Essay Title : A comparisons of two works of art in different time periods
Art 101
Ky Nguyen
CRN# 81003
12/08/2013
Work one: Flower still life. Rachel Ruysch, after 1700. Oil on canvas. 30 inches by 24 inches. The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.
Work two: Flower Piece with Curtain. Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris, 1658. Oil on paper. 18.25 inches by 25.25 inches. The Art Institute of Chicago.
There’re many ways to express your feelings, your thoughts, and your emotions. You can write a book, you can compose a song, or you can draw a painting. To Rachel Ruysch, Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris, drawing is just a perfect way. Ruysch has shown her talent and her artistic feelings in a famous work of art - Flowers Still Life. Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris proved their professional in oil painting and also spoken up their imaginations. A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter typically common place objects which may be either natural or man made. In these two works of art, they both choose flowers as their main subject. Flower Still Life was born in late 1700s, the 18th century with the dark background which was the fashion for the flower painting in the second half of the 17th century, led by Marseus van Schrieck. About Flower Piece with Curtain, it painted in 1658, is an example of a still life painting demonstrates the technique of oil on wood. Though their paintings are both still life flowers but they were born in different periods of time, they have their own styles and their own interests. Difference materials, difference meaning, and difference combinations. Ruysch and Spelt both used oil to draw but instead of drawing on canvas like Ruysch, Spelt, and Mieris drew on wood. So somehow, Flower Piece with Curtain might take more time to draw than Flower Still Life. But in Flower Still Life, Ruysch seeks a more natural - looking structure in contrast to the strong diagonals found in her earlier work. When Spelt put a fade and gentle colors in his painting. Every works of art have their own meaning or story behind it. Flower Still Life was still popular a century after the Dutch East India Company that was found as can be seen in this work by Ruysch. Ruysch worked in a dramatic and dynamic way and painted with startling realism bees and butterflies had a significance which tied into a theme symbolizing Christianity. The bee represented the passion, it’s stinger referencing. Christ’s crowns of thorns. The butterfly represented the resurrection and also the soul. Flowers themselves embodied the fleeting natural of life, from buds and blooms to those that drooped and withered. About Flower Piece with Curtain, it’s an example of a still life painting which demonstrates the technique of oil on wood. It ranked the least prestigious
