Samson and Delilah
Artist: Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Italian, 1708-1787
Birthplace: Unknown
Art work created: 1766
Medium: oil on canvas
Technique used: Use of light (chiarosscuro)
Where is it now: The Detroit Institute of Arts
This painting belongs to the Department of European paintings.
The technique used in this painting is the use of light. From the left of the painting, we see light shining down on Samson and Delilah. The painting looks simple and narrow in depth. Because the painting is narrow and vertical, the figures are considerably elongated.
The painting shows Delilah cutting off Samson's hair. After cutting off his hair, she summons the soldiers to take him away to the dungeons. Also, we see Samson buring his face
The lines within the composition draws the viewer into several directions. The ruffles draw the eyes upward to the Daniel’s finger as it points to the right. Daniel’s finger directs the viewer horizontally as it does the king. The table with its array of dishes is another example of a horizontal line. The king’s hands are holding a fork and knife. The fork is also pointing right where as the knife is pointing left diagonally towards the king. The courtesan, leaning against the king’s right shoulder, is another example of a diagonal line. The painting also has a vertical feel to it. This is evident in the composition of Daniel standing, the candle and the arm holding the cigar. Like every line, every color used draw attention to the object.
One of the most effective principles Paolo de Matteis uses in this painting is his use of lines and invisible lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the child in his mother’s arms. The shepherds and their animals, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph are all instances of invisible lines in this painting, as their outstretched hands and lines of vision are all pointing to the baby Jesus. For example, the three women and the child kneeling to the bottom right side of the manger are all staring or pointing to the upper left, toward Jesus. Moving to the upper right corner of the painting, the ox and the donkey are directing their gaze to the bottom left, once again at Jesus. The two men to the right of the animals also point in that direction. In the top and center, Mary and Joseph watch their child, creating yet another invisible line pointing toward the point of emphasis, while the angels
The contour lines of the painting are drawn strong and hard, isolating each figure. The lines in the painting are mainly vertical. The majority of the people are all standing up, the soldiers weapons are pointed upward, and the pillars are painted tall. The vertical lines communicates a sense of heighten spirituality. Also, if you look closely behind John Brown, the artist manipulates the lines of the building to put a cross-shaped figure right above his head. The combination of these two factors gives us the feeling that Thomas Hovenden was trying to portray John Brown as a Christ-like Martyr heading to his crucifixion.
However, the desert scene and mountains suggest that this was painted in Southern California. In the background, one can see a man leading a pack animal, a woman, and an infant along a road towards the church, identified by the cross on the rooftop. There are no shadows to define form in the background. This is, again, a contrast to the shadows made by the Madonna in the foreground. The lack of shadows, however, does not make the background look flat. The Impressionist styled painting and the lack of detail in the background creates a distant look that gives depth to the painting. The numerous contrasts between the background and the foreground allows the artist to subtly draw the viewer?fs attention towards the foreground. These contrasts help grab the viewer?fs gaze and direct it to the most important part of the painting: the woman and baby.
The couple positioned in the front appears very large to make the painting 3-D. The relative size of the dancers drastically shifts to create a window into the painting. The viewer can imagine being a part of the event and watching the poverty-stricken dancers. The angle that the painting is at appears to be almost a bird’s eye view. This adds to the effect of feeling as part of the audience. Spatial features are also added with overlap making figures look even more distant. Almost everything can be seen all the way to the back of the painting as the lighting in Dance Marathon spreads equally throughout the painting. Many lamps hang from the ceiling to give it a sense of many sources of light and to distribute the light evenly.
Paddock is known for many different art media fields such as sculptor, graphic design, and furniture designer. I was inspired, however, by his paintings and knew of him through those as well. I chose to recreate one of Ewing Paddock's paintings from the London Underground series. I was inspired by his works because each of them are unique and diverse. Paddock’s paintings also interested me because they were all recently painted. He started the London Underground series in 2009 and it took him three years to complete 25 canvases, painting around 70 people. In each of his paintings you can see the emotion that the person is giving off which is one reason I enjoy them. All 25 of the canvas are super interesting to look and see the different characters
perspective is used very well to make the mountains in the far distance appear quite a bit hazier than the church that is supposed to be a little closer to the viewer, and that is even slightly hazier than the brick wall, shrubs, and trees that are right outside of that archway. David also makes the objects that are meant to be closer much larger. That mountain, of course, would be massive. But, because of the perspective he uses, it appears to be only about the size of the top of the church. Additionally, almost all of the figures in the painting lead the viewer's eye right to the baby Jesus. Each of the angels, except the one playing the guitar, are looking directly at him so that when the viewer looks at them, they immediately look over to Jesus. Even Mary, who is also the subject of the composition, is looking down at the baby. Renaissance paintings often used tricks like that to draw the viewer's eye to the main subject, which was usually Jesus.
The focal point of the painting is the woman with infant. This is shown by the lighting in the painting being directly on her, the bright red that she is wearing, and the circling of the putti around her figure along with the majority of their gazes being directed at her. The bright light directly behind her and the infant could possibly be coming from the sun behind the clouds in the sky, the putti to her upper right holding the torch, or it could be symbolic in that it is the infant’s halo and representative of his divine nature. The overall piece is not overly dark but the lighting seems to be most focused on the woman, infant, her other children, and the flying putti. This is an example of tenebrism.
It is almost a reflection of the man’s trident. That same pitchfork shape also appears in the window of the house that sits in between both figure’s heads. Repetition can also be seen in the dotted pattern of the woman’s outfit, which also appears in the material of the curtain that hangs in the house’s window. The echo of verticals in this painting is also strong. The faces and bodies of the figures seem to be stretched, and narrowed. The pitchfork’s slender prongs and the green stripes on the man’s shirt also add to the elongation of their frame. The copious amounts of vertical wood boards that make up the house and the barn, keep the viewer’s eye moving up and down the picture plane. Wood’s use of verticality in this painting is overwhelming.
It is a famous example of Renaissance art showing portraiture, realism, and some perspective. In this painting there are four distinct characters. Each has a different expression that shows how they are feeling. There is also more detail in the faces then in any other parts of the painting. Another technique it demonstrates is heightened realism. Whereas before the Renaissance the figures may have been painted simply and in only enough detail to get the general idea across, these figures are shown more realistically. Lastly there is the technique of perspective as shown in the background of the painting. The sea stretches out into the sky and the land in the background is shown how it would look if the viewer was actually
Meeting of David and Abigail is one of the most well known pieces by Rubens. He painted it in the mid-1600s after he studied the works of Titian and Veronese in Madrid and London . As he commonly did, Rubens represents a biblical story. His rich colors and fluid brushstrokes show how well he could paint the moment of greatest feeling in his paintings. Through this piece Rubens wants to show the viewers how talented he is and how important this biblical story is.
“David Slaying Goliath” by Peter Paul Rubens is an example of Renaissance art. This painting depicts a well-known Bible story of a young Israelite boy named David who kills the giant, Goliath, with a slingshot, and chops off his head with a sword. Rubens has chosen to illustrate this Bible story at the moment when David is about to hack off Goliath’s head with the giant’s sword. In addition, we see armor-clad soldiers rushing into battle in the background. In “David Slaying Goliath,” Peter Paul Rubens uses color, value, and line to illustrate the dynamism and energy within the painting that makes it look realistic. In addition, these elements contribute to the sense of excitement and anticipation of the event depicted.
Painters were not interested in making a picture realistic-they did not use perspective. The more important figures in the painting were frequently made larger than all the others, and often the element of landscape was omitted completely. Members of the Holy Family for example, would be painted against a background of shining gold, which signified the heavens.
Then there are also many psychological lines to be seen in the work. One such line is of the woman and the floor, where she is staring down towards it. Another is from the young child and the store clerk, showing a defiance between the two. Next, light and value are not very contrasting in this painting, with only the basic highlights and the shadows seen. It isn’t completely contrasting or contradicting since the colors blend well together with close to the same value ranges, dark colors seen throughout except for the people’s pale faces. There also seems to be a variety of light sources since the woman’s face along with the shop clerk and the young boy’s is lit up by what seems to be a light bulb since they’re much brighter and highlighted and then the men and women in the back aren’t really as bright, except for the ones who close to the open door, creating a blue tinge from the outside light. The shapes shown through the painting is shown to be either very round or very geometrical. There are organic shapes in things such as the umbrella or even the back of the chair, but mostly it is either straight lines and geometrical shapes. The volume shown in the painting is very much implied, correctly showing the
This painting is divided into three equal parts by the arches in the background and the characters correspond to each of these arches (TV12). The father is in the middle portion of the painting. The lines of perspective created by the tiled floor, draws our attention to the swords that the father is holding and the vanishing point lies just behind the handles of the sword. Our angle of vision is such that we are looking directly at the main figures groups, particularly the father. A single light source from the left of the picture illuminates the characters and also focuses our attention to the father holding the sword. This creates a ‘theatrical’ effect. The background is simple and stark so our attention is focussed on the figure groups in the painting. The painting has a wide tonal range that makes the composition logical and balanced. The colours used in this