Week 5, Post #5

Option #2 

Which belongs Where?

A look at 2 works from SAM

Leda and the Swan and her children

&

The Origin of the Cornucopia

While it may appear to be easy to pinpoint which work of art is closer to the ideas and themes seen in Mannerism, it may actually be harder to nail it down to a single painting of the two. Both paintings shown have their own unique traits to them that appear to be influenced by the mannuristic ideals. In The Orgin of the Cornucopia its easier to see this influence because its more obviously laid out for the viewer than it is in Leda and the Swan and her Children.

For example, the layout is confusing and crowded for the composition size, the character's heads are small in comparison to their elongated bodies, and they seem awkward with how they are sitting and moving within the frame. The three characters in the forefront of the image seem massively unnatural; and how they're sitting just seems wrong. Each character in this painting has their body contorted in such a way that it seems as if they may fall over, and to be honest kind of makes me feel uncomfortable. The thighs and arms of the person in blue are almost bigger than their head, and it seems as if the same may be true for the woman in yellow as well. This is what Professor Bowen said in her lecture about one of the main traits of Mannerism so thus this painting must have strong influences from there.

However, I mentioned earlier that I believed there to be some influences of mannerism in Leda and the Swan and her Children  as well as The Origin of the Cornucopia. Its not as obvious with the framing on this one, if it would be truly tight enough to be to that level of cramped compositions... however we can clearly see it within her leg that seems to go on forever; with her knee almost touching the bottom of the canvas before it drops down off the picture. the width of her thighs is also unnatural, and although her head isn't anatomically smaller than it should be, her legs are definitively too big for her body. The way the babies are sitting and interacting with her also seems dangerous; especially the one that appears to almost whisper something into her ear. That and also this image gives off a sense of eroticism from the way the swan almost kisses her cheek and seems to step into the space of the Naked Leda's body.  

So in conclusion, it appears to me as if both of the images provided for this option have some sort of influence from the mannerism style. what with the way the artist cramps the figures into the small canvas space, the way the bodies are contorted in unnatural poses and seem way too big for their heads. But overall if I had to choose an image that I believed was a better example from this artistic time period, i would have to say The Origin of the Cornucopia displayed this style more accurately than the other.