Untitled Painting

Untitled What type of artwork is this? What is it made out of? How long ago was this piece of art created? These are all questions one must ask themselves when analyzing a piece of art, especially when very little is known about the background of a particular piece of work. For the piece I chose to critique for my third gallery review, I picked the painting Untitled by an American Artist, Francis Davis Millet. This painting is believed to have been done somewhere between the years 1880 to 1890. The actual date is unknown, but the content of this painting is comparable to other paintings this artist did during those times. There was no price listed for this piece of artwork. The content used in this painting provides attitude of a romantic

The backdrop of the picture is a garden setting. In the distance, one can clearly see a tree and a flowery bush with white flowers cascading down a stone wall and columns that seem to separate the person from the actual garden. The background of the garden alludes to an infinite space and that the garden continues to go on. The painting does seem flat, meaning nothing really seems to pop or show any increase in dimension. I’m guessing that the reason for this is either the artist wanted the painting to look this way or the years of fading may have created

The way that the woman is painted in the cooler colors gives her the main focal point in the painting. When looking at the painting as a whole one can see that she has pale skin tones, a mint green dress with pattern details created by a more impasto type white paint. The dress has complementary colors of a pale pink skirt under the green overlay of her dress. The use of white roses and the white bird gives the painting itself the feel of a romantic type of painting. The image of the woman has a lighter background behind her that resembles an angel with an aura behind her. The rest of the colors used in the painting are dark browns, greens, and grey hues. When you look real close at the painting you can see the details of each brushstroke which are short in length, messy, and almost blurry in some areas which allude to create differences in lighting effects which is representative of an Impressionistic painting. Because there is a distinctive outline of the woman’s form the painting would be representative of the Post-Impressionistic Era, yet the flowers and tree as well as the hem of her dress are more blurry which is consistent with the Impressionistic Era. Francis Davis Millet is classified as an American Academic Classicist. He has an advanced education and traveled much of his life. In Millet’s early career he had an art studio in Rome and later in Venice. He was good friends with impressionist artist,