Evaluation of two artwork
Artwork 1
Title: Girolamo Romanino, The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, c. 1535, Oil on canvas, 60.25 x 81.75. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine by Girolamo Romanino depicts tell of St. Catherine on Christ bestowing. The tale is centered on eternal and divine marriage following the martyred refusal by St. Catherine to marry the Pagan Emperor “The great Maxentius.” The drawing is a true reflection of nature, and predominately utilizes the organic shape. The Oil of the canvas piece takes 60.25 by 81.75 inches. The northern landscape has an irregular shape and is rounded on vegetation, ocean, and blue sky. There is subtlety color change technique, atmospheric perspective, and value waves providing a real sense of being present in the tropical climate of the sunshine state.
There is the use of chiaroscuro to separate the characters in the painting from the faded dark original background setting, which gives us a clear atmospheric perspective. The baby figure depicts a real baby with indentations in his flesh-like baby fat. The head of the baby in the painting is a bit large, which is a characteristic always found in real infants. The figures are not real but close to reality, a true realism that is amplified by the detailed domestic setting in the actual background (Carus, 1907). The author of this painting uses an Italian renaissance style that is more focused on color build-up than line. The technique creates a blurry background and renders the relative soft figures in the foreground. The colors are seen coming together, resulting in the softening of values and hazy outlines that resemble northern high renaissance art (Carus, 1907).
The painting is dark in color with vibrant clothing on the foreground resembling the living during the Italian renaissance iconic period. The woman in the drawing depicts the Virgin Mary wearing a white silk cloak and turban. The bright white color represents the light and symbolizes her imaginable purity (Carus, 1907). There is a halo resembling the luminary spectacle on her head that accentuates her divinity and connection to spiritual light and Christ’s goodness. Beneath is St. Catherine kneeling and giving her exceptional attention to Christ and the gift of a ring. Vividly, St. Catherine has taken off her crown and put the sword down, true conversion to the greatest love. The lovely saint is wearing a golden and powerful green dress that shines typically in the light (Carus, 1907). However, gold is a color of power, wealth, and divinity. Green color depicts fertility and nature. The actual color and background setting are paralleled with the divine story that is naturally unfolding in the natural environment.
The legend of St. Catherine’s vision relishes on earthly delights and love. Observer’s eyes are drawn to the highlighted hues and help us to recognize the drawing symbolism revolving around St. Catherine as a character in order to spiritually imagine the nature and allegory presented within. Further, observers are also introduced to new character’s additions to the original story. It is unclear who those characters represent, but a fresh mind can imagine of actual witnesses to the lovely saint (Carus, 1907).
Artwork 2
Title: Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1520-1530, Oil on wood panel.
The Adoration of the magi depicts the nativity of Jesus in the history of art. It is a true reflection of three kings, especially in the west, having discovered the foot of Jesus through the next star. The painting is set on a bright dark background with raising light representing the sunrise (Haeger, 1997). The atmosphere is purely light blue depicting blue sky iconography. Looking closely at the picture, there are three main characters wearing long bright red colored cloths. The red-colored clothes resemble the ancient fabrics of the great kings worshiping Jesus, as mentioned in the Bible (Haeger, 1997). In the middle, there appears a woman holding a little infant representing the baby Jesus. One of the three kings is seen kneeling down a show of respect to the savior Jesus Christ. Above the crowd is a secure building representing the temple, where the great kings and people mentioned in the Holy Bible used to worship and offer the human sacrifices (Haeger, 1997).
The untamed aquatic weeds sounding the setting are seemingly shallow and appears to grow in every possible direction. Looking closely, and above the standard painting background, there is tidal of waves of the ocean in the blue sky (Haeger, 1997). The clouds are ambiguous, think, and dark in color, continually morphing into the new shapes. The natural elements reflect nature (Carr, 1997). However, if the author of this great painting was to subtract the ocean, green aquatic plants, and the cloudy blue sky, then the piece would straight diminish in the quality and the title would no longer be appropriate as the elements represent the landscape of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born (Carr, 1997). The people shown in the background setting are uniquely human, each standing their own path, and wearing the different but closely outfits (Carr, 1997). The painter of this high image creates asymmetrical balance in his art. The left and right are not the same, and various elements and characters are balance by shape, height, or topological replacement to establish a visual equilibrium.
The primary focus of this artwork is centered on marry the mother of Jesus Christ, and the three main kings believed to have followed star before giving gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Carr, 1997). One of the king is seen to be kneeling down, opening the treasure chests to offer gifts, and pay homage to the coming great king. This tragedy in the biblical teachings is capture Matthew 2:11. Behold the crowned, and there is a horse depicting the form of transport (O’Kane, 2005). This painting symbolizes the Christian iconography that is expanded in the bare account of the biblical magi. It is used to actually press the fact that Jesus was recognized from the earliest infancy as the king of the universe (Carr, 1997).
References
Carr, D. W. (1997). Andrea Mantegna: The Adoration of the Magi. Getty Publications.
Carus, P. St. Catharine of Alexandria. Conclusion. (Illustrated.). The Open Court, 1907(12), 2.
Carus, P. St. Catharine of Alexandria. The Open Court, 1907(11), 2.
Haeger, B. (1997). Rubens’s” Adoration of the Magi” and the Program for the High Altar of St. Michael’s Abbey in Antwerp. Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, 25(1), 45-71.
O’Kane, M. (2005). The artist as a reader of the Bible. Visual exegesis and the Adoration of the Magi. Biblical interpretation, 13(4), 337-373.