Visual Analysis of Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint Francis - Essay Example

Visual Analysis of Albrecht Durer’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (Renaissance) painting versus Federico Barocci’s Saint Francis (Baroque) painting. The Renaissance art period dates back to the 1400’s, and marks the transition from medieval times into the modern age. Artists of this period are very famous even today and their works rank superior to baroque art. Baroque art follows in the 1600’s, marking the era of the church’s division into Roman Catholics and Protestants. Most of baroque artists are unpopular and their work is not as prominent as their renaissance counterparts are. Baroque roughly means ‘odd and strange’ in Italian. These two periods depict a great variation in aestheticism as supported by the comparison between Albrecht Durer’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Federico Barocci’s Saint Francis paintings; Albrecht’s work almost resembles reality whereas Federico’s has some of his own created perceptions included in his work. The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne painting is a work by Albrecht Durer that he did in 1519 during the renaissance period. It is oil on wood and measures 60 x 49.8 cm. The painting has three figures; Saint Anne, her daughter referred to as the ‘virgin’, and a sleeping newborn baby. Saint Anne is behind her daughter and has her hand resting on her shoulder with four of her fingers hanging, and thumb showing a little. She is staring straight ahead away from the infant, and wears a cream gown with a matching veil over her head with a calm smile on her face. Her daughter, the virgin, has her hands clasped in front of her, and over the baby’s chest, a gesture similar to that of prayer. Her neat, blonde hair flows backwards, tied behind her head and her facial complexion is lighter than Anne’s. She is in a red short-sleeved silk pull-neck dress and the black long-sleeved blouse shows from her upper arm. She is looking down on the infant with a calm smile on her face as well. The baby rests on Anne’s right side and is in a deep, relaxed sleep. His head is in the open showing blonde, curly hair and lies in thick silky wrappings. The background is a uniform dark. Saint Francis Federico Barocci’s painting dates back to the period 1600 to 1604. It is oil on canvas and measures 89.9 x 78.4 cm with added strips that make it 91.1 x 79.7 cm. In the painting is Saint Francis of Assisi who is inside a cave with his face angled towards the top left corner with a rather amazed look. His hair is thin, showing a mild bald from the center of his head, and it flows backwards. There is no outline as it camouflages with a dark shadow. He is wearing a light grayish robe. His left hand stretches out towards the audience and his palm has stigmata (a protruding nail resembling Jesus’). His right hand angles lower and directs towards an open Bible. Next to the Bible, and near the cave’s entrance shoots a crucifix resembling Jesus’ but in a miniature size. In the opening to the left of the painting that forms the exit, there is a distant dark, cloudy sky with a streak of orange forming the background. Overlapping the sky is a high cliff with overhanging bushes. In the mid-ground is a rocky depression with unclear outlines of what seems to be rocks or bushes. Similarities In both paintings, the artists use light similarly. They employ light in highlighting the main elements. In Albrecht’s piece, light highlights it entirely so that the faces, hands, clothes and faces come out clearly and well defined. The background is uniformly dark and works to contrast with the painted figures so the fine details really stand out. In Federico’s piece, he uses light in the same way; Francis’ facial expression is well visible, and his hand with stigmata stands out. In addition, the bible and crucifix have light on them so one can see them clearly contrasting with the dark backgrounds they arise from. Another similarity is that both artists use emotions as the element to define the subject matter, and in both cases, they give a reference point or cause of the emotions. In Albrecht’s piece, Anne and her daughter show mild smiles on their faces. The reason for their smiles is the little infant whose face seems so relaxed. In Federico’s piece, Saint Francis’ face wears an amazed look. He is staring at the possible cause of his amazement that seemingly is the acquisition of the stigmata from Jesus, represented by the crucifix. The use of line in both paintings is similar in that both artists direct the eyes of the viewer to key areas (highlights) by the tactical use of lines. On following the lines, the eyes move until they rest on the key points. For instance in the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne painting, Albrecht clearly defines the lines on the hems and the folds of the figures’ clothes and they stop where he puts emphasis; faces, palms and more so Anne’s gown that leads one’s eyes to the sleeping infant. In Federico’s Saint Assisi, his left arm rises from his torso and the outline of it guides the eyes to the arm with stigmata. In the mid-ground, there is the outline of the cave entrance in dark tones that leads the eye until it breaks on meeting the crucifix. Differences The elements in Albrecht’s piece are in proportion to each other, normally. Concisely, it is as if one is looking at a real scene in the life of a two maidens and an infant. The body sizes fit the facial features and limbs, and the baby’s size is real in comparison to the two women. However, this is not the case in Federico’s Saint Assisi. If one compares the number of times that Jesus’ body can sum up to equal Francis’ it shows the lack of proportional in that both are adult bodies and in normal circumstances, the ratio of comparison in size is 1:1, with insignificant variations. Second, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne painting has well defined details of even the tiniest significance. The artist painted in all the details of a particular part, not ignoring any single hair or running stitch. One clearly sees the stitch that makes up Anne’s veil in the face area. The virgin’s hair too is very close to reality; it has so natural details that one has the perception that the hairs are countable, one by one. The same applies in her hands. They look so real, with flowing tones, shining oiled areas, dark knuckles, and polished nails. In contrast to Albrecht, Federico’s Saint Assisi is not as detailed. Rather, he uses overlapping, fading and camouflage to transit from one form to the other. For example looking at Francis’ hair, it only has details on the area where it attaches to the head, having no distinct outline but blending into the shadows behind his head. In addition, the arm with the stigmata is too sketchy if compared to what Albrecht did of the virgin’s hands. The thumb has no clear outline and the fingernails look unreal. The other significant difference in these works is the type of symmetry in use. In Albrecht’s piece, the three figures fit almost the entire working area in a balanced look. In one’s mind, if one cuts the painting vertically into a half, the resulting pieces will ‘weigh’ the same. The balance is symmetrical. Contrary to this, Federico uses a different approach to balance the elements in his piece; while Francis takes up the right side of the workspace, there are trees, a sky, and rocks balancing the lower left side of it. To balance the top left side, Federico employs the crucifix such that from a simulated perception of splitting the piece two-fold, the left side might outweigh the right. The balance in this case is asymmetrical. From these comparisons, there is enough evidence of vast variations in terms of aesthetic preference between the two artists or art periods. In the case of Renaissance art, the artists do not employ much imagination in their works but restrict their works to realistic, naturally occurring elements as their inspiration. In addition, they painted their objects paying close attention to the smallest details available, and expressing them on paper. In achieving the realistic look, there is use of proportion as it appears in nature. Contrary to this, the artists of the Baroque age seem to ignore most of what the Renaissance artists considered most crucial. They focus more on the subject matter areas only, then paint ‘clues’ of what is not necessary for their works and leave them to the viewer to fill in. Their works tend to focus more on drama and emotional aspects of humans in driving in their points at times employing their own imagined elements to emphasize on their subject matters, with less concern over small details, proportion, or symmetry. Works cited The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. Web. 4 Nov 2013. < http://www.metmuseum.org> Read More