Sydney Robertson Blog

  Madame Francois Buron - 1769 France  Jacques-Louis David is a French painter born in 1748. After his father passed away, David started studying painting. With the help of his mother and uncles he was afforded a solid education. David went on to work n the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien ( J;acques-Louis David ). David's paintings were directed towards the idea of political ideology, he wanted to focus on civic virtue. There is not enough history on David's opinions but he was incredibly fond of the revolution and was a major supporter.  The Madame Francois Buron panting is one of Jacques-Louis earlier paintings. It is a oil painting on Canvas and is available to view in the Art Institute Chicago in Gallery 216. I was drawn to this painting because during this era, it was not common for there to be women that were well read or scholarly (Megotti Art and scientific discovery in the 1700's: Classical era ). During the classical era, writing and literature started to become far...

 Medusa,   Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - 1597 Caravaggio has some amazing paintings and it was hard to choose which one I liked the most. I found Medusa and was completely taken by the detail and expression. Caravaggio did this oil painting on canvas in 1597. Caravaggio was fascinated with the myth of Medusa and the monster like look she gave. In this specific painting Caravaggio uses his own face in place of Medusa's as a way of showing that he is immune to her gaze that turns people to stone ( Medusa (Caravaggio) ). I think it is very interesting that Caravaggio used his own self portrait in this painting. Instead of using the actual face of Medusa, he wanted to use his own face and portray that he is immune to her powers and cannot be turned to stone. Even though the myth of medusa may not be real, Caravaggio wanted to portray that he was real and show a real person in his painting ( Medusa (Caravaggio) ).  Although the head is decapitated, it shows the fina...