¶ … Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy by Michael Baxandall. The paper presents the thesis of the book, evidence of the arguments put forward by the author to support his thesis, details of the structure of the book, and a critical analysis of the thesis put forward by Baxandall.
Baxandall's book is a classic of art history, which gives both an introduction to fifteenth century Italian painting, and also a discourse on how to interpret social history from the paintings of a particular era. The main thesis of the book is that the style of paintings in any particular era reflects the social life of the time. He argues that life is lent to the paintings by the assimilation of contemporary daily habits and fashions by their creators.
He argues, for example, that Renaissance painting became so vibrant at that time due to the expansion of other branches of the arts around at the time: for example, dance, literature, theatre, opera etc. This expansion in the arts gave inspiration to painters to take their art further, by introducing new techniques, and new ways of representing life in art, through developments in the use of perspective, relief etc.
He argues that artists were...
Painting Read Monet's the Stroll Monet Monet's the Stroll, Camille Monet Her Son Jean (Woman With a Parasol) This painting epitomizes the impressionistic style and artistic philosophy in a number of different ways. If one looks closely at the painting by Monet one can see that the foreground, the sky as well as the dress and parasol are created by many short strokes of opaque paint. This gives the impression of a moment captured
Paintings Both Salvador Dali and Raphael incorporated Christian imagery into their paintings. Raphael renders a scene from the life of Christ in "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints." The painting is rendered on wood, with oil and gold leaf. It was designed to be a panel installed in a church: meaning that the painting had a cultural, religious, and ritualistic context as opposed to being art for art's sake. In Dali's
Painting analysis of Jean Helion's 1948 painting "Grande Citrouillerie" (Big Pumpkin Event) Rather than a traditional harvest painting, as its title might suggest, "Grande Citrouillerie," or, in English translation the "Big Pumpkin Event," has the appearance of a poster or advertisement painted in an art deco fashion typical of the 19th century. The painting shows the form of a twisted, half cut open pumpkin with its inner seeds and hanging pulp
The black in the male cafe patrons' suits, renders an aura of sophistication. The combination of white and black grabs the eye and creates a sense of movement that corresponds with the lively dancing. Painted only 12 years later, Van Gogh's "Night Cafe" conveys a completely different cafe ambiance. Whereas Renoir's cafe is full of life and light, Van Gogh's is strikingly lonely, occupied by a few sullen drunks with
His work can be seen as fitting into a wider context of artists working to represent the France their generally well-off and comfortably middle-class and upper-class purchasers wanted to see and to believe in. The purchasers of Millet's works may never have visited the Normandy countryside for themselves, but they could share in its beauty and its spiritual and moral values through Millet's art and the art of other
Is this a simple soldier pulling away the cadavers of his companions or death itself taking away dear individuals into the unknown? Who is connecting the physical bodies with the symbolic meaning of the stripes painted with their blood? The characters in the background also play an important role in the creation of the painting. With their presence, they create an antithesis to the characters in the foreground. They are
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