Difference Between Ruben's Road to Calvary and Manet's Mocking of Christ

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Parth Kumar 11/21/2012 Dr. Regan Art HIstory 11 Sec. 1 Humanity Manet's depicts Christ as a contemporary human being disguised as a god instead of the divine figure drawn as a man in the Jean Paul Rubens's painting The Road to Calvary. These two paintings present a contrast as to how religious paintings changed over time. At first glance, the theme that strikes the viewer in Ruben’s The Road to Calvary immediately is the lack of color in the painting. This color shows the solemn tone of the narrative scene. This is a time when Christ is being taken to the cross to be crucified. Despite their dull tone, the colors appeal to the viewer, in order for the viewer to realize that the reason Christ is in this predicament is because we have sinned. It is our sin that he is purging. In addition, Rubens combines two artistic styles. The first of these is that of the large single-frame altarpieces. This painting was made for the high altar of the Abbey of Affligem, which was different for the era. During this time, altarpieces were of exceptional scale and strongly vertical format; artists were faced with the problem of constructing a convincing compositional unity from a series of related themes in a vertical format. Rubens, instead of dividing the painting into an upper and lower register, chose to paint in a zigzag movement. It is this movement Christ goes to achieve his ascension. Each branch represents a transition from one group to the next. The first branch is created through the use of contrast and orthogonal lines. The Cross, the roman soldiers spear, the babies, and the mother, Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary comprise the first stroke. It is in this stroke where Christ is being to the Roman soldiers. He is given from the Virgin Mary, his mother, and Mary Magdalene’s hands to the Romans. May Magdalene is gently wiping Christ’s face. The two babies are

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