Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hard Slave Labour

Israel in Egypt (1867) by the  English painter Edward Poynter (1836-1919). Despite showing the hard slave labour of the people of Israel the artist is much more fascinated by the monumental Egyptian architecture which he evidently knew by the prints of David Roberts.
Posted by at
Labels:

2 comments:

  1. HelsApril 30, 2013 at 5:15 PM

    There is something a bit pre-Hollywoodish about the layout of this painting as well :)

    A long canvas showing a train of humans and equipment in realistic detail. All of this was set against a mountain range, with rows of colourful architecture and sculpture down the side of the road.

    What might Poynter's goal have been - religious, moral, educational or aesthetic?

    ReplyDelete
  2. XenophonMay 3, 2013 at 6:29 AM

    That's absolutely right.
    I think his main goal was like in Hollywood the great spectacle. Sometimes artists earned a lot of money with the entrance fees. People loved to see stuff like this.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)