Paintings and meanings behind them

Part of my research for my A2 coursework is looking at certain paintings that tell a story or have a message behind them. For this reason I and my class went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square to take a look at some of the best ones. The paintings are clearly detailed and create a story by...

• By camera shot and angle
• Colour design
• Setting
• Props
• Lighting
• Costume
• Body language & facial expressions

The first painting is called the 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1533.

It was taken during the Henry VIII years and the characters were famous during the period. The man on the left is called Jean de Dinteville who was the French ambassador to court of Henry and the man on the right is Georges de Selve.

Jean de Dinteville costume is very posh and expensive as he was wealthy, while Georges de Selve is wearing religious clothing. The objects behind them are hymn books, math book, globe and a lute with a broken string to represent discord.

The painting is about the religious struggle between the Catholic Church and Henry VIII which the characters came to sort out. Body language and costume is shown through a medium shot, mood is shown through set design and colour design. The skull at the bottom is used to show at the end of the day everything is going to lead to death. The fact it isn't shown clearly suggests you will not see it coming.

The second painting is called 'The family of Darius before Alexander' painted by Paolo Veronese in 1570.

The groups of men on the right are Alexander the Great and his army and the characters on the left on the floor and the Persian Royal family.
The painting is said to be about the army defeating Darius who is the Persian king and so Alexander comes to get his family, but the mother begs for forgiveness. The man she is begging to is said not to be Alexander, but the man behind him.

Paolo Veronese uses location to show that the area is royal as you can see a huge palace and that it is in Persia because of the monkey. However the artist changes the appearance of the royal family as they resemble European features and dress like them to, but if you look at the top left you see some Persian men.


The last painting is called 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump' painted by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1768.

It was set during the time when Air Pumps were introduced during the 17th Century to test on animals.
 
The lighting in the painting is very strong as it reveals the characters and their facial expressions.The two men sitting down seem amused, the boy and girl standing seem casual, the boy is pulling the blind, the young girls seem really upset perhaps thinking the scientist is killing the bird and the man sitting down either doesn't seem bothered or against it.
 The moon in the top right nearly covered by clouds shows it is late night and can reflect with the darkness around the room representing life and death.
 
It is about a scientist demonstrating the role of a vacuum on a bird by taking air from the tube, then quickly putting it back in when he could see it was about to die. He is said to be playing God as he has the powers to life and death which is clearly seen through the composition of him.