William Bouguereau's The Elder Sister

Formal Analysis Paper
In my formal analysis, I will attempt to bring out various points of two works of art, 'The Elder Sister', by William Bouguereau, and 'Portrait of a young Woman', by Rembrandt van Rijin. Though they are from different time periods, there are a few select similarities to make note of. The main focus, though, will be in contrasting the two works based on color and the useage of the principles of design. In Bouguereau's 'The Elder Sister', there are many interesting points to discuss . Firstly, and most noticeably, the artist incorporates various blends of color that give the composition a soft, dull feeling and texture. The colors used are neither too bright nor too dark, but lush, emphasizing natural forest green, as
well as cloudy white. The sister and baby are given an almost doll-like, powdered look through useage of white and tanned colors. There is no notable sunlight, although the composition itself is outside, it appears that everything is simply fleshed out well. The entire composition itself feels 'earthen', as the people are lightly dressed and in colors reminiscient of dirt/ground.
In terms of balance and space, 'The Elder Sister' has what I note as an implied cross, with the baby and sister forming a 'plus sign'. The two compromise the focal point, and seem to bring some form of balance and symmetry. With that said, the girl herself is not proportional to the background, and actually appears to be floating above the ground.
With respect to unity, I found the subject matter to be unified because the composition presents them focally alone, without any other people, and centered with the horizon. They gaze towards the viewer and dominate the picture spatially, by being on what seems to be a separate plane from the background which has a linear perspective. Much of the characteristics of the girl's facial features remind me of Leondardo DiCaprio's drawings because she has similar eyebrows, and has very perfectual body features like that of the High Renaissance. On a side note, the clothing worn by the girl indicates a time period at least a century old.

In "Portrait of a Young Woman", by Rembrandt van Rijin, there are a few similarities to 'The Elder Sister' as well as many differences. Two key similarities in the work can be found symmetrically, as well as in the subject's body language. The artist renders a woman floating over a dark void, with a similar gaze to the viewer that the subject in 'The Elder Sister' holds, and the woman being the symmetrical focal point also unifies the composition the same way.
In terms of human physical appearance, it could be said that the woman holds the same powdered, doll-like complexion as well.
In this work, though, two blushed cheeks are very noticeable, giving the human figure a more lifelike and physical/realistical feel, as well as the useage of color to show emotion as being different.
One of the biggest differences in Rembrandt's work is in the very dark tones and colors he uses to depict a character or scene. Rembrandt's young woman has red hair, and wears a black dress which seems to intentionally melt into the background, making it feel as if the viewer is only looking at a head with a dress. The red hair draws the viewer's eye toward the woman's face, because the rest of the composition is very dark.
Another difference can be found in perspective as well as with background/foreground. Rembrandt's work differs from Bouguereau's in that 'The Elder Sister' has a clear vanishing point in the background, where as Rembrandt's composition lacks any visual components in the background. Even without a background, Rembrandt does make some subtle use of lines which could not be found in 'The Elder Sister'; The woman's neck garment seems to span out in triangular shape, and the lines pull the viewer's eye over and
around.
Rembrandt's composition has no visible source of light, and in fact the woman even seems to b unnaturally lit up for such a dark room. It feels as though there is an intended sense of rhythm from bottom to top, using white-to-black-to-white-to-black color scheming.
A final difference to be compared is in the texture - Rembrandt's work feels more 'realistic', using a less smoth and soft look than the previous work, and focusing on the napkin-like look and feel of the woman's clothing.

By comparing both works of art, I feel they are a little easier to understand in meaning. I think 'The Elder Sister' is a portrait possibly of young girl, perhaps a daughter, that the artist knew or was reflecting back upon. I feel the same about Rembrandt's work, however, given the dark nature of the picture, it could be a family member or loved one passed away. Overall, I found the most prominent difference to be color and the allusion to nature in Bouguereau's work versus darkness in Rembrandt's, and I personally preferred 'The Elder Sister' because of the way it simplistically describes a girl taking care of a baby away from society and around nature. Ultimately, I feel the different time periods are what led these two works to have such different atmospheres to them.