Born in 1748 Jacques-Louis David was a French painter who painted in a neoclassical style and developed his passion for art as he was raised by his artistic uncles. Often portraying a hero in his work, this artist would use a range of techniques to give the work that he completed realistic flesh tones and lighting. This painting was controversial as it fuelled the Reign of Terror. The story behind this painting involving a man named Marat who was 50, and he made a list of people who needed to be executed. Over exaggerating his death, David used many symbols within this painting to portray his death and link it to religion. Marat was sending people to the Guillotine who were not supporting the revolution cause. However, was later killed by a woman named Charlotte Corday on the 13th July 1793. she had owned up to her crime thinking what she did was right and claimed, “I killed one man to save 100,000�. Although now being a murderer she was labelled a hero and had many statues made in her memory such as the one that’s made from marble, found in the Swindon dance studios that used to be the town hall in Regent Circus in Swindon.
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Telling the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden it is the first and greatest betrayal that man has committed. Portraying the moment that Adam was tempted by Eve to eat the apple of knowledge as the serpent that tempted Eve watches. This was the moment that humanity gained selfawareness and is a powerful piece of art that shows the mistakes of humans that caused them to be exiled from the tranquil garden of Eden.
Painted by a man named Hugo Van der Goes he was born in 1430 he was one of the best Flemish painters of the 15th century. Often making new innovations within his art when he used ranges of colour that other artists often wouldn’t use. These being very bright contrasting colours that would stand out on the page and capture the viewers’ attention. He would often paint altarpieces but would also go into the portraiture technique but would usually use religion to influence his work. For an early painting there are very few signs of brush strokes and the skill that can be seen within the oil paint create a very realistic flesh tone. The way the light also comes in is realistic and shows the true beauty of the garden of Eden and makes it a place you want to be in and see. Painted as a set of two paintings in a joined frame it was designed as a small-scale painting that can be easily moved and used as a mantel piece decoration.
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Estimated to be painted in the late 15th century it was painted by a world renowned and inspiration to all artist called Leonardo da Vinci between 1495-1496. Considered part of renaissance movement it is a large-scale painting with the dimensions of 460x880 and takes up a whole wall in our exhibition. This was originally painted on the walls of a monk’s supper room and is a fresco piece to depict the Last Supper between Jesus and his disciples where Jesus announces that one of them will betray him by the end of the day. However, painted in the technique of Fresco Leonardo didn’t use the technique in the way that it was meant to be done. Whereas doing this technique the artist will have to paint straight onto the wet plaster Leonardo then proceeded to paint on the dry plastered wall. In turn this caused the paint in some spots to crack and crumble as it eroded and fell off the wall. Many restoration attempts have been completed on this artwork and have all failed however, this means that this is one of the most delicate artworks and needs special care. This can be found in its own separate room for protection against damage where the amount of visitor flow can be controlled and monitored.
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Painted by a man named Hieronymus Bosch this painting marks the second part to Jesus being betrayed by the people that he so longed to help and look after. Painted in a Northern Renaissance style the artists would mostly focus on painting scenes with a religious background. It depicts the story after Jesus had been captured in the garden when Judas betrayed him with a kiss. This is the following scene of when Jesus is made to carry his own cross through the city and up the hill wearing a crown of thorns to show to the people that the Jerusalem government wouldn’t stand for any uprisings or defiance. It also marks the moment in which you can see that Jesus has come to terms that his father God won’t help him and that he must go through with what happens to him. Making a great addition to our exhibition it is an interesting painting for you to come and see allowing for the mind to be opened to the broad techniques that this artist has used to portray a religious event in a way that will teach the people and make an impact on the people seeing it.
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This painting depicts the story of Jesus being taken by the soldiers. It first started when Jesus and his disciples went to the prayer garden of Gethsemane. Here Jesus askes God if there is any way to escape his fate saying “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Despite what he was praying for he submitted himself to God and to prepare for his fate. A group of men later arrived at the garden who were sent by the Jewish authorities whilst Jesus’ disciples were asleep. Betrayed, Judas identifies Jesus to the soldiers by a kiss on the cheek that informs them who the man that they are after is. One of his disciples Jesus takes a sword and cuts of the ear to one of the men in a last-minute attempt to rescue his lord. However, in what they thought was protecting Jesus they are in fact going against all the teachings against violence that Jesus taught them and are sinning. Jesus forbids this violence and in turn heals the injured men that are against him leaving Jesus to be captured whilst his disciples abandon him and run away. Painted by a well-known artist called Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio who was an Italian painter who spent most of his time painting in Rome which was the main place for the baroque style. Within his paintings he uses realistic observation and combines that with dramatic lighting to capture the viewers’ attention. He would do this by darkening the shadows but putting the model in an intense beam of light to show importance. When painting he would often portray scenes of violent struggles, torture or death.
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The artist of this work was Artemisia Gentileschi an Italian painter and was considered one of the greatest influences after the time in which Caravaggio was around. She was a baroque painter and as previously explained in a previous slide this type of style was where an artist would use exaggerated light and colours to make their scenes even more dramatic and make the viewer even more interested. Often painting stories from the Bible and myths she would depict strong or suffering women to move the attention over to women instead of the typical man that most artists in that time would paint to show strength and honour. Getting her talents and inspiration from her father Orazio Gentileschi, she would join her father in his workshop where he would paint but out Shon her brother and displayed more talent than they did. This painting depicts the brutal murder of a man named Holofernes who was an Assyrian general. The story is that of a widow named Judith who murdered him by severing his head. She managed to enter his tent as Holofernes was very attracted to Judith and would do anything to get his way with her. However, although he had deep feelings for her the general was planning to destroy Judith's home being the city of Bethulia. Judith accompanied by her servant later decapitated him when he was passed out drunk to prevent him destroying everything that she had.
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Relating to a ship called the Medusa which sank three years before this painting was created. When trying to reclaim land the ship ran aground in the open ocean, so the Captain and important people took the life boats forcing the rest of the soldiers and the settlers to build a raft out of the ships timber. Originally the plan was to tow the raft to using the life boats but when the Captain realised it was slowing the life boats the line was cut, and they were forced to survive for themselves.
Showing great betrayal between a leading officer and his men it makes for the perfect piece of art to display on the walls of our exhibition and being a large-scale painting makes it a sight to behold.
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During the 1830 revolution there was two main factors that caused the people to start an uprising. The first being that Louis and Charles ruled in France due to hereditary right with the crown being passed down through the family after the monarch died. The second being that Louis XVIII knew that there was still signs of people wanting a fair democracy letting them vote for who they wanted to rule. He was forced to create and sign the French constitution, also known as the La Charte. This made new laws highlighting equality, protection of private property and other agreements and laws that benefitted the French people after the revelation. Painted by a French artist called Eugène Delacroix portraying the July revolution of 1830 in France. Delacroix was one of the leading romanticism artists of his era. Trained by a neo classical artist called Pierre Guerin from 1816 to 1823 he gained his skills that perfected his work in way that allowed him to produce stunning pieces of work that were very dramatic and realistic. After the revolution of 1830 he received commissions from wealthy people such as Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III who both believed his work to be great master pieces.
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Painted in 1937 by Picasso in response to the bombing of Guernica. It is a mural sized oil on canvas painting that was completed in his home in Paris. It uses plain palette tones such as grey, white, and black and in the well known style he painted in called cubism. This was where he would use a range of shapes in his paintings mixed with block colours to make a painting that would portray the story or message he was aiming for. Being 3.5 x 7.8 metres, it shows the suffering of the people of Guernica. The bombing happened on the 26th April 1937 where under the code name Operation Rugen the Nazi German Luftwaffe’s condor legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazne Legionaria commenced an air raid on the town of Basque during the Spanish civil war. At the time the town was being used as a communications centre behind the front lines. Cubism is a style of art where an artist uses multiple tones that are painted onto a surface of their choosing in a block format. The images are painted of a 3D world but are painted by the artist in a 2D format. It first originated during the early 20th century when artists were less concerned in painting realistic and in-depth paintings and adapted to a simplistic style. When painting the image, the artist doesn’t concentrate on one angle the classical styles; instead they look at a range of angles and paint them all to create a distorted painting. An early type of cubism Is called synthetic cubism this was where the artist would paint their subject in a block format with very little meaning other than the context of the time period and the painting.
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