Religion and Art Coursework. Paintings by Bellini, Della Francesca and Delacroix

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Religion and Art Coursework

‘The Madonna of the Meadow’ is a painting created by Giovanni Bellini in 1500. It was set in the farmland surrounding Venice. The image that stands out most in the picture is the figure of the Virgin Mary sat on the ground with baby Jesus on her thigh. The Virgin Mary is dressed in blue to show her importance because at the time that this painting was painted the colour blue was very expensive and only special people used to wear it. To get the paint would have been very expensive so it was used only to portray more important figures and it then was used with Mary. On The Virgins Mary head she has a white veil to emphasise her humbleness and the clouds surrounding her form a kind of halo around Mary's head to show her sinless ness and purity. Mary seems to be sitting in a form a triangular shape and this could represent the Christian belief of Trinity that means the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Mary’s hands are painted in a praying posture which can be referred to Mary mourning over the death of Jesus. This painting portrays the depression of the death of Jesus; the image also shows a blackbird standing on a tree; this creature could be related with death. It is a bird of prey and could possibly be waiting to feed on dead flesh, which could be that of Jesus. Baby Jesus himself is painted naked to show his purity and honesty. This can also be referred to the story of Adam and Eve but is inversed by emphasising that Jesus is free from sin. The battle of good and evil are also reflected through the white bird in and the snake fighting in the background. The snake represents evil because the devil took the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve into persuading Adam into eating the fruit that was forbidden by God. So this conflict represents good and evil where good triumphs evil. However this painting can also be portrayed as evil and suffering in the world, with the relation to Jesus’ death. In the faded distance, we can see a castle to show to us that the baby in Mary’s lap will be called the King of the Jews, and Indeed Jesus was called the 'king of Jews' when he was put to death, that was written above Jesus.

‘The Baptism of Christ’ was painted by Pierro della Francesca in the 1450s. The theme of the painting was descended from the Bible; it is quoted in the gospel of Mark (1:9-12). We learn that Jesus is baptised in the river Jordan by John the Baptist.

This is a preview of the whole essay

In this painting Jesus is stood in the middle of the picture; this emphasises Jesus' magnitude and impersonates Jesus as the most important in the picture. Jesus is dressed in white to show his cleanliness, and his righteousness is also portrayed as an aftermath of the water; which is a symbol of washing away sin but the water doesn’t seem to be making contact with Jesus which emphasises that Jesus does not have any sins or has not committed any sins. This could also hold implication that Jesus has the control of nature which emphasises that he is separate from us in a different level than us because humans do not have the same powers as Jesus. Over Jesus' head we see a white dove, in Christianity the white dove is used to portray the Holy Spirit and also is included in the Biblical story. His sacredness is also portrayed through a tree, which seems to be shielding or shading Jesus. This could symbolize that God is guarding Jesus. Behind the tree, three women are sketched and we know from the social and historical background that Jesus does not favour males over females or vice versa and had elevated friends such as Mary Magdalene. We also see another man on the riverbank preparing to be baptized, this could suggest that Jesus did administer many qualities with normal humans and despite his extraordinary powers; Jesus had to still be baptized.

This could also be used to portray that Jesus brought the Heaven and Earth together as he was the son of both God and Mary so Jesus presents the qualities from both sides. This is also backed up by the shape of the painting which is a square with a dome on top. Jesus is stood in the middle and shows how he unites heaven or God which has no beginning or end like a circle, with the Earth which was believed to be flat at the time the painting was created hence is represented by a square. The circle represents heaven or god because a circle does not have no beginning and no end jus like a circle, the square represents earth because in the century that this painting was painted they believed that the world was flat so the earth is represented as a square, and Jesus standing in the middle of this portrays that he unites them. The whole scenery is overall painted as being heavenly however it is not painted very realistically because the scenery does not match the event. This could emphasise that Jesus is still relevant to people in the time he was painting the picture because the scenery can be related to the time the painter, Piero della Francesca, or the country that he painted it in, Italy.

‘The Christ on the Cross’ was painted by Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix in 1853.This is one of many paintings that has been painted by this artist about Jesus' crucifixion. This crucifixion of Jesus is brought up very frequently in the Bible; the story of Jesus being put to death on a cross is constant in all four Gospels- Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. The dark sky symbolises how the heavens and the skies languished over the death of Jesus or even can represent enrage that stimulated as a result of the injustice done to Jesus. The stormy sky is painted for a couple of reasons. The Bible tells us that the sky turned black when Jesus was crucified as shown by a painting that is based on the biblical story. The bad weather also suggests that it was a sad and dark time because the son of god was just killed and this is portrayed by the sky. They are also portrayed stormily because this suggests violence and could designate to the violence consummated to Jesus. The darkness can also emphasise the disheartenment Jesus endured on the cross. Whilst Jesus is on the cross he is shown wearing white, which signifies the guiltlessness from sin and crime. Jesus is centred in this picture as well because the whole picture is painted about the crucifixion and as if everything revolves around Jesus. Jesus' face is painted in a type of shadow so it can save controversy between sectors; was he happy going to God 'his father' or was he sad to leave the world. Mary dressed in her typical blue which also is used to portray her importance. Mary is shown to be very sad at the appearance of her son beaten and destroyed just before he was put to his death. Next to Mary, we can observe that there is a woman wearing red. Which can emphasise prostitution, this woman is mentioned on the bible as a friend of Jesus her name is said to be Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene also has her hair down which backs up the emphasis of prostitution. We also witness in the background a soldier. It is said that this soldier after he saw Jesus dying on the cross he believed in him and converted into Christianity straight after Jesus' death.

I believe that art is not only a piece of painting I believe it’s a whole different form of communication, this is because we can observe these paintings that these artists have painted which can then tell us about the beliefs and thoughts of that artist and if not the artist the society in the century that it was painted in. This is a great way to study history in what the old centuries used to believe in religion. But I also believe that you cannot paint such high people such as Jesus because no one can know how Jesus looks and to keep changing his appearance is not permissible. For all we know Jesus might look a whole different then people stereotype him. So to paint him with a face is not a thing that should be done because it can arouse a lot of controversy. On the good side, paintings do portray Jesus in his rightful importance. There can be some misinterpretations of paintings which can be a huge disadvantage like the painting of Madonna of the Meadow shows Jesus as a big baby people might interpret that Jesus was a big baby. Although it might be a great way to study and fun way to study religion but paintings cannot go as much detail. It is just what you can see in front of you. To be honest when an normal human being that has a respectable job when he looks at these paintings all he can see how beautiful these pictures look and cannot really interpret it. If he were to read a book about e.g. the crucifixion of Jesus and if he were to look at the painting or paintings he would learn much more by reading a book. Even though paintings can be very useful to educate children e.g. if they were to look at a 'Christ on the Cross' they can simply find out that someone important was put on the cross. But if they were told the story of Jesus they would not just know who that important person is they can also know why he died and how it was done. Children in my view are better of told stories by their teachers, parents etc. about what happened to Christ rather than them looking at pictures and finding out. If one were to look at Madonna of the Meadow they would see no reason to it and to be honest I did not see anything until I was giving a text about it. I strongly contradict that paintings might really give a different view about a religion. I think that paintings have too much disadvantages and factors for them to be used to educate people and they are better of reading a book.