Philippe Swyncop, Peace and the Arts Are Worth More Than the Brutal Glory of Arms, 1903, Oil on Canvas, Framed

Description

Or/l “Peace and arts are worth more than the brutal glory of weapons”, Philippe Swyncop, 1903 - Belgium, Flemish School … more Or/l “Peace and arts are worth more than the brutal glory of weapons”, Philippe Swyncop, 1903 - Belgium, Flemish School

Exquisite oil on canvas signed and dated by the Belgian artist Philippe Swyncop (1878 - 1949) in the lower left corner. In the plate that is located at the bottom of the frame, it reads: “La Paix et les arts Valent myux that the Gloire Brutale des Armes”; That is, peace and arts are worth more than the brutal glory of weapons. On the canvas, an allegory is represented on the triumph of peace and the arts against the brutal consequences of war.

On the right side, standing, a man who represents the war, plunged in the shadows and holding the sword with which he has just killed a young man, whose body appears lying on the ground in a violent scorzo, whose head seems to transfer the Canvas limits. Beside her, a woman cries inconsolanted for the loss, on behalf of the devastation and the horrors caused by the war.

And in front of war, the arts. On the left side the vegetation becomes lush. The color accompanies the meaning of the work. All meaning seems contained in the infant, the only figure that looks directly at the viewer and is smiling.

In this work the characteristics of flamenco painting are appreciated. This school had its origin in the fifteenth century, and assumed a fundamental role in the history of European art during the fifteenth, seventeenth and seventeenth centuries, although its influence remained during the subsequent centuries. During the baroque stage, Rubens was the most influential author and the one who best expressed the trends of this movement. Rubens's work is marked by his passage through Italy, where he dedicated himself to the study of classical antiquity and Italian rebirth, especially attracted by the Venetian school and by authors such as Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, from whom he took his sensitivity and sense of the Beauty compatible with the energetic expression of feelings. Due to the influence of flamenco painting, the figures are resounding and bulky, with a very precise anatomical study. It also highlights the complexity of the composition, with numerous figures and a complicated disposition. The importance of color against drawing cannot be ignored, to which the loose and vaporous brushstroke, reminiscence even of the study and assimilation of Rubens of the characteristics of the Venetian school, together with the decorativist sense.

In the center of the composition, the vegetation opens to give way to an open field where, in a remote plane, there is a couple dancing. The triumph of life. It is also the memory of the literary figure "Hortus conclus", which appears for the first time in the biblical story of the Song of Songs, evoking the Eden, the idyllic garden, closed, created by God for man and of which he was expelled. It was precisely the desire to recover this lost paradise that promoted the poetic character of this figure and what made it last over time, from the first medieval representations (based on Christian interpretation), to the various artistic trends of the twentieth century.

Philippe Swyncop was a painter, cartoonist and illustrator of Belgian origin. It was formed at the Brussels Academy, although it never stopped traveling, which causes its personal style to be formed by the sum of multiple influences. In his works there are continuous references to Renaissance art and the nudes of the great masters of painting, demonstrating their classical and academic training. It is especially recognized for its portraits, so this great work stands out within its production, given its great dimensions and its theme. It is a mixture between the modernism of the time he lived and his deep desire to evoke a refined, idealized classicism of a overflowing beauty, thus being linked to the great teachers of previous times.

Dimensions: 118 x 170 x 5 cm. / 100 x 150 cm.
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