The work Bathers by Cezanne is a classical Impressionist style and Bathing Nymphs by Vecchio has the conventional style of art from the Renaissance period.

In Vecchio’s painting the women are spread out and very detailed, very light brush strokes are given to the outline of the women to give a very natural and realistic feel about the whole piece. There are natural colours used throughout and, unlike Cezanne’s piece, there is much more detail on the landscape.

The emotions of the women in both pieces are a notable difference. Vecchio seems to have captured quite an earnest and deep look upon the faces of the women without using a lot of expression, unlike Cezanne’s work where a lot of the women are not facing the spectator but obviously interacting with each other. This leaves a spectator guessing what expressions are being used. It would seem to me that you are being guided with Bathing Nymphs and Bathers is, for the most part, left open to your own interpretation.

The textures of both works are very important. Cezanne uses a very bold brushwork for outlining, the representation of shapes and details of them are tough with little attention to outlining. Vecchio’s attention to detail is the exact opposite with fine shading , the light hits form the left leaving a shadow across the picture plane at add to the intricacy of the painting.

The form of the women in Cezanne’s seems to be more real and meant engage the spectator to interpret the work through colour, rather than Vecchio’s where the women are portrayed in a more literal sense.  Vecchio’s work is excecuted in a less original style than that of Cezanne.

Whilst both paintings are extremely different, the balance between tradition and modernity has to be weighed up.  Both works, however different, are extremely influential and the techniques and style are what make them so important.