Analysis Of In Search Of Faith: Tiziano Vecelli

In Search of Faith -What generates the desire to make art?

Why people make art is a question that has been explored throughout history. The reasons people chose to make art varies between different time periods and cultures. Often, art exults beauty, evokes an emotional response, tells stories or records historical events, aids in communication and education, seeks to affect social change, and increases our global understanding. Exploring artworks from past and present artists, helps to gain an understanding on what generates the desire to make art. Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, was an Italian painter, born in 1488. He painted Venus of Urbino (circa 1538) and Pastoral Concert (circa 1509). These paintings

However, instead of the sexual beauty which was portrayed in Venus’ elegant and soft body, the women in Edouard Manet’s painting is crude, with many people believing Manet painted a naked Parisian prostitute. Olympia’s hair is tied back, which draws attention to her face. Her eyes look coldly out of the frame, with an expression of disgust and confrontation. Olympia is painted flatly, with very minimal evidence of shadows and light. She looks washed-out, poorly contoured and flat, only with a dark outline to give the viewer a perception of her depth. This contrasts with the dark golden tones and shadows of Venus’ body in Venus of Urbino. Olympia’s body is not elongated like Venus’. Manet does not depict the feminine idolisation which Titian’s painting includes, rather, affectively paints the reality of sexual behaviour in Paris. Olympia grasps a bunch of the bedspread in her hand, while her other hand is pressed firmly over her gentiles. This gives the impression that she is naked, trying to conceal her gentiles to perhaps another person in the room. Manet replaced the dog which was in Titian's painting with a black cat- a traditional symbol of prostitution. The background of the painting is dark and flat, which makes the room look small, and again, contrasts to the elaborate room Venus was placed in. A black female servant stands behind Olympia, with a bouquet of flowers. These flowers are

It depicts a shady forest with a river running through the middle ground. A woman washes in the river. The foreground depicts two men, both wearing common Parisian clothing. Discarded food and clothing surrounds the men. A naked woman sits with them, however, neither man seems to be aware of her. The woman’s body is poorly contoured, with minimal shadows and highlights. She is washed out and seems to be too lit up considering the amount of natural light that would be hitting her in the forest. She stares directly out of the painting, as though she is returning the viewers gaze. Even though all the character’s in the painting are near to one another, they do not seem to be aware of each other. The characters lack of awareness of one another is like the characters in Titian’s painting Pastoral Concert. One of the men gestures to his male counter-part, however, the other man stares off into space, in a trance-like state. Edouard Manet has included purposeful visual problems within the painting: the sunlight comes from two directions, and the woman bathing in the river is incorrectly proportions considering her position on the painting. The bathing woman also appears to be reaching down to one of the men’s fingers, which confuses the eye, and removes depth from the painting. The landscape is broadly brushed, which was uncommon for that time period. This is because post Renaissance artists aimed to eliminate all