The Rococo period was a time of fete galante, which centered around figures having little to no action is works of art. This genre was very common during the Rococo period, since it was tailored to the aristocracy who were paying for these works of art. Fete galante creates a sense of intimacy not only with the figures in the paintings, but also with viewers seeing this painting. La Perspective exemplifies this sense of intimacy.
The figures in La Perspective seem to be set in a personal garden or a public park. Off in the center background lies an architectural element. The building looks classical in design, in that the artists incorporated columns that flow upwards into arches, and a pediment rests firmly on top of the structure. If a viewer gazes closely at the pediment it seems to be decorated with reliefs. This use of a classical structure in a park is similar to the Park at Stourhead in England. However, Watteau cut off the view of this structure with trees that seem to enclose and frame the portrait. These trees act as a theatrical background to draw the eye towards the building in the background for a sense of intimacy. This limits the composition further, because Watteau painted La Perspective on a smaller canvas. In order to see many of the details with the figures and the architectural elements, viewers need to get closer to the work of art. This small size again creates a sense of intimacy with the viewers. There is however, a sense of realism with the figures' stature in comparison to the setting. Watteau employed linear perspective, which is gives the illusion of depth and distance within a painting. For instance, the figures in the foreground are larger than those in the midground walking towards...
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...round indicate that Watteau used looser brushwork. The figures cast in shadows also showcase his looser brushwork. However, natural light peeks through from a hole in the trees to brighten up this composition, and the light focuses on the center of the work. This draws the viewer's eye, and it makes the middle the most important. Some of the figures however, such as the brightest two women and a man are cast in brighter colors such as blue and pink. This use of color with figures is similar to Watteau's Pilgrimage to Cythera. Watteau cast the rest of the painting using a technique called tenebrism, which uses intense contrasts between light and dark areas. The use of contrast in La Perspective is similar to Caravaggio's Night Watch, since the light shines on the center of the composition. This brings drama to the intimate setting with the use of oil paints.
By paying attention to elements such as subject matter, light, form, and placement of figures, we can see how these enhance the ideals depicted by each form of art. As a result, we can understand how Neo-Classical art is an attempt to counter the values of Rococo. Rococo is a form of art directly targeted to the privileged. Because not everyone in society belongs to the aristocracy, the Neo-Classicist wanted to impose order as an alternative to the frivolous life style. As a result, we have to works of art that challenge each other’s ideals. The theme of infidelity versus loyalty and how one arrives at the decision made is animated in the works of Fragonard and David. However, it is important to note that there is no right or wrong form of art, although it may seem that this was the common perception of the time. In conclusion, both works of are similar in one important aspect; they are both works of art.
In the Wood’s painting, it shows a wider scale of the town while in the N.C. Wyeth’s illustration it shows a close up of Paul Revere galloping by on a horse alarming the people in the
Eric Fishl’s Scarsdale is a painting that is done on three canvases. When placed together, they appear to make one whole picture. The focal point of the painting is the woman, dressed in a white gown and veil. It appears that she is wearing a wedding dress, since the dress is white and includes a veil. To the left is a cat and to the right is a dog. The woman represents the focal point, not only because she is the largest figure in the painting, but also because everything else is slightly in darkness. Fischl’s cat and dog can only be made out if one looks at the painting carefully. Fischl also paints the woman so that she almost appears to be floating in air. One can see that she is sitting on a chair, but the dog is directly under her, and he does not really use perspective to make it clear that the woman is not floating in midair.
Fragonard was a product of the late Rococo period in the early eighteenth century a period that consisted of pastoral images of both men and women participating in games, having lunch together or a passionate scene between two people. Rococo created for the rich of France, consisted mainly of two types gallant and libertines. Fragonard’s paintings were mostly gallant which represented love as a playful game. This can be seen in his two paintings Blindmans Buff (fig. 1) and The Swing (fig. 2). These included interactions with figures in the paintings that suggested courtship; in this case it would be the pastel colors that he used which created a more playful look for the figures. In his 1775 version of The Swing (fig. 2) Fragonard presented a vision of nature and shows tremendous growth from his previous work painted during his second trip to Italy. This version is less erotic compared to his previous version of The Swing (fig. 3). The Swing (fig. 2) bares many similarities to some of his other works none more than Blindmans Buff (fig. 1) that was painted at the same time as The Swing. Both paintings shared various similarities and featured playful scenes of love.
A distinction of colors exists within the painting: there is dreary dark blue background contrasted by the intense shades of red and white worn by the figures. A specific example of this the women flanking the Virgin Mary. The woman to the right of Mary attracts the most light and is the brightest in color. The Virgin Mary herself is dark, dull, and shadowed. The woman behind Mary, similar to the other woman, is wearing red and bright. In reality, the lighting of these figures do not make logical sense. If Rosso’s mission was the depict reality than the women would be shaded evenly from light to dark. Due to the overall lack of a single swath of colors, the eye is forced to look all over the painting rather than focus on one main
There is a lot of repetition of the vertical lines of the forest in the background of the painting, these vertical lines draw the eye up into the clouds and the sky. These repeated vertical lines contrast harshly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, is quite static and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have quite a lot of depth. This static effect is made up for in the immaculate amount of d...
Georges Seurat used the pointillism approach and the use of color to make his painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, be as lifelike as possible. Seurat worked two years on this painting, preparing it woth at least twenty drawings and forty color sketched. In these preliminary drawings he analyzed, in detail every color relationship and every aspect of pictorial space. La Grande Jatte was like an experiment that involved perspective depth, the broad landscape planes of color and light, and the way shadows were used. Everything tends to come back to the surface of the picture, to emphasize and reiterate the two dimensional plane of which it was painted on. Also important worth mentioning is the way Seurat used and created the figures in the painting.
oco period took place during the first half of the 18th century across Europe. The Rococo style of art is erotic, sexual, and uses escapism. Escapism means that the art is not meant to be serious. Several popular themes arose during the Rococo period such as affection, love, and flowers. The Neoclassical period was a time of Enlightenment. Inspiring artists of the time were encouraged to take a grand tour before they went on to become famous artists. The grand tour is when these artists would travel to various places such as Rome to observe the techniques used in famous paintings and architecture. Both the Rococo and Neoclassical eras would lead up to a new construction of government.
the brief Rococo period which featured more delicate and playful forms, artists were looking to
...technique of fluid in the brush strokes, which lead to an impression of blurry. The spots of soft color combine with the color of the figures, which shows bright light of beams through the trees. He blends colors in the background that appear to be people dancing. The lack of outlines is a traditional Impressionist technique.
...thin this painting is appealing to the eye. With regards to linear perspective, this painting has a diagonal in which the figures line up and converge to one point.
“Picasso painted from a model who sat in front of him, facing him”. Thus, you are “in the position of the artist”. The unique element of the painting is that use of cubism, which allows for the painting to carry a form of mystery behind it, as it does not simply give you the image, rather, it provides the elements of a complete composition that then the viewer must piece together. What the image truly shows us, however, is that of a naked female playing a mandolin with us as the viewer able to see the profile of her face looking down towards the strings of the mandolin, while her body faces towards the viewer, giving a good usage of twisted perspective. “The colors in this painting are shades of light brown, tan, yellow, and olive green. They all seem close to each in color, and they are all muted or dull” with “no bright color standing out. These factors make the entire surface of the painting appear unified in color.” Thus turning the piece into more of a puzzle that the viewer mush piece together rather than merely a painting one could simply
The painting has an order and there are different shapes and angles. Rectangular shape is main trend around this piece, including the wooden chest, the leg rest and the canvass. Also things overlap, creating the illusion of the shape look closer to viewer than the shape behind it. The example in this piece would be the chair on which Adelaide Labille Guiard sits be close to viewer than the girls behind it. This adds depth to the space. Also due to linear perspective girls behind the chair are smaller due to being farther away.
Additionally, the styles changed; from Rococo, which was meant to represent the aristocratic power and the “style that (…) and ignored the lower classes” (Cullen), to Neoclassicism, which had a special emphasis on the Roman civilization’s virtues, and also to Romanticism, which performs a celebration of the individual and of freedom. Obviously, also the subject matter that inspired the paintings has changed as wel...
Art transcends language, and provides a depiction of cultural ideologies, fashion, and ideals in a way texts from the time period can not. Rococo, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism were all indicators of a changing time in which economics, politics, and culture were altered. The transition between each gauges the severity of the change depending on how extremely each differs from its predecessor. While the most extreme occurred between the Rococo movement and the Neoclassical, the transition between the Neoclassicism and Romanticism signified a less severe but still influential change in society. A document from a citizen criticizing art during the time of both the Romantic movement and Neoclassical movement would aid in describing public opinion of the two, and the change in popularity dependent on the classes or perception of the time period. Another document from a commoner on nationalism may have also expanded the perspective of how nationalism was prominent during the time, and how this was reflected in art. All of the movements continue to influence modern art. Rococo inspires artists in depicting the wealth gap, Neoclassicism continues to be used in architecture especially relating to government buildings, and principles of Romanticism are still used in idealized landscape paintings or other imaginative