Preview

Mary's Importance In Western Art

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
320 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mary's Importance In Western Art
Mary, for almost two millennium’s, has been riveted by the woman who gave birth to Jesus. Mary’s Importance in Western Art is no secret, she was the single most commonly portrayed female figure since the eighteenth century. In Europe, each city has at least one church devoted to her. Mary when in art is typically alone with arms elevated in prayer. Mary has been represented in some of the most important pieces of art like Madonna and Child, Madonna on the rocks and Madonna of humility. When you look at Madonna and Child, Christ as a child is centered among Mary and the book. The artist portrays Mary dressed in her feature blue robe. Mary is usually wearing blue because this represents clarity and royalty. The child portrays Jesus and shows

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To the right of the altar, is a statue of Jesus with the Sacred Heart. This statue is both iconic, in that it is an image of Jesus, and anionic with the Sacred Heart with the crown of thorns. The Sacred Heart is a representation of Jesus’ love for humanity. Along the wall is a painting of Saint Joseph, holding a Jesus as a child. There is also a statue of Saint Joseph as the patron saint of the Catholic Church. Below this painting is an altar where the wine and holy Eucharist are stored when not being used during mass. On the left side of the altar is an iconic painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the mother of Jesus and along with the painting of Saint Joseph holding the Child Jesus is a representation of the Holy Family.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The artist created the figure around the early fourteenth century, which was also the time period of the Italian Renaissance. The sculpture presents the Virgin seated gracefully on the ground with one knee raised and the other beneath her. The baby Jesus is viewed tugging on his mother’s dress while simultaneously glancing at the viewer. The subject manner in this piece attempts to illustrate the submission to the divine. The Italian sculptor did not paint in the color of the pupils for both figures; instead he focused on honoring the holy and thus creating an atmosphere of tranquility. The artistic techniques used to create the Madonna of Humility involve Polychromy and some traces of gilding, which is apparent in the hair of Jesus and his…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The holy trinity painting by Masaccio has a religious subject matter because it is a painting of Jesus on the cross, with god the father behind him, and Mary and john at his sides with two patrons at the feet at both Mary and john. At the bottom of the fresco there is a tomb with the word inscribed, the inscription reads: “ what you are, I once was; what I am, you will be.”…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Art History 12

    • 2095 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The statue of Virgin and Child is a religious humane figure of the Virgin Mother Mary and Jesus as a young boy which is associated with the Catholic Church and Christianity. This sculpture illustrates a mother and son involved in a tender moment. The statue is big in size and its dimensions are 53 x 42 x 28 inches and sits in the center of the Medieval Art exhibit in room 304 of the museum. The Virgin Mary in this sculpture appears very large in size as compared to the child. Her curly brown hair is positioned back away from her face, which is long and cascades down the sides of her face on to her shoulders. The skin of this sculpture resembles those associated with Caucasians with thin lips and long pointed noses. Her complexion or skin color I cannot tell because it is featured in a very dark room of the museum. On top of her head there appears to be a cloak or hood like garment that comes up to the middle of her head. She is wearing a long free flowing gown or dress underneath the cloak while she is sitting on a bench or piece of wood like structure. The child in this sculptured art has short curly brown hair and is wearing loose fitted clothing from that time period while sitting on the lap of the Virgin Mary. He appears…

    • 2095 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Annunciation Analysis

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are other witnesses depicted in this painting to this betrothal including, Mary Magdalene, Saint Ursula, Saint Agnes, and a collection of angels (Zimmerli Art Museum). There are angels that hover over the throne were Virgin Mary is sitting with baby Jesus. There are four angels wearing red gowns holding up a lavish green drapery behind the throne. There are two other angels relatively smaller than the others kneeling on two platforms of the throne holding a golden crown that hovers over Virgin Mary’s head. The angels above and on the platform have shimmering golden halos behind their heads, as well as the three other witnesses, Virgin Mary, Jesus, and Saint Cathrine of Alexandria. Virgin Mary’s gold halo appears to be the most vibrant. There are two more angels at the foot of the Virgin Mary who are depicted to have string instruments in their hands and they are looking up at her. These angels have no golden halos and their wings are striped red and black. The panel below the main altarpiece has five figures and five spaces for them. The…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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)…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    St Christopher Analysis

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chimabue's approach to composition in the artwork "Enthroned Madonna and Child" was extremely confirmative to the time period. He made use of the medieval heiracy of scale, making Mary and baby Jesus much larger than other figures, therefore making them the focal point of the painting. This was to emphasize their importance. They are also placed centrally on the painting, again to direct the eye towards them and to show their importance as the subject of the painting. The layout is very symmetrical, with even amounts of figures (the angels) on each side, all facing towards Mary and child. These angels are "stacked" which looks unrealistic and doesn't achieve convincing depth. Underneath, there are 4 saints, also symmetrically placed; one saint under the left and right column, and two in the middle. In the throne, there is an…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1849, Dante Rossetti painted The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and depicted Mary as a young teenage girl. William Bell Scott saw the painting in process at Hunt’s studio. In 1850, Rossetti painted Ecce Ancilla Domini which also depicted Mary as a teenage girl. The painting shows Mary getting a…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Beginning with the story of Jesus and His mother Mary, many of the Renaissance artists--including Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael--portrayed the subject of a mother and her child with great sensitivity.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Humevent

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To begin with, the painting of Francesco de Mura signifies the miraculous pregnancies of Mary and Elizabeth. The cousins both had two of the most important prominent pregnancies in history. Mary was pregnant with Jesus Christ although she was a virgin. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist in her old age.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    pink

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the high Renaissance painting the Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael, the Christ child is presenting a pink flower to the Virgin Mary. The pink was a symbol of marriage, showing a spiritual marriage between the mother and child.[9]…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays