Interesting information about the world of painting and sculpture.
When it comes to art, most people think of the prosperity of any genius of a certain period, often forgetting that the environment has shaped the style and vision of the artist. After all, the appearance of works of art can be influenced by many different factors, sometimes not having any relation to it.
1. Monet Cataracts
Claude Monet is considered the father of impressionism. The course was named in honor of the showing of his paintings “Impression. Rising sun” (Impression). The Impressionists valued and strongly emphasize light and movement in his works. Often it may look like blurred colors on the canvas. Some experts believe that such a vague style could be due to the fact that Monet had vision problems.
When he was 85 years old, Monet underwent a cataract operation. Studying his paintings, the researchers found that over time , the bright colors on them gradually became turbid.
2. Camera Vermeer
The art there is a theory that Dutch painter Vermeer used some kind of device with lenses to create their works. There is no historical evidence about such, but some art historians came to the conclusion that he used a pinhole camera to project the image on the canvas. Some distortion in his paintings are completely identical to those produced by the lens.
3. Medieval ugly babies
In medieval art was dominated by religious subjects, but the most popular was the theme of Jesus. Interestingly, many children in medieval art was scary — they had the faces of ugly old men. One of the theories of the medieval theologians States that “Jesus had to be born with a perfect body, and his features were not to change throughout life.”
This theory of baby Jesus became known as “homuncular” (from the word “homunculus” or “little man”). This style of painting children died in the Renaissance, when people wanted to see a realistic picture of their own children.
4. Colorblindness Van Gogh
Few painters loved so well as Vincent van Gogh. The diversity of his palette, it would seem, makes you seem absurd assumption that the artist was color blind. However, Kazunori also Assad have studied the works of van Gogh and came to the conclusion that the artist could not distinguish red hues.
5. Blue cloak of the virgin Mary
The influence of theology on art is widely known, but the economy can influence art. In Renaissance paintings the virgin Mary is almost always wearing a blue cloak. What was behind this stylistic choice? The answer lies in the trade routes to Afghanistan.
The medieval artists were little bright blue pigments. This disadvantage was eliminated when in Europe appeared lapis lazuli is a blue mineral, which was imported from Asian mountains as well as ultramarine — the pigment that was made from it. But the pigment was very expensive and was used only for the most important characters. Mary just fell into this cohort. And so was her blue cloak.
6. Hand prints in cave art
Among the most common motifs in ancient caves are hand prints. The ancient artist had a hand in the wall and sprayed it over the paint, blowing it out of the tube. So on the wall there was an outline handprint. After looking at these pictures, scientists were able to determine how many in the ancient world was left-handed and right-handed (based on what the hand was attached to the wall, and what was holding up).
7. Egyptian profiles
Egyptian art is known fact that people are portrayed only in profile. One would assume that the Egyptians never looked each other in the eye. But the statues prove the opposite – the Egyptians portrayed the human face and full face. So why in the paintings and reliefs are used only profiles? The secret is that in the Egyptian art of realism was not in the first place. It was necessary to show the essence of man, to emphasize the distinctive aspects of an object or person. And profile fit perfectly.
8. Asymmetrical testicles the statues
The classical Greek statues showed the human form idealized image. Every part of the body had to conform to a strict mathematical harmony. To show this perfect body to perfection, most of the statues were done naked. This allows modern scientists to carefully study every detail of this “ideal”.
Professor Chris McManus studied the asymmetry of the testicles of ancient Greek statues. Usually these statues right testicle is higher and smaller and the left one is lower and looks larger. The scientist believes that there is a symbolic reason for this. The ancients believed that one testicle produces male children and the other women. The artists were able to show that the men were only sons.
9. The Horns Of Moses
“Bible the Vulgate” or “Common Bible” – Latin text used to this day by the Catholic Church. In translations there is always the risk of gross errors, but in this case, the error resulted in a rather unorthodox way of Moses. In Chapter 33 of Exodus, “the Vulgate says: “And when Moses came down from mount Sinai, he held two tablets of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the speeches of the Lord. Aaron and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near her. That is why the statue of Michelangelo’s “Moses” has two very prominent horns on the head. Many argue that in fact, the author of Exodus had in mind that Moses came down from the mountain with a radiant face.
10. Saint Christopher with a dog’s head
In the Eastern Orthodox Christian iconography in the image of St. Christopher, you notice something unusual. He… the dog’s head. The most likely reason for this is another wrong translation. St. Christopher is described as Cananeus (i.e. hananet). It’s possible someone misunderstood it as Canineus (dog).
