Mona Lisa Essays (Examples)

Mona Lisa and the Nude oman by Da Vinci
Few paintings in history have received as much discussion, debate and parody than has Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Believed to have been painted between 1503-1506, its mystery remains locked into the wry grin that crosses the Mona Lisa's lips. This is the distinguishing feature of what may well be the most famous portrait in the world. But upon closer consideration of this painting, as well as of The Nude oman, a painting that is often identified as a slight variation of the original Mona Lisa, we can see that the playful smirk on the subject's face is only part of what makes her such a compelling muse.

In attempting to understand just precisely what the subject of this painting meant to the Italian Renaissance artist who captured her, it is useful to attempt to determine the identity of the figure.…

He addressed her simply as "madam," refusing to grant ownership of the face he addressed to the wife of the Gioconda merchant it was rumored had modeled for the painting, querying her as to the secrets she so impishly withheld.
"I have studied you, I have studied Leonardo your creator and God, and still you only smile, never so much as a whisper stirring your lips," the Emperor muttered quietly, his face cast in the flickering shadows that more brightly illuminated the painting across from him. "Like me, da Vinci was a man who knew his worth at a young age, showed his brilliance time and again in many arenas, like me as well -- surely he did not intend for you to keep his secrets!"

But no matter how earnestly the Emperor pleaded, how harshly he chastised or how desperately he begged, the Mona Lisa only smiled in return.…

The controversies around her smile and eyes have generated almost as much research and debate as the painting itself. Anyone who has seen Leonardo's Mona Lisa had the illusion that the Gioconda was staring at them irrespective of their angle. There have been numerous scientists who have attempted to deconstruct this particular aspect, and explain how human sight responds to Mona Lisa's eyes. For instance, Margaret Livingstone, a professor at Harvard University, has argued that the painting is most effective when viewed peripherally, and that Gioconda's smile is most striking when looking directly at her eyes.
Contemporary response was not necessarily favorable to the painting as Leonardo's contemporaries did not consider the Mona Lisa Leonardo's most important work. everal accounts of Italian painting written during the artist's life or a little later, fail even to mention it. For instance, Paolo Giovio, writing shortly after Leonardo's death in 1519, simply states…

The theory speculates that the name Mona Lisa is actually a play on the words Amon-L Isa who is an Egyptian God and an Egyptian Goddess blended together (Why The Mona Lisa Smirks A Book eview of The Da Vinci Code by ev. Marty Fields (http://www.thirdmill.org/newfiles/mar_fields/CH.Fields.WhyTheMonaLisaSmirks.7.9.04.html).
While both of these theories are religiously based there is also a theory that is not based in any religion and that is the theory of a self-portrait. According to this theory the painting of the Mona Lisa is actually a feminine version of a self-portrait by the artist himself.

In the self-portrait theory it is said that the artist painted hidden messages into the painting using symbols (Mystery of the Mona Lisa (http://www.unmuseum.org/leocode.htm).

Whether there will ever be evidence located that can prove or disprove any of the theories surrounding the Mona Lisa painting the world has had a wonderful time loving her,…

Recently at least one mystery has been solved. A current article in Reuters Berlin states that Dr. Armin Schlechter has discovered dated notes in the margin of a book in the Heidelberg University Library that confirm that the identity of the Mona Lisa is Lisa del Giocondo wife of the wealthy Florentine merchant of those times, Francesco del Giocondo. (Elgood) Although she has always been the primary candidate, again the mystery that surrounded her origin became part of the aura of excitement that is the Mona Lisa. However, what exactly she is smiling about will always remain, and rightly so, a mystery debatable for the next five hundred years and beyond.
orks Cited

Adams, Laurie. Art and Psychoanalysis. New York: IconEditions, 1993.

Arasse, Daniel. "The Gioconda Code." Queen's Quarterly Summer 2006: 180-187

Elgood, Giles (Ed.) "Mona Lisa' Model Identified, Experts Say" Reuters Berlin 01-14-2008

Gentleman, Amelia. "How She Got Her…

Mona Lisa Smile
The movie "Mona Lisa Smile" has within its plot and theme a number of examples of gender construction, and the characters play out their roles based largely on the concept of the social construction of gender. This paper will delve into how gender roles are portrayed in the film, and the paper will use available literature and critiques of the social construction of gender.

Social Construction of Gender

An article in The Feminist Agenda points out that a social construction does not just appear suddenly in the natural world; instead, a social construction is invented by or created by society. It is invented and developed through "cultural practices and norms" and as it becomes a social construct it may "govern the practices, customs, and rules concerning" the way we understand and use them (Feminist Agenda). The article explains that various social pressures work to "reinforce the idea…

Pioch also comments on the delicate and gradual blending and dissolving of the painting's colors and figures, which da Vinci achieved with the sfumato technique.
An interesting fact of da Vinci's life and attitude towards painting is provided in a biography of the artist by Antonina Vallentin: "Leonardo himself knew that masterpieces are born of [his] fear and doubting." Apparently almost crippled with fear at the start of a new project, da Vinci worked under extreme emotional stress. This makes the calmness of the Mona Lisa all the more striking. My aesthetic response towards the painting has only been strengthened, but not altered, by the background information on its creation and the magnificent artist behind it.

eferences

ATIST NAME: Leonardo da Vinci

ATIST TITLE: The Mona Lisa (La Joconde)

MEDIUM: Oil on panel (wood)

UL: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/joconde.jpg

ADDITIONAL FACTS THAT I COLLECTED on THIS ATWOK THAT ELATE to the ATIST and…

Da Vinci and Michaelangelo
During the Renaissance, artists evolved many of the techniques which are now employed in creating works of art. There are many great artists who came out of this historical time period and while they have somewhat similar techniques and similar subject matters, they all have unique attributes as well. In this time, one of the biggest differences between artists of the Renaissance and ones that came before is the interest that artists had in the human body and the human form. Before this time, people were painted in a flat way, but Renaissance painters tried to make the people seem more realistic, which many were very successful in accomplishing this. Two of the artists in the Renaissance who are considered to be the best are Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo. When looking at their most famous works, "The Mona Lisa" and "The Sistine Chapel Ceiling" respectively,…

Maybe that was the message in her eyes: I know you like me and I let you enjoy painting my portrait. I am intelligent, gentle and beautiful and I take no pride in it. Leonardo, you succeeded to present the world with the essence of feminine…

Art Diminish in an Age of Mechanical eproduction?
Walter Benjamin believes that the aura of an original work of art diminishes in an age of mechanical reproduction because the work of art is decontextualized from its original context as a result of mass production. At first blush, Benjamin's argument seems very compelling. After all, few could argue that seeing a work of art in a majestic setting, like the Louvre, in and of itself a work of art provides an entire experience that simply cannot be captured in a reproduction tea-towel. However, what Benjamin's argument ignores is that people have rarely, if ever, been able to appreciate the context of an original work of art, anyway. Museums do not provide the context that the artist had when creating the artwork. Artists do not work in museums or art galleries. They work in locations, in studios, on the street. Furthermore, artists…

Impressions
The Louvre

The Louvre, an architectural masterpiece, has dominated central Paris since the late 12th century. The original structure was gradually dwarfed as the city grew. The dark fortress of the early days was transformed into the modernized dwelling of Francois I and, later, the sumptuous palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV. My online tour of the Louvre allowed me to take a virtual, self-guided, room-by-room tour of the museum. The web site allows navigation through exhibition rooms and galleries and allows one to contemplate the facades of the museum. The first thing one sees before entering the museum is the garden, a delight during any season of the year. It is the perfect place for a relaxing stroll and it offers a range of activities for visitors.

There are more than ten sections in the museum for different kinds of art from all around the world including…

This conveyance of human nature is part of the work's genius, and what the artist apparently intended to convey -- not greatness, but ordinariness, in contrast to Michelangelo. It is still a masterwork of craft, but of a subtler craft of character as the "Mona Lisa's "blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of dark and light, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style." (Summers, "Mona Lisa," 2004) Although great a craftsman of his respective mediums as Michelangelo, in contrast to Michelangelo's expansive imagination, Leonardo was most of all an excellent observer. He concerned himself with what the eye could see, rather than with purely abstract concepts. (Summers, 2004, da Vinci)
orks Cited

David." Michelangelo. orld Book Online Reference Center. 2004. orld Book, Inc. 16 Oct. 2004. http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/wb/Article?id=ar359360.

Mona Lisa." Leonardo. (1503). The Louvre, Paris. http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/wb/ExtMedia?id=ar319880&st=Da+Vinci&em=pc006600

Summers, David. "Michelangelo." orld Book Online Reference Center. 2004. orld Book, Inc.…

Loss of the Creature
Notice how Rembrandt employed chiaroscuro in his works," began my art history professor. "His technique revolutionized the way that artists portrayed sources of light on the canvas." glanced around me. About twenty students sat neatly behind their desks, faces illuminated eerily by the glow of the overhead projector. The scene was ironic: our professor trying to convey an understanding of chiaroscuro through a painting done five centuries ago, when right before our eyes was a true example of the contrast between light and shadow. Art history is an arena in which the "loss of the creature" is felt most profoundly. In his essay "The Loss of the Creature," Walker Percy notes that biology students are removed twofold from their subjects of study, first by layers of packaging, of labels and names, and second by a confounded array of theories. Similarly, any classroom discussion of art fails…

'Offshoring' can occur within the same company and involve movement of work to a different location of that company outside of the United States, or to a different company altogether" (4). Simply put, outsourcing is contracting with an outside company in any location, while offshoring is contracting with a company outside the United States.
Examples of Exclusive holesale Manufacturers

One example of a wholesale manufacturer that sells exclusively is Mona Lisa Fashions Inc. This "is a full-service cut & sew apparel contractor serving the women's, children's and men's apparel markets." They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania and are encouraging designers not to outsource or offshore their products but to come to them instead. Another example is Sports and Sports International, a company that manufactures sports accessories and apparel. On their website, they announce, "e are one of the most prominent manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of an exclusively broad range of…

This was even though he received no immediate remuneration, in terms of money or benefits, from developing such interests. Leonardo's notebooks of this period of his life reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of his time.
Ivor Hart makes it clear that Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time. Perhaps Leonardo's great talent was in observing -- he made careful, painstaking observations of the natural world, such as birds in flight. Such careful observations of the natural world are critical, of course, to the eye of a great artist. But Leonardo's eye enabled him to carry out research of precision as well as beauty, in science as well as art.

Perhaps the real paradox is how separate art and science have become in the modern construction of the disciplines. Leonardo…

There are expressed their feelings through different work of art such as filming. Through films, they used actors and actresses to manipulate the story of the film. And thus through the facial expressions and their actions people watching it can get the whole picture of what the story was all about. One of the first to sense this transformation of the actor by the test performance was Pirandello (enjamin 1937). It was through the film actor that critics understand the moral of the story. Through time, the film was enhanced, it was first a silent film where the artists acts and try to relay the message through his actions but now, there are sounds that help the actor easily and accurately relay the message. His feelings as well the manner of his delivery through the sounds can very well understand the message of the story.
Technology boomed and changes came…

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - DAY FLORENCE O'HARE, a petite blonde, plays with her smartphone.
She looks up at the clock, which reads 3:09. Her green eyes
move slowly around the room at the diverse group of people,
ultimately resting on the man sitting next to her: her
boyfriend, DAMIEN GRAMMATICUS.
Damien is deeply engaged in his smartphone too. He briefly
looks up to meet eyes with Florence, and they smile slightly
but warmly at each other.
Florence watches the second hand of the hospital clock tick,
tick, tick, and the sound of Damien's game coincides with
the sound of the ticking clock.
NURSE
(from the administration
station)
Miss O'Hare?
Florence calmly places her phone in her purse. The bedroom
eyes of another man in the waiting room lock onto hers, and
they share a smile before Florence walks to the nurse's
station. Without a glance backwards, she enters the…

Ulysses: An Odyssey of Errors
Critics of James Joyce call his work cryptic and rambling, not easily followed by most readers. They proclaim that it lacks plot and classical elements of modern literature. However, Joyce did not intentionally write a bad novel, rather he was experimenting with a new literary style, one which broke almost all of the rules of modern literature. None the less, there have been those in society who have attempted to "correct" and "improve" upon Joyce's works. These attempts at "improvement" are to be the subject of this research. This research will approach the controversy surrounding Ulysses in reference to its place as a piece of art. In such a context, it is doubtful whether later versions of Ulysses have succeeded in clearing up the obscurities in the original novel, but rather have served to further confuse the issue.

Joyce was the first to use the…

Art
The curvilinear forms of the human bodies are framed by the intense angularity of the architectural elements behind them. On the left, a tree provides extra verticality, but both images offer a geometric background that contrasts with the undulating forms of female bodies, drapery, and the softness of the infants. The heads of the mothers in both compositions are where the eye is drawn. Even if slightly off-center, the heads form the thematic midpoint. The Virgin's head is placed slightly higher on the canvas, but in both cases the heads are the emphasis in the composition. Both compositions use monochrome, with no color. The Schongauer engraving depicts the mother Mary and infant Jesus seated on the ground inside an ordinary medieval walled compound; whereas the photograph on the right depicts a Madonna-like image of a black-clad mother smiling with her two happy children.

The silkscreen Warhol self-portrait is rendered…

Museums in Paris
The Louvre Museum can be categorized as one of the world's largest and most magnificent museums. It also marks a monument and an attractive sightseeing location for tourists from all over the world. Standing near the River Seine and stretching over 60,000 meters square, this museum has its own unique history.

The museum was a transformation from the Louvre Palace, built as a fortress for King Louis XIV. He considered the Palace too small for his needs and then went on to making the Palace of Versailles. He left behind this beautifully structured monument to become the museum of beautiful art. The Louvre Museum was initiated in 1793 with initially just 537 paintings. Many of these were the confiscated church paintings and the others were donations from the prestigious and powerful people of the time. Slowly and gradually, the collection of the museum started increasing under Napoleon…

Neuroscience
Art is processed in the brain, and neuropsychological principles show how. One of the prime examples showing the way art influences the brain is with the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci's painting is notable for the peculiar and ambiguous smile on the subject's face. There is "dynamism" in the smile, artist understood this and deliberately make optical illusion of sorts (Chakravarty 69). The illusion is a product of "imaginative thinking which involves frontal cortical activation in the viewer's brain coupled with activation of the motion area (area V5/MT) of the viewer's visual cortex," (Chakravarty 69). Thus, some viewers may perceive La Gioconda as smiling, and others may not.

Evolutionary Psychology

Cave art proves that creative expression has always been a part of human history. As Dutton points out, the ancient Greeks were the first to recognize that art had a distinct psychological component. Art has functioned differently in different cultures…

Where the Twain Meets: Dada and Surrealism Distinct artistic movements, genres, and philosophies, Dada and Surrealism do cross over and share considerable points of reference. Dada made its mark on the art world first, with its genesis in Switzerland during the First World War (“Dada and Surrealism,” 1). In fact, Dada was never constrained by visual media, with poets and performance artists at the forefront of the largely political and reactive movement (“Dada and Surrealism,” 1). To call Dada avant-garde, or progressive, would be an understatement, because Dada transformed the ways people thought about and created art. Art was no longer about creating aesthetic beauty or pleasing a patron, but about actively challenging social norms, politics, and even what it means to be human. Dada art can be provocative, but is not necessarily so, with some artists using their medium to question and even “humiliate” art itself (Rubin 11). The…

Pro Veganism
A strictly vegetarian diet is best suited to the human body's needs, mankind's ability of survival on earth, and our inherent compassion. Switching to such a diet is fairly simple and creates the opportunity to lead a healthier, happier, and gentler life (Marcus, xi).

For numerous reasons, humanity has been increasingly taking to veganism since the last few years. Some vegan supporters assert their participation in a dietary regimen wherein consuming or utilizing animal products is unethical, according to their religious beliefs or values. Meanwhile, others put forward the argument of animal consciousness's ethicality and the industrial farming process. Those who claim to be vegans most probably do so owing to environmental, animal rights, or personal health concerns, which can alter with time. Several vegans begin as vegetarians, gradually ceasing consumption of milk, eggs and other animal by-products. Meanwhile, others turn purely vegan right from the outset. In…

The centrality of the ghost to the play's metaphysics might be inferred from the fact that illiam Shakespeare acted as the ghost and the player king (Bloom), a strange chimera and bellerophon within the anatomy of the play. To cite Eliot again, Hamlet "is the 'Mona Lisa' of literature" (cf. Hoy 182). It is an exciting challenge to participate in this critical tradition in hopes of concluding it. However, the volumes of superb criticism on Hamlet and King Hamlet's ghost are vast, and this is a mere gloss of its character. If we obsess over it too much, we, like Hamlet, may become lost in its problems.

orks Cited and Consulted

Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. Riverhead Books: New York, 2003.

Dodsworth, Martin. Hamlet Closely Observed. The Athlone Press: London, 1985.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Hamlet in Purgatory. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2001.

How, Cyrus, ed. illiam Shakespeare Hamlet, Second Edition. ..…

art from three different cultures. Specifically it will discuss pieces from the Classical Greek, Indian Civilizations, and Egyptian Civilizations, including the meaning of the work and an art analysis of the work. Each of these different cultures produced very different works of art that were meant to entertain, enlighten, and be viewed for enjoyment. They used different techniques, but there were commonalities, as well. They represent some of the best and most beautiful artwork the world has ever seen.
The Classic Greek work of art I have chosen is the marble sculpture the Venus of Arles, which now resides in the Musee du Louvre in Paris. It is made of Hymettus marble and is thought to be as old as the third century BC. It is thought that the Venus was created by the sculptor Praxiteles, in an attempt to recapture his sculpting career. It is often called the Aphrodite…

He is one of the few artists that were recognized for his work while he was still living.
One of Michelangelo's most exquisite pieces is Pieta. In this sculpture, we can see how Michelangelo was moving away from the traditional form of sculpting. Creighton Gilbert notes that how Mary and Jesus are depicted in the statue is not typical of Michelangelo's day. Mary is seated with the dead Jesus in her lap and this image "first emerged as an abbreviation of the scene of Christ mourned" (160). Harold Keller maintains that the piece is filled with contrasts, horizontally and vertically. e also have the opposites of the clothed and the naked. The position of Jesus' body is different from most pietas of the day in that it is horizontal, producing a "step-like composition based on the sharp right able between the corpse and the upper body of the Madonna towering…

Even his paintings are different in that he took painting to another level. e read that Leonardo believed that "art should be considered a form of creative knowledge, on the same level as science and philosophy" (Pedretti). As a result of this different approach to painting, Leonardo's art stands out because his method was that of a master. He incorporated sfumato in his painting, which is the technique of "placing colours next to one another rather than demarcating contours with clear cut lines" (Leonardo Online) and by doing so, he reached a "point that nobody before had reached: a way of representing living and vivacious reality" (Leonardo Online). The Mona Lisa, Leda and the Swan, and the Virgin of the Rocks illustrate Leonardo's technique that brings his subjects to life. His genius was not limited to thought and because he was able to organize his thoughts and put them on…

ut India could catch up if it successfully encouraged private companies to compete and survive, put a check on poorly performing financial institutions and those yielding to political compromises. These measures could help boost India's savings and investment. On the other hand, China also needed to catch up with India's institutional strength (Prime).
ut both continue to be plagued with respective problems. China continues to suffer from serious situations, such as an uneven competition in the private sector, a very sluggish financial sector, and trade patterns, which enhanced foreign but not domestic markets. It appears ahead of India because of the time element. It instituted reforms more than a decade before India's. Nothing could tell when and how India could catch up or match China's phasing. Some critics assumed that China's successes became the basis of its regional leadership in the 21st century. Understanding the underlying forces behind the development…

" (Y-Jesus, 2007) in fact approximately one-fourth of women during that time were named Mary and Joseph was a common name also. One of every ten men were named Jesua. The work entitled: "Mona Lisa's Smirk: The Truth ehind the Da Vinci Conspiracy" states that the Da Vinci code states: "Nobody is saying Christ was a fraud, or denying that he walked the earth and inspired millions to better lives. All we are saying is that Constantine took advantage of Christ's substantial influence and so, he shaped the face of Christianity we know today." (Y-Jesus, 2007)
SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

The fact is -- quite simply that no one is absolutely sure of the facts concerning the life of Jesus as the ible documents Jesus until age 12 and then little is known about Jesus until the time that he begins his ministry. It is certainly conceivable that Jesus could well…

Thus, it would seem his work could not be considered spiritual, and yet, there is something moving and thought provoking about many of his works. The busts in his nuclear series, which often show the grisly results of a nuclear holocaust cause the reader to look inside themselves and confront their own ideas about mortality and spirituality, and there is something very moving about these works, but they are very disturbing, as well.
Arneson's work might not be considered spiritual, and yet, there is something very touching and special about some of his works. His works make viewers think about history, about their own lives, and even the politics of the world around them. That makes them look inside themselves, too, just as Arneson did when he created his self-portraits. This ability to create whimsical and yet touching works is something Arneson mastered completely, and that helps give his work…

Ultimately, what modern iconography teaches us is that history is a prism from which we cannot escape. Art, and the study of its meaning, ultimately situates us within this prism and helps us connect the past with the present, while also paving the way towards a future conception of meaning in the visual realm.
orks Cited

Bal, Mieke and Norman Bryson. "Semiotics and Art History: A Discussion of Context and Senders," 1991. Reprinted in Preziosi, Donald, ed. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Carvajal, Rina. "Mapping Out the Self: The ork of Guillermo Kuitca." Guillermo

Kuitca. Rotterdam: itte de ith, 1990.

Goldberg, Vicki. "It's a Leonardo? it's a Corot? ell, No, it's Chocolate Syrup." New

York Times (September 25, 1998). Retrieved on Nov. 15, 2007 at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406EED61639F936A1575AC0A96E958260#.

Panofsky, Erwin. Meaning in the Visual Arts. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1955.

Panofsky, Erwin. Studies in Iconology:…

Against Abortion
In the past few decades an argument has raged across America over the issue of abortion. My personal opinion on this subject is that abortion should not be legal. I believe that because an embryo, and later a fetus, is a human life form that is separate and distinct from its parents, and has the potential to become something great, that people should follow the "Golden ule" and treat others, including embryos, only as they would like to be treated; and this would mean not ending their life. Therefore, in the debate over abortion, I am on the "Pro-Life" side.

While many abortion proponents concentrate their arguments on the mother and her rights, they often forget that there is another person involved, and it is a distinct and individual life form. Most embryology texts indicate that the life of a human being "begins with complete fertilization, which yields…

For example, most (if not all) of the ancient Greek and Egyptian pottery that we find in museums was not considered art in its time of creation. They were made as practical pieces that were used for practical purposes. It was later when humans defined the word art that these relics were collected and renamed as art.
Another example of why art is hard to define and why it really depends on the time in history that makes a piece a work of art or not can be seen in the way in which many artists do not achieve success until after their deaths. It can be argued that true artists are often very in tune with what is going on in the culture and very aware of ways in which culture oppresses people or glorifies them. They are sensitive to what is going on in the world and perhaps…

Cousin Vinny and American Criminal Justice
The 1992 film My Cousin Vinny starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei is a typical Hollywood foray into the realm of jurisprudence. So comical and seemingly realistic is the film (it takes place in the South -- where the unexpected nature of the backwoods setting gives the fish-out-of-water antics of Pesci's Gambini a convincing legitimacy) that one is willing to believe that it actually gives accurate representation of the criminal justice system and the court process in America. This paper will compare and contrast My Cousin Vinny with the actual American criminal justice system and court process, showing where the two meet and where (as in all Hollywood fare) they eventually depart.

The Film in eality

In reality, it may be noted that even the United States is using My Cousin Vinny as a guide when it comes to justice and jurisprudence -- at…

Art During Renaissance
The Evolution of Art During the Renaissance

The Renaissance period is defined as a cultural movement that spanned approximately from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe (rotton 2006, p. 6). This period in the history of art included the painting, decorative arts and sculpture of the period and for many was considered a reawakening or rebirth of historic and ancient traditions based on the classical antiquity and the inclusion of more recent developments by applications of contemporary scientific knowledge.

The Renaissance was seen as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The period also marked a cognitive shift from religious perspectives to a more intellectual and social focus. Classical texts previously lost to European scholars became readily available and included science, drama, poetry, prose, philosophy, and new considerations…

It was expected, for instance, that as soon as students marry, husbands and housework dominate schoolwork and college attendance may, and should even, be reduced. It was also expected that domestic infidelity at the hands of the husband and domestic abuse should be overlooked and forgiven by the wife. The rich girl who was physically abused by her husband and discovered his infidelity fled to her parents who promptly returned her to her husband reminding her of her marriage vows. The fact that she later left to live n the Bohemian quarters of new York with a Jewish family was seen as more sacrilegious in their eyes than the fact that she had fled an unfaithful and oppressive marriage. Divorce was scandalous. Living as a single woman and as a career woman was equally so.
This all came out in Barbara's story.

Barbara's reminisces also reminded me of the teacher's…

French omantic painter, Eugene Delacroix, is well-known from this period. Delacroix often took his subjects from literature but added much more by using color to create an effect of pure energy and emotion that he compared to music. He also showed that paintings can be done about present-day historical events, not just those in the past (Wood, 217). He was at home with styles such as pen, watercolor, pastel, and oil. He was also skillful in lithography, a new graphic process popular with the omantics. His illustrations of a French edition of Goethe's "Faust" and Shakespeare's "Hamlet" still stand as the finest examples in that medium.

Delacroix' painting "Massacre at Chios" is precisely detailed, but the action is so violent and the composition so dynamic that the effect is very disturbing (Janson, 678). With great vividness of color and strong emotion he pictured an incident in which 20,000 Greeks were…

The person is different than they were before they gazed at the work, even though, as before the moment of the 'gazing' they are not looking at the artifact. (148) the person before seeing the "Mona Lisa" for the first time, and the person walking away from the work is a different, changed, and touched person. The painting has gazed back, touched the onlooker, just as the onlooker's eye has touched the subject of the painting.
Thus, for Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a painting is not simply looked at. Because looking at a painting changes the viewer, essentially the viewer is being looked at and penetrated, or touched, by the substance of the painting as well. hile Descartes said, I think therefore I am, Merleau-Ponty suggests one's consciousness only occurs when he or she can say, 'I gaze and am gazed at, therefore I am,' stressing the mutual and subjective nature of…

Learning about optical illusions through the experiments on these websites has been helpful in understanding the way perception works: our eyes aren't necessarily lying to us but our brain often distorts what we see based on our assumptions or expectations, as in the Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa" exercise. Also, what our eyes take in as visual information is then interpreted by the brain. I was interested in all the illusions and exercises, as it proves that people should not always believe what they see. In the future I will try to apply the information on visual perception to the way I interpret the world. For example, the information on both sites that pertains to motion perception is useful in understanding common every day phenomenon related to driving: when we watch the wheels of cars speeding along a highway, for instance, it can suddenly seem that the wheels are turning…

Project Management for Dummies by Stanley E. Portny
The "Dummies Series" book, Project Management for Dummies, by Stanley E. Portny (iley Publishing, Inc., 2001), is, in my opinion, a relatively easy-to-read (although also somewhat structurally fragmented in places), step-by-step "how-to" book, for either current or prospective project managers, with or without experience. In life, every individual has projects to complete - usually a never-ending series of them, in fact, and often more than one project to complete simultaneously. One's projects may be personal or professional; voluntary or required. They may be for our selves alone; for friends or family; for churches, clubs, or communities; special events; or for colleagues; companies, or employers.

As the author concurs, in his "Introduction" to the text:

Projects have been around since ancient times. Noah built the ark, Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona

Lisa, Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine -- all projects. .…

impression, selecting arranging details a -creates a context. -- Be aware audience perspective relation audience. Decide insider writing outsiders, outsider writing insiders, outsider writing outsiders.
A place of lasting impression

Paris is surely one of the 'cheesiest' travel destinations and bona fide travelers are likely to consider that it is pointless to visit the city because of the numerous tourists swarming its streets and practically ruining the traditions that the location is known for. However, once you start to ignore tourists and stereotypes you are likely to discover that this is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The city is remarkable for its cultural values during the day and for its impressive nightlife once the sun sets. I did not think that a city could be so impressive for me before I visited Paris, but France's capital certainly triggered unique feelings and made me want to come…

SOP
Option 1: Envision yourself near the end of a fulfilling, lifelong career and you just published your autobiography.

Title of Autobiography: Seeing Differently: The Life and Times of (YOUR NAME)

For the vast majority of us, sight is something we take for granted. The sky is blue, and we do not need to know the physics of light particles to appreciate that because every day we look up and gaze at its deep cerulean grandeur. Our eyes, the lenses of our soul, get lost in the infinite wonder of sky and the motion of the clouds. In so doing, we have failed to remember that for millions of people worldwide, darkness is the norm. Yet now, people who are born, or who became blind later, can envelop themselves in the glory of the blue sky. We can all walk through the Louvre together, gazing upon the mysterious visage of…

Simulacrum: hat is neither real nor a copy?
The simulacrum subverts the common notion of what constitutes a copy vs. An authentic artifact (Camille 31). In the common, classical ordering of priorities, the 'real' is what comes first, followed by the copy. The copy affirms the real, and the worth of the real, rather than negates it. A good example of this can be seen in art forgery. The worth of the real is affirmed by the fact that the copy (whether illegally or legally made) is considered inferior to that of the real, and the copy attempts to slavishly imitate the real. The greatest compliment that can be paid to a copy is that it can be mistaken for the real thing. A picture post card of the Mona Lisa is not synonymous with the famous painting itself.

The simulacrum, however, is a false idea, image, or rendition that…

Dadaism and Surrealism
It has been since centuries that the Art has existed in this world and has undergone various stages. In simple words, art has got its own historical periods whereby every period has its unique invention and significance. Art has acquired immense success, has reached several milestones and the reason of this tremendous development is due to the improvement in diverse historical periods. The present is always improved by taking history as a source for improvement. History narrates the earlier civilizations through which present learns for the future development. In the same way, art has continued to be the most imperative subject of all cultures; be they ancient or present. The different art periods of diverse varieties have existed since times unknown. In this essay, Dadaism and Surrealism, the two distinctive historical art periods will be elaborated along with their similarities and differences.

Dadaism

As mentioned in Columbia…

History Of Dada Art Movement
There is a long list of movements that were begun for the sake of art, for instance cubism and surrealism. These two movements experienced grave criticism as they touched nihillism. On the other hand, movements like Dada have been admired and honored by the majorities (Mobileeference).

If truth be told, the early 20th century brought a turbulent and disorderly change in the world. The First World War and the ussian evolution tainted people's understanding of their worlds in an overwhelming manner. This new mind set of people was strongly reflected in the early twentieth century art movements as well. They were all, if seen in technical terms, were boldly modern and groundbreaking. In order to look into and explore the structure of realization, these movements moved further than the unruffled surface of traditional painting. However, perhaps Dada must be looked for its most compelling explorations…

Icons and Early Modern Portraits" adds a fascinating new twist to the investigation of the material culture of the Renaissance, which may be brought to bear directly on the study of Renaissance art. Nagel is concerned here with a question of artistic influence, which he sees being transmitted through a lively trade in Greek and other eastern religious icons. To a certain extent, this fact is self-evident but Nagel persuasively argues for several reasons that it has been underemphasized in discussion of the subject.
Nagel first notes that contemporary Renaissance viewers of these icons made several erroneous assumptions about them, which may have obscured the inability of contemporary art scholars today to view these pieces through the eyes of the Renaissance, as it were. Nagel notes from papers related to acquisition and provenance dating from the early modern period that the antiquity of these objects was greatly exaggerated, and on…

Trip to Paris Account
Multicultural France

France has been a multicultural for over two hundred years. Many of the early settlers came from all over Europe, some of them are Romans, Celts, Franks, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, among others. In fact by 1930, France was already experiencing a higher percentage of foreighners in terms of its population compared to United States.

Economic forms an essential part of any discussion of migration and immigration because many cases of migration is facilitated by economic gain, for example majority of early immigrant who went to France were attracted by opportunities in agriculture, construction work, and manufacture which are part of economics. In addition, demand for labor due to economic expansion and industrial growth facilitated mass immigration in France.

French nation has been influenced by immigrants. Nations that were colonies of France formed part of the French republic therefore in order for integration France…

Pictorialism is a photographic movement that developed in the last 1800's and continues to the present. The main feature of the movement is the focus on photography as art where the value of the photograph is not based on the subject of the photograph, but the composition and how the subject is presented. This broad definition being given, it must be noted that pictorialism is far from a simple approach that can be easily defined. It has changed and developed over time, it has created new techniques, it has impacted on other forms of photography and aspects of it can be seen in modern approached to photography.
To consider pictorialism further, it is necessary to begin at the beginning. This will involve providing on overview of pictorialism and a history of its development. Two pictorialists will then be described as a means of giving example of the approach. Finally, it…

smells of the old library surrounded me when I entered. I could smell the passage of time in there, where dusty wooden shelves housed thousands of books. A hundred-year old door creaked behind me and shut with nary a sound. The silence that greeted me inside the musty room reminded me that this was my sanctuary, the place where I felt most alive and at home. Sure, I loved playing sports and watching movies and television and playing games. But at age ten, the thing I loved to do most was read. I headed straight for my favorite section: the young adult mystery novels. I perused the book jackets one at a time to find one that I had yet to read. My heart raced when I read the description of a story that sounded titillating, and I raced to the check out counter.
It was by the time I…

estern Studies emphasizes on the following two topics namely, Inspirational artists during the Renaissance and England before becoming a Constitutional Monarchy. The first topic takes into account the Renaissance era and the artists produced during it where as the second focuses on how the British monarchy was established and what were the perils that were faced in establishing it. This paper also highlights certain quotes.
estern Studies

Inspirational artists during the Renaissance.

The Europeans regard the Renaissance as an era that completely transformed their feudal society of the middle ages into a society dominated by political institutions, in which education was pursued and liberty was the right of all the citizens. This charismatic era gave birth to many philosophers, artists, scientists and thinkers who worked to present to their people a completely new perspective of life. Many artists concentrated upon human philosophy, which became the central movement during the Renaissance.…

City of Lights -- Paris, France
Paris, the capital of France, is one of the most visited places in the world when it comes to travel and tourism. The historic and marvelous places of the city make Paris one of the nicest places to visit in Europe. The wonders of Paris includes the Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, and many other historic breathtaking grandeurs of Paris.

Known as the City of Lights, Paris is located in France, at the heart of Europe's tourist destinations. Exploring Paris is almost similar to taking your self back in time in an inspiring, exquisite, magical, and romantic city one could ever imagine. The city boasts of its many tourist attractions. The most famous of which is the Eiffel Tower -- the landmark of Paris. uilt in 1889, and considered as the city's symbol of…

High enaissance Movement and Its Most Celebrated Artists
The enaissance is referred to as a period of time where there was a great cultural movement that began in Italy during the early 1300's. It spread into other countries such as England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. This era continued into the late 1400's and ended during the 1600's. The enaissance times were a period of rebirth and during this time many artists studied the art of ancient Greece and ome. Their desire was to recapture the spirit of the Greek and oman cultures in their own artistic, literary, and philosophic works. The cultures of ancient Greece and ome are often called classical antiquity. The enaissance thus represented a rebirth of these cultures and is therefore also known as the revival of antiquity or the revival of learning.

The artists' works include many aspects of the medieval times and incorporated…

headline from May 2015. "Picasso's omen of Algiers Smashes Auction Record," is how the BBC phrased it, on May 12, noting that "Picasso's omen of Algiers has become the most expensive painting to sell at auction, going for $160 million" (Gompertz 2015). In the frequently dicey and volatile early twenty-first century economy, it is clear that high art has managed to maintain its value in a way that the mortgage of a Florida homebuyer or the Beanie Baby collection of a midwestern housewife have not. It is now almost eighty years since alter Benjamin issued his famous meditation on what precisely the value of the visual arts could be under late capitalism, "The ork of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction." The subject of what art means in an age where reproductions of art are ubiquitous has been around for a while. But Benjamin had never seen the Internet.…

World War I: Dada
The literary and artistic movement known as Dada originated in the Swiss city of Zurich, at the time of the First World War, as a response to the War as well as the nationalism considered by many to have sparked the war. Inspired by Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, Constructivism, and other innovative movements, Dadaism's output ranged from poetry, collage, and painting, to performance arts and sculptures (Jones, 2002; Hulsenbeck, 1988). The movement's aesthetic, characterized by contempt for nationalistic and materialistic attitudes, strongly influenced artists in major cities across the globe, such as Berlin, Paris, Cologne, Hanover, and New York, and all ended up creating their own separate groups. Surrealism led to Dadaism's degeneration.

Beginnings

Sickened by the nationalism that triggered WWI, Dadaists were constantly against the idea of authoritarianism, and all kinds of guiding ideologies or group leadership. Their main concern was revolting against the apparent middleclass…

CATHOLIC BAOQUE VS. THE POTESTANT BAOQUE IN NOTHEN EUOPE
Catholic Baroque in Italy vs. the Protestant Baroque in Northern Europe

The following study compares the theatricality of the Catholic Baroque in Italy to the Protestant Baroque in Northern Europe. The discussion will focus on Caravaggio's "the Crucifixion of Saint Peter" to embrandt's "The eturn of The Prodigal Son." It also extends to include the way each artist handles the religious subject reflecting both the different sensibilities of these two artistic styles and the religious thinking of these two areas.

The Baroque period is argued to have taken place between the 1500s and 1700s. As the 16th approached, Western Europe experienced a reformation that divided Christianity between Protestants and Catholics. Most countries in Northern Europe (Switzerland, Holland and Britain) became Protestants whereas Southern countries (Spain and Italy) became Catholics. The sharp divide caused different art styles. In their churches, the Protestants…

Kevin Cliche Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Introduction
Self-Portrait with Money by Frida Kahlo was painted in 1938.  The work is an oil on masonite painting and was commissioned by Conger Goodyear, who served as the head of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (PBS, 2005).  Frida painted numerous self-portraits through her career, but this one depicted something unique about the artist:  the monkey perched just behind her shoulder represented a kind of protective spirit.  Frida herself has a look in her eyes that warns the viewer not to try to fool her—for she sees everything that everyone is up to.  This paper will explain the self-portrait and what its content, composition and style communicate to the viewer.  
Content, Composition and Style
In terms of content, Frida’s self-portrait with monkey communicates something important and special about the artist herself.  As Lazzari and Schlesier (2017) note, Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait…

My letters to my brother Theo often touch upon this theme."
Q: hat was your relationship like in Arles?

Gaugin: "I would say that Vincent definitely needed me more than I needed him. Vincent was always looking for a friend, you know -- a kindred spirit. His brother Theo was sympathetic but separate from him. In me he found someone who shared his passion for art and who understood what he was trying to accomplish. But Vincent was unstable and our relationship was often frustrated by his inability to reconcile himself to the artist's lonely lot. I, certainly, was more comfortable being a loner."

Van Gogh: "My sojourn in Arles in a rented yellow house, which I depicted on canvas in my typically thickly-applied, brightly colored 1888 painting, would end in a kind of portentous delirium. Gauguin's stay and my increasing reliance upon the Frenchman proved a misstep. Gauguin's insufferable…

In the beginning, the narrator describes that the house has not yet fallen, but that the decay of the building is so extreme, it is unlikely to remain upright for long. The same is true of the people inside. They live in a kind of living death, waiting for the end to claim them.
The idea of dual life and death culminates in Roderick's sister, whose image in perceived death is one of smiling peace, almost as if still alive. The narrator's comparison of her similarity to her brother can be interpreted both literally and more supernaturally. As Roderick explains, they are twins. It is only however when he believes her to have died that the narrator makes this comparison, indicating a rather more morbid interpretation: she is dead, and he is close to it.

In terms of life and death, reality and the supernatural appear to merge when the…

Communication Islamic Countries
Freedom in all its forms is a highly contested topic across all areas of politics, not only in countries where freedom has been traditionally repressed, but even in the most democratic of states, such as the United States and the UK. When freedom extends to the press, the contestability of the topic gains an extra dimension. Some critics, for example, advocate freedom of the press only to such an extent as its ability to promote a peaceful existence and harmony among citizens and their government. Others, however, would see the press gaining complete freedom, regardless of its consequences for personal and collective peace. In Muslim countries such as Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, freedom extended to the press and the media is yet further muddied by the importance of religious and state rule in these countries. In both environments, Islam remains the main ruling force in…