Religious Baroque Art
In the fall of 2011, I was fortunate enough to travel to Italy on a pilgrimage. During my fourteen day tour of this magnificent country, I viewed many cathedrals, churches, sculptures, mosaics and paintings; it was just breathtaking! The artwork spanned many genres and periods throughout history, but the majority of the subject of the artwork, specifically the paintings, was religious based. I saw several pieces of art mentioned in our textbook, The Humanistic Tradition Volume 2, by Gloria K. Fiero; looking back I wish I would have read and studied more before the trip, hindsight, as they say, is “20/20.” The Baroque style, an artform dominating Europe and many colonies in the Americas from late 1500’s through 1750, was …show more content…
The story of Judith, a Jewish woman of great beauty, is from the book of the Bible named after her. She is a strong woman of faith, and seeking justice for her Lord, Jesus; Judith sets out to kill Holofernes, an Assyrian general who waged war against her people (Fiero,48). The painting shows the moment when Judith assassinates the general. A very physical rendition, there is blood spurting from the sight of the blade in his neck and on the bed, The maidservant of Judith is holding him down as he is grabbing her throat and struggling for his life; Judith plunges the sword into his neck not caring of his struggles. The painting illustrated in rich dark tones of blues, golds and the striking red of the blood, against a black background with the light focusing on the general’s face, depicts the qualities of the Baroque style. The viewer can almost feel the pain of the soon to be a dead general by looking at his facial feature, and feel the strength of Judith by looking at her muscled hand that is wielding the sword. This type of work demands that the viewer understands emotionally and visually what is taking place. The subject matter, as stated before, is taken from the book of Judith, but the women, dressed in the clothes of the present day period of the painting. Could this reflect on the artist’s feelings at the time in what was transpiring in her life? …show more content…
Remember the Protestants were revolting against the Catholic Church, they did not approve of their grandeur and visually bold works. The movement focused on the simple everyday people, forming a relationship with their God. The painting by Rembrandt Return of The Prodigal Son is an example of this. The painting is a soft, quiet depiction of the story from the Bible, of the son who goes astray, but comes back home to the loving arms of his father (Fiero,97). The painting shows us, the viewer, the forgiveness of the father, just by looking at his face. Rembrandt uses the technique of light and dark to highlight this emotion; we feel this (2016). The painting lacks bold, loud colors, yet it conveys the story of the lost son every bit as well as the works of the Italian Baroque style artists. The spirituality of the painting expresses Rembrandts painstakingly eye for detail; the father is comforting his son who is kneeling before him almost like a mother would her son, his hands caressing his
In the fall of 2011, I was fortunate enough to travel to Italy on a pilgrimage. During my fourteen day tour of this magnificent country, I viewed many cathedrals, churches, sculptures, mosaics and paintings; it was just breathtaking! The artwork spanned many genres and periods throughout history, but the majority of the subject of the artwork, specifically the paintings, was religious based. I saw several pieces of art mentioned in our textbook, The Humanistic Tradition Volume 2, by Gloria K. Fiero; looking back I wish I would have read and studied more before the trip, hindsight, as they say, is “20/20.” The Baroque style, an artform dominating Europe and many colonies in the Americas from late 1500’s through 1750, was …show more content…
The story of Judith, a Jewish woman of great beauty, is from the book of the Bible named after her. She is a strong woman of faith, and seeking justice for her Lord, Jesus; Judith sets out to kill Holofernes, an Assyrian general who waged war against her people (Fiero,48). The painting shows the moment when Judith assassinates the general. A very physical rendition, there is blood spurting from the sight of the blade in his neck and on the bed, The maidservant of Judith is holding him down as he is grabbing her throat and struggling for his life; Judith plunges the sword into his neck not caring of his struggles. The painting illustrated in rich dark tones of blues, golds and the striking red of the blood, against a black background with the light focusing on the general’s face, depicts the qualities of the Baroque style. The viewer can almost feel the pain of the soon to be a dead general by looking at his facial feature, and feel the strength of Judith by looking at her muscled hand that is wielding the sword. This type of work demands that the viewer understands emotionally and visually what is taking place. The subject matter, as stated before, is taken from the book of Judith, but the women, dressed in the clothes of the present day period of the painting. Could this reflect on the artist’s feelings at the time in what was transpiring in her life? …show more content…
Remember the Protestants were revolting against the Catholic Church, they did not approve of their grandeur and visually bold works. The movement focused on the simple everyday people, forming a relationship with their God. The painting by Rembrandt Return of The Prodigal Son is an example of this. The painting is a soft, quiet depiction of the story from the Bible, of the son who goes astray, but comes back home to the loving arms of his father (Fiero,97). The painting shows us, the viewer, the forgiveness of the father, just by looking at his face. Rembrandt uses the technique of light and dark to highlight this emotion; we feel this (2016). The painting lacks bold, loud colors, yet it conveys the story of the lost son every bit as well as the works of the Italian Baroque style artists. The spirituality of the painting expresses Rembrandts painstakingly eye for detail; the father is comforting his son who is kneeling before him almost like a mother would her son, his hands caressing his