Art History Rembrandt's Lucretia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art History Rembrandt's Lucretia - Essay Example She made the decision only because of unfortunate circumstances, and she would have lived a happy life but for them. Being the young and virtuous wife of Collantinus she was happy till she was raped by Prince Tarquinius after which she condemns herself to death with enormous historical repercussions where the kingdom ceases to exist. Rembrandt has caught Lucretia in her last highly anguished moments of death invading her body. He has used impasto, palette knife and scoring for further affect. The composition is frontal with triangular balance. Art historians agree that an element of privacy is maintained with the averted gaze and the painting bears a further interpretation that she was pulling the bed curtains around her as she was dying. Rembrandt has chosen the most dramatic event with psychological dimensions and the diagonal lines he has used have enhanced the effect. This work shows the victim on the verge of death, almost at her last moments. With the agony of termination, another point that hits hard is the sense of complete isolation. â€Å"Rembrandt’s Lucretias embody not only suffering and injustice, but what it is to experience these things, to be an individual subject – a point reinforced by their utter isolation in a three quarters view from which every extraneous detail is systematically eliminated† Braider (2004, p. 60). The limpness of her body, deathly pallor of her face with the lights going out of her eyes, the total stillness of the form combined with the powerful all-consuming black background, could not have portrayed the story better. Her high-born and decorative clothes, reflecting her status in life, the nobility of expression despite the overwhelming death, grips the viewer. While the browns in the dress almost merge with the background, the gold stands out creating a breathtaking composition. Lucretia is known for artistic continuity, with her hair merging, colours subdued, and the agony writ large on her pale face.