Leslie Van Houten

Anthony Van Dyck created the painting Charles, I at the Hunt and later Thomas Gainsborough created The Blue Boy after being inspired by Van Dyck’s artwork. Both pieces share similarities, as well as distinct differences. Van Dyck created Charles, I at the Hunt in the images of King Charles I in 1635 during the Baroque era. The canvas is 89 inches X 81.5 inches and covered in oil paint. The painting is currently located in Musée du Louver, Paris, France. Later, Gainsborough came upon Van Dyck’s…

Many consider more abstract art and realism to be very distinct and separate styles of. Artists that painted in more abstract forms wished to display their emotions and views on the world, in contrast to the Realists who displayed the physical world around them and everyday events as they were. What they achieve however, is not so different. Realism aids us in understanding what the world was truly like, and not only what those in charge thought, lived or wanted others to think and live.…

Spanning the years 1765 to 1769, the French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted The Dreamer in oil on canvas. His painting, The Dreamer is a beautiful example of Greuze’s talent in portraying emotion by successfully combining the elements of art which enhance the mood of the image. Greuze creates a well constructed composition through the use of line, color and light to convey the state of being at rest and nearing a peaceful slumber. His use of smooth, flowing lines which curve with the…

Artists Gustave Caillebotte and Clide Hassam are rewound painters who spent their careers depicting scenes of everyday life in various levels of impressionism. Combined, the two provide for an excellent comparison of how specific techniques used for their works elicit different emotions and interpretations. Specifically, Caillebotte’s Paris Street: Rainy Day and Hassam’s A Rainy Day of Fifth Avenue capture similar scenarios in roughly an analogous time frame, allowing viewers to focus strictly…

On Sunday, October 30th, I attended a live performance by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk as a part of their 2016 U.S. tour. When I walked into the concert hall, there was an electric atmosphere as a crowd of people was waiting in anticipation to find their seats and settle down to enjoy the show. In order to have a better idea of what I was about to experience, I read the playbill that explained how the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra is the premiere musical…

entered the date or I attempted to use the same dialogue to begin each entry such as how in Jonathan’s letter to Van Helsing, I wrote his greeting as “My friend Abraham Van Helsing,” (Hamm 2), because it is formal, friendly, and direct. I figured Jonathan and Mina would have similar personalities based on their understanding marriage so his greeting would be similar to her which is “My dear Van Helsing,” (Stoker 167). The tone change made the story keep going instead of ending. Not changing the…

by Beethoven in 1802, while he was resting in Heiligenstadt (Ludwig van Beethoven 's Biography: Heiligenstadt Testament, n.d.). It was in part his will, the first of three that he wrote during his lifetime (Ludwig van Beethoven 's Biography: Heiligenstadt Testament, n.d.). The document was also a letter to his brothers, in it Beethoven revealed to them that he was deaf and told of the despair he felt because of this (Ludwig van Beethoven 's Biography: Heiligenstadt Testament, n.d.). Beethoven…

Outlines: • Impressionism definition • Impressionism abstract • Main points • Characteristic of impressionist painting • Starts • Best impressionist painters Impressionism definition: Impressionism is a style of painting started in the last third of the nineteenth century in France, painting have a tendency to have a little thin brush strokes with an accentuation on exactness over accuracy. It was not only a passing craze but rather has characterized an altogether present day…

In his 1897 gothic novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker defined the modern form of the vampire. His character, Dracula remained popular through the ages, being one of the most popular adaptation source in history. Dracula has created an extraordinary vampire subculture, and an enormous amount of films have been made that feature Count Dracula as it’s main antagonist, or protagonist. However, most adaptations do not include the major characters from the novel, focusing only on the now traditional…

Introduction to Opera Compare the characters of Carmen and Micaëla in Carmen. What are the differences between them, how is this expressed in the music, and do you think the outcome is inevitable? Introduction Bizet's Carmen is an Opera in four acts, first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March with a plot based on the 1845 novella by Mérimée. Today it stands as one of the most popular french operas of all time.The Opera explores the relationship between the enchanting Carmen and…