Museum Project - Saint Lawrence Giving the Treasures of the Church to the Poor, 1635/1640 - Assignment Example

Saint Lawrence Giving the Treasures of the Church to the Poor, 1635/1640 Introduction Bernardo Strozzi did the piece of work. He did painting on top of the priesthood. However, he finally quit the ministry and established himself as a renowned artist and painter. One of his famous works is Saint Lawrence Giving the Treasures of the Church to the Poor. He shows an excellent mastery of the use of a mixture of dark and light colour. The painting is an excerpt from the autobiography of St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence distributed the treasures of the church to the poor as instructed by Roman Emperor Valerian.

Eventually, the Emperor ordered his execution, making him one of the martyrs.Description of the piece of ArtSource: Portland Art Museums, U.SThe art shows a young, well-dressed man giving a treasure to an elderly woman. There are also two on-lookers, a young boy and an old man. Bernardo Strozzi used an excellent combination of light and dark colour in the art to bring out an agitated mood. The looks of the people show that they are either nervous or troubled. That helps to bring out the theme of poverty.

He used oil paint to do the art on canvas. That gives it a smooth texture, judging from the appearance of the art.Bernardo did the piece of art in 1635/1640. The available models give the dimensions in inches. It measures 38.5 inches in height and 52.75 inches in length. It also shows the use of thin and wavy lines that are predominantly vertical. Additionally, Bernardo uses round shapes and thickness to convey mass and volume. He places two characters on either half of the art, making it symmetrical.

The focal point of the art is the incidence of the handing over of the gift to the elderly woman. Bernardo used light to show the mood and impression on the faces of the characters. The facial expressions help us understand the mood of the scene.AnalysisThe art shows some characteristics of Baroque art styles. Baroque refers to an artistic style that used sensuality and elegance in their work. That is evident in the visual presentation of the characters, achieved through mixing of colors. They also used strong emotional content to bring out realism in the art.

That is evident in the nervousness on the faces of the people in the work. Another apparent characteristic of Baroque art in this work is naturalism. The positioning and facial expression of the woman and the young man show the representation of a real situation. Additionally, Bernardo used an excellent combination of brown and white colour. He used white on the clothes of the woman and brown on the other characters. That was characteristic of Baroque art. As a result, the art fits in the Baroque Era.

It alludes to Illusionism, vanitas, capitalism, and artistic identity as discussed earlier in class.ComparisonThe CardsharpsSource: Kimbell Art MuseumCaravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) did the art in Italy in 1695. It is similar to Saint Lawrence Giving the Treasures of the Church to the Poor in several ways. Caravaggio used a combination of colours in his piece. That creates an impression of smooth texture. Additionally, he used thin lines that are predominantly vertical. There is also realism and naturalism in his art.

The Water Seller of SevilleSource: Khan AcademyVelázquez did the art in 1623. Just like Bernardo Strozzi, Velázquez used oil to do the painting on canvas. He also used brown and white colour, as well as round shapes as seen in his art. However, his art was smaller than that of Bernardo Strozzi. The facial expressions of the characters also show an agitated mood in the scene.Works CitedKhan Academy,. Khan Academy. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.Kimbellart.org,. The Cardsharps | Kimbell Art Museum. N.p., 2015. Web.

10 June 2015.Portlandartmuseum.us,. Saint Lawrence Giving The Treasures Of The Church To The Poor. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 June 2015.