I attended the Dishman Gallery on the Lamar campus and found a piece of art that I thought would be good for this paper. The artist’s name is William F. Witherington, born in London, England 1785. The piece I would like to talk about is called Guy Fawkes Day, which is an oil painting.
Oil was the main type of medium that most artists were using during the time frame of William F. Witherington. The romantic period had just started in the beginning of the 1800s. You can see how this reflects in the painting by the use of oil as the medium and the way he tries to make the people and surroundings look realistic. He uses warm colors in the center of the piece and lighter colors around the center and a blue cool color for the sky.
The name of this artwork is Guy Fawkes Day which is a holiday celebrated in England. A man named Guy Fawkes was arrested for guarding explosives that were meant to kill King James I. This day was made to celebrate the failure of the attempt to kill the king. In the painting you see a man in the middle that is being cheered and praised, but it is definitely not the king. Is this the man Guy Fawke? Maybe William Witherington is trying to say that the people actually wanted the king to die and he is showing this by having Guy Fawke praised in the street of his painting. On the other hand, could this be the man that stopped the assassination attempt.
The use of line is easy to spot in this painting. Men, women, and children point in the direction of the man in the middle of the painting. The eyes of the people also look in that direction. The man in the light brown coat is holding a walking stick that is pointing toward the man in the center. The lines across the building tops also lead your eye to the man in the center.
William Witherington uses linear perspective to make it appear that the buildings in the background have distance between the people in the center. The structures in the background seem to fade in the distance as you follow the line of the buildings. Also there are people cheering on the right side that have less detail to imply distance from the main group of people in the center. Motion is also implied in this painting by the people with arms raised and the small dog in the bottom right corner. The dog seems to be running away from the ruckus.
This an asymmetrical painting that does not have the same shapes or sizes equal on each side. The man in the middle which is the main focal point is the tallest man in the painting as well. Giving the man in the middle a large size is used to help get your focus on to him. Seeing all the happy people celebrating and cheering makes me feel happy and inspired that maybe one day people will cheer and give me this kind of praise.
I would consider this artwork to be very good. If I had the money to buy it I would and enjoy it in my home. William F. Witherington was not the most famous artist but he did make some good pieces in my opinion. The way he uses of color, shape, and perspective come together to make a work of art worth mentioning.