Painting By Poussin example essay topic

Baroque Art in the seventeenth century was dominated strongly by Italian Painting. Italy transitioning from the revival of classicism of the Renaissance into the Baroque carried a strong influential view for the period. Surrounding countries became interested in this way of art and began to travel to Italy to learn. Nicholas Poussin was one artist that did. Coming from France, the revival of Classicism was fairly new to him, and like others he became very interested in the style. One Painting that shows his interest in classical order is Discovery of Achilles on Skyros.

This painting portrays a mythological scene. Achilles mother, with the thought her son is destine to die if he fought in the Trojan War, disguises him as a women and hides him on the island of Skyros, with the daughters of King Lycomedes. The Greek chieftains, Ulysses and Diomedes, with the knowledge of this, travel to the island disguised as merchants to find him. As they are there Achilles gives himself away by grabbing a sword out of their chest of jewels and drawing it as if a man would. Poussin conveys the drama of a Classical Story through expressive gesture against a serene backdrop of a controlled, carefully structured composition.

As one begins to look at the painting by Poussin, they may see a serene setting. As you begin to get into depth, one may see the underlying drama Poussin is trying to display. This underlying drama is shown by the expressive gesture of three individuals, thoughtfully placed in the center. These individuals are Achilles, his mother, and one of the disguised merchants. Achilles, who is dressed as a woman, is the main focus of the drama. He seems as though he is in a world of his own with no conscious of any one around him.

He stands slightly back from the group as if he was just kneeling, but getting up. It is as if he is frozen in the position drawing the sword. His face seems surprised but really shows no emotion. He is drawing his sword in a very tense form, with his body bent as though he is using all his strength. His mother, who sits on the ground to his right, sits with her legs slightly bent.

She reaches into the chest of jewels, but has her head turned focusing on the actions of Achilles. The mother who is positioned with her body facing the chest of jewels, as if that is where her attention was, sits with her head totally jerked back over one shoulder with one hand raised as if she is blocking the sword. It seems as though she got strongly distracted by the actions of her son. The merchant, who is to the left of Achilles mother, seems almost frozen in his stance. He looks as though he was just kneeling, and is pushing on the chest of jewels to stand up, as is if he is about to lunge onto Achilles.

Poussin has used expressive gesture to portray the drama of this classical story. He uses these gestures in contrast, to the way in which he paints the facial expressions. Each of the individual faces has a slight bit of surprise on them but executed in a serene way. If one was to focus only on the facial expressions, they would not feel the impact of the drama of the story in the same way in which the expressive gestures portray this feeling. Located behind this strong interaction, is a peaceful serene interaction of King Lycomedes daughters and the second merchant. The merchant is bent down next to the chest, handing a mirror to one of the women, holding his hand up as if he telling them the price.

He seems very serene and patient, as if he hasn't yet caught on to what Achilles is doing. The first daughter, who is located behind Achilles mother, reaches out taking the mirror from the man. She stands in a very elegant pose, with her left knee slightly bent and right arm held up next to her face. The second woman seems very relaxed as well, totally involved in the conversation with the man. Both women also seem as though they haven't yet caught on to Achilles actions.

Poussin uses the two contrasting situations to play off of each other to represent the classical story. He paints in way of which the figures seem frozen. In order to give depth to the story, he paints two overlapping scenes which allow the viewer to fully understand what is happening. The scene in the back seems very serene representing the moments before, leading into this moment of drama.

It also acts as a serene backdrop for the drama to unfold, and with out this previous scene one may not be able to fully understand what is occurring. As well as be able to feel the drama of the story due to the style of which Poussin paints. So he places them overlapping to use the scene in the back as a norm, with the dramatic gestures overlapping in a comparative form. Without this tranquil scene in the background, the scene in the foreground would not seem as dramatic The overall composition of the painting is typical of Poussin work. There is a beautiful Arcadian landscape which is framed by a row of trees on one side and a column on the other. The main focal point is centered in the middle.

One perceives the painting as you are looking directly at it with the perspective properly receding back. The centralized image is made up of two interactions in which the emotions being shown contrast each other. He carefully structures these images to play off of each other, unfolding the drama of the story. The one in the front being the more dramatic of the two, is placed in front for this reason, and the one in the back being secondary to the first.

He creates a strong interaction by thoughtfully placing the figures of each scene on the same plane. The merchant, the mother, and Achilles, even though they are more spread out, are placed on the same plane in the front. These figures are allowed to be more spaced due the stronger interaction of them created by the expressive gesture. The three figures in the back appear to be on the same plane as well, grouped closer together with overlapping arms, because the feeling is not as strong.

He positions these figures standing higher than the ones in the front, to draw some attention to what is going on between them, as if it is competing with the focus in the foreground. The figures as one, are structured in a triangular shape. He chooses to place a chest of jewels in the middle to connect the different interactions together as a whole. The compositional layout, which Poussin chooses, allows one to fully understand the scene as a whole.

Creating a frame of trees for the centralized image in which he forms into a triangular shape which leads the viewer's eye from one figure to the next, allowing one to see the interaction of emotions going on. All together Poussin has portrayed the classical story in a very effect way, through expressive gesture overlapping a serene backdrop with a consciously well thought out composition. Each of these alone would not be as effective with out the other, making the painting a precise representation of the "discovery of Achilles on Skyros.".