>Seeing Red

Seeing Red

Penny Day
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2004
BA

Subject: Painting
Country: Western Europe
Period: 25,000 B.C to 19th Century

10,000 words

An in depth survey of the use of red in the history of art, focusing on the technical elements of its production, in relation to artistsic style. From red ochre in the Paleolithic period, evoking spirituality and symbolism, and applied with and by spit, to the more divers palette of Egyptian several thousands of years later. The dissertation compares and contrasts the pigments Minium and Kermes, their different uses and effects. There is also an exploration of lauguage as bearing influence upon the popularity of one pigment over another. The dissertation then moves from the use of cinnabar in Ancient Rome where the symbolic significance of red is explored, to the use of Cochineal in the Renaissance where the palette became more diverse. Finally the primarily optical and emotional use of red in the nineteenth century was free from its more formulaic use during Renaissance. The use of red through the history of art is examined, serving several purposes, from structural to sensual.

Irish Georgian Society

Education Theses Register

Seeing Red