Ugolino and His Sons - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1870) - Stylistic Analysis

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Ugolino and His Sons - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1870) - Stylistic Analysis

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Artistic representation, Ugolino and His Sons, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, stylistic analysis, sentiments of anguish, paternal suffering, Dante Alighieri, sculpture, romanticism

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Abstract

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's "Ugolino and His Sons" is an outstanding artistic representation that reflects the sentiments of unbearable anguish and paternal suffering in the decomposition of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, who served as a subject for Dante Alighieri's famous "Inferno." This sculpture, estimated to have been created between 1865 and 1867 in Paris, France, manifests the core principle of Romanticism regarding emotional intensity and expressiveness. With a real height of just above 6 ft, weighing nearly 5,000 lbs, and composed of a mixture of Saint-Bérard marble, this beautiful artwork brings the story of Ugolino from Dante's Inferno to life. He was a nobleman from the 13th century who was jailed with his sons and grandsons. This essay seeks to conduct a stylistic analysis of Carpeaux's masterpiece, located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, to depict how it represents the qualities of the Romantic style.

Overview
The sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
The artwork Ugolino and His Sons
Analysis
The period of romanticism
Conclusion

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[...] Ugolino appears arched in the middle of his sons and grandchildren, glancing out in the distance. As you notice the piece, Ugolino has his hands lifted to his mouth and is biting his fingernails. His expression shows a troubled and hopeless state of mind. The worry lines on his forehead and pain in his eyes. He does not appear to care about the other four kids who cling to him, even though the youngest is curled up at his feet, most possibly dead. [...]

[...] Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was a French nineteenth-century sculptor and painter born in Valenciennes, France. His artistic journey brought him to Rome, where he had the opportunity to be affected by the influence of Renaissance masters like Michelangelo, Verrocchio, and Donatello. Carpeaux's technique is mainly classified into Romanticism and sometimes entails Baroque through his chosen elements like marble, bronze, moveable figures, and emotional forms.2 His amazing work, "Ugolino and His Sons," laid the foundation for his success. This artwork is an extremely passionate representation of Dante's Inferno's Canto XXXIII's Ugolino Della Gherardesca. [...]

[...] Vázquez, Patricia. "Dante's Cannibal Count: Unnatural Hunger and its Reckoning." Arion: A Journal of the Humanities and the Classics 28, no (2020): 67-93. Trencsényi, Balázs, and Michal Kopecek, eds. National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements: Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe 1770? 1945. Vol Central European University Press, 2006. Maeser, Angelika Maria. "Romanticism and the" dissociation of sensibility"; a study of Charles Baudelaire and TS Eliot." PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 1972. [...]

[...] Right down by Ugolino's feet lays his youngest grandson's body, just lifeless, as if the child is asleep. Carpeaux captures the emotions of this tragic story very well.4 The artwork reflects the elevated physical and mental moods of the Romantic movement. Romanticism is a period that occurred in Europe and the United States between 1790 and 1900. The movement was characterized by idealizing women, embracing sadness and isolation, appreciating nature and the common person, and focusing on personal experience. It began in literature in the late eighteenth century and expanded to art and music in the early nineteenth. [...]

[...] The style of the poem is dominated by expressive details, composition, and emotional intensity, all in line with the objectives of the Romantics, making it a perfect example of a blend between history, storytelling, and art. This artwork is not only a cultural remnant but also represents the profundity of human sentiments and how art can express them. Bibliography Quideau, Florence. Origins of modernism in French romantic sculpture: David D'Angers, Dantan-Jeune, Daumier, and Préault. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, School of Graduate Studies, 2011. The Met. "Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Ugolino and His Sons French, Paris the Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/204812. [...]

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