PRADO MUSEUM ART GALLERY

Malcolm Floyd

Elements & Principles of Design Chiaroscuro: The gradual shifting from light to dark

through a successive gradation of tones across a curved surface.

Pictorial Balance: The Distribution of the apparent or visual weight of the elements in works that are basically two-dimensional.

Emphasis: To focus the viewer’s attention one or more parts of a composition by accentuation certain shapes, intensifying value or color, featuring directional lines, or strategically placing the objects and images.

Focal Point: Specific parts of the work that seize and hold the viewer interest.

All these principle and elements are what helped to compose this gallery.

Saint Veronica (Strozzi 1620-1625 Oil)

Saint Veronica (Strozzi 1620-1625, oil)

This image is a great example of chiaroscuro, you can see the artist create the rounded surfaces on the rail to give the image that 3-d effect. Also because of the ways the light shift throughout the picture to bring the woman to the viewers focus.

The Death of Lucretia(Rosales Gallinas 1871, Oil)

The Death of Lucretia (Rosales Gallinas 1871, oil)

The image continues with the theme of chiaroscuro, and the theme of religion. When you look at the way the light hit’s the room and some of the characters are and dark in parts and light in others this effect really makes the picture kind of jump out to you.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord(Penni 1523, Oil)

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Penni 1523, oil)

Here you see the light in the sky and as the viewer eyes wonder down the painting the light gradually fades away. I look at this as play on the theme of heaven and hell. This artist also included key principles of design. The Balance of this piece for example, though the image obviously has no actual mass; the weight of this picture is evenly distributed so I would say this is and example of “Pictorial Balance”.

David Victorious Over Goliath(Caravaggio 1599, Oil)

David Victorious Over Goliath (Caravaggio 1599, Oil)

The Shading of this picture goes with the theme of chiaroscuro, but what really drew me to this image was the was the artist used the principle of emphasis. The way that this principle was used was by the way the artist chose to have the light on David, and by doing this he accentuated or emphasized David’s victory over Goliath.

Christ Embracing Saint Bernard (Ribalto 1626, Oil)

Christ Embracing Saint Benard(Ribalto 1626, Oil)

In this image the artist chose to use the principle of design known as “Focal Point”, to do this the idea of chiaroscuro was used as well. I say this because when you look closely at the image you can see the other people in the shadows, but the light is focused on their embrace to emphasize the what is actually going on.

Explanation of My Gallery

I picked these painting because of their incredible uses of chiaroscuro, which is, the gradual shifting from light to dark through a successive graduation of tones across a curved surface. These paintings were aesthetically appealing and each respective work held a deep meaning. The paintings evoked feeling through the artist’s emphasis on light and shadow. The play on shadows and lighting created great focal points to attract direct attention to the main point of the paintings. All five of these paintings are both visually and thematically similar. Visually, they are all painted using chiaroscuro, with deep and meaningful focal points. Thematically, all of these works have the same base of religion, using Jesus, angels, or important biblical situations. They all have the recurring theme of religion through sorrow, triumph, and pure belief.

Layout of The Gallery

I would present these paintings on one wall in chronological order. The first painting in the sequence would be Penni’s The Transfiguration of Our Lord, painted in 1523. Second would be Carvaggio’s David Victorious Over Goliath, painted in 1599. The next work would be Strozzi’s Saint Veronica, speculated to be painted from 1620 to 1625. Fourth, Ribalta’s Christ Embracing Saint Bernard of 1626. The last painting in the sequence would be Rosales Gallinas’ The Death of Lucretia, painted in 1871. By hanging the works on the same wall, in chronological order, would show that chiaroscuro was a lasting technique. Artist’s used it effectively through time to create a visual impact on viewers, while still making an impact on present day viewers of the works.