Thomas Couture “Decadence Of The Romans“

2 Pages 426 Words

The name of this painting is “Decadence of the Romans,” and the painter is Thomas Couture. This painting was done around 1879, and is located the RISD Museum of Art. It was done with oil paint on a canvas, and the dimensions are 16 13/16”X26 ½.
The composition of this painting is based on a central point. Around this point or horizontal line are equal amounts of weight. Each side of the composition balances out equally. The shadows are also included in this; there are equal amounts of light and darks spots on each side. The colors are toned down bights. There are some bright blues in it, but for he most part there are toned down colors. Also Couture used a chiaroscuro effect. The light spots emphasize the people who are meant to be noticed. I noticed that for the most part, the women are lit up brighter than the men are. The men seem to be almost in the shadows. Because of this emphasize on the women, this painting seems to be geared towards a male audience. The scale of this painting is small compared to a person. It is very small compared to more ancient paintings. This painting seems to use Linear Perspective. All of the diagonals and the shadows suggest a vanishing point that is almost exactly on the penis of the central statue. This could be because there is a sexual meaning behind the painting.
Couture’s’ painting seems to be religious in a way. The woman in the middle, who is the brightest person in the painting, is Mary. She appears to be very sad, this is another sign that she is meant to be Mary. The man to her right, on the floor, is Jesus. He has a crown on and he has his head down like he is dead. Also, there appears to be around twelve men in the painting who may represent the twelve apostles.
The emotional tone in this painting seems to be very sexual, but also extremely somber at the same time. Also, there is the use of symbolism in the fruit that is on the floor. It may relate to the part of a Christi...