Nothing is eternal. Everything is subject to extinction. Nevertheless, the ruining effect of time pays particular merci to those items, which represent art in its transparent implication. A reasonable question flows out of it: what do we call “the real art”? What does it look or feel like? In my own consideration, the “real art” is marked out for eternity, which stems from the immortal and everlasting character of the ideas objectified in artistic items. Therefore, art itself is just a dainty image of eternity.
Within the frameworks of this task, we are going to trace back the headwaters of artistic eternity exemplified by two widely known works of art both exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In particular, I am going to examine "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat and “Diana and Cupid” Pompeo Batoni. The first works chronologically pertains to the second half of the 19th century; the second one relates to the second half of the 18th century. The pictures are going to be assessed from two perspectives: their physical representation, which is conceives of the artists’ professional marksmanship; their iconography, which stands for the ideological or spiritual infusion of the works.
The first picture in question is "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat. The name of the picture talks for itself: the picture envisions a Sunday morning as a background for the nonchalant rest of people, some of them taking a leisurely stroll around the park. The elegancy and dainty of the picture is objectified in the slenderness of the body of the lady, pictured at the front vision of the work. The easy-going ambiance is far more marked by the visual daylight, which the picture is overwhelmingly brimmed with.
The work “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” starkly stands out in the row of Seurat’s pictures, as far as the applied artistic techniques are concerned. Seurat is known for his wide thematic works dedicated to Parisians and the niceties of their daily routine. However, whilst all the other works dedicated to this theme pictured people posited against the sun beams, the personages in “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” are placed in tree shadows . The fact is that Sunday was considered amongst Parisians to be a day, when people could hide themselves from daily fuss and dazzling sunbeams in the shadows of green parks. It may seem at first glance, that the people portrayed in the picture are completely different and at the same time rather ordinary ones. However, casting a more thorough look at the picture, there prove to be some “strange” items. For instance, the lady at the front is holding a monkey on a leash and another woman is fishing at the lake. The fact is that, the area depicted at the pictures was known for “procuring” prostitutes among the bourgeoisie. One of the personages of the picture is a little girl in a white dress, marked with a beam of sun, which is looking straightforwardly at the viewer of the picture. There is a silent question in her look, asking “What is going to happen to all this class?” The people of the bourgeoisie are “shadowed by sin” in the picture.
Many may argue now on the score of the picture’s ideological content, claiming it is not conceiving of any high contextual meaning or not bringing with it any “eternity” of the subject. However, the work’s livelihood and actuality is reasoned by the novelty of painting techniques used in this work. Notably, the picture is renowned for giving way for the new direction of art known as Pointillism (from the French word "point," or "dot"). The image represented by the picture is made of those small, patchy brushstrokes, which are supposed to complete the overall view of the picture. Later on Georges Seurat is going to represent his more amply known pieces of work, where he applied tighter, dot-like dabs of paint, which eventually (collectively with the analyzed picture) gave way to Pointillism. Addressing the ideological side of the work, it is first of all concerned with the manifestation of the easy-going life of those representative of the intelligence of the nineteenth century.
The second picture in question is “Diana and Cupid” by Pompeo Batoni. The painting pictures a young woman based on the celebrated ancient statue of the sleeping Ariadne in Vatican whom Batoni infused with woman warmth and sensibility, infused in the face of the woman, which is so womanlike. Such a beautiful and warm face is put in contrast with the visual physical strength of the woman, depicted by the strong, bulky arms and massive legs. The woman takes away a bow from the hands of a little, winged boy. The background is consistent of two dogs, viewing the fabulous landscape.
The picture was painted for Sir Humphrey Morice (1723–1785), son of a wealthy, English merchant, who was a great animal-lover. In my consideration, the most attractive point of the picture is the mythological motive chosen with a view to invest the picture with historical background. The picture serves as a sheer example of ideological conceptuality of art. Diana, representing, Ariadne prevents Cupid from committing some mistake, by bolting his arrow in the wrong direction. This is how the saving power of Ariadne expresses itself.
The picture was painted by Pompeo Batoni in the so-called “Age of Reason”, which is characterized by its decline of any religious regulation of human mind. From now the eye of art was completely focused upon a human and the power of his mind and soul. It was widely believed that any kind of social or moral disturbance can be delved and ruled by the human being. Pompeo Batoni chose to manifest the power of a woman’s heart and human kindness in “Diana and Cupid”.
As far as the artistic marksmanship of the picture is concerned, what immediately caught my eye was the balance and harmony of colors and lights completing the painting. The overall view of the picture is filled with golden tincture. It is to be mentioned, that the amplest portion of light and spot is cast upon little Cupid.
Drawing a conclusion, we may infer that both of the works examined raise claiming and eternal issues: the first one stands for the falseness diffidence of the high-ranking class, being absolutely indifferent to the essential life problems of the poor; the second one, manifesting the power of a woman’s heart, the saving power of love and kindness. Moreover, the works represent ample interest as far as the artistic marksmanship of the authors is concerned. That is what serves as a sturdy basis for the monumentality and eternity of the works.
Bibliography
Jelinek, Jan. 2014. "The Modern, Living Museum". Museum International 66 (1-4): 58-61. doi:10.1111/muse.12057.
Jstor.org,. 2016. "A Technical Evaluation Of The Grande Jatte On JSTOR". http://www.jstor.org/stable/4108750.
Metmuseum.org,. 2016. "Georges Seurat | Study For "A Sunday On La Grande Jatte" | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art". http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/437658.
Metmuseum.org,. 2016. "Pompeo Batoni | Diana And Cupid | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art". http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection online/search/435622?rpp=30&pg=1&ft=pompeo+batoni&pos=1.
