I open with this statement to help provide the context and content of this essay. It is my opinion, like that of the great conceptual artist Sol Lewitt, that many individuals misinterpret art, especially the art of the past. In connection with this, I also believe each person has a right to their own opinions and thoughts. It is my hope that you as the reader will permit my upfront opinion found in this essay. It is my desire to compare and contrast the two pieces I have chased through their formal characteristics, the symbols they contain, and the cultural backgrounds of each piece of art. I have chosen two paintings depicting the same story, Christ being adored at his birth. The first piece, painted by Pietro Perugino in the years of 1470 to 1473, is titled Adoration of the Magi. The second painting is entitled Adoration of the Shepherds, and was painted by El Greco between 1612 and 1614. While both of these paintings depict similar scenes centered on the adoration of Christ they both differ in their functional purposes, the symbols they include, along with their formal or stylistic characteristics. I first to desire to describe the formal characteristics of both paintings. First, Perugino’s painting was created to be used as a functioning altarpiece and the cabinet that it may have once fit in was the shape that you see it to be now (Figure 1). The paint used in this piece is oil and it is on the canvas. The oil paint is well blended and there are no visible brush strokes that I can see. Because there is no great contrast between shadows and highlights, this painting appears quite flat to me, especially the whimsical background. The background is so appears so flat that it almost looks like a backdrop of a theatrical play. Ea... ... middle of paper ... ...y and purpose. Both paintings are similar in their theme but quite different in the symbols they contain, their formal or stylistic characteristics and their cultural backgrounds and histories. Works Cited Caffin, Charles H. “The Art and Influence of El Greco,” Art and Progress, January 1911. Grove Art Online “Greco, El [Theotokopoulos, Domenikos [Dominico; Dominikos; Menegos]].” Oxford Art Online. Accessed March 13, 2014. http://www.oxfordartonline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/art/T034199. Lewitt, Sol. Paragraphs on Conceptual Art. New York: Art Forum, 1967. Williams, George C. Pietro Vannucci Called Perugino. London: George Bell & Sons, 1900. Williamson, George C. The Great Masters in Painting and Sculpture: Perugino. London: George Bell & Sons, 1900. - - -. Masters in Art. El Greco. Boston: Bates and Guild Company, 1908.
We find that, in conclusion, that these pieces are very similar in many ways. They are both originally created in the same style and time period. They are Hellenistic and dramatic, although in their own, individualistic way. Each sculpture was created in different mediums and have different stories. These are both very individualistic pieces of Greco/Roman sculpture that has influenced many artists throughout time and will
Ridgway, Brunilde S. Hellenistic Sculpture II: The Styles of ca. 200-100 B.C. Madison, Wisc.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
Both Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico were revered artists for the advances in art that they created and displayed for the world to see. Their renditions of the Annunciation were both very different, however unique and perfect display of the typical styles used during the Renaissance. Jan van Eyck’s panel painting Annunciation held all the characteristics of the Northern Renaissance with its overwhelming symbolism and detail. Fra Angelico’s fresco Annunciation grasped the key elements used in the Italian Renaissance with usage of perspective as well as displaying the interest and knowledge of the classical arts.
Burckhardt, Jacob, The Greeks and Greek Civilization, St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, 1998.
Onians, John. Art and Thought in the Hellenistic Age: The Greek World View 350-50 B.C. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1979.
Imagine pondering into a reconstruction of reality through only the visual sense. Without tasting, smelling, touching, or hearing, it may be hard to find oneself in an alternate universe through a piece of art work, which was the artist’s intended purpose. The eyes serve a much higher purpose than to view an object, the absorptions of electromagnetic waves allows for one to endeavor on a journey and enter a world of no limitation. During the 15th century, specifically the Early Renaissance, Flemish altarpieces swept Europe with their strong attention to details. Works of altarpieces were able to encompass significant details that the audience may typically only pay a cursory glance. The size of altarpieces was its most obvious feat but also its most important. Artists, such as Jan van Eyck, Melchior Broederlam, and Robert Campin, contributed to the vast growth of the Early Renaissance by enhancing visual effects with the use of pious symbols. Jan van Eyck embodied the “rebirth” later labeled as the Renaissance by employing his method of oils at such a level that he was once credited for being the inventor of oil painting. Although van Eyck, Broederlam, and Campin each contributed to the rise of the Early Renaissance, van Eyck’s altarpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb epitomized the artworks produced during this time period by vividly incorporating symbols to reconstruct the teachings of Christianity.
The first painting is by Gustave Moreau, and it was painted in 1864. The second painting is the older of the two and it was painted in 1808 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The first and second painting show many similarities such as they both show the Sphinx attempting to assert her power over Oedipus. Both paintings are set in a rocky and dangerous area, both have an abundance of bones of those who have failed to solve the riddle. Finally, both show Oedipus holding a weapon, probably because he is
In conclusion, although Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, do appear very different, come from entirely different geographic regions and were separated by thousands of years, they do have many things in common. When we consider subject, style, and function; perhaps other works of art have more in common than they appear to have.
While the Flemish were proficient in oil painting, Italian Renaissance artists continued their predecessor’s use of tempera. Furthermore, the paintings were ultimately created for different purposes and separate viewers. Although both works are centered on the defining moment of the annunciation, The Merode Altarpiece incorporates this scene into a secular setting, therefore differing from Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation which was painted for a monastery. Finally, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings differ in levels of realism. Although the Flemish painters were skilled in portraying realism of physical forms, they lacked a full understanding of linear perspective. In contrast, the Italian Renaissance artists were well versed in linear perspective but lacked a complete grasp of the natural
...r. "Ancient Greece." Gardner's art through the ages the western perspective. 13th ed., Backpack ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 101, 123,129. Print.
The shift between the Middle Ages and Renaissance was documented in art for future generations. It is because of the changes in art during this time that art historians today understand the historical placement and the socio-economic, political, and religious changes of the time. Art is a visual interpretation of one’s beliefs and way of life; it is through the art from these periods that we today understand exactly what was taking place and why it was happening. These shifts did not happen overnight, but instead changed gradually though years and years of art, and it is through them that we have record of some of the most important changes of historic times.
Additionally, the styles changed; from Rococo, which was meant to represent the aristocratic power and the “style that (…) and ignored the lower classes” (Cullen), to Neoclassicism, which had a special emphasis on the Roman civilization’s virtues, and also to Romanticism, which performs a celebration of the individual and of freedom. Obviously, also the subject matter that inspired the paintings has changed as wel...
Buren, Albert W. Van. "The Ara Pacis Augustae." Journal of Roman Studies 3 (1913): 134-141.
Art is important to religion in many different ways. Perhaps none has analyzed how art and religion have influenced and affected each other through the ages. Pictures painted of past events that help to bring back the feeling and importance of the past have been forgotten by some. To the one’s that haven’t forgotten are able to see the event’s as the bible says they happened. Not only can you see the events, but it also allows the younger students of the church to understand the events. The use of images of God became widespread after the second century. This religious art has defiantly been around for centuries and plays an important role to the history of religion as well as the future.
K., C. F. "Greco-Buddhist Art." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1907-1951) 17, no. 7 (Oct., 1923): 66-67.