PAINTING Comparative Analysis of Painting BY PROF RONNIE ESPERGAL PASIGUI

PAINTINGPAINTING

Comparative Analysis of PaintingComparative Analysis of Painting

BY BY

PROF RONNIE ESPERGAL PASIGUIPROF RONNIE ESPERGAL PASIGUI

PaintingPainting

More than any other art, painting is the art that has most to do with revealing the visual appearance of objects and events.

The eye is the chief sense organ involved in our participation with painting, and one of the chief sense organs involved in our dealing with our everyday world.

The Media of PaintingThe Media of Painting

• Every art has its primary media, the basic material the artist organizes:

• For example, with music, sound;

• With dance, bodily movement;

• With literature, language.

Most Prominent Media In Painting Most Prominent Media In Painting

• 1. Tempera is pigment bound by egg yolk• 2. Fresco is pigment applied to wet or

dry plaster • 3. Oil is pigment mixed with linseed oil,

varnish and turpentine• 4. Watercolor is pigment bound by a

water-soluble adhesive, • 5. Acrylic is pigment bound by a synthetic

plastic substance

The Media of PaintingThe Media of Paintingcontinuedcontinued

• Each medium has unique qualities, potentialities, and limitations.

• Most media require a binder to be added to the pigment.

• Other media: ink has dominated painting in the East, especially in the Chinese tradition

• Recently various media have been mixed.

PaintingPainting

• Elements of Painting are the basic building blocks of a medium. For painting they are line, color; and texture.

• Line is a continuous marking made by a moving point on a surface. Line outlines shapes and can contour areas within those outlines.

• Line can suggest movement.

PaintingPainting• Color is composed of three distinct

qualities: hue, saturation, and value.• Hue is simply the name of a color. Red,

yellow, and blue are the primary colors.• Saturation refers to the purity, vividness,

or intensity of a hue.• Value, or shading, refers to the lightness

or darkness of a hue, the mixture in the hue of white or black.

PaintingPainting

• Texture is the surface “feel” of something.

• When the brushstrokes have been smoothed out, a surface is seen as smooth – when left rough it’s texture is seen as rough

• Distinctive brushstrokes produce distinctive textures.

PaintingPainting

• Composition – in painting or any other art refers to the ordering of relationship.

• Artists utilize organizing principles to create forms that inform.

• Techniques are ways artists go about applying the principles of composition.

Principles of PaintingPrinciples of Painting

• Balance: refers to the equilibrium of opposing visual forces.

• Gradation: refers to a continuum of changes in the details and regions such as gradual variations in shape, color value, and shadowing.

• Movement and rhythm: refers to the way a painting controls the movement and the pace of our vision.

Principles of PaintingPrinciples of Paintingcontinuedcontinued

• Proportion: refers to the emphasis achieved by the scaling of sizes of shapes.

• Variety: refers to the contrasts of details and regions.

• Unity: refers to the togetherness, despite contrasts, of details and regions to the whole.

PaintingPainting“All-at-Onceness”“All-at-Onceness”

• 1) Painting makes things and their qualities much clearer than they are in nature.

• 2) Painting, with it’s “All-at-Onceness” more than any other art, gives us the time to allow our vision to focus and participate.

• We can hold any detail or region or the totality as long as we like and follow any order of details or regions at our own pace

Painting’sPainting’sBasic ElementsBasic Elements

The most basic elements of painting are line, shape, light, texture, and color.

The basic elements of composition are centrality, symmetry, asymmetry and balance.

These terms are important to developing a vocabulary to describe visual artifacts of many kind, but they are especially valuable for discussion painting.

The Clarity of Painting The Clarity of Painting

• Compare the photo (p.26 & 27 5th ed- p. 29 & 30 6th ed) ) to the painting

• The subject of Cezanne’s painting is surely the mountain. Suppose the title of the paint were trees.

• This would strike us as strange because a title of a painting should tell us what the painting is about – its subject matter.

ABSTRACT PAINTINGABSTRACT PAINTING

• Abstract or nonrepresentational, • May be difficult to appreciate if we are confused

about it’s subject matter. • Since no object or events are depicted, abstract

paintings might seem to have no subject matter.• but this is surely not the case • The subject matter is the sensuous. • The sensuous is composed of visual qualities –

line, color, texture, space, shape, light, shadow, volume, and mass.

AbstractAbstract cont’dcont’d

• Any qualities that stimulate our vision are sensa (relating to the senses).

• By eliminating reference to everything but color, lines, shapes, and light from their work,

• Abstract painters liberate us from the habit of always referring these elements to specific objects and events.

Representational PaintingRepresentational Painting

• Furnishes the world of abstractions / sensuous with definite objects and events.

• Representational paintings furnishes the world of the sensuous with objects and events.

• The subject matter are the same, the interpretation (content) of every painting is always different.

INTERPRETATION OF THE INTERPRETATION OF THE MADONNA AND CHILDMADONNA AND CHILD

• A comparative Analysis of:

• Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels by Cimabue

• Madonna Enthroned by Giotto

• Madonna and Child by Marcovaldo

• The Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels by CimabueAngels by Cimabue

• Cimabue (c. 1240–1302), also known as Bencivieni di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto di Giuseppe, was an Italian painter and creator of mosaics from Florence.


• Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break away from the Italo-Byzantine style, although he still relied on Byzantine models.

• The art of this period comprised scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized.


• Cimabue was a pioneer in the move towards naturalism, as his figures were depicted with rather more life-like proportions and shading. Even though he was a pioneer in that move, his Maestà paintings shows Medieval techniques and characteristics.

• He was the master of Giotto, considered the first great artist of the Italian Renaissance.

• An innovative art

Cimabue led the artistic movement in late 12th-century Tuscany that sought to renew the pictorial vocabulary and break with the rigidity of Byzantine art.

The artist demonstrated a new sensibility, which endeavored to adhere more closely to reality.The composition is symmetrical and dense.


The imposing Virgin is hieratic, and the blessing gesture of the Christ Child is hardly child-like;

Cimabue gently and subtly models the faces, endowing the figures with a new sense of humanity.


The drapery, not simply drawn either, seems to fold naturally, following the movement of the bodies (for example, the cloaks of the two angels in the foreground whose knees protrude). This demonstrates the undoubted influence of sculptors such as Nicola Pisano.

• A new sensitivity

Cimabue's palette is delicate, with shaded tones, notably in the angels' wings.

The figures take on real solidity and an unprecedented visual presence. The artist prepared the ground for 14th-century Florentine art. His works raise the issues that would preoccupy his successors, notably Giotto: the representation of space, the representation of the body, and light.

Madonna Enthroned by GiottoMadonna Enthroned by Giotto

• Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

Madonna Enthroned by GiottoMadonna Enthroned by Giotto

• Giotto di Bondone (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

• The two paintings depict the same subject matter – the Virgin Madonna holding the Christ child with angels and prophets surrounding them.

• Initially, due to the same positioning of the baby Christ upon the lap of the Virgin Mary and the similar positioning of Madonna upon her throne, the two paintings seem almost identical.

• Some key differences exist, out of which the most prominent is the increase in the detail of the clothing and the body of Madonna.

• In the Cimabue rendition, Madonna is painted as a lithe figure, although her garments are not shown to cling to her body.

• The Giotto version, however, portrays the Virgin Mary as a heavier set figure with clearly protruding knees visible by the folds of her clothing.

• Her visage in the version painted during the Renaissance also shows much greater detail – with the outlines of the whites of her eyes, her mouth, and the jutting of her chin clearly defined with much smaller brushstrokes.

• The child also shows this detail in the Giotto version with the facial features similarly accentuated as those of his mother. The Giotto version also depicts the child in a less flattering, although more realistic manner, with some excess bulk added to his cheek and pectoral region.

• The next most prominent contrast that I noted upon initial observation of the two paintings was the positioning of the angels surrounding the Virgin Mary and her child. While, in the Cimabue piece, the angels stack up upon one another, the Giotto piece show the angels all looking up towards the Virgin Mary and Christ child upon an elevated platform.

• The beginnings of the Renaissance symbolized an ideology shift from idealism, which was based upon the envisionment of objects in their perfect forms, towards realism, based on realistic representation. Following this logic, the increased detail and decreased flattery in the portrayals correlates to this shift in ideology.

• However, the differing viewpoints of the two painting did not seem consistent with the growing division between the people and the church occurring at the start of the Renaissance. In fact, the Virgin Mary and the Christ child seemed to be more revered by the angels looking up at them in the Giotto version than in the Cimabue version.

• However, after listening to the Harris-Zucker analysis of the two pieces, this contrast was explained by pointing out the possibility that Cimabue was attempting to destroy the singular perspective and instead create multitple viewpoints, where the throne could be viewed as receding into the background or above the viewer, or even below the viewer. This lack of a clear perspective, as the Harris-Zucker analysis points out, gives the piece a more divine feel and less earthly.

• However, the Giotto piece clearly has a singular viewpoint with the spectator looking up at the throne of Madonna. Both these piece were originally panels painted with the specific purpose to be present in churches. Consistent with the divinity of the entire scene, both paintings use gold in order to “reflect the light of the heavens” according to Harris and Zucker.

Madonna and Child by Coppo di Madonna and Child by Coppo di MarcovaldoMarcovaldo

• He was born in Florence

• He frescoed the St. James Chapel in the cathedral.

• The other only certain work is a Madonna and Child, signed and dated (1261), in the Chiesa dei Servi of Siena,

• His work is subordinated to the portrayal of theoretical, practical, and sociological expressions of the Medieval Catholic conception of the sacred

• The child is portrayed as divine, as mediator between us and God, and as a king or prince

• Conventional symbols such as crown, and the blessing gesture of the child

• The sacred is totally separated from the secular for the Madonna and child are barely incarnated in this world

• The Madonna and Child, compactly and symmetrically enclosed by the angels, and are taken as emblems than embodiments of the divine

• The human qualities of Madonna and child are barely recognizable, for example, the “fish-shaped, long-tailed eyes of the Madonna cannot blink and her popping pupils stare out in a Sphinx-like glance

• Only in the tender way she holds the child that there is a hint of human affection

The Madonna with Long Neck by The Madonna with Long Neck by ParmigianinoParmigianino

• Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 1503 – 24 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino (a nickname meaning "the little one from Parma") or sometimes "Parmigiano. His work is characterized by elongation of form and includes Vision of Saint Jerome (1527) and the Madonna with the Long Neck (1534).

• Madonna with the Long Neck is typical of Parmigianino's later work, which was defined by unusual spatial compositions and elongated figures. The painting is also known as Madonna and Child with Angels and St Jerome but earned the name Madonna with the Long Neck because of the curious length of the Madonna's swan-like neck.

• This painting is one of Parmigianino's more controversial works and has been analyzed by many critics. It shows the Madonna, seated on a high pedestal and clothed in beautiful robes, holding the baby Jesus on her lap. To the left of the picture are four angels crowded around the Madonna, looking admiringly on Christ.

• On the right are a row of marble columns and the disproportionally small figure of St. Jerome. It was necessary for the painting to include the image of St Jerome because of the saint's connections with the worship of the Virgin Mary.

•

The subject of this piece is derived from medieval hymns which compared the Virgin's neck to a great ivory tower or column. Therefore the exaggerated length of the Virgin's limbs and those of her son and the presence of columns in the background of the painting, are symbolic of the painting's religious value.

• Composition: Unlike the calm and peaceful Madonnas that Raphael painted, Parmigianino's painting gives more of a sense of abandon and movement. The Madonna's posture is relaxed, open and perhaps just a little carefree.

• The Madonna and Angels: The Madonna does not have normal human proportions; her neck, shoulders and fingers have all been elongated to make her appear more elegant and graceful. Her hair is also elaborately curled and decorated with pearls to frame her beautiful face and complexion. The robes she is wearing are luxurious and flowing.

• Parmigianino has stretched and lengthened bodily parts in the painting in a strange and impulsive way. The Angel's leg in the foreground is glossy and suggestive, whilst the prophet, holding up his scroll, looks emancipated and gaunt. The lavish, inviting image of the Madonna, combined with crowd of Angels in various states of undress has led some critics to believe that Parmigianino was trying to eroticize the scene.

• An oversized Christ child is splayed across the Madonna's lap. The way his arm is hanging freely down is also a pose suggestive of death, adding to the sense of ambiguity surrounding the painting.

• Spatial distances: Instead of giving a sense of equilibrium and balance to his arrangement, Parmigianino has chosen to pack all the angels claustrophobically to the left of the Madonna. Yet, the space to the right of her is open, except for the tall figure of St Jerome who has been so reduced in size he only just about reaches the Madonna's knee.

• The viewer's eye is forced to restlessly move around the painting in order to take in the disproportions of the tiny St Jerome to the overbearingly large figure of the Madonna. Even the architecture surrounding the Madonna looks to be out of proportion, with the strange sized column which looks to have no base or supporting structures behind it.

• Parmigianino studied and admired the grace and poise in Raphael's art, but he has remodeled the figures from the old master's work and turned them into almost unearthly creatures: their limbs, ivory marble skin, blithe attitude, all portray a different idea of ideal beauty.

Madonna with the Long NeckMadonna with the Long Neck

• The Madonna with the Long Neck is such a magnificently secular work of art that the excommunication of the Christian symbols is rather easily accomplished, at least in our day.

• The Christian symbols are no more than a support or an excuse for an interpretation of line, color, texture, shape and volume, Burchhardt’s denunciation is irrelevant.

Madonna and ChildMadonna and Child..

• These paintings have basically the same subject matter, as their titles indicate.

• Yet their forms inform about their subject matter very differently.

• Describe the differences between the forms of these pictures.

Madonna and Child ComparedMadonna and Child Compared• Cimabue’s, Madonna and Child Enthroned

with Angels 1285-1290

• Giotto’s, Madonna Enthroned 1310

• The eyes of Giotto’s Madonna her high forehead and immense cheeks, are asymmetry.

• Cimabue’s Madonna is on a high-arched platform with prophets within the arches.

Madonna and Child ComparedMadonna and Child Compared

• Look for more details – where are the saints, prophets and angels located in the painting?

• What is the baby doing in each painting?

Adoration of the MagiAdoration of the Magi

• Botticelli’s, Adoration of the Magi 1475 p.82

6th edition (Only) the lines outline everything, especially the robes of the figures and the broken architerture.

• Four basic axis lines form a large W with the Madonna and Child at its center – the focal point-and properly so since they are the most important figures.

Madonna and ChildMadonna and Child

• Marcovaldo’s Madonna and Child 1275

p. 81 5th edition (only) is the oldest of the group.

It is typical of the way the artists of the 13th

And preceding centuries came as close as

possible to representing the sacred

absolutely.

Madonna and ChildMadonna and Childcontinuedcontinued

• Child is portrayed as divine, as the mediator between us and God, and as a king or prince.

• Conventional Christian symbols, such as halos, crowns, and the blessing gesture of the Child, dominate everything.

• This is a Black Madonna and Child although the authors ignore this fact.

Note:Note:

• Keep you eyes and your mind open as we swim through the arts of the humanities.

THANK YOU!

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PAINTING Comparative Analysis of Painting BY PROF RONNIE ESPERGAL PASIGUI