The purpose of the paper is to describe, analyze, interpret, and judge a representational painting. For this paper I have selected the painting named “A Musical Group on a Balcony” by Gerrit van Honthorst. This work of art is located at the J. Paul Getty Museum (The Getty Center) on the ceiling of the entrance to the Barroque Art exhibition, surrounded by olive green walls. This Dutch painting was created in 1622 with Oil on panel. It is very important to look at the context of the image, meaning to say, the history around the time the painting was created, to have a better understanding of the painting and the artist. In 1622 the treaty of Montpellier was signed by French King Louis XIII & Huguenots, Ignatius of Loyola was declared a saint, …show more content…
There are five different two-dimensional design principles which are balance, scale and proportion, unity and variety, emphasis, rhythm. Let’s start with balance according to our textbook “ Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design” by Mary Stewart, balance is the equal distribution of weight or force among visual units. In this case the artist used asymmetrical balance, since the visual units give a feeling of equilibrium but the elements do not mirror each other. This balance has being achieved by placing the a large rectangle in the middle, and placing the elements around it in a similar manner. Three people on each side and two in the middle. Next we have scale and proportion, which according to our textbook is the relative size of visual elements within an image. The proportions of the people and the animal are pretty accurate, because when you look up to the painting you have the feeling they are actually real people because of the proportions of their bodies. Now moving to unity, which can be defined as similarity,oneness, togetherness, or cohesion. In this painting according to the Gestalt psychology the painter used containment, which is a unifying force created by the outer edge of a composition or by a boundary within the composition in this case he used a boundary within the composition to create a relationship among of the visual elements or people. Overall there is no rhythm, since there are no repetitions of multiple units in a deliberate manner. He used colors to create emphasis on the main singer and the lady. As we can see, their clothing is more illuminated compared to the other people in the painting. They both look like the sun is illuminating them, like a kind of natural spotlight, but specially her. She looks very radiant because of the sunlight and because of her bright yellow dress.With all the information I previously stated in