Art Analysis: Portrait of a Woman With a Man at a Casement

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The purpose of the present paper is to discuss a very interesting piece of art, Fra Filippo Lippi's “Portrait of a woman with a man at a Casement”. I will begin by the analysis of the formal qualities of the painting such as the composition, the color, line, texture, proportion, balance, contrast and rhythm. I will then discuss how the work fits a certain stylistic category. I will demonstrate that the painting reflects the social and cultural trends of the period in which it was created. “ The paintings of Filippo Lippi are frequently characterized by two features: an interest in minimizing the divide between world, image and the presence of humor, both bodily and representational. Although these two aspects of Lippi's art might initially seem unconnected, this paper suggests that both can be associated with the use of scientific perspective. Lippi's spatial concerns can be understood as a reaction to the distancing of the iconic image that accompanied the invention of perspective.” “The “Portrait of a woman with a man at a casement” dates from around 1440-1444. It is made with tempera on wood by a Florentine artist, Fra Filippo Lippi. The painting is 64,1 x 41,9 cm. A very interesting detail is the message on the cuff of the woman, reading the word “lealtà” which is Italian for loyalty. The painting is part of the Marquand Collection and is to be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was given as a gift by Henry G. Marquand in 1889.” The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur... ... middle of paper ... ...vol.13, no.11 (Nov.1918), pp. 231-232 http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3253902.pdf.bannered.pdf Carmichael, M. “Fra Filippo Lippi's portrait”, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 21, no. 112, July 1912 http://www.jstor.org/pss/3045611 Nygren, B. “Una cosa che non è: perspective and humour in the paintings of Filippo Lippi”, Oxford art journal, vol. 29, no.3 (2006), pp.319-339 http://oaj.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/3/319.extract Shell, C. “The early style of Fra Filippo Lippi and the Prato master”, The art Bulletin, vol.43,no.3,(sep.1961) http://www.archive.org/stream/reportofpresiden5405well/reportofpresiden5405well_djvu.txt Smith, R. “Eternal objects of desire. Art Review- Art and love in Renaissance Italy” in New York Times Art and Design, November 20, (2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/arts/design/21love.html

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