Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
On Francesco del Cossa’s Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
The Italian artist, Francesco del Cossa, created an oil painting on a panel during the mid-15th century called Meeting of Solomon and the Queen Sheba. This work is now displayed in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. The plate that identifies the painted tray in the museum explains that this twelve sided tray is a ceremonial tray, most likely in honor of the marriage of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and given to them as a gift. The back of the tray was against the wall but the identification plate noted that two cupid figures with cornucopias and coral necklaces were painted there to symbolize good luck and fertility.
The most striking part of this work is the symmetry. The symmetrical architectural structures perfectly centers the palace. The dome of the palace perfectly divides the arch behind it; the highest point of the palace perfectly divides the sky within the main arch.
The next most noticeable point of this painting is where the figures of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon stand. They appear to protrude out from the rest of the painting. Each has an out turned foot that comes into the viewer’s space. This aspect and the symmetry make it apparent that the Queen and Solomon are the characters to be focused on.
The deep color is very striking, especially the abundance of reds, pinks and purple. It seems very bold, perhaps suggesting the royalty of the subjects. The overcast gray sky is the same color as the dome of Solomon’s palace. Perhaps the dome is supposed to look as if it is made of metal, but it appears to reflect the trouble that is about to storm. The entire painting is almost composed exclusively of shades of red and black, with highlights of blue. The use of color is not realistic, but very symbolic.
Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba utilizes many of the techniques that were beginning to be used in painting during the 15th century. The vanishing point lies on the central angelic statue above the arch of Solomon’s throne. The lines created by the checkered floor and the landscape in the background suggest the depth and distance of this image.
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
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...
...understandable of making use of perfect architectural form as geometry, in terms of believe and as well as architecture. His design was straight to the point , making use of geometrical shape and it’s magnificent meaning which itself emphasises a perfect form and perfect centre point at its middle, which itself is a powerful remark on the focus point of the building (crucifixion spot at Tempietto and the pulpit at the Basilica) this achievement is more effective rather than using of coloured and expensive material ,gold ,sculpture ,painting ,large windows and light or other architectural elements which Baraque architecture used to bring about the attraction and highlight it’s point in the building.(the Alter of Grace at Church of Vierzehnheiligen)
Color is used to draw attention to important characters and objects in the painting. The red of Mary’s shirt emphasizes her place as the main figure. A bright, yellow cloud floating above the room symbolizes the joy of the angelic figures. De Zurbaran uses warm colors in the foreground. The room, used as the background for the scene, is painted in dark colors utilizing different hues of gray and brown.
One similarity between Giotto's and Cimabue's painting are that they show Madonna sitting on a throne with Jesus on her left side. Madonna and Jesus are also in the upper center of the painting surrounded by prophets and angels. The centers of paintings during the time were usually reserved for the Virgin Mary or Christ. (7) In both pieces, the angels and prophets are split equally on both sides of the paintings. Sometimes artists would place the same number of figures on one both sides, so as not to disturb the compositional consistency. This fundamental of symmetry had to be maintained in Byzantine art.
Guitar, meanwhile, has grown increasingly edgy and increasingly obsessed with the idea of Milkman's pampered position within the local black hierarchy; at last he divulges to Milkman that he is in a group called the Seven Days, which kills a white person for every black person murdered by a white. Each person has a different day; Guitar's day is Sunday; whenever a black person is murdered on a Sunday, Guitar murders a white person in the same fashion.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
Not everyone knows there true identity yet, we go through a series of life tests and have to go searching for ourselves for who we really are and our purpose in life. In the book Song of the Solomon, by Toni Morrison she tells a story of a man by the name of Macon Dead III, also known as Milkman. This character has been sheltered his whole life by his mother and father, in results from being sheltered, he tends to take on ways of his father which are the following: being caught up in materialistic values, arrogance, and utilization of women. Milkman does not have a sense of direction nor does he know any other family members but his sister, mother, father, and Aunt Pilate whom his father forbids him to see. This character shows he has no identity because he has no morals and has a lack of ancestry which cause him to have a sense of rootlessness.
The figures, both seated and standing are depicted according to traditional Egyptian conventions. Nebamun is painted as the largest figure in the painting because he is the most significant . He is standing in perfect balance with a youthful, well proportioned and defined body. The artist has painted Nebamun in a way that emphasises what the Egyptians believed to be the most important parts of a man’s body. Teeter expands upon this.
My theme of my visual essay is the Dome of the Rock and the controversy that surrounds it. The images for my visual essay are arranged in the order through which I plan to write my final research paper. The Dome of the rock is a 7th century building located in Jerusalem at the visual center of a platform known as the Temple Mount (which is illustrated in the first image). The name of the original sponsor of the building was Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik in 691 C.E. (Grabar, The Dome of the Rock 62). The second image is intended to aid in the visualization of the Dome of the Rock, not as a mosque, but rather an Islamic shrine that was built over a sacred site. However, exactly which sacred site it is, is still up for debate. Three different religious traditions have significance associated with this site. I am curious to examine how the significance of the Dome of the Rock for each religious tradition effects how it is portrayed in religious art.
The trip to the metropolitan museum was a great trip to learn and to study art. What is art you may ask, well art is an expression you use to show a visual picture. It can be through painting or through sculptures. Some other example of art is music, literature and dancing. For today 's paper we will be talking about art as a sculpture. The two sculptures in this photo are King Sahure and a Nome God and Marble Statue of Dionysos leaning on archaistic female figure (Hope Dionysos). You can find these statues in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. King Sahure and a Nome God is an Egyptian art that was made in 2458-2446 BCE. The artist is unknown. It was during the 5th dynasty and it also belong to the old kingdom. The Marble statue of Dionysos Leaning in the archaistic female figure is a Greco-Roman art. Belonging to the Roman imperial period of the late first century A.D. Augustan or Julio-Claudian period 27 B.C., to 68 AD. It is classified as a stone sculpture and it is made out of marble. The height of the statues is 82 ¾ inches. There is no evidence who was the original artist.
The colours used in the artwork are earthy tones with various browns, greens, yellows, blues and some violet. These colours create a sense of harmony on the...
The first art that interested me was the art of Indonesia which in this exhibit depicted the culture, history and art of Indonesian people. For instance, Bali a small island in the Indonesia valued most of its art based on the rich resources they occupied such as most art was composed of gold, diamond and sapphires which people of Bali believed that it will resemble their higher standards in the society. Art of Bali amazed me the most when it came to their “King’s crown” and “Queen’s crown” which was completely “fashioned in pure gold with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires” (Bali). The king’s crown was much simpler compare to queen’s crown which contained many varied of gold decorative that looked like gold flowers, and all of its designs such as rubies or sapphires were perfectly horizontally lined to each other that sort of depicted as a shiny necklace. The Bali’s art that I observed was very interesting know about the society they lived in those centuries with representation of their upscale society (Bali).
Stereotyping has been a huge problem in society for many decades. Everyone does it whether it is race, looks, and language or body types. If society did less stereotyping our society might be a little more complicated and more peaceful. If you look different, dress different, or act different out of the norm you are being judge or stereotype. I was always taught do not judge a book by its cover. That phrase is very powerful and if society followed that phrase we could be a more peaceful community.
In conclusion this was a dark part in American history and a part that America would like to forget but the stereotypes are still there even today but people choose not to look or say anything about it. Today African Americans are portrayed as gang bangers and thugs who love white women. When you research into this you might be left with yourself thinking as to why do the television people put stereotypical and demeaning stuff like this on television and I guess it’s a question that will never be answered.