Renaissance Art
Today, art plays a significant role in human life. It represents the perception of the world with its impact on human mentality. Consequently, the masterpieces of many artists deserve attention, and the brightest examples of them are Peasant Girl with a Scarf by Gustave Courbet (c. 1849) and The Ragpicker by ?douard Manet (c. 1865-1870). Both works represent the high level of art techniques, used by outstanding artists as you can read in quality essay. At first sight, two paintings seem to have the same subject, but the way of depicting it by both artists is quite different.
The first painting under the analysis is Courbet’s Peasant Girl with a Scarf. This work illustrates a young girl, admiring the landscape. She is surrounded by various plants that enhance the sense of solitude as shown by the author of the painting. The girl seems to be dreaming about the future while sitting in the place where nature is her only companion. Apart from a landscape, the girl also attracts viewers’ attention. She looks young and happy. It is clear from the painting that the she is quite poor because her clothes do not belong to a person from the middle or higher class. Nevertheless, her mood is uplifting and positive as well. At the same time, she is focused on some certain point, which could mean that she is thinking about something. The blush on her cheeks proves these thoughts are pleasant. Consequently, the overall atmosphere of the painting is positive. Furthermore, colors have a great impact on the painting. Thus, Peasant Girl with a Scarf has mostly plain colors, with only some brighter hints on the details, namely the scarf. Therefore, it means that the painting depicts the common life of peasant girl of a particular historical period.
The second painting is Manet’s The Ragpicker. This piece of art does not convey a positive meaning to the audience. In the foreground, one can see an old man who gathers litter. The outlook is quite dull and the sight is negative as well. Probably, the panting depicts the hardships that the poor people face in the unfair world. The setting of the painting is simple enough since one can see only a man and a pile of litter on the ground. If one compares the first painting and this one, one should state that the overall meaning of both artworks is the same. Thus, both depict poor individuals but the content of the paintings is different. Thus, Peasant Girl with a Scarf shows a positive attitude of poverty, while The Ragpicker manifests all negative aspects of the mentioned issue - the grim reality of poverty. Consequently, Manet used dark colors to show that there is nothing positive about being poor, only disappointment and misery. As for the main character depicted by the artist, he is an old man who searches for litter in order to survive. He looks untidy, with his clothes full of holes. Thus, he is the bright example of a homeless person who struggles with the world. That is why the main meaning of The Ragpicker is the depiction of the poverty, misery, and hardships.
While analyzing two pieces of art, one of the first things that comes to one’s mind is the genre of the painting. In this case, the genres differ to some extent. The first masterpiece is a facial portrait. It shows the character’s features in details. Furthermore, the accent is made on the face and the mimics of the girl. Every single part of the face is seen clearly because of the right interaction between light and darkness. At the same time, The Ragpicker is a formal portrait. This type of portrait does not focus on the face of the character, but it takes the surrounding and background as a part of the composition. The Ragpicker’s main composition comprises of a man, the background, and a pile of litter at the bottom of the picture. All these elements create a complete concept of the painting. In fact, it is easy to identify the character’s mimics as in Courbet’s painting. However, the clarity will not be so high and vivid. Nevertheless, both paintings are examples of portraits that convey the same subject.
Another important issue that should be taken into consideration is the saturation of the paintings. Both have some bright and vibrant colors. In the first case, they are grey, red, and white, while Manet’s work has the emphasis on black and grey colors. It seems that both masterpieces have the same range of colors. Accordingly, the depiction of poverty and misery coincides with dark colors in the works of Gustave Courbet and Edouard Manet. What is more, the greatest emphasis in both paintings is on the main objects while the backgrounds are shown in dark and unsaturated colors.
The paintings created by Gustave Courbet and ?douard Manet are the reflections of artists’ perception of the problem of poverty. Both works illustrate the same subject but from different perspectives. The Peasant Girl with a Scarf depicts a peasant girl who is dreaming about her life, and the overall atmosphere of the painting is positive. The Ragpicker is the portrait of a poor man who gathers litter just to survive. Both paintings are portraits, but the former is more concentrated on the girl’s features, while the latter - on the general composition of the painting. One may state that the paintings represent the life of poor people but one from a positive side and another from a negative one. Nevertheless, the main idea of both works is the real life of the poor.