Week Nine: Post #8 (Early 18th Century Art)

William Blake was not only an artist he was also a writer and a poet. Renowned not only for his works of art and paintings he is also famous for perhaps being eccentric, insane and even demented. Blake often lived a life of poverty and had few patrons throughout his life and career. His work was heavily influenced by the ideas of good and evil and the Romantic poets. Blake was heavily influenced by Durer and Michelangelo and these influences can be seen throughout the apocalyptic scenes he created throughout his career as well as his attempts at light and texture. Blake began his career as an engraver and was trained at the Royal Academy were he rejected his teachings and left under the thought that the intellectual atmosphere was to stifling.

His illustrations often depict an acute interest in the medieval art and the human anatomy. He often tapped into his broad imagination to create visions of wild creatures and demons perhaps of the spiritual realm.  In 1821 finished his work on the Book of Job in 1825, commissioned by his last patron John Linnell of which I will be focusing. Specifically Satan Smiting Job with Boils. The text attached to the image reads “Naked came I out of my mothers womb & Naked shall I return thither The Lord gave & the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord....and smote Job with sore Boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head”. In the story of Job God allows Satan to strike Job with a variety of afflictions to prove that Job loves God most of all and will not curse His name. And through all of the terrible things God allows to happen to Job he does not curse Gods name or turn away from him even though his life is shattered and broken and he wants to die.

The image depicted by Blake is one in which Job is being inflicted with boils by Satan himself who has red bat wings and appears to be almost casting a spell on Job who he consequently is standing on his chest which in my opinion is an accurate metaphor and great depiction of oppression. Blake used a lot of symbolism in his work one of the most notable instances is in the use of right and left limbs in figures to represent good on the right limbs of figures and evil on the left. In the image of Satan Smiting Job with Boils Satan is striking him with his left hand. This is happening through a jar of some type and pouring out onto job in what looks like wind almost blowing onto him. On the left a white figure is weeping this may be God looking on or Job himself mourning about his misfortune. The image is very saturated in color and used a lot of texture. The works of Blake appear to me to reflect Romanticism and show a true escapist look by being very inwardly focused and show Blake's own emotional fantastic and novelistic approach. Blake's Satan Smiting Job with Boils being an excellent example of this.

Merriman, C. D. "William Blake." - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss. Jalic Inc., 2006. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/blake/>.

"Illustrations to the Book of Job, the Butts Set." Illustrations to the Book of Job (c. 1805-06 and C. 1821-27 C. 1805-06 (objects 1-16, 18-19, 21) and C. 1821-27 (objects 17, 20) ): Electronic Edition. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=but550>.

"Exhibitions | Past." The Morgan Library & Museum. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exhibition.asp?id=23>.

Week Eight: Post #7 (Baroque Art)

Caravaggio’s painting inspired a new style of painting throughout Europe in the seventeenth century. His personal touch on the new Baroque style of painting inspired painters in both southern and northern Europe in the seventeenth century. One painter in particular from Spain is Francisco de Zurbaran. His St. Serapion is an amazing example of Caravaggio’s influence. In St. Serapion first on foremost one must note the use of tenebrism the strong light and dark contrast in the figure and also more specifically in the deference between background and foreground. Through the use of tenebrism the figure is brought forward into a place of prominence the viewer is forced to face the subject and the scene at hand with no other visual elements to force the eyes attention. The use of the color red must also be noted in this painting. Red was often used by Caravaggio to set an intense mood and tone is this is also the case with the red emblem in the St. Serapion painting. Interest in naturalism was a strong part of the Baroque style as well as part of Caravaggio’s interest and this can be seen in the positioning of the figure and the realistic way in which both the hands hang from the ropes and the way that the fabric is draped and bunching up on the figure. The figure looks like a Spanish man and is therefore is not an idealized depiction of a man.

Another painter from a different part of Europe who was also clearly influenced by the painting of Caravaggio is Hendrick ter Brugghen of the Netherlands. Caravaggio’s influence can be easily seen in the painting St. Sebastian Tended by St. Irene. One of the first and most obvious signs of Caravaggio’s influence again is the use of tenebrism however in this painting there is a background. A distant sunset is visible as well as a large gloomy looking tree behind the figures. The figure in the foregrounds hand and body down to the tip of his toes in the bottom corner of the composition strongly reference the use of hard diagonals as did Caravaggio’s work and the Baroque style. This piece also has a strong use of naturalism that can be seen on the faces of the women the color of the figures skin as well as the blood running from the wounds and the way the figures skin is bunched up were it is bound. Caravaggio was very interested in dirty gritty and raw naturalism that could be seen on the grungy figures and dirty appendages in his paintings.

Both of these painting feature a high sense of drama and emotion that is accentuated through the use of tenebrism and the way the paintings show of a moment that is happening currently or just about to take place. Both painters still hold true to some classical styles and subject matter but the influence of Caravaggio is very strong in both paintings and they show that his influence was carried all over Europe throughout this period of art.

Week Six: Post #6 (16th Century Art in Northern Europe)

Albrect Dürer represents the Northern Renaissance and a major change in the school of thought and the way that paintings in the north were produced, after his paintings. He was one of the first artists to really harness the power of the printing press and is known for his wood block prints some of which are great examples of the way he was influenced by his trip to Italy. A great example of this would be Adam and Eve. He was also considered to be one of the first graphic artists as well as one of the first artists to brand himself with a logo. His logo, an upper case A, over and housing an upper case D for Albrect Dürer essentially created a brand. Albrect Dürer was a prolific painter who took important aspects from the earlier school of northern European traditions and blended them with techniques of the Italian Renaissance. 

 The piece that I have chosen to represent Albrect Dürer’s shift in style and technique I have chosen is The Suicide of Lucrezia painted in 1518. This painting depicts a female figure apparently Lucrezia who is nude covered only by some type of cloth sash and is committing suicide with a long knife or sword. The background is extremely dark and ominous perhaps setting a graven mood. While the foreground of the image is very light, there seems to be a very strong light source coming from out of the panel on the viewers left.

First off the figure is nude. This fact is a great example of his Italian influence this was not a Northern way of depicting a figure especially a female. This picture seems to be very humanist and shows a strong interest in the human figure as a subject that is worthy of high artistic attention and admiration. In my opinion the figure appears to be very bottom heavy and could be influenced by the Italian style of elongating and exaggerating the figure. There is a definite strong reference to the human figure as something to be idealized. The figure is also standing in a contrapposto pose and the composition is shaded very dark to light using the chiaroscuro technique which is a technique of the high Italian Renaissance. There is also some subtle attempt at foreshortening in the hand holding the sword and some of the fabric that is draped around the composition.

As far as the continuation of Northern traditions there appears to be symbolism in the subject matter itself and perhaps in the way the face is portrayed almost child like on the woman’s body. The interest in naturalism is seen in the way that the light is cast on the subject and the elements of the room. There also seems to be a continuation in extreme attention to detail in the shading, the floor, the perspective of the bed and background images. Albrect Dürer is a wonderful example of someone who furthered art in the North by applying things he had seen and learned from the Italians while continuing in the great traditions of the North with amazing attention to detail, naturalism and the use of iconography and symbolism.

Week Five: Post #5 (Late Renaissance/ Mannerism)

Two works of art from the Mannerist style I have chosen to compare are Pontormo’s Entombment (p. 661) and Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck (p. 662). Both of these works are great examples of the Mannerist style for a variety of diverse reasons they also share many key stylistic elements from the period. Both paintings were created within about twenty years of each other in the early to mid fifteenth century. Both works of art leave the viewer with unsettling feelings that perhaps the things that are included are exaggerated and as well as the since that some things may be missing from the composition.

In Pontormo’s Entombment the colors used are almost electric and do not seem to be an attempt at being realistic at all. Jesus and the other figures appear to be a strange mix of yellow and grey hues while the figure holding up the body of Christ is some type of strange Neon yellow. The figures in the composition are strangely distorted. Elongated and heavy in places while very delicate in others, their bodies are strangely twisted and contorted as well. There is a shallow depth in the composition but no real calculated use of perspective as was popular in the high Italian Renaissance. The figures also seem to be floating in mid air stacked on top of one another. These are all examples of elements that represent the Mannerist style, most of which are present as well in Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck.

Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck also has an extremely shallow depth of field as well as figures that are distorted in strange and un-human like ways. The Virgin's body for example seems to be very out of proportion between the top and bottom of her body. She also seems to be impossibly perched upon a thrown that does not exist. There is also a figure St. Jerome, holding a scroll in the bottom right of the composition placed almost only to balance the composition in my opinion. St. Jerome is standing in front of a pole that holds up nothing in front of a missing throne, great examples of an irrational distorted environment.

As far as subject matter is concerned both compositions include depictions of what appears to be Christ dead. In Madonna with the Long Neck Christ appears to be dead as a child which may be a foreshadowing while in Entombment Christ is being carried to the tomb. The background of both images seem to be very dark and heavy perhaps trying to creating a sense of sadness and mourning. Both compositions have a group of figures staring at Christ and the Virgin Mary.

In conclusion these are literally textbook examples of the mannerist style both portraying Christ and the Virgin Mary in mourning. Both also have contorted figures in proportions and the way their bodies are moving, an exaggerated color palette, and strange unsettling composition that defies physics and reality. Therefore both Pontormo’s Entombment and Parmigianino’s Madonna with the Long Neck are excellent examples of the Mannerist style of Italian Renaissance Art.