Activity #13: Write about it.

The artwork “Madonna and Child” was sculpted in the 14th century by the Florentine artists and it was done during the era of neoclassicism. Neoclassism mainly dealt with classical mythology and biblical scenes and figures and this era is greatly represented in the sculpture. The Sculpture depicts the Virgin Mary holding a somewhat animated baby Jesus in her arms, the fact that the baby is so animated seems to show the innocence in the being of baby Jesus. The look in the Virgin Mary’s eyes appears to be a look of love and adoration and this seems to be emphasized by the way her body is angled towards him. The Virgin Mary’s body is angled in such a way that her hips are supporting his weight. There is no doubt that this particular work of art is representational, the artwork represents something more than its self. The artwork represents the sacred realm and the purposes of artworks done during that time period and with that theme was to adorn churches and places of sacred worship. In conclusion, it is clear that the sculptor of this work of art was inspired to create art for sacred purposes.



The painting "breezing up a fair wind" by winslow homer done between 1873 and 1876 was done during the industrial era. though Homer's works had certain similarities with those of the french impressionists, his works were not influnced by them. Homer was the independent pioneer of American impressionism. The impressionist style of painting is characterized chiefly by concentration on the general effect produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to produce actual reflected light. The most obvious characteristic of Impressionism is the attempt to accurately and record visual reality in terms of effects of light and color. In Homers painting, he seems to employ the use of color to bring out the light from the sky in order to produce the desired effect of shedding light on the occupants of the boat who are obviously in distress. Impressionism was a relevant era in art because it emloyed the use of simple brushsrokes in order to create historically meaningful works of art.