Term Paper on "Compare and Contrast 2 Paintings"

Term Paper 4 pages (1367 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Orpheus Charming the Animals vs. The Temptation of St. Anthony

The theme of Orpheus charming the animals was a common one in medieval and Italian Renaissance painting. It adopts a common trope of the Orpheus myth, namely that Orpheus was such a skillful player he was able to soothe all of the beasts of the forests. In this version of Orpheus Charming the Animals, rather than the immediate focus being upon Orpheus, the foreground features two fierce cheetahs. The presence of the cheetahs underlines the great singer's power. Their fierce gaze suggests that Orpheus can charm even the wildest beasts, and their foreground positioning suggests that the artist wished to emphasize this fact. The background focus is not upon animals but a wide, pale sky and a hazy horizon that is in direct contrast to the darkness of the grove. Nearly indistinguishable, shaded animals lurk in the smoky, blurry-lined sfumato of the background, but even they, their stillness suggests, are entranced by Orpheus' music.

Orpheus is small and somewhat to the side of the center of the painting. His red cloak is his only distinctive feature and even this is muted by the presence of a red macaw in the trees. With the lone exception of the cheetahs, the viewer gazes at the entire scene as if from a distance and it is difficult to see Orpheus' facial features. His gaze is gentle and impassive. What Orpheus represents is more important than his personal feelings in the scene, and his actions and the story of the painting are just as important as how he appears.

Orpheus is clothed according to the conventions of the period of when the work was composed, creating an even more striking contrast between the domesticity of the human figure playing the music in the focal point of the painting and the wild animals in the fields. The composition of the animals tends locates the more domesticated animals nearer Orpheus, with the 'wilder' animals in the foreground. Orpheus sits near different kinds of dogs, a striking paint horse, and a cat. A camel and a goat are also nearby, representing the slightly less domesticated farm animals. Birds are in the next circle of animals around Orpheus, or are seen flying and perched in the trees. Water buffalo, sheep, and other wildlife are in the distance. Some of the animals gaze directly at Orpheus while others gaze in the distance. Orpheus' 'spell' upon the wild animals is cast in concentric spiral -- the farther out, the farther away from human civilization. Representative animals like the horse and goat are highlighted by glowing light to show the diversity of animal types, just like the cheetah's presence in the foreground.

The painting Teniers' The Temptation of St. Anthony also makes use of a dramatic composition in the interior of the painting. It shows a symbolic 'story' rather than a portrait. The story is famous in the lives of the saints -- while St. Anthony was in isolation, praying the wilderness, he was tempted by images of what he had forsaken as a Christian by the devil and also subjected to physical tortures. Like the symbolic depiction of Orpheus, the saint is than flanked by other images which help tell the story of the life and underline the themes of the painting. In this painting, Teniers portrays St. Anthony sitting in a shaded desert grove. The saint's attention is wholly absorbed in his cross and with his holy books.

"The light source is natural, as with his other paintings of the same subject, and comes from the window to the left, leaving the shadowy creatures who surround St. Anthony half lit" (Kummer 2011). The sky, representing heaven and light is a small circle in the upper left-hand corner of the painting while the majority of the painting is shaded by the curving dome of the cave where the saint sits. The saint, wearing a simple blue robe, is flanked by very real-looking symbolic representations of sins. A buxom woman stands by the saint, representing the lechery with which Anthony was tempted.… READ MORE

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