Christ With The Symbols Of The Passion Analysis

1394 Words6 Pages

Aylin Reta 88729977 ARTH 1306 Christ with the Symbols of the Passion Christ with the Symbols of the Passion is a work by Italian painter Lavinia Fontana, its medium is oil on panel and it was executed on 1576. In this piece we see, what seems to be, Christ after he was brought down from the cross. He is sitting at the center of the piece with multiple angels besides him. The color palette seems dark and obscure as well as the overall mood of the piece. He is surrounded by symbols that are significant to the process of His crucifixion such as the cross, the crown of thorns, a whip, and is also surrounded by three angels. This painting is an accurate representation of Italian Mannerist style, and has all the characteristics that defines it as so. A very important characteristic that helps us define a Mannerist style piece is contextual ambiguity, what makes us feel uncertain of what is going on throughout the entire piece and what the objects scattered mean to …show more content…

Of course, with Mannerism, an unrealistic palette is one of the many characteristics that goes with it. I think that the scene portrayed is quite sad and emotional, and the colors don’t really reflect that but instead steers that emotion away by giving you colors that represent a different emotion. Although the palette is not as off putting as Jacopo Pontormo’s Descent from the Cross, you can still see a similarity on the way Fontana didn’t execute the color selection properly. The blue used for the sky in the background seems a little vibrant along with the rest of colors throughout the piece, besides earth tones. The piece seems to be a bit on the cool tone side, but it is mixed with some warm tones as well, maybe by adding more warmth in to it we would’ve gotten a better tone