Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Art - Essay Example e Head of Saint John the Baptist is one example of the artist’s works with Biblical subject and embodies the style of the Baroque period, which is characterized mainly of dynamic movements and emotional intensity. In Caravaggio’s painting depicting the Biblical character Herodias with the beheaded John the Baptist, dynamic movement is evident in the oblique lines visible in the artwork particularly the leaning position of the main subject while as the emotional intensity is visible in the colors used by the painter. The colors used were dominantly dark shades of red, blue, brown and green as if signifying the somber mood of the painting as it mainly depicts the death of John the Baptist and the triumph of the wicked. The colors also insinuate the bloodshed that transpired and the lifeless head of John the Baptist that is of a greenish-blue pallor. The volume element of the painting shows depth of each form in the painting and contributes to the dramatic appeal of the artwork as it creates an impression that the person in the painting holding a severed head is real and is just in front of the viewer. The emotional intensity in this painting perfectly exemplifies the attributes of the Baroque period and serving the propaganda of the Catholic Re-reformation during that period. Pilgrimage to Cythera (Embarkation for Cythera) done in 1717 by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau is oil on canvas work created during the Rococo period and is 1.29 m x 1.94 m. in size currently housed in the Louvre. Watteau’s artwork was created during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe wherein philosophical reasoning had flourished and artworks commonly had to be confined to have a rationale behind them. (Pomarede) Appropriately representing the Rococo style is the artist’s Pilgrimage to Cythera (Embarkation for Cythera) in terms of lines, subject and form since it depicts a group of men and women in a scene that looks as though they were preparing to travel to Cythera—an island