Less Two Pieces of Art

¶ … less two pieces of art that are so disparate to each other in history and form than are those Bernini's David and Degas' L'Absinthe.

Bernini's David was created in the years 1623-1624. Conforming to cultural and religious standards, critics accepted it immediately and enthusiastically. Degas' Absinthe, however, created in 1876, took far longer to become accepted in western circles. Many art critics and lay population were disturbed by the painting as a sign of contemporary times and as the dissolute portrait of a drunk woman. It was only later, that the critics acknowledged it as an astounding piece of art and said it shad to be accepted on art's own grounds, as per art's particular merits.

As artistic format and in terms of its cultural context, it is diametrically opposite to that of Bernini's David. In the first place, David possesses alertness and vigor. The very folds of his garment and pose of his figure are saturated with faith. In Barnini's style of expressing intense emotion, the very tautness of his face and tendons in his body demonstrate his tension and emotion, ready to combat and poised for action. The folds of his drapery swirl around his legs. His muscles are taut, his brow is furrowed, and his eyes are intent on some distant sight. He frowns in determination and leans back to sling his catapult. David is determined and resolute ready to bear the consequences of his actions. L'Absinthe illustrates none of this immediacy and alertness in its painting with the portrait of the woman, in fact, showing bleary-eyed detachment and apathy to life with the pale green liquid in the cup beside her evidence of her intoxication. Her drunken companion is in even worse state. Both are seated in a cafe. The woman is down -- and -out, her shoulders slumped, costume frowsy, eyes lowered, feet splayed out. She is unmotivated and depressed. Walter Crane, in 1893, described the painting as a "a study of human degradation, male and female" (Herbert, 76)

Bernini's David, too, is a statue that denotes change and action in motion. The viewer is compelled to walk around it to see the different aspects of it and perceive its changing nature. The viewer is caught in the middle between David and Goliath and, as such, interprets a fraction of time of energy and feels the momentum of passing time. The observer of Absinthe, however, is sucked into a pit of stagnation and apathy of depression where the woman and companions signify the doldrums of death. David frowns and bites his lower lips in agony of intense concentration. L'Absinthe is characterized by pensiveness, melancholy, and, rather than the social interaction of the Davidic scene (characteristic of a religious period), Absinthe shows the isolation and depression characteristic of the modern 19th century (and still of today).

Bernini had a tough youth having to battle through destitution and homelessness, until he was finally, and by chance, recognized as artist. Then, in the fashion of his time, he was patronized by a wealthy individual and success followed swiftly until he died at 37 after having been imprisoned various times, experienced various duels, fled various countries, and suffered the chaos and havoc of the anarchy and lawlessness of the early Renaissance period.