Friday, January 24, 2020

Comparing A Painting By Fra Filippo Lippi And Dante Gabriel Essays

Comparing a painting by Fra Filippo Lippi and Dante Gabriel Rossetti The two pictures are Rosetti’s Ecce Ancilla Domini and Lippi’s Annunciation. Both of the artists were influenced by their age. Lippi lived in Italy between 1406 and 1469 and Rosetti from 1828 to 1882. Lippi’s background of Italian Renaissance determined his style to a large extent. In Florence where Lippi lived the economic changes of the time led to an emerging new class: that of the banker princes. They lent money to almost all the kings in western Europe and so they collected great fortunes. From their riches they could give patronage to all kinds of artists. This gave artists a stable living but did not give them the freedom that Rosetti enjoyed a few centuries later. Rosetti lived in England at a time when power came to the hands of a new industrial middle class who became the new patrons of the arts. They were rich but not as rich as the church or the patrons of Lippi’s time. Therefore, the artists could not enjoy the protection of this new class for years. Consequently, an artist had to sell pictures in open competition with his rivals on the walls of a salon or an Academy. This competition naturally led to a variety of styles. Some turned to history or exotic arts and others sought new ideas. One of such artists was Dante Gabriel Rosetti he turned against the neo-classical traditions of the Academy and looked for different inspiration. He wrote in 1901 that "an artist, whether painter or writer, ought to be bent upon defining and expressing his own personal thoughts, and that they ought to be based upon a direct study of Nature, and harmonised with her manifestations." In the same year he founded with some fellow artists the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood based on the same principles. These ideas were not welcome by the public and Ecce Ancilla Domini one of Rosetti’s first paintings was severely abused. Rosetti was so offended by the criticism that he swore never to exhibit in public again. Rosetti’s age did not appreciate his art because they thought that the style Raphael established was the crowning of all paintings. This style was based on dark colours, artificial settings and a triangle composition. Rosetti wanted to free ... ...we cannot see where the wall ends and the floor starts. With this we can draw a parallel with Lippi’s painting where architecture was also illogical. This brought us to the elements that connect Rosetti’s painting to a traditional one like Lippi’s. Although the colouring is mostly white the picture is patched with some gold, red and blue, the traditional colours of Mary’s virginity. Also, the lily is present in both paintings, again it is related to virginity and the dove too appears, which represents the Holy Spirit. All these differences and similarities could be related to the problems Rosetti had to face when painting a religious picture. Probably he wanted to be realistic as much as possible and at the same time following his ambition he wanted to express his thoughts as well. This could be achieved by mixing traditional elements with innovations. One such new element was covering the figures with simple white dresses. Probably Rosetti did not dress his figures in contemporary clothes because that would have been strange to the Victorian viewer. Painting the figures in white was a solution to this problem. This way managing to be realistic and contemporary at the same time.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

John Proctor †the fair and noble character Essay

The novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about witchcraft and the accusations of witches in Salem, Massachusetts. One of the main characters in the story, which happens in the spring of 1692, is John Proctor, a farmer in his middle thirties. He is married to Elizabeth Proctor. It is not directly said, but they have at least two sons and a servant named Marry Warren. Because Proctor seems to be very religious, he really loves his wife and he confesses his affair with Abigail Williams to Elizabeth; furthermore he later refuses to be with Abigail, this makes him a very fair man. First of all, the protagonist John Proctor seems to be religious, in view of the fact that when he is taken to jail he does not defend himself at all; he simply accepts that he did something wrong and he can live with that. This makes him religious, because he does not want to harm the Ten Commandments. He writes a confession that he has seen the devil and that he was the only one. He even signs this paper, but as soon as Deputy Governor Danforth asks Proctor to give the confession to him, Elizabeth’s husband refuses and tears it up. On the one hand he does that, because he thinks that his name cannot be taken away from him; on the other hand he knows that the paper does not tell the truth. He rather wants to be hanged than to live with the thought that he has lied to the church. This is a very strong and self-confident consideration. Another proof that John Proctor is fair can be seen in his former affair with Abigail Williams, the servant to the Perris-household. She was once in love with him, but they broke up because Proctor realized that he really could not afford to be in love with a girl while being married and having children; this makes him being fair to his wife as he does not want to hurt  her. Later when Abigail threatened to tell Elizabeth about their affair he wisely chose to tell the truth to his wife. He refused not to tell her earlier, because he did not want to hurt her. It is discovered in the last act that their relationship is so strong that she forgives him. Telling her about his affair so late is probably not the best solution, but it is certainly better than saying nothing, so that Elizabeth finds our on her own. A further indication that John Proctor is fair would be that he remains strictly faithful to his wife once he realized that having affairs while being in love with someone else is a bad conception. So when Abigail later comes to Proctor to ask him for continuing their relationship the protagonist refuses. He cannot do this to himself or to his wife. Otherwise he would commit adultery once more. Again, this makes him being fair to his wife. In conclusion one can say that the character John Proctor is a quite fair person. After he realizes some things–for example, having an affair is not the best while being married–he tries to do the best for himself and the people around him. This includes no voluntarily contact with Abigail. They only talk when he tells her that he cannot or does not want her anymore. Finally he pays with his life for committing adultery. This action is one of the most expressive acts in the whole play. John Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes that he can’t be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

En in Translation

The Japanese word en is pronounced precisely as it is spelled, and is translated to mean fate, or kamra. Depending on the context of the sentence, it ma also mean a blood relationship, connection, or tie. Japanese Characters ç ¸  㠁ˆã‚“ Example Kare towa en mo yukari mo nai. He is a complete stranger. Sutekina goen ni kansha shimasu. I am grateful to have met you. Note Go 㠁” of Goen 㠁”ç ¸  is the respectful prefix (polite marker). O 㠁Š or go 㠁” is used to express respect or simple politeness.