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Showing posts from June, 2022

Classical Era & the American Revolution

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Classical Art & The American Revolution Today I have picked three pieces of art created by three different artists in the 1700’s that show glimpses of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Each of these pieces take place in the water and display the destruction that can happen at sea in the midst of a war. I found these pieces to be interesting because I had forgotten, or at least it hadn't really occurred to me, that Great Britain and the Colonies were separated by sea. Which inevitably meant that a lot of the battles took place in the waters. Studying different pieces of art made during the Revolutionary War I was surprised to see so many naval battles, even though this completely makes sense!  So without further ado…  The Unsuccessful Attack on the Fort on Sullivan’s Island This painting is a watercolor piece done by Henry Gray in 1776. Henry Gray was a soldier in the American Revolution and fought in the battle displayed above. On June 28th, 1776 Great Britain had decide

Caravaggio and Baroque

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Stuck in Beauty    The Time During the Renaissance many people and scholars became intrigued with Greek philosophy, arts, and stories. When the Baroque era followed the Renaissance, interest in Greek works had not dimmed among the curious. One of these interests had to do with mythology. Although the Baroque era was full of discovered scientific knowledge. Such as gossip of the world being round, the discovery of bacteria, and the beginning of understanding astronomy! This didn’t stop art from portraying very theatrical stories and myths. In fact a very popular art technique was created in the Baroque Era called Tenebrism. This style accentuates light & dark in a painting, creating a very dramatic feeling and directing the eye to the subject of drama. In the Baroque era you can see this style being used in paintings of bible stories, still life, and portraits. But, today I am going to focus on a painting by Caravaggio named the “Narcissus” housed in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte An

Renaissance to Reformation

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The Tower of Babel                                                      History Behind the Art           In 1563 an artist by the name of Pieter Bruegel painted a series of three paintings depicting “The Tower of Babel”, sadly only two of these paintings survived. Bruegel was an artist who lived in Antwerp during the 14th century where the Protestant Reformation was being born. With the Catholic rule being threatened by Reformers (people who questioned the Catholic Church’s depiction of the bible and their reign) such as Martin Luther & John Calvin. Pieter Bruegel followed quickly, speaking upon the situation through his artwork. Above are two paintings by Pieter Bruegel that I believe show his involvement in the Protestant Reformation that was happening around him. The first painting is called “The (Great) Tower of Babel” and the second painting “The (Little) Tower of Babel”  What is the Tower of Babel?               The Tower of Babel comes from a story in the Bible out of the bo