Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker was created in 1880 with an original size of about 70 cm high. When it was created, Rodin used to call it The Poet and it was designed to be put on The Gates of Hell, another of Rodin’s work. This sculpture is an enlarged replica created in 1903 located on the Fine Arts Museum of Montreal, and the original sculpture is located on Paris in the museum of Rodin. It was created with patinated plaster for bronze casting.
The pose recalls the seated portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici by Michelangelo. The Thinker was concieved as a tortured being confronting a dilemma, a damned soul, but a free spirit, determined to solve his suffering with poetry. It symbolizes the university of reason and the links between mind and body.
...is the focal point with the orthogonal of the gestures of the apostles lining up towards it. Masaccio makes good use of chiaroscuro, since his figures have soft, round edges and their bodies are apparent under their drapery. The drapery shows creases and edges which allow for that to happen. Masaccio also employs directed lighting in which the sun comes from the right and all the figures’ shadows are to the left, which is what would happen in real life. Furthermore, Masaccio uses soft, subdued colors, such as green, blue, and pink. The mood of Massacio’s painting is static with all the figures standing in contrapposto with their one knee sticking out and the individuals in Classical and naturalistic proportions. Masaccio placed his scene in the recognizable Arno Valley. Also, Masaccio’s story has no disguised symbolism and rather depicts a straightforward story.
...tism. The dove which has been tactfully placed above the Christ’s head, symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The other characters are angels who believed to be witnessing the baptism. The nakedness of the Christ on the other hand symbolizes humility. The general landscape in this picture displays an extraordinary naturalism. The Francesca’s work also marked the era of excessive antiquarian style of sculpturing and tactful use of oil in painting (Prescott, 2005).
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...
Gregory Vlastos commented in his book Socrates: The Ironist and Moral Philosopher, “Such is his strangeness that you will search and search among those living now and among men of the past, and never come close to what he is himself and to the things he says.” (Vlastos). Gregory makes an important point; although studying Plato gives us a glimpse of Socrates, it only gives a glimpse of him through Plato’s eyes. We can study this text and others and never understand exactly who this man is. Even if we had writings of Socrates’s own hands it would be difficult to understand this complicated man. On the other hand the writings we do have, including the
Thus, he created forceful, dynamic figures, almost separated from the outside world. By nature, Michelangelo appeared arrogant, dissatisfied, and melancholy [5]. This mood typically shines through his works—solitary bodies, somber faces, relaxed postures. By withdrawing himself from the company of men, he managed to focus more on the individualistic, masculine qualities of his sculptures. For example, David’s body—standing in a nude contrapposto—refers to images of classical antiquity (i.e. Hercules). The figure’s right leg assumes the majority of the weight, allowing the rest of the body to freely engage in something more complex. The right hand, gripping the stone, appears to tense; and his eyes dart left, suggesting sight of the beast, Goliath, to which the body follows the direction of the head and swerves around. Michelangelo demonstrates immense knowledge of the human body and its measures—the muscles, skeletal structure—that were previously unknown [6]. For years, in fact, he dissected human bodies to comprehend their internal mechanics: “There is no animal whose anatomy he would not dissect and he worked on so many human anatomies that those who have spent their lives at it and made it their profession hardly knows as much as he does,” [7]. The
Michelangelo hovered around the couch where April lay, perched like a crouching lemur over the back as anxiety tightened his brow. Restlessness bit at his heels, and it kept him fidgeting on his feet. April's tossing did not help. If only he could read minds! Then, perhaps, he could do more for her . . .
The School of Athens (Figure 1) is a fresco painting–a painting done in sections in the fresh plaster–on one of the four walls of the room, the Stanza della Segnatura this room is designated as papal library in the Vatican palace. In this image Raphael represents pictorially the intellectual activity of philosophy. He chooses to represent philosophy by depicting a large number of philosophers in the midst of their activities. The fifty-eight figures who occupy the grandiose architectural space are depicted in the midst of their activity: they are questioning, arguing, demonstrating, reading, and writing. Each figure is characterized so that it is not a mere compositional device, but a shorthand statement of the figure represented (Murray, 62). Raphael rendered the faces of the philosophers from classical statues if known, or else used his own contemporaries for models (Haas, 8)
The artists of the Baroque had a remarkably different style than artists of the Renaissance due to their different approach to form, space, and composition. This extreme differentiation in style resulted in a very different treatment of narrative. Perhaps this drastic stylistic difference between the Renaissance and Baroque in their treatment of form, space, and composition and how these characteristics effect the narrative of a painting cannot be seen more than in comparing Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter from the Early Renaissance to Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul from the Baroque.Perugino was one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance whose style ischaracterized by the Renaissance ideals of purity, simplicity, and exceptional symmetry of composition. His approach to form in Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St.Peter was very linear. He outlined all the figures with a black line giving them a sense of stability, permanence, and power in their environment, but restricting the figures’ sense of movement. In fact, the figures seem to not move at all, but rather are merely locked at a specific moment in time by their rigid outline. Perugino’s approach to the figures’themselves is extremely humanistic and classical. He shines light on the figures in a clear, even way, keeping with the rational and uncluttered meaning of the work. His figures are all locked in a contrapposto pose engaging in intellectual conversation with their neighbor, giving a strong sense of classical rationality. The figures are repeated over and over such as this to convey a rational response and to show the viewer clarity. Perugino’s approach to space was also very rational and simple. He organizes space along three simple planes: foreground, middle ground, and background. Christ and Saint Peter occupy the center foreground and solemn choruses of saints and citizens occupy the rest of the foreground. The middle distance is filled with miscellaneous figures, which complement the front group, emphasizing its density and order, by their scattered arrangement. Buildings from the Renaissance and triumphal arches from Roman antiquity occupy the background, reinforcing the overall classical message to the
Upon traveling to Rome, Goethe was stuck by the sculpture, Medusa Rondanini, while at an exhibit in Palazzo Rondanini. The sculptor depicts Perseus in a heroic stance holding Medusa’s head. His fascination with the tensions revealed in a cast of the Medusa Rondanini can be seen in the “Tod und Leben” . The paint shows the death of those trying to hold on to their humanistic nature, similarly, it is the ‘contest between life and death, between pain and rapture, exercises, like some great problem’ that draws Goethe’s attention when he views the
French sculptor Auguste Rodin was born in Paris in 1840. Rodin is considered the forerunner of modern sculpting; however, he was trained in traditional art styles, and never set out to become a prominent modern sculptor. There has been much debate on the modernism of Rodin’s art. While painting was becoming a more modern art, sculpting was lagging behind; however, Rodin was one of the only sculptors who was considered to be intriguing. In 1875, Rodin traveled to Italy in order to examine closely the work of Michelangelo. The work of Michelangelo would have a large impact on the works that Rodin would produce after 1875; one of the first and most notable works for Rodin was The Age of Bronze. Rodin was able to be a catalyst for modernizing sculpting
This sculpture seems to epitomize the ideal male human form. All of the body parts seem perfectly proportioned and the muscles are beautifully defined as if the image were of an athlete. The image is youthful with a calm demeanor. The right missing forearm looks as if it used to be resting at his side, while the left elbow was probably at a 90 degree angle, with the hand holding something. The slight bend in the left leg gives the impression of movement, as if the image was frozen while walking. The counterpoised stance adds an air of nobility to the "man".
During his stay in the palace, Michelangelo learned from and was inspired by the scholars and writers of Lorenzo’s acquaintances. His later work would forever be influenced by what he learned about philosophy and politics throughout those years. While staying in the Medici home, he refined his technique under the guidance of Bertoldo di Giovanni, keeper of Lorenzo’s collection of ancient Roman sculptures and a sculp...
This is the painting that will settle the battle between the Prior and Fra Lippo Lippi’s difference of opinion on the role of the artist and of art. The Prior will be happy to see the soul and Fra Lippo will be happy to be present in the painting; the body and soul together.
The drawing/sketch is so attractive to me because unlike the The Three Labors of Hercules, it allows me to understand a portion of Michelangelo's thought process. The piece is the Studies for the Libyan Sibyl is 11 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (28.9 x 21.4 cm) on sheet (see page.7).5 This was Michelangelo’s draft for the “monumental enthroned female figure painted in fresco on the northeast end of the Sistine Ceiling.”6 This piece by Michelangelo is so instructive. At first glance I thought the figure was female but due to musculature I realized that Michelangelo must have used a male assistant. Michelangelo is such a genius because using a male model to portray a female is a task that requires extreme knowledge of the human body. You can see the fresco on page.8 for comparison. The way he turned his male sketch into a female for the final piece left me in awe. Instead of removing all of the musculature, he toned down the veracity of the muscles by using lighter paint. Although that aspect of the sketch is incredible, the reason I love this work so much is his study of the hands. I couldn’t believe that putting my own hands in those positions was possible, but I tried it anyways and to my surprise, I was able to match the sketch. His use of white chalk to bring the left shoulder, and the nearest parts of the hand forward is so masterful. Even the MET admitted
...r pure philosophy. It is anecdote - it is a memento of someone. In that sense perhaps every Transfiguration performance here is a form of self-portrait, but Sagazan complicates this dynamic by also transforming himself into the subject. He impersonates the primitive in his work, and therefore becomes Bacon’s subject as well as his own. He is the subject, object, and history of portrait painting all in one.