Ruined Archway by Francesco Guardi
In the galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago hands the painting "Ruined Archway" by the Italian master Francesco Guardi.
The painting is very strong employing the use of one-point perspective to pull the viewer into the scene.
The focus of attention in this painting is in the lower center of the work looking through the ruined archway to another archway (in a similar state of disrepair) past which is an open vista.
The opening of the second archway is too small (due to the perspective) for us to see any detail of the landscape behind.
This is an interesting piece because it is a landscape yet shows very little land.
The land in the painting is only hinted at through the arch in the background.
The real landscape is implied by the structures all around the arches.
In the center of the painting is the large ruined archway that is very well detailed.
The sunlight is coming in from the left making a strong contrast of shadows on the interior left side of the arch, the buildings to the left of the arch, and the right side of the arch.
You can see a clothesline set up in this part of the painting and the whiteness of the closing is the most salient feature of this section of the painting.
It is difficult to see what actually is in this area for the region is too dark to see and the wall that is running into it is highlighted with bright light making the dark area with the cloths more abstract.
The entry on the far right side of the painting is to a courtyard of some kind not a dwelling.
It appears that this is a dwelling of very poor (homeless) people.
The entire region in this painting is of a very depressed economic stratum, nowhere can you see any fresh, neat, and clean dwellings.
Everything in the painting is in ruins, even the figures (the man in red approaching the archway and two figures in gray to the right of the archway) bespeak ruin for they have a most pitiful deportment.
The blue sky is cloudy yet it seems to be almost overcast at the same time; the atmosphere is gloomy though it is light.
The color of blue in the sky is infused with cobalt blue, which is further away from the yellow and green tones that make a painting more vibrant.
The focus clearing is on poverty and the depression that is associated with poverty; this work of art very well articulates this point.
Stephen F.
Condren - Artist
The painting is very strong employing the use of one-point perspective to pull the viewer into the scene.
The focus of attention in this painting is in the lower center of the work looking through the ruined archway to another archway (in a similar state of disrepair) past which is an open vista.
The opening of the second archway is too small (due to the perspective) for us to see any detail of the landscape behind.
This is an interesting piece because it is a landscape yet shows very little land.
The land in the painting is only hinted at through the arch in the background.
The real landscape is implied by the structures all around the arches.
In the center of the painting is the large ruined archway that is very well detailed.
The sunlight is coming in from the left making a strong contrast of shadows on the interior left side of the arch, the buildings to the left of the arch, and the right side of the arch.
You can see a clothesline set up in this part of the painting and the whiteness of the closing is the most salient feature of this section of the painting.
It is difficult to see what actually is in this area for the region is too dark to see and the wall that is running into it is highlighted with bright light making the dark area with the cloths more abstract.
The entry on the far right side of the painting is to a courtyard of some kind not a dwelling.
It appears that this is a dwelling of very poor (homeless) people.
The entire region in this painting is of a very depressed economic stratum, nowhere can you see any fresh, neat, and clean dwellings.
Everything in the painting is in ruins, even the figures (the man in red approaching the archway and two figures in gray to the right of the archway) bespeak ruin for they have a most pitiful deportment.
The blue sky is cloudy yet it seems to be almost overcast at the same time; the atmosphere is gloomy though it is light.
The color of blue in the sky is infused with cobalt blue, which is further away from the yellow and green tones that make a painting more vibrant.
The focus clearing is on poverty and the depression that is associated with poverty; this work of art very well articulates this point.
Stephen F.
Condren - Artist
