William Henry Fox Talbot was the creator of the photography process which included the salted paper and calotype processes. The Open Door is one of the first photos to be taken, it changed the idea of medium of art. He established a way for artists to capture a scene taken in the moment, except the exposure was so slow that it would take hours to process. It was the first step to the great technology we use today. William uses the strategy of natural shadows and light to establish contrast and brightness. He also used the rule of thirds while setting up his camera. Placing the door in the center and framing it with brightness and the walls around it. Adding the broom shows the technology at the time as well as adding an object for the eye to look at.
Frederic Edwin Church used several techniques while creating the piece The Heart of the Andes. They included many ideas from romanticism as well as realism. He created this piece to show the beautiful scenery of the new-found-land. Within the painting he created different paths for the eye to be drawn to; the path along the river that leads the eye to the white topped mountains in the left corner and the path of the stream that continues to the eye to be drawn up to the rolling hills in the center of the piece. He created details within the trees and the bushes in the foreground to help create layers and more depth within the piece. These strategies cause the eye to be continually moving but as well as being drawn back to a certain part of the piece. The Heart of the Andes is a piece that expresses the idea of a new land. It is an art piece that he could take back to show the people who had yet seen the new land.
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Benjamin West created The Death of General Wolfe to express the war that had been on going in the Northern America’s. This piece shows the different groups of fighters coming together to care for the general who had passed. It represents the end of the seven year war between Native Americans and the French. This piece uses the traditions of history, while also showing the male anatomy, represented with the Native American. Benjamin did a great job at expressing the idea behind the scene. Having the general be bright and show with his whole face while being seated in the center, expressing that he is the main and most important part of the painting. Mr. West wanted to show that he knew what he was doing because he had the anatomy as well as being an historical event.
Theodore Gericault painted the piece The Raft of the Medusa after hearing many stories of the French Naval vessel Meduse had been in a serious wreck, killing most passengers. This piece gives off the ideas from Neoclassical school with expressing an historical event as well as the male anatomy. It gives the soft glow from the romanticism era. This piece created a story within the story that it was trying to tell. It seems as if the artist is pulling the original story slightly, which makes it more interesting to the viewer but also changes the meaning.
Even if these two paintings are representing different stories they both follow the ideas from the Neoclassical era.
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