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Choose a comparison set (more to be added during Nov) from the drop-down menu below, and click on the thumbnails to view comparisons and our commentary below.
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These are the original comparisons displayed in the "Style and Handling" section of the Flash Movie.
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Click on a new detail to compare, and read commentary below:
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| Middle section of status of Venus and Cupid from the Samson and Delilah
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Statue of Seneca from the The Four Philosophers (1611-12), Palazzo Pitti, Florence
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Every single highlight on the right is carefully gradated, a level of accomplishment completely absent from the Samson and Delilah (look, for instance, at the long awkward highlight below Venus’ hand to the left). In fact, their intensity seems to be governed by the amount of paint that happened to be on the brush at the time rather than by the precise needs of space, light and structure. The only sense of how the light falls across this object comes from the black shadows cast to the right. Otherwise, there is scant attempt to describe the rest of the way the light falls, i.e. over the contours of the lit surfaces. Compare this with the way the lit contours are carefully depicted through judicious highlighting on the right.
There is no single depiction of sculpture approaching this Venus and Cupid in style across Rubens’ entire body of surviving work. |
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Statue of Venus and Cupid
