Old masters

[Katydid]

sorry it has taken me so long to get thsi done. too many beautiful paintings.

[Arlene]

In RL these are much brighter, so i took them into ps and brightened them so we could see the details. So tell me what is your thoughts on these four paintings? do they work compositionally? why? what do you see tying each painting together?

[Dorell]

Oh lordy.... I really need my hand held :o
I can't seem to find a sensible thought about any of them. I would love to see what otheres make of this.....

[Katydid]

On the fruit I did find quite a few triangles, besides the obvious repeat of the round shapes of the fruit, and the repeat of the grapes and plums. I think those things are what work well.

The Vermeer’s who could not love them? I do notice first the light on the subjects. Other then that and his obvious talent what is it that makes them so wonderful?

the Renard i need to study a little more. i have found some triangles, but don't think it is the key here.

[Valda]

Please give the artists' names and the title of the paintings. I recognize the first two as Vermeer's, but don't know about the others.

[Arlene]

On the fruit I did find quite a few triangles, besides the obvious repeat of the round shapes of the fruit, and the repeat of the grapes and plums. I think those things are what work well.

The Vermeer’s who could not love them? I do notice first the light on the subjects. Other then that and his obvious talent what is it that makes them so wonderful?

the Renard i need to study a little more. i have found some triangles, but don't think it is the key here.you're missing what holds it all together.

[gail]

Can I join in here?

Ok, If only I could draw lines on images like you guys do. How about the one big triangle (base follows the edge of table and top point ends where the grapes peak in the basket) that encompasses all the fruit.

Gail

[oozoo]

On first glance, I think it's interesting that in all of them the light is coming from upper left, in the back of the frame, and the subject in all of them is facing left towards the front of the frame, if that makes sense (Think of the room pictured as four dimensions) I hadn't realized how common that was, but it makes sense if you think about the fact that the eye enters the frame at the upper left, so it would follow the light to the subject.

[Katydid]

Please give the artists' names and the title of the paintings. I recognize the first two as Vermeer's, but don't know about the others.
sorry Valda, i should have done that:
AENVANCK, Theodoor - Fruit
VERMEER VAN DELFT - The Geographer, and The Procuress(nope not true I posted :bangin: ) Woman Holding a Balance
RENARD DE SAINT-ANDRÉ, Simon - Vanitas

[Katydid]

ok i added the large triangle and did some work on Vanitas

Arlene - are you asking me about the sweet spot?

(Everyone feel free to jump in here)

[Brenda]

Just adding my two cents... cuz that's about all it's worth! :p

What I notice about all of these is how the deep value contrasts so strongly with the bright highlights and how they are place next to each other. The contrasts lead my eye around the picture and always bring it back to the beginning.

This is great, Kay. Glad you started this thread!

[christine]

I'm new at this and I'm sure it will be a very long time before I can draw circles, lines or shapes of any kind, but I have to agree with Brenda here. The first thing that jumped out at me in each image is the sharp contrast of lights and darks. The intense lights against the darks demand to be spoken of!

In the second Vermeer, There are a lot of diagonals which seem to run from top left to lower right for example, the slope of his back, the shadow on the wall behind him, the direction of the table, the shadow under the chair and the pattern on the cloth. It's also the direction in which the light source enters the painting. Sorry, I tried to cut and paste the painting in this post, but it's going to take me some time to figure this all out.

[Arlene]

ok listen up...for now forget the triangles circles etc...i have a thread with what i consider 10 guidelines for good comp...read it andthen lets discuss. :)

[Katydid]

ok i re-read the thread and on all of them the lights and dark are set to lead your eye by the artist. i tried placing the sweet spot lines, but can't do it well on computer.

on paper they all had main subject in or very near a sweet spot. Except for Woman Holding a Balance where it falls on the hands and light on hitting on the table. that could be what the artist considered the most important (the title does fit with that thought)

the colors are beautiful (IMHO), well placed, and also lead the eye around.

am i close? why didn't i guess you would make me figure it out...not tell me? :eek:

[Katydid]

i haven't given up. i have been reading and studying the paintings. i am starting with the Aenvank using 10 rules. 1&2) Focal point: grapes - on table are light in value and fall on a sweet spot 3) perspective is perfect the light table edge comes forward and the horizon merges into the bg. 4)movement: the colors of the fruit draws you from front across and up to the basket the vine leaves/stem leads you back down. 5) variety colors of the fruit as well as shapes 6) object overlap well 7) most repeat in odd number, except the white grapes of which there are TWO 8) repetition (covered in prior posts) 9) balance - grey scale attached -as well as PS of the edges that helped me on this 10) background basket, vine, leaves, and cloth hanging down all move the eye back down

Am I even close??? :confused: