ANGELUS
by Jean-Francois Millet
(between 1857 and 1859)
Jean Francois Millet painting the Angelus (1857-1859) shows a man holding his cap and a woman clasping her hands together both standing in the field reciting the Angelus prayer. A basket of potatoes is at the woman's feet, and a wheelbarrow full of empty sacks rests at her far side. There is a pitchfork on the man's side, spiked upright in the ground. The skies are blushed with color as birds flit in the sunset. The two farmers seems to stopped digging potatoes upon hearing bells ringing in the spire of the church in the distant right of the painting and all the devices used to do this — the potato fork, the bucket, the bags, and the wheelbarrow — were spread among them.
Fernando Amorsolo is a painter of rural landscapes in the Philippines. The Angelus (1959) painting depicts a family praying the oracion. Angelus traditionally is recited in Catholic churches, convents and monasteries three times daily, 6:00 a.m., 12:00 noon and 6:00 p.m, accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell. His painting with the use of bright colors gives us a moment of a Filipino family prayer at the end of a day's work.
Millet and Amorsolo's Angelus painting have a lot in common. It is both a religious painting that shows the practice of Christians by stopping whatever they are doing to take part in the Angelus prayer, It gives us a glimpse how much the people, more specifically, from the low class respects and gives importance in reciting the Angelus. Both of its subjects are people from the rural areas. It also shows the agriculture scenery and how the people lived and work their.
Amorsolo showcased the carabao or the water buffalo in his painting. This animal is the national animal of the Philippines and endemic in Southeast Asia. It helps the Filipino farmers not just to plow the fields, but also for transportation. Amorsolo recreated the Angelus subject by putting the carabao in the picture and even incorporating his use of light.
Most of Amorsolo's paintings depicts mostly the life of the pastoral or rural in the Philippines. A professional art critic, Leo Benesa, claims that Amorsolo's work "were considered to be most expressive of the ethos of the race and the predominantly agricultural countryside," and I agree with him. Although many of Filipino artists were influenced and used medium from the western tradition, It was slowly adopted by Filipinos and made them as their own. We can clearly see the “Filipino-ness” of Amorsolo's work and can easily distinguish it from other paintings for it unveils the history of the Filipinos during the time of foreign occupation in the country and the agricultural setting where most of Filipinos lives revolves; from planting, socialising, and the fiestas--their everyday lives!
コメント