Rubens and Rembrandt

Paper Summary:

The paper offers a critical art comparison of Rubens' "Portrait of a Man as the God Mars" and Rembrandt's famed "Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer" and pinpoints three differences found in the paintings in order to make a broader statement. The paper examines how the artists' use of light, the detail of the subjects' features and the distance of the subject are all used to show that in their own way, each artist was questioning ideas of the supernatural.

From the Paper:

"Although Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt were both artists in the Baroque period, both heavily influenced by the Renaissance, and both keen on using realistic subjects to portray scenes or tales or characters of yesteryear, their means to this end and the end, itself, are quite different, indeed. Looking at one painting by each, "Portrait of a Man as the God Mars" by Rubens and Rembrandt's "Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer," the viewer or critic is able to see that the differences in the two paintings create a distinct meaning for each. This essay will look at three areas in which these two paintings differ and the art implications that these differences have. These differences are: the use of light, the detail shown on the subjects' features, and the distance from the main subjects of the paintings."

More papers on Rubens and Rembrandt:

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• Essay # 84855 : "Values in Rembrandt and Rubens"
• Essay # 54370 : "Three Baroque Artists"

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