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| The Old Testament Trinity (Three Angels Visiting Abraham) Andrey Rublyov, 1410-1425 pg. 258 |
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| Harbaville Triptych Mid 11th Century pg. 253 |
The tempera painting "The Old Testament Trinity (Three Angels Visiting Abraham)" by Andrey Rublyov 1410-1425 (pg. 258) is a stylized Byzantine painting on a panel. The first stylization that is noticeable is the white halo behind the heads of these figures, not to mention they have wings that look like they are made of gold. Even though there is some modeling on these figures, they still seem less naturalistc than earlier art. The modeling is visible in the faces and the folds of the cloth they are wearing, but the heavy black outline of the figures disrupts the way the viewer sees the figures. Although the artist painted these figures as being in a scene, with a building and a tree behind them, they still look like they are floating off the surfaces where they sit. There is no drop shadow below their feet which makes it seem like they aren't grounded at all. Perspective lines are slightly off, and not all that straight making the viewer have to work harder to imagine this as a real scene. Additionally, the folds and lines of their clothing are rather geometric. The lines are sharp, crisp and loudly outlined in black. The faces of these figures are extremely similar, with the only differences being bags under the eyelids of the figure on the left and and slightly heavier brow on the right figure. The heads are tilted in what could be perceived as a deferring bow, an unnatural position for a head to be seemingly stuck in for centuries, or millenia. Overall, this painting is quite cartoonish because of the simplified modeling/shading and the heavy outlines.
The Harbaville Triptych (pg. 253) is from the mid 11th century and ushered in the idea that people wanted to personalize their praying experience. According to Stokstad and Cothren, the figures of Mary and St. John flank Jesus and are asking him for forgiveness and salvation for the owner of this triptych. When I look at this triptych as a whole, it seems like a box of devotional dolls. One would be able to take out each figure and play with them like Barbies or G.I. Joe dolls, creating scenes and stories that incorporate saints and martyrs along with Jesus, Mary and St. John and some of the other apostles which are identified by the writing on the blank background. Most figures are placed on a pedestal, standing apart from the background, which because it is plain and white, distances the figures from it, and almost isolates them. This Byzantine sculpture shows the stylization of the figure through the large heads in proportion to the bodies, which are all slim, the same height and weight and all have very similar linear clothing. The floral patterns along the edges (registers?) are also very unnatural, they are all almost exactly the same, and don't seem to point to any real foliage that exists in nature. The writing that is on the white background also takes away from the realism of this sculpture. Although this sculpture has more naturalism and fully realized figures than the paintings of the period, it is still very stylized.
The figures do seem like dolls, don't they? They certainly are small enough, since this whole triptych is less than a foot tall. If only they really could be removed from the ivory triptych!
ReplyDelete-Prof. Bowen
You chose very good examples to support your arguments! The three angles do indeed look cartoon-ish and very unreal, so different from the classical Greek art we have seen in the past. I thought it was funny how you said they look like dolls you could play with, so true! Thanks for your insight on the stylized period of the Byzantine, it was interesting to read about different examples from the ones I chose.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these art works seem to be without place reminding the viewer that the figures no matter what the surroundings are the most important part of the scene. I enjoyed reading about the idea of these figures being religious educational tools. Religious doll houses why not many churches today use similar paper versions to teach the word of God.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point in saying that the viewer has to make an extra effort to visualize this in a more realistic manner. The perspective is a bit hard to grasp, however, it is precisely that that caught my attention. What I find most interesting about this art piece is that in some areas, the artist seemed to really portray a more realistic 3D affect and in other areas he or she didn't. For example, the clothing seems so realistic while the table and stools the angels are sitting on look flatter. Regardless of this, it is a great painting!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I liked the points you made about the first painting and the people in it that seem to be floating in air rather than being grounded. My drawing instructor reminds us each time that we need to have no outlines in our drawings and always draw shadows below them where it is appropriate so they will look stable and have 3 dimensional appearance. This picture is clearly the opposite of that and it does indeed look cartoonish and unnatural.
ReplyDeleteThe floating quality of the angels and the mostly obscured background in the Trinity scene give it a dream like look. It seems like a very relaxed scene. The postures of the bodies are slightly slouched and the odd tilt of the head remind me of someone with their head tilted down in prayer. Maybe the scene was trying to convey a sense of a dreamlike and unreal quality to the viewer and evoke a sense of relaxation and other-worldly spirituality.
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