Skip to main content

Jacques-Louis David, 'Male Nude - Patroclus', c.1780

File:Jacques-Louis David Patrocle.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

My eye first notices the surprising delicacy in which David has drawn this figure. Although the viewer sees this strong, muscular form filling the pictorial space of the canvas, the softness of the lines of the body and the colour of the skin is in complete juxtaposition. Furthermore, the shadows settling on the body do not create hard lines but rather extenuate the smoothness of the skin. The only hard lines are on the red drapery which the figure leans on. The body is not geometric or made up of any straight lines, everything flows into the milky white skin and down the figure's arched shoulders to his feet. 

Moving away from the body which obviously catches any viewer's eye, I notice the arrows in the bottom right hand corner. The representation is ambiguous but perhaps these link somehow to the brutish nature of this figure, contrasting with the softness of the lines that make up his body. He may be preparing to kill, with the red drapery like a pool of blood underneath him. He is often called Patroclus, Achilles best friend and soldier in the Trojan war, but I associate him with a sword rather than arrows. Or, could they be a reference to Cupid - the arrows are discarded in a messy pile which could imply that this man is unlucky in love or fallen out of someone's favour. But the man's head is facing away from the viewer so it is difficult to gauge his emotions. From the way he is lying, he seems unsure of himself, shy, maybe even embarrassed. The lack of interaction with the viewer could highlight how he just wants to be left alone to himself. It is ambiguous and that is part of the attraction of the painting.

The depiction of his hair is also interesting and it implies something that the viewer cannot see that is not contained within the four walls of the frame. His hair seems to be blowing forward, suggesting that there is some sort of wind source. This is also backed up by the apparent light source hitting the figure's foreshortened shoulder jutting out of the frame. Perhaps there is a window close to the shoulder of the viewer standing in front of the painting. David allows the light to give some body and some three-dimensional qualities to his painting, emphasising his skill as an artist. He hasn't just painted a reclining figure, he has incorporated movement, softness of brushstroke and ambiguity. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nicola Pisano, 'Adoration of the Magi', Pisa Baptistery Pulpit Panel

  In this complex, lively, exciting pulpit panel the eye looks up towards the monumentality of the Virgin, who commands this scene. She is massive and powerful, the largest figure with thick swathes of drapery delineating her forcefully protruding knees out into the viewer's space. Seated but still retaining dominance, she defines the classicising style of Nicola Pisano, witnessed throughout the panels of his pulpit in Pisa. Many writers have described the style - Eloise Angiola for instance, refers to the 'sophisticated understanding of classical prototypes to create heroic human forms' in Nicola's pulpit. Certainly in Pisa the prominent debris from the classical past remained visible and Nicola easily had access to various ancient sarcophagi for direct emulation here. The Virgin's features with her serene expression and curled hair beneath the mantle are in fact quite androgenous. She quickly assumes the position of a monumental Roman Emperor or Senator commanding
Post a Comment
Read more

Marianne von Werekin, 'Sunrise', 1920

  An endless line of men that tug the rope of a small boat soon disappear into murky, burning red waters beyond. Colour is fantastical, mystical and otherworldly, producing an atmosphere far from reality. This is the Symbolist work of Marianne von Werefkin, part of the German Expressionists that worked in Munich from the 1910s. A movement so often dominated by the male names of the time – Kandinsky especially – Werefkin was a vital participant, expanding the range of art produced and displayed, complementing her work with art theory and written sources, as well as creating her own Salon upon her arrival in Munich. It is easy to get lost in biography with a piece such as this. Wasted, human potential seems to be at the heart of this work, signalled by the endless line of men pushing forward towards the edge of the picture plane. There is a sense of struggle and a universality to the suffering through the portrayal of faceless men in similar blue tones. Looking at the date produced of 19
Post a Comment
Read more

Mark Rothko, 'Light Red over Black', 1957

  My eye is not drawn to the painting itself but the title of the painting, 'Light Red Over Black'. We would automatically think that the black is on top of a red background, but Rothko has flipped this around, subverting the title just like he subverting the meaning of what it was to be an artist and what Art actually was. During this time, art was going through rapid changes, with abstract expressionism coming into full force (Rothko, Pollock). But Rothko showed that all this change was for the good, even if for him, it was short lived.  The colour red in this painting is searing and the black struggles to fully cover this velvety border, especially at the bottom of the canvas. Unlike the black squares which have a hazy quality to their edges, the red is clear and impregnable. It is hard to figure out what this represents - the Tate has suggested a window perhaps, but if it is a window then what are we looking out into? Perhaps it is night, or perhaps the viewer is catching a
Post a Comment
Read more