Contents Page 3.….........................................................................Death In Art Page 4........................................................................Exhibition Map Page 5&6................................................................................Vanitas Page 7&8......................................................... The Arnolfini Portrait Page 9&10........................ The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp Page 11&12........................................................ The Death of Marat Page 13&14…..................................The Exrcution of Lady Jane Grey Page 15&16..................................................The Raft of The Medusa Page 17&18...................................................................Electric Chair Page 19&20........................................................For The Love of God Page 21&22............................................................For Heaven’s Sake Page 23...........................................................................coming soon
Death In Art T
hroughout the history of art , the subject of death has been depicted in many ways . Whether it be a Historic event, Momento Mori or a Modern sculpture , artists have managed to create thought provoking artwork , challenging the ideas of death and even our own mortality. The MortalitĂŠ exhibition by the Royal Victoria Gallery explores the ways in which death are represented ,featuring some of the worlds most famous artwork of all time , from the northern renaissance to the 21st century .
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Exhibition Map
Room One Vanitas The Arnolfini Portrait The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
Room Two The Death Of Marat The Execution of Lady Jane Grey The Raft of The Medusa
Room One
Room Two
Room Three
Room Three Electric Chair For The Love of God For Heavens Sake
Gift Shop Information and Tickets Entrance and exit
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Harmen Steenwyck Vanitas / Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life 1640 (Oil on oak panel)
‘ An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life ‘ by Harmen Steenwyck is a typical small scale, Dutch still life Vanitas painting , for the purpose of homes of the bourgeoisie in the 17th century. The painting focusses on the vanity of earthly things and the transience of life and inevitability of death .
The painting is a ‘Vanitas’ , Latin for vanity, where pleasure and human ambition are considered pointless when faced with the great leveller of death that puts an end to all worldly achievements. It also features items that are a ‘momento mori’ , a reminder of our mortality such as the skull , the empty a shell and the oil lamp which is burning out. All of these symbols are a reminder that our time on earth is short and will end at some point.
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Jan van Eyck The Arnolfini Portrait (or The Arnolfini Marriage) 1434 Oil on oak panel The National Gallery, London The Arnolfini Portrait is a northern renaissance painting by early Netherlandish painter, Jan Van Eyck. The painting is a full length double portrait is believed to show Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife at their home in Bruges. Although the painting is a portrait of the couple it was not intended to show their marriage. The painting is considered one of the most unique and complex paintings in Western art, because of its beauty, symbolism , geometric orthogonal perspective and expansion of space by the use of a mirror. The painting has a very ambiguous nature , due to the use of symbolism within the painting . For example the dog bellow the couple, symbolises loyalty , and the materialistic clothing , furniture and fabrics , as well as the oranges below the window on the left , symbolising the couples wealth. The aspect of death in the painting is a lot less obvious , above the couple is a large chandelier , with one lit candle above Mr Arnolfini , and a burnt out candle above Mrs Arnolfini , which may symbolise she is in fact dead. Another symbolic element within the composition is the spherical mirror on the wall behind the couple. When reflections appear in art they may be linked to the transience of life and in this case, how it can appear one minute and disappear the next.
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Rembrandt The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp 1632, oil on canvas Mauritshuis, The Hague Throughout the history of art , artists have represented death in the use of experimentation , knowledge and scientific advances . Anatomy lessons including dissections of the body were a social event, popular in the 17th century, taking place in lecture rooms and theatres , with students, colleagues and the general public being allowed to attend .Artists would use these anatomy dissections as a theme for their artwork to show important discoveries as well as knowledge of the human body. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp , by Rembrandt is an example of this , showing the doctor performing a dissection lesson to students, showing the muscular structure and anatomy of a dissected arm of a dead criminal. Looking at the aspect of death in art , the Dutch artist has represented death as purely for scientific and academic use , and showing the advances made in the dutch golden age . The painting is also based on fact and reason rather than conveying the artists ideas and emotions. 10
Jacques Louis David The Death of Marat 1793, oil on canvas
Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David is a neoclassical style painting showing David's view of the murdered French revolutionary leader Jean- Paul Marat. Davis was a friend of Marat at the time and the painting is an extremely political, scandalous painting , as the imagery used in the composition is in fact false. Marat was murdered 13 July 1793 by Charlotte Corday , a Girondin from a minor aristocratic family and a political enemy of Marat. Corday gained entrance to Marat's rooms with a note then brutally murdered Marat in his bathtub where he spent a lot of his time, even working, bathing due to a skin disease. In the painting , Marat lies with a trailing arm, taken this pose from classical paintings of the death of Christ. This trailing arm and the link to Christ, as well as the white cloth around Marat’s bath tub and on his head, may be trying to show he is a saint or martyr after being killed. Another element of symbolism is the white fabric around his head and around the bathtub, as the colour white symbolises innocence and purity , which contrasts from the reality of who Marat really was and his involvement in the revolution . 12
Paul Delaroche The Execution of Lady Jane Grey 1833, oil on canvas The national Gallery London
The execution of lady jane grey Is a large scale ‘salon style’ painting by Delaroche depicting the scene before Lady Jane Grey’s execution. Lady jane grey, at the centre As a Protestant ,Lady Jane Grey was crowned queen in a bid to shore up Protestantism and keep Catholic influence at bay. Lady Jane Grey was executed at Tower Green for treason on 12 February 1554. She was just 16 years old. Delaroche painted this as an interpretation of what the scene may have looked like and the painting was extremely popular as a large scale historic painting , which was the highest genre in art. In the painting Lady jane grey is blindfolded and dressed in white, symbolising her innocence and purity. The artist ,Delaroche depicts the events in a staged like scene , which the viewers of the painting are being drawn into . The aspect of death here is shown as a consequence of acts against authority, and in this case , the death of a girl aged only 16.
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Theodore Gericault The Raft of the Medusa 1818-19, oil on canvas Louvre Paris
The Raft of the Medusa , 1818-19, by Gericault is a romantic painting depicting the terror and tragedy brought upon by the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval ship Meduse , which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on 2 July 1816. On the 5th July 1816, at least 147 people were left in the sea on a man made raft following the wreck .All passengers but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived suffered starvation, dehydration and many resulted to cannibalism. The event became an international due to the incompetence of the French captain of the ship . Although a romantic painter, the painting is extremely realistic due to Gericault’s preparatory studies based off of morgue visits to the victims as well as recreating the Medusa raft . The painting depicts the subject of death as a tragedy and scene of chaos and desperation , which was also extremely controversial due to political blame 16
Andy Warhol Electric Chair 1964 Screen-print and acrylic paint on canvas, Tate Created by the American pop artist Andy Warhol, Electric Chair 1964 is a print of a mediumsize canvas that has been screen-printed with silver acrylic paint. In the centre of the canvas is an empty electric chair set in an empty room. Death by electrocution was a controversial subject in the city of New York, where Warhol lived and worked . The subject was especially controversial after the last two executions at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1963. Warhol managed to take a photograph of the empty execution chamber, which became the basis for the series of prints. The composition portrays the subject of death as an extremely dark and sombre experience as the composition is dealing with a form of punishment of death. Also in contrast to other depictions of art as a natural part of life , the image shows an un natural process which provokes the emotions of the viewer . The artist has used a monochromatic to add to the dark, cold mood of the image as well as feeling of isolation and loneliness in the room. 18
Damien Hirst For the Love of God 2007 , Platinum cast, diamonds and Human teeth This modern sculpture by sculpture artist Damien Hirst consists of a Platinum cast of an 18thcentury human skull encrusted with over 8.6 thousand diamonds, including a pear-shaped diamond on the forehead that is known as the Skull Star Diamond. The skull's has original human teeth which were purchased by Hirst in London. The artwork is a Momento Mori , reminding us as viewers of our own mortality.
'The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. It proclaims victory over decay. At the same time it represents death as something infinitely more relentless. Compared to the tearful sadness of a vanitas scene, the diamond skull is glory itself.‘- Rudi Fuchs 20
Damien Hirst For Heaven’s Sake 2008, Platinum, pink and white diamonds Another sculpture by Hirst , ‘for Heavens sake’ is an Infant human skull pavé-set with pink and fine white diamonds. The cast is set with 8,128 over 7,000 of which are naturally pink diamonds, while the fontanel (where the infants skull is not fully formed) contains 1,023 white diamonds. The sculpture was unveiled in 2010 at Gagosian Gallery Hong Kong’s inaugural exhibition, ‘Forgotten Promises’. The skull from which the cast was taken was bought by Hirst whilst he was working on the first diamond skull, ‘For the Love of God’ created in 2007. The skull is believed to be of an infant estimated to be between 40 and 42 weeks old and was purchased as part of a rare collection of 19th century human skulls and skeletons ,from a pathology collection. 22
Complete works exhibition 3rd - 7th April 2017
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