I
find this work creepy, actually. The adult face on the infant Christ is
off-putting. I believe the age of the work caused some of the darkening that
seems troubling from a design perspective. Forms are flattened
and simplified, for the most part. Some are treated with depth development. |
The Virgin and the Baby are the subject of this work. Her gaze reaches out to the audience and gently draws them in; the love they share is quite clearly a primary message of this work. Possibly due to age, there is sharp contrasts in value from shape-to-shape. An important detail of this work is that it depicts a subjective trend of the era, called Virgin of Compassion, which is a rendering of the Mother and the baby Christ in a loving embrace.
Visual elements are heavily simplified. Shape, value, texture and directional gazes unify to support the warm, loving mood of this work. To put it another way, this work borders on conceptual over perceptual. One of the interesting details is the development of value is specific areas: The faces of the subjects. It shows the slow development of tenebrism that would prevail in the coming centuries. The Virgin’s form qualifies for this work’s background more than the actual background, enveloping and cradling the Baby’s form in protection.
This work is quite stable. Its vertical orientation is due more to the arrangement of shapes more than the picture plane. Shapes are defined not through line but through near-absolute, abrupt changes in contrast. To say this work is either elementally or pictorially harmonious or not misses the point of the strong, simple emotional content it communicates.
Value development is used only in those areas the artist wants attention to be allocated, sacrificing optical reality. The nearly-polarized formatting of elements, which may be due to it’s age, quite effectively draw attention to the loving exchange shared by the two figures.
The Child’s facial treatment is not an imitation of adulthood but of value development and shows a directness of expression that is not possible of infants. This work, considered an icon, simply speaks to devotees of Christianity in such a way that it has been the recipient of many prayers and gestures of contrivance for centuries. The combination of Christ and Virgin is quite a common theme in western history, and as will be seen in later essays of this project, the range of emotions communicated by this theme is as wide as human experience. This one, of course, is safe, tender and loving.
The Virgin and the Baby are the subject of this work. Her gaze reaches out to the audience and gently draws them in; the love they share is quite clearly a primary message of this work. Possibly due to age, there is sharp contrasts in value from shape-to-shape. An important detail of this work is that it depicts a subjective trend of the era, called Virgin of Compassion, which is a rendering of the Mother and the baby Christ in a loving embrace.
Visual elements are heavily simplified. Shape, value, texture and directional gazes unify to support the warm, loving mood of this work. To put it another way, this work borders on conceptual over perceptual. One of the interesting details is the development of value is specific areas: The faces of the subjects. It shows the slow development of tenebrism that would prevail in the coming centuries. The Virgin’s form qualifies for this work’s background more than the actual background, enveloping and cradling the Baby’s form in protection.
This work is quite stable. Its vertical orientation is due more to the arrangement of shapes more than the picture plane. Shapes are defined not through line but through near-absolute, abrupt changes in contrast. To say this work is either elementally or pictorially harmonious or not misses the point of the strong, simple emotional content it communicates.
Value development is used only in those areas the artist wants attention to be allocated, sacrificing optical reality. The nearly-polarized formatting of elements, which may be due to it’s age, quite effectively draw attention to the loving exchange shared by the two figures.
The Child’s facial treatment is not an imitation of adulthood but of value development and shows a directness of expression that is not possible of infants. This work, considered an icon, simply speaks to devotees of Christianity in such a way that it has been the recipient of many prayers and gestures of contrivance for centuries. The combination of Christ and Virgin is quite a common theme in western history, and as will be seen in later essays of this project, the range of emotions communicated by this theme is as wide as human experience. This one, of course, is safe, tender and loving.
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