The painting I chose today is called ‘Fidelia and Speranza’, part of Putnam collection, by Benjamin West and was painted in 1776. The Fidelia and Speranza painting is Oil on canvas painting. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬The current location of this painting is in the Timken Museum in San Diego, California. Benjamin West worked mainly in London, Roma, and Philadelphia. Benjamin was an American- British painter and was born in October 1738 and died in March of 1820; born in Pennsylvania but lived his entire life in England from the year of 1763. This painting has dimensions of about 54 by 43 inches. Fidelia and Speranza mean Faith and hope. The painting of Fidelia and Speranza comes from a poem description by Edmund Spenser who is the Elizabeth poet. This poem is …show more content…
The text also describes that West worked more deliberately on the faces than the things around the girls; people believed that it was a sort of portrait painting. Also in the text it says that, “ Smith (1883) has suggested that Fidelia may be a portrait of a Miss Hall, whom he identifies as the model for West’s Una” (American Paintings, 209). Fidelia is wearing a long white heavy drapery with a blue undergarment. She is holding a large brown book with gold clasp that is known to be the New Testament and she is also holding the gold chalice with a skinny green snake sneaking up but shows no fear to the snake and we know this because of her facial expression, she is just staring away. The text from the Timken Museum also informs us that the New Testament and chalice she was holding are ideas from Christian values, the chalice is supposed to be holding wine and water. However, for this painting the chalice is holding the snake to resemble poison that was meant to kill St. John. Apart from Fidelia, Speranza is wearing purplish long and heavy drapery with a greenish mantle wrapped around her legs and to the back of her, she is standing a bit behind her sister as well as holding onto Fidelias’ arm with a worried face while holding her hand up on her chest on her heart. Speranza is also holding a brown anchor on her left arm that is bent. Fidelia and Speranza are
The central focus on the table, in the painting, is what it appears to look like a book of Sor Juana. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, is a huge Mexican, feminist icon. During the seventeenth century, while the Spanish still occupied mexican territory, The catholic church had a significant amount of power. Sor Juana challenged the church by being a controversial figure at the time by her being a well-educated woman, nun, and poet/writer, during a time where men were
The outstanding Simplemente Bellas by Mabel Poblet Pujols is a 2-D art piece, located in Tampa Museum of Art, in downtown Tampa. Tampa Museum of Art is free to students, and is a great home to many spectacular forms of 2-D and 3-D art. The first glance at this wonderful work of art, I quickly decided this would be the piece I would write my humanities paper on. During my first visit to this museum, Simplemente Bellas was immediately the first work of art to have caught my eye. At first, it changes your perspective, due to the fact it is a three-dimensional piece on top of a two-dimensional canvas. This piece is beyond beautiful. As it says in the title, Simplemente Bellas, is translated to Simply Beautiful. It is a great example of human expression,
Contextual Theory: This painting depicts a portrait of life during the late 1800’s. The women’s clothing and hair style represent that era. Gorgeous landscape and a leisurely moment are captured by the artist in this work of
The painting takes place in Rome in the Mythological Era. It is not known who commissioned this work. Emperor Rudolf II in Prague owned this piece of artwork as well as four others of Veronese’s paintings.
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 painting caught my attention due to the message I received when I first laid eyes upon it. It illustrates a wise old man teaching an eager to learn young boy. I have been fortunate enough to have my very own replica of this painting in my bedroom and I have spent countless hours
When looking at the painting it gives us a glimpse of the past. It looks almost like a photograph. The fine detail from the building on the right with the statue on top. The citizens walking around.
Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes epitomizes the style of artwork during the Italian Baroque era. By using a Catholic subject and key elements and techniques essential to baroque art such as chiaroscuro and foreshortening, she was able to create a piece that gushes drama and realism. Without the use of all of these elements the effect would be lost, but instead the piece is one that moves the viewer with its direct and gritty realism of the religious subject, evoking emotion in a way that leaves the viewer in awe.
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.
First, the size of the painting drew me in before all. It measures at 339.1 by 199.5 cm, surrounded by a large golden frame. The size alone is enough to bring in any person passing by. Once getting close, the really wonder happened. The story told by the painting
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
Isabella d’Este left behind not only the great works of art that she collected and commissioned during her lifetime but a treasure trove “amounting to upwards of two thousand letters, which have fortunately been preserved.” Through these letters, scholars learn what kind of woman Isabella was, and what she expected from her patronage. One such example of Isabella’s correspondence is the “chronicles of [her] efforts between 1496 and 1505 to obtain the Battle Between Virtue and Vice from Pietro Perugino.” The Marchesa undoubtly, one of the great art patrons of her time, she lived among the masters of Renaissance art.
Johnson, Geraldine A. Renaissance Art, A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
images in this painting, all of which have the power to symbolize to us, the viewer, of the painter’s
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...