HOW PAST WORKS OF ART INFLUENCE ARTISTS IN THE PRESENT.

How Past works of art influence artists in the present

How Past works of art influence artists in the present

Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus

A pupil of François-Édouard Picot Ecole des Beaux-Arts, was awarded the second Prix de Rome in 1845 by passing it five years in Villa Medici in Rome. He achieved great fame with the Birth of Venus, which was bought by Napoleon III in 1863 . The same year he was appointed professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Member of jury for 17 times from 1868 to 1888 at the Salon, he received the medal of honor in 1865 , 1867 and 1878 .

He was a painter of history, genre and portrait painter: disputed by collectors in Europe and America, required as a portraitist, he was an enemy of naturalism and of the ' Impressionism and was attacked by Émile Zola and all those who defended the need for 'less sweet and more realistic art.

Théophile Gautier wrote about, Birth of Venus that, his divine body seems petrified with the snowy foam of the waves. The tips of the breasts, mouth and cheeks are painted in a pink inexpressible, a drop of ambrosia purple substance that spreads in silver and soft " [1] and Louis Auvray, What is admired here, is the elegance of the forms, the correctness of the design, finesse and freshness of complexion. And less than a technical nature but it is more purely, more poetically beautiful”

On the contrary, Emile Zola, "The goddess drowned in a river of milk has the air of a gracious Lorette, even in the flesh - it would be indecent - but in a sort of marzipan pink and white. There are people who qest'adorabile doll is well designed, well-modeled, and the states or at least bastard daughter of the Venus de Milo here is the opinion of serious people. There are people that wonder of the smile of the doll, his limbs delicate, his voluptuous pose here is the opinion of people reading. And all is for the best in the best possible framework”

The greatest evil of Cabanel lies in the renewed academic style. The old classic doll, toothless and bald, has given false hair and false teeth. The witch has been transformed into a seductive woman, slicked and scented, heart-shaped mouth and blond curls. The painter has even pushed a little 'too rejuvenation. The bodies of women on his canvases have become cream. For full of daring, have dared to introduce personal tones and brush strokes. All purpose, so it looks original, but Cabanel never exceeds the limits. He is a genius who makes a classic touch of rice powder, something like Venus. The success was enormous. All of them fell into ecstasy. Here is a teacher in the taste of the artists who pretend? Ask for the ringing of color? Cabanel said enough to the severe lines of tradition. In a word, if you ask originality, Cabanel is the man ...