Analysis Of The Poem The Old Testament - 1152 Words

One of the most interesting details of this picture is its shape. Most pieces that we see are rectangular or square. This piece is circular. Not only that, but there are also words around the border of the scene. After my first look at this picture, I think that there is a strong feminist undertone here. A woman is the main focal point, and not only that but she is also about to kill a man. She is exuding power. This scene is reminiscent of a biblical story in the Old Testament where a woman drives a stake through a man’s head during wartime. Descriptive Analysis One of the first elements of this piece was the contrast. The piece was done in black and white so there are mainly just highlights and shadows. Highlighted the most is what I†¦show more content†¦So here we have a woman who has all the power in this situation. She is holding a hammer to the head of this man who we can see is very strong, and he cannot stop her. To create the contrast in this scene, the artist relied heavily on the use of lines. There is a boundary line that encompasses the entire picture. The fact that the boundary line of this piece is in a circle makes the scene feels as if it holds some sort of significance. There is a type of painting – the tondo – where the artist creates his/her piece with a circular boundary line. This style of art was very popular in Italy during the Renaissance and was usually used to convey religious ideas. This evidence would support the idea that this scene depicts a biblical story from the Old Testament. The artist also uses the method of hatching and cross-hatching to give a sense of depth. The use of hatching is very heavily defined on the curtains around the backside of the tent. Cross-hatching is used to define a shadow on the left side of the curtain. This effect makes it feel as though this area of the tent is farther away from the viewer’s vantage point. The artist also uses hatching on the two main subjects to define their bodies even under their clothes. This method helps the artist contribute to the effect of contrast. Areas where there is little to no hatching seem lighter and thus closer to the viewer. There