We know that the subject matter of both Cimabue’s Madonna and Child Enthroned and Giotto’s Madonna Enthroned depicts the Virgin mother holding her son Jesus Christ upon a golden throne with angels at either shoulder. After looking at Cimabue’s work, it is debatable whether his apprentice Giottos surpassed the man. In manners of skill, Giotto’s more classical and naturalist style took on other stylistic components that very well exhibited a 3-dimensional space upon a 2-dimensional plane. In personal opinion, if the goal was to surpass Cimabue, then Giotto definitely showed prowess by giving his figure of the virgin a more assertive and realistic presence. Both Cimabue and Giotto use the ever-common gold background to unify their pieces. The…
The Annunciation with Saints Ansanus and Margherita is proclaimed to be one of the greatest if not the most magnificent art piece of the Gothic time period. This piece was originally created for the side alter in the Sienna Cathedral but after being passed on to many different Churches it is now located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. In this piece the artist has placed a large amount of iconography into it. The Easiest hidden icon to distinguish is the lilies in the vase in the middle of the picture showing the purity of Mary. Along with the Lilies the artist also has the Archangel Rafael holding an olive branch which is the symbol of peace showing he means no harm to Mary. Lastly, the author also has the Holy Ghost coming down from Heaven surrounded by eight angels representing the Holy Spirit or God is coming into her. Along with all of the iconography there are many other unique characteristics of this picture. For example, it as Mary looking as if she is afraid or startled by the Archangel Raphael coming into her house where as in the majority of the other annunciation pictures Mary is almost welcoming Raphael into the building. Another significant characteristic of this picture is the architecture and…
Guercino utilizes elements similar to the characteristics of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque era in his painting titled, Mary Magdalena, to portray an idealized image of a woman. Immediately, the audience is drawn to the dramatic gaze of her face as she looks off frame to the upper right corner. This intensity is highlighted through tenebrism, as an ominous shadow is diagonally placed across the painting to bring even more attention to the illuminated figure. Drama is further illustrated as she reveals a human skull under the cloth that she tightly clenches. The representation of a skull alludes to the theme of death…
This is yet another well-known story from the Bible. It shows a child kneeling on the ground embraced in the arms of someone who means a lot to him. According to Frank this painting symbolized a disobedient son who left his father and home to be on his own and when he had nothing left he crawled back expecting his father to turn him away. But he did not open his arms to let him back in. The painting demonstrates the Baroque style. The emotion and drama involved show the most heartfelt part of the story, not the pain or betrayal only the love of a father and son. The light is brightest on the father and son. Here he interprets the Christian idea of mercy with an extraordinary solemnity, as though this were his spiritual testament to the world (Web Gallery of Art,…
Also, she is planning a huge, affordable grief retreat full of healing exercises and speakers. She truly believes God has given her a gift with words. More than likely people will come up to her crying after one of her speeches saying how much the speech impacted them. She continuously inspires people, including myself, which is one of The Great Eight traits heros tend to have (Cherry, “The Psychology of Heroism”). Ultimately, Mary has somehow turned such an awful event in her life into a positive outcome and now helps people overcome the same event.…
The first panel is the donors that commissioned the painting by Campin, the second panel is the same Annunciation scene of Mary and Gabriel but depicted quite differently, and the third panel is Saint Joseph. This painting pays close attention to clarity and detail, with varying colors and realism. The painting is in oil, and has a style that reflects the Northern Renaissance period. For example, the angel and Mary do not have halos, and it lacks linear perspective. The lack of halos, as well as Mary’s face (which doesn’t seem too happy about the fact that she is about to conceive Christ’s child) could relate to the religious separation that Northern Europe was experiencing during the Renaissance. Northern Renaissance art is very well known for its symbolism, and in this painting nearly every object is symbolic of spiritual ideas (Harris). For example, lilies represent Mary’s virginity, Joseph’s tools represent the Passion of the Christ, and the extinguished candle represents God taking human…
Finally, there exist a Catholic thriller that has nothing to do with clergy sexual abuse and demonic possession. Detroit writer Ron Teachworth published The Annunciation (WestBow Press, 2014), an intriguing and captivating novel that blends elements of mystery and romance against a backdrop of history and culture.…
The similarities between these two works of art are profound. They both show the overwhelming devastation of Mary's face looking upon her deceased son. Christ, her son, displays a peaceful expression on his face in both of the works. The body of Christ is laying in a limp fashion across the legs of his mother, who is sitting upright on a bench. The artists also show Mary dressed in heavy clothing which drapes over…
During our tour at the Legion of Honor, we observed art starting from the early and High Renaissance. Next, we went to the Dutch Baroque period, British art, and ended at the impressionists. A most notable work of art from the tour was “The Annunciation” by Master of the Retable of the Reyes Católicos. This oil on wood panel painting was created in the late 1500s, during the High Renaissance period of the art historical cannon. It portrays the biblical event found in the Gospel of Luke in which the archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she is pregnant with Jesus, the son of God. “The Annunciation” is a religious painting and is an example of the many great works of art from the High Renaissance.…
Often, the paintings of Mary and Jesus used mainly red and blue and are used interchangeably with one another. Red symbolized the blood and the martyred heroes, whereas the blue stood for heaven, serenity and calmness. Mary was crowned as the queen of heaven when she died and Jesus brought her up to heaven to stand with him in the kingdom of God. Likewise, Romulus and Remus would’ve done the same and bring their mother to live with them in their kingdom/city. In person, it is more stunning to witness not only due to the size, but also because of the vividness the painting still holds after all these years. It seemed as though it was done almost yesterday due to the freshness the content displayed and in comparison to all the other artworks in the area, this stood out to me due to the colors itself. Mignard’s choice to bring attention to the individuals’ clothing by surrounding it with darker colors in the background created a contrast that was not too harsh to view and the bright colors lures one’s eyes into it. Also, his choice of the lighting created a focus that draws the viewer in so they would not have to look elsewhere to determine what the “thesis” of the artwork is. Lastly, the details of the painting are astonishing to see up close. The brushstrokes of the dog’s hair looked as if you could touch it, the muscles in the shepherd’s legs and arms…
This Mystery Painting is one of many pieces that have been interpreted differently between artists of the 14th century. To begin analyzing the artwork, you can see that two figures are engaging one another in what appears to be a small bedroom. The figure on the left, dressed white robes is engaging the kneeling figure on the right who has her hand raised in front of her. The position of their body language suggests an conversation significant to the subject of the painting, as well as the figures themselves. To identify both figures, their attire and status should be analyzed first. In most religious paintings the color blue is worn by the Virgin Mary, who is always depicted in a long cloak. Another indication that the figure is indeed Mary is the book she is holding in her left hand, which represents the forthcoming New Testament and the end of the Old Testament. With evidence from other interpretations of the Virgin Mary, it can be safely assumed that the robbed figure adjacent to her could be Gabriel the angel, which explains why she is depicted with wings and clothed in…
This paper will be about the visual description about “The Holy Virgin Mary” (1996) by Chris Ofili is a narrative painting. Chris Ofili works with embodied spirituality and also a serious artist but he's also playful and ironic. His paintings discharge a psychic energy. The Holy Virgin Mary is a colorful canvas incorporating paper collage, colored pushpins, foil, paint, glitter and elephant manure. (Daily Telegraph) Ofili paints in a semiabstract style and his style were always cartoonish and even a little loopy. Ofilli also has an imagination like he is derived from comic books, hallucinations, and also Aboriginal Art is part of the world’s oldest cultural traditions, and also one of the most brilliant and exciting areas of modern art today. (Australian Aboriginal Art)…
The living nativity scene he created very prominently depicts the nativity in its physical sense and in its symbolic and religious sense. All in all, St. Francis of Assisi had so much passion and love for Christ and his religion that it not only beamed through his effort on the scene itself but his words of wisdom and faith in the mass itself was burnt into the minds of the people; creating a tradition that is still present in today’s…
The paintings illustrating Christ’s crucifixion emphasize both his sacrifice to rid the world of sin, as well as the idea of everlasting life after death. For example, the Triptych with the Crucifixion, an oil painting on panel, illustrates the portrayals of Christ that were commonly repeated throughout the medieval period. The scene of the Crucifixion in the middle is supported by a scene of Pope Gregory the Great experiencing a vision of Christ during Mass and a scene of Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child. The closed side panels also show a scene of the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive the Son of God. These four scenes all share the common purpose of reinforcing the idea of Christ as a man, but also briefly suggest his transcendence. Although he is not the most imposing or impressive character in each scene, from conception to posthumous miracle, Christ is the clear subject matter in every case, demonstrating the dual nature of his divinity and…
For instance, many people begin to worship the Virgin Mary and even the Chartres Cathedral when built, is dedicated to her because of the churches holding of her relic. Kraus states that its conflicting because “they dedicated all their churches to her” and in St. Bernard, they “devoted a whole series of his homilies to the mother of Christ, that “strong woman” upon whom “our salvation, the recovery of our innocence and the victory over our enemy [Satan] depends” (Kraus, 101). Therefore, the Virgin Mary was depicted as glorious and someone that was looked upon in his or her prayers and in the religious society because of the great importance that she held as the mother of the all time savior in the religious world. To add on, in the Santa Maria Maggorie, Rome, 432-40, there is a piece of art work titled “Annunciation and Epiphany, Triumphal Arch Mosaic, S. Maria Maggiore,” we get another portrayal of the Virgin Mary as a women with huge importance. For instance, in the top layer of the artwork, for the first time, we do not see Christ on her lap, as previous times, but rather alone. This is a tremendous change because Mary was always with Christ in one way or another, and in the top image, she is finally by herself being glorified by the angels and glory people around her. She also has a dove…