A Visual Analysis in Interpreting and Understanding Artworks - Assignment Example

Visual Analysis; Lorenzo di Credi’s The Virgin and Child Introduction Visual analysis, as part of art criticism is an important aspect when interpreting meaning, responding to, or making conclusions about art pieces. In analyzing a work of art, it is possible to judge, interpret, or perceive it. The most important outcome of conducting an analysis of artworks is that through interpreting them, they can be better understood. This means that the artist can be revealed and discussed, the historical context of the painting can be decoded, the medium used, style, condition, and location can be applied in better understanding an artwork beyond the visual part. In addition, the meaning of an artwork can be explained. In conducting a visual analysis, aspects such as color, perspective, forms, balance, frame, and overall appearance are used to mention but a few. In this paper, Lorenzo di Credi’s Madonna and Child painting will be used to conduct a visual analysis. The analysis will seek to explain the painting in-detail and most importantly explain why it stands out as a perfect painting that appeals to the eye than other versions of the Madonna and child works. Lorenzo di Credi was born in Italy in 1459. His time of birth places was midway through the Florence and Italian Renaissance period. During his early artist life, he worked with Andrea del Verrocchio in his workshop. He got to work with the famous Leonardo da Vinci and it is said that the two artists inspired each other greatly. Most of his works were based on religious themes, and he used several Renaissance paintings to create his own. The Madonna and Child painting is one of his famous pieces. Summary Fig.1 Lorenzo di Credi’s Madonna and Child painting The first (original) autograph of The Madonna and Child painting was done by Rogier van der Weyden, a Flemish artist, in the early 1450s. Lorenzo di Credi drew inspiration from this piece to come up with his own version thirty years later. It is rectangular oil on wood painting with dimensions of 71.1 cm (height), and 49.5 cm (width). It is estimated to have been created around 1480 to 1485 and is currently on display at the National Gallery in London. The main focus of the painting is the Madonna (virgin) with a child seated on her lap. They both have halos above their heads. The Madonna has a silk veil over her golden hair and is staring down at the child who sits on her right held at the waist in her right hand. She has a deep blue robe over a red dress. The child is staring towards the bottom left corner of the painting, away from the Madonna’s gaze. The child is only clad in a waistcloth. Both of its hands clasps around the Madonna’s left hand, which is directed at him. Behind the Madonna and child is what appears like a wall or wooden barrier onto which the Madonna leans. Above the barrier and far out into the painting is a landscape composed of a blue sky, several hills, a calm water body, and some buildings rising above the green landscape. The Madonna and child are positioned at the center of the working area (The National Gallery n.p.). Skillful use of lines is evidently one of the most outstanding qualities in the Madonna and Child. The lines seem to start from the Madonna’s head where the hair flow and direction of veil directs the viewer’s eyes down the painting. The lines flow downwards the Madonna’s chest where the lines, constructing her left hand cut across the flow and direct one towards the child. The child’s head on the other hand directs the eye towards the background (past the wall into the landscape behind the Madonna). As is evident in the flow of hair, position of eyes, and the hands of the two figures “holding”, there is a perception of movement within the painting. The second dominant quality in the painting is that the colors respond to light. They vary in intensity and tone as per the amount of exposure to light. The landscape for instance gets darker as the eye moves farther. The stone pillar to the Madonna’s right is darker on the side facing away from direct light. In addition, the figures of the Madonna and child respond to light too; they are darker on the right than they are on the left. The same happens with the wall behind them. Collectively, they indicate that the light source is on the left side. The clothes worn by the two figures also show variation in light; where creases exist, the “inner” parts appear darker. The top of the folds also appears lighter or shiny as more light is indicated on them. The lines and colors collectively bring about excellent forms used to create the composition. The hills at the distant are created by enclosing varying colors within lines. The sky is darkest from the top of the plane and gets lighter as it graduates down. Lines are used to cut across the sky to form hills. The varying blue color used to create the hills gives them volume. The faces of the figures are oval shapes filled in with graduating color to create three-dimensional forms. The stone blocks behind the Madonna are given a three-dimensional form by varying intensity of light and lines with different densities. Linear perspective has been used in the painting to create the perception of depth. This is evident in the midground where there are figures of trees showing the distinct features such as leaves clearly. However, as the foreground proceeds into the background, the tree forms seem to lose detail and appear as general forms of green color without leaves. The same occurrence is evident with the buildings on the left side of the painting; they are clear and detailed, but lose these features as their distance from the foreground increases. The hills appearing behind, others have been made smaller in size (by overlapping) as they proceed into the distance, further creating linear perspective. Lorenzo di Credi did not ignore the principle of balance in this painting. If an imaginary line was drawn midway down the painting, the two sides would “weigh” equal; indicating symmetrical balance. The Madonna and child are placed at the very mid of the rectangular working area. The same applies to the wall behind them as it runs from left to right of the panel. The balance in the midground and background has been skillfully created. The hills balance both the right and left sides of the painting. To the left, there is a cluster of buildings in the midground. Credi wittingly balanced the buildings on the left with the stone column on the far right of the painting. In this way, The Madonna and Child piece by Credi acquired symmetrical process. Overall, the use of perspective, form, lines, tone, shadows, light, and color enabled Lorenzo to achieve realism in his work. There is realism in the relationship between the mother and child due to proportion. The two figures have been captured in the very same way that a camera would do. The hands of the Madonna are that of an adult. Those of the child are realistically those of a baby. The arrangement of features such as the eyes, lips, and the graduation of finger size all add up to correct proportion. Additional elements such as the blue sky, green trees, and bluish water all indicate that Credi sought to capture reality as it appears in nature. As earlier stated, di Credi experienced both the Florentine and Renaissance Periods of art. However, going by the above discussion, he was influenced more by the Renaissance. This is evident in that his painting suits most of the qualities shown by the works of the Renaissance Period. Similar to other artists’ works of this period, such as Leonardo da Vinci, The Madonna and Child shows similarities. They include the use of religious themes (The Madonna and Child is based on the Christian Virgin Mary and baby Jesus). Second, the use of perspective, paying attention to details and anatomy, painting of realistic figures, the use of perspective, proportion, variation of color tone, and symmetrical balance also support the fact that the work suits into the Renaissance Period context. Finally, it was during the same period that artists began using oil colors and wood panels as painting materials (Joost-Gaugier 148). Conclusion As the discussion above shows, a visual analysis is important tool in interpreting and understanding artworks. The visual elements of a work such as lines, shapes, and color to mention but a few are important in knowing how it was created, what the artist sought to express, and also place it in its historical context. As is the case with di Credi’s The Madonna and Child, conducting a visual analysis enables one to place it in the Renaissance Period as well as understand the use of lines, color, form, perspective, and proportion to mention but a few. Concisely, the visual analysis has made it possible to classify the painting as a Renaissance work. Works Cited Joost-Gaugier, Christiane L. Italian Renaissance Art: Understanding Its Meaning. New York: Wiley, 2012. Print. The National Gallery, “The Virgin and Child”, nationalgallery.org.uk. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. Read More