Hierarchy Archive

Painting Hierarchy or the Hierarchy of Genres are the six main types of painting:

1. History Painting
2. Portrait Painting
3. Genre Painting
4. Landscape Painting
5. Animal Painting
6. Still Life Painting

Most of the paintings falls in one or more of these categories and are defined, interpreted accordingly.

In the Harem by Filippo Baratti

By Nitin

April 5, 2014Genre Painting IslamicNo comments

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Being an orientalist painter, Filippo Baratti produced paintings mostly based on the East Asian cultures. He, himself was a Hungarian painter, who took great interest in eastern cultures and had a knack to depict them with cultural respects. Middle Asian Islamic Culture The current painting represents a middle Asian or northern South African culture where harems (separate buildings for wives and concubines in Muslim culture, restricted for unauthorized people to enter) were the part of the royal and aristocratic society. The painting is more than 100 years old. The exact date isn’t specified. But, we can assume that at the time of the depiction, the Harem practice was very province and normal as even today, in some Muslim countries the custom of harem is in […]

Portrait of a Boy by Annie Swynnerton

By Pranab Sarkar

March 31, 2014Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

“Portrait of a Boy” carries the weight of character more than anything else. Besides, the choice of medium by Swynnerton is simply breathtaking. If I were to imagine someone painting a subject like this, watercolor, pastel and ink would be the safest guesses. However, Swynnerton’s subject is all about strength of character. She loved immortalizing young boys, for whom she might have been unable to recollect identities. It is clear that the little boy’s posture is impressive, and there is all the innocence in his good-natured face, which also carries an element of disciplining history. Swynnerton belonged in the times of conservative ideologies, conflicting with leftist ideals of feminism, socialism and equal pay for women. It was a noble thing to be on that side, […]

Boy, British, English, Little Boy

The Sense of Sight by Annie Swynnerton

By Pranab Sarkar

March 27, 2014Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

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The sense of light can be a very special feeling, especially when you have remained indoors, or gained vision by some miracle after blindness. The presence of a miracle is quite obvious in Annie Swynnerton’s painting here in oil-on-canvas, deliberately portrayed through the wings of the angelic woman. However, this has more to do with the woman being an angelic being, rather than just anyone receiving a miraculous decree. The hopeful look into the sky is so unblemished, that she hopes it will culminate into complete euphoria pretty soon. Swynnerton is a woman of courage – something one can find in her paintings. Although she was a major contributor in feminism in the early 1900s, her admiration for miracles, characters, principled people, uniqueness and innocence […]

Lansdowne portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart

By admin

March 21, 201418th Century Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

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One of the most important historical portraits of George Washington, Lansdowne portrait depicts the first president of America with a humble appearance. He is standing in a room with a dress sword in a hand while other hand raised in front. Behind him is a chair and on the right side is a table, carrying an ink-spot with books, rolled paper, table cloth and white quill. The full length portrait of the America’s is a valuable painting which has survived man bad days including the War of 1812. During the war, the British soldiers had conquered the white house in which the large portrait was hung. The soldiers ate and then infamously burned down the whole white house. Luckily enough, the portrait was saved by […]

Portrait of Picasso by Salvador Dali

By admin

March 20, 201420th Century Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

(3 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

This is an ambivalent painting of cubist artist Pablo Picasso by the surrealist master Salvador Dali produced in the year of 1947. Portrait of Picasso Analysis The surrealist portrait painting of Pablo Picasso by Salvador Dali is infused with symbolic messages and meanings as Dali’s most famous works are. Basically, instead of a direct face, it is a portrait of Picasso’s bust sculpture. The base of the bust is made out of the regular white stone out of which most bust-sculptures are made of. But, the upper part is covered with skin. There is a white flower in the distorted chest of the bust, while a red one, is laying at the feet of the bust. The head is much more distorted than the chest […]

Bedroom In Arles (First Version) by Vincent Van Gogh

By Nitin

March 20, 201419th Century Genre Painting WesternNo comments

(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

Van Gogh’s one of the last paintings, Bedroom in Arles depicts his trapezoid shaped room of his Yellow House which he rented for some time during his stay in Arles. He sent his paintings to his brother Theo from time to time just for a general review about them. He made total of three version of the same painting. The first one was just a depiction of his room while the necessity of the second version aroused due to the damage by the flood of the Rhone. His brother suggested him to draw another version. Thus the second version emerged in September 1889. The last version simply called as The Bedroom was executed in smaller size than the original calling it the reduction. Three of […]