Library Research Assignment - Essay Example

Library Research Assignment Section A b Picture The Ecstasy of St.Teresa (1652) by Giovanni Bernini. Retrieved from :< http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/10/18/the-basics-of-art-the-baroque-period//> Picture 2: The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1601) by Caravaggio. Retrieved from: < http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/10/18/the-basics-of-art-the-baroque-period/ > Picture3: The Four Continents (1615) by Peter Paul Rubens. Retrieved from < http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/10/18/the-basics-of-art-the-baroque-period/> The first two pictures are my choice. Section B Picture 1 This picture by Giovanni Bernini, depicts the spirituality of St. Teresa’s personality through the drawing of an angel standing next to her. The angel is drawn in a captivating artistic attire that makes a person to be blown away. The angel is smiling at St.Teresa who has her eyes closed. She is either asleep or daydreaming about the presence of an angel next to her. It is a beautiful blend of drawing that evokes the mystic nature of St.Teresa as a spiritual nun (Brett & Kate, para6). The paint also shows St.Teresa lying on a whitish rough structure that could be a rock and she is covered with a gown. The gown looks like the nuns’ uniform and she is lazily enveloped into the reverie or dream about the angel. This is an epitome of the spiritualism that an image can depict. Moreover, the environment that hooks up the angel and St.Teresa looks dreamy, implying the supernatural feeling that the paint is showing. Lastly, there is intense light that illuminates the shiny structure that St.Teresa is lying on and the gowns that both are wearing. This is a symbol of divine power in a scared place. Picture 2 In this paint, Caravaggio is showing a pretty realistic image of St.peter being crucified. He is keen on the posture of the people and the wood used to make the crucifix. It is a paint that shows the crucifixion of St.Peter as he asked people to do. He is crucified upside down as a symbol of not imitating his Lord Jesus Christ. The painting is so real that it shows the cloth that is wrapped around him to conceal his loins, the people lifting the cross and the obscurity of their faces in the shadows. The picture arouses feelings of sadness by looking at the way St.Peter has left his mouth open with his long beard and dully eyes, showing so much pain. The people lifting the crucifix are also showing fatigue since it is clear that they are straining to lift the crucifix to its intended right position (Brett & Kate, para8). Picture 3 This paint is a fascinating image that describes the evolution of the Catholic Church by Peter Paul Rubens. He is so artistic in the painting of women and men in their full physical features lying on each other in various postures. There is also the presence of leopards in shady color trying to roar at the infants on the ground. This is a description of the spread of Catholic Churches across the world and the numerous challenges it has faced. Behind the leopards, the adults and the infants is a dark blue sky that is not fully clear. It shows the beautiful sky, symbolizing the hope and feasibility of the spread of Catholic Church gospel (Brett & Kate, para9). Section C Giovanni Bernini He was Italian artist who had great dominance in the Roman art. He was the inventor of the Baroque sculpture style. His philosophies in art were the capability to predict narratives, creating dramatic scenery in a piece of art and eloquence in his paints. Bernini’s paintings mainly revolved around the Catholic Church gospel. He would evoke some Catholic teachings or spiritual messages through captivating paintings. He was pretty good in coming up with paints that showed great skill in expressing real and fictional but mystic things in a dramatic way. Some of his works including the Ecstasy of St.Teresa prove it. However, the modern day art that started long back, affected his baroque style of painting. This happened in the neo-classical period when different artists emerged with unpleasing criticisms about the Baroque style that killed its popularity. It is until recently, that the artists realized the efforts and contributions of Giovanni Bernini in the development of creative art through his unique style of painting. Caravaggio. He was an Italian artist whose works were the human state point of imagination. Caravaggio was a skilled painter who was based in Milan, Italy at that time. He was a crooked youth since he went to jail a couple of times, smashed up his apartments and got a death warranty that the Pope issued. This was all occasioned by the mismanagement of his success with the bloom of his paintings business and skills. Caravaggio was a violent person who killed and attempted to kill other people under mysterious circumstances despite his great talent in painting. His philosophies in art included the theme of religion that showed in each of his painting. Moreover, drastic naturalism was also one of his principal philosophies in painting. He drew paintings that passed a message in the church. This style of painting earned him accolades from different art bigwigs and he earned a spot in history as one of the creative pioneers of art. He was championing for the Baroque style of art like Giovanni Bernini and so the neo-classical period affected the works of these artists immensely. Peter Paul Rubens He was a proponent for the Baroque style of art but he mainly established himself as a Counter-Reformation painter. Rubens was a creative artist who managed to induce sensuality, energy and dramatic feelings into the works of art that revolved around religions and historical myths. He was a humanist scholar-cum-diplomat and this could have been an influence to the types of paintings he drew. His paintings mostly had nudity images that had particular religious relevance and message. The use of oil and movement was his treasured skill that earned him numerous accolades by painting images that captivate the complete attention of people. This was his way of delivering the religious, historical and mythological message to his target audience. His style was Baroque but still main the uniqueness. Section D Picture 1 This picture fits well into the time period because that was the time when Catholic Christianity was becoming popular. This implies that the use of such paintings served as an important instrument in the spreading of the religion through convincing people on the authenticity of the religion at that time. Picture 2 At a critical time when the Catholic Church was marking its base in Italy, this painting was crucial to cement the message of loyalty to the church. In this painting, St.Peter is crucified as a sign of revering Jesus Christ and God. This shows the respect that the saints had for God and they would die just to praise His name. It is a perfect description of the Catholic Church popularity at that time, since the message on the painting preaches that people should seek divine restoration and get spiritual. Picture 3 This picture resembles the numerous challenges that the Catholic Church faced in its mission of popularizing the religion against Protestantism. There was competition between different religions at the time and it was not as smooth for the Catholic Church to make a remarkable step in the popularization for the religion. The painting thus shows the struggles characterized by the fierce leopard looking at the infants, the women lying on the men and the blue sky at the far end in dull light. Section E There are similarities and differences of the paintings in terms of form, content and subject matter. The first similarity among the three paintings is that they all touch on Catholic religion according to the form in which they are painted. The first picture is about St.Teresa the mystic nun, the second one talks about the crucifixion of St.Peter and the third one talks about the challenges that the Catholic Church faced in its quest for dominance in Rome. The second similarity is the in the content and subject matter where all the pictures have image that are pretty emotional in either good or bad ways. The first painting shows the nun in a spiritual moment with an angel, which evokes a feeling of mirth and content. However, the second and third images show a person being crucified and people in pain respectively. The differences in the paintings arise in the skill of painting that the artists have used. The first painting uses too much light and imaginations. The second painting uses shadows and darkness with a clear evidence of pain and heaviness of sins through the struggle the people raising the crucifix are encountering in lifting it up. The third picture is a mixture of different images, from adults, children to a wild animal. These differences show different skills and interest among artists. Thus, artists vary in their painting styles according to their passion and areas of interests. Section F It is evident that the artist who drew the first picture is using the power of imagination to capture the attention of people. The piece of art is well-designed to show the interconnection between the earthly and sacred world. In my perspective, the artist did a remarkable job since the painting is catchy and emotional at the same time. For the second painting, the artist used his skills pretty well to exhibit the heaviness of the crucifix, which equates to the sins of St.Peter. It is minimally scary but has a captivating aspect especially in the depiction of pain. In my opinion, the artist nailed it since all the images in the picture show a sombre mood that is supposed to be the right appeal for the painting. The last picture comprises of different images that show the pain and struggles. It is a perfectly done picture but I do not see the need for drawing a leopard opening its mouth at the infants on the ground. It would still be appealing even with absence of the leopard and still evoke the feeling of struggles. Works Cited Brett, and Kate Mckay. "Baroque Art Basics." The Art of Manliness. N.p., 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. Retrieved from: . Read More