An Old Woman Cooking Eggs Analysis

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This paper will analyze and compare two paintings, one from the Baroque period against another from the Realism period. I will analyze and compare An Old Woman Cooking Eggs by Diego Velazquez of Spain, and The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet of France. An Old Woman Cooking Eggs was painted in 1618 and The Gleaners was created in 1857. Both paintings originated in Europe but over 200 years apart, and seem to have common characteristics. They show the same realistic views of everyday lives of people but in two different time periods of culture, social and moral values (nationalgalleries.com). The Spanish piece reflects Diego Velazquez’s life experience in the streets of Seville Spain while the French portrait reveals Jean-François Millet’s life growing up in a farming community. Both painters and paintings inspired by their upbringing symbolize everyday living by depicting different types of societies and visual elements of the period as portrayed on the work, and perhaps how it was viewed by society then and how the works are viewed by our society today. The similarity between Millet and Velazquez on their subjects are common: they both liked to paint the everyday life of ordinary people or peasants. Lastly, I will identify the similarities and differences between An Old Woman Cooking Eggs and The Gleaners. For purposes of this investigative essay, I will identify at least one similarity and one difference between the two works and explain their significance.

An Old Woman Cooking Eggs
The painting titled An Old Woman Cooking Eggs by Diego Velazquez represents a simple woman: The subject matter is during the Baroque period centered on religion. The Baroque period is the artistic style that spans from the 17th century u...

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...ements of the period as portrayed on the work, and perhaps how it was viewed by society then and how the works are viewed by our society today. The similarities between Millet and Velazquez on their subjects are common: they both liked to paint the everyday life of ordinary people.
Finally, both painters also had their differences, Velazquez liked to use dark colors to accentuate the subjects by painting them lighter using harmony and unity by aligning his subjects and pieces on canvas. Unlike Millet who painted his subjects dark with a light background to bring the meaning of suffering to his subjects and used contrasts and parallels to express his work. Both painters were inspirational with their work and painted beautiful paintings, although a bit similar and at the same time different in style, color and techniques, I like and prefer Diego Velazquez’s work.

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