First Blog ART F200

Romanticism, a phrase used to characterize a movement in art, literature, and music that prized freedom of expression; this gave rise to the Romantic period, beginning in England, Romanticism expanded across Europe and the United States. Romanticism was a response to the classical principles that governed creative production at the time. Romantic idealists thought that innermost feelings should be revealed, art should be pleasing to the senses, and imagination should take precedence over reason. Romantics had a strong sense of the past and frequently retold historical stories in their art. The Romantic era lasted no longer than fifty years spanning between 1780 and 1830. There were many different styles of art during this era, and the two I will be choosing is aestheticism and impressionism.  Aestheticism The philosopher Gautier gave birth to the Aesthetic Movement in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Later, it was brought into England, however, in England, Aestheticism can

  I chose the Bacchus piece by Caravaggio. In this piece it shows a young man, who is posed in a  very seductive way in this almost sensual art piece. This inspires awe because of the way he is sitting and his props near him, after doing a bit of research on this painting Bacchus is the god of wine. You see him in this painting and it is very poetic in the way he looks almost dazed and confused with his glass of wine. He seems like he is inviting you into his space, but still has that sense of spite that he is not afraid to show to people. I would not be opposed to owning an art piece like this, I think it is unique and engaging, drawing the viewers eyes to it wanting to know what is going on within the painting.  Source: Jones, Christopher P. “How to Read Paintings: Caravaggio's Bacchus.”   Medium , Medium, 21 May 2019, christopherpjones.medium.com/how-to-read-paintings-caravaggios-bacchus-470f677d5cba.  

This is an Italian Renaissance portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci, painted by Leonardo da Vinci. In this piece, she is sitting in front of a tree that people seem to think is a Juniper tree. She has a blank expression on her face, and the colors in this portrait are darker dull shades. With that though, the viewer of this art piece still experiences awe, while looking at it. The viewer can look at this painting and it is almost as though she is looking back. I do not know if I, myself, would own a copy of this painting. It has almost a spooky, ghostly feeling to it that I don’t think I'd want in my house.  The backstory to this piece is that Ginevra de’ Benci, was a sixteen year old from a wealthy family. She was also known as a poet and learned conversationalist. It is thought that Leonardo painted the portrait to commemorate Ginevra's marriage to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini. I don't think I relate to this back story, but I do find it interesting how praised Benci seemed to be