Abstract
This paper discusses William Shakespeare's use of the technique chiaroscuro, an emphatic juxtaposition of light and dark hues. It examines how both of the plays "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Night?s Dream" present images of distinct night and day worlds and how the interrelations between these two worlds are central to the plays? themes. It shows how in both plays, the night worlds symbolize alternate universes in which the characters are free from the physical, legal and social constraints that bind them during the day. It looks at how Shakespeare depicts the night world as simultaneously liberating and trapping those who move within its moonlit realm, thereby strengthening his theme that both personal freedom and social restrictions have the potential to be either constructive or destructive forces, depending upon their applications. It shows how "Romeo and Juliet" concludes with an emphasis upon the destructive forces of the night world, whereas "A Midsummer Night?s Dream" presents a more optimistic view of the constructive potential of this alternate universe.

From the Paper
"In both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, the unstructured and supernatural atmosphere of the night world contrasts sharply with the rigid hierarchies and social constraints of the public world of daylight. The deliberate juxtaposition of these alternate universes serves to heighten this contrast and to strengthen the theme that both totalitarian rule and unmitigated anarchy can produce disastrous consequences when applied to emotional issues. Romeo and Juliet opens with a public display of violence in broad daylight between members of the Capulet and Montague houses; in the very first scene of the play, Shakespeare links the day world to the bitter rancor between the two families and the strict codes of honor that govern their relationships with one another. In an extension of this rigid and violent day world, the sharp divisions of the feuding families and the stringent codes of masculine honor reach their violent culmination in the climactic deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt, which occur under the blistering sunlight of high noon."

Tags:dream, light, alternate, universe, totalitarian, rule

Abstract
This paper examines Da Vinci's painting "La Gioconda" aka "Mona Lisa" to understand more about the artist and the painting than just the woman's smile. The author points out that the background of dark, jagged rocks is a recurring motif in many of Da Vinci's paintings, which demonstrates his use of metaphorical representation. The paper analyzes Da Vinci's concept of beauty, the use of the chiaroscuro style and the woman's androgynous persona. The author reveals the identity of the woman known as Mona Lisa. The paper includes color illustrations.

From the Paper
"Others have drawn even more esoteric connections between the subject and the landscape of this portrait. In a review of Da Vinci's journals we find that he was certainly an aficionado of Ovid and the classic Metamorphosis. The recurring theme in that work, and others he read, is that beauty is ephemeral and over time shall fade. Even here, this smile of the Mona Lisa is just a passing moment and would be gone in an instance. If viewing the background as chaos the overriding them may be that from chaos we have come, existed in beauty for a brief moment, but to chaos we will return."

Tags:archetype, chiaroscuro, androgynous, beauty, mystery

Abstract
The paper looks briefly at three things which typify some of the best artworks of da Vinci's considerable output: his use of Contrapposto, his clever use of Chiaroscuro and his belief that the human body was an analogy for the entire universe. The paper aims to bring out an understanding that this brilliant man saw more possibilities for art - and more possible connections between art and science - than possibly anyone who has yet lived.

From the Paper
"It is impossible in any brief paper to properly sum up the astonishing artistic output of Leonardo da Vinci: as much as any artist (or person) ever, Da Vinci's interests were manifold, richly diverse, and his contributions positively gargantuan. With that in mind, this paper will look briefly at three things which typify some of the best artworks of da Vinci's considerable output: his use of Contrapposto, his clever use of Chiaroscuro and his belief that the human body was an analogy for the entire universe. In the end, what will emerge over the next few pages is..."

Tags:contrapposto, chiaroscuro, analogy

Abstract
This paper explains that Dante uses the essence of art throughout the "Divine Comedy" through his use of symbols, even as he is utilizing the themes of structure and the heroic journey. The author points out that Dante uses light and shadow, which is known as chiaroscuro, to portray a sense of emotional content and to depict sin and redemption or the possibility of redemption. The paper relates that Dante employs the color green to symbolize nourishment, hope, joy, and growth and uses gold as the color of the sun and leadership.

From the Paper
"The common view of Hell is a dark place where sinners are to burn for all eternity. This view is found numerous times in the Bible, with Christ referring to the fires that are never quenched in the New Testament. The first part of the "Divine Comedy" is "The Inferno." It is the story of his journey through the nine levels of Hell. The structure of Hell, as Dante has envisioned it, corresponds to a moral hierarchy, or levels of 'sin.' The physical structure reflects the spiritual beliefs of the time, which is considered the ultimate truth."

Tags:chiaroscuro, nature, sin, green, symbolism

Abstract
This paper examines Claude Monet's" Water Lilies" ("Nympheas"), "Fereghan Horse" from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, John Singer Sargent's "Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears" and Mary Cassatt's "Children in the Garden" ("The Nurse") from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The author points out that Claude Monet's water lilies depict the Japanese styled stillness that Monet desired in works of nature. The paper relates that in Sargent's work, "Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears, the use of oils reveal the complexity of paints that provide greatly contrasting chiaroscuro that abounds in the work. The author further notes that the main subject in Mary Cassatt's work is the profound sense of women relationships that exist within elite households.

From the Paper
"The choppy brushwork of the fauna along the pathway is representative of Impressionist works of the period, while Cassatt abstracts the forms of the nurse and the children by denying them any detail. Small circular brush strokes define the flowers along the path, which help anchor the depth of the work. In effect, the composition of the painting provides some depth and perspective, as the nurse causally knits while the lone child plays at her side. By placing the woman and the two children off center of the painting, this provides the depth and abstraction of form need to bring out depth perception along the angle of the pathway."

Tags:impressionists, brushwork, chinese, chiaroscuro, realism

Abstract
Claude Monet and Rembrandt van Rijn are fundamentally different in their approaches to painting. This paper explores Monet's fascination with water and Rembrandt's love of chiaroscuro (the interplay of light and shadow) as well as both painter's philosophies on time - Monet often denies the existence of time altogether, whereas Rembrandt often makes the use of time an important subject matter of his work. The paper analyzes two works by Rembrandt - "Madonna of the Cat" (1654) and "A Woman Wading in a Brook" (1654) to show his use of chiaroscuro and his philosophy on time. The paper also discusses works by Monet including "La Grenouillere" (1868) and "Camille on her Deathbed", which show his fascination with water and his belief in art about art, rather than about reality.

From the Paper
"Rembrandt's concern with experience and reality is inherent his work. In his etching of 1654 of Madonna of the Cat, he shows a scene which is full of meaning, and thus time and experience. There is a paradox in the scene itself involving the interplay of light and shadow, which is quite often the case with Rembrandt's work. In the center of the etching, Mary is shown cradling Jesus in her arms. Traditionally, the pair is shown with a halo surrounding the fontanel. Rembrandt's etching seems to do this, although in actuality what appears to be a halo is simply sunlight filtering though the window. In this context, he places Mary and Jesus in shadow, instead of in the light, which one would expect in a Christian scene. He suggests a more Protestant view of experience, in which shadow becomes a metaphor for ambiguity, everyday experiences, and the placing of the divine on a more human level. He suggests his belief that God is dwelling on earth among the normal, everyday people, rather than in the brilliantly lit skies of Heaven. This in and of itself is opposite from what the Greeks believed in."

Tags:conceptions, Bennecourt, Seine, Courbet

Abstract
The paper examines the Baroque work of Carracci, Caravaggio, and the contrasting work of Rococo artist, Antoine Watteau, to demonstrate how art evolved into a style that reflected government and new political ideologies in the Age of Diversity. The paper discusses how the earlier Baroque style offered a painting technique which relied on dynamic chiaroscuro and color values, along with the greater emphasis on "gigantism" in the heroic poses offered by Caravaggio and Carracci.

Tags:rococo, art, diversity

Abstract
The paper explains that by examining the Baroque work of Carracci, Caravaggio and the contrasting work of Rococo artist, Antoine Watteau, one can see how they are compared and contrasted in art history. The paper discusses how the earlier Baroque style offered a painting technique which relied on dynamic chiaroscuro and color values, along with the greater emphasis on gigantism in the heroic poses offered by Caravaggio and Carracci. The paper notes that while the Baroque period lasted for nearly one hundred years, the changing climate of political and class based construct in painting veered into the pomp and circumstance of the French elite in the 18th century.

From the Paper
"This art study will compare and contrast the stylistics of Baroque and Rococo art. Although these two styles appear to be similar in their artistic painting techniques, the ideological content value of Baroque and Rococo art is very different. In many ways, Baroque will be examined for the humanistic and classical values in various paintings of this period. However, as art veered away from this strict Grecian content style, the highly dramatic and theatrically elitist "art for arts sake" arose within Rococo paintings. In essence, the initial classicism of Baroque art that sought deeper meaning in classical themes changed into a far more dramatic based on pomp and extravagance. The Baroque period is generally known to have begun in 1600 with major painters such as Caravaggio and Carracci creating classical styled paintings."

Tags:baroque, rococo, art

Abstract
This paper explains that Spaniard Pablo Picasso was basically a painter who extended his art to sculptures in ceramic and bronze; in the early 1900s, he created the visual style of Cubism, which concentrated on the two dimensional surface of pictures and did not honor the old techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling and chiaroscuro. The author points out that Frenchman Henri Matisse's "Large Red Interior" (1948), a painting of his studio, is a dynamic painting with an excellent relationship between line and color and probably his last statement on his life as an easel painter. The paper relates that the art of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera reflects the Mexican Civil War and the struggles of World War I; in France for 14 years, Rivera studied the works of Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne and similar artists.

From the Paper
"Now let us look at the education of the three masters, and Picasso attended many art schools during his childhood as his father taught there. He did not finish his course at any college and left his course in less than a year from the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. Whereas Picasso was a Spaniard, Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869 at Cateau-Cambresis. His father was a seed merchant and Matisse did not get in touch with art in his early years. He decided to study law and gave up only when he was sick and took up arts as he had started painting during the period of his sickness. After changing colleges he finally enrolled at Ecole des Beaux. Even there he could not complete his course due to differences with the teachers."

Tags:cubism, muralist, mexico, mystic, relationship

Abstract
This paper explains that stereotypes from whores to the Holy Madonna incarnation encompass the multi-faceted and contradictory roles of Italian-American women in Italian-American literature written by both Italian-American men and women. The author points out that the literature relates that social class, differences in religiosity, the American tradition and construction of success and the often contradictory ways the familial and immigrant experience, have come into conflict with the female experience in American. The paper reviews Pietro di Donato's relatively early novel "Christ in Concrete", Mario Puzo's "The Godfather", Helen Barolini's novel "Umbertina" and her collection of personal and scholarly entitled essays "Chiaroscuro" and Evidge Giunta's text "Writing With an Accent" to demonstrate that beneath these narrow stereotypes more complex and individuated roles of Italian-American women's life do emerge.

From the Paper
"These images emerge in the depicted reality of nonfiction as well as fictional life come forth, as these women are seen engaged in child rearing, showing impressive work ethics to enable their families to survive, laboring as well as suffering in the role of daughter, and as these women show their strength in their roles of mother as well as their silent compassion. Gradually, as Italian women themselves began to speak, Italian women and authors have grown fluent at showing female Italian working and middle-class sexuality as well as images of long-enduring Mediterranean fortitude, women alone in the role of a wife bent over a stove bubbling with red hot gravy and meatballs smelling of garlic and onions."

Tags:stereotypes, wife, familial, immigrant, contradictory