¶ … paintings by David and Raoux would have to begin by pointing out that, although both painters dealt with scenes from classical antiquity, they did so almost 100 years apart. As a result, each artist brought to whatever story he was illustrating the preferences and styles of his own generation, not to mention a hint at the political situation in which he found himself.
Raoux (born 1677, died 1734) lived during The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement associated with the 18th century. Paris was, along with London, a center for the growing belief that human reason "could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world." (WSU Web site) Particularly, the thinkers of The Enlightenment wanted to be free of the constraints of religion as practiced then, and of the domination of society by an hereditary aristocracy. (WSU Web site)
Raoux, in his painting Orpheus and Eurydice, painted in oils on canvas circa 1718-1720, was certainly aware of the movement. He chose as a subject not the aristocracy itself, perennially a favored subject in portraiture, nor a story from Scripture, but rather a mythic...
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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