Summary Of All Souls Day Bararasanto

1053 Words3 Pages

In Pierre-Auguste Cot’s All Souls Day at the Camposanto, Pisa, a mourning widow with her two kids are shown standing by her husband’s grave. As mentioned in the title, All Souls Day is a day that commemorates the souls of those that have passed. Commonly on All Souls Day, the graves of the dead are decorated. This is shown by the flowers lining the top of the cross and by the lantern the widow’s son is lighting.
The style Cot uses is comparable to that of the old master’s. The painting is done with oil on canvas. Cot shows a masterful use of value as within the painting, he explores a wide range. Even in the darkest areas of the painting, you can still see slight variations in the depth of the color, allowing for a significant amount of detail. This can be seen in the clothing of the widow’s eldest child and the lower part of the widow’s dress. When first looking at the painting, your eye is immediately drawn to the widow’s baby. Most of the painting has darker colors while the baby is lighter. The painting is meant to depict the sorrow the widow feels. However, the baby is too young to …show more content…

At the foot of Solomon’s throne is a dead baby. A soldier stands near them holding a baby by its ankle. Both women gave birth to a baby boy, but one of the woman accidently killed her baby. She switched the dead baby with the other woman’s baby. Both women argued that the living baby belonged to them. King Solomon decided that if both woman were to argue over the same child, he would have the soldier cut the child in half so each would have an equal piece of the baby. The child’s real mother is distressed over this idea while the other woman could care less. The painting shows the distress of the true mother as well as the fear of the other mother that her plan was foiled. This painting also represents the wisdom of King

Open Document