Roman Art: 509 BCE 476 CE

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1 Roman Art: 509 BCE 476 CE Pont du Gard Aqueduct early 1st century BCE, cut stone, 880 long, 162 high, Nimes, France 1. Pont du Gard Aqueduct early 1st century BCE, cut stone, 880 long, 162 high, Nimes, France One of Rome s most important contributions to the world of architecture was the development of the arch. Although primitive arches were used by the earlier Etruscans, the Romans built their arches with their special concrete which allowed for taller and more stable arched structures. Thus, the Romans were able to use the arch in a variety of ways, including the aqueduct, or water way, that is seen here. An aqueduct or conductor of water brought water into cities from vast distances. This bridge over the Gard River in France was part of a 30 mile-long aqueduct that is considered one of the greatest of all the aqueducts constructed by the Romans. It was built 2,000 years ago and remains standing today. On its first level is a road, and the top third level contains a covered water conduit or trough that once carried water to town. The bridge consists of three tiers of arches, with smaller arches on the top tier. The semi-circular arch shapes repeat in a regular rhythm horizontally across the river. An irregular rhythm is created vertically because there are more smaller arches in the top arcade than are in the two lower tiers of larger arches. Still, we should notice that the important supportive piers of all three tiers do line up vertically so that the weight of the entire structure is properly supported. Which form repeats in a regular rhythm? The three arcades of semi-circular arch shapes each repeat in regular rhythms. 1

2 Caravaggio Italian Baroque Painter Sick Bacchus 1593, oil on canvas, 26 x 20-1/2, Galleria Borghese, Rome 1. Sick Bacchus 1593, oil on canvas, 26 x 20-1/2, Galleria Borghese, Rome This is likely a self-portrait of the artist, because the same face appears in authentic portraits of the artist later in life. Caravaggio often used mirrors to paint portraits because he was too poor to hire models. In this painting, the subject is Bacchus, the god of wine, but he is portrayed with colors that are more sickly than god-like. Caravaggio painted this realistic portrait of a man with green and bluish tones to suggest illness, something that was not usually done at the time. Caravaggio s skill in realistically depicting fruit was acquired during his early service in the studio of Cavalier d Arpino. There, he learned to paint both flowers and fruit with great attention to detail that resulted in very realistic images. This ability to accurately depict flowers and fruits as well as a variety of human expressions would soon become Caravaggio s trademarks. What parts of this painting look most realistic? Actually, everything is this painting is rendered in an accurate, realistic manner. 2

3 Thomas Gainsborough British Portrait/Landscape Painter Self-Portrait 1787, oil on canvas, 29-1/2 x 24, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1. Self-Portrait 1787, oil on canvas, 29-1/2 x 24, Royal Academy of Arts, London This self-portrait was painted the year before Gainsborough died of cancer at the age of 61, and it became a statement of how he wished to be remembered. He made his living primarily through portraiture and this painting is typical, with its emphasis on the face. Gainsborough always painted the face with the model present, and that portion of his portraits tends to be the most finished. Here, the face contains the smoothest treatment, while the rest of the canvas is painted in very loose brushstrokes. The brushwork on his shirt is much like that of the sketchy background which helps to unify the figure with its setting while creating a light, feathery texture and mood. All the darker blue values are located on the lower left side of the canvas while the lighter values appear on the upper right side of both the figure and background. The overall effect is balanced and the dark-to-light value pattern unifies the background with the subject. Gainsborough used this dark-to-light technique in his later paintings. Fun Fact: His daughter, Margaret, presented this painting to the Royal Academy after his death. 3

4 Albert Bierstadt American Romantic Landscape Painter Portrait of Albert Bierstadt ca. 1883, Private collection 1. Portrait of Albert Bierstadt ca. 1883, private collection In this photograph taken by Charles Bierstadt, the artist s brother, Albert Bierstadt appears as an established, respected and wealthy Victorian gentleman. At the time this photograph was taken, Bierstadt s large-scale landscape art was already considered to be out of style in the art world. Luckily, however, his customers were both upper middle class and conservatively rich, and he was able to maintain continuing sales of his works despite their steady decline in popularity. One of the attractive features of his work was the enormous size of his canvases. They were so large that viewers could inspect the foreground and feel almost as if they were about to step into the landscape itself. 4

5 Edouard Manet French Painter Self-Portrait with Palette 1879 oil on canvas, 32-5/8 x 26-3/8, Estate of Jakob Goldschmidt, New York 1. Self-Portrait with Palette 1879, oil on canvas, 32-5/8 x 26-3/8, Estate of Jakob Goldschmidt, New York This portrait was painted a year after Manet was diagnosed with complications from syphilis. He was 47 and already suffering frequent collapses. Confined to the studio, he produced two selfportraits within a year; both were more like sketches than finished works. Despite the sketchy appearance of this self-portrait, many characteristics of Manet s work are evident here. His colors are spread over the canvas in broad strokes and cover large areas. He contrasts the bold yellow shape of his jacket (positive shape) with a solid, dark background (negative shape). This color contrast, coupled with the isolation of a brightly colored figure against the vacant backdrop creates emphasis. What is the focal point of this painting? The focal point of this painting is the brightly colored figure of Manet. 5

6 Helen Frankenthaler Frankenthaler Mixing Paint Photograph, Frankenthaler Mixing Paint Photograph, 1964 This photograph of Helen Frankenthaler in her New York City studio was taken when she was 36 years old. It shows her standing in front of Small s Paradise (slide #10), mixing paint in empty coffee cans. She diluted her oil paints, and later her acrylic paints, to approximate the look of transparent watercolors. In doing so, the paint was more runny and fluid, and required her to be very decisive and direct when she worked by planning exactly where she would pour her diluted paints onto the canvas. She applied paint to an unprimed canvas which allowed the diluted color to soak into and stain the fabric, becoming a part of the canvas itself. This process resulted in areas of color with soft, fuzzy edges that created an aura or halo around the colors. This effect was most obvious in the areas of unpainted canvas around the colored shapes. Working in this manner, Frankenthaler devised the revolutionary and original technique of stain painting for which she became wellknown. 6