CRITIQUE OF THE PAINTING THAT INSPIRED THE FILM "BELLE" (Collab with Donna Clark)

Hello everyone! =)

As mentioned before, I have been mandated by my lecturer to do collaborations with some of my fellow classmates.

Today I will be doing a collab with Donna Clark. Donna's blog captures her thoughts on creativity in and around us.

In this post, Donna will be using her excellent visual skills to critically analyze the painting which inspired the film BELLE, one of my favorite films at this year's T+T film festival.

For those of you who have not yet read my post on BELLE, click here to be directed to the post.

So with all of that said, here's Donna's critique..Enjoy!

The painting featured in the film “Belle” is very typical of the 18th century portraiture style where the landscape is featured in the background and the subjects are richly attired. The landscape in this instance is that of the Georgian city scape with the silhouette of St. Paul’s church.  The two women are the mixed race Dido and her cousin Elizabeth, the camaraderie between the two women is evident which was unusual for that time period since slavery was a part of the society.
The painting shows effective use of the complementary colours of red and green which helps to establish Elizabeth as the focal point due to the red hue of her dress. However the artist cleverly used the extended hand of Elizabeth to guide the viewer to Dido who is very animated in gesture and expression. The successful use of contrasting values helps to create balance in this composition since one can see the lighted Elizabeth against the dark background as compared to the dark skinned Dido silhouetted against a lighter background.
The technique of chiaroscuro is evident in the subtle value tones used in the background landscape and the skin of the women. The Baroque style lighting is seen in the highlighted areas of the rich silk of the women’s dresses. This style was very similar to the German Neoclassical painter, Johann Zoffany who was also a mastermind at creating conversational pieces since his subject matter was somewhat controversial, which is the case in this piece since it was unacceptable for the two women to be on equal footing in society. This painting however similar to Zoffany was not painted by him and the artist remains anonymous.
This painting like many of the 18th century paintings of Netherlands and France has hidden meanings that are symbolic of undercurrents in society such as the hint that slavery should end. It is in fact Dido’s great Uncle, Lord Mansfield, who as a Lord Chief Justice in 1772 gave a decision in favor of a slave. This case heralded the beginning of the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The old saying of an image speaks a thousand words is well suited to apply to this painting of Belle and the conversation that the painting would cause is the script of the film entitled “Belle”.

1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761 - 1804) and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (1760 -1825) that inspired the film BELLE.

To read more from Donna Clark, click here to go to Donna's blog.

Thanks for reading!