Save the environment one piece of garbage at a time by recycling. Keeping trash out of landfills, oceans, and roadside ditches not only leaves our planet looking and feeling clean, but it has positive long-term effects. Imagine what would happen if all of our landfills were full or our ocean was so contaminated with junk that the sea life died. By recycling, which means turning trash into new items, we are helping to save our environment one step at a time. For most people, however, recycling is an afterthought, which is why it is important to introduce recycling to children at an early age. The sooner we get our children to make recycling a habit, the better off our world will be. Here are some tips to help you introduce recycling to even the youngest of learners.

How to Recycle

Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22, is the most popular day to discuss recycling. However, you should start today by introducing the idea of recycling to your kids. While many younger children may not grasp the concept of why it is important to recycle, you can show them why recycling is great so that it becomes a habit for them later on in life. The best way to teach your child to recycle is to be a good role model by recycling yourself. In the resources below, you will find plenty of guidance as you approach this topic with your children no matter what their age.

• The 3 R’s – Discover ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle from a kid’s point of view, games and activities included from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
• How Garbage Affects Nature – Using an interactive program, see how garbage affects animals and the ecosystem directly – includes hands on craft projects, online games, and additional resources.
• Introducing Recycling to Young Children – National Geographic provides an informative article for parents who are struggling with ways to teach young children the reasons and ways of recycling.
• Kids’ Green Scene – The Kids’ Green Scene is a kid-friendly blog that posts current events related to recycling.
• Ways to Encourage Recycling – Read about methods you can use to make recycling a daily habit for your child.
• Visit Recycle City – The Environmental Protection Agency has developed an interactive site featuring online games and hands-on activities that encourage children to recycle.
• Meet Recycle Rex – One helpful dinosaur, Recycle Rex reinforces the principles of the 3 R’s with online games and printable coloring pages.
• Read About Recycling (pdf) – Check out this book list of suggested reading for children in preschool through 5^th grade.
• Lesson Plans for Kindergarten – Find several lesson plans geared at kindergarteners, as well as a list of links for further information.

What Kids Can Make with Recycled Paper

Paper products ranging from newspaper to toilet paper tubes are one of the most substantial forms of recyclable material we produce. It is also the easiest type of material to reuse in our homes. Here are several resources related to reusing paper, including a method for recycling your very own paper. Check out all of the craft projects you can do at home using all kinds of paper including old magazines and school notebook paper.

• How to Make Recycled Paper – Watch an informative video that shows you the process of recycling your used newsprint and craft paper, and transforming it into recycled sheets of paper.
• Simple Craft Projects for Recycled Paper – Instead of throwing out all of your used paper products including plates and toilet paper rolls, try some of these kid-friendly craft ideas.
• How to Make Paper Bowls – Craft paper bowls and trivets using pages from your old magazines, the perfect option for those glossy pages that cannot be recycled by many facilities.
• 24 Paper Crafts – Martha Stewart presents 24 paper crafts that reuse a wide range of paper products, from empty paper towel rolls to used greeting cards.
• Toilet Paper Tube Art – Apartment Therapy lists several innovative ways to reuse those empty toilet paper and paper towel cardboard tubes.

General Arts and Crafts Made from Recyclables

One of the most immediate benefits of recycling is that you are saving money. By taking stuff you would normally toss in the recycling bin, you can transform it into new-to-you objects. Get ready to be creative as you try out some of these craft projects using everything from old stuffed animals to stained T-shirts. As the 3 R’s are recycling, reducing, and reusing, you are doing your part by reusing stuff rather than filling the landfills with it. And, you can create some nice and useful items, which you can keep or give away as gifts.

• 40 Recyclable Projects – Family Fun by Disney has compiled 40 kid-friendly craft projects that reuse and re-purpose recyclable objects.
• Go Green with Crafting – Learn how to transform all types of things, from CDs and DVDs to empty egg cartons, into new and useful items.
• 12 Crafts for Older Kids – Pre-teens and teenagers will love these funky crafts that save money without sacrificing on style, including stuffed animal headphones, colorful night lamp covers, and re-purposed T-shirt tank tops.
• Make Art for Pennies – Kinder Art presents dozens of craft project resources targeted at young children including a milk carton bird house and wind chimes made from old silverware.
• 6 Kid Crafts – Better Homes and Gardens lists 6 fun projects for kids to do that transforms trash into treasure.
• Celebrate Earth Day – Here is a wonderful selection of dozens of crafts using recyclable items. Create coffee ground fossils, paper mache globes, and tin can flower pots.
• Useful Crafts for Kids – From a cardboard box oven that really works to a food box camera, here are some innovative projects using recycled items.
• Eco-Friendly Craft Projects – Check out these ecologically-friendly crafting ideas by Martha Stewart, including beads made from stale bread and cardboard doll furniture.

Related Articles

Comparison and Analysis of Paintings by Mary Cassatt and Georges Seurat

Giorgio Vasari: Brief Biography and Analysis of Four Major Works

The North frieze at the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi offers an unique focus, particularly in terms of Hesiod’s poetic description. Although the disclaimer must be made that this is a work of art, and thus more reliant on setting and images, it is nonetheless striking that the emphasis of this frieze is on the actual scene. While Hesiod chose in his poem to focus more on a general description of character events, this work focuses on the setting and uses this to present the dramatic struggle. By presenting the viewer with a direct opposition (i.e. opposing figures facing one another directly and engaged in the beginning of combat) the viewer cannot help but notice the vast divide between the two sides. Given the large scope of the actual frieze, this is far more possible than with the images painted on a vase such as the one discussed below (the vase uses detail and intricate symbols rather than wide-scale and grandiose oppositions, for example). While the gods and goddesses are labeled, just as they are in the vase paintings, this matter almost seems to lose its importance, particularly if one is familiar with the details of Hesiod’s poem. What is most striking, and what seems to be the point of this particular representation of the Gigantomachy, is the division between the two sides and the sense of malice conveyed through the large scope of the actual background and setting. Here, the epic struggle is not confined to two gods/goddesses, but there are many and this is presented as very much a full-scale war rather than more intimate settings presented on other materials.

A particular vase painting depicting the Gigantomachy (Harvard 1920.44.54) presents a somewhat altered understanding of the battle of the giants and gods than the one seen at the North frieze at the Siphnian Treasury of Delphi. First of all, by matter of its much smaller size, the vase is predictably able to provide a sense of detail yet more limited scope and range that the frieze offers. Accordingly, the number of gods and goddesses presented is less as well and it is somewhat easier to focus in on what is taking place on a more minute level. This vase uses more intimate portrayals of the gods and goddesses engaged in combat and as a result, the opposition is more focused yet is even more fierce because of the smaller amount of space. Also of note, while the North frieze does not emphasize active combat, this vase does, and it actively engages the viewer, making one aware of who was fighting who.

It should be noted that while the North frieze does not specifically feature or even really show Zeus, this is not necessarily important when considering it in the context of Hesiod’s Gigantomachy. The more symbolic importance is that the fierceness of the battle is presented and the malice between god and giant is quite apparent. Furthermore, the mere scope and size of this particular frieze is important because it reflects the epic nature of the battle between two forces, giants and deities, all taking place on an grand scale. While the vase does not have the same scale, the more detailed representations offer the viewer a more complex and active understanding of the way battle was represented and perceived by ancient artists.

In Hesiod’s work, the battle between Zeus and the giant is one that matches the two paramount features of both of the works discussed here. On the one hand, the reader of the poem is acutely aware of the vast importance of the battle itself and the fact that so many important deities were involved matches with the grand size and scale of the North Frieze. On the other hand, the vase also is also an excellent symbolic and even metaphorical understanding of Hesiod’s treatment of the battle. While he presents it to his readers as a monumental and epic event, it is nonetheless told in almost “list” fashion and while there is some detail on some bit of minutia (as with detail on a vase since it is presented in a smaller and more confined space). In other words, much like the vase, the story of the battle between Zeus and the giant is only a very small part of something incredibly vast—more so than the North frieze could ever portray, certainly. Interestingly, although it is an important event in Hediod’s tale, there are so many events detailed that it almost becomes lost in the mire of legend and myth. In many ways, these works of art that seek to present a more detailed account or closer inspection of myth offer us a key to the grandiose vision of the poet Hesiod.

Link to image of the North Freize: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/image?lookup=Perseus:image:1990.11.0067

Image of Vase: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

Mary Cassatt was an American painter and Georges Seurat was a French painter; although Seurat’s life was much shorter that that of Cassatt, both produced an extensive and impressive oeuvre, and their paintings remain popular today, more than 100 years later. In “Susan Comforting the Baby” and “Young Woman Powdering Herself,” the viewer notices many similarities that reflect the influence of the dominant artistic movement of the day: Impressionism. First, both Cassatt’s and Seurat’s works are oil paintings, a medium which was most popular during their epoch. The use of oil paints permitted both artists to create textured works that were vivid, despite the muted palette of colors that these artists preferred. The texture of both paintings is easily visible under the excellent lighting of the museum’s exhibition space, and generates a sense of appreciation that would not be possible were the works viewed as reproductions in a book, as a poster, or online. This aspect of texture is an important element of the paintings because both works depict a woman in midst of an action or gesture; the texture, then, conveys a sense of movement that reinforces the paintings’ subjects.

The title of Cassatt’s painting explains its subject. Cassatt has portrayed a woman named Susan, and an infant, who is in a carriage. The baby is slightly agitated, as the viewer can determine not only from the title and the use of the word “comforting,” but also from the expression on the baby’s face and the gesture it is making, which evokes a sense of distress. Although Cassatt’s painting technique resulted in a piece in which figures and objects are not defined by sharp lines and edges, but are more blurred, the viewer can clearly see that the content of the painting does indeed reflect the subject as hinted at by the title. The woman has kneeled down beside the carriage so that her head is level to the child’s, and she appears to be talking to the baby, her mouth close to the child’s ear, and a comforting hand upon the baby’s stomach.

Although the baby is in need of comfort, there is nothing in the painting that is suggestive of immediate danger; the woman and child are set in the foreground of a bucolic scene, which appears as if it might be the patio of an upper class home or a sidewalk in a park. There is a short wall and some shrubbery, and a few flowers dotting the low-lying bushes. There are no other signs of life: no people, no animals; in short, there are no distractions to draw the viewer’s attention away from the people, who are Cassatt’s interest and preoccupation.

Like Cassatt, Seurat titled his painting directly and unequivocally so that the viewer would have no doubt as to what, exactly, he or she is seeing. A woman sits at a vanity and is in the process of powdering herself. Her hair is already swept up and she has put a watch or a bracelet on her left wrist, but she appears to not be fully dressed yet, with just a camisole covering her chest. In the painting, Seurat has portrayed his subject in mid-gesture, suggesting movement. The powder puff, held in the fingertips of the woman’s right hand, is poised in mid-air between the vanity and her chest, having been dipped into the talc and on its way, now, to the last step in the woman’s beauty routine. As in Cassatt’s painting, Seurat minimizes any distractions. There are no other objects in the painting besides those that have already been mentioned, and those objects do nothing to take away from the scene; rather, they add to it. The focus is entirely on the woman who is powdering herself.

In both Cassatt’s and Seurat’s paintings, then, the astute viewer notices several commonalities with respect to their subjects. First, the lack of distractions and decorations serves to draw the attention of the viewer directly to the subject: the woman who is comforting the child, in the case of Cassatt, and the woman who is powdering herself, in the case of Seurat. The positioning of the subjects also serves to insist that the viewer focus on the women; the women occupy the foreground and the backgrounds of each painting are devoid of any major details that compete for the viewer’s consideration. Second, by positioning the subjects in this manner and directing the gaze of the viewer so expertly, both Cassatt and Seurat share a certain achievement: they succeed in paying attention to and portraying the mundane activities of daily life in which women, in particular, engage. In doing so, the artists elevate these ordinary activities into a subject that is worthy of the viewer’s interest. By portraying ordinary scenes from daily life, Cassatt and Seurat are calling the viewer to attention: What might he or she see by taking the time to look at such a mundane activity in a new or more detailed way? The answer, of course, is up to each individual viewer.

In addition to the thematic similarities, there are some technical similarities that the two paintings share. Texture and composition have already been mentioned, but in addition to these, the color schemes of the two paintings are quite similar. Both Cassatt and Seurat, at least in these two paintings, preferred a muted color palette, mostly those in ranges of blues, purples, and silvery-white grays, with a hint of soft orange suggested in each and green in “Susan Comforting the Baby.” The colors are calm and sober, but not foreboding or oppressive in any way. Rather, the colors suggest quietness, reflecting the mood that the subjects suggest and which the painters seemed to want to create. The paintings are not intended to excite the viewer, but rather, to call the viewer to quiet contemplation of an ordinary scene and, perhaps, to invite the viewer to reflect on his or her own life and its simple daily tasks. The colors are warm and inviting, and because they are so appropriate for the subject and tone of each painting, they have the effect of drawing the viewer into these intimate scenes rather than creating any distance.

Despite all of the similarities in subject and technique that have been mentioned thus far, there are also technical and artistic distinctions that are important to mention and discuss. One of the most crucial differences observed between the two paintings is that of the different styles that the painters used to apply the oil paint to the canvas, in Cassatt’s case, and wood, in Seurat’s. Cassatt is entirely figurative, painting her subjects in a straightforward, non-abstract style. She does so, however, using an interesting variety of brush strokes, which are evident upon close examination of the work. When looking at Susan’s dress, for instance, the brush strokes are less controlled and more sketch-like; whereas the child’s dress, especially the collar, are more detailed, requiring finer and more precise brush strokes. What Cassatt proves in this painting is that she is equally comfortable and skilled with both types of brush work. The viewer also notices that a similar observation can be made about the background of “Susan Comforting the Baby.” The right side of the painting depicts a short wall and shrubbery that is more precise; while the background on the left is more diffuse and blurred. In either style, though, Cassatt is perfectly in control of her brush, and both types of brush work seem intended to produce distinct effects. Seurat, on the other hand, took an entirely different approach, composing his subject by exerting an exacting precision with just the tip of his brush. The woman, her vanity, and the room in which she is powdering herself are all painted not with lines, but with dots. Each dot contributes to the larger composition, creating not just form, but texture as well.

A close examination of these two paintings, Cassatt’s “Susan Comforting the Baby” and Seurat’s “Young Woman Powdering Herself,” shows that the two artists working contemporaneously seemed to be influenced by the same artistic trends of their day, namely, those of Impressionism, despite the fact that they worked continents apart. Both artists call the viewer to stop and to enter into a simple scene by paying attention to the small but meaningful details of daily life: how a mother moves to comfort a distressed child, how a woman engages quietly in her daily beauty routine. The paintings are calm and neither are challenging to the viewer’s eyes. Careful consideration, though, shows just how differently similar subjects produced in the same artistic period can be approached, even to produce a similar emotional response. In both Cassatt’s painting and in that of Seurat, the viewer notices that where the artists did not take risks in their subjects, they did take risks in executing the artistic techniques that portrayed those subjects and produced a response in the viewer. Cassatt, for her part, utilized a variety of brush work techniques to create very specific effects in her simple composition. Seurat took a more uniform approach, but one that was equally radical from a technical perspective, insisting that it was possible to produce a meaningful and cohesive composition simply by covering the canvas with carefully placed dots. The similarities and differences noted in these two paintings offer a general lesson about the practice of viewing artwork. By taking the time to slow down and consider a painting from a detailed perspective, one can notice characteristics and details that would escape the cursory glance. In the process, the viewer also learns about himself or herself and is invited to reflect upon larger themes about life.

Giorgio Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany during the Renaissance in 1511. As a young man he showed a remarkable interest and talent for painting and soon became a student of the famous artist Guglielmo da Marsiglia. After this apprenticeship he moved on to study further in Florence, which was home to many other prominent Renaissance artists before he moved on to study in Rome. It was in this city that he was exposed to the works of his idols, Raphael and Michaelangelo and it was also in Rome that he completed many of his major works while under the patronage of the Medici family back in Florence. Throughout his life he oscillated between the two cities and to this day all of his remaining works can be found in these locations. One of his most notable paintings can be found in Florence in the Palazzo Vecchio where he completed a vast ceiling painting, one of the few he ever completed. His architectural works can be found around Florence as well and he built the loggia of the Palazzo delgi Uffizi which was the first such architectural structure in Italy of its kind. His own home in Arezzo was itself a magnificent structure and it survives today as a museum to the artist, housing some of his paintings as well as parts of the original manuscripts to his biographical collections about Renaissance artists that would later form the whole of theVite.

Sala del Cinquecento

http://www.wga.hu/preview/v/vasari/cinquece.jpg

The Sala del Cinquecento is a large fresco at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy and was completed by the artist Vasari and his assistants in 1565. Like many of the works by Vasair, this was commissioned by his patrons, the Medici family and was meant to serve as an ornate decoration to the front room of the palace. In other words, Vasari’s fresco was to be the centerpiece of the home, the first decoration guests would notice when entering.

This fresco decorates the ceiling and walls of the entryway at the Palazzo and consists of 39 panels, each of which presents an epoch in Florence’s history.  All of the panels have been carefully painted and are separated by highly detailed gold trimming. These gilded dividers between each panels define the space. While the room itself is incredibly large, in depicting the history of a city was necessary for there to be some way of defining historical moments and isolating them as individual events. The gold separators further break down the space allotted; while the room itself is devoted to this fresco, each panel is in effect a small story or an individual painting in its own right. As a result, the space must therefore be defined by such divisions otherwise the continuity and epochs in history cannot be recognized. This said, the figures within each individual space or panel are proportioned according to their defined area, even though the perspective makes the human figures in each of them the emphasis). All of the panels are arranged in chronological order and while many of them present scenes from famous battles, several are dedicated to presenting the idealistic pastoral roots of the city. Despite the many different meanings behind each panel in terms of what it is trying to relate about Florence, all of the panels reflect the same general theme which is conveyed by the constant use of gold, red, and brown. All of the panels in the Sala del Cinquecento are similar in terms of the colors and general tone but each depicts a separate event or period in Florence’s history. The colors are incredibly bold in all of the panels and reds and rich browns are most often used. These deep colors are accentuated by bold lines as well and the figures that are depicted in each panel are the emphasis. Each human figure attracts the eye because of its stark contrast in terms of color with the red and brown background. These figures are all realistically represented (in that they are not contorted) but many of them posses slightly exaggerated bodily features with many of the men appearing idealistically. All of these factors are aligned with Vasari’s status as a painter in the Mannerist style in which many of the Renaissance conventions are being slightly exaggerated and presented more dramatically. There is not a great deal of rhythm in these panels aside from the fact that they all present the same color scheme because each panel is attempting to present something different to the viewer. In addition to a lack of rhythm between each panel there is also a notable lack of balance. Some of the panels, especially those that present battles or conflict, are weighted on one side. For example, on one particular panel all of the human figures are clustered on one side of the defined area while the other side remains almost bare aside from non-emphasized background images. This goes on to interrupt the overall sense of rhythm and makes each panel and individual painting within itself and allows one to stand apart from the others in ways other than general content or subject matter.

This is one of Vasari’s most famous frescos and is an excellent example of the Mannerist style, especially because of the lack of harmony and balance that was such an important component of earlier Renaissance artists that Vasari so admired such as Michaelangelo. By examining some of the panels individually it is clear that the figures are not painted as idealistically and have exaggerated features and are painted using less balanced and more dramatic color palates. Although the artist is largely recognized for his greater success as an architect, this is one of his finest and definitive pieces as a painter.

Deposition from the Cross

http://www.wga.hu/preview/v/vasari/depositi.jpg

This painting by Vasari was completed in 1567 and was commissioned by a group of monks in Italy. In general, it depicts Christ on the Cross and those who were surrounding him at the time of his death. This is the best available example of how Vasari painted in the Mannerist style because of its use of exaggeration, especially in terms of Renaissance standards. The colors, figures, and almost every aesthetic aspect of this painting reflects a post-Renaissance desire to move away from notions of harmony and balance.

One of the first things one recognizes about this painting is the way emotion is achieved through the use of line and color in particular. Interestingly, the emphasis of the painting, which is Christ and in a secondary sense those who surround him, does not make the viewer feel the emotion. In fact, the expression of Christ is not necessarily pained. In other words, Vasari is not attempting to invoke emotion through painting detail but rather through other means. For instance, the paleness of the emphasis figure’s skin is accentuated by the skin color of those around him. This use of color makes him look weaker and more frail. Those around him, especially the men who are at the top of the cross are all of a more healthy coloring. They do not have much expression painted on either but are rather granted emotion by the fact of their coloring and lines. The men all have exaggerated arm muscles and faces that are sharp yet not detailed enough to offer any real insight or meaning. The lines with which the men are painted offer no balance either. While their muscles are fluid looking there is an alternating tendency between this fluidity and the sharpness of other features, especially those of the faces. In addition to this, the lines and emphasis of the painting are exaggerated by the sharpness and relative detail of the background, which is painted in quite a bit of detail—far more detailed than the faces of the men surrounding the Christ figure. This would suggest that expression through detail is not as important as expression through color and line, an idea that is consistent with the theories underlying mannerism.

While the balance in this painting is distorted because of the lack of consistency in detail between the emphasis and the background, in some ways it is very balanced. The emphasis is placed directly in the center of the painting and thus draws one’s attention not only because of his coloring but because of his position at the center of the activity. A sense of action around this figure of emphasis is also important because it makes Christ look still (which draws attention even more) and also because it creates a sense of rhythm among those who surround Christ. For example, the lines are flowing around the emphasis, especially in terms of the flowing fabrics. There is a sense of movement that forms a perfect circle around the emphasis and thus the balance is readily clear. Not only is there is a center, but it is a direct center. This is one of the only ways that this painting deviates from the ideas behind mannerism—it still conforms toRenaissance notions of perfect balance and harmony. The space in this painting is used to create a balance with the center literally being the “center of attention” for the viewer. The only time the balance is thrown off is in terms of color. The eye is drawn to Christ’s feet where his onlookers sit, many of whom are dressed in dramatically bright colors such as deeper reds and blues. This offers stark contrast between the more neutral tones near the head of Christ and prompts the viewer to look more closely at both the Christ in contrast as well as the people who sit on the ground near him. In short, this painting shows how Vasari understood the Mannerist style, even if there are some aspects of it that are more closely aligned with earlier Renaissance concepts of balance and harmony.

The Prophet Elisha

http://www.wga.hu/preview/v/vasari/elisha.jpg

The medium used for this painting is tempera on wood and it depicts the prophet Elisha as the emphasis as he is hunched over at the bottom center of the painting and surrounded by a number of other figures. While the other figures are depicted with the exact same amount of detail as Elisha, it is the prophet that is the emphasis because of color as well as balance. For instance, the light in this painting seems to be directed at Elisha as he is kneeling and this light almost reflects off of his skin. As a result, his skin tone and color is more luminescent than those around him. Vasari chose to paint him in robe that is a richer red than that which is seen in the rest of the painting and this, coupled with the fact that the emphasis is at the bottom (due to the perspective and that he is closer than the images at the top) makes Elisha the object of the viewer’s attention. Aside from that issue, the colors used in the background (which is actually the top of the painting itself) are quite dark and muted compared to those used for closer objects. In addition, while there are a number of figures sitting at the table near the top of the painting, they are too far away for any real detail to be given to them. On this note, the figures that are closer in terms of perspective are not painted with significant attention to facial detail and like in Vasari’s other paintings, emotion is conveyed by these uses of color and perspective rather than by direct attempts to paint a particular emotion on the countenance of the emphasis.

This painting differs from others by Vasari in that it does not rely so much on differences in line and textures to achieve an overall effect. This painting instead relies upon perspective and color. The perspective forces the viewer to look closely at the center image at the bottom since it is the closest and thus the most details. Among these figures then is that of Elisha in the center and the coloring is such that we see a light about him which conveys the notion of holiness just as well as a painted expression might. Unlike Renaissance painters before him, Vasari is attempting to distort principles of harmony to create meaning. He is not using form or abject emotion but is rather creating emotion through reliance on more abstract terms, most notably through the aforementioned use of perspective and color. There is no harmony between the background and foreground and the two could almost be individual paintings since they have so little to do with one another in these terms.

Entombment

http://www.wga.hu/art/v/vasari/entombme.jpg

This is one of the earliest paintings by Vasari but it still reflects Mannerism, perhaps even more so than some of his later works. This was commissioned by the Medici family and was meant to stand alone in a room. While Vasari is most known for his devotional paintings, this is one of the stranger works he produced in that it is more secular, especially when compared to his later works that depicted either Christ, saints, or other religious imagery that came straight from biblical references.

What is most striking about this painting is the use of line. It varies between incredible smooth and fluid to completely straight and choppy. The figures in the background are the most fluid and are comprised of flowing lines and dark colors that are almost like a pool rather than something the viewer can focus on. The perspective creates the emphasis which is the dead man being carried off to his tomb. Unlike those who are holding him his features are very rough and the lines are incredibly sharp, especially in his facial and bodily features. Aside from the aspect of differing lines, color is also used to achieve an emotional effect. The dead man’s features are painted with more dramatic and sharp lines and the color used for his skin is almost exaggerated since it is so sickly, especially when used in contrast against the healthy tones used for those who are carrying him. For example, the man on the right is painted in outstanding fleshy tones and is the picture of health and thus contrasts sharply with the figure of death he is carrying.

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Works Cited

Carden, Robert Walter. The Life of Giorgio Vasari: A Study of the Later Renaissance in Italy. New York; P.L. Warner, 1910.

Rubin, Patricia Lee. Giorgio Vasari: Art and History. Yale University Press 1995.

Vasari, Giorgio. Vasari on Technique. New York: Dover, 1965.