Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Art and Literature: Truly Hand in Hand

Who would have thought that a painting and a sonnet could actually have something in common? They are both forms art, for they are both forms of creative expression; however they are under two completely different umbrellas. Rembrandt's The Night Watch, as mentioned before, is one of his most famous works that has been done. The size of the painting is massive and there are amazing variations between the dark and light contrasts of the painting. Rembrandt has mastered some great techniques when creating this piece. Samuel Daniel's sonnet 45 from the famous Delia sonnet sequence is a well known Shakespearean or English sonnet, of the sequence. Now how in the world do these two pieces of art relate to one another? It is quite interesting just how these two intersect with each other. The subject matter of both pieces are completely different; Rembrandt’s painting is based on Captain Cocq and his company of musketeers while Daniel’s sonnet is about a painful account given by a man.

First, both pieces are male dominated. In the painting, only men are seen in the scene. The men appear as if they are about to prepare for combat of some sort with their guns, spears, and harpoons. In the sonnet, the speaker is a male speaker. On top of that, there are male personified references to Sleep, Night, and Death. It seems that in both pieces, males are central figures.

In this time period, women are always placed somewhere in the background. In the painting there is a little girl dressed in gold, the color of victory. She is carrying around masculine items such as a chicken, a pistol, and a goblet. All of these items are associated with men and the fact there is a little girl holding them makes her seem submissive and subjected to men. In the text, Daniel’s speaker is in pain but the woman has a connection to all of the male personas of death, sleep, and death. The woman is not just one of these but she is all of these things to him which makes her inferior to men.

Although the painting is projecting new victories and the sonnet projects a melancholic tone, there are still connections that tie the two. Both pieces have a strong presence of dark and light. What makes the painting famous is how Rembrandt used variations with the darkness and light colors on the canvas. The musketeers are moving in from the darkness into the lighter areas as if it were morning. They are leaving the past and darkness behind them. When that happens, nothing else really matter after that. The painting shows time, transition, motion and change even though it is still. The sonnet also moves in this same way. In the first quatrain, speaker is trapped in darkness and as the sonnet moves, he acknowledges the light of morning and the light of a new day: the sun. The sun sheds light and truth because truth cannot live in darkness. Victory cannot live in darkness. The speaker in the poem wishes to remain in darkness in fear of the truth being revealed because it will cause more pain and grief on his sorrow. The speaker is also running his dreams and his visions as the musketeers step into clarity of a new vision. The speaker holds pain in his heart form his past, all the way from childhood until adulthood. The childhood aspect of the sonnet contrasts with the child in the painting who is covered in light and appears to be happy.

Regardless of how different a painting or poem maybe, there is something that always connects the two. In the case of Rembrandt and Daniel, there are similar symbols and similar imagery in darkness and in light.

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