Essays on The Portrait

A native citizen of Spain and a recognized king of bohemian Paris, Pablo Picasso was a bright example of versatile talent and fantastic commitment to his lifework. He continuously tried new styles and forms, looked for new color compositions, used unusual materials, and, when two-dimensional images started to seem him boring, founded cubism to give them a new dimension. Together with Georges Braque, Picasso massively determined art development of the twentieth century. The widely recognized ancestor of Picasso’s cubism is his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) created in 1907 during the African period of ...

As such, this painting can surely be reckoned to be extremely worthy of being included in the text book as it would help the readers get a very good idea about the iconic features of impressionism as a form of art. It is truly commendable how the artist has used thin washes in the free-flowing brushstrokes for catapulting the details of the work. Moreover, it needs to be noted that the painter uses an outside setting in unison with the figure of the lady in context. But, the selection of the setting does not make the painting a conversation ...

Formalist Criticism of My Last Duchess

My Last Duchess is probably the best example of the dramatic monologue, a poetical form that was invented and applied essentially by one of the foremost Victorian poets, Robert Browning. A dramatic monologue should certainly have a character who speaks to some particular person, mainly certain silent listener, in the manner of a dramatic speech and has to take place in specific physical setting like that of a drama. The poem My Last Duchess definitely belongs to the dramatic monologue because it, at first, possesses three formal elements, such as an occasion, a speaker, and a hearer. Secondly, the ...

Part 1

In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning we meet the narrator who is a Duke. The duke is meeting an emissary in order to discuss marrying the daughter of a very important man. As he is giving the emissary a tour of his home he stops to admire the portrait of his dead wife. The Duke begins to speak of his dead wife with affection. This quickly turns into bitterness when he goes on a rant about the fact she engaged in behaviors that he found distasteful. As he goes on he reveals that he “gave commands; / Then ...

(Student’s Full Name)

Giovanni Bellini was known as the “greatest Venetian painter of the early Italian Renaissance” (“Portrait of Joerg Fugger” par. 2). One of the reasons that he is considered to be one of the best painters during this period is his advanced oil painting techniques. In fact, he was “one of the first Venetian painters to devote himself to the medium of art painting” (“Giovanni Bellini [1430-1516]” par. 7). One of the paintings that demonstrates his advanced oil painting techniques is the Portrait of Joerg Fugger that was painted in 1474. This paper will provide a ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a contradiction of people who are authentic such as Sybil and Henry and those who are hiding their true selves behind deceptions, like Dorian and Basil. This paper will look at the use of “smoke and mirrors” in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. “Smoke and Mirrors” is a metaphor that refers to the hiding of truth behind a veil of deception. This is a concept that is popular in Victorian Literature and helps to drive the plot as the conflict is often times essential to the advancement of the storyline. ...

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Introduction There is no limit to what human intellect can achieve. This mindset is particularly evident during the Renaissance; a period in European history wherein there was a significant ‘rebirth’ or revival of classical work. Scholars believe that the Renaissance started sometime in the 13th century and ended at the onset of the postmodern era in the late 16th century. During this period, Europeans became increasingly interested in the arts, architecture and science of ancient Greek and Rome. The significance of the Renaissance is that it ended the long period of cultural darkness that characterized the Middle ...

Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang are Chinese contemporary artists. While both are leading conceptual artists in the country, they seek to evoke different messages using their art work. Ai Weiwei’s art is motivated by the need to inspire freedom and the expansion of individual space away from government and society. It is therefore the case that Ai Weiwei by virtue of eliciting such emotions practiced artistic activism. On the other hand, Zhang Xiaogang is respected in his own right. His art more or less seeks to evoke memories which he says serve as his greatest inspiration. He especially ...

Francisco De Goya, the great Spanish artist, was born on 30th March 1746 in a place called Fuendetodos, which is located in the province of Saragozza. He moved to Saragozza later with his father who was guilder by profession and studied at a school called “Escuelas Pias de San Anton.” Goya started learning art when he was 13 years old and became an apprentice to a local painter in Saragozza (Felisati and Sperati 264).Initially, Goya copied the work of different artists such as Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez and Rembrandt Van Rijn. He developed a friendship with a ...

Dear Friend, I am deeply interested in an interesting art work “Woman with a hat” by the famous artist Henri Matisse, who is one of my favorites. The canvas was done in the year 1905 and first exhibited at Salon d'Automne in Paris. However, as I intend to see the artwork, I am traveling to San Francesco where the artwork is displayed at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Femme au chapeau 2016). I want to know more about the artist and his work. Fortunately, I live close to San Francesco and drove there on a weekend. I stayed ...

I was very excited to go to the Getty Museum on Sunday along with a group of friends. We reached the museums at about 11.a.m. Entry to the museum was free, but we paid $15 f or parking our car. We made to the Getty Center where we wanted to explore the exhibition on “The romance of Black in the 19th-Century French Drawings and Prints.” French artists were improving their skills and range of works, including their inspiration to explore the new subject of the darkened realms. The artwork that I have chosen to discuss in the paper is “ ...

Introduction

Surrealist is the work of art that has its roots in the early 1920s it was aimed at creating a connection between what most people referred to as dreams and fantasies to the reality. Surrealist work of art was designed to create a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious features of experiences to build absolute reality from primary imagination. Surrealist work of art developed from psychological processes and not any logical and rational process. Surrealist work art was aimed at establishing an evaluation of psychic characteristics (Barr, Alfred Hamilton, and Georges Hugnet). To develop psychic responses in the ...

“The cup of tea” is an “oil on canvas” painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), an American artist born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The painting was created between 1880 and 1881. The painting represents Mary’s sister Lydia Simpson, but the picture is not about the portrait rather the cultural activity represented by the cup of tea,. The activity played a major role in the impressionist imagery, a mainstay of Cassatt in her contemporary life. Cassatt had good knowledge of color, and her impressionist imagery was greatly displayed by this fine piece of art. The artist was keen not to make ...

[Client’s name] Discuss how the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and one of the tales themselves could function as a criticism of the three estates of medieval culture; that is, the social hierarchy of the 14th century. How do Chaucer’s descriptions of the pilgrims in the prologue contribute to this? In the Medieval Culture there were three estates of the society. There were those, who prayed, those who fought and those who worked. All the representatives went into the journey, and right from the Prologue each participant starts to tell the stories that show all the ...

Jagte Raho is a black and white film which describes the lifestyle of a villager who had travelled in an urban city full of evil acts. The film takes place over one long, bizarre night in a block apartment in the midst of the city. Raj Kapoor, a thirty villager, was seeking for water to quench his thirst. When heading to the direction with piped water in an apartment, he is hastily spotted and suspected of being a burglar. The accusations makes the villager run dearly for his life and hide in the safest apartments. In the process, Kapoor ...

Mona Lisa portrait caused a stir when it was out on display for the first time. According to history Mona Lisa was not so special, but just a young wife belonging to a Florentine merchant known as Giocondo. According to records, "Mona" was a prefix which stood for "Madonna" or rather "Mrs." The Portrait belonged to the high Renaissance works in several ways. First was the excellent utilization of the perspective with the total number of lines converging in one diminishing point on her head with a triangle like composition forming the significance of geometry of the whole painting. ...

Introduction

The artist’s biography plus the historical context to which an artwork is attached have great significance when it comes to formal analysis. Therefore, formal analysis not only describes the artistic principles incorporated on the artwork but also provides adequate information in terms of the scope and historical interpretation. As such, the analysis helps the reader envision the object in particular so that they may get the entire literature about the piece of art and its significance in the discipline. Among the essential elements, details under formal analysis include; the form, color, and style as well as the compositional ...

BIOGRAPHY

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez was a prolific Spanish Baroque painter who was born in 1599. The waning age of the Late Renaissance became the turning point for the rise of a new art movement so flamboyant and grotesque in its dramatic effects; it would be later known as the Baroque period. A native of Seville, he began painting at a tender age of 20 and one of his works was The Water Carrier of Seville, an evidence of his superb skill in painting intense and dramatic realism. The young genius had demonstrated his absolute talent and mastery ...

Introduction and Thesis

‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is a very famous and much-anthologized poem. It is a dramatic monologue written in rhyming iambic pentameters – that is to say the poet adopts the voice of someone else and speaks throughout as that person. It was first published in 1842 and is one of many dramatic monologues that Browning wrote. This poem is based on real historical events. Duke Alfonso II of Modena and Ferrara (1559 – 1597) married Lucrezia de Doctors and she died four years after the wedding in mysterious circumstances. This is the starting point for Browning’s poem. Victorian Britain was ...

When one hears the name “Pablo Picasso”, or just “Picasso”, one is reminded of vivid and abstract colors that form odd shapes or cubes depicting the subject. Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in the Andalusian city known as Málaga to parents Don José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y López. He is the eldest of three with him as the only son in the family. Picasso’s father is a professor in the School of Arts and Crafts in Andalusia, while his mother watched over their children. Picasso easily displayed his interest in art ...