The Story Of Painting: A Critical Review

Critical Review on The Story of Painting

The Story of Painting by Sister Wendy Beckett is a very insightful informational book. As it takes us through history on the back of art, it shows how the painters felt, maybe a little bit of their culture and a lot of their religious values. Through time, studying the different types of art and the different perceptions of how people lived.

The very first artist in Biblical times had many different views of living and religious beliefs, therefore their art reflected that. In Egypt the painters and calligraphers would paint in two dimensions making the man of the household stand out by making him larger and his wife and children significantly smaller. Also portraying their gods very large and colorfully. As in Egypt, the Greeks made their gods more pronounced making them bigger than normal people. Unlike the Egyptians, they also made their philosophers very big. In Rome, the artists were very war oriented, also being oriented toward government in general. They would paint many portraits of their elected officials. In all of these different countries, the art also reflected Biblical histories, showing the Tower of Babel, the slaves in Egypt, and the conflicts in Rome.

Art in the Middle Ages was somewhat different than that of earlier years. It was very much based in religion. If a person were to look at the paintings of that time period, they would see many pictures of the saints and Jesus. In Europe, the artists focused on Jesus and His apostles, yet they also focused on their royalty making many paintings of their kings and queens. In Spain, as well, they made it clear that the royalty and God were higher than the common people. The art in this period was very influenced by The Protestant Reformation, having views of the church being cruel as well as