Angel Arquebus Analysis

The painting Angel with Arquebus, Asiel Timor Dei was created in 17th century C.E. by Master of Calamarca from Bolivia. He painted this piece using oil on canvas, and it currently hangs in Museo Nacional de Arte in La Paz, Bolivia. The painting is 160 centimeters tall by 110 centimeters wide. A man wearing an extravagant outfit is shown holding a gun. The outfit consists of long, heavy sleeves and a flared shirt bottom, with long boots as well as a hat with feathers. It is also predominantly a dark brown with designs of a gold border and a gold square pattern. The large gun the man holds points to the top right hand side of the painting. Shades of dark brown, orange, and gold are repeated frequently in the work. The texture of fabric is created

Dark and warm colors are used throughout Angel with Arquebus and they give the different elements of the painting a sense of connectedness and harmony. There is emphasis placed on the clothing in the painting, as it is meticulously designed with small intricate gold patterns and extremely exaggerated in style. The sleeves are especially highlighted as they exhibit the most three dimensional quality in the whole painting. There is very subtle contrast in this work, as only minimal white and orange fabric is present in the outfit. The movement in this work leads the eye to the top right of the canvas where the gun is located, to see at whom or at what the gun is pointing at. There is very little space in this painting, as the background is mostly dark leaving the work with only a depth of two dimensions. In the background, the value of brown gets lighter only at the bottom of the painting, and shows the trace of a shadow indicating there is a faint light on the man. Repetition is only used to create an interesting pattern of clothing for the man. This work is a form of representational art since it presents a subject and objects from reality, which include the man, the gun (or arquebus), and the clothes as well. The presence of a gun (modern weaponry) suggests that this painting was from colonial South America and represents people from a higher status, based on the quality of clothing. The