Friday, June 08, 2007

Five Centuries of Pulchritude

This clip has been making the rounds and I found it fascinating enough to borrow myself. Five hundred years of female portraits in Western Art. I was especially struck by how similiar many of the women look--how consistent the ideals of female beauty were in several different countries over a few different centuries. And then of course how everything gets more ... interesting ... around the time photography takes over painting's role as an accurate recorder of images, and art becomes more about individual expression and exploration of technique.



It's 2 minutes 52 seconds. Even if the art doesn't excite you, everyone could use 2:52 of Bach in their lives.
.

4 comments:

shrinking indigo said...

Holy crap, Brian.

That was gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing it.

ronnie said...

Pulchritude.

Has there ever been a word in any language that sounds less like its actual meaning?

I'm just saying.

A wonderful "found object" on a Friday afternoon, Brian. Thanks for sharing it - I've forwarded it to a dozen people or more.

ronnie

Sherwood Harrington said...

"Matriculation," ronnie.

Outstanding find, Brian. Thanks.

I'm wondering, though, how all the funny pets clips got into the "related" bar at the end along with other painting-related videos.

Anonymous said...

Ooo...pretty... :)