Art Foundation: Contextual Studies

Contextual Studies with Graham is always a lot of talking while
trying not to fall asleep in his so called pit (his classroom) that was freezing cold.As we have to write an essay about two painting or two sculptures,
we were analysing a painting as a whole class, so we would get an idea
on how to view those pieces that we would choose in the art gallery. The painting that we were looking at was The Ghant Altarpiece c1432.
It is located in St. Bavon Cathedral in Belgium and was painted by Jan Van Eyck. The painting has an interpanel and an external panel, both sides are painted
and are connected together as frames.
The inside of the painting shows 2 levels one upper and lower which can be
classed as Heaven and Earth.
The upper panel look at different view points, while the lower seems to look at the
same place only viwed in 5 different windows. The colours that are used make it
look very rich. The painting itself is symmetrical and so its form leads the viewer intothe context of the painting.Looking at the upper half and lower half books can be found everywhere, and at the bottom
a lamb can be seen on a sacrifical table. The lamb is there to represent Christ when
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and sinned. This is the only way to gain redemption
for all the people who have sinned due to the original sin by Adam and Eve. The lamb
is vital at that time because clothes were prodcued from wool and therefore it was a
high importance in the economic community, it was the heart of the community.The external panel is not as glorious as the inside is. The painting contains two statues
stating to be the angel Gabriel and Mary, telling her that she is going to have theson of God.On the lower half there were also two statues, and on the left there is a man standing in red.
and a woman on the right. Those apparently are the most important people on the painting
itself, even though they are at the front of the painting. This is because they were the ones
who commisioned the painting in the first place. The man was a wealthy cloth merchant, and so
ordered to make this painting because they had no children. Usually when the parents die their
own children would pray for them to get into heaven. However as they did not have any they
commisioned this painting for the redemption of souls.Another thing that many might not have noticed is that each and every womans face in this
painting as well as any other painting of an artist would look all the same. The reason
for that is that man thought woman as "EVIL"due to Eve who made Adam eat the
forbidden fruit-the original sin came as an outcome of that action. This is how HISTORY
tells us, and thinking about it correctly, at that time "MEN" would do the writing of books.
Woman would be seen as unimportant and therefore painted the same as any other woman,
angel, fairy or whatever it may be. Yes well the painting took a real good turn into Christianity, and seemed a lot like areligious study lessonWell it was interesting how by looking at the painting so much information could be gained. I think that was a good thing on how I can look at the paintings that I will choose.

Internal panel

External Panel