Compare and Contrast Paper. Around the 1400s, a new artistic period flourished in Spain. This style was mainly distinguished because of its representation of drama and tension that also depicts a theme of spirituality and religion in art and literature. Diego Velazquez was one of the most important painters of this time; he worked for King Philip IV. He was well-known for his detailed portrait paintings and he later influenced the artwork of the realist and the impressionist artists in Europe. “Venus at her Mirror” is a painting created by Diego Velazquez of the goddess Venus.
Mainly influenced by the Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”, he painted her lying in a bed in a particularly sensual pose (1).
Although this is a physically impossible position because of the angle she forms with her reflection, she is looking at herself in a mirror held by Cupid, her son the god of love. He is not painted as usual, with a bow and an arrow; instead, Diego Velazquez painted a ribbon that is supposed to represent a chain to bind the lovers. The composition was painted between 1647 and 1651 in canvas and oil. Although this painting might seem classical and run-of-the mill, it is actually this first nude painting to be created.
During this time, nudes were extremely unusual because of the Spanish Inquisition. This composition utilizes shades of red, white and grey. The purpose of this painting, probably is not to represent a female nude or a portrait of Venus, it may be to symbolize self-absorbed beauty. Because the goddess has no other purpose in the painting than denote gorgeousness (2).
The Essay on Painting By Diego Rivera
This painting by Diego Rivera was started in 1933 for the Rockefeller Center in New York. He was asked to paint a mural on the second floor in the Palace of Fine Arts. John Rockefeller wanted this painting to get people to stop and think. Rivera included a portrait of Vladimir Lennon in the mural which upset Rockefeller. He asked Diego to remove the picture of Lennon and add one of Abraham ...
On the other hand, in 1814, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres painted the “Grand Odalisque”, also influenced by Titian’s “Venus of Urbino”. This is the painting that is usually credited with breaking the Neoclassicism period and opening the doors to Romanticism.
The technique of this painting is oil and there is a strong Oriental influence to it (3).
The composition represents an odalisque which is a woman slave in an Ottoman Seraglio and she is lying in a bed as well. The anatomy of the woman is not realistic, it is said that she doesn’t have bones or muscles because of the way she is seated. Her back is completely turned and she somehow manages to look at the viewer straight in the eye, another physically impossible position. Ingres was clearly influenced by Velazquez’s earlier painting since the are obvious similarities in the subject choice and the ideal depiction of the female body.
Both of the main subjects are lying in a bed surrounded by drapery and sheets. In contrast with “Venus at her mirror” the color composition of this painting is blue tones and the skin of the woman is not as pale as the Venus’. The purpose of this painting is to represent feminine beauty as well. We know this because Ingres does not only focus on the female figure, but also the facial features, while Velazquez made Venus with her back turned and her reflection in the mirror blurry. In “the Grand Odalisque”, the background is not as simple as in “Venus at her Mirror”. Ingres painted her subject surrounded by items that represent wealth.
For example, the peacock feathers, and jewelry, and the patterned drapery. Another difference between the two paintings is that in the Grand Odalisque, the woman in the painting is staring directly at the subject, making the viewer feel like he is actually in the scene as opposed to being a third party observer. The last painting I’d like to compare is the “Great Odalisque, after Ingres” by Pablo Picasso (1907).
This painting has many different aspects to it because of the period it was painted in, but it is mainly influenced by Dominique Ingres’s painting “Grand Odalisque”.
The Essay on Pablo Picasso ‘Girl with a Mandolin’- Cubism Movment
In 1907, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque founded the art movement known as Cubism. This style of painting revolutionised modern abstract art during the 20th century. Pablo Picasso was a Spanish Painter who was born in the 19th Century. His talents were recognised at an early age for his realistic technique. During his adolescence his painting style changed drastically as he experimented with ...
We can imply that Picasso’s painting is a study of the one mentioned above. He experimented a lot of alternatives; the first example is the “Nude on a bed” where Picasso places the figure on a diagonal position. Then he makes the “Reclining nude” in which he experiments with the horizontal position. So he can solve the problem by making a flattened effect. In this artwork, Picasso has provided a simultaneous profile and frontal view of the woman’s face (4).
Picasso is a very competitive man and was trying to prove to the world that he could also perfect the ideal female body using his own style.
After all of these studies, Picasso realizes that the solution of Ingres’s is to hatch precisely and control the tonal shifts. Also he ignores the texture and the details in the sketch. Besides that, Picasso ignores the background panels and he sets up the diagonal planar-edge (5).
This is obviously a very different technique that uses straight lines and dramatic shadowing to create the effect that Picasso wanted in his painting. He incorporates both blue and red tones in his artwork, which is a mixture of both Velazquez’s and Ingres’ paintings.
The physical position of the main subject mainly resembles Ingres’ painting but he blurs the face like in “Venus at her mirror. ” Picasso does a very good job of channeling both artists and creating a combination of both artworks to create his own unique representation of the same subject. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, this is a popular saying that is proven in these three artworks. Each artist is trying to create a painting that perfectly represents female beauty and each artist ends up with a unique painting that reflects their own perspective.
