The painting “Annunciation” is page 613 in the Art History book. This painting is beautifully done, and creates peaceful picture. But there is also a sense of distress and confusion. The composition of characters in the painting contribute to the overall feeling of clam and distress you get from this picture, but the colors add an immense amount of feeling to the painting as well.
The composition of this piece draws your attention really to the two characters; the angel and Mary. The room they are in is slightly illuminated compared to the space outside, so the center of focus is on the room. The floor in the main room is even darker behind the angel and behind Mary, really emphasizing those to as the main focus of the painting. The characters both have different aspects that make it obvious what part they are playing in the painting. Mary is distressed and confused, and the angel seems to have it together and shows no sign of confusion or fear.
The angel also has an open yard, and free space behind him/her. He has room to leave easily. But Mary seems to be sitting inside, possibly against a corner… that is what I feel it is. There are no signs of easily accessible ‘escape’ or place to wander. She is very much trapped. This also give us a sense that Mary is the one in distress, and the angel is there with much freedom to leave, but also to help and comfort.
Something I found interesting in the composition of this painting was behind each of the characters heads is a circle. It looks as if they are painted on the wall, but they both land directly behind Mary and the angel’s heads. It gives almost a halo-like affect, except these circles are not brightly colored. They are actually a darker color then the wall. I feel the painted may have just been trying to draw more attention to the head or the figures themselves. The dark color against the light colored wall does make it pop a bit.
Mary’s facial expression is very downcast, there are large bags under her eyes and her head is leaning down slightly. Her shoulders are also slightly slummed inward and she gives the position of vaguely curling over. Her dress is wrinkled; the artist shows great depth in the uneven folds and creases in her dress. The material is bent and random places, just as a dress looks when someone is sitting down. But it also gives a small appearance of slightly un-kept, which would make sense considering she was probably sitting alone in the room before the angel showed up. The angel looks much more put together, and seems to be serving the distraught Mary. The angel actually seems to serving Mary. The angel is in a slightly kneeling position is looking up at Mary. The angel leaning toward Mary gives the sense that the angel is there to help and has a great deal of respect for Mary.
The angel’s clothing, unlike Mary’s, has more decoration, and detail. They also look well kept. Although there are actually more fold in the angels clothes, they are all in a vertical position in such a way they were made to be. But the differences between the angel’s clothes and Mary’s clothes are important. The decoration and complexity of the dress show that that angel is in some sort “high class” one of importance in a sense. And Mary’s clothes are much more “lower class” and just less lavish then the angel’s.
All the colors in this painting are very pastel and soft looking. There are no colors that stand out harshly and draw immediate attention. The angel has the very light pink dress, and Mary in wearing a darker green dress. I feel this also shows the relationship between the two to be one in sadness and gloom, and the other has no sign of either of those things. But the pink pastel colors seem to give off a feeling of hope, or purity. While the dark green that Mary is wearing seems much more burdening.
I like how you draw your conclusions from more formal aspects of the composition. I thought it was interesting how you draw a lot of meaning from the modeling and shaping of the fabric in the painting. I think the perspective used in the pillars and roof are also worth noting in this particular work.
ReplyDeleteYou point out right away one of the things I notice in many of these religious paintings including angels, that the angels usually have male names yet are distinctly feminine. In this painting the hair of the angel matches the hair of the seated female in style and color the facial features are also drawn so similarly, there is no facial hair often used to indicate male or female and the images hand gestures are near mirror images I have no notion which angel this might be by name but the angel is very distinctly feminine rather than androgynous. I also really like the sense of dept created by the structure yet the human forms remain rather flat looking. I really enjoyed your write up.
ReplyDeleteI think the halo part of the painting is very interesting - the iconography of the halos can make you think "heavenly" things about the people in the paintings. Probably subconsciously, people begin to associate Mary with being angelic. I also like how you talked about how it looked as though the angel could get away but Mary was more "trapped". That is very indicative of the situation Mary was in, seeing as she was chosen to give birth to the Messiah whether or not she wanted to. Your analysis of this piece of art is very informative, and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post this week, it was very insightful. I like the idea that you stated "Mary seems to be sitting inside, possibly against a corner" I think thats a great observation. I completely agree that one of the first things I notice, in the piece, was the calm yet distressed feeling being portrayed through the angel and Mary. The use of dark and light is very well done, the light tells us where the focal point of the piece is and, and the dark really draws are attention to the figures and the detail.
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