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  • Essay / The darkness of philosophies in the works of Jacques-Louis David and Francisco Goya

    The darkness of philosophiesThe Age of Enlightenment had a very strong impact on the art that we create today. The Enlightenment had three philosophies: neoclassical, romanticism and realism. These three elements ended up being linked in an immense way. A revolution had begun in 1789, which resulted in the art of those times becoming dark and depressing. They had many similarities not only in artwork, but also in artists. Two works that serve as examples would be The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David and Saturn Devouring One of His Children by Francisco Goya. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Death of Marat was created by Jacques-Louis David in 1793. This work of art was created with oil paint on canvas. In the painting he depicts the murder of Jean-Paul Marat. Marat was a revolutionary writer, not only influential on the revolution, but also a friend of David. Marat was depicted lying in a bathtub against a dark wall. He is slumped on his side and has a smile on his face. You can see the red blood in the water, on the white sheets behind him and on the paper in his hands. He is holding a feather in his right hand and you can see the knife to the left of his right hand on the ground. The scene is based on the time Charlotte Corday, a member of a rival political faction, stabbed him to death while he was writing in the bathtub. The colors in this painting are very murky and dull, but the story behind it is dark and almost monstrous. It is a neoclassical painting and the first warrior painting. This was the beginning of dark and somewhat wild works of art (Kleiner, 785). Saturn Devouring One of His Children was created by Francisco Goya between 1819 and 1823. This work of art was originally created as a fresco, but was later detached and mounted. on a canvas. It shows the mythological story of Saturn devouring his son, after he heard of a prophecy that one of his own children would dethrone him. This dark fresco depicts Saturn as a large monster with wild eyes and muddy skin, holding a small, mutilated body. The body is made to look more human-like, even though it is headless and its arm is shoved into Saturn's large mouth. Bright red blood runs down the body and pools around Saturn's hands. The scene is extremely bloody and disturbing. It is made up of muddy, dull colors and makes the viewer's stomach turn with disgust and horror. Goya created this fresco to express his depression over the passage of time. Saturn's Greek name, Kronos, is extremely similar to the Greek word khronos, meaning time. This is what encouraged the idea for his work. This piece comes from the philosophy of Romanticism which presents the dark and emotional works of art that Romanticism should convey (Kleiner, 805). These two works are very similar in many ways, contextually and visually. Both have a historical element behind them. Death of Marat is a propaganda painting based on the assassination of one of his close friends. This is a real historical event that has happened before. Saturn Devouring One of His Children is a historical mythological tale, however, it is not based on real events. This work of art also has an emotional story behind it and is more personal than propaganda for the revolution. They both convey the death, sadness and violence caused by the revolution. Both of these paintings have extremely muddy colors and..