How to Read Art - Turkish Sentinel by Charles Bargue
Look on the Art Insight TV, I’m Aladdin Vargas. We’re gonna take it behind the scenes look what’s making this painting work. The Sentinel was designed by French painter Charles Bargue in 1877. Let’s find the two main squares in this design first. The top edge of the bottom square locks in the pattern of the carpet. Here’s the St. Andrew’s Cross which is formed when two major squares overlap. The centerline locks in the Sentinel’s face, hand, and kilt like wrap. As we ran half lines, we’ll see the huka, and the cape folk lock in place. Notice these two boxes, their called Root – Two rectangles. Jay Hambidge explains the nature of the Root – Two rectangles in his book, the elements of dynamic symmetry. As we divide the Root – Two, see how the mother design is made up of eight adjacent order of Root – Two’s. I’m gonna create a template, this armature, this framework is made up of one mother horizontal Root – Two, and two small daughter of Root – Two as well. And they’ll be done in three. There’s a St. Andrew’s Cross and we’ll be doing red and black of the few vertical and horizontal divisions. Every line have a start and end point. Nothing here is arbitrary, nothing here is accidental. See how the huka locks in to the grid. Charles uses the Root – Two to construct the parts. The Sentinels feet are lock in to the mother’s baroque angle and the sinister angle of the daughter Root – Two. Here comes the really fun stuff, the Sentinel sleeve is locked into the grid, this part of his sleeve is also locked into the grid. The Sentinel’s arm, the shoulder of the Sentinel is locked into the grid. The Sentinel’s gun guess what, is locked into the grid. And his sword is lock into the grid. Now I’m gonna stop here, just sit back and enjoy the smarts that it takes to create a design like this. Thank you for watching this episode of Art Insight TV. Remember, today, you and I, put the art back in smart. The Sentinel is part of the art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts. Please visit them in person if you can, also check them out online at www.mfa.org.