Hanna Baker-Louvar Art History 01 Assignment #8 11.2.

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Art Criticism of Jesus Washing the Feet of Peter

By Ford Madox Brown, 1852

This piece, though anatomically correct and very detailed, is not one of my favorite pieces. It uses widely traditional mediums and themes and definitely tries to create the atmosphere described in scripture. However, there were things that could have been improved upon.

The artwork was completed on a 46 in. by 52 in. stretch of canvas and, as I had initially deduced based on appearance, was done in oil paints. It is generally constructed of warm and neutral colors with dark shadows and tones. There appears to be little texture in the picture excepting the clothing and fabric of the caricatures clothing and the white tablecloth and the focus of the piece is mainly on the kneeling Jesus figure. Disregarding what I know of the scripture that the piece is based on, it is safe to assume that the piece definitely focuses on the Jesus caricature. The only bright area in the picture is the white tablecloth and it is placed in such a way that it appears to frames Jesus upper torso and head. That, and the artist has also included a cream-yellow halo surrounding the figures skull area. Also, looking at the faces of the figures aside from Jesus and Peter you can easily deduce that the artist had attempted to create an atmosphere of awkwardness based on their expressions and posture upon seeing the actions of Jesus. As good as the piece is there are things that I believed the artist could have put more effort in, perspective being one of the most notable. From what I see of the table, it appears to not be more than six feet long from the front nearest to the viewer to the back. However five people are crammed together on one side and the figures at the far end seem unnaturally tiny in comparison to the figures of Jesus and Peter. The floor perspective looks normal when coming from the table behind Jesus, but beneath Peters feet it appears to drop off in a vertical fashion. The blackness at the bottom part of the floor gives the unintentional illusion of one of Peters discarded sandals floating in mid-air. In addition, there is an odd highlight in the orange fabric shown behind Peters legs that make it appear as if Jesus is squirting water from his left hand at Peters heel onto his other foot. The top half of Peters body, though hunched forward a little uncomfortably to see the labors of Jesus, seems relaxed and calm; yet the bottom half of his body doesnt seem to be sitting naturally with both of his knees elevated higher than his backside, where no doubt in reality all his weight would be supported and deemed uncomfortable by usual human standards. Finally, while the artist does attempt to show the atmosphere of awkwardness I have described earlier, I do not believe the expressions to be close to the realistic expressions I have seen expressed by

humans; that is not to mention that Peter and Jesus seem to be completely detached from what they are doing/experiencing. In conclusion: the piece is good. But despite the clothing texture and anatomical accuracies, I believe the piece could have been improved upon at the time of its creation. The attempts are sincere and bold, but many fail to meet their intended appearance.

((Criminy, this seems so harsh! I apologize to the artist -- who is assumably deceased at this time -- and I apologize to fans of this piece.))