Works Of Art Compaired

Alphonso Hunte

Art Appreciation

ART205-0801A-11

Although art might be from the same time periods or a different time period, same regions or different regions one thing can or might hold true. Art might have some of the same things in common with one another. I am going to try to look at three pieces of art from the same style. I will try to make some interesting evaluations of the works.

Baroque art is a style which is knows for its drama and theatrically. It was a creation of the Papacy in Rome (Sayre, H. M. 2007, 477). It is a style of art developed in Europe around the early 17th to mid 18th century. It emphases on drama, curving forms and elaborate ornamentation.

The calling of St. Mathew is a masterpiece in its own (http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol6is3/st-matthew-calling.html). It was painted by Michelangelo Mersi Da Caravaggio and was completed in 1599-1600. In this painting a single widow is seen it the foreground. Although it is a window not much light seem to be emanating through it. There is a table with 5 patrons seated; one of the patrons seems to be huddled over what appears to be money. The overall outlook of the room seems to be dull and gloomy. At the right of the painting there are two men. On of these men happen to be Jesus Christ. It appears as though Jesus is casting a beam of light on one of the men sitting at the table. We can also see that Jesus is not wearing any shoes, this might be looked at as a sign of holiness or as though he was treading on holy ground. The style of the particular piece seems to conform to the Baroque style of art.

Caravaggio was considered enigmatic, fascinating, dangerous and rebellious. He came upon the scene in 1600s. Huge churches were being built in Rome around this time. The churches were searching for painting to fill them. The church was looking for authentic religious art. Around this time most of the art was influenced by the church. Religious art, sculpture were every where to be found. The church had almost supreme power. Many of the art that was painted or sculpted around this time were based on religion (Archive). At 24 Caravaggio what commissioned by a Cardinal to paint for the church of San Lugi Dei Frances. He was known for his realistic naturalism. Is work that he produced of the life of St. Mathew caused a public outcry? Although he was criticized his reputation grew. He has several encounter wit the law in Rome. At one point he was imprisoned. He had fled Rome ad had kept moving until he reached Naples. He painted their for a while awaiting a pardon for the Pope. In 1608 he went to Malta where he was welcomed with open arms. Over the next few years he still continued to flee. But despite this his painting were considered some of the greatest of his times. Much of his inspiration came for the time period of when the church had a major influence on everyday life as well as his turbulent life.

Another paint that is in the style of Baroque is the Resurrection of Christ (http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=1041) this was painted by Rembrandt Can Rijn. Rembrandt was known for his portraits (Sayre, H. M. 2007, 480). This paint shows an almost biblical story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can see in the painting that there are three women. One of the three women is said to be Mary. It appears as thought the women came to the tomb where Jesus was buried. But instead of finding the body of Jesus they found and Angel instead. You can also see that their was a use of emotional contrast between light and dark that was used to show emotional differences. In this painting we can see how the artist uses light to draw attention to the key parts of this painting.

Two elements of Rembrandt work that made him eternal was his strong scenes of composition and his mastery of light. Rembrandt was a Dutch artist who was considered one of the greatest painters in history. He has an uncanny sense of human nature. He was born in Leiden on July 15th 1601. His parents took great care in his education but he was not very interested in school. He soon left to go study art. He studied under a local master Jacob Van Swanenburch. Then he studied under Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. Rembrandt at one point in time painted portraits to make ends meet. Around the mid 1600s Religious and Allegorical themes were favored due to the strong influence of the church. This is one of the reasons that Rembrandt began to paint dramatic biblical and mythological scenes. Around this time the church had a major impact on everything and everyone. His work became more sober in tones and less exuberant. This could have been also due to personal tragedy. Majority of his Biblical themes come more from the New Testament than from the Old.

This leads us to one great painter of this time, Annibale Carracci. Was born in Bologna in 1560, to a tailor. He was schooled as a painter by his cousin. He studied in northern Italy. He traveled to Parma in 1580 and then returned to Venice in 1581-82. In 1582 he returned to Bologna. He progressively develops the underlying concept of Naturalistic Illusionism. Based on an unnamed design that give optical verisimilitude through the manipulation of pure, saturated colors and atmospheric effect of light and shadow (Web Museum, 2004).

Around 1592 he entered the service of Cardinal Odoardo Farncese. By this time he has started to reform his style of painting. He remained with the cardinal for about 10 years. In this time he produced some of his greatest works of art. This artist got most of his inspiration for his work from being in service to the church. So again we can see that time and political influence such as religion can have a major outcome on works of art.

The landscape with flight into Egypt (http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/cjackson/carracci/p-carracc3.htm). This is an oil painting on canvas. In this painting we can see that the artist sought for the effect of balance. The landscape is an idyllic beauty. We can also see that the painting has a religious theme to it. You can see that there is a sense of balance in the painting. In the background there is an ancient building with a stream running almost in the middle of the painting. This draws emphasis to the painting. This is a very restful setting with distant gentle undulating planes that extend into the horizon. The boat which is thought to represent a symbol of life can also been seen floating in the foreground. This gives an almost restful atmosphere.

So we can see that although we have different artist one thing that is true that they all seem to have the same theme of painting. This is entirely due to different reason. But one that is common with the entire artist is that religion had a key role to play.

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