The Body- Paintings

Portrait paintings

Vermeer

Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a pearl earring’ inspired me for my own portrait because of the intimacy of the girl’s gaze. The main focal point of this image is the subjects eyes because of how they are staring directly at the viewer. By painting the eyes in this way adds an intimacy to the photo because it feels as if the subject is looking directly in to the viewer. The highlights in the eye's help to make them stand out as they catch your attention and contrast against the rest of the picture. The model's pose makes her appear very vulnerable as she is looking over her shoulder towards the viewer with her back to you as if she is shielding her self away. However she has a natural expression which adds a softness to the picture as the subject looks very relaxed. The pose the model is in has inspired me for my own portraits as I like the intimacy of it with how she is peering over her shoulder and looking directly at the viewer.

Leonardo Da Vinci
The main focal points in these two paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci is the eyes. He believed that 'eye's were the window's to the soul', his theory is captured in his paintings because of how he paints the models with there eye's looking towards the viewer. In the subject's eyes in the two painting's below you can see a lot of emotion in them which adds an intimate feel to the picture because it makes you feel as if you know the subject personally. In both of the pictures the subjects are sitting slightly pointed away from the viewer which adds a mysterious feel as it looks as if they are almost shielding them self away.

Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola was a female italian paintner during the renaissance. Her paintings are very rich in emotion because of how the subjects are looking directly at the viewer. By having the subject looking towards the viewer makes the eyes the main focal point of the image as you automatically look at them first. Anguissola has made it feel as if the model's are looking directly at you which makes you feel connected to the subjects as it adds an intimate feel. The artist has painted highlight's in the eye's which gives the painting a very realistic feel and also makes the eye's stand out.

Fatima Ronquillo & Lover's eye's
Whilst researching into a contemporary artist's I came across an artist named Fatima Ronquillo. She creates portraits styled in a old European classical style. The main focal points in her paintings are the subjects eyes, as they gaze directly into the camera. This creates an intimate feeling because you feel as if they are looking directly at you. I noticed how in many of her paintings a prop was included, this was a picture of a small eye in a decorative frame.

In the picture below by Fatima Ronquillo she has painted a hand holding another eye in a decorative frame. I started to become intrigued by this as she has made the eye's the focal point in her work which is what I want to do in my portraits for 'The Body'. I decided to research into what the prop is.

Whilst looking on the V&A museum website, I found a series of work called the 'Lover's eye'. The series of work is of portrait paintings that have been placed in  objects such as brooches, mirrors, jewellery  and frames and they look very similar to the objects in Fatima Ronquillo's paintings. The pictures have a very intimate feel to them because of how you can only see the subject's eyes as you feel as if you have a piece of the model with you. They also have a very mysterious feel as you start to wonder what they look like and why the eyes have only been revealed. Even though you can only see the eye's of the subject you feel as if you know them personally because of how revealing the eyes are and how intimate the eyes look.

 

 I decided to research into 'Lover's eyes' further. It is said that the eye that is in the object or jewellery is that of a loved one. Normally it  is from a deceased loved one and is used a reminder of that person or as a mourning for them. I also read that they are a way of carrying a picture of a secret lover, so only the eye's of the lover are exposed and not the whole face. I was very inspired by 'Lover's eyes' because it symbolises how important the eyes are and how much emotion comes across from them.