Melancolia I After the death of his mother in 1514, Dürer created Melancolia I [figure 5], a copper engraving that is “widely considered the pinnacle of classical printmaking” (Chudnovsky, 2014). Moreover, the engraving is an excellent example of Dürer’s integration of mathematics into his art (Walton, 1994). Accordingly, Dürer was quite pleased with Melancolia I and he produced reproductions of it on the best paper available and gave them away as a form of self-promotion. The allegorical work is filled with mysterious symbols and Dürer never felt inclined to explain their meaning. As a result, Melancolia I has been the subject of extensive academic debate over the course of the past 500 years. The brooding winged figure is of great interest to academics in a variety of fields ranging from art to mathematics to psychiatry. Many believe that she represents melancholy, or as we know it, depression (Ziegler, 2014). Others think it shows depression as the dark side of creativity (P. Lynch, 2015). Some see her as the personification of the limitations of secular learning (Chudnovsky, 2014). As such, one art historian is confident that it was Dürer’s intention to juxtapose the virtues and faults of divine and secular learning (Sohm, 1980). Another has called Melancolia I a “spiritual self-portrait” …show more content…
Chudnovky (2014) wonders if it might allude to the ancient problem of expressing pi in algebraic form. Terrance Lynch (1982) speculates that the polyhedron poses the mathematical problem of squaring a circle. Remarkably, Hideko (2009) believes that the solution to the Delian Problem of ancient Greece is hidden in the form of the polyhedron. The Delian Problem is, as described by Dürer: Using only a compass and straightedge, how does one double the volume of a cube? To date, it remains
Albrecht Durer-Saint Jerome in His Study: In this engraving done in 1514 Durer depicts Saint Jerome hard at work at a desk. He appears to be reading or inditing some document that is very engrossing. He does not seem to descry the lion or the canine that are near the foot of his desk. A skull is optically discerned on the left side of the engraving sitting on the window ledge facing the interior of the room. It appears as though there is an imaginary line from Saint Jerome’s head to the cross that culminates at the skull, it is believed that this designates the contrast between death and the Resurrection. The canine is a symbol of adhesion often depicted in Durer’s works, while the lion is a component of the iconography of Saint Jerome. This engraving is often grouped with two other Durer engravings that betoken the three spheres of activity apperceived in Medieval times. Durer was an accomplished engraver, painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist.
The artwork is very interesting as the painting is very detailed and have a strong sense of symbolism behind the center piece. The content of the Monument to Mignard can be looked at a grieving woman thinking about her husband on a platform of a monument. There is two cupids grieving to the left of the man and in front of the woman. One cupid sitting on the edge of the platform clutching a dead bird on its arm, symbolizing that there is death between the two lovers. The other cupid that is standing up crying holding its right hand against the side of the man, which symbolize that the man has passed away and not among the living. There is an angel looking down at the vicinity of the man, woman, and the two cupids. The angel himself could be the angel of death, which takes the dead to heaven. The painting takes place inside building that is probably around the roman era because of the perfect arches and their integration of the Greek Doric columns. There is a total of eight columns, four on each side that supports the arch in the upper middle par...
... the Durer landscapes seen in Giulio Campagnola’s Saturn. Campbell’s analysis of poesia is a strong illustration of the examination of works in the field of Art History. Art historians obviously study the physical marks and meanings of a piece of work, but also need to critically analyze the influences and historical context of the time period to get a stronger understanding of the artist and his intentions. As a good art historian, Campbell has taken apart the elements of different images and tied in extrinsic factors, like contemporary events and works, to create a bigger picture.
Albrecht Durer completed the “Master Engravings” in the years 1513 and 1514. With these three engravings (Knight, Death, and Devil, St. Jerome in His Study, and Melencolia I) he reached the high point of his artistic expression and concentration. each print represents a different philosophical perspective on the “worlds” respectively of action, spirit, and intellect. Although Durer himself evidently did not think of the three as a set, He sometimes sold or gave St. Jerome and Melencolia I as a pair.
Van Gogh’s works have been deeply considered and examined to unfold the mysteries of his mental illness. It was in Arles, southern France of 1888 where Van Gogh was an accomplished artist on his own, but still not having had much notice, when his me...
When beginning my sketch, I took a moment to analyze the work of art and found that the statue illuminated a sense of serenity. Like most viewers my initial reaction was to explore the statue from head to toe as I sought out the different elements and principles of art. The statue was close to life-size and just about my height, so looking straightforward we were eye to eye. I noticed the softness gathered about the facial structure, but all the same time the depth and complexity that was engulfed around the muscularity of the body. The rigorous symmetry was accounte...
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
images in this painting, all of which have the power to symbolize to us, the viewer, of the painter’s
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
This painting has deviated from the standard Renaissance model in that it goes beyond depicting subjects and scene, and employs exaggerated form, color emphasis, abnormal planar depiction, and visual directionality. The aspects of this painting have become the embodiment of the story told and the characters there held. The artist has used various techniques of color, line, and juxtaposition in order to portray an idea which supersedes the sum of its parts, and thereby leads the viewer through a thought.
Georges Didi-Huberman is critical of the conventional approaches towards the study of art history. Didi-Huberman takes the view that art history is grounded in the primacy of knowledge, particularly in the vein of Kant, or what he calls a ‘spontaneous philosophy’. While art historians claim to be looking at images across the sweep of time, what they actually do might be described as a sort of forensics process, one in which they analyze, decode and deconstruct works of art in attempt to better understand the artist and purpose or expression. This paper will examine Didi-Huberman’s key claims in his book Confronting Images and apply his methodology to a still life painting by Juan Sánchez Cotán.
Munch popularity is due to his extraordinary ability to convey a deep and raw emotion from the unconscious onto the canvas leaving it to the viewers to interpret, feel and reflect. He stood out from other artists of his time, as he varied away from the norms and focused on the feelings and state of the work, rather than details and perfection. Anxiety evolved as the main point of Munch art. This essay goes through Edvard Munch’s childhood focusing on the events that caused him anxiety, how the anxiety affected his relationship with women and love, and how his idea of anxiety was supported by the theories of Søren Kierkegaard. These elements act as a support of an analysis of three of his works ‘Evening on Karl Johan’, ‘Melancholy’ and ‘The woman in three stages’. This essay should be seen as a work within the subject Visual Arts as it analyses three works of Munch focusing on anxiety. The analysis will contain an analysis of the form, content and context of each of the works. Having experienced the Edvard Munch: Angst/Anxiety exhibition at AROS Museum of Art in Aarhus, Denmark, I found and developed curiosity and inspiration to this essay. I find it worthy of a study as Munch changed the view and concept of art, and provided the public with a concept of art that was not the norm around the 19th centu...
In spite of religion being the ruling subject matter of art for many centuries, magic and mysticism have long been interwoven in a dark curtain that hangs over a large segment of the art world. The whole world is alive and filled with soul, whether light or dark. “Each material form may be thought of as attracting an appropriate soul, as firewood treated with sulphur draws flame.” While there is no historical or scientific evidence for the legitimacy of séances, magic or communication with the deceased, in D.H. Rawcliffe’s book Occult and Supernatural Phenomena, he reminds us of the importance of hallucinations and other fantastical experiences of the subconscious. These often provide strange and impressive experiences, interpreted as supernatural in origin. As we study art, we can only begin to wonder what spirits might have visited the great masters, any hallucinations they might have experienced, and how their paintings were influenced by the dark corridors of their subconscious.
The mysterious smile of the painting Mona Lisa and her tenderness directly carry my imagination to the Renaissance era. Before the Renaissance liberated the thought of the public, most artworks focused to eulogize the holiness of God. The Renaissance successfully freed people from the shackles of theology and affirmed the value of human beings. Mona Lisa represented the highest art level of the Renaissance and became an important legacy for later generations to feel the spirit of the Renaissance. In this paper, I argue that Mona Lisa was a representative artwork of the humanism spirit of the Renaissance. The artist Da Vinci who created Mona Lisa managed to express the charm of human beings with delicate brushwork, exquisite expressions and
A great artist, Eugene Delacroix, once said, “What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” This famous saying, highlights one of the reasons art or even a single painting is so important. Art is more than shapes and colors; art brings about so much more meaning. It expresses life, history, beauty, and morals. It shows beliefs and contributes to the many reasons that make a human being, a human. Art represents past, present, and future. An ancient painting that was made over 500 years ago could have all the meaning in the world. It shows what life was back then, how humans have evolved since, and how humans should evolve in the future. Understanding a future is the understanding the past, which is why Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting the Birth of Venus, is so important to understand.