Subject
“The Death of Socrates” depicts the suicide of Socrates, a classical Greek philosopher. The painting shows the disciples of Socrates around him while he talks about the immortality of the soul and prepares for his suicide. We can see one of them holding a cup with the poison that Socrates has to drink. All of his disciples seem sad and frustrated that their beloved teacher is about to die. While “The Death of Socrates” is a painting that expresses sadness, “The Return of Neptune” is just the opposite. “The Return of Neptune” is a panting that depicts joy and happiness. It depicts the return of Neptune, the god of the seas in Roman mythology, arriving to his beloved home. We can see mermaids and angels joyfully welcoming the god. One …show more content…
Realistic scale is represented in the realistic size of the objects and people in the painting. If we look at the room where Socrates is in we can see a shading technique was used to give the impression of volume in the walls and the floor (Glossary Terms n.d.). A foreshortening technique was used to paint some of Socrates’ disciples which can be seen turning their bodies in space. Diminishing scale and organic shapes are two other techniques used, the first is depicted by smaller people shown climbing the stairs on the background while the second is used to paint the bodies of the people in the painting. From all these techniques only two are present in “Return of Neptune” The bodies of the mermaids and angels around Neptune can be seen be turning in space which is a perfect example of the foreshortening technique while the artist used organic shapes to paint the bodies of the mermaids, angels, horses and Neptune himself. Atmospheric perspective, pattern, and geometric shape are other techniques used in “The Return of Neptune”. We can identify atmospheric perspective in this painting if we look at ocean shown on the background which gives the impression of depth, pattern can be seen in how the waves repeat one after the other, and the sphere that Neptune holds is a perfect example of geometric shape (Glossary Terms
“The Death of Socrates” depicts the suicide of Socrates, a classical Greek philosopher. The painting shows the disciples of Socrates around him while he talks about the immortality of the soul and prepares for his suicide. We can see one of them holding a cup with the poison that Socrates has to drink. All of his disciples seem sad and frustrated that their beloved teacher is about to die. While “The Death of Socrates” is a painting that expresses sadness, “The Return of Neptune” is just the opposite. “The Return of Neptune” is a panting that depicts joy and happiness. It depicts the return of Neptune, the god of the seas in Roman mythology, arriving to his beloved home. We can see mermaids and angels joyfully welcoming the god. One …show more content…
Realistic scale is represented in the realistic size of the objects and people in the painting. If we look at the room where Socrates is in we can see a shading technique was used to give the impression of volume in the walls and the floor (Glossary Terms n.d.). A foreshortening technique was used to paint some of Socrates’ disciples which can be seen turning their bodies in space. Diminishing scale and organic shapes are two other techniques used, the first is depicted by smaller people shown climbing the stairs on the background while the second is used to paint the bodies of the people in the painting. From all these techniques only two are present in “Return of Neptune” The bodies of the mermaids and angels around Neptune can be seen be turning in space which is a perfect example of the foreshortening technique while the artist used organic shapes to paint the bodies of the mermaids, angels, horses and Neptune himself. Atmospheric perspective, pattern, and geometric shape are other techniques used in “The Return of Neptune”. We can identify atmospheric perspective in this painting if we look at ocean shown on the background which gives the impression of depth, pattern can be seen in how the waves repeat one after the other, and the sphere that Neptune holds is a perfect example of geometric shape (Glossary Terms