Essay Sample on Realism in Art: 19th Century to Paul Reuben

Introduction

This style of art began in the 19th century with the aim of expressing the world photographically. It was majorly characterized by absolute objectivity, emphasized on the everyday, and lastly photographic accuracy which captured everyday life including the clothing, quality of life, and setting.

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The painting of neoclassicism showed classical aspects through dramatic, rhetorical gestures. It provides a story of a virtuous behavior.

Paul Reuben was one of the most known Baroque artist in the 17th century. His painting of the elevation of the cross contained several baroque artistic characteristics. The painting represented action and emotion which was meant to encourage catholic faith (Remak, 2005). First, Reuben creates a dramatic moment when raising the crucifixion of Jesu Christ to an upright position (Toman, 2000). The left panel shows Virgin Mary looking at what unfolds on her eyes. The painting also shows a group of women who had seen the fate of Christ filled with resignation and grief. Reuben in this case uses a diagonal line to set apart Mary and John and the women, letting the viewers concentrate on their reaction. The diagonals Reuben use on the right panel separating the thieves and Jesus create tension which increases the viewers sense of drama and chaotic action. The dog in the picture represents faith which in this case represents Catholic faith.

Counter reformations evolved with the need to separate the protestants from the Catholics. The catholic church responded to this counter reformation through education, where priests inspired education on the faithful leading to more seminaries. Secondly, the used missionaries to spread the catholic faith especially in countries which were colonized by roman catholic.

The two styles used in the 17th century include baroque style and Rocco style. Practitioners include Caravaggio for Baroque style and Germain Boffard for the Rocco style.

The Versailles was built to focus on the importance of Louis who was commonly known as the sun of god. The Versailles contained many rooms. Sleeping rituals would take place in Loius's bedroom (Toman, 2000). The paintings in these walls also put Louis between paintings of the French gods. The paintings also showed the military power of the French. The hall of mirrors running centrally meant to catching the rays of the rising sun reminded people of the louis' power. The outer parts of the palace were a classical embedded with gold and statues.

In Zurbaran painting of his death, he adopts a few aspects of Caravaggio. He uses the lighting of Caravaggio, he also used stunning drama visibility. The lighting showed that Christians had the eye of God.

The enlightenment period which was in the course of 18th century saw the rise of politics, philosophy, science, and communication (Janson, Janson, & Marmor, 1997). The enlightenment thinkers embraced the idea of improving humanity through rational change. They were also against traditional authority.

References

Janson, H. W., Janson, A. F., & Marmor, M. (1997). History of art. London: Thames and Hudson.

Remak, H. (2005). West European romanticism: Definition and scope. Essays in Romanticism, 13(1), 81-111.

Toman, R. (Ed.). (2000). Neoclassicism and Romanticism: architecture, sculpture, painting, drawings, 1750-1848. Cologne: Konemann.