Baroque Artwork
September 30, 2009
This painting by Pieter Pauwel Rubens of The Rising of the Cross 1610 caught my eye with all the intricate detail. This painting had a huge religious influence, obviously because it is the rising of the cross. The Council of Trent, created by the Catholic church to conduct the counter reformation efforts and gain more religious influence on the painters of the Baroque era. The characteristics, made up by the Council of Trent, were that paintings should be easily understood, emotional, dramatic, and display religious messages. The painting of The Rising of the Cross 1610 incorporates all of those characteristics.
I picked this painting because it was full of emotion and detail from the faces of Virgin Mary and other women and children crying in the left to the faces of the men raising the cross. Although this painting is very dramatic and detailed, the meaning and story is simple. I easily understood what was happening just by looking at it. The second reason I picked this painting was because the controversy over it. In 1794 the painting was taken by the French to Paris. Finally in 1815 after the defeat of Napolean, the painting was returned to Antwerp and displayed in the Church of Our Lady. (Web gallery of Art)
Pieter Pauwel Rubens, The Raising of the Cross 1610, Antwerp, Belgium
Ref.
Web gallery of Art- http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rubens/12religi/32religi.html
October 1, 2009 at 4:17 am
This picture is very dark to me, it portrays the event to a tee. The emotion in the picture is over whelming. There is so much, and with so much detail. I applaud Pieter Pauwel Rubens for making such a real piece of art. It is real in a sense that if i was there at the hanging of the cross this is what it would look like to me. I think you did a very good job of describing the Council of Trent. Lots of information to back up your link to this picture. Great job!
October 3, 2009 at 1:01 am
The detail in this painting is amazing. What is being depicted is straight forward and easy to interpret. It is a bittersweet moment because it is beautiful, but also Christ’s crucifixion. Your background information was thorough and made it very easy to see how this painting is influenced by the Council of Trent. You mentioned that you liked this painting because of the controversy associated with it. What exactly was that controversy? Great choice, great post.
October 5, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Nice choice of art to post about. I like that this piece is in three separate frames because it breaks up the image in a nice way. I agree that this paining perfectly embodies the goal of the Council of Trent in making religious art easy to understand at first glance. Also, Rubens’s characteristic bold use of color is certainly obvious in this piece. Your mention of the history behind the piece was very interesting. I wonder why the French took it out of Belgium. Looting by the army?
October 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm
This work is a great example of Baroque style infused with the values of the Council of Trent. The detail is excellent and the dark colors, shading, highlighted faces, and facial expression of the on lookers really evoke feelings of sorrow, pain, and despair experienced by those closest to Christ. The painting is also full of movement and action and it’s as if you are standing there experiencing the crucifixion. There is definitely clarity, emotion, and a realism that could be easily felt by a devoted christian. Your analysis of the this work is accurate and easy to understand. Although it is interesting to note that Rubens had just left Italy and was heavily influenced by venetian painters such as Michelangelo and Caravaggio, although his attention to minute detail signal him as a northern painter. It was this painting and the Descent from the Cross that established Rubens as a leading painter in Flanders. Rubens was a very well rounded painter and painted many different types if paintings including many classically influenced creations. He was also very well known for his depictions of sumptuous females bodies, and used his young wife as model and inspiration for many of his paintings after 1630. Given Rubens vast array of subjects that he painted I wonder how religious he was? I also wonder what his personal views on women would have been since the showed a fondness for them and their bodies in a lot of his paintings.
October 6, 2009 at 11:43 pm
This picture is a great example of the influence of the Council of Trent on the art of the day. I agree with you about the detail of the painting. So many fine details to look through. The three panel approach that kind of depicts a before-during-after scenes is also very interesting. Given Rubens other works I find it interesting that he painted both in ways that agreed with the church and that ran counter to the Council of Trent.
October 10, 2009 at 8:51 pm
This is in response to some of the questions over the controversial ownership of this painting. During the reign of Louis XVI of France not only was art taken as the spoils of war, but private collections in France were also “confiscated.” In 1815 many of the works were returned to the various countries were they had been looted, and I am assuming that this work is one of those returned pieces.
For a contemporary equivalent, please see this abridged article from the Pentagon and the looting that recently took place in Baghdad.
http://www.culturekiosque.com/art/news/baghdadmuseum.html