“Head of Saint Matthew” and “Marilyn (Vanitas)” Artworks Essay

Head of Saint Matthew

Head of Saint Matthew is a work created in the 17th century, at a time known as the Northern Renaissance. This period in the Netherlands was marked by a Reformation in Christianity and a shift from academic style in art, all of which made an impact on Rembrandt’s works. Therefore, it is appropriate to compare van Rijn’s masterpiece to other works of the same time and place.

Rembrandt developed a unique style that distinguished him from other artists throughout his career. However, he started in the academic style and only later became known as an important figure in realistic style (Blanc, 2021). The Head of Saint Matthew can be compared to another work on the same topic, St. Matthew and The Angel. The latter differs from the former in two aspects: it is much more detailed, and another figure is present, namely the Angel. Nevertheless, St. Matthew and The Angel seem like a more detailed version of the Head of Saint Matthew. The motive, the colors, and even the light in the picture are the same. The two paintings share the depth and a kind of unity of Rembrandt’s artwork.

The idea behind both paintings is inspired by a Biblical narrative about one of the Apostles. In the 17th century, although the church was losing its position, its influence on art in Europe was still rather strong. Rembrandt had many works depicting Cristian plots: Sacrifice of Isaak, The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family, multiple portraits of the saints, and so on. For Rembrandt, an important artistic problem was also connected to religion. At that time, the protestant movement was spreading in the Netherlands, so for him, the issue of reconsidering some religious concepts became a problem (Guler, 2019). Therefore, religious context played an important role in the artist’s work.

Marilyn (Vanitas)

Audrey Flack created her Marilyn (Vanitas), also known as Elegy II, at the end of the 20th century. That period was marked by the coming of the second feminist wave, first in Europe and then in America. In Flack’s works, the impact of the social environment of that time is rather easy to observe. Moreover, her art pieces contain a lot of references to mass culture and classical art.

Since Flack works in photorealism style, in terms of technique, her works do not differ a lot from other artists of the same genre. However, her paintings are rather distinct thanks to the unique style of her still lives united by the same topic. To better understand that, we can compare Marilyn (Vanitas) to one of her other works, Leonardo’s Lady. This painting depicts a book with the image of Portrait of Unknown Woman by Leonardo da Vinci, surrounded by typical kitsch objects (De Ávila, 2021). The colors of the painting are much calmer than the ones of Marilyn (Vanitas), but the viewer easily recognizes Flack’s style due to the painting’s genre and the feminist idea behind it.

As mentioned above, Flack’s art exhibits the influence of second-wave feminist ideas spreading around that time. Second-wave feminism emphasized the problems of equality and “challenging traditional conceptions of women’s homemaking and mothering role” (Shorrocks, 2018, pp. 128-129). Flack’s works represent the idea of the perfect woman through symbols, such as accessories, cosmetics, and even Marilyn Monroe. However, it is important to remember that vanitas is a still life representing vanity and death; therefore, Flack does not praise this classic idea of femininity but undermines it. The artistic problem of the work is also connected to the feminist movement. In Marilyn (Vanitas), Flack reveals how unrealistic social expectations can be. The viewers see beautiful Merilyn and the traditional attributes of female beauty, but the vanitas reminds them quickly it can pass.

References

Blanc, J. (2021). Why Rembrandt? (pp. 347-355). Yale University Press.

De Ávila, M. G. (2021). On narrative hypersign and feminine imaginary: Audrey Flack’s Photorealism. The journal of kitsch, camp and mass culture, 1, 132-140.

Guler, K. (2019). Rembrandt: Compliant Calvinist or independent thinker? Saber & Scroll Historical Journal, 8(2), 28736.

Shorrocks, R. (2018). A feminist generation? Cohort change in gender-role attitudes and the second-wave feminist movement. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 30(1), 125-145.