Guernica by Pablo Picasso

In this work Pablo Picasso combined Synthetic and Analytic Cubism with several more traditional symbols. This stylistic choice reveals Picasso’s intense dislike for war and brutality. The painting was created in response to the bombing of the town Guernica during World War Two. The painting almost completely lacks all color, with variation solely in back, gray and white. The lack of color is in keeping with the theme of death and dying. The painting is divided into three sections. There is a central triangle with a rectangle like shape on either side of it. The bottom part of the triangle reaches from a dismembered and decapitated soldier to a woman running vainly. The horse, which is almost in the center of the picture, represents the death of civilization while Liberty, portrayed by a woman carrying a lamp, attempts to save it. Hope is seen in the combination of an eye shape with a sun directly above the dying horse. Religious motifs are seen in a woman dying at the far right in a gesture reminiscent of the crucifixion and a woman holding a dead baby in her lap in a pose reminiscent of the Madonna at the far left. A Minotaur is also depicted. The minotaur became the representation of modern tyranny for Picasso. Although the shapes are seemingly disconnected and varied they are all connected through the distorted cubist shapes. The sharp angles add to the sense of despair and brutality. The mutilation of the human form is shown both through slashed feet, eyes twisted out of their sockets and disfiguration into sharp, unrealistic shapes. The paintings use of cubism is ultimately used to portray the inhumanness of war and tyranny, its total alienation and disregard of human life.

Impression: Sunrise by Claude Monet

Claude Monet’s Impression: Sunrise captures the essence of the impressionist movement of the early nineteenth century. Monet was mainly a landscape painter who seriously studied light and color. He, along with other Impressionist painters, did the majority of his work outdoors. The term “Impressionism” was coined after a critic negatively reviewed Impression: Sunrise. The painting’s sketchily applied brush strokes and unfinished appearance, meant to translate the transient effect of nature’s perpetual shifting, was criticized and became some of the major characteristics of Impressionist paintings.  Monet used the “broken color” technique to show that the orange sun in “broken” into individual brushstrokes when reflected in the water. He uses this same technique to portray the silhouetted boat. The brush strokes appear to be hurried yet extremely deliberate. The shapes and colors meld together. Monet focuses far more on translating the effect of the scene rather than on accuracy. Unlike prior paintings, he is not attempting to make a copy of nature, but using it as inspiration. Monet’s obsession and intense love for nature and light is clear in Impression: Sunrise. The smoke rising from the ship pipes, the copper colored sky, and bright orange sun give the viewer a sense of the view. The shapes do not need to be exact, for the color shapes the form.

Time Smoking a Picture by William Hogarth

William Hogarth’s work focused on satirizing the fussiness, pretensions, and overly ornate esthetics of the Rococo period. His father spent three years in debtors prison after his Latin-speaking coffeehouse went bankrupt. This influenced his strong opposition to hypocrisy, social injustice, and academia. Rather than engage in the craze of copying the old masters, Hogarth developed his own unique style which was both humorous and critical. Time Smoking a Picture is a prime example of his desire to point out the ludicrous nature of Rococo trends. In the etching Time is blowing his smoke from his overly long pipe into a painting. This is a pun on “smoking” a picture to make it look older than it actually is. Time is sitting on a plaster cast with the head broken off. This is Hogarth’s way of showing his preference for simpler, minimalistic, modern design. The inscription at the bottom of the etching also supports Hogarth’s belief that people should look to nature and themselves rather than at the past to determine how they felt. Time’s scythe also rips through the canvas. At the top of the frame Hogarth inscribes in Greek “Time is not a clever craftsman, for he makes everything more obscure.” To the left is a jar of varnish, referencing the practice of varnishing to artificially age them. Time is depicted as a “fraudulent art dealer” whose desire for money drives him to destroy art in attempts to make a profit. This is indicated with the phrase in the right hand corner “As Statues moulder into Worth.”

Self Portrait as Saint Paul by Rembrandt van Rijn

Self Portrait as Saint Paul reflects the shifting attitude of the famed artist. He portrays himself as elderly and humble rather than as the successful, pompous bourgeoisie artist of his earlier years. The painting maintains the rich coloring and drama created by contrast in light that was typical of Rembrandt’s work; however, the painting has a more resigned air to it. Saint Paul’s sword, his traditional attribute, is barely visible. The worn book that Saint Paul is holding, on the other hand, is extremely dominant. Rembrandt intentionally places the viewer’s attention on the less aggressive aspects of the man. He looks up from the book, with his shoulders slightly shrugged. This adds to the sense that he is a defeated man. His slightly tilted head in conjunction with with Rembrandt’s loose brushwork emphasize his sagging cheeks. Rather than giving Saint Paul the traditional halo, he paints a yellow band into the cloth hat he is wearing. This merges light and color in a non-typical way. As an aging artist, Rembrandt places his own experiences and weariness with the world into those of Saint Paul. The man pictured looks far from heroic, rather he looks defeated and weighted down. This painting features a dark backdrop with a lighter, glowing light on the subject. This creates a dark surrounding plane which Saint Paul seems to emerge from.

Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus

Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus is an excellent example of the type of erotic and sensual artwork that evolved during the Renaissance. Venus is portrayed asleep, supposedly having an erotic dream, indicated by the placement of her hand. Her head rests on her other arm, which is raised and exposes her inner arm. She is completely nude and placed on elaborate and rich tapestries in the midsts of an idyllic and pastoral landscape. The foreground is made up of green brush and the background pictures brown rolling hills with a village resting atop them. Larger cliffs are pictures at the very back of the painting. The sky is blue with light, rolling clouds. The lighting is glowing but muted and the coloring rich. The drapery works to enhance the eroticism of the painting, for it contains a type of energy that is lacking in the calm and muted body of Venus. Her pose is effortless and graceful. She lies out in a manner which can be interpreted as inviting. Venus’ body is a metaphor for the landscape. The contour of her leg, a long and slow cure, matches that of the hill behind it. Likewise the shorter curves formed by each of the outlines of the left arm, breast, and shoulder are matched by the above landscape of the horizon. This theme, the woman as a metaphor for the landscape, recurred frequently in Western iconography. It shows both the idolatry surrounding the perfect woman, and the marginalization. In this painting especially, where Venus’ eyes are closed, we see that she is vulnerable and turned into an object for the viewers inspection. Unlike other Venus’ portrayed, Giorgione’s is asleep and therefore less aggressively and overtly seductive. This painting also shows the influence of Roman mythology and the interest of painters, intellectuals, and writers in tying it into Renaissance culture.

Annunciation by Piero della Francesca

Francesca’s painting contains many important and fascinating elements that are not only revealing of the artist himself, but of the distinctive styles that developed during the Renaissance. For example, Francesca paints the scene in a traditionally Greek or Roman settings. The Corinthian and Ionic columns are a prominent element of the work. This is a good example of Francesca’s interest in combining Christian ideology with the Classical Revival that took place during the Renaissance. Mary holds a book, revealing her intelligence, Gabriel enters from the left, and God literally hovers above them watching. From God, who is portrayed as an elderly Anglo Saxon male, a ray of light shines onto Mary. This is a symbol of her pregnancy and Jesus as the “light of God.”. God is ‘giving’ Mary Jesus while Gabriel is telling her the news. Mary’s placement and relationship to the architecture is a symbol of her role as the “House of God.” Other symbols include the closed door to the left of Mary to show her virginity. However, a closed door is above her, symbolizing her ‘openness’ to the word of God. The tones in the painting are rather muted. Francesca uses primarily blues and reds. The blue of the sky along with the blue of Mary’s robe give her an ethereal, royal appearance. God also wears a blue robe, tying him and Mary together, while Gabriel wears darker, earthier tones showing his lowered status as a mere messenger and servant. The painting lacks one point perspective and continues in the Gothic tradition of painting important figures frontally. While some perspective is used in the portray of the overhanging and open door, the rest of the backdrop is flat. Where perspective is used it is over exaggerated. Along with the ray of light, we also see use of shadow across Gabriel, reflected in the shadows of his bare feet and the front column.

The Royal Portal of the west facade at Chartres Cathedral

There are three doors on the western entrance of Chartres. Together they form what is known as the Royal Portal. The three doors are symbolic of the Holy Trinity; God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This symbolism is recurrent in Gothic architecture. The door jamb sculptures are slender, columnar figures. They depict Old Testament kings and queens. The royalty is frontal, with their arms on a vertical plane, their halos flat, and their feet slanting downward. The cathedral portal in contrast to the Roman arch highlights the symbolic connection between the interior of the church and Jerusalem.  The right portal depicts scenes of Christ’s Nativity and childhood on a double lintel. On the tympanum Mary and Christ sit on a throne surrounded by the Seven Liberal Arts which are depicted in the archivolts. The Liberal Arts are represented in the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic), and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.) This shows the importance Christians placed on knowledge in relation to becoming one with God. Scenes of the Ascension are depicted on the northern tympanum. The archivolts contain zodiac signs. The central portal contains an apocalyptic vision of Saint John the Divine. On the tympanum Christ is seated surrounded by an oval mandorla and the four apocalyptic symbols of the Evangelists. Christ is only slightly larger then St. Mark and St. Luke; however, his superiority is still maintained. Underneath the tympanum the 12 apostles are arranged in four groups of three. At both ends of the lintel a single prophet stands holding a scroll which is presumably the New Testament. Overall, the Royal Portal of Chartres offers the viewer the entirety of Christian history. The beginning and the end of Christ’s life is placed at the right and left doors, in keeping with Western traditions of reading. The Old Testament kings and queens on the door jambs are the symbolic ancestors of Mary and Jesus.

Christ in Majesty

The Christ in Majesty is the frontispiece from the Vivian Bible, an illuminated manuscript. It portrays Christ and the four evangelists; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John writing the new testament. Christ rests in the center of the piece, floating in a spherical shape. Christ stands weightlessly on a globe which is meant to represent the Earth. He is frontal and his proportion is more reminiscent of early Egyptian style than Classical. He is clothed in a golden robe and has a golden halo surrounding him. The use of the color gold suggest importance and spirituality.

He is surrounded by the icons of the evangelists; the bull, eagle, lion, and angel. All three also have golden halos surrounding their heads. These also suggest holiness as well as affiliation with Christ. On the outer edges of the piece the four evangelists are represented in human form bent over manuscripts. The lower left hand evangelist cranes his head unnaturally upwards. One can surmise that he is looking to the heavens, to God, for inspiration. All are dressed in lavish garments and sit upon ornate thrones. It can be assumed that these are meant to evoke the rewards they will gain after death for their holy work.

The entire piece is dominated by three colors; gold, red, and variants of gray. These colors evoke both a mystical yet agitated quality. The swirling grey colors behind Christ seem to be a gathering storm, showing the powerful and potentially destructive powers of God. The gold coloring and leafing show the reverence the monks held for their God and his servants. Gold, a color often used for royalty, shows that Christ is the king of heaven and earth. Red adds to the frenzied feeling of the manuscript.

All the figures are connected by swirling shapes and colors. This shows the direct connection between the evangelists and Christ. While they are the ones writing the gospels it is apparent that Christ, at the center of the piece, is dictating the content.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum is a huge amphitheater. It was designed for gladiatorial contests and combats between men and animals, or simply between animals. The exterior is made up of rows of arches knows as arcades. There are three stories of round arches framed by entablatures and engaged columns. There are three types of columns used in the Colosseum. On the ground floor there are Tuscan columns, on the second-floor Ionic, and on the third Corinthian. Small windows and engaged rectangular Corinthian pilasters are located on the fourth floor. The Roman’s intentionally put the heaviest (Doric) columns on the lower level, building up with more delicate structures. The surface of the outer wall becomes flatter as the structure rises, carrying the viewer’s eye upward. The repeated round arches lead the eye along the entirety of the building.

Two types of vaults were used in the ceilings of the corridors. The upper wall contained sockets so that poles could be inserted to support canvas that covered the structure and protected spectators from sun and rain. It contained a built-in drainage system used for washing away the blood and gore of combat and animals.

Travertine, a hard, durable limestone that mellows to a golden yellow, was used for the framework of the piers, and tufa and brick-faced concrete were used for the walls between the piers. There was marble on the interior as decorative facing. However, for the large part concrete was used, a rough mixture of mortar, gravel, rubble, and water.

The inner part of the colosseum is circular, with step like seating. The circular shape creates fluidity and harmony. The seating allowed for all the spectators to view the gruesome entertainment. A series of stairs below the ‘bleachers’ allowed for viewers to climb to the top of the building. The center was comprised of an enormous pit, where the entertainment would take place. Directly below the pit there were cages and a series of passageways, which added to the drama of entering the ‘stage.’

Lacoon and His Two Sons

The sculpture of Lacoon and his two sons is done in the round. The viewer’s attention is drawn toward Lacoon’s face first, which is considerably larger than that of his two sons. It is framed with curly hair, which has a fluid motion that adds to the effect of Lacoon’s struggle. He has full lips that are pursed in agitation. His brow is wrinkled and his eyes look up in agony. Lacoon’s arms are extremely muscular and one has a sense of the blood flowing and the muscles tensed underneath the skin. We can see a vein stretching underneath his right arm. His torso is also muscular and lifelike. We can see his skin stretched across his right flank exposing his rib bones. Our attention is drawn downward where a serpent is beginning to puncture his thigh with its teeth. We then look to the right, where a look of distress is apparent on his son’s face. His son’s hair is slightly more stylized; with curls reminiscent of Classical Greek sculpture. One foot remains on the ground while the other is lifted up in an attempt to rid himself of the serpent. The weight is distributed to one leg in contrapasto style.  The serpent’s body winds around the boy’s arm, across his back, around his ankle and then onto Lacoon’s leg. A robe is draped around the boy’s shoulder, which cascades down to the ground revealing him nude. A cascading robe is also found directly beneath Lacoon, who is seated on a pedestal. The boy to the left is being dragged back by the serpent’s long body and both legs are slightly lifted as he attempts to escape. A hand is thrust to his side as he attempts to pull away the mouth of the serpent that is beginning to dig into his left side. His eyes are cast upward in the same direction of his fathers. As a whole one can see the distress and anguish experienced by the family in the sculpture through the lifelike expression of muscles and facial features.