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Final Exam, ARTT 107 Essays

Egyptian

Egyptian portrait styles are consist of very rigid, geometrically composed figures that show the inner and outer qualities of a person. They eyes are usually long and narrow. Egyptians used a style called frontalism, which stressed the profile of the subject, with the body facing forward, and the head is turned to the side. In Egyptian art, the subject is more important than the style.

Roman

Roman portrait styles express the various cultures by the expansion of the empire. Consist of multi-dimensional aspects of character and personality which are mostly precise and intuitively fashioned. These portraits are usually anatomically correct, very realistic (veristic) and alive, showing virtues.

Medieval

Through this time, Jesus, Mary and Joseph were preferred subjects, with a trend towards caricature. Sometimes, human faces were distorted into demon like creatures or the beautiful were represented as angels.

High Renaissance

Devotional reverence for the human subject and the development of form and perspective were borne out of this classical study. Humanism which emphasized the perfection for the human form was used heavily during this period.

Baroque

In this period, portraits had a dramatic contrast which began to show action, almost narrative to tell a story. These works held fundamental components of human nature with a sense of emotion and passion. The artist of this time started experimenting with superficial forms of light, and adding abnormal figures or altered the proportions. This was displayed in Parmigianino's "Madonna of the long neck".

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