Battle Of Centaurs And Wild Beasts: Art Analysis

The two works of art I will be comparing art "Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" found in chapter six page 198, and "Death and the Matron" found in chapter 22 page 689. These two works of art were created roughly 1400 years apart, these two pieces also both have connections to Germany, "Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" is now housed in Berlin, and "Death and the Matron" was created by a German artist in a town located on the French, German, and Swiss border. Though at first glance these two works of art might appear to have two different subjects, upon further inspection they are similar not only in origin but also in content. Both of these are beautiful works of art that feature death and the main focus, the subject, of the art.
"Battle

"Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" was made as a decorative floor made of mosaic tiles, "Death and the Matron" was probably made as a reminder of mortality, and it was made of oil paints on a wood panel. The first piece of work could have been created to show a battle told of through history, or maybe it was just what the person who commissioned the piece wanted, or it could have been representative of something that happened either in the person 's life or in society at that time. The second work on the other hand probably a warning or a reminder of death, maybe it was to scare people into living a better life, or to show that beauty does not last, or maybe it was just as simple as showing that everyone will one day

In "Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" the texture is a bumpy surface, but the bumps a smooth, this is because of the use of the tiles. The shapes of the rocks are rectangular and some are triangular, but circles also appear in the breasts and the abdomens of the centaurs. The colors are muted reds, browns, whites, and greens; it seems to have a light value in the middle and in the sky, but on the bottom and left side it seems to get darker. The lines appear on the rocks, plants, the tail of centaur, and on the tiger. Physically the mosaic is 2-D, but because of shading and layering it gives a 3-D effect. In "Death and the Matron" the texture is very smooth because of what it was painted on and with. There are lots of circles with the eyes of the figures, the joints of death, the stone looking things on the bottom left of the picture, and the breasts and belly button of the woman. The colors as with the first picture are also muted, the colors used are mostly white, red, and brown; this picture has a mainly dark value except for the woman who is very light, otherwise it is all dark. Lines appear in the sheet the woman is holding and the ground in the picture. Again the picture is 2-D but because of how it is layered with death standing behind the woman it looks