As far as I can see, Lady Liberty is the only woman in this painting. For some reasons, still unbeknownst to me, abstract things such as liberty and luck are portrayed by women. A possible reason may be the fact that there were the Roman goddesses of luck and liberty. On a side note, look at The Statue of Liberty. Back to the painting, the woman is holding the French flag, the tricolore. It very obviously symbolises freedom of some sort for the French (I have limited knowledge on French history).
But, look to the left of Lady Luck, who do we have here? Merlin's pants! It's Honest Abe. Now what in the world is Abraham Lincoln doing fighting for the French? Haha, it's only a theory, because in fact, this painting was painted in 1830. So, Abraham Lincoln, would've only been about 21 years of age, certainly not that famous to be depicted in a painting by a French artist.
Now to the right of Lady Luck is a young boy, this probably symbolises the universal scale of war. Everyone is involved, affected. Down below, there are many dead bodies, symbolising the devastation brought on the the onslaught of battle. But look at the horizon, behind those smoky clouds of smoldering remains of a French city, blue skies are in sight. So, in this case, it seems, the battle was well worth for.
Actually, I wanted to write about post-exam liberty, but I ended up doing this. Never mind, there's always a time for post-exam analysis. :D Wait in anticipation.
No comments:
Post a Comment