, cioè nero perfettissimo, e bianco …show more content…

In serene paintings, Venus is portrayed as the one to subdue the fighting Mars by using love; it shows that love is more powerful than conflicts. Mars, even when retained by Venus, still holds boldness in some form, even if he is portrayed as being completely passive. When Venus occasionally takes Mars’ armor and weapons, she represents the “warfare of love” but she can also represent that “strength comes from love” and to be charitable to gain power (Wind 45-47). With this knowledge of what Mars and Venus’ relationship represents, and what feelings colors can evoke, I will combine the two and look at the painting Mars and Venus United by Love by Paolo …show more content…

There are different occurrences in this painting, two lovers are sprawled nude on a bed while an elderly woman peers in on them. The longer the viewer observes the lovers, the more the surrounding colors have an effect on their pale bodies. They are encircled by green, red, white, and yellow. The green curtains bring life and dignity to the lovers while the yellow offers energy. These colors bring life and energy between the two, even though they lay there motionless it can represent the coital bliss between the two. The white sheets that the two rest upon represents purity and shamelessness of the human body that way expressed during the High Renaissance. The red bed beneath them represents the love and passion between the two. The lovers are enclosed off from the outside world as the two are focused on the other and the woman to the right literally looks in on the two’s world by opening a door to view them. The elderly woman is completely clothed, she appears more reserved than the two bare lovers. Her blue dress helps show her dignity and

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