Research Paper Part One - Essay Example

Prehistoric Art in France: Bull, Horse and Stag (c. 18000 BC) The above painting was found in France’s Cave of Lascaux in Dordogne. The painting on the wall depicts prehistoric painting by early man. The painting on the wall shows a bull, a horse and a stag. The stag has been painted on the right side of the using what appears to be a red ochre color. The early men who painted the animals made good use of color variation to bring out different effects on the painting. At the head of the stag, the artists seem to have used the red ochre color first and later finished it off with a dark color.

That is particularly so as there is observable darkening of color towards the head and the neck though in different tones. The belly of the stag on the right and the back is painted redder than the rest of the body. The tail region is painted bright red though the tail is not very apparent. The horse is painted as trotting in front of the stag, perhaps painted independently after or before the stag was painted. The horse is painted using red color just as the stag though the tone is slightly lighter.

The red color used to paint the gorse is slightly yellowish. Unlike the stag, the color tone is almost equally distributed with no area being either too light or too dark. Even so, the artist that painted the horse used dark color to bring about the appearance of the mane. All the four legs are more apparent than the stag. The bull stands on the top left side above the horse and the horse and the stag. The painting of the bull is more of just the head and the neck region. The head of the bull is painted using darker tones than the horse and the tag.

The lower neck region of the bull has been painted using light color. The artist did use various shaped and proportionality to bring out the features of the painting. By making use of various shapes, the artist brought out features such as animal horns especially for the stag. The shapes are not geometrical though some features such as the horse’s mouth comes out in an almost circular shape. The bull’s eye, which appears very faintly, is also depicted in a circular shape. The hills in the background have been painted using imperfect triangular shapes.

The middle ground has some round shapes that do not make so much meaning in respect to the painting.The most outstanding element that the artist has made good use of is lines. Lines have been used to bring out every shape and boundaries within the painting. By making use of lines, the artist has been able to mark the boundary of the hills in the background as well as distinguish the animals from the background. By using lines of different color tones, the painted draws a distinction that makes the various features come out clearly.

A combination of shapes and color has been used to bring texture effects. The texture of foreground where the horse and the stag stand has been depicted as rough by making use of the two elements combined. In short, the piece of art has identifiable features and observable elements of art. Work CitedCantillano, Rodrigo. Prehistoric: Bull, Horse and Stag. Web. 2014. Accessed from http://www.pinterest.com/rodcann/prehistoric/