Art History
Peter Paul Rubens, Venus and Adonis, 1635, Oil on Canvas, 6' 5" x 8', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Venus and Adonis by Peter Paul Rubens is a Baroque image of a woman and a man who, as I was led to understand, are Venus and Adonis themselves.
At the front of the painting, I see three figures: a man, a woman, and an angel. Venus holds Adonis with her two arms. Between them, the small angel embraces the man’s leg. In the background, there are two mottled dogs to the left of Adonis. All these elements exist in the open air. On the right side, the author drew a dark forest. At the top of the picture to the right, I see a blue sky with gray clouds on it. The red color of Adonis` clothes is used to attract the attention of viewers.
Most of line contours are curvilinear. In his picture, the artist uses biomorphic types of shapes. A lot of the shapes are rounded. Rubens uses a row of green trees, which recede behind Adonis and lead the eye into the distance. I sense a great distance in the actual surface of the painting.
Rubens used warm colors, especially browns, yellows, reds, oranges, and greens. Even the blue and gray colors of the sky do not look cool. The painter used a varied palette. Most of the colors are dark with the exception of Venus’ skin tone. On the contrary, it is very light with a predominance of white. Rubens used an orange hue for the contour of Venus. It creates a great contrast, because of the light color of Venus against the black forest in the background. The combination of colors attracts our attention to Adonis and Venus.
Rubens uses the play of light and darkness in Venus and Adonis. The picture is not static. All the characters are depicted in motion. These special features are inherent not only in the creativity of Rubens, but also in the whole Baroque era. If you want learn more about art, or disover other interesting papers follow the authors page - papers-land writing agency.
