Art Essay Sample Comparing Death of St. Francis and Merode Alterpiece Paintings

Paintings are a great way of artistic expression. The artists' thoughts often influence them, and as such, they vary regarding their beauty from one painter to another. Some of the greatest artists who created great painting include Campin and Giotto. Even though they were great artists, they exhibited some similarities and differences regarding style, symbolism as well as innovation. This paper analyzes and contrasts the creative differences between Giotto's Death of St. Francis and Robert Campin's Merode Altarpiece.

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Style

One of the works that Campin is often associated with is the Merode Altarpiece, also known as Merode Triptych. It exhibits three images that are placed side by side on three different panels in a form referred to as triptych. The structure of the image was influenced by the fact that it was the typical design for the altarpieces around the Southern Netherlands. While Campin used three panels to create the painting with the middle panel as the main panel, Giotto used only a rectangular where told his narrative through the art. The single frame exhibits a single art, that is, the story on the panel was one. In Campin's painting, each of the panels had a different painting each telling its own story but harmonized through the use of light. The panels are different in size with the one on the left and the one on the right having the same size but smaller than the middle panel.

The middle panel shows the Annunciation and is the place the artist would put both Mary and angel Gabriel. When one looks at the image, it is easy to realize that it resembles the reality, that is, the central panel looks like a house with the two, angel Gabriel and Mary appear to be inside the house. Even though Giotto's Death of St. Francis also attempts to depict an image that is close to reality, it falls short of the near-reality look that Campin brings out in his painting. One may quickly think that since the picture is too big, it could have been hard to achieve the same quality that Campin was able to accomplish through his triptych.

The choice of paint that artists use in painting influences how the viewers perceive the art. Campin applied oil paint in all the three panels which allowed him to achieve the rich details that he wanted to exhibit in the art. Through the careful use of light, oil paint and focus on detail makes Campin's art thorough and looks so much like the reality. The art are an illustration of the reality exhibiting natural detail exhibited in the pieces of art of the previous court artists (Davies, Hofrichter and Jacobs 296). On the other hand, while Campin used a lot of oil paint to achieve the shiny look and create harmony in the three panels, Giotto fails to do the same since his painting is on one large rectangular panel. In addition to that, Death of St. Francis does not exhibit the intricate details that Campin shows in his panting. Apart from the size of the painting area, another aspect that could have made Giotto ignores many details is subjects in the painting. Campin wanted to make people perceive Mary and angel Gabriel appear like they are inside a room. The same was not the case for Giotto's painting thus he did not have to do much regarding details to include in the painting.

Symbolism

Artists often use symbolism in their paintings. They are aspects of an art that represent something. For instance, an artist may include a dove a symbol of peace or water a symbol of purity. Campin employed a vast array of symbols and concepts in his paintings. Even though some of the symbols are obvious and one can note them without a close look, some are hidden, and one may need to have a close and keen look at the painting to notice them. For instance, the lilies in the paintings represent Mary's virginity. However, some symbols such as the smoking candle close Mary and angel Gabriel are puzzling since their meaning remains much unclear. Some analysts believe that Campin and other artists turned to the theologian to come up with most of the complicated programs even though it was the artists' abilities that brought them to fruition (Davies, Hofrichter and Jacobs 297).

Innovation

To create the "reality" effect, Campin employs many devices. "He fits the objects and figures into boxes of space, sometimes uncomfortably" (Davies, Hofrichter and Jacobs 296). Apart from that, the rendering that the artist applies to the objects makes the details to appear so concrete regarding their form, color, proportion as well as texture. Lighting is one of the things that artists take advantage of when they try to make their image look beautiful. For Campin, he notes with lot so complexity the way the light falls on the objects that make up his painting.

Like Campin, Giotto too took advantage of light to enhance his paintings. He rendered the paintings making it appear like it has been bathed in light. The effect of the render produces a similar effect to that of Campin since the figures in the painting look like they are three-dimensional. Both painting exhibit a steady movement from the light to the rest of areas that are dark. However, Campin uses light much more creatively than Giotto. Merode Altarpiece has s three-dimensional feel when one look at it and that is achieved through the use of light that strikes various parts of the image differently. At the same time, unlike Giotto's painting, Merode Altarpiece has a lot of shiny paint which is meant to have the light strike the surface in such a way that it creates harmony in the three panels making it look like one great painting with the center as the primary focus.

Creative/Original Contributions

Both Campin and Giotto creatively used light to bring life into their paintings by using light. It is part of their original contribution since lots of art that existed before theirs did not exhibit such kind of creativity. As such both artists, and notably Campin made many contributions towards creating an illustration that looks so much like the reality. Light brings out the beauty of color that artists use in their paintings, and since Campin's images are in three separate panels, there is need to create harmony between them and to achieve that, Campin uses color. Since his colors have not only depth but color too, one can see the seamless transition from one panel to another from the light areas to the dark areas.

Artistic Impact

While artists often create pieces for commercial purposes, for Campin, he created the paintings for the sake of his fellow nationals. Both artists make a theological statement through their arts. Among the paintings that he made for his country people is the "two donors piously kneeling outside Mary's chamber in the wings" (Davies, Hofrichter and Jacobs 296). To date, Campin's paintings have an impact on the society. For instance, the donor couple, the triptych shows humans' wish to have babies. Campin and other artists of his time were answering to the quest to have the physical world reflect the heavenly realities and to come up with images of the godly occurrences of daily life. On the other hand, Giotto's Death of St. Francis saw him attain so much fame during his time that he influenced much of the Italian painting. Even though he had an artistic impact, Campin had more effect perhaps due to his incredible painting that resembles reality and reminded people of their divinity and the holy spirit.

Conclusion

In brief, both Gitto's Death of St. Francis and Robert Campin's Merode Altarpiece are great paintings with varied similarities and differences. While Campin uses a triptych, Giotto used a simple rectangular area to make the art. Also, both use color, but Campin created a three-dimensional image that significantly used light to achieve the effect he desired to meet. In addition to that, while, Campin used symbolism, Giotto fails to use any, at least from a keen look at the image. Both artists were innovative regarding how they made use of light to bring life into their paintings. Despite all the similarities and the significant differences, both artists achieved much through their paintings and impact on painters that came after them. This study was limited to the two artists but there are many other artists and as such future studies can compare and contrast the rest of the artists.

Work Cited

Davies, Penelope, et al. Janson's Basic History of Western Art. 9th. London: Pearson, 2014.