Art Reaction Paper: Three Works of Art That Were Interesting

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Art Reaction Paper
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Three Works of Art That Were Interesting
Art and its marvels have always been interesting and captivating to behold. The representation of a person’s thoughts, feelings or ideas in pictorial form, is the epitome of creativity by an individual, in this case, the artist. It is sometimes difficult to have a clear preference for any piece of art, especially in a situation where there are various pieces of art, all of which are excellent in their way. Sometimes visual judgment becomes beautifully ‘impaired,' when beholding the masterpieces of some incredible artists. This is the case when it comes to my experience with three pieces of art. These were; "The Adoration of the Shepherds with Saint Catherine of Alexandria" by Cigoli, "The Vocation of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga" by Guercino, and "Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth, Saint John, and a Dove" by Peter Paul Rubens.I found these pieces of art fascinating and captivating in their different ways.
The Adoration of the Shepherds with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, done by Ludovico Cigoli, is a painting done in 1599, and whose medium was oil on canvas. I was able to dig deeper about the artist himself, coming to learn that he was an intellectual who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Galileo Galilei. This was a piece that he did while he was at the peak of his career, and this certainly meant a condensation of brilliant ideas and skills into one great piece of art(McKee).I became even more interested in learning more from this piece of his art. His work depicted a significant degree of attention to emotional warmth while also exaggerating on color. These two were quite a new thing to the artistic society of Florence at the time, and exemplified indeed, the growth of art around the region.
The primary style used here is symbolism. The crown worn by the virgin martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria is a symbol of her royalty. St. Antony on the other hand, holds a staff that has a tau on its top. This tau is a symbolism of the cross. The columns that are evidence by the collapsed wall can be a symbol of the ruin or fall of the Roman Empire. This is made even clearer by the golden column which depicts some structure of Latin descent known as the Tuscan. Much of this work is heavily centered on Christianity and its traditions. I found this piece of art mainly very deep.
The Vocation of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was done in 1650 by Guercino, whose medium was also oil on ca...