Art History Passion Term Paper

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Passion: overwhelming erotic love. Passion: zeal, intense interest in a thought, ideal, belief, person, or activity. Passion: anger, rage, fury. Passion: suffering. Perhaps most commonly used in reference to romantic, erotic love in modern culture, the word passion actually evokes any strong, overpowering emotion. Mel Gibson's recent film The Passion of the Christ reminds viewers that in Christian thought, passion refers explicitly to Jesus's suffering. Christian passion is frequently depicted in the visual arts, but so too is the passion of romantic love, the inexplicable force drawing one person to another. Often mythological figures are employed to convey the archetype of passion; mythic figures suggest that passion is immutable, universal, and timeless. That which the gods can feel is by definition divine in nature. Titian's "Venus and Adonis" especially exemplifies a painter's rendering of archetypal passion onto the canvas. A Renaissance-era artist, Titian uses imagery from classical mythology to invoke in the viewer palpable sensations of emotional intensity and romantic love. The painting depicts the goddess Venus clinging desperately to her lover Adonis. She is nude, a paradigm of human sexuality. As the goddess of love, Venus epitomizes, embodies passion. Her lover Adonis is likewise representative of male sexuality: ruler of the hunt, he is clothed and prepared for hunting and brandishes a weapon proudly. Though his gaze onto Venus suggests that he might have once shared her affections, his passion encompasses his life's calling as well. In fact, Adonis seems proportionately dispassionate toward his bereft lover.

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Thus, in Titian's "Venus and Adonis," passion is shown to be both related to romance and eroticism as well as to independent vocation or sport, as when we say we are passionate about football.

63 x 77-inch canvas, "Venus and Adonis" is like a mural in size and scope. The sheer size of the painting imparts the magnitude of the subject matter: passion is larger-than-life, all-encompassing, and overpowering. Additionally, the medium of oil paints conveys intensity: the thickness of the paint and the corresponding brushstrokes suggests heaviness of feeling. Moreover, Titian's color scheme and palate are fairly dark and deep. Including the topaz-colored splash of cloud adorning the sky, the painting is mostly composed of jewel tones. Titian's media and color scheme hint at the theme of the painting: passion is rich, intense, and vibrant like the most precious gems.

Titian's composition draws attention to the couple. Depicted in the center of the canvas, Adonis is like to painting's protagonist. His head is framed by a halo of blue sky plus the sheen of golden clouds. Thus, Adonis is our hero. His right arm is extended overhead carrying his weapon, and his left arm is pointed down to the ground. The positioning of his arms suggests that he draws power from both heaven and earth; his passion is a spiritual, impersonal passion mirroring the forces that govern creation. Adonis's power and his desire to hunt come from the same….....

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