Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

Oh!!!What are they doing????


[Music by: "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake]

Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

掠奪留基帕斯的女兒

Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus.

Peter Paul Rubens, 1617

Oil on canvas, 7 feet, 3 inches x 6 feet, 10 inches

Munich, Germany.

The favorite painter among the 17th-century European nobility was Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), a master of the Baroque style.

In this painting, the two gods Castor and Pollux visit earth to take two mortal women as wives. The sisters’ energetic resistance to their kidnapping is emphasized in the twisted forms of their bodies. The furious motion of the picture leads upward, as one sister is lifted inevitably toward heaven. Rubens presents a striking contrast of textures in the translucent flesh of the women, the swarthy skin and hard, shell-like armor of the abductors, and the dappled horses. The clash of textures, the strong diagonal lines, and the writhing twisted forms create a nearly unbearable drama of Baroque violence and energy.

[Words Source: www.etsu.edu]

In the period of Barique and Rococo, the painting is so fancy and vivid. It is really a representation of exaggerated and agitated form of painting. I really like it because it seems that you are the witness of the rape, they seems that are really moving in front of your eyes. Beautiful drawing combined with moving drama.!!!

1. Pere Paul Rubens use the shadow and color to show the power and beauty of human' s muscle. The contrast of the skin color between the brother and princesses is so amazing which you couldn't find in Renaissance and Mannerism period.

2. The peaceful background stresses the powerful movement in front. The tension between is exaggerated by the contrast background.

Refferences and further readings:

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus - Rubens, 1618 from PC

陳彬彬, (2008), 從零開始圖解西洋名畫, 台灣:晨星出版有限公司

Game: Las Meninas Puzzle

Finish the game and you can get the full verion of the painting!!!

Las Meninas

侍女

Las Meninas
Diego Velázquez, 1656
Oil on canvas
318 × 276 cm, 125.2 × 108.7 in
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Las Meninas (Spanish for The Maids of Honour) is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. Because of these complexities, Las Meninas has been one of the most widely analysed works in Western painting.

Las Meninas shows a large room in the Madrid palace of King

Philip IV of Spain, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured, according to some commentators, in a particular moment as if in a snapshot.

[Source: Wikipedia]

The selling point of this painting is the amazing depth of view (景深), Diego Velázquez records the moment of palace life and turns it in art.

The most special point of this painting is that Diego Velázquez draws himself into the painting, many artists araise the question that "What position should he stand to draw this moment, including himself?"

Let's see how the depth of view is made by the complicated composition.

1. The large area of wall and ceiling.
2.The cutie princess stands at the center and front.
3. The marshal walks across the door at the back.

4. The reflection of king and queen in the mirror makes the room more large, it seems that you could really walk insode the room.Just like The Arnolfini Wedding which I have mentiones before.

Refferences and further readings:

Las Meninas, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Las Meninas, from EVL

陳彬彬, (2008), 從零開始圖解西洋名畫, 台灣:晨星出版有限公司