Art F200X Alyssa Appel

  Introduction The portrayal of heroism was popular during the neoclassical portion of the Classical Era. Neoclassical artists captured Roman ideals of heroic acts and virtuous behavior in art. I have selected three pieces I feel examine the gravity of heroic figures. There is an expectation that heroes are self-sacrificing that continues in stories and art expressed now. Morality is so thoroughly on display in art like this as a result of the times. The Enlightenment is a major influence on Classical art, and that is present in the subject of morality examined through heroic characters. The Enlightenment was a time for questioning, learning, and realizing. Is morality what people do because they must? Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia The piece above was done in oil by Angelica Kauffman in 1788: V irgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia . The distraught woman the painting seems to focus on is Octavia. I closely examined the Latin text of the Aeneid wh...

  Claude Lorrain was born in the town Chamagne within the duchy of Lorraine (NGA.gov). Lorrain painted The Judgment of Paris in oil circa 1645-1646. It was initially painted in Rome and then given to the French ambassador Francois de Val (commons.marymount.edu). The area he was born in was a victim of the hostility that occurred during the Thirty Years War. The harsh political environment may have been what spurred his leaving the territory. He trained as a baker, but left that as well, later finding a position where he could study landscape artistry under Goffredo Wals (Artble.com). The political tensions of the war contributed to the moving around in his life, and perhaps indirectly led to his career. I wonder if the tension-wrought scene on display here is fueled by his own experiences due to wartime. The entirety of Lorrain’s work exudes his careful examination of light. He depicted a lot of landscapes, drawing from naturalism and the impact of light (Artble.com). While this p...

          La Primavera by Sandro Botticelli is a striking example of the themes of the Italian Renaissance. Botticelli was born in Florence, Italy as Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, apprenticing under the artist Fra Filippo Lippi, who was an early Renaissance artist (ArtInContext.org). While the meaning of this piece continues to be debated, one can still pick out the main themes. For example, “primavera” means “spring” in Italian. This painting is believed to be commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici as a wedding gift to his wife Semiramide Appiani given “reportedly in 1482” (ArtInContext.org). Its dimensions are “207 x 319 centimeters” and it is “tempera paint on wood” (ArtInContext.org). Knowing about its commissioning highlights the presentation of love, fertility, and marriage in the piece.  As a former Latin student, I love allusions to Classical history in art. La Primavera is a piece that satisfies my passion for...

  Wayne Thiebaud (American, 1920–2021), Pies, Pies, Pies, 1961. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of Philip L. Ehlert in memory of Dorothy Evelyn Ehlert, 1974.12. © Wayne Thiebaud / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY Food is a complicated subject, and any subject with any level of complexity can make for a great art focus. Food in art is never just food; sometimes it represents flourishing, other times a struggle. Wayne Thiebaud is well known for his textured food paintings (Whitney.org). He creates physical texture in his art through thick layers of paint. The strokes rise off the canvas. I have seen some of his works in person, and the raised texture he gives his pies and cakes is a distinct part of his style. Looking through his works can make one wonder why he has chosen food as a subject so Frequently. I have always felt his paintings have a bittersweet emotion about them. Thiebaud has often chosen to depict cakes, pastries, and everyday...

    My name is Alyssa. I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in accounting. I was drawn into my major by my passion for problem-solving. I was a huge fan of statistics in high school. I love learning. I think it's something we do our entire lives, and I'm not interested in stopping anytime soon. I like writing short stories and poetry when the writer inside my head accosts me, and I like drawing on the borders of my papers. I'm not great at sewing, but I also do some costume work. It's generally only for myself. I don't think I would trust myself to sew clothing for someone else at this point in time. My passion for learning and creating extends to my appreciation of art, and I look forward to exploring art in this class.  Powerful women: The story of Artemisia Gentileschi and her 1639 self-portrait (un-aligned.org)    Some of the ways I express myself through art are drawing and painting. I love art as a way of understanding myself better. I think all art refl...