Brutus And Portia Painting Analysis

I am doing my artwork analysis on the painting “The Legend of Brutus and Portia”. This piece was done by Jacopo di Arcangelo or better known as Jacopo del Sellaio. He was an early renaissance painter from Florentine, Italy and the pupil of Filippo Lippi. The painting is located in San Francisco’s Legion of Honor museum. It was painted using oil on panel (wood). It stands 19 ¼ in. by 59 in. The frame, the painting is in really gives it a historical feeling. It even highlights the designs on some of the women’s clothing making it harmonies. The Legend of Brutus and Portia was made in 1485 during the renaissance. Around this time artist were seen as genius with a gift from God and humanist thinking prevailed, where man was seen as the measure of all things, with unlimited …show more content…
The painting is a mixture of landscape and historical. The landscape is in the background but it is very detailed and could be a painting of its own. It is also a historical one depicting the story of Portia Catonis and Marcus Junius Brutus. Portia and Brutus are husband and wife who really care for each other. Brutus is going through a lot and Portia wants to be included in what Brutus is going through. She can see it is weighing heavy on his mind. Even though this was a time period where women were seen as less than man, Portia saw herself as better than the average female because she was the daughter of important people. Portia made many pleads on why Brutus should share his burdens with her, saying that if you do not share with me your secrets I am nothing more than a prostitute and she ultimately stabbed herself in the thigh to prove she could handle his secrets. The Legend of Brutus and Portia shows a very good depiction of their story. I chose this painting because it really caught my eye. The bright saturated colors initially brought me in and when I looked closer it looked like a