Painting two giant owls | by Richard Somonte скачать в хорошем качестве

Painting two giant owls | by Richard Somonte

This video offers a direct immersion into the creative process of Richard Somonte's latest work. It documents the execution of a monumental oil painting, 110" x 60", titled "Two White Owls," a composition featuring two specimens perched on a fig branch. The piece is characterized by its rigorous application of the artist's classical technique, unveiling an enigmatic and masterful execution. The footage allows viewers to appreciate the painting's progression, from the initial underlayers to the final details, demonstrating Somonte's technical mastery and the formal complexity of this work. It is a study on the patience and precision required in high figurative painting. The Owl in Art History and its Symbolism Origins and Symbol of Wisdom The owl possesses an undeniable historical trajectory in Western art. Its earliest and most fundamental representation is associated with Ancient Greece, where it became the inseparable attribute of Athena (Minerva for the Romans), the goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare, and the arts. Due to its nocturnal vision and its ability to operate in darkness, the owl symbolized clairvoyance and the knowledge that illuminates the night of ignorance. This iconography migrated to coins, ceramics, and sculptures, establishing its role as an emblem of intellectual reflection. Duality and Mystery in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Despite its Greek veneration, the owl's symbolism acquired a dual and often contradictory nature in later periods. In Medieval Art, its nocturnal activity linked it to the realm of shadows, heresy, and evil; it frequently appeared in Christian iconography as a symbol of the sinner's blindness to the "light of Christ." However, during the Renaissance and the Baroque, artists such as Dürer or Bosch maintained this ambivalence, using it both to allude to melancholy or the fleeting nature of life and to reaffirm its connection to erudition and philosophy. The Modern Owl: Enigma and Introspection In contemporary art, the owl has been freed from many of its didactic or moral connotations to function as a powerful enigmatic motif. Later artists employ it to evoke introspection, silence, and the hidden. Its presence in a composition often suggests a silent observation of the spectator or a meditation on time. In current painting, its inclusion transcends mere animal representation to become an archetype of psychological depth and the latent mystery in nature.