The piece of art that I found while visiting the Museum of Fine Arts, and had chosen to analyze is “The Dead Christ with Angels”, a representation of Christ resurrecting, by Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, most commonly known as Rosso Fiorentino. This very well preserved artwork is said to have been painted in the timeframe of 1524-1527 according to the matching plaque. Rosso, an Italian painter from Florence, is noted to have gotten his nickname due to his red hair because Rosso Fiorentino means Red Florentine in Italian. Rosso lived around 1494-1540, and was a ‘mannerist’ painter, who focused on mannerisms, a new concept in the Renaissance. The medium of this artwork is an oil on panel painting. It has a rectangular shape, and it is higher than …show more content…
There is a cast of five different characters, which includes the angels and Jesus Christ himself. This painting seems to be symmetrical as there are two figures, or angels, on both sides. Christ is in the center and the angels are surrounding him. He is also in the foreground, upfront, whereas the angels appear to be in the background. Christ is dominating the pictorial composition, and is the main focal point of the work, guessing from his centered location in the painting. There are no real vibrant colors used in the painting, even the bright colors shown feel darkened as if the figures are in the shadows somewhere, and light is peaking in, shining off all of them. If the lighting wasn’t as dark, the colors would surely be brighter. Christ himself is nude, whereas the angels are each clothed in different colors. There is a warm light that makes Christ appear soft. The color schemes of the clothes the angels are wearing appear to be a lot of red, green and white. The painting helps us to understand that the main focal point of the piece is Christ. Not only is he the largest figure and takes up most of the painting, the light is directly shining onto him and leaving the angels to be darker, in the shadows. The angels have light on them to show they do have a presence but not nearly as much as Christ. Additionally, the left side of the bench that Christ is seated on, if looked at closely, appears to be
At the top of the artwork the upper part of the cross extends beyond the altarpiece. The edge of John the Evangelist’s red robe on the left of the altarpiece and the edge of Mary Magdalene’s pale blue skirt on the right are cut off when the panel ends, giving the viewer the feeling that, rather than looking in on the scene, the viewer is actually taking part in the scene. This, added to the empathy invoked through the delicate, heart-wrenching rendering of the figures in the artwork, let the observer directly interact with the painting and places him/her within the narrative.
The painting is organized simply. The background of the painting is painted in an Impressionist style. The blurring of edges, however, starkly contrasts with the sharp and hard contours of the figure in the foreground. The female figure is very sharp and clear compared to the background. The background paint is thick compared to the thin lines used to paint the figures in the foreground. The thick paint adds to the reduction of detail for the background. The colors used to paint the foreground figures are vibrant, as opposed to the whitened colors of the Impressionist background. The painting is mostly comprised of cool colors but there is a range of dark and light colors. The light colors are predominantly in the background and the darker colors are in the foreground. The vivid color of the robe contrasts with the muted colors of the background, resulting in an emphasis of the robe color. This emphasis leads the viewer's gaze to the focal part of the painting: the figures in the foreground. The female and baby in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The background was not painted as the artist saw it, but rather the impression t...
The painting is of a young St. John the Baptist preaching to his congregation. St. John is an important figure in Catholicism not only for his preaching and baptisms in the River Jordan, but for his role as the last prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ. His preaching foretells the coming of Christ as the Messiah, and thereupon Christ’s baptism, the voice from Heaven told St. John that Jesus was God’s son. This piece by Calabrese captures John at the height of his oration. Fixed atop a decrepit tree trunk yet grappling for stability, John is shown here in his ascetic attire composed of camel hair, holding his staff and scroll bearing the words “Ecce Agnus Dei,” which translates into Beho...
The Holy Trinity by Masaccio was a painting done in approximately 1428. It is a
The chosen art work is "Miracle of St. Dominic." This painting is a tempera on panel, painted by the Renaissance artist Taddeo di Bartolo, in the year thirteen sixty three. The painting is currently housed at the McNay Art Museum, measuring approximately 10" high by 10" wide. In this particular painting we are witnessing a miracle by St. Dominical. There are spectators and a horse that lays above the man in red, who St. Dominical has brought back to life.
By most accounts, the year 1500 was in the midst of the height of the Italian Renaissance. In that year, Flemmish artist Jean Hey, known as the “Master of Moulins,” painted “The Annunciation” to adorn a section of an alter piece for his royal French patrons. The painting tells the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to deliver the news that she will give birth to the son of God. As the story goes, Mary, an unwed woman, was initially terrified about the prospects of pregnancy, but eventually accepts her fate as God’s servant. “The Annunciation” is an oil painting on a modest canvas, three feet tall and half as wide. The setting of the painting is a study, Mary sitting at a desk in the bottom right hand corner reading, and the angel Gabriel behind her holding a golden scepter, perhaps floating and slightly off the canvas’s center to the left. Both figures are making distinct hand gestures, and a single white dove, in a glowing sphere of gold, floats directly above Mary’s head. The rest of the study is artistic but uncluttered: a tiled floor, a bed with red sheets, and Italian-style architecture. “The Annunciation” was painted at a momentous time, at what is now considered the end of the Early Renaissance (the majority of the 15th Century) and the beginning of the High Renaissance (roughly, 1495 – 1520). Because of its appropriate placement in the Renaissance’s timeline and its distinctly High Renaissance characteristics, Jean Hey’s “Annunciation” represents the culmination of the transition from the trial-and-error process of the Early Renaissance, to the technical perfection that embodied the High Renaissance. Specifically, “Annunciation” demonstrates technical advancements in the portrayal of the huma...
Jacopo del Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John is a characteristically iconographic tempera panel painting of Madonna, the Christ Child, and the infant St. John from the early renaissance, dating to the early 1480s. Sellaio was a Florentine painter under the apprenticeship of Sandro Botticelli, which reflects through his style and symbolism in the painting. In this work, he depicts a classically devotional scene filled with biblical symbolism. Sellaio’s Virgin, Child, and St. John expresses Mary’s loving role as Christ’s mother, the protective power and warmth of her maternal bond, and the significance of the birth of Christ.
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.
Looking across the entire triptych certain visual elements can be seen. Lighting is carefully used to highlight many important details in the painting; the dramatic facial expressions of many of the people in this scene are clearly lighted and defined to illustrate the emotions felt by the witnesses. In the left panel of The Raising of the Cross, among the mourners appear to be St. John, another man that seems to be consoling St. John, Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist), St. Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Mary Magdalene (hoocher.com). One of the mourners is actually looking directly at the viewer with a very distraught expression on her face. The mourner that I suspect is St. John in the back appears to be almost nauseous and his face is surrounded by darkness and is subordinate and his face is being emphasized. Also, the rocky background is subordin...
It was examined by infrared reflectogram and x-rayed for the first time and, on the basis of stylistic hallmarks such as “emphatic cross-hatching,” such as on the face of the saint, it was confirmed to be a Michelangelo (Michelangelo, n.d.). The painting depicts a pale St. Anthony, who was a mystic and possessed the gift of levitation, floating in mid-air being accosted and attacked by several demons, one holding a fiery torch. A correction to the upper curve of one of the bat-like demon’s arms, where Michelangelo applied a slight paint stroke, can be seen.
In the Time of the Angels is a remarkable book that focuses on the idea that our morals come from philosophy apart from religion. The ways in which the book reveals this idea is striking, with the darkness that embodies Carel throughout. The book remains dark and melancholy while creating power struggles within the relationships of multiple characters. However, this book is used as a guide to better understand the relationship between darkness and Father Carel.
In his Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning (c.1460), a piece within the Northern Renaissance collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rogier van der Weyden portrays a stark image of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The right panel of the diptych depicts the gruesome image of a crucified Christ. Weight pulls the emaciated body down into a Y-shape, contrasting the T-shape of the cross it is mounted on. The only movement comes from the loincloth wrapped around Christ’s waist that dances in the wind. Blood visibly trickles from the corpse’s wounds. Behind the body, a red cloth is draped down the grey wall. At the base of the cross sits a skull and bone. The left panel portrays the Virgin Mary swooning in despair as Saint John attempts to support her weight. Her hands are clasped in prayer as she gazes up at her lifeless son. Both figures are clothed in pale draping robes. The vibrant red of the cloth that hangs from the grey wall in the background contrasts the subdued colors of the
“The Met’s very own Mona Lisa” (Tomkins 9). That is what Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Madonna and Child painting is known as today. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought the Madonna and Child for forty-five to fifty million dollars” (Tomkins 1). However, the painting was not always in public hands; in fact, the Met purchased the last known work of Duccio in private hands. Originally, the painting was held in the private hands of Adolphe Stoclet and his wife. When the couple died, their house and their collection went to their son, Jacques who held onto the painting, and passed it down to his daughters who lent it to an exhibition in Siena of Duccio and his school. The painting was eventually withdrawn from the exhibition and sold (Tomkins 2). Madonna and Child painting dated 1300 and was painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna a Sienese painter, who is considered the founder of modern Italian painting. I chose to research this painting because the subject matter of religious imagery and symbols interests me. Also because when I looked at the painting the emotion on the Madonna’s face almost jumped out at me. It is as if, she is looking at her newborn child with this deep sadness, which almost makes you think that the painting is foreshadowing the death of Jesus Christ. In addition, the burns of the side of the frame peaked my interest, as to why they were there. Art critics were also interested in this work they even consider Madonna and Child one of Duccio’s perfect works, and it said to be worth all the other paintings exhibited under the name of Duccio (Christiansen 14). The Madonna and Child painting’s iconography, imagery, emotional appeal to the viewers, and meaning all make this painting still a great work of art today.
One of the very first well-known portrayals of this narrative was by Giotto di Bondone. From around 1304, it is an Early Renaissance painting. Jesus is lying down, cradled by the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene is cares...
One of Piero della Francesca’s well known paintings known as, Madonna and Child with Two Angels (Senigallia Madonna), is a piece that caught my eye while browsing The Metropolitan Museum of Art located on the Upper East side of Manhattan. This piece, created circa 1478 was done in Sansepolcro, Italy and was executed with oil paint on wood sized at 24 in. x 21 1/16 in.. Piero della Francesca’s biblical portrait of the Virgin, Christ, and angels is a central icon in the Catholic church specifically of the Renaissance (rebirth) in Italy. Throughout this piece, there is an underlying theme of the Virgin Mary’s son, Jesus Christ as he is intimately represented. It is an iconic scene that has been depicted by many different artists of the Renaissance but the way that Piero della Francesca represents his iconic piece differs in that it is more than a portrait, it is a scene of the Virgin Mary and her child being blessed.