The School of Athens by Raphael and Judith Decapitating Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artists have many motives of (as to) why they create pieces of art. ‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael and ‘Judith Decapitating Holofernes’ by Artemisia Gentileschi shows this. Raphael used a lot of patterns as well as people to show the intellectuality of Athens. Artemisia Gentileschi, on the other hand, depicted a scene from the Old Testament in her artwork.

Artemisia was born on July 8 of 1652 in Naples, Italy. She has been credited as one of the most famous female artists of the Baroque period. Her father, Orazio Gentileschi, helped her develop her skills as he was an artist as well. In her early life, she lost her mother at the age of twelve years of age, which may have led to her style of artwork. Another possible contributing factor is that she was raped by one of her father’s colleagues named Agastino Tassi. She married a Florence painter named Pietro Antonio di Vicenzo Stiattesi, and moved to Florence with him. Together, they had one female child. She befriended many artists, thinkers, and writers during her time, which included Galileo the astronomer. She was a female artist in a male dominated art world of her time, and succeeded at standing out.

Raphael Sanizo, usually known just by his first name, was born in 1483 in Urbino, Italy. He was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. He was celebreated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. He was very productive in his life, but had an early death at the age of thirty-seven years old, letting his rival Michelangelo take the reins on the art world. He is one of the great masters of his time. He died on March 28 of 1483 at the age of thirty-seven years old.

In ‘Judith Decapitating Holofernes’, the story being told is a story from th...

... middle of paper ...

...wards as the light were to be shining from above. Motion can be seen as people would be talking, writing, and thinking as scholars do. In ‘Judith Decapitating Holofernes’, the work almost looks life-like. There is a lot of detail and has an effectively used shadow usage. The blood that is gushing out of Holofernes neck represents stopped time.

There is effective repetition used in both pieces of artwork. In ‘Judith Decapitating Holofernes’ there are blood streaks running down the cloths underneath him representing a pattern. In ‘The School of Athens’, there are the usage of arch ways, patterns in the floor, and patterns in the ceilings and walls.

Works Cited

"Artemisia Gentileschi." 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 29 2014 http://www.raphaelsanzio.org/biography.html DeWitte, Debra J. et al. Gateways To Art. New York City, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2012. Print.