Art Portfolio

Mannerism emerged after the Renaissance period, and was slowly replaced by the Baroque period. There were major differences between the Renaissance, Mannerism, and Baroque. Mannerism emphasized elongated proportions, distorted perspective and conventional poses. Whereas, during the baroque period, art was more dramatic, and exaggerated motion, power and control.These two paintings here portray this vast variance between the two periods.

 

Madonna with the long neck, by Parmigianino, uses a softer, warmer color scheme. There is a variety chiaroscuro and sfumato in this painting. The red shows the parts where Sfumato is in work while the blue shows the chiaroscuro. This represents an elegance, and royalty among the painting. The blue color of the woman’s dress contrasts the rest of the yellow, beige and browns in the painting. It gives a feeling of comfort when one rests their eyes upon it. My eyes travel from the face of the woman, to the faces of the young girls, to the legs of the baby towards his head, and then down to the woman’s legs and feet. There is also a focus on the middle of the painting however, because of the composition of it, the eyes do not fall out of the painting. The mannerism aspect of this painting would be the distorted proportion of the women. Her head looks so small compared to the rest of her body. Her long neck and weak shoulders portray an image of artificial beauty. Her legs are extremely out of proportion because they are so huge compared to her upper torso. I noticed that her fingers seem unnaturally long. All these disproportions, yet, create a sweet elegance and beauty in that woman, and all the other subjects in the painting. Moreover, the little man in the bottom right of the painting represents the violation of proportion. It creates a sense of surrealism and mysteriousness in the painting. The angles and expression in the painting lead to a sense of oddness. All the faces facing in different angles are crowed on the left side of the woman while there is almost nothing on the right side. So there isn’t much balance. The child in her hands also seems to be oversized. The way the child is placed on her lap, with his left arm falling down, creates a sense of sleep. This also helps create silence in the painting, because when babies are asleep, silence is kept. Overall, this painting gives off a sense of warmth, elegance and stillness.

 

In comparison with the mannerism paintings, art in the Baroque period consisted of movement, and drama. It was full of energy and many elements going on at once. This painting, Glorification of the Reign of Urban, expresses many different aspects of dramatic movement. The color scheme that is used is very cool and dynamic compared to the still warm colors of the mannerism painting I mentioned above. There is even an irrational use of chiaroscuro and Sfumato, because of the high contrast between the subjects. There is a blast of details in this painting compared to the one before. I feel that it is difficult to move your eyes around this painting because it does not give that pleasing, and calm feeling. Unlike the unbalance in the mannerism painting, this painting would be fairly balanced because there is equal weight on all sides of the painting. The focus of the painting is right in the middle of the painting, just like in the Madonna with the long neck, so the elements that surround that area are not given value, because they are so dark compared to the center. This painting gives a feeling of a dramatic theatre where there is an act going on in the center, and everyone is watching it. The lightest spot gives an effect of a limelight on the characters that are performing. The close-up of the center portrays dramatic gestures. There are people holding big ornaments, and rising their arms up while their clothing is flowing in the air, gives a sense of intense movement. The direction in which every subject is placed, points to the center of the painting. It gives a sense of depth. It seems as if there are small stories going on everywhere throughout the painting because every human gesture symbolizes a particular story. This painting also represents power in society according to how I perceive it. The people in the center have the most power descending in effect while it moves towards the edge of it. The proportions seem right to me, and are not as differentiated as in the mannerism painting. The patterns of the flowing clothing also create movement. Overall, this painting speaks a lot or is very loud in other words. The elated poses and the miraculous effect create a strong sense of movement.Therefore, when comparing these two paintings, the major difference would be the color scheme, and the poses that reflect the mood and feeling that the painting gives off.