Lavin on Caravaggio, Alpers on Velazquez, Hyde on Boucher Essay

Lavin on Caravaggio, Alpers on Velazquez, Hyde on Boucher - Essay Example With respect to Velazquez’s painting on Las Meninas, Alpers mentions that certain contents and elements in the artist’s paintings are solely appended on the historical contexts of the characters rather than on their natural pictorial representation. Technically, artificial representation of elements and contexts in Las Meninas is in tandem with the 17th Century painting where important contents were fore-grounded or proximally situated with respect to auxiliary contents. Apparently, the pictorial quality of Las Meninas is inventively created and sustained so as to distinguish particular features from others (Alpers 34). For example, the princess together with the dwarf maid in Velazquez’s painting is wholly depicted on the painting’s foreground. However, the upstanding soldier and other characters at the rare are casually acknowledged as a means of creating a gaze rather than a glance on the viewer. Therefore, Velazquez’s paintings of Las Meninas ar e anecdotally narrative as opposed to being genuine in nature. Predictably, the artificial representation of characters in Las Meninas is meant to highlight the distinguishable social ranks of different characters. With respect to Boucher’s portrait of Pompadour at her Toilette, Melissa Hyde acknowledges the fact that the painting is a self-representation image; hence Boucher played a re-representation role in creation of the pictorial artwork. Apparently, Pompadour wanted to self-depict herself in front of a mirror. As a result, Boucher strived to pictorially represent.