Comparison and Contrast Salome by Gustave Moreau and Juno by Van Rijn - Literature review Example

Compare and Contrast Salome by Gustave Moreau and Juno by Van Rijn Gustave Moreau’s painting, Salome Dancing before Herod, was painted in 1876 and depicts the New Testament story concerning Salome’s dance for Herod at his birthday banquet. During this dance, she was supposed to captivate Herod with a seductive dance in order to influence him to offer her whatsoever she desired. On getting her wish, her mother asked her to request John the Baptist’s head on a plate after he had preached against her affair with Herod after her husband’s death. The painting is in the symbolist style. In Van Rijn’s Juno, Van Rijn paints a depiction of Juno, the Roman goddess who was also the wife of Jupiter. Van Rijn depicts her as a robust woman in a fur cloak over a plush dress fastened with large ornaments of gold and wide band of pearls. He also painted her with a golden scepter and a golden crown, accompanied by a peacock, which acted as an attribute for Juno traditionally. This painting is in the Baroque style. This paper will offer a comparison of the two paintings, as well as contrast the two. While the two paintings were painted in different styles and different eras, they both have religious themes in them. The two paintings both cover religious themes, although Van Rijn’s Juno covers a pagan god story while Moreau’s Salome covers a Christian theme from the New Testament. Juno is a painting where Van Rijn paints the wife of Jupiter and the ancient Roman goddess, who was also a special counselor to the Roman state and its protector (Michel 44). Van Rijn painted the scepter as a reference to her religious role as the protector of Roman women, and the crown referred to her title as Regina, or queen, and wife of the principal god Jupiter. Her robust figure is representative of her role as the mother of other gods Vulcan and mars. Her attire is representative of her role as the goddess of war while the peacock painted next to her is also representative of her role as a protector during war. Her depiction in a war like aspect is also referent of assimilation from Hera, the Greek goddess, who was also the goddess of protection in war (Michel 44). Gustave Moreau’s Salome Dancing for Herod also has a religious theme with its depiction of a famous scene from the New Testament. In this depiction, Moreau paints Salome, the daughter of Herodias in a seductive dance, in Herod’s court (Lacambre & Benjamin 33). Herod was the brother in law to Salome’s mother, and after her father’s death; her mother had started an affair with the married Herod. John the Baptist took it upon himself to preach against the immorality of the incestuous act, which embarrassed and angered Salome’s mother. Taking advantage of Herod’s enchantment with her daughter, she makes her ask for John the Baptist’s head in order to get him silent for the last time. The scene in the painting is derived from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. This subject was a special favorite of the artists in the symbolist era and occupied Moreau for many years (Lacambre & Benjamin 34). Juno by Rembrandt van Rijn is painted in the Baroque style. This style was used in a period during which the artists used motion that was exaggerated and clear, as well as easy to interpret, allowing the artist to produce grandeur, exuberance, tension, and drama (Gardner & Fred 86). This is highly visible in the painting with the exaggeratedly robust figure of such a young woman signifying her role as a protector of women during wartime. This style was born in Rome and spread to the rest of Europe, including the Netherlands where it was Rembrandt’s home. Rembrandt was also a Catholic and, since the style was encouraged by Catholic Church after the Council of Trent as a response to the Reformation, he painted Juno in a baroque style (Michel 58). According to the orders of the Catholic Church, the paintings needed to have an emotional involvement and cover religious themes, although Van Rijn’s painting was not a Christian themed painting. However, it was still a depiction of early Roman culture. In addition, the aristocracy looked upon the dramatic style associated with the Baroque style as a way of impressing Reformists and as a way of expressing control and power. Van Rijn accomplished this by painting Juno in triumphant dress, a golden crown, a scepter, and a peacock that all expressed triumphant control and power (Michel 60). On the other hand, the painting Salome Dancing for Herod was done in a symbolist style. The symbolist movement was one that began as a reaction to Impressionism and Realism and its purely visual style with the aim of depicting ideas using symbols (Gardner & Fred 66). Gustave Moreau was a pioneer of this style and stood apart from earlier impressionist and realist artists through his use of enigmatic and mystical qualities to characterize biblical subjects, in this case, Salome and Herod. The work was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and Romanticism as this style had thrived in France where it was Moreau’s home (Lacambre & Benjamin 50). Instead of simply using equivalents of emotions and ideas, Moreau and other artists of the time used symbols in being more mysterious and in making suggestions ambiguously. The work by Gustave Moreau takes a literary approach by employing symbolist imagery that includes icons like the severed head and smoky spirits that were synthesized from Bible story elements, in this case, the story of Salome and Herod. These imaginative incongruities, especially as used by Moreau in this painting, would act as an inspiration to the Surrealist movement (Lacambre & Benjamin 51). Another difference between Salome Dancing for Herod by Moreau and Juno by Van Rijn was the subject for their works. Van Rijn used his maidservant, Hendrickje Stoffels, as the model for his painting. On the other hand, Moreau used characters from the New Testament for his painting. This causes Van Rijn’s image to be more vivid with more developed features since he was painting using a live model (Michel 80). For Moreau’s Salome Dancing for Herod, Salome’s face is not very clear since she is modeled from a story, in this case, from the New Testament. Moreau used numerous cultures and sources to attain decorative elements, as well as achieve dramatic effect in the painting, including Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Moorish, Egyptian, Persian, Turkish, and Indian symbols; Moreau was more original and personal with the symbolism used in Salome Dancing for Herod coming from his own imagination (Lacambre & Benjamin 72). Van Rijn, on the other hand, preferred to use contrast in his paintings to heighten the painting’s dramatic effect by using dark and light areas. Works Cited Gardner, Helen. & Fred, Kleiner. Gardner's art through the ages: the Western perspective. Boston : Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Lacambre, Geneviève. & Benjamin, Lifson. Gustave Moreau: magic and symbols. New York : Harry N. Abrams, 2009. Print. Michel, Emile. Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt. New York: Parkstone International, 2011. Print. Read More