William Bouguereau's The Elder Sister

Formal Analysis Paper
In my formal analysis, I will attempt to bring out various points of two works of art, 'The Elder Sister', by William Bouguereau, and 'Portrait of a young Woman', by Rembrandt van Rijin. Though they are from different time periods, there are a few select similarities to make note of. The main focus, though, will be in contrasting the two works based on color and the useage of the principles of design. In Bouguereau's 'The Elder Sister', there are many interesting points to discuss . Firstly, and most noticeably, the artist incorporates various blends of color that give the composition a soft, dull feeling and texture. The colors used are neither too bright nor too dark, but lush, emphasizing natural forest green, as
In this work, though, two blushed cheeks are very noticeable, giving the human figure a more lifelike and physical/realistical feel, as well as the useage of color to show emotion as being different.
One of the biggest differences in Rembrandt's work is in the very dark tones and colors he uses to depict a character or scene. Rembrandt's young woman has red hair, and wears a black dress which seems to intentionally melt into the background, making it feel as if the viewer is only looking at a head with a dress. The red hair draws the viewer's eye toward the woman's face, because the rest of the composition is very dark.
Another difference can be found in perspective as well as with background/foreground. Rembrandt's work differs from Bouguereau's in that 'The Elder Sister' has a clear vanishing point in the background, where as Rembrandt's composition lacks any visual components in the background. Even without a background, Rembrandt does make some subtle use of lines which could not be found in 'The Elder Sister'; The woman's neck garment seems to span out in triangular shape, and the lines pull the viewer's eye over and