Non Western Blog

Non-Western Blog! The pieces I chose today are artworks I found while looking through 'Greek Paintings,'  I wanted to explore more thoroughly the types of paintings I see most often in movies, media, or in daily life that I don't actually know much about.  I like to focus on paintings throughout this course as I used to paint all the time and it's one of my favorite forms of art. 

 The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli, mid-1480s

"This is a work of tempera on canvas.  During this time, wood panels were popular surfaces for painting, and they would remain popular through the end of the sixteenth century.  Canvas, however, was starting to gain acceptance by painters. " Source  The Birth of Venus is such a beautiful piece to me. I love the color pallet, the scene depicted is very creative, and the patterns capture my attention. This is a fairly colorful piece with muted tones, greens, blues, pinks, reds, and browns. The Birth of Venus takes place on the edge of a waterfront, the pattern of the small waves in the water captures my eye. I can see the texture in the blankets, hair, and fabric of the white and blue dress the lady on the right is wearing. It's a very beautiful piece, I would own a copy of it for sure. 

        
                                                        The Arnolfini Portrait by Van Eyck, 1434, 

"This Renaissance artist produced a range of devotional, political, and personal works, mainly in the form of portraits and altarpieces. He was an industrious and versatile artist."  Source

I learned that the meaning and core meaning of this painting is a bit unknown, and there are many interpretations. One of the coolest details in this painting to me is that if you look close enough you can see two figures in the mirror on the back wall, to show us that the two people depicted in this painting are perhaps greeting somebody. I think this detail adds to the depth of the painting. I also notice the color, we see a very strong red for the bedding and the chair beside it. As well as the green dressing on the women. This could go to show these people may be well off. I also notice space in this painting, we can tell we are looking into a room. A room big enough to see there is a large bed, a seating area next to that and we can see the distance to the mirror which I find really well done. It looks very realistic. 

                                   The Creation of Adam -Sistine Chapel – Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512 

"For people living in the Renaissance period, art was suddenly as realistic as photographs are to us today. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’. This rebirth occurred in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries when Italy was quite a wealthy society." Source 

I have seen this painting many many times throughout my life and never paid too much attention or its history. Not for any reason, I do like the piece a lot.  I like thinking of this painting going a little bit hand in hand with The Birth of Venus. They seem similar to me. In this painting, there is less color overall (Not in comparison to The Birth of Venus, just my observation,) and the colors that are present seem a bit muted. I'm not 100% sure if this is the correct way of looking for texture, but I do love how you can see the texture of the ceiling through the painting. You can see the cracks. The tones are mute just like the colors as they go hand in hand.  I think it's a very beautiful piece. 

 

      Leonardo da Vinci - The Virgin of the Rocks- C about 1491/2-9 and 1506-8

"Leonardo’s mysterious painting shows the Virgin Mary with Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin, and an angel. All kneel to adore the infant Christ, who in turn raises his hand to bless them. They are crowded in a grotto overhung with rocks and dense with vegetation." Source

This was a new piece I had never seen! It was a bit tricky to find an image of this that would show the halos and the bronze rod that lays on the shoulder of the child to the left. Most images I saw didn't have that detail at all or it was much too dark to see. The tone of this painting is rather dark, which I think helps with understanding the setting, it appears they are in a cave. The colors here that stand out the most are blue and gold, we see things showing up in the main ladies' robe and on the mountains in the background, and gold details in the dressings and the halos and metal posts. Lastly, I notice texture most by looking at the rocks around them. I loved finding this piece as I often associate Leonardo with the Mona Lisa. 

                                                              

                                                            Bibliography 

Harris, Beth, and Steven Zucker. » Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait. https://smarthistory.org/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.

Konst, Emma. “The Birth of Venus and the Role of Greek Antiquity During the Renaissance.” Singulart Magazine, https://www.facebook.com/WeSingulart/, 21 Aug. 2019, https://www.singulart.com/en/blog/2019/08/21/the-birth-of-venus-and-the-role-of-greek-antiquity-during-the-renaissance/.

NA, NA. “Botticelli’s Birth of Venus – ItalianRenaissance.Org.” ItalianRenaissance.Org – Analysis of the Art of Renaissance Italy, https://www.italianrenaissance.org/botticelli-birth-of-venus/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.

---. “Renaissance Art    (1400 -1500) – ART.” ART, https://www.facebook.com/WordPresscom, 23 Aug. 2010, https://classicalart.wordpress.com/renaissance/.