I found this bottom painting also by Hubert Robert called "Imaginary View of the Grande Galerie in the Louvre in Ruins." It makes me wonder what the effect of showing such a prominent building in ruins has. Robert's piece contrasts sharply with the top one, by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, called "Ancient crossroads of the via Appia and the via Ardeatina." While Piranesi seems to emphasize the great detail of the ruins and their towering magnificence, Robert instead uses them to create a mood of mystery and sublime melancholy. His building fades away into the haze of the distance, while Piranesi's stays distinct and clear. Also, in Robert's piece, the people and the foreground have more importance than the people in Piranesi's peice do. In his, the clutter of the architecture overpowers the people in it. What elements do you think ruins bring to both these paintings? What elements, besides the ones I've already mentioned, do you think are used in one but not the other? What should I mention about the paintings that I haven't already? Color? Texture?
I think these images are beautiful! I like the bottom one more. I think that the bottom one offers a more apocalyptic feel that I'd imagine ruins would offer. I also love the perspective and how it runs away into the distance, as if the ruins are falling faster than I'll be able to see them. I think one thing to discuss is the pace that the ruins can bring - it can be static or disapearring away quickly (a dichotomy I see between these two images).
ReplyDeleteI also think that making a painting of architecture is always interesting. These are real ruins I assume, so what does that mean for artistic license? There is this great artist, Louis Lawler, who takes pictures of already made art in another way. Czeck out this link!
"Pollock and Tureen" of 1984
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_2000.434.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2000.434&h=348&w=500&sz=76&tbnid=_n5TN09OSlapUM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlouise%2Blawler&zoom=1&q=louise+lawler&usg=__5ul6Nkm5ID6Pxbc1miaGRVcVwoY=&sa=X&ei=DYgDTeegJIa0lQe1wvCxBQ&ved=0CCEQ9QEwAQ