Thursday, October 3rd 2013.

Let’s compare paintings !

These two paintings, by Gainsborough and Hockney show a lot of similarities:

There are both / they both represent portraits.

In both paintings, we can see a man and a woman or maybe a couple (they are maybe husband and wife). We can assume they are married…

In both paintings, the two people are either sitting or standing.

Each couple has a pet: one has a hunting dog (in Gainsborough’s painting) and one has a cat (in Hockney’s painting).

In both paintings, there are trees / there is nature in the background.

The titles of the works are similar, they look like each other and are on the same model: Mr and Mrs…

But these two paintings show many differences:

Gainsborough’s painting is older than Hockney’s painting: it was created in 1750 (in the 18^th century) whereas Hockney painted it in 1970 (in the 20^th century)

They don’t wear the same kind of clothes: The Andrews wear hunting and elegant clothes whereas the Clark & Percy wear modern and casual clothes.

In Gainsborough’s painting, the lady is sitting whereas the man is standing. In Hockney’s painting, it’s the lady who is standing and the man who is sitting.

In Gainsborough’s painting, the colours are darker than in Hockney’s painting where there are lighter.

The setting is different: the Andrews are in the countryside whereas the Clark & Percy are inside a flat.

                     The rule of thirds

-     It’s a general rule in art (photography, painting, drawing)

-     The rule defines three parts in the work of art.

-     To see the different parts, you draw a grid made of two vertical lines and two horizontal lines.

-     The subject shouldn’t be in the center but on one side.

Did Gainsborough and Hockney respect this rule in their paintings?

Gainsborough respected this rule of thirds but Hockney didn’t respect it because the subjects shouldn’t be in the center.