Roman Art: Week 3

This week I have decided to take a different path in finding the right two artifacts to write about. Instead of the usual writing of something that is well known and easy to find on the Internet, I have decided to write about two artifacts that have no information online. I will interpret the paintings through line, medium, color, style, space, and composition.

My first piece is an image of  Jesus being resurrected. This painting is located in the San Giovanni in Laterano. On the sides of Jesus there are two angels and his disciples along side of him. First off, the medium is a painting with a Renaissance type of style. When speaking of composition, this painting has a more static composition which means that it has more order and balance between colors and lines (http://www.essentialvermeer.com/glossary).

In this painting there are a couple different lines that point to a general location. The first two more noticeable lines are the arms and hands of the angels that are pointing towards Jesus. These direct the viewers eyes towards the most important part of the painting. Not only do the arms of the angels point towards Jesus, but also the eyes of the disciples also direct the viewers towards Jesus and his resurrection. Another effect that is used to draw the attention to the upper center of the painting is color and shade. The lightest part of the painting is the background behind Jesus with the sun rays coming out from behind him. The light then descends to the people at the bottom of the painting and becomes faint the farther the viewer goes from Jesus. Also, when in the darker parts of the painting, the colors are cool, but as the colors get closer to Jesus and the center of the painter they turn into warmer type of colors. The other aspect that I would like to use to analyze this piece of art work is space. There is a definite space around Jesus and space of just the plain sky. There is also definite space between the people on the left and the people on the right of the painting.

The second art piece that I would like to use is also a painting that is located in the San Giovanni in Laterano. This painting is of Jesus with two people, a man and a woman, located at his feet. The medium for this art work is paint with a more relaxed tone. The composition is also a more static composition because the light and colors are balanced and lines are organized. The colors are mostly warm colors with orange tones, red tones, and tan colors with few cool colors like what was used in the shadows.

Along with the colors, the lines are also very distinctive here. The man is creating a line with his arm and finger which is pointing at Jesus. Also a line is being created by Jesus raising his hand almost in a leading way. Again, in this painting the eyes are almost creating lines, but not in the same way as the previous painting. In this one they are pointing down almost showing sadness. The light though is still raising out from behind Jesus. However, in this painting there is also a lot of light at the feet of Jesus. The edges of this painting are filled with shadows almost in a way to cause more attention to the center. In this painting Jesus also has his own space. There is also a distinct space of the sky and the two people with almost no clutter in this painting.

These two paintings almost follow the same style and tone. They both have a center which the rest of the painting trying to pull attention to the center. There is shadow on both edges with the light coming from the center. The lines of both paintings also point towards Jesus to give significance towards him.