Artist 50: Giovanni Bellini

Giovanni Bellini was born c. 1430 in Venice. An Italian Renaissance artist, he used oil paints which created a different look from most other Renaissance painters, setting him aside from them because of the colors and smoothness he was able to achieve. What I like about him, and mostly a specific painting done by him, "Pieta," shown here, is that his figures aren't also "pretty." The Virgin Mary in this piece looks rather manly, not beautiful like most artists depict her. None of these figures are "beautiful." However, this painting is beautiful. How can this be? Well, because of the true emotion you can feel from this. The Virgin is not beautiful, but you feel her pain. She just lost her only son before her eyes and it is real pain. Bellini makes it obvious that ugly can be beautiful, and that you don't need to worry about idealizing your figures. Paint them as they are because the truth is always better than an idealized lie, and the viewer can always sense the difference. In another sense, be true to myself when I paint my art, is what I also take from Bellini and his piece, "Pieta," as well as his other works.

Artist 49: Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck, born in c. 13965, was a Flemish painter who was considered one of the best painters of the Northern Renaissance. He wasn't the first to use oil painting however he was one of the first. He mastered it and using details with it, which is evident in his painting, "The Arnolfini Portrait," pictured here. The reason I chose this painting was because of the format. It isn't anything different or amazing, however I recognize that I have difficulties sometimes having a good format with my pictures. I think format is incredibly important, and it can make or break your entire picture. I think too often I don't think about format enough, or I just need to learn how to utilize it in a more effective way. The format in this painting is done well. The figures aren't squished into the frame, it doesn't look cluttered, it looks very free and relaxed, as far as formatting and placement of figures goes. I plan to experiment and finally understand what it takes to be good at creating a perfect format for my subject matter.

Artist 48: Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer was born in 1471 in Germany. Part of the Renaissance, he obviously wasn't in the Italian Renaissance but participated in the Northern Renaissance. Really, there was 1 Renaissance period, but each part of Europe, such as Italy, Germany, etc, had their own styles. Durer was very talented even as a 13 year old he did an amazing self portrait. His skill allows him to do incredible details in his engravings, such as this piece, "Melencolia I." There are many interpretations of this piece, however one of them is that it is a representation of melancholy and despair. Most of the objects in the piece have some sort of symbolism towards despair or melancholy, such as an hour glass showing time almost has run out, unused mathematical tools on the floor, everything is a symbol. Durer inspires me to use symbolism, which I plan to do for my my senior thesis, I just need to figure out good symbols that make sense for what I am doing exactly. He inspires me to put more thought into it!!

Artist 47: Tadeo Gaddi

Tadeo Gaddi was born in 1300 and was another member of the Italian Renaissance. What makes him so special and why I admire him as a painting is because he is another artist who did "a first." This first was he did a night scene. He was very interested in lighting effects which is obvious in this painting, the intense light is generated from the angel appearing to the sheppard and his flock and the light casts many shadows, however the shadows are not incredibly dark, so it gives me the impression that it is a holy light. The figures, however, don't really cast a shadow, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. If it is, then it stays with my holy light impression, however if it is not intentional, then it proves that even the great masters of the Italian Renaissance were human and made mistakes. That very fact gives me comfort in knowing that mistakes are ok because everyone makes them. Sometimes mistakes are even favorable and make your piece even better. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and hope for happy mistakes if any!

Artist 46: Masaccio

Masaccio was born in 1401 in Italy and was apart of the Italian Renaissance. He was a very important artist because he was the first to use linear perspective. This is evident in one of his great works, "Holy Trinity," in which Christ is seen hanging from the cross, a figure behind him, possibly meant to be God, taking his son up to Heaven. Underneath Christ is the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist. Next to those figures are the patron of the painting and his wife. Underneath all of the figures, at the bottom of the painting is a skeleton, a reference to Adam, the inscription by him says, "I once was what you are now; what I am you shall be." The hall behind the Christ stretches back into the distance, revealing the massive structure they are in. As said before, he was the first to use linear perspective, and this is 1 point linear perspective. Masaccio is inspiring because he was the first to do something. It is very difficult to become the first to do something, especially now, since so much has already been done. But it is possible that is what he felt before he used linear perspective, and I might be the first to do something myself if I really put my mind and soul into it.

Artist 45: Jesse Richards

Jesse Richards was born in 1975 in Connecticut and is another Stuckist artist. However, I honestly do not know specifically what "Stuckism" is. I've looked up the definition, and I've looked at multiple artists who are in the movement, and I do not see anything that that connects them. One of his paintings, "Nightlife," reminds me of "The Scream" in a few ways. One being the man on a bridge whose face appears to be skull-like. Also, the brush strokes appear bold and quick, the colors used are just much darker, except for the face, which is incredibly white. The contrast in this picture is far greater, creating a different kind of eerie feeling from Munch's piece. Instead of a strange horror at sunset, this seems like a lonely sense of terror in the middle of the night. His piece also seems, well, primitive. The object he is standing on, I assume a bridge, looks like it isnt straight or an even thickness, however this adds to the nightmare sense that one recieves from this painting. Richards gives me a few ideas of how one can use a lone figure to give a hopeless, lonely feeling to the viewer, and how to utilize these different ways to evoke different, strong feelings.

Artist 44: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was born in 1904 and is mostly known for his surrealist paintings. The most famous is "The Persistence of Memory." Yes, that's right the melty clocks. What I love so much about this piece is that it is like something you'd see in a dream. The background seems almost like a mirage, the melted clocks are rested on strange objects such as what seems like a brown block, a tree on said block, and a floating self portrait of Dali. I believe that his paintings work so well because, unlike many of the other painter's techniques of quick, thick paint, Dali uses very smooth and precise brush strokes, I myself cannot see any of them. This creates a more serene feeling, like as I said before, it's like you are in a dream. A very strange, hard to understand, dream. Dali's pieces are all so strange, that he inspires me to try to be more creative in my ideas to attempt to come up with things none have ever even contemplated before.