I choose the painting Deposition, by Pontormo, as the work I would like to analyze for the first assignment. It shows a vivid scene when Jesus just had been removed from the cross. Pontormo painted almost every figure with desperate and painful eyes. And, actually, those emotions indeed touch viewer’s heart.
I would like to start analyze this painting with lines and internal composition. There are more than ten figures in this painting; thus, the lines are countless. In general, the lines are basically shown as gesture and eye direction. The focus point of this painting is probably be Jesus, which is the deadly body that lying on others. And his left hands, which hold by the female figure right behind him, is pointing to the women wearing pink dress and muffled with light yellow velvet at the right of the painting. While we look at this figure, our eyes are look upward to the arm upon hers, which is Virgin Maria’s. Then lead by this figure’s wired gesture and pointing, our eyes are now looking at the female figure on the left of this painting with a pink headscarf. And her posture forces us to look at her arms, which will eventually lead us back to the main figure, the dead Jesus. On the other hand, the eye directions of all those figures are basically focus on Virgin Maria, who might be the second important figure in this painting. All those lines I’ve mentioned above are implied in the painting; they are not actually draw out. And because of that, these lines are calm and smooth.
On the other hand, the light of this painting is come from the front of the painting, which may create a sense of hope. Although the base tone of this painting is depressed, the direction that light occurs make the whole image seems much more brighter and hopeful. And also, we can barely see any shadow on the main figure of this painting. There are plenty of lights go right to Jesus, which is the focus point of this painting.
All in all, the deposition colors, the rounding gestures, and the depressed eyes all make this painting an immortal work.
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