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Judith Leyster Self Museum Analysis

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Self Portrait by Judith Leyster (1630) and Third-Class Carriage (1864) by Honore Daumier are the two paintings I will compare. Since both artists capture everyday life events, I will compare the similarities, while exhibiting their different styles related to different time periods. Judith Leyster was known for pictures of everyday life and portraits in her Baroque/Dutch Golden Age style artwork. As reported by Mind Edge, “The Baroque movement of the 17th and early 18th century was known for its religious focus and its elaborate and extensive ornamentation, advanced by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation as an artistic response to the rise of Protestantism.” (ch. 2.04 par.1) “Painters sought realism in portraits, with an …show more content…

Although Leyster does not display the typical style one might expect to see as there is no religious theme in this painting, she does however, display the common Northern/Dutch Baroque style of everyday lives, or genre-paintings. Leyster’s use of rich deep colors is also common in Baroque style. Leyster displays an example of her everyday life as she paints a Self-Portrait of herself doing what she does on a regular basis, which is paint, common among the Protestant countries. Dutch artists moved away for religious themed paintings and directed art towards genre paintings since “The Dutch had made themselves into a prosperous middle-class nation without kings or church hierarchy”, as stated by the Baroque period in Holland. (par.2) Genre paintings were sold to people of all classes. Daumier also displays his example of everyday life by painting working class people in day to day events, such as riding in this Third-Class Carriage. In the Realism style the intention is to teach a lesson about the misfortune of society which is well displayed by Daumier at the time of Industrial Revolution. Both artists use a great deal in their artwork to express their messages. Daumier’s painting uses light coming in from the carriage window to draw focus on the family seated towards the front of the carriage, as does Leyster on herself in her painting. The use of light and shading is a technique used by artists to add dramatic or emotional effect that is well displayed by both artists. In both Baroque and Realism artwork it is common to use contrast between light and shadow, deep warm colors, and show emphasis on everyday themes, or everyday activities. Although from very different time periods Leyster displays herself as a well off upper class woman, and it can be perceived that Daumier paints some of the passengers in the back of the carriage as middle to

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