Eli Clein Art F200X Blog

     During the Romantic art period, many art styles rose to prominence and popularity. Two of which are the Pre-Raphaelite style and Impressionism. Pre-Raphaelite originated from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, a group of young British painters who reacted against the Royal Academy's "unimaginative and artificial" paintings. They created pieces that focused on "new moral seriousness and sincerity," in spired by 14th and 15th-century Italian art. Qualities in their style included sharp lighting, a clear atmosphere, and a nearly photographic detailing of minute aspects. Their name came from a focus on pre-renaissance art, especially pre-Raphael, so they created a lot of religious and medieval-like works ( Britannica ).      Impressionism originated with a series of Parisian artists, like Claude Monet, in 1860s France. They wanted independence from the only art salon of the time, so they created their first independent exhibit in 1874 Paris. At first,...

    During the 1700s, various political, social, and economic changes led to the middle class gaining more power and wealth. They commissioned works of art to display their newfound prestige and wealth in society.  Art stopped being a commodity for just the aristocracy or the church. The middle class disliked the aristocracy and Rococo style that displayed their excessively opulent lifestyle, such as The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard. So opposing works were created like William Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode  as a mockery of aristocracy and later neoclassical works such as Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat  in stark contrast to Rococo's lightheartedness.   (Fragonard, Jean-Honore  The Swing , 1767)      The Swing  is a great example of the Rococo style, as it depicts a young woman swinging to secretly expose herself to a lover hidden in the bushes. It was painted by Jean-Honore Fragonard as oil on an 81 x 64.2 canvas and ...

(Rubens, Paul Peter  The Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de' Medici , 1622-25) Background:      Queen Marie de Medici commissioned this piece by Paul Peter Rubens in 1622 as part of a twenty-four painting series to commemorate her life and adorn one of the two galleries in the Luxemburg Palace ( Camara ). It's painted in oil on a 394 x 295 cm canvas. She used her influence of French royalty and Medici lineage to commission Rubens to paint her series, including this piece. Despite her background and marriage to a king, her life could have been more interesting. She had a shaky relationship with Henry IV (who died before her), she had children with him (one of which died in infancy), and she reigned France until her son, Louis XIII, exiled her since she had a hard time relinquishing royal power ( Louvre ).     Which, with the rest of her life, wasn't enough for Rubens to fill twenty-four canvases. So, swept up in the Baroque style, he painted scenes wit...