The History of The Barque of Dante - Research Paper Example

Introduction The Barque of Dante does not only show a modern-day wreckage, but is an illustration of Eugene Delacroix’s great respect for the grand ancient literary works. Envisioned also as a work of art in the ‘grand form’, it was highly recognized by the people and obtained for the Royal compilation of modern paintings. The practices of Rubens and Michelangelo are plainly obvious, particularly in the epic representation of the nude. Yet, Delacroix detached considerably from the Classical painting tradition. Adolphe Thiers observed in the painting a merging of “… the boldness of Michelangelo and the fecundity of Rubens” (Honour 1979, 47). The backdrop is infused by an ambiance of disaster and dreadful hopelessness. The agonizing cadence, produced by the squirming glowing images in the center, stirs up eroticism. Physical and emotional strains have been highlighted by the shadowy, heavy colors. The History of The Barque of Dante Delacroix had labored uncontrollably for several months to have his early work of art finished for the 1822 Salon judgment and once he had finished this canvass he was completely drained. But this relentless effort paid off eventually. The Barque of Dante was presented to the Salon jury, and gives definite recognition of its indebtedness to The Raft of the Medusa of Gericault. Without a doubt, the painting’s influence is not only confined to The Barque of Dante but also to Delacroix’s later works, such as The Shipwreck of Don Juan. However, Delacroix had a lot more to find out about the Raft. Gericault, in showing the dilemma of the shipwrecked all over the world, had established the footing for the artistic revolution. The big figures positioned near to the gaper are possibly suggestive of Gericault in the sense in which they occupy the exterior of the painting and in their secluded immensity. In 1822, Thiers described The Barque of Dante in a single statement: “No canvas better reveals the future of a great painter” (Fletcher 2002, 1499). With this new theme aroused by Dante’s Inferno, the solemn vision and deeply striking imagery, as well as allusions to Rubens and Michelangelo, Delacroix drove painting in a different path, eventually to be categorized as ‘romantic’. The era of classical visual artists copying Roman and Greek painting had ended: modern-day preferences have completely abandoned them. The core design of The Barque of Dante is that remarkable talents from other places have produced literary creations filled with a way of viewing and sensing somewhat distinct from that of the French. Interpreting them stimulates the thought through novel themes and the mind’s eye through fresh courage. Hence new, actually, that Delacroix’s work of art did not escape criticisms. Etienne Jean Delecluze, David’s adherent, described the painting “a real daub” (Roy & Emeljanow 2003, 335). The Composition of The Barque of Dante The Barque of Dante was an imaginatively grand work of art, and even though the form is traditional, the canvass in several key aspects escaped unquestionably from the French Neo-Classical model. The smoldering to the back and the vicious fluttering of the garment where in Phlegyas is draped suggest a fierce storm, and most of the figures in the canvass are looking at it. The water is rough and the boat is raised to the right side, an angle at which it is bent toward the onlooker. The group of people is pushed to a path identified to be still more unfriendly, by Phlegyas whose self-confident bearing in the fierce wind indicates his experience with these dangerous weather conditions. The place at the back is a colossal furnace. There is no solace or even a sanctuary in the painting’s domain of suffering, madness, and fury. Delacroix adopted the imaginative literary texts of the Italian lyricist so as to form a drawing of decisive power and romanticism. Even though motivated by the legendary practice, the theme of the canvass is Dante Alighieri, the Italian bard. Dante, in the Divine Comedy, narrates his prosaic journey to Hell, led by Virgil. The journey of Dante starts in Hell together with the Roman lyricist, crossing nine consecutive rings on his path to commune with Beatrice, who will lead him to Paradise. Dante and Virgil, guided by Phlegyas, pass through the lake enclosing Dis, the underworld city; the damned souls squirm in the water, struggling to flee from their doom by dangling onto the vessel. The painting looks at the psychological conditions of the people it portrays, and makes use of striking, saturated contrasts to stress their distinct reactions to their own tragedies. The disconnection of Virgil from the chaos enclosing him, and his worry for the security of Dante, is an apparent contrast to the worry, fear, and imbalanced physical condition of Virgil. The souls of the damned are either ecstatic in a sharp focus upon a certain insane and fruitless mission, or are otherwise obviously in a situation of absolute despair and hopelessness. Their coating of the boat assumes a wave-like shape, reflecting the rough water and crafting the bottom of the canvass an area of dangerous insecurity. The damned souls to the right and left sides resemble ugly figures, surrounding the movement and contributing to a choking shade to the entirety. The striking composition of daring colors in the images at the heart of the canvass is remarkable. Dante’s red grimace echoes terrifyingly with the burning figures at his back, and fiercely contradicts the waving blue of Phlegyas. Scholar Charles Blanc emphasized the colorless fabric on the shroud of Virgil, portraying it as a “great wake up in the middle of the dark, a flash in the tempest” (Novotny 1960, 83). Other scholars observed the difference between the colors applied in the head of Dante, and in the portrayal of the damned souls, arguing that all this makes the damned look like something a viewer will not able to explain: a feeling of misery, bliss, and melancholia all at the same time. Romanticism and The Barque of Dante Delacroix’s painting is Romantic in its theme, in its gloomy atmosphere, in the stress on the anguish of the souls of the damned. In other aspects it lingers within the intellectual Neo-Classical model pioneered by David; in particular, in the structure of the creation in planes similar to the painting’s facade, in the sculptural features of the naked, in the message they communicate, despite of a definite Romantic power originating mostly from Rubens and Michelangelo, of being independently analyzed and created uniquely to astound an intellectual Salon judges. In style and shade the fleshes are quite strongly connected to those in Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa. Delacroix uses similar Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, the similar saturated brown, dark green and black shades. It is not coloristic, but a sculptural way of composing in that form. In part intellectual The Barque of Dante could be, but quite grand is the composition, quite forceful the synthetic power of the images, that is was to develop into a blueprint for radical and romantic painters. A certain aspect where Delacroix appears to make a major change in the romantic tradition is in the touches of water on several of the images in the center: they are made up of contrasted shades of untainted dyes. Some of Delacroix’s colleagues and students claim that Delacroix reveals to them that these touches of water were his foundation as a colorist. Eventually Delacroix was to expand a similar practice to the drawing of forms, and later with Impressionism the principle was to extend to whole sceneries and cheerful al fresco figure drawings, leading to one of the most vivid blossoming of color since the Renaissance. Delacroix, in his diary, discloses a need to break free from the forceful artificiality and fairly intellectual detailing of muscles in The Barque of Dante (Johnson 1963, 20): “his major preoccupation now seems to be to combine clear-cut contour with simple internal modeling composed of a ‘firm yet blended impasto’”. Conclusions There is a somewhat inhuman emotion in Delacroix’s The Barque of Dante. We are glimpsing a domain of despair and madness. We witness here the fury of mad human beings who have not yet accepted their doom and tragedy. We nearly enclose ourselves to safeguard us from the fury of the wind we witness in this frightening, infernal image. Yet the impressiveness, controlled misfortune which passes through the entire extravagant style of images and ties them together is on the whole new and special. The shades and color also add to this harmony, and embodies a crucial escape from the artificiality of Gericault, although it does not yet have the intensity that The Barque of Dante afterward achieved. It is surprising how this initial masterpiece, completed at a young age, is raised from the domain of accuracy into Delacroix’s typical realm of lofty imagination. The Barque of Dante characterizes the ‘horrible and the ugly’ and thus declares its firm reverence of the truth, regardless how vile the truth may be. This value for truth is vital to Romanticism. Works Cited Fletcher, George. “Liberals and Romantics at War: The Problem of Collective Guilt” Yale Law Journal 111.7 (2002): 1499+ Honour, Hugh. Romanticism. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. Johnson, Lee. Delacroix. New York: W.W. Norton, 1963. Novotny, Fritz. Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1780 to 1880. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1960. Roy, Donald & Victor Emeljanow. Romantic and Revolutionary Theatre, 1789-1860. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Read More