Art Analysis: The Descent Of Christ Into Limbo

A painting by an unknown artist is called The Descent of Christ into Limbo and was made in Peru during the mid-seventeenth century. This painting illustrates Jesus going into Limbo to free all of those who died before him. The artist demonstrates his ability to create three-dimensional figures to develop the feeling of looking out of a window. The artist also uses overlapping and shadowing to create different realistic and complex stories and scenes of Jesus. The second painting is by an unknown artist and is titled Our Lady of Bethlehem with a Male Donor. The artist painted this in Cuzco, Peru during the eighteenth century. This painting’s main objective is to portray Lady Bethlehem as a higher being with a luxurious lifestyle. This is shown …show more content…
In the first painting, The Descent of Christ into Limbo, the artist uses his/her ability to create a lot of space within one painting. The painting is not symmetrical but is very complex. The artist desired to show the viewers his/her talents by creating different stories. In order to do this, the artist generates the feeling of looking out of a window which gives the viewers an illusion of standing right in front of Christ. The artist does this by being very detailed and clear at the bottom of the picture, but vague and foggy at the top of the picture. This creates the effect that the bottom of the painting is closer to the viewer and the top is farther away. Although the painting is on one page, the artist uses overlapping and the aforementioned technique to make it feel like there is a lot of space. On the other hand, the painting, Our Lady of Bethlehem with a Male Donor, is flat and only focuses on one person. The painting is mostly symmetrical and the lady covers most of the space as she is right in the center. The lady is painted rather high and tall, forcing the viewers to look up at her. This emphasizes that she is looking down towards the viewers as if she were superior or protective. As I mention before, her dress forms a triangle which leads directly to her face. This draws the viewer’s eyes to her face, jewelry, and crown making it clear that she is …show more content…
The painting, Our Lady of Bethlehem with a Male Donor, has a two- dimensional subject that is centered and glorified. While the other painting uses three- dimensionality to create the effect of looking into a window to tell multiple of complex stories. The artist of The Descent of Christ into Limbo uses shadowing, overlapping, and texture to create a painting that is realistic. The other painting is more abstract in order to allow the viewer to no pay too much attention to her body, but to her wealth. Although color and light are important to both artists, they use both in different ways to create dissimilar outcomes. The artist of Our Lady of Bethlehem with a Male Donor uses light to illuminate the lady’s face while the artist of the other painting uses light to create distance. Even though the paintings varied, both artists knew the importance of acknowledging the effects of color and light, the viewpoint of the audience, and how to manipulate the space to their