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Portraiture in the Renaissance topic
The role of portraiture throughout history
Portraiture in the Renaissance topic
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Rembrandt Van Rijn
The renowned Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt Van Rijn was born in the Netherlands in 1606. Schooling in his earlier years consisted of biblical study classes which shows in many of his religion-inspired paintings. Rembrandt may or may not have completed his courses at the Latin School in Leiden because it is rumored that he left the school to train to be a painter. His first training occurred around the time of 1620 to 1625, when he shadowed Jacob van Swanenburgh and Pieter Lastman. Both of these teachers helped Rembrandt learn basic skills any artist would need to know along with increasing his interest in religious type paintings, which both master artists had strong interests in. In 1625, Rembrandt returned home
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This is when Rembrandt started creating large-scale works using his light and dark technique; an example of this is The Blinding of Samson and Danaë. Rembrandt made money by painting portraits. “Rembrandt produced much more energetic works than those created by the portrait artists so prevalent in Amsterdam at the time, and he received numerous commissions despite his questionable ability to capture the likeness of his subject.” [Biography.com Editors]. As a result of this, a fellow artist also based in Amsterdam, ridiculed his …show more content…
The dark to light fade of color in the background just makes me think of a dirty street side. The lady in the portrait seems to be wearing a somewhat tethered dress and no shoes. My interpretation of the scene also makes me lean toward the idea that she is sleeping on a staircase, supporting my idea that she is homeless. The dark blur in the middle of her curled body does throw me off though; what is this supposed to be? The lady’s arm fades under the object, giving the illusion that she may quite possibly be holding
Claude Monet played an essential role in a development of Impressionism. He created many paintings by capturing powerful art from the world around him. He was born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, France. Later, his family moved to Le Havre, Normandy, France because of his father’s business. Claude Monet did drawings of the nature of Normandy and time spent along the beaches and noticing the nature. As a child, his father had always wanted him to go into the family grocery business, but he was interested in becoming an artist. He was known by people for his charcoal caricatures, this way he made money by selling them by the age of 15. Moreover, Claude went to take drawing lessons with a local artist, but his career in painting had not begun yet. He met artist Eugène Boudin, who became his teacher and taught him to use oil paints. Claude Monet
The right side is almost purely white, with blue and gray shadows; the rest of the body is black, dark brown, and navy. The profile of a white woman obscures the left half of the black face, facing to the right of the piece; her hair is in a large braid and she wears a simple pearl earring. The black woman has long, flowing, bright blue hair, as well as full red lips. The black woman’s body has a rose over it, and the white woman is wearing what looks like a straw bikini; the figure is wrapped in a thick rope from the waist down. The stark contrast between the white and black meet with a definitive line; there is no blending between the two colors, which amplifies the feelings of separation and difference between the two halves of the woman’s
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands on March 30, 1853. He was born into a middle class family that sometimes struggled financially. His grandfather was a famous preacher and his father was a minister so religion was pretty important within his family. The other passion within the family was art. His mother was an artist and three of his uncles and later his brother were art dealers. He got his first job at age 15, at his uncle’s art dealership. The fact that Vincent’s family was struggling at this time gave him the responsibility to leave school and go to work. Despite his family 's misfortune, van Gogh was fluent in 4 languages and his concern with art and religion kept growing. At the age of 20, he was transferred to the Goupil Gallery in London. It was there that he fell in love with art and English culture. He visited galleries in his spare time and in many aspects increased his understanding as a whole. In this period of time he started to fall in love with a woman named Eugenie Loyer. Vincent was prepared to ask her to marry him, but Eugenie didn’t feel the same as he did so she rejected the proposal and this caused van Gogh to suffer a mental breakdown. In this time he turned to God and threw away all unnecessary possessions except for the bible. He was fired from the Gallery for telling the customers “not to buy the worthless art.” Vincent then started teaching at a Methodist school and preached on the side a little. This was the first time in his life where he started to contemplate becoming a minister. He studied for a year planing to take the entrance exam to become a minister at the School of Theology in Amsterdam. He was denied entrance after refusing to take the Latin exam calling it a “de...
Vincent Van Gogh is celebrated today as the greatest Dutch painter, besides Rembrandt (“Vincent Willem”). Born in Holland on March 30, 1853, Van Gogh had five other siblings and two parents, and although his mother was an artist, he never bothered with art until much later in his life (“Vincent Willem”). Van Gogh had many shortcomings in his little and dismal time on earth and it was not until his late twenties, after all else had failed, that he gave art a chance. Thanks to the help of his older brother Theo, Van Gogh was able to put all of his emotions and mental worries into productive use, creating masterpieces that are sold today for millions of dollars (“Vincent Willem”). Although he is hugely successful today, Van Gogh had little to no fame in his lifetime and he struggled immensely with his mental state of mind for many years. Ultimately his mental illness (some believe there were more than one) lead to his untimely death, but his turbulent state of mind also helped him to create magnificent images that are revered as some of the greatest pieces of art of today.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the rectory of Zundert in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch clergyman. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father, was the desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him ...
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606 in the then Dutch Republic but is now known as the Netherlands. He painted many portraits and many works, and sketches that express human emotion. The Stoning of St. Stephen is an exceptional depiction of human emotion. The expressions that Rembrandt painted onto the people stoning Stephen display human anger. The tragedies that he endured in life helped him display emotion because, “in life, Rembrandt had suffered more misfortune and falls than normal men, and he took it with the utmost nobility” (Thames 134). One paintin...
The painting that captivated my eyes was “La Buena Ventura”. As I was walking through the hallway my eyes were drawn to this beautiful young woman wearing a bluish greenish dress and what seems to be pink hearts. She is sitting down with a sad look on her face staring at her cards. I tried distinguishing the type of cards and to me they look a little like tarot cards. So I interpreted this as her not happy with what her fortune has in store for her. Maybe she is waiting for her love or she might have found out that tragedy is going to strike her way. I noticed the guitar at the far left corner so she could be a musician who is having a hard time making money. This oil painting is done so beautifully, the artist used a lot of texture and a mixture of dark colors to bring out the shadows and accentuate
The painting is organized simply. The background of the painting is painted in an Impressionist style. The blurring of edges, however, starkly contrasts with the sharp and hard contours of the figure in the foreground. The female figure is very sharp and clear compared to the background. The background paint is thick compared to the thin lines used to paint the figures in the foreground. The thick paint adds to the reduction of detail for the background. The colors used to paint the foreground figures are vibrant, as opposed to the whitened colors of the Impressionist background. The painting is mostly comprised of cool colors but there is a range of dark and light colors. The light colors are predominantly in the background and the darker colors are in the foreground. The vivid color of the robe contrasts with the muted colors of the background, resulting in an emphasis of the robe color. This emphasis leads the viewer's gaze to the focal part of the painting: the figures in the foreground. The female and baby in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The background was not painted as the artist saw it, but rather the impression t...
Leonardo never attended school but scholars believe that he may have been tutored. Leonardo was fortunate that he was born during the Renaissance because it was a time of many new inventions; new discoveries and several universities were created. At the age of 15, Leonardo was apprenticed, in Florence, Italy, to the Andrea del Verrochio workshop. Under the aid of Verrochio, Leonardo learned new painting techniques and how to create paint. He also learned how to cast bronze and how to make paint brushes. Leonardo also studied anatomy. Leonardo aided Verrochio in the artist’s projects. One painting in particular that Leonardo helped Verrochio paint is the “Baptism of Christ” in which Leonardo painted an angel. Leonardo painted the angel so well it is said that Verochio never painted again.
Van Gogh, being the son of a Lutheran minister, was very much drawn toward religion. Van Gogh decided to prepare himself for ministry by training in the study of theology. He failed at the courses and could not be the minister he hoped to become. Even though he failed the courses, he still had the desire to be a minister. His superiors sent him as a lay missionary to Belgium instead. There he wanted to be like his father and help out the unfortunates as a preacher. He tried to fight poverty through the teachings of Christ. Van Gogh's mission had to be discontinued. His approach to fighting poverty did not make his superiors happy. In 1879, he moved to his father's home in Ettan and stayed a while. He then left Ettan and went to The Hague.
Rembrandt was known for his expressive use of light and shadow in his paintings. His painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is an important example of medical progression. It is a group portrait of surgeons who are participating in a public dissection of a cadavers left arm being examined. The Netherlands in the 17th century was largely Protestant and art was no longer created for the Church. Artist look to merchants and professionals for patronage. During the Renaissance, artists explore the human body and then in Baroque era they begin somewhat a scientific exploration of the human body. Like Michelangelo, he dissected corpses in private so he can have a better understanding of the human
“In 1886 van Gogh went to Paris to live with his brother Theo van Gogh, an art dealer, and became familiar with the new art movements developing at the time. Influenced by the work of the impressionists and by the work of such Japanese printmakers as Hiroshige and Hokusai, van Gogh began to experiment with current techniques. Subsequently, he adopted the brilliant hues found in the painting of the French artists Camille Pissarro and Georges Seurat (http://sunsite.auc.dk/cgfa/gogh/gogh_bio.htm).
While a quick glance at the painting reveals a soft, gentle female form with a background of intriguing landscape, further study introduces an added layer of mystery. The way the woman glances slightly to the side as well as her small smile makes viewers feel that she knows some secret. Yet, at the same time, she appears to be a very kind, friendly and approachable.
She is dressed in very dull black colors from the neck down to her shoes that are out of view, wearing dull black buttons, dark gloves, a black cape to complement her already dark dress, and black ribbons on her dark hat that she’s placed on her lap. With the time period being in the 1800s, the expectations for women in mourning expected them to wear dark, non reflective material while wearing no jewelry at all. Her hair fixed down to her shoulder the way it is leads me to believe she is a younger lady, maybe 15 to 18 years of age because older women’s hair would be put up based on the time period. Placed to her right is a small double locked carpet bag with a flower image sewn on the outside of it. This suggest that she is either going to or coming back from a funeral not to far away and inside the bag are traveling clothes to keep the clean and well prepared. Her hand placement is critical to pay attention to as her right hand looks to not be at complete rest on her upper left forearm and her left hand is clutching a small case similar to the size of a glasses case (maybe a coin purse) and a white handkerchief that looks very wrinkled and
After months of meticulous research, Van Gogh attended his first art school in the fall of 1880. Here he learned more about the technical sides of art, such as perspective and anatomy. In 1882 after practicing the techniques he learned at his first school, Van Gogh attended another famous art school called the Hague. Van Gogh was influenced and motivated by his teacher, Anton Mauve, a great...