Gender and Elderly Lady Essay

Submitted By tonight03
Words: 1080
Pages: 5

Two Portraits From The Same Period

The comparison between the two paintings from two paintings from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Elderly Lady With a Gold Wreath (A.D. 100-125) and Man With a Mole on His Nose (A.D.
130-150), reveals two different paintings from the same Roman period. They both come from the origin of Egypt. They’re both also from the Roman period. Both paintings are painted to look at the viewer. Both paintings are painted on limewood with encaustic painting technique.
The paintings look as if it was painted from viewing an actual person. When looking at the painting you feel it watching you as you view it.

The painting Elderly Lady With a Gold Wreath depicts an older woman around the age 45 to 55. The wrinkles on her forehead and crows feat around her eyes indicate around what age she was. The painting of this elderly lady doesn’t show any expression, it looks like she’s a very strong woman that has a powerful presence. Her face has a bony structure and tanned. She doesn’t have comforting presence, looks as if she’s very judgmental. In the painted portrait it looks as if she’s wearing makeup particularly lipstick, but I don’t believe she’s wearing any makeup. Her clothes make me believe that she’s sophisticated. Her clothes match the tone of her skin color. She cares about her appearance as most ladies do. She has loos curls in her hair that are grey which is quite unrelated to imperial court fashion. Her hairstyle shows a clear vision of her face, making people viewing her easier to read her expressions and emotions.
Could also see how old she’s getting through the years she gets older the only jewelry she has on is her earrings. It seems like her those earrings are very precious to her and those are an everyday wear. The way her hair is put up, it makes people give more attention to her earrings.
Her overall style indicates that she’s from the upper class. She looks as she’s a lady that keeps to herself but at the same time observational. The painting is appealing especially when the light hits it, it seems more colorful. The artist really went in depth when painting the elderly lady, because the artist that painted this probably knew her in person. When you look at this painting you could almost immediately vision her in real life. The artist that painted this probably painted this particular lady because she was an important person in the artist life, like a mother figure or someone of influence. In contrast to Elderly Lady With a Gold Wreath, Man With a Mole on His Nose portrait is less appealing to viewers. The color is grey making it very dull and boring. This is a portrait of a man unlike the portrait of the Elderly Lady With a Gold wreath. The man looks young around the ages of 25 -30 years old. Looks very young and well fed even though you can’t see his body, his face looks healthy. He doesn’t have any wrinkles on his forehead and no crow feat on his face like the other portrait of the elderly woman. He seems he doesn’t care about his looks as much. His hair just growing looking very fuzzy, bushy, and unwashed. His hair is growing and connecting all through his face. He has a very long nose. His nose was shaded with a pink color.
The mole on his nose is very appealing; you can’t stop looking at it. That’s the reason why the artist drew him facing that angle and the opposite side of the portrait of the elderly lady. That’s probably his main characteristic that at his time it was probably used to define him. His complexion and features portrays that he’s probably Egyptian. His clothes look as if it’s a white robe he is wearing. The clothing he’s wearing looks loose, probably wears loose clothing because of the heat in his country. He has an arresting gaze with those big eyes. It’s like he’s staring down into your soul,