Leonardo da Vinci, the Man and the Painter I would like to examine how Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper unites a personal interpretation of the event with a display of some general Renaissance aesthetic principles. On the one hand, we are confronted with an idiosyncratic vision, on the other with a generalist, if not [...]
Et In Arcadia Ego (hanging in Louvre Museum, Paris) must be one of Poussin’s most famous paintings. The main reason for this renown, according to critics (read Wikipedia article on Et In Arcadia Ego), lies in this piece being a visual representation of the art of painting, no less. Though this interpretation might seem remote, [...]
Poussin’s Eliezer and Rebecca presents a curious departure from the solemn subject matter often preferred by the painter. This is an everyday scene where the majority of the actors perform everyday tasks; Eliezer himself, if we remember, was a servant. In this piece Poussin offers a generous and keen psychological portrait of girlhood, describing a [...]
The Judgement of Solomon (hanging in Louvre Museum, Paris) is another painting where Poussin found, I believe, a precise balance between color and composition. While the influence of Venice makes itself evident in the rich red, orange, and blue of the robes, it’s the rigorous geometrical organization, unusually austere when compared to the often overabundant [...]
Gathering of Manna is a large scale mythological painting (hanging in Louvre Museum, Paris) that conveys the dramatic force of the biblical divine act of the distribution of the Manna. The canvas aims to depict an entire people by showing groups of representative actors of both sexes and all ages. In a way, the scene [...]
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