The Parthenon, By Frederic Church

The Parthenon by Frederic Church incorporates many artistic decisions in the painting. The use of color, angle, and light tell a lot about the piece, as well as other elements that show insight to the time period that The Parthenon was painted. Church chose natural/accurate colors to paint his piece meaning that he wanted the viewer to know what the Parthenon looked like in reality. The angle he chose to view the building from gives a sense of power and strength. Church obviously was representing the value of the structure to the people in his painting. The light source signifies the “coming out” of a hard, or dark time. All of the rubble is in the darkness, but the Parthenon is in the light signifying willpower to be free from the negativity or ruin.

It is possible to tell a lot about the time period and cultural beliefs and values of the people when Church painted The Parthenon solely by looking at the piece itself. The structure is already in ruins; therefore, it was painted after ancient times. However, the emphasis of abstract art, present in contemporary art is not incorporated in the painting, so it was not painted in recent years. The Parthenon was painted during a lot of classical training. Today, people are not taught to paint with the exact precision of line, making the painting look like a photograph. The illumination of the Parthenon along with the size Church painted the structure again proves the importance of the Parthenon in the society. Lastly, the petite size of the person in the painting symbolizes how unimportant people are compared to the accomplishments of a society as a whole. A group of people built the Parthenon, not one person. When a civilization works together as one, much more is accomplish than one person doing the work on his/her own.