Diego Velazquez was a Spanish painter in the 1600s and painted a famous picture of Jesus being crucified. This picture uses a more modern style than my other paintings. It used a sfumato type of style which was made famous in the Mona Lisa.(Diego Velazquez Biography) It is a rather simple painting of Jesus with him being the focus point and the line of symmetry. The colors are very similar in being pale and not bright at all. The only glimpse of brightness on the painting is the halo around Jesus’ head but the whole painting is really dark.
This is probably one of the most well known parts of Jesus’ life. Spain in the 1600's was very catholic at the time making this an even more famous painting. The crucifixion of Jesus and the last supper are the most recreated paintings with Jesus in it. I think that this is significant to Martyrdom because this is the most well know crucifixion in all of time. What makes this martyrdom so famous is that Jesus the son of god was killed on the cross but was resurrected from the dead three days later. This painting greatly influenced history because Jesus dying on the cross is a very celebrated part of history and many religions are based on Jesus and his life. Easter which is a major holiday was the day when Jesus came back to life from the dead. Everywhere you look (on churches, on people, and on signs) you can see the famous cross and this painting shows that time in history when Jesus gave his life for the people on earth.
The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian was painted in 1475 by Antonio Pollaiuolo. In this painting it uses foreshortening with the two arrow shooters in the front. Foreshortening is where the audience knows that the guy is there but his whole body is not drawn. This was new to the time and became a very popular technique in the 1400s. It also uses vanishing points where every line in the painting goes to a vanishing point. In this painting the foreground and the background don’t really match and it didn’t create a harmonious painting.
St. Sebastian was sentenced to death by arrows because “he was converting prisoners and local people to Christianity and in the time going against the ruler, who believed in the roman gods, was an illegal offense”.(St. Sebastian Wikipedia) There he was sent to be martyred by arrows. After the archers shot arrows into him until he was covered in arrows and they left him there to die.(St. Sebastian Wikipedia) t hen someone went to bury his body they discovered he was still alive and nursed him back to health. He was known for doing amazing miracles with God, such as making a mute woman speak and a blind girl see.(St. Sebastian) Later he was shot by the same ruler who sent him to death in the first place. He is known for being martyred twice. (St. Sebastian Wikipedia) This painting and history is significant because it tells a famous story, similar to Jesus, of someone dying but coming back to life. Many people will think that this story and the story of Jesus are very similar but St. Sebastian never died. After all of the arrows came through him he stayed alive unlike Jesus who actually died but was resurrected.
In the painting The Martyrdom of St. Andrew painted by Bartolome Esteban Murillo in 1682 it shows St. Andrew on the X shaped cross with tons of people around him in the foreground. St. Andrew is in the center looking up to the heavens were he sees three angels looking down on him. Similar to the painting done by Antonio Pollaiuolo the background and the foreground do not match. In the background it is very hazy and you cannot really make anything very clear out but you can see a building being burnt down. (Lamot-Brown, )
The Martyrdom of St. Andrew was in the 1st century. St. Andrew was going around cities near the Black Sea and was preaching the word of god. Although he got caught by the Romans and was sent to be executed. There he requested a different type of cross because he said he was unfit to die on the same thing Jesus died on. He chose a Crux-decussata, or an X shaped cross, but now it is more commonly known as the St. Andrews cross. (St. Andrew Wikipedia) There he was martyred and died. He was born in the early 1st century and died in the middle of the 1st century.(St. Andrew Wikipedia) St. Andrew is similar to the story of Jesus by dying on the cross. Although the cross was a different shape the pain and suffering was still similar to Jesus but St. Andrew died on the cross and stayed dead unlike St. Sebastian who survived his 1st martyr and Jesus who did die but came back to life.
Work Cited
"Bartolome Esteban Murillo." Mark Harden's Artchive. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/murillo.html.
"Bartolome Esteban Murillo." Mark Harden's Artchive. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/murillo.html.
"Diego Velazquez Biography." Spain Travel Guide - The Definitive Guide to Travel in Spain. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/art/spanish-artists-velazquez.htm.
Lamont-Brown, Raymond. "Brief History of St Andrews." St. Andrew. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.saint-andrews.co.uk/CC/History.htm.
"Saint Sebastian." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
Lamont-Brown, Raymond. "Brief History of St Andrews." St. Andrew. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. http://www.saint-andrews.co.uk/CC/History.htm.
"Saint Sebastian." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sebastian.
“Saint Andrew.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
“Saint Andrew.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
