For this project I had to photoshop a face into one of the famous paintings that the teacher listed. I chose a painting by Carvaggio named "The Head Of Medusa".
To appreciate and recognize Caravaggio’s Medusa painting, it is important to know its background. A gorgon is a terrifying female creature in Greek mythology. Medusa was a gorgon with a head full of serpents for hair. She was so disgusting that who ever took a glimps at her turned to stone. The Greek hero Perseus was handed a shield by the goddess Athena, so that he could bypass looking at her, as he chopped off her head.
Medusa in Caravaggio’s painting is presenting her moment of recognizing who she really is. Realizing that her head and body were not together anymore and that she was still breathing, Caravaggio sees the fear and terror in her eyes. Medusa gives amazing example of Caravaggio’s target on facial expressions in his paintings.
Michelangelo Merisi da Carvaggio (1571-1610) is from Milan, Italy. He was a part of the Baroque art movement. Carvaggio was asked to paint Medusa as a gift for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to be put in the Medici collection in Florence. Italian Baroque was a lot similar to Italian Renaissance, but the color palette was darker, deeper, and religion themes were more favoured.
Caravaggio was known for his natural and realistic paintings. He used objects/people who precisely resonated to human emotions. His many light to dark contrasts made the paintings come alive, as if they were almost looking in the past. Medusa was a very unique buyer for Caravaggio, because it prepared him to compete with Leonardo da Vinci, by entering his painting to be seen by the Medici family, as da Vinci did in advance to him.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_(Caravaggio)
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/761448/a-new-caravaggio-joins-the-canon-as-x-ray-investigation
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/jan/25/art
No comments:
Post a Comment