Margarita's+Sublime+Case+Study

Margarita Mouschovias' Sublime Case Study
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 * 1775-6: Joseph Wright of Derby, //The Annual Girandola at the Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome//**



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 * c. 1803: J.M.W. Tuner, //The Teufelsbr//**//**ücke, St. Gotthard**//

These painting are good examples of the eighteenth century's use of the sublime in paintings. In Wright's painting, we are awed by the beauty of the background as the sky is colored in red and gold colors, but there are also violent streaks of color which could either be falling stars or part of an explosion, and the painting gives off a feeling that something has been set on fire or exploded, to unwelcome results, bringing fear and uncertainty into the painting. Tuner's painting, however, is a good example of showing the natural beauty of an area in a painting, but the rock in the painting look rough, chiseled, like a giant hand scraped them through the earth, leaving this dark cavern. Most of the colors used are brown and black, giving the painting a dreary look. Awe is inspired, however, by the thought that this is a natural landform: Nature created this. Fear is added when we see the insignificance of the size of the humans in the painting compared to the monstrosity of the cavern. Any of the painted humans could easily fall to their deaths at the crossing at any moment, reminding us of our mortality.



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 * 2007: Borbála Sütő-Nagy, //After the Storm//**

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 * 2008: Wojciech Dziadosz, //The Palace of Twilight//**

In //After the Storm//, the rainbow in front of a red background is a way of inducing awe, of the beauty of the object against a blood-colored sky. The ominous dark storm clouds above the rainbow add uncertainty and fear of what is to come to the picture: Overall the picture shows a calm before a storm. Dziadosz's //The Palace of Twilight//, however, is a much darker painting. The old mansion pictured injects awe of the well-designed structure, and the angle of the image makes the building seem imposing, as does the the purple sky and the sun declining behind the house, bringing twilight and nightfall. The whole picture thus emanates a darker, more fearful aura, and all that we fear when the lights go out.