16th Century Vietnamese Ceramics

For this blog I chose to talk about Vietnamese ceramics from the 16th century.  As I looked through many pictures of 16th century ceramics I kept coming back to the Vietnamese style. The atristry put into something as simply decorating a tea cup or tea pot is amazing to me, now a days when we look at something as simple as a cup we dont consider it as art we just consider it an item that we use everyday. But the Vietnamese seemed like they considere everything they use as a fuctional, piece of art that is used with great care. Personally I think we could use a lession from this time period; maybe then we would appreciate all that we have a little bit more.

The Decent From the Cross (Middle Panel)- Rubens

The Decent From the Cross by Peter Rubens was commissioned in 1611 by the Confraternity of the Arquebusiers, whose Patron Saint was St. Christopher. This tryptic alter piece is essentially considered Baroque but has subtle hints of the Ventitian tradition. The 3 panels depict "The visitation (left panel), The "Desention From the Cross" (middle panel), and The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (right panel). For this blog I chose to focus on the middle panel depicting  "Decention From the Cross", something about this particular panel drawls my eye to it. At first I looked at this piece and my first thoughts were that it was a beautiful oil painting, has a very strong pyramidal composition with a strong diagonal breaking the piece is 2 (by a white blanket), amazingly realistic forms of the people and amazing detailed emotions on the figures faces. But as I looked around I noticed subtle objects around the 9 figures and wondered what exactly they represented.

As I researched this piece I found that "...The principal subject is composed of nine figures: at the top of two ladders, workers are lowering the body of Christ with the aid of a shroud which one of them holds in his teeth, the other in the left hand. Bracing themselves firmly against the arms of the cross, each bends forward to guide the Christ with the hand that is left free while St. John, with one foot on the ladder and his back arched, supports him most energetically. One of Savior’s feet comes to rest on the beautiful shoulder of the Magdalene, grazing her golden hair. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, placed midway on ladders so as to face each other, form, together with the two workmen in the upper part of the picture, a square of vigorous but plebeian figures. The Virgin, standing at the foot of the sacrificial tree, extends her arms towards her Son; Salome (properly, Mary Cleophas), kneeling, gathers up her robe. On the ground are seen the superscription and a copper basin where the crown of thorns and the nails of the Crucifixion lie in the congealed blood. The crowd, always elated by the spectacle of torture, has departed from Golgotha as daylight fades. After the sacrifice of Calvary, as it is called in Scripture, the sad, dark sky is crossed by a light that illumines the shoulders of the workmen..." 

All of the elements in this panel has a wonderful sense of movement, like if you keep looking at the piece that people will keep lowering him, which is just amazing. Rubens eye for detail is unparalleled in my eyes he seems to be becoming one of if not my favorite artists from this time period.

Michelangelo-The Creation of Adam

This beautiful fresco by Michelangelo Is considered the most famous and widely know part of the celing of the Sistine Chaple (painted circa 1512- 4th panel). This part of the fresco is believed to depict the narrative of the book of Genisis in which God gives the spark of life to to Adam (The first man). Actually, according to the Bible scripture God actually BREATHS the life into Adam...but many errors have been depicted in Michelangelo's works (according to theorist it is one of Michelangelo's most popular traits, which in turn makes his pieces stronger) The point where Adam and Gods fingers are almost touching is essentually God giving Adam life, I like that Michelangelo didnt need to put a spark or some type of light between the fingers to show the magnitude of this moment in time, the whole piece itself depicts that at its fullest. The divine energy of God is depited in God's flowing hair and beard, and also to me it shows the power and strong effect this moment will have on the world.

To me this piece (although inaccurate according to the bible) is very powerful overall, it hasa sence of power and movement like we are watching the moment actually happen in from of us (thanks to the swirling angles, the flowing rob, and the swaying of God's hair and beard). When i look at this piece it makes me want to stare at it like im waiting for there fingers to touch and to see what happens afterward. Michelangelo definetly knew what he was doing when he painted this section of the fresco.

Jan van Eyck - Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (1)

There are many things I like about Jan Van Eyck's artwork, the intricate detail in all of his pieces is absolutely outstanding and the subtlety of the symbolism in his work always have me looking for every detail when looking at his work. For this particular blog I chose  Jan Van Eyck's oil painting Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (dated 1435); in this piece Mother Mary is being crowned by a hoovering angel as she presents the baby Jesus to Chancllor Rolin.
The thing that I like over all about Eyck's pieces of art are the emotion portrayed in the peoples faces, its hard to interpret what exact emotions he was trying to get across to the viewer. I like this because as the viewer we can make a range assumptions and/or stories about what these people are feeling, making us want to keep looking and ultimately connect with the piece. I think Eyck may have done this on purpose so that the viewer wouldn't focus as much on the people in the piece but more on the details around them, whether its in the intricate detail of the clothing they are wearing, the scenery in the background ETC.

Hello and Welcome :)

Hi everyone,

If you guys don't remember I'm Crystalia (or Crystal) from Art History 2 class. Ive been a student here at Del Tech for about 2 years now and I'm hoping to graduate with a degree in Multimedia very soon. Some of my favorite things are movies (Zombie movies are my favorite), The Walking Dead, the color blue, sleeping lol, and bacon (dont judge me). I Just wanted to say hello and welcome to my 2nd blog on Blogger, hope you enjoy :)