Technology enables us to view various artworks on display at the National Gallery. One can take a virtual tour by pointing their browser to the Gallery website. The physical location of the museum is in Trafalgar Square in London, (The National Gallery, 2018). By viewing artwork at the Gallery, one will appreciate the uniqueness of Baroque and Impressionist art.
Baroque Art: Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda
The painting is by the Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. He created this painting from 1667 to 1670 (see Fig 1). The medium used is oil on canvas with dimensions 237 x 261 cm.
The work arrests the attention of the audience due to the dramatic tone, vibrant colors, and subject matter. The action displayed in the painting reveals torment and defeat on the face of the paralytic man as he tells Jesus of his misfortune. By the side of the bed, we see a pitcher, a cane, and a plate, (The National Gallery, 2018). The hand of Jesus is extended, instructing him to stand and walk. All around are disciples and the sick hoping to get into the pool. Agony and sorrow is the overwhelming theme at the poolside. An angel can be seen high, not interacting with people, unlike Jesus, speaking and healing them, (The National Gallery, 2018).
Murillo was a member of the Caridad, a brotherhood that focused on assisting poor and sick people in the city of Seville. He prepared this for a hospital caring for the infirm. The message therein is that of faith in Jesus rather than superstition as key to healing, (The National Gallery, 2018). The cultural implication is that people in this region were irrational; surrendering themselves to fate and unknown forces rather than Christian religious truth. Historically, the New Testament in John Chapter Five provides the background for this, (The National Gallery, 2018). An angel would visit the pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem periodically, and then the first person to visit the pool would receive healing, a feat that not every sick person could achieve.
Impressionist Art: A Nymph by a Stream
The painting is by the French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir. He painted this from 1869 to 1870, (see Figure 2). The medium is oil on canvas with dimensions 66.7 x 122.9 cm.
French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir liked to portray the temporal pleasures available in life in his work. He preferred emotional sincerity, youthful energy, and warmness that present a paradise here on earth. In this piece, he creates a warm sensuality by utilizing light and shadow tones, brilliant colors, and different brushstrokes, (The Art Story, 2018).
In the painting, a laurel-wreathed woman is shown lounging beneath some bushes. She is personified as the source of a spring as water seems to spout out of her two fingers, (The National Gallery, 2018). Renoir’s intention in this piece is to create a relationship between the nude female form with the forces of nature evidenced by the nearby stream to where she lies.
In his society, Renoir had a keen eye for Parisian leisure and modernity. Intimate domesticity, fashion as well as content mainly formed the basis of his work. Cubism and Fauvism French artists, later on, utilized his techniques on depth, color, and composition in their work instead of quick sketches, (Kang, 2018).
Renoir seeks to reinforce that the world is a worthy place with things and beautiful people. Culturally, the piece celebrates the feminine beauty and promotes the idea that art can earn a living, (Kang, 2018). During this period, modernity was catching up with Parisian society copying other communities in a rapidly changing world. Nudity signs a changing culture.
In conclusion, Baroque and Impressionist artists used their skill to reflect society in their time. Although the work of Murillo and Renoir may not reflect current trends, they can be a reference point in art study. The National Gallery is the right place to search for such information.
Appendixes
Figure 1. Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban. (1682) Christ healing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-esteban-murillo-christ-healing-the-paralytic-at-the-pool-of-bethesda
Figure 2. Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. (1670) A Nymph by a stream [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pierre-auguste-renoir-a-nymph-by-a-stream
References
Kang, A. (2018). Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/augu/hd_augu.htm
Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban. (1682) Christ healing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-esteban-murillo-christ-healing-the-paralytic-at-the-pool-of-bethesda
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. (1670) A Nymph by a stream [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pierre-auguste-renoir-a-nymph-by-a-stream
The Art Story. (2018). Pierre-Auguste Renoir Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works. The Art Story. Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/artist-renoir-pierre-auguste.htm
The National Gallery. (2018). Bartolomé Esteban Murillo | Christ healing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda | NG5931 | National Gallery, London. Nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-esteban-murillo-christ-healing-the-paralytic-at-the-pool-of-bethesda
The National Gallery. (2018). Pierre-Auguste Renoir | A Nymph by a stream | NG5982 | National Gallery, London. Nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pierre-auguste-renoir-a-nymph-by-a-stream
