The National Gallery

Our trip to the National Gallery of London on the 25Th of June was a great one, it gave us all a real insight into how artists have used elements in there paintings to convey messages and opinions of the time, and help us to use our sets and our films to show our meanings subtly through mise en scene.
We had a guide through the gallery for a talk on some of her favourite paintings, and how they can apply to us when filming.

The first painting we looked at was...

The Ambassadors
1533, Hans Holbein the younger





The use of the props and objects in this painting were used to depict subjects at the time, certain things were advancing, new worlds were being discovered with new trading opportunities.
I was surprised that portraits such as these were composed and planned to reveal so much when studied, even the less obvious messages like the distorted skull, and the Jesus on the cross in the left top hand corner.
I'd seen such work like this before, in Elizabeth's the 1st propaganda paintings, but i was still amazed to see how different artists had used this idea.


From the National Gallery -- http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors

'This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated and powerful young men. On the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books and instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe.
Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony. In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected'.




An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
1768, Joseph Wright 'of Derby'




'A travelling scientist is shown demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo, though common birds like sparrows would normally have been used. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright's day. The artist's subject is not scientific invention, but a human drama in a night-time setting.The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions, from the frightened children, through the reflective philosopher, the excited interest of the youth on the left, to the indifferent young lovers concerned only with each other. The figures are dramatically lit by a single candle, while in the window the moon appears. On the table in front of the candle is a glass containing a skull'.





The Family of Darius before Alexander

1565-7, Paolo Veronese

'The story illustrates the mistake made by the family of Darius, the defeated Persian Emperor, in identifying Alexander after the Battle of Issus. Alexander and his friend Hephaestion visited Darius's tent; the mother of Darius, misled by Hephaestion's splendour and bearing, offered him the obeisance due to the victorious monarch; Alexander forgave her'.