Formal Analysis of the Appian Way, by John Linton Chapman

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The Appian Way By John Linton Chapman The artwork that I have chosen to formally analyze is titled The Appian Way by John Linton Chapman. This artwork is an oil painting on canvas. It is the style of a landscape painting, but cannot officially be categorized as a true landscape since there are humans present in the scene. This artwork shows various broken structures and buildings, two figures under the shade of one of these structures, and a stone street that leads into the background splitting the painting in half. Since this artworks depicts something clearly recognizable, it is considered to be a representational artwork. The three visual elements I found to be most present include line, texture, and space. Line is very important in this artwork, especially because this painting uses perspective to create implied space. Implied line is present in the horizon of the painting, it outlines and gives definition to the street, while also defining and separating the buildings from the rest of the painting. Visual texture is very present in this painting. For instance, the red brick building off center would look very smooth and clean if it had been painted that way; However, since it does have visual texture it has the appearance of a dirty, old, brick building. Space is also very apparent in this painting, most of it being the illusion of negative space that is created by linear perspective. It is represented and taken up by the sky. The positive space is less than the amount of negative space and can be represented by the buildings and the ground. Line works well with space in this painting by separating the two with the horizon line. The two visual elements I thought to be the most apparent were balance, and of course scale/proportion. Balance, specifically, asymmetrical balance, is shown and represented by the two groups of structures on either side of the

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