ENLIGHTENMENT AND ROMANTIC ART-COMPARING THE TWO
...nt Period. The painting is balanced by the horse on the left, the large wheel in the center, and the men working on the right. The cart is balanced by the horse, which is holding it up. The man in the cart seems to be balancing himself by placing one arm on each side of the walls of the cart. The wood plank that is being lifted into the cart seems to be balanced on top of what looks like two small pieces of wood or stone. The cart is held in place by not only the horse but also there are two calks/bricks holding the wheels of the cart in place/steady (one behind each wheel). The man with the walking stick/cane is balancing himself on top of it. He is leaning on it to hold himself up. The background is balanced from left to right. The sky and the clouds in it are shaded a light gray, then the trees closest to the sky are shaded dark gray, furthest to the right, the trees are dark gray. All of the shadows in the painting are balanced and are the same length, meaning that they are evenly cast throughout the painting. One many believe as I do that the symmetry of this painting has already been described in the discussion about the balance of the painting. The horse is most likely the most confined object in the painting. This is because the horse is stuck in the harness of the cart. The horse cannot move anywhere unless it wants to move straight forward. The man in the car would be the next most confined object because he can not get out of the cart, unless of course if he jumped of the side or got the man lifting the heavy load to move. The third man from the left is also quite confined. He can move, but very slowly, unless of course if he dropped the load on the ground. The other two men and the dog are completely free. They are not confined at all. If they felt like going somewhere else, it would not be very hard. The men seem to be in a sort of hierarchy. The man in the cart and the man on the far right seem to be dressed somewhat nicer than the two other men, and seem to be telling the other two men what to do. The cart was painted in very orderly. Te cart has exactly ten spokes on each wheel. In addition, the lumber used in constructing the cart seems to be very strong and sturdy. It looks as though the cart was built to last and carry heavy loads. The painting shows the many parts to the cart, axel, supports, wheels, walls; even the boards are shown on the walls of the cart. This painting is completely Enlightenment Period conformed. The men in the painting are wearing what an 18th century man would wear. They are wearing the tight pants/trousers, the hats that were in style during the time, and the puffed sleeved shirts are visible. The horse is even painted in as an 18th century horse. The horse’s tail hair is cut to half the length of today’s normal horse and all of his neck hair is also cut shorter that normal horses are cut in today’s society. The dog in the lower left-hand corner of the painting is painted in as what an average working person’s dog would look like, skinny and tired. The clothing is a very large part of restriction, which I have mentioned above. The painting, on the other hand, is restricted by the objects it is consisting of. George Stubbs is portraying an 18th century working person, to do this he is restricted to painting just the workings of one of the many chores of a laborer. The painting is restricted to the horse, cart, and men beside the cart. The dog marks the bottom of the painting, a sad and lonely end/bottom. The Cottage Door: The woman is the center of the painting. She is the brightest object in it. She is viewed as a savior, safe haven. She cares for all of the children around her, six in all. Her door to her cottage, if it is her cottage, is open, meaning that she is willing and “open” to take in more children. She is strong, there is no man present, recommending the thought that she is on her own to care for all of the children. She is a woman that is independent enough to live in the wilderness/forest all alone to fend for herself and care for the children. The imagination of this painting has already been viewed and discussed in the paragraphs above and below. The scene that is portrayed to give the painting a sense of sadness or weathered ness. The sky of the painting shows a beautiful blue and orange/red sky and sun, which suddenly changes form light to very dark and black as ones eyes travel from top left to top right. The light from the sun cuts through parts of the forest to shine on the cottage and the woman as if it is thankful/helping/sympathetic toward and for the woman. The country is viewed a romantic, calm, and easy place. In the painting, the woman’s home is easy and calm; there is nothing to worry about, but herself and the children. Although there is a large dead tee trunk in the front of the cottage and all of the living trees, completely visible to all, which could have been painted there for a reason, could symbolize hardship or hard times living in the forest/ country, but low and behold at the very tip of the dead tree trunk there is a newly formed branch, full of life and growth to come. There is new growth and prosperity visible in the woman’s face and in the growing children. The sun is shining onto the cottage and the group of people- the woman is looking toward the sun as if the sun was her guidance. The life of a country person is simple. In the country, there are not many things to worry about because there is no city to get into or something like that. The woman lives in a humble cottage. It is not large, making the upkeep and cleaning of it exceptionally easy. The children are somewhat humble in there appearance. They do not appear to be kicking and screaming as children often do. The open cottage door would symbolize the change in status quo. The open door symbolizes that the woman is willing to let people in. The addition of people to the already large group would bring turbulence and blurriness to the future. In one hand, the addition of people would make it harder for the woman, but in the other hand one may see a better or worse life in the future. The addition could have the possibility of helping the woman in the future if the children turn out to be good and helping people. The nature part...