Preferences and Perspectives - The Romantic Era
A. LANDSCAPE PAINTING STYLE
1. UTSIKT OVER LAEREDALSOREN
This painting
by THEMISTOKLES VON ECKENBRECHER who was a late romantic painter was posted to File: Themistokles
von Eckenbrecher Utsikt over Lærdalsøren. jpeg - Wikimedia Commons.
THEMISTOKLES
VON ECKENBRECHER (1842-1921), Utsikt over Laeredalsoren, oil on canvas, 1901,
unknown location
In this
painting, the artist is appreciating the beautiful nature. Romantic artist painters
were increasingly concerned with their environment and that’s why THEMISTOKLES
VON ECKENBRECHER paints this beautiful picture.
The intention
of this style of painting was obviously bringing to light the beautiful nature
that God provided us with through his wonderful creation, and which we need to
conserve and protect for us and our generations to come.
I would really
like to hang this portrait in my living room because it’s just an amazing piece of
art.
ELEMENT OF COLOR
Color as
contrast is evident in how the artist has painted the sides of the hills with the darker color of moderate brush strokes while the ground is painted lighter and
with a rendition of green color to resemble grass vegetation.
ELEMENT OF LINE
A close look at
the road, there are drawings of lines that clearly show the paths of the cart’s
wheels left on the ground when they are pulled by the horses. They are curved
just as the road curves at an angle.
ELEMENT OF PATTERN
The man-made pattern is present in the beautiful drawings of the houses and other structures seen in the background. There is also the natural pattern of the grass vegetation which adds a little bit of nostalgia.
2. WIVENHOE PARK, ESSEX
This is the artwork
of the great JOHN CONSTABLE, an Englishman from London who painted landscapes
all his life. “JOHN CONSTABLE depicted an English country estate in order to
make a broader statement about its owner and his relationship with nature” DR.
ABRAM FOX.
JOHN CONSTABLE
(1776-1837), Wivenhoe Park, Essex, 1816, oil on canvas, (National Gallery of
Art), London
ELEMENT OF TEXTURE
The ephemeral texture is in practice in the cloud paintings above the sky. He combines the
use of heavy black color brush strokes and lighter brush strokes to bring
about darker inner parts and the lighter outer parts of the clouds respectively.
Verisimilitude
is present in the tree drawings at the back of the river with its branch and
leaf formation. The same can be said of the river waters.
ELEMENT OF LINE
Line as
structure in the horizontal drawings which represents the paddocks constructed
to confine the cattle in one place.
ELEMENT OF TONE
The tone has been used as a contrast between light and dark. “Similarly, the play of light and shadow across the right foreground, and the glimmers of light reflected off the pond in the middle of the composition, enhance the sense of a real, observed landscape” DR. ABRAM FOX.
B. ECOLE DES BEAUX ARTS STYLE
3. LA GRANDE ODALISQUE
This was the
work of JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES who was an artist of immense importance to
the romanticism style during the first half of the nineteenth century.
On this
painting, however, I am not so impressed mainly due to moral worth. It does not
meet the moral worth to make to my living room wall because of its nudity!
JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE
INGRES (1780-1867), La Grande Odalisque, 1814, oil on canvas, (Louvre, Paris;
photo: STEVEN ZUCKER)
ELEMENT OF FORM
Ingres
distorted the female form in order to make her body more sinuous and elegant, “Her
back seems to have two or three more vertebrae than are necessary, and it is
anatomically unlikely that her lower left leg could meet with the knee in the
middle of the painting, or that her left thigh attached to this knee could
reach her hip” DR. BRYAN ZYGMONT.
ELEMENT OF COLOR
Color
as symbolism is evident in the painting that has been used to paint the woman which
shows that she is of European descent. It is also clear that she is naked and
about to sleep.
ELEMENT OF TONE
Tone
a contrast of light and dark in how the artist uses a lighter color painting
on the lady against a darker painting on the wall behind the woman. This makes the
image of the woman to come out very clear.
4. RAFT OF THE MEDUSA
This
is a picture painting by THÉODORE GÉRICAULT, a French artist who
was born in 1791. His romantic style was influenced by the Ecole des Beaux School of Arts which he attended.
To understand this
painting, you need to know about a ship called Medusa that was transporting the
French colonial governor, politicians, and other members to its colony of
Senegal in the 18th century. While on its way to West Africa in the
Atlantic Ocean, it broke up and the captain instructed the ship’s carpenter to
construct a raft from its pieces since the lifeboats that were present were
not enough to carry everyone. The politicians and other influential people
were put to the lifeboats leaving the commoners struggling with the rafts.
The rafts ended up
killing a lot of people out of hunger as they struggled through the long
journey and the stormy seas. It is this that inspired THÉODORE GÉRICAULT to do
his research and paint the picture below. He did this in protestations of the
monarch as he saw the catastrophe having been caused by the incompetent captain
that was picked by the monarch to steady the Medusa ship.
THÉODORE GÉRICAULT
(1791-1824), Raft of the Medusa, 1818–19, oil on canvas, (Musée du Louvre,
Paris, photo: STEVEN ZUCKER)
ELEMENT
OF LINE
There are two strings
drawn that attach the mast plus the post that stands straight on the raft.
This is the element of line used as structure.
ELEMENT
OF COLOR
The black-skinned man
that lies in the middle of the raft is a symbol that there were people of
African descent in the Medusa ship. These were probably slaves since it was at
this age that the slave trade was still going on silently at this period.
ELEMENT
OF TONE
There is a use of tone as a contrast of light and dark. “The murky amber and green tone of the painting with strong contrasts of light and dark reminds us that this is ultimately a scene of death” DR. CLAIRE BLACK MCCOY.
CITATIONS
Dr. Claire Black McCoy,
"Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa," in Smarthistory,
May 27, 2021, accessed October 27, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/theodore-gericault-raft-of-the-medusa/
Dr. Abram Fox, "John
Constable, Wivenhoe Park, Essex," in Smarthistory,
March 26, 2016, accessed October 27, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/constable-wivenhoe-park-essex/
Dr. Bryan Zygmont,
"Painting colonial culture: Ingres’s La Grande Odalisque,"
in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed October 28, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/painting-colonial-culture-ingress-la-grande-odalisque/.
Wikipedia, File: Themistokles
von Eckenbrecher Utsikt over Lærdalsøren. jpeg - Wikimedia Commons
The painting by ECKENBRECHER does portray the natural beauty surrounding us. It gives me a sense of peace and calm and draws me to want to seek out this place to fully embrace it. I do agree that the painting of the nude lady does seem miss -shappened. This I know is intentional but also makes it unappealing. I in my own opinion do not find a moral issue with it because of its nudity though. I find it to be beautiful and a true portrayal of what woman really look like.
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