Spirituality Over Time

Created by Domenic Beccufumi, known for his bold use of color, this piece was created in the Italian Renaissance. A time period known for influence in heroic ideals and individual's intellectual potential, the visual arts flourished.

Venus portrays an image of love and fertility that the artist tries to convey in the blush of her cheeks. With love and fertility, she represents the teaching of responsibility. Domenico creates a symbolic reference of intellectual potential.

Venus, being the god of love, fertility, and responsibility, continues a story theme of teaching this way of life to her son Cupid. Cupid, whose abused his gifts of love, is being punished, shown here through the advance of facial expressions. This was an influential life lesson portrayed through heroic ideals.

Choosing this piece I considered the childhood myths I've grown up hearing. When I saw this piece I admired it not only for its beautiful composition, but for its portrayal Greek mythology. I admire Greek culture for its influence on American civilization.

"Sacra Conversazione" by Paolo Veronese has a religious setting. The saints are surrounding baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary, looking as though they're praising him.

This saint is on her knees, which can mean she's worshiping baby Jesus. It also shows that she's admiring him and looking at him like he's the only one in the room.

This saint reminds me of Moses because he had a staff and a sheep with him. In the story of Moses, he helped the sisters feed all their sheep and was given one in return.

I chose this painting because to see saints looking at baby Jesus fascinates me in a way that makes me connect to my religion. Many Bible stories can connect with this and can even be your own.

Carlo was the son of a tailor. He went to the studio of Jacopo Vignali in about 1625. By the 1640s the demand for his work had grown to such extent that he often repeated compositions. Most of his work is religious but he also paints portraits. Dolci was a very slow worker. His work was different from other Italian painters. Carlo's daughter Agnese was also a painter but died in 1680, which is 6 years before Dolci death.

I focused on this because Saint Louis of Toulouse was searching for his calling. In the 1600s, everyone was trying to figure out who they were. After Saint Louis decided this wasn't what he was suppose to do, he abandoned being a bishop. He wore his black monk clothes to proclaim his poverty.

The Baroque period was in the late 1600s in Italy. Baroque art is a fairly complex idiom, originating in Rome. It embraced painting and sculptures as well as architecture. The Roman Catholic Church strongly influenced the Baroque movement. The painter used this style to show drama happening in the painting.

This artwork stands out to me because it reminds me of the biblical myth of Saint Lucifer. As I grew up I was told the story of  "The falling of Saint Lucifer." It taught me a life lesson of not thinking I am better than someone else. Looking at this can teach others when think to highly of yourself, everything can be taking away from you.

Sebastiano Ricci was an Italian artist who heavily contributed to Baroque and the Venetian Revival in the 1700s. Baroque style paintings usually portray still lives, dramatic scenes, and landscapes. However, the style is very spiritual as scenes are painted with dramatic light, colorful costumes, and decoration. In the 1700s, Baroque style paintings emerged in response to the Protestant Reformation- where people were trying to reform the Catholic church.

People are depicted among the mass of ruined architecture in the painting. These people are wearing red, a very bold and powerful color that also symbolizes the color of the Holy Spirit.

Traditional Baroque landscapes often focused on the divine and human relation to the downfall of the world. These landscapes are fantastical and beautiful, but aren't as God intended it to be.

The reason why I chose this piece is because of its artistic quality. The closer one looks at the painting the more they will notice people, statues, and writing they wouldn’t otherwise notice from afar. As an artist myself, it was easy to appreciate the time taken to make this painting, even if it did get lost in the climate of the time. Sebastiano Ricci does a great job at pulling people closer to the painting.