Rembrandt’s Clever Devices in Illustrating a Biblical Story
The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife is told in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, Chapter 39. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and bought by Potiphar, a high-ranking official in the Pharaoh's service. The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar and before long Joseph was given the highest position in the household, and left in charge when Potiphar was away. Now Potiphar's wife found Joseph to be very good looking and had approached him several times saying "come to bed with me." Joseph being a man of God would not sin against his master or the Lord, so he refused her. One day when all the servants were gone, Joseph entered the house and Potiphar's wife approached him and while holding on to his cloak and asked again for him to come to bed with her. Joseph refused and left the house leaving his cloak behind. Potiphar' Wife screamed for help saying that Joseph had attacked and tried to sleep with her. When her husband came home she told him the same false story. Potiphar was so angry with Joseph he had him locked up in Pharaoh's prison. "But while Joseph was in the prison, the Lord was with him." This is the subject matter for which Rembrandt choose to do his representational painting by. The content of the painting all reveals Rembrandt's interpretation of the story.
Rembrandt Van Ryn chose this particular story as the subject of his narrative painting completed in 1655, under the title of "Joseph Accused By Potiphar's Wife".
After conducting research, my first perceptions about the value, or relative degree of lightness or darkness, in the painting did not change, but instead I learned that Rembrandt's use of light and dark was both purposeful and a technique well-known to the artists of his time. When I first observed this painting, I thought how dark everything seemed. The only exceptions to the darkness are the bed and Potiphar's wife, both of which are flooded in light almost as if a spotlight were thrown on her and the bed. Some light shines on Joseph's face and from behind him like a halo around his body, but this light is very dim.
Looking across the entire triptych certain visual elements can be seen. Lighting is carefully used to highlight many important details in the painting; the dramatic facial expressions of many of the people in this scene are clearly lighted and defined to illustrate the emotions felt by the witnesses. In the left panel of The Raising of the Cross, among the mourners appear to be St. John, another man that seems to be consoling St. John, Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist), St. Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Mary Magdalene (hoocher.com). One of the mourners is actually looking directly at the viewer with a very distraught expression on her face. The mourner that I suspect is St. John in the back appears to be almost nauseous and his face is surrounded by darkness and is subordinate and his face is being emphasized. Also, the rocky background is subordin...
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
An artwork will consist of different elements that artists bring together to create different forms of art from paintings, sculptures, movies and more. These elements make up what a viewer sees and to help them understand. In the painting Twilight in the Wilderness created by Frederic Edwin Church in 1860 on page 106, a landscape depicting a sun setting behind rows of mountains is seen. In this painting, Church used specific elements to draw the viewer’s attention directly to the middle of the painting that consisted of the sun. Church primarily uses contrast to attract attention, but it is the different aspects of contrast that he uses that makes the painting come together. In Twilight in the Wilderness, Church uses color, rhythm, and focal
"Autism: Why Do More Boys Than Girls Develop It? " The National Autistic Society, 27 Feb 2014. Web. 20 Mar 2014. .
You can read his story in Genesis, Chapters 37-50. The first note of him concerns his ability to dream and interpret dreams. Joseph was a dreamer and he had a dream. His dream took at least two forms. In one version of his dream he was a sheave of wheat and his family were also sheaves of wheat that had been gathered at harvest and were waiting to be carried in to be stored. In Joseph’s dream, all the other bundles of wheat bowed down to his. In another version of his dream he was a star. Again, his family were also stars and heavenly bodies. Again, all the other stars and heavenly bodies bowed down to his star in his dream.
It is unknown exactly what causes autism, but it is a biological problem and a
In an empty room at the Timken Museum of Art hangs one of the most iconic paintings of Johannes Vermeer, the astonishing painting, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. In the painting a pale woman’s stands patiently while reading a letter. The woman appears to be wearing a blue jacket and a long gray skirt, and only gazing at the letter, ignoring all of her surroundings. The top right of the painting seems to be a map of the Netherlands, which attracts the viewer because it explains the setting of where the painting took place. The blue jacket around the woman’s torso appears to exaggerate the woman’s stomach, giving the impression that she might be pregnant. The blue chairs resemble a sign of absence as if she lives alone. The light on the top left shines on her face which enhances the viewer’s view of the woman’s facial expression. Johannes Vermeer’s interpretation of complex colors, the light, and her body language inflicts a persuasion on the viewer that the women is traumatized by the news in the letter.
A study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, presents completing evidence which proposes that in order for females to develop neurodevelopment disorders, and more extreme genetic mutation in the genome would have to occur, whilst males do not need such an extreme mutation to occur to develop neurodevelopment disorders. The process which occurs is known as the Female Protective Model. The study identified that females diagnosed have an excess of deleterious autosomal copy-number variants or CNVs, and private deleterious single-nucleotide variants, or SNVs, then males also diagnosed (Jacquemont et al, 2014). Supporting, that female brains require a more extreme genetic mutation, then males, for Autism to occur, which takes the focus from X chromosome for genetic basis, instead it is a difference in the genome (Autism Speaks, 2014)...
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
Studies have shown that Autism is more prevalent in boy than in girls, with a male to female ratio of 3:1 (Muhle et al., 2004). It is unclear why exactly autism tends to develop in males rather than females, but the fact that males are more statistically prone to develop Autism, suggests that the genes associated with the sex X chromosome may ...
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
This is issue is huge among numerous people. Even if someone is not smoking, being in the presence of someone who is smoking could impact the non-smokers health. The use of tobacco can cause around eleven different types of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, cancer of the throat, and leukemia (“Smoking and Health Problems”). “If you are a regular smoker, you are 250 times more likely to killed by its effects before you are 65 than you are to be murdered” (Ward 17). Almost instantly after the intake of smoke from a cigarette, the teeth are left with a film changing then to a dingy, dirty color. Opposite from a short-term effect, an endless repercussion of inhaling tobacco is the thick, dark tar it leaves behind in person’s lungs after each use of a cigarette (Beil). Altogether, smoking is unhealthy and can cause many health issues, if a person knew about all the effects of tobacco and smoking, they may change their mind about picking up their next ci...
...dition, fossil fuels not only unleash carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but also is harmful to human when exposed for a long period of time, new energy resources would be needed to replace it such as, wind turbans, biomass energy, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, and hydroelectric energy (Alternative Energy).
There is a substantial amount of evidence that also points to a genetic origin of autism. Studies with monozygotic twins suggest that autism, or at least an autistic-like disorder, is inherited. There is also strong evidence of the Fragile X Syndrome as being extremely associated with infantile autism. Also, a nearly four to one ratio of autistic boys to girls points to a sex-linked inheritance. It is the convention that genetic predisposition at least, is evident in many cases. Siblings are 50 to 100 times as likely to illustrate autistic symptoms than non-sibling relatives. The search for the genetic marker, or markers, as the case may be, is fast and furious at present. Many avenues are being pursued in many different directions. Perhaps history will repeat itself and someone will stumble across the answer to this puzzling disease.
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)