Activity # 13

Auguste Renoir
The Vintagers, 1879
oil on canvas

The Vintagers is an Impressionist piece painted with oil on canvas in 1879 by Auguste Renoir. Impressionism, according to the http://www.artmovements.co.uk/impressionism.htm website, is a French 19th century art movement which marked a momentous break from tradition in European painting. This painting was done during the Industrial Revolution. It is possible that the time period is reflected in this work of art by depicting grape farmers coming home form the day of work. The Industrial Revolution marked a time where machine started to take the place of man. The Vintagers could be a reflection on how it used to be before the machine was invented. Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it. This style of painting is quite possibly how Renoir painted The Vintagers, with rough brushstrokes detailing a visible texture and showing the representational figures of the farmers and villagers. The theme of this seems to be that of the human experience and the daily routine. Farmers doing there jobs, picking grapes in the field and then returning home after a long days work, probably something they did every day.








Thomas Cole
The Voyage of Life: Manhood, 1842
oil on canvas

The Voyage of Life: Manhood is a Romanticism piece painted with oil on canvas in 1842 by American painter Thomas Cole. Thomas is also attributed as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement of the late 19th century. Romanticism is a deeply-felt style which is individualistic, beautiful, exotic, and emotionally wrought; from the art movements website mentioned in the above essay. Romantics gloried in such subjects as mysterious or awe-inspiring landscapes (p 492 Getlein). The period of which this work was done was the Victorian era. The appearance of the painting is a flat texture, no visible or defining brushstrokes, very much how Romantics painted. There are representational figures in the style of this painting, mainly the man on the boat and the angel in the sky. The theme of the Manhood can may have been the Sacred Realm, mainly because of the angel, and the man kneeling in prayer formation. Another theme of this piece could be that of fantasy and nature due to the dark colors of the landscape, and the faces in the grey clouds representing something not of this world.