John Henry Fuseli 18th Century

Looking through the works of art done by John Henry Fuseli you can see that his work is very dark and can seem somewhat morbid. Fuseli would also paint tragic or violent situations from European literature mostly from Shakespeare and Milton. The painting “The Shepherd’s Dream” is an image from Milton’s poem Paradise Lost.

In the painting you see a man at the bottom, which is the shepherd, above him you see four figures that are meant to be fairy elves in a dream he is seeing. It is said that there were a few more copies of this painting and Fuseli left out certain things on purpose. Each of the painting and drawing has a few differences. One main difference is the fairy that is flying in the middle is fully clothed but in the Princeton sheet the fairy is nude. The fairy that is swooping down to touch the shepherd is also nude. On the drawing Albertina they are clothed with flowing cloth flowing around them. And in the painting they are clothed as well. There are other slight changes that were made. Such as a smile on a girls face to the wand of a fairy taken out. These are slight changes that seem to make the painting a better fit for Fuseli’s style. The smiling adolescent girl also has another change that was made to her. In the Albertina drawing the girl is pointing towards the shepherd but in the painting she is point away from him and up towards the fairies instead. I think this change was made to put more importance on the dream of the shepherd rather then just him sleeping.

As you can see in the Albertina drawing (on the right) you can see so much more going on in the scene than you do in the painting. The painting is darker and shows off more of Fuseli’s style of that tragic look. In Fuseli’s work you can see a dark figure that looks real evil like, almost like a demon. You can see a couple of these figures in the Albertina drawing but not in the painting. According to Mandle “Fuseli’s paintings lack the spontaneity and weird energy.” I agree with him that there is more energy in his Albertina drawing. I personally like the finished painting better than the Albertina drawing. I think that the finished painting looks more like his style of artwork. I think his style is very unique he has a high tendency to use real dark colors to make his work look more tragic and morbid. I also think that the Albertina drawing is really busy for his style of work, it reminds me of mannerism type of art. I liked that he turns more towards the fantasy world. I think this is brought out because he follows the works of Shakespeare and Milton. Both have unnatural stories and poems.

Fuseli can really see and imagine what fairies, demons, and just weird dreams people may have. Seeing the differences between the painting and the drawing I can see the differences and changes that were made. I think that any more changes to the drawing could lead to a different viewpoint of the piece. I like the painting and the changes that were made and other objects that were hidden. It really adds to his style of artwork and it also applies to the views of Shakespeare and Milton’s works.

           

Works Cited

Lindsay, Suzanne G. The Art Bulletin. http://www.jstor.org/‌stable/‌3050980. College Art Association, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/‌stable/‌3050980>.

Mandle, Roger. Master Drawings. N.p.: Master Drawing Association, 1973. JSTOR. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/‌stable/‌1553211>.

Baroque Art

        Baroque art of the 17^th century is characterized by propaganda. Like renaissance art baroque art also has a sense of idealism and naturalism. What makes baroque art much more different is the way the art shows more drama and emotions. Baroque art has a classical influence and also has more viewer involvement. We can see these styles compared in the David statue created by Michelangelo and the David statue done by Bernini.

      The David statue created by Michelangelo is somewhat similar to the statue by Bernini but there are characteristics that do differ. The statue by Michelangelo is a nude statue that is created to be very idealized. You can see that the muscles on the abdomen are very muscular. There is also that sense of naturalism as you can see in the way his body is still proportionate and real to life.  Although I feel his hands are much to large for his body but I think it was created that way to show that he is a powerful man with these massive manly hands. Another quality from the renaissance period is the fact that he is in the nude; this was to show the human achievement. It was common for artist to create figures in the nude. In this statue of David there isn’t much action going on, David is just standing there looking over at something or someone. You also don’t really see any emotion in his facial expression.

      As for the statue created by Bernini you can see much more of the baroque style of art. You can see that David is caught in the highest moment of drama and he shows a great detail of emotion in his face.  As he is twisting and turning you see the movement in his body. You can also see a great detail in textures from his skin to the drapery over his thigh. The drama, emotion and movement are big characteristics of the Baroque art in the 17^th century. Another characteristic is the way the viewer can see the movement from another point of view. Baroque art liked to have that sense of the viewer interaction.  As in the renaissance period you can see that there is naturalism in this statue. You can see the realistic definitions in the muscles on the body and the way his body is twisted it looks natural. Knowing that this is a self-portrait of Bernini you can see that his body is a little idealized as well. The fact that David has some drapery over his thigh leading to cover his genitalia shows another difference between renaissance and baroque art. The reason for the drapery was to cover David so that the statue was more decent for people to look at.

        Each of the David statues show either renaissance and baroque art you can clearly see the differences and similarities of the statues from the different eras. Baroque art is known for the drama and emotion while renaissance is known for the naturalism and idealism. It’s also clear to see the different views they have on nudity, renaissance art uses without question, while baroque art is more modest. Baroque art is defiantly more intriguing to the viewer because people are emotionally drawn into the statue done by Bernini over the one by Michelangelo.

16th Century Art in Northern Europe

Albrecht Dürer is a popular artist from Germany. His Italian interests influenced his many works of his art. He was also to take his work to a different level because in Germany there was no guilt system. He has been to Italy a couple of times; on those visits he absorbed the Italian Renaissance art. Durer would also make images for printing press, to do so he used woodcuts and engravings. He becomes famous for his prints and engravings. He also gained knowledge on how to use the influences of Italy in his own art, as you can see in his self-portrait from the 1500.

In his portrait you can see some of the Italian characteristics along with European characteristics. You can see that just like the Italian and European renaissance using humanism, balance and harmony influences his artwork. Albrecht Dürer is very confident in his career. I think you can see that in this self-portrait because it is a very frontal pose and very direct. You can almost say that he has a resemblance to Christ. Another thing that also relates to Christ is the inscription in Latin. Which says something to the effect that the portrait was created with immortal colors. In the self-portrait from 1498 there is no reference to him being an artist. I also think that he uses his work to elevate his social status. In Albrecht Dürer self-portrait you can also see the use of the European traditions of naturalism. You can see this in the way his skin in the painting is so natural looking. He also uses great detail in the curls of his hair to the fur on his robe. The northern European art is characterized by naturalism rather than that idealism of perfection.  You can see that in his work because everything looks as if it more natural and humanized. As you see in the portrait he doesn’t look idealized he looks natural, you can tell when you look at his eyes and his hair. In the self=portrait from 1500 you can see that there is also a sense of balance, even though the pose is direct. You can see his symbol of his initials on one side and on the other there is an inscription on the opposite site. I think those elements help create a pyramidal composition.  I like that Albrecht Dürer has created his own monogram. There aren’t really anymore elements in the background of the portrait from 1500 but the 1498 portrait you can see more Italian renaissance traditions, because in the background you can see a giant window and this creates the 3-quarter pose. The 3-quarter pose is a characteristic of Italian art that has influenced Albrecht Dürer.

In the Albrecht Dürer self-portrait from 1500 you can see that there is a pyramidal composition but there is also that creation of balance and a great use of detail in creating the naturalism of his self-portrait. I think the use of naturalism is the biggest key element Durer used from Italy. 

Mannerist Art

After Raphael died was when the Mannerist art was then created. It is the end of perfection, harmony and balance that was in the 15^th century renaissance art. Now in the 16^th century renaissance art was created to look more stylized and not realistic. Mannerist art was created to look more artificial and not true to life. There are people that are elongated and disproportionate. For instance the painting “Allegory with Venus and Cupid” by Bronzino has all the characteristics of Mannerist art, along with the painting “Entombment” by Pontormo.

            Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid is a very chaotic painting with many different figures. Everything in the painting seems to be tilted upward. Venus is in the center and her pose looks so unnatural. She is rather larger than the other figures. It seems as if she is about to fall over because her weight is all shifted on her right knee and her body pointed upward, she looks very unstable. Cupids pose looks also unreal, it looks like all his weight is on that pink pillow and his body is twisted in a way that make him look elongated. I also think that his head looks like its not even connected to his body, or that is neck is so elongated. You can’t really tell because Venus’s arm is covering that area. There is also a detail in his foot that is mimicking the dove in the bottom left corner they are not touching. Cupid and Venus look as if they might drop and fall out of the picture plane, which is another characteristic of Mannerist art. Mannerist art is very chaotic and it looks like the other figures in the paintings are just shoved into the canvas. The background looks very cramped. The figures look as if they are just placed randomly into the canvas. Venus looks somewhat graceful with her hand reaching around Cupid and taking that arrow out of his wing. This painting is kind of erotic because Cupid is said to be Venus’s son. In the painting he is seen grabbing her breast, and looks like they are about to have a passionate kiss. In the painting if you look closely you can see her tongue coming out of her mouth while they are embracing each other.  Behind the playful child you see a serpent body with a costume like head of a girl. There is also a woman on the left that is screaming in terror, some say it’s over jealousy. Both the serpent and the screaming woman are giving warning to the inappropriate things that are happening with Venus and Cupid.

             Pontormo’s Entombment shows characteristics of Mannerist art. There are people in the painting that are crammed into the canvas, elongated figures, and a use of unnatural color uses. This painting is very large so standing at eye level you only see the bottom portion of the painting, but once you look up you the figures. Some of those figures look as if they are going to fall right out of the painting and usually would give viewers an uneasy feeling. In earlier renaissance art they had pyramidal and triangular compositions. Mannerist art is more chaotic so they don’t have a set up of composition, as in early renaissance art there was triangular and pyramidal compositions. In this painting there seems to be an oval or round composition. You can see that the figures heads are moving around in a circle while in the middle of that circle is empty space with just arms and hands. With there being no pyramidal or triangular shape to this composition it is much harder to find the subject matter.  In the painting there is a guy in a strange unnatural crouch, he is holding the dead weight of Christ. He is standing on his tiptoes and in real life I think it would be very difficult to hold a dead man while on your tiptoes. Also the color of this man’s skin is very unnatural because he is a bright pink and his stomach is a light blue color. As you look at the man crouching you can see that his neck is a little elongated and the other person in blue, holding Christ, also has a disproportionate body. These again are other characteristics of Mannerist art.

Some people may say that Mannerist art is elegant with the curves of the elongated figures and the lines that sweep throughout the paintings. But others may say that it is disturbing and makes the figures look very strange. Both of these paintings show that people are elongated and that takes away from the perfection of people. Also in these paintings there is no order to the compositions they are chaotic and crammed. Many of the Mannerist art are chaotic and don’t make sense to viewers. Mannerist art moves far away from the 15^th century renaissance art it has taken away the harmony, balance or perfection.