Deposition and The Flagellation
For this essay, I chose to compare two popular early renaissance paintings and artists. The first painting is Rogier Van der Weyden’s Deposition. The second painting I chose to compare is Piero della Francesca’s The Flagellation of Christ. I chose these paintings because of the obvious difference of styles from the Flemish and Italian “sensibilities”.
Weyden was a Flemish artist. Of course Northern artists invented and widely used oil paint, as did Weyden. His work was produced by oil on wood. He provided us with the unique expressions of using feminine lines and painting realistic, grieving expressions. His painting appeals to the emotional side of the viewer. Weyden also uses great detail and no doubt created a naturalistic version of removing Christ’s body from the cross whilst capturing the essence of the emotions felt by Christ’s followers. Weyden uses feminine lines and two figures, Christ and the woman underneath Him, as focal points. It is suggested that Weyden painted the woman as fainting and made her body lay the same as Christ to show that her suffering is close to his. Also, although the painting does not use a lot of space, he was able to create and use the expressive lines without the painting seeming “crowded”.
In comparison, Piero also used wood to produce his work of art. Both Weyden and Piero chose to paint religious artwork which was very common during the “new age”. This was an age of faith. The two pieces of art themselves, both use a small space to deliver a lot of content. However, Piero’s space is more symmetrical. Piero used mathematics and linear perspective to paint a realistic enactment of where the men would be standing in relation to where the actual flagellation took place. Weyden used sweeping lines and an emotional focal point. Compared to Weyden’s painting, Piero’s painting personifies a nonchalant attitude, almost harsh, as the subjects of his painting seem unaffected by the harsh, brutal...