Week 9 Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, George Caleb Bingham, Size: 29 X 36.5 In, Date: 1845, Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

            The Fur Traders Descending the Missouri shows us a painting of a French trapper and his son, canoeing down the Missouri river in a dugout canoe. The canoe is in a parallel line to the water, showing some motion in the canoe. In the background you can see maybe steam or fog, rising above the water, setting a chilly environment, showing the water is warmer than the air outside, and there are trees that are can be outlined through the fog. George places a different kind of light towards that area so it can noticeable. In the canoe are their luggage and a rifle across the sons lap. It shows both father and son looking at the viewer through the painting, the father looking more focused where the son is open, a better train of thought. A strange and unique part of the painting is the bear cub that is tied up to the end of the canoe. The bear cub is putting off a mysterious or ghostly feeling in the way they have it placed in the painting, with the reflection off the crystal clear water. George uses colors of blue and red in the trapper’s clothes, making them stick out, and a tan color to represent the air in the background, and black in the bear club, as well as the trees in the background.  

            George Caleb Bingham was the first major painter who lived in the west and worked on the Mississippi river. He shows us a painting of a lifestyle through trapping and how necessary trapping meant to the French trappers, who did it for a living, providing money or food for their family and to French trappers, the environment meant everything, the same as in some people’s lives in today’s world. I think he also wanted to show the bear cub and the air or fog in the background, depicting a eerie time of day, just as though the environment can be at times.

“After the middle of the eighteenth century adventurous French traders were constantly working their way through the wilderness far up the Mississippi valley into the region of the Great Lakes and along the Missouri and its tributaries. Their object was to barter various wares, supplied, for better or worse, by their own civilization, for the furs which the Indians could furnish.”

Title: An American Frontier Scene by George Caleb Bingham

Author: Harry B. Wehle

Source: The Metropolitan Bulletin of Art, Vol. 28. No. 7(1993), pp. 120-122.

Week 8 The Last Supper

The Last Supper, Tintoretto, Size: 12 ft X 18.8 ft, Date: 1592-1594, Museum: San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

            The Last Supper shows us Christ and his disciples sit at a table to eat the bread that Christ breaks and gives them to eat. There are angels above the disciples and servants watching down on top of them, in a swirling motion. The Last Supper shows us a painting of the standard theme of Christian sacrament of communion. There are servants who are filling the food on the table, the bread and all Christ disciples are watching in excitement. Tintoretto uses an array of diagonal lines in the way the disciples are sitting at the table and in the way the servants are diagonally placed on the left of the picture. The diagonal lines are leading up to Christ, who has an very brilliant array of light above his head, leading to the center of the painting, the main point or emphasis of the painting. A lantern or light of burning flames positions itself above the opposite end of Christ to give off light, to show the miracle taking place. All of Christ disciples have a shine or glow above their heads who are waiting impatiently to be saved or blessed from Christ. Tintoretto uses colors, red, blue, yellow, green and the arrangement of the shine and glow as a way to provide emotion, or movement to the picture. 

            Tintoretto places the viewer in the bottom left hand corner of the picture, with our eyes drawn to the disciples glowing heads and then to the emphasis or Christ, with a brilliant light above his head putting off light, showing him breaking bread and giving it to his disciples through communion. The Christian sacrament of communion has been a holy part of worship in Christian religion for many years. Religion places a vital role in communion in remembering what Christ did for us, in his life, death and resurrection. The importance of Christ being the emphasis of the picture places an importance in the meaning of Christian sacrament of communion.

            Tintoretto surely intended the ambiguity, for he wanted his paintings to embody the most important events of The Last Supper

Title:  Tintoretto’s paintings for the Banco del Sacramento in S. Margherita.

Author: Thomas Worthen

Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Dec 1996), pp. 707-732.

Week 7 English and French Fall in Battle

English and French Fall in Battle, detail of the Bayeux Tapestry. Size: 20 inches high X 231 feet long, Date: c. 1073-1088, Museum: Town Hall, Bayeux.

            The embroidery English and French Fall in Battle shows the viewer a scene that was embroidered onto a woven background of the conquest of England by William of Normandy in 1066. It is part of a 72 part episode of scenes, similar to this one. The scene shows us soldiers or Anglo-Saxons, on a hill who were fighting on foot compared to the soldiers of the Norman cavalry who had horses that were attacking the Anglo-Saxons. The embroidery shows us falling soldiers and horses everywhere with the casualties lying on the bottom border.  The artist used a great deal of detail, especially with having to sew colored yarn, he had to be very precise.  The embroidery shows us different lines between the top border and the bottom border, sort of separating the fighting and war from the death of other fallen soldiers and horses on the bottom with pictures of a bird of some kind on the top border, being separated by angled lines between each object. There are lines of the horses bodies that can be depicted if looked closely enough and also in the Anglo-Saxons bodies as well as other objects on the soldiers body and the weapons used. There is a line that depicts the hill the Anglo-Saxons are standing on. The colors used in this embroider represent some primary and secondary colors, red, green, black and a tan color. The Norman cavalry have circles all around their whole body, maybe representing protective gear whereas the Anglo-Saxons are wearing robe like gowns. Both groups are using axes or long arrow like objects during the battles for weapons. The texture of the embroidery can be felt because of the yarn woven into a background of woven material and the rhythm of the embroidery is similar in a way because of how big it is, the scenes depict a similar contrast to one another, with the same figures and objects in each.

            The Bayeux Tapestry shows the viewer a huge magnificent pictorial of scenes embroidered onto this cloth material, of a battle between two opposing forces with William of Normandy trying to conquer England. I think the Bayeux Tapestry shows us how dramatic and influential the violence of the battle really was, many men lost their lives but the King, William of Normandy got what he wanted in taking over England.

In seventy-two scenes, the Bayeux Tapestry presents the Norman justification for the 1066 invasion of England: Harold of England broke his solemn oath of allegiance to Duke William of Normandy.

Title: The Bayeux Tapestry: A 900-Year-Old Latin Cartoon

Author: John D. Anderson

Source: The classical journal, Vol. 81, No. 3( Feb-March, 1986), pp. 253-257.

Week 6 Lion Hunt

Lion Hunt, From the palace complex of Assurnasirpal II. Size: 85” X 39”. Date: 850 B.C.E. Museum: The British Museum, London.

            The relief Lion Hunt on the Assyrian ruler, Assurnasirpal II, palace walls is Alabaster or Limestone relief sculptured depicting a lion hunt of which the king is shooting the ferocious beasts. The sculpture shows exactly how it is shown. There are armed guards who would release the lions or powerful beasts into an enclosed or certain area where the king is placed into a chariot, drove around this area, and shoots these magnificent creatures. The sculpture is created with 3-dimensional space, as we can see the outline of the king, lions, chariot, horses, and armed guards. The texture of the sculpture emphasizes numerous details sculptured into each thing on the relief, such as in the lions, their muscles are erupting through their body. The artist used mass to depict the 3-d sculpture and the overlapping of figures as well. The sculpture moves the viewer from left to right,

            The walls of Assurnasirpal II palace were sculptured with Assyrian triumph and power. This particular sculpture, the lion hunt depicts the king killing these strong, powerful creatures. It was a ceremonial hunt that showed the kings power, authority and war-like manners.  

            The sculptor shows us the Assyrian Kings power depicted through war-like and military strength, as well as a ceremonial sculpture by placing the King as the authority in relation to gods. It was the kings duties to serve and protect his people through war and battle. The power and the importance that a king displays, is shown in the sculpture of the battle scene of Assurnasirpal.

Title: Ashurnasirpal II Lion Hunt Relief BM124534

Author: Pauline Albenda

Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 167-178.

Week 5 Executions of the Third of May

Executions of the Third of May, Francisco de Goya, Size: 8 ft 9 in X 13 ft 4 in, Date: 1808, Museum: Museo del Prado, Madrid.

            The painting Executions of the Third of May depicts a scene of soldiers holding rifles to their shoulders in attempt to kill French soldiers during the invasion of Spain by Napoleon.  A lantern spreads bright, yellow fire glowing light on the French soldiers under surrender, a couple who have been shot and one guy who has his hands extended out above his head in gesture of crucifixion, such as god might have done, a symbol of giving up, a symbol of surrender. In the background, a deserted hillside and Madrid can barely be seen through the darkness.  Francisco uses warm or primary colors of red, yellow and white. He uses these colors to direct our attention to the fire lit lantern or the focal point, that is beaming rays of exhilarant light on the French soldiers, particularly the one soldier with his arms in the air, he applies emphasis and subordination to draw our eyes towards the main focal point of the painting.  He also uses emphasis in his horizontal lines he uses, in the way the rifles are pointed directly towards the focal point or the French soldiers.

            Francisco de Goya was a romantic painter and printmaker but also painted pictures for French patrons and sympathizers, but his involvement with the Peninsular War or invasion of Spain by Napoleon is unknown. He shows us sympathy through the emphasis of the warm colors he possesses on the French soldiers showing them under surrender in the Peninsular War of 1808. I think he wanted to remind people that the violence and the war can be ultimately gruesome and many people lost their lives fighting for their country, religion and beliefs such as the man with his hands in the air, showing us a gesture of crucifixion, such as he had given up and is tired of violence.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s rampage across Spain is shown in all its brutality, and these representations have come to symbolize war in general. According to senior Curator Klaus Biesenbach, the scenes in the etchings were so shocking that they were suppressed for two generations.

Title: The Disasters of War

Author: Mark Swartz

Source: MOMA, Vol. 4, No. 1(2001), pp. 10-13.