What determines the value of art is a common question that is asked all the time. Looking at the value of a piece of art is more complex than most people think. Although the value of art is subjective, fine art is a subjective commodity. Apart from the time it takes to create art as well as the value of the materials used, there are several factors that go into value creation in an artist’s work. Additionally, all the ways of creating value center directly on creating as well as influencing the collectors’ eyes perception of value. Artists use several ways to add value to a piece of art. On the other hand, museums collect and preserves pieces of art for display as well as exhibition to attract visitors and to get attention from the press.1 Paula Rego’s The Family 1988 and Rembrandt’s Family Portrait used similar as well as different ways to put a value on their piece of work.
Paula Rego’s The Family is a conundrum that is eye-catching. The art is made beautifully although disturbing.2In the piece of art, there are two women closing in on the father, seated on the bed, in a sinister and a caring fashion, and a child watching them on the other end. Even if the condition arouses a palpable unease, nothing is explicit. The work of Paula Rego alerts viewers to the fundamental ambivalence the people’s perception of the family as well as home. The family’s image in British life is boldly celebrated through this piece of art.
1. Ferguson, Bruce W. "» Exhibition Rhetorics: Material Speech and Utter Sense, «Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson, Sandy Nairne (eds.), Thinking about Exhibitions." (1996): 183-186.
2. Lisboa, Maria Manuel. Paula Rego's map of memory: national and sexual politics. Routledge, 2017.
Rembrandt van Rijn’s the family portrait ordinarily hangs in the Braunschweig, in Germany. 3It looks like he was not concerned with fashion as well as conventions in the final stage of his career. Rembrandt embraced molding, scratching, as well as plastering whereas his former pupils adopted a smoother style of painting. In the history of art painting, never before has love as well as intimacy gone together so well. The art appeals to the people of the world today and also loved by his contemporaries.4This piece of art is not distinguished by the scene of a family depicted in historical attire since at that time many painters were doing such work.5The baby touching the bosom of the mother is endearing. He let the blouse fall open for the hand of the boy to come into contact with the skin of his mother to emphasize a tender gesture.
The painter in the painting of the Family Portrait combined endearment as well as thick daubs in a wonderful way.6He worked in the thick paint with coarse brushstrokes in the piece of art. This became his trademark from the beginning of the 1650’s. He applied the painting with a trowel of a bricklayer.
3. Lobis, Victoria Sancho. Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and the Portrait Print. Yale University Press, 2016.
4. Moore, Susan. "Family album: Jan Six X talks to Apollo about how generations of his family have looked after one of the greatest private collections of Dutch art--and what it's like to hang one of Rembrandt's finest paintings in his home." In Apollo, vol. 181, no. 629, pp. 104- 111. Apollo Magazine Ltd., 2015.
5. Hoffman, Katherine. Concepts of identity: Historical and contemporary images and portraits of self and family. Routledge, 2018.
6. Van Rijn, Rembrandt Harmenszoon. Rembrandt paintings. Crescent, 1978.
After several experiments, he achieved the three-dimensional effect he wanted especially when he painted robes as well as clothing. In the family portrait painting, the painter used emphatically the palette knife. Rembrandt invented this technique himself to mix the paint in the workshop. In the painting of the Family Portrait, Rembrandt used the palette knife to paint with. The Family Portrait revolutionized painting, and it was created at the time when a smoother style was in fashion.7Although most of the pupils of Rembrandt has embraced a way of painting that is more Flemish, elegant, as well as smooth, Rembrandt did not change. This painting illustrates a step further although in his late period. This style brought him success, for instance, he was admired by rich surgeons, syndics, as well as merchants.
The painting of the Family Portrait was carefully painted to represent fabric although it looks like mud from a close look. Rembrandt used a unique technique he learned from his former workshop colleague Jan Lievens. He used this technique to scratch as well as to mold with paint. The technique is specifically used to paint clothing as well as robes.
On the other hand, in Paula Rego’s The Family, the piece of art is smooth with little texture. Additionally, the brushstrokes cannot be seen clearly. The smoothness is due to oil paints used. Harsh lines are barely visible, and there is much strong line work only in the leftmost third. There are certain areas that use darkness for most attention, for instance, the wrinkles of the fabrics as well as the painting of the man. Besides, the artist used pattern in the piece, for example, the man’s striped tie, as well as the girl’s stark, checked skirt. These are the piece’s only black and white elements.
7. Chapman, H. Perry. "Rembrandt on display. The Rembrandthuis as portrait of an artist." Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art/Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek Online65, no. 1 (2016): 202-239.
Additionally, there is limited use of the palette in the painting. Although the contrast is enough to provide depth, there is no use of many values between the lightest as well as the darkest areas. This makes the painting have a shadowy conflicting depth as well as an unrealistic flatness. There are dappled shades on the painting’s walls and floor despite the fact that it lacked realism, depth, as well as definition.
Rego’s piece illustrates a scenario of unease, as well as the content, brings about many questions, for instance, if the woman undressing the man is the wife.8
On the other hand, the family portrait illustrates people who love one another. Rembrandt’s painting surpasses all portraits showing family members.9
In both Rembrandt’s Family Portrait as well as Paula Rego’s The Family, a visual perception has been utilized fully. Images are seen as a whole instead of in parts. On the other hand, images can be split into their visual elements for instance color, texture, as well as shape and so on. Both of the paintings allow the viewer’s eyes to see the images as well as recognize the objects. Both the paintings were vibrant as well as expressive during the 17th as well as the 20th century respectively.
8. Macedo, Ana Gabriela. "Material culture, new corpographies of the feminine and narratives of dissent. Myra, by Maria Velho da Costa and Paula Rego-an intersemiotic dialogue." (2017): 55-74.
9. Park, Ji Won. "Contemporary Family Portrait: The Hidden Uncomfortable Truth of Family Dynamics." (2015).
Both the artists put intrinsic value throughout the paintings. They used inexpensive materials for instance paint. In most cases, such creativity is regarded to be genius by the viewers. In the world today, art enriches the lives of the members of the community.
Intrinsic value affects the attitude of the government. The unique, as well as independent value pertaining the piece of arts, makes viewers have certain interests in the arts. Objects that have intrinsic value are often valuable as well as form an integral part of human culture although the intrinsic value cannot be expressed concerning the interests it serves.10
To conclude, artists use many ways to add value to their paintings so that they appeal to many people in the world. They promote their work in this way as a result creating greater demand. On the other hand, the art is what matters in the eyes of the viewers.
10. Ward, Lucina. "A translation of a translation: Dissemination of the Arundel Society's chromolithographs." PhD diss., the Australian National University (Australia), 2016.
Bibliography
Chapman, H. Perry. "Rembrandt on display. The Rembrandthuis as portrait of an artist." Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art/Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek Online65, no. 1 (2016): 202-239.
Ferguson, Bruce W. "» Exhibition Rhetorics: Material Speech and Utter Sense, «Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson, Sandy Nairne (eds.), Thinking about Exhibitions." (1996): 183-186.
Hoffman, Katherine. Concepts of identity: Historical and contemporary images and portraits of self and family. Routledge, 2018.
Lisboa, Maria Manuel. Paula Rego's map of memory: national and sexual politics. Routledge, 2017.
Lobis, Victoria Sancho. Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and the Portrait Print. Yale University Press, 2016.
Macedo, Ana Gabriela. "Material culture, new corpographies of the feminine and narratives of dissent. Myra, by Maria Velho da Costa and Paula Rego-an intersemiotic dialogue." (2017): 55-74.
Moore, Susan. "Family album: Jan Six X talks to Apollo about how generations of his family have looked after one of the greatest private collections of Dutch art--and what it's like to hang one of Rembrandt's finest paintings in his home." In Apollo, vol. 181, no. 629, pp. 104- 111. Apollo Magazine Ltd., 2015.
Park, Ji Won. "Contemporary Family Portrait: The Hidden Uncomfortable Truth of Family Dynamics." (2015).
Van Rijn, Rembrandt Harmenszoon. Rembrandt paintings. Crescent, 1978.
Ward, Lucina. "A translation of a translation: Dissemination of the Arundel Society's chromolithographs." PhD diss., the Australian National University (Australia), 2016.
