Showing posts with label Birth of Venus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birth of Venus. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

In Zakynthos


Birth of Venus, 1862, Oil On Canvas,
Eugène Amaury-Duval (copyright at bottom)


No more and never will touch the sacred shores
where the little boy lay my body, 
Zakynthos mine that mirrors you nell'onde 
the greek virgin birth came in off sea 

Venus and fea those fertile islands
with his first smile,

so not silent clear your clouds
and your leaves
towards the illustrious man who waters 





Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father, c. 1644,
Oil on Canvas, Claude Lorrain (copyright at bottom)

sang fatal, and a different exile 
so nice of fame and misfortune 
kissed her stony Ithaca Ulysses. 


You do not have nothing but the singing of his son,
or my mother earth, we prescribed 
Fate illacrimata burial. 

Alone, Illustration for Edgar Allen Poe, Edmund Dulac



~ Ugo Foscolo

"The sonnet begins with a triple negation (which is a bitter realization of the poet's loss of his home), and ends with the final judgment of his exile and his illacrimata burial in a foreign land. Between these two poles is contained negative, through the binding of the images and wonderful nostalgic representation of the ideal world of the poet of childhood and the mythical transfiguration of his own experience of exile that is through the analogy between his figure is that of Ulysses. Ulysses, "looking for fame and misfortune" is the image of the poet, himself an exile magnanimously opposed by fate and by man, but above all represents the new concept of the romantic hero, the great strength and dignity with which bears the ravages of misfortune (the exile hesitated, however, will be different; Foscolo unlike Ulysses will be buried in a foreign land and no one will pay for the teardrops on his grave). Other mythic images are also present in the verses, which is that of Homer's poetry eternatrice and heroism of the highest values ​​and Venus, according to myth was born from the foam of the sea, symbol of the fertilizing nature, beauty and harmony, which With her smile has made fruitful and flourishing homeland of the poet (http://www.antelitteram.com/antologia/foscolo.htm)." 

"Fate illacrimata burial" is essentially an unmourned and unlamented burial..... 


Birth of Venus, Eugène Amaury-Duval, 1862, Oil On Canvas, 197x109 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille,Image and original data provided by Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, N.Y., http://www.artres.com/c/htm/Home.aspx, Rights -Contact information: Ryan Jensen, General Manager, Art Resource, 536 Broadway (5th floor), New York, N.Y. 10012; Tel No: (212) 505-8700; Fax: (212) 505-2653; Email: RJensen@artres.com / Please note that if this image is under copyright, you may need to contact one or more copyright owners for any use that is not permitted under the ARTstor Terms and Conditions of Use or not otherwise permitted by law. While ARTstor tries to update contact information, it cannot guarantee that such information is always accurate. Determining whether those permissions are necessary, and obtaining such permissions, is your sole responsibility.


Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father, Claude Lorrain, c. 1644, Oil on Canvas, 119x150 cm, Musée du Louvre,Image and original data provided by SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y. / http://www.artres.com/c/htm/Home.aspx & http://www.scalarchives.com / Image Rights:(c) 2006, SCALA, Florence / ART RESOURCE, N.Y. Please note that if this image is under copyright, you may need to contact one or more copyright owners for any use that is not permitted under the ARTstor Terms and Conditions of Use or not otherwise permitted by law. While ARTstor tries to update contact information, it cannot guarantee that such information is always accurate. Determining whether those permissions are necessary, and obtaining such permissions, is your sole responsibility.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Particular Fondness for the Academies

William Bouguereau has to be one of my favorite of the more 'modern' painters because of his training in the Academic Style and his loyalty to the Academic style.  Bouguereau was a master of incorporating in the literature he studied with the paintings he did and painted a wide array of mythical and religious topics.  Even in an age when artists were rebelling against the Academies like Matisse and Degas, who had no love for Bouguereau's slick finished style, Bouguereau held fast to his love of the literature, arts, and style of the academies.


This painting is called Art and Literature:
L'art et la litterature, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1867, Oil on canvas, 78-3/4 x 42-1/2"
(Art and Literature, c. 1867, Oil on Canvas, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Arnot Art Museum Elmira)


The Birth of Venus shows Bouguereau's exceptional grasp of form and skill in painting the human form, particularly the female human body.  The idealized world of mythology, gods, goddesses, nymphs, and legends is were Bouguereau prevailed in the accurate details, beautiful renderings of flesh, and symbolism.

William Bouguereau, Naissance de Vénus, en 1879, huile sur toile, H. 3. ; L. 2.15, musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
©photo musée d'Orsay / rmn (The Birth of Venus, 1879, Oil on Canvas, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Musee d'Orsay, Paris)


To compare this with a classical masterpiece below is Botticelli's Birth of Venus, 1486 nearly 400 years earlier

Birth of Venus, c. 1486, Tempera on Canvas, Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence


Botticelli, displays all the symbolism, iconography, and mythology in his painting present in Bouguereau's painting, but Bouguereau brings in an element of a more 'real' female heroine with the realistic flesh and form of Venus.  She is painted in a manner appearing perfect yet she could be real unlike Botticelli's who still appears as if only a dream.