Artwork Analysis - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages By depicting animals and actions with such vitality and vividness, Rubens skillfully played with the viewers’ eyes and translated strong visuals into emotions, creating experiences of fear, tension, and danger—providing them with awe and amazement. ?As I view this oil painting by Peter Paul Rubens, the first thing that strikes my attention is the size of the painting. The painting is about 96 inches high and 148 inches wide. The magnitude of the painting makes the monumental hunting scene of the nobles even more dynamic and intense as if the scene of action is displayed on a theater screen and the danger is right before your eyes. I look closely, and, like most if not all of Rubens’s other works, this one is definitely portrayed in a dynamic fashion, with the galloping horses and all characters in violent actions. It is no wonder that he became such a famous and significant painter. His oil paintings are world renowned all over, and it is obvious why. This man had a great eye for detail and an ability to capture landscapes and animals in a way that was absolutely stunning and astonishingly good. These high-quality paintings that he created set the stage for his artworks being sold off to private collectors around the world, as well as being placed in their own galleries in several art museums globally. Binary Oppositions On the foreground, the composition is made up of two men and a woman riding on horses and a group of five men with spears in the groups. In the lower center of the composition, it is made up of two wolves, three foxes—with one being dead—and six dogs. The background is a beautiful landscape, and, upon closer scrutiny, I notice two more dogs following a man on horse on a small, almost miniscule, scale—creating a fantastic sense of depth. I then observed the facial traits of the people involved in the painting—the fearsome facial expressions on the hunters’ faces, and the cooperation of their servants. From these observations, it could be interpreted that the human action is the most important form in this painting because it leads to the deeper meaning of the image. As I have observed, the deeper meaning of this image is for the artist to effectively portray and honor the group of noble’s fearlessness and bravery and a scene of success of man versus nature. ?I have observed that the focus of the painting is the men on horses; their position in the painting reflects their high status in society. Because of such positioning, viewers would surely first recognize the nobles on horses at the heroes of the scene even though many others are involved. Aside from these observations, I also noticed the dynamic of the wolves and their expressions that show even though that men are powerful in this composition—but the wolves are not so easily defeated. One more reason that the hunter on the galloping white horse is more prominent is that sharp and bright colors could first catch one’s attention, as compared to dark colors. The saturated white horse and the saturated green jacket that the hunter is wearing make viewers more inclined to concentrate their focus on him at first. ? Anomalies of the Painting Color is a general key in setting up emotional connotation to the objects and space. For example, the use of color ...Download file to see next pagesRead More