Art and Eye

  My eye is drawn to the copy of The Times clutched in the hands of the officer. The white of the figurine on the man's knee and the white of his wife's sleeves all serve to make the white paper stand out even more on the canvas. As the title of the painting suggests, this is about the end of the Crimean War, seemingly depicting a soldier who has just returned home, surrounded by his family, but the mood is perhaps less euphoric than you might expect. The soldier seems somber and weary, and his wife has a look of concern. Although on the surface it seems to be quite a harmonious composition representing a close knit and traditional family, the positioning of the man is odd. It is his wife who takes her place at the apex of the triangular composition, the soldier is reduced to an emasculated role, perhaps an invalid, as suggested by the blanket over his legs. Her face is passive, but not exactly positive. With her arms draped around her husband, she looks posed, dutiful but not

My eye is immediately drawn to the use of  Rückenfigur by Friedrich, where the figure stands with their back to the viewer and is seen from behind, creating the sense of the viewer looking out at another viewer, within the canvas. It also adds to the layers of the composition, with the figure in the immediate foreground and the landscape receding in front of him.  This enables the viewer to identify with that figure in the painting, and involves the onlooker in the picture more, almost suggesting that they are as central to this art as the man standing before them. The viewer enters the canvas and is at once dwarfed by the Romantic notion of the sublime, and the completely overwhelming power of the natural world. The contrapposto  stance of the figure perhaps reflects his uneasiness in the scene - nature is making him unsure of himself and unsteady on his feet, making him question his motives and path through life. However, the fact that the viewer cannot see the figure's face mean