Hailu !1 Fikadu Hailu Hum-112 Art Paper Dr.

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Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death

An amazing art work that took away my breath in the Columbus Museum of Art was Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death. It was painted in oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 - May 30, 1640), seventeenth-century Flemish painter well-known throughout Europe for his implementation of Baroque style. Born in Siegen, Germany, from his parents Jan Rubens and Maria Pypelinckx, he was a brilliant painter who was a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality (Peter, 1). Ruben travelled to Rome in 1600 in order to study painting; there he mastered the art of painting on large-scale canvases which made him follow the style of Flemish, despite the influence of his southern contemporaries (Perry, 418). He was very highly influenced by other artists of his time in Italy when he visited artistic centers. He made many paintings including Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death, which is the subject of this paper. According to the textbook, although there are different ways to describe the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one word that stands out most and used commonly by many historians is Baroque, literally means irregularly shaped or odd (Perry, 417). The term was coined with reference to the artistic manifestations and productions of seventeenth-century European art (Yebra, 18). Baroque era is a time

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Hailu !2 period of Western art that started around 17th century around Italy and lasted up until the 18th century in some parts of Europe like Germany. Very unique in style, Baroque is very clear and remarkably detailed style of painting where the desire to evoke emotional appealing to the senses, often in dramatic ways, underlies its manifestation (Pioch, 1). Painters of Baroque style implement a wide range of different techniques in order to invoke emotion. The size of a painting, being one distinguishing feature of the style, is usually gigantic and its purpose is to grab peoples attention to the art. Most Baroque paintings also have a lot of red color in them, but perhaps the most notable character that sets a Baroque painting from any other style is the use of light over a dark background in order to create a contrast that supposedly is to hit the viewers in the eye and produce emotion. Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death is an excellent example of Baroque. It is a gigantic religious painting that shows the story of Jesus fructification and his resurrection. On this work of art, one can easily see the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. It demonstrates how Christ rose from the dead so as to reveal himself to his disciples and the whole world. This painting is spiritual and extremely realistic. In this painting, one can see Jesus seating on a coffin. We see Rubens using bright red color on the cloth Jesus is wearing to drive our attention to the center of the frame creating hierarchy. The red color of the cloth was not the only thing that grabs immediate attention, Jesus having a bigger body volume compared to the other angels surrounding him also contributes to the priorities we give in paying attention to the sections of the painting.

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Hailu !3 The light from the burning fire also illuminates on his body in a greater degree than on the angels, which again put Jesus the most important part of the painting that Ruben wants to focus on. Jesus red cloth goes down from his left arm to his foot, where curved lines and a change in contrast in between the folds of the cloth create a perfect three-dimension look. We also see the same effect where his cloth goes up to his shoulders behind him starting with fresh tone of red and fading as it goes up to make it seem like its folding from behind. Jesus is surrounded by three angels and the one on the left is blowing a trumpet. This gives the impression that he is sending a message how Jesus rose from the dead since it's common to blow a trumpet in the old times to get people together to deliver a message. The ray of light from the burning fire on the right barley strike few spots on the left angels hand but not his other body part, which is also another technique Rubens used to make us assume that this angle is in motion coming out from the shade behind. The dress is also floating on the air and thus adds to the creating of the illusion assuring us how the angles are on the atmosphere. The angle in the middle wears a piece of green cloth around his west and placing the crown of thrones on Jesus head symbolizing that he is now a king who has risen from dead. The brilliant, radiating yellow colored flame on Christs head all around the crown clearly tells a message that Christ has a power over sin and death. Jesus, who is at the center of the painting, is holding a flag with a red cross on it giving as a sense that a victory in now for all Christians, who are now saved by his blood. We see his left foot stepped on a serpent and a skull. These two creatures, the serpent and skull may symbolize "sin" and "death". The fact that his left foot is on the

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Hailu !4 creatures shows the victory of Jesus over sin and death. Down to the left foot of Jesus bellow the coffin, there is a flame of fire. One can say that the flame of fire represents hell since the Bible mentions that after death is heaven or hell, which is usually associated with fire and the fact that it is bellow the coffin assures the phenomena after death. This painting is accessible on-line in the museum of Vienna. One can experience the painting online, in a computer screen but it is clear that one will be missing some of the elements while viewing on the screen. Just the size of the painting makes this art worth experiencing in person. The whole texture of the painting is smooth but the flame is rough, of course it indicates brushstrokes when seen very closely but this is not evident when viewing on-line. The more you get close to the screen, the more you study the windows texture. We can see Rubens using all kinds of lines in his art work. Straight lines are illustrated on the coffin on which Jesus is seated and curved lines to capture the movement of the angles. This brightly colored painting is so dynamic. The width and height of this majestic piece of art being so huge, standing about ten feet high and around six feet wide, made me wonder if Rubens wanted this piece of art to communicate with the viewers in a unique way. Of course, size wasn't the only thing he used, him being a brilliant painter who knew how to use sophisticated techniques of composition, he made sure that the painting itself conveyed the theme clearly and in an elegant fashion . The use of light, the use of bright red color and the size of the painting clearly distinguishes this gigantic, magnificent piece of art as Baroque. In general, as a Baroque painting, it was direct, simple, obvious and to some extent dramatic.

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Hailu !5 The work of Peter Paul Rubens on Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death is very astonishing to me with a detail of meaningful reality and especially for those who believe in Christ Jesus. Rubens did a great job using all the elements to guide the viewers logical and visual flow to Jesus victory without distraction from the theme. Thus, saying it has unity, the use of contrast to show what is more important while the other figures sink into the shadow is very noted in the painting. The use of red color, the use of light over a dark background and perhaps more importantly the size of the painting makes this magnificent piece of art work nothing short of brilliant.

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Works Cited Perry, Jacob, Chase, and Von Laue.!Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, Comprehensive. Wadsworth. Print. "Peter Paul Rubens Biography."!Peter Paul Rubens. Creative Commons Licence. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.peterpaulrubens.org/biography.html>. Pioch, Nicolas. "Baroque."!WebMuseum:. 14 Oct. 2002. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http:// www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/baroque/>. Yebra, Jos M. "The 'Moving' Lines Of Neo-Baroque In Will Self's Dorian: An Imitation."!Atlantis (0210-6124)!33.1 (2011): 17-31.Humanities International Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.