Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
Wednesday Morning Rant
Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris] The Morning Report 11/20/24 Daily Tech News 20 November 2024 Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (11/19/24) [Doof] It's Two Weeks Since the Election and I Can't Stop Doing "The Trump" Cafe Update: Mike Johnson Has "Privately Committed" to Blocking Men From Using Women's Bathrooms and Locker Rooms Quick Hits "Jaguar" Company Saw What Dylan Mulvaney Did For Bud Light's Sale and Decides It Wants to Jump On That Sinking Ship Too Plus: Tesla Launch Biden Gives Ukraine the OK to Use Long-Range US Missiles (Using US Targeting Information) To Strike Targets Deep Within Russia; Putin Announces He Is Changing Russia's Nuke Rules to Allow Using Nukes Against Ukraine Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« The Morning Report 11/20/24 |
Main
| Wednesday Morning Rant »
November 20, 2024
Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris]The Fire of Troy A lot of Frederik van Valckenborch’s work seems to consist of wide, sprawling, detailed landscapes and populated with melodramatic human figures. They have dominant foregrounds with supporting middle- and backgrounds. I got the impression that he was particularly interested in intense subject matter, such as wars or tragedies. A source I read categorizes his style as Mannerist, the period of art history immediately following the High Renaissance where artists experimented with the rules and innovations of art developed during that earlier era. The intense drama of The Fire of Troy, its swirling forms and color, and figures melting into others, also foreshadow the coming Baroque era. In The Fire of Troy, van Valckenborch creates a scene of terrible slaughter. This is the very end of the Trojan War. The Greeks have emerged from the Horse and rampage through the city at night, catching the Trojans totally by surprise. The main scene is in the foreground center left. Warriors attack a group of women and girls who will be taken back to Greece as slaves. All the males of the city, adults and children, will be killed. Behind this group is the battle. The Greeks flow like a flash flood from the Horse into the city while the Trojans try to dam the flow. There is panic and chaos. This section is interesting to me. At first, it was hard to tell which way the action was moving. When I first looked at it, it looked like the mass was charging from upper-left to bottom-right. Then when I refocused my gaze, it switched, going from bottom-right to upper-left. Looking closer, I saw that this flood has currents. Some groups charge to the right, some countercharge to the left — and slicing through the mass is a troop of cavalry. It is chaos and it highlights the confusion of battle and the realities of open, hand-to-hand combat. It’s a neat effect and it gives The Fire of Troy energy and noise. The Trojan Horse in the background is almost lost in all the chaos. It’s a small, tan shape that blends into the scenery. It is the source of the action, though. The raging flood flows from it and around it. If you embiggen the painting, you can see Greeks still emerging from the Horse. It gives the effect that the Greeks just keep coming with no end in sight. It’s a neat detail. The confusion of battle is replicated in van Valckenborch’s technique. His loose brushstrokes complement and exaggerate the action on the ground. Fire becomes a raging inferno when painted like this. It feels hot and out of control. The limited use of color helps, too. The Fire of Troy is a night scene lit by the fire, so the colors are mostly yellows, oranges, and some reds. They glow against the blackness. I like the details of this painting. The main scene of the warriors and women in the front is complemented by others: the Greeks descending from the Trojan Horse, the cavalry battle in the middle, the screaming women on the balcony to the right, the architecture, etc. The flow of the action leads my eye around to take it all in. My favorite scene, however, might be the black and red group of buildings near center right. I really like van Valckenborch’s use of silhouette to brighten the flames, and the red glowing through the windows flickers. It looks like something out of Dante and compounds the horror and tragedy of the scene. Van Valckenborch then added groups of people fleeing in panic from this blaze into the heart of the slaughter. It is Hell. This black and red contrasts with the large area of yellow and white to the left, enhancing both. There are a few things that feel off about this painting. The perspective is wrong. Distances and scale also feel inaccurate. Since Mannerists liked to play around with the viewer’s expectations, Van Valckenborch could be using these distortions to create a sense of imbalance in the viewer in another attempt to depict the realities of war. The cityscape itself is a fantastical Renaissance setting. The real Troy was a late Bronze Age fortress without elaborate Romanesque architectural details such as domes. It isn’t a contemporary city either. It’s something Van Valckenborch made up. He seems to fill his city with references to specific monuments, however. The columns dotting the scene are similar to the Column of Trajan. The large round building in the left background behind the Trojan Horse looks like an exaggerated version of the Temple from Raphael’s The Marriage of the Virgin. It was common for artists to use contemporary or familiar places and props as sit-ins for their ancient subject matter. Notice that the armor of the soldiers is not period specific either. Van Valckenborch clothed his figures in a mixture of styles and time periods. He needed a powerful city and two powerful armies. For art like this, historical accuracy is secondary to the message: the drama and climax of a great story and the fall of a great city. | Recent Comments
Don Black:
"> Well that was a cut & paste faiil.
Posted by: ..."
t-bird: "[i]Regarding replacement Macs, StackSocial has som ..." [/b][/s][/u][/i]muldoon: "Laryngitis the Little Horse. ..." rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices [s][/b][/i][/u]: "Dress rehearsal for WWIII. U.S. B-52 Conducts R ..." Archimedes: "[i]It's actually about a cartoon lion. Posted by: ..." rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices [s][/b][/i][/u]: "I'm old enough to remember when they pushed update ..." CharlieBrown'sDildo: "...really dreadful Dell... [i]Posted by: whig a ..." Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! [/i] [/s] [/b] [/u]: "Dress rehearsal for WWIII. U.S. B-52 Conducts R ..." Bulg: "Sounds like any number of Hordelings could've fixe ..." Ian S.: "[i]Main reason I don't care for them is Safari as ..." Sponge - F*ck Cancer: "[i]Shatner worried about people drowning with risi ..." Chairman LMAO, AI Expert: "@362 so she'll be arrested if she interferes the c ..." Recent Entries
Wednesday Morning Rant
Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris] The Morning Report 11/20/24 Daily Tech News 20 November 2024 Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (11/19/24) [Doof] It's Two Weeks Since the Election and I Can't Stop Doing "The Trump" Cafe Update: Mike Johnson Has "Privately Committed" to Blocking Men From Using Women's Bathrooms and Locker Rooms Quick Hits "Jaguar" Company Saw What Dylan Mulvaney Did For Bud Light's Sale and Decides It Wants to Jump On That Sinking Ship Too Plus: Tesla Launch Biden Gives Ukraine the OK to Use Long-Range US Missiles (Using US Targeting Information) To Strike Targets Deep Within Russia; Putin Announces He Is Changing Russia's Nuke Rules to Allow Using Nukes Against Ukraine Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |