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Hagar and the Angel

            In art history, art is classified into a certain period or style based on the overwhelmingly similar characteristics that individual works of art share with one another. Both time and style are among the many of determinates that help art historians classify art into such a classification. This classification can be taken one step further as demonstrated by Heinrich Wolfflin in his book "Principles of Art History." Wolfflin wanted to make studying art more than a "dull recording of facts" (Minor, 110). He wanted to look at art with a scientific approach. With this in mind, we take a look at "Hagar and the Angel" painted by Louis de Boullogne the Younger around 1710. .
             To better understand the "Hagar and the Angel," we should first understand the historical context in which it was produced. "Hagar and the Angel" came about between 1710 and 1720 in France. During this period Louis XV was the king of France. The Rococo is thought to be the final stage of the Baroque period. It lasted the span of Louis XV life 1715-1774. The term rococo comes from the French word rocialle meaning rock work. The rock works, like the paintings of this era, are light hearted, easy going when it comes to subject matter. The overall style of the 1700s can be summed up by its "lightness, delicacy, and elaborate ornamentation" (Rococo Style, Encarta). In one word the rococo phase is all about fantasy. It is a diversion from real life and a celebration of love. .
             In an attempt to better understand the "Hagar and the Angel" in an art historical fashion we will look at it with a scientific approach as Wolfflin suggests. First we must determine is the picture is linear or painterly. This category deals primarily with line. If we take a look at the edges of the figures we can see the edges are blurred and not just a solid line structure standing out from the background. As a result the blurred edges portray the image as a whole and one continuous piece.


Essays Related to Hagar and the Angel

1. The Stone Angel

The Way The Plot Develops The Meaning Of The Title In The Stone Angel In The Stone Angel, Margaret Lawrence portrays a woman attempting to understanding herself and her life. Hagar is the narrator of the book. She is ninety, and is trying to avoid an old aged home where her son Marvin, and Marvins wife Doris want to put her. During this her attempt to move to Shadow Point and live alone, Hagar remembers the many ... parts of her life and ... she is frightened, but remains ashamed to have revealed her emotions. At this point Hagar realizes that her heart is made of stone, and that she has bee...

  • Word Count: 803
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The stone engel

... put her. During this her attempt to move to Shadow Point and live alone, Hagar remembers the many parts of her life and her life story is revealed to the reader in that fashion. Hagar grew up in Manawaka, in the prairies. Hagar's mother died while giving birth to her, and her father Jason Currie had a great stone angel brought from Italy at a great expense for Mrs. Currie's ... either because she is blind. Murray Lee helps Hagar discover this and helps her open up a little. Hagar's blindness is comparable to the stone angel because the stone angel never had any eyes carved into it. Hagar'...

  • Word Count: 829
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Stone Angel

... Hager Shipley in The Stone Angel In Margaret Laurence's novel, The Stone Angel, Hagar Shipley is the main character. Born the daughter of Jason Currie, she is one who possesses incredible depth in character. Mingling past and present, we observe the very qualities, which sustained her and deprived her of joy such as her lack of emotional expression. As well, inheriting her father's harsh qualities, she exhibited pride ... not portray her mother to comfort her dying brother. She characterized her mother as "the woman Dan was said to resemble so much and from whom he'd inherited a frailty...

  • Word Count: 569
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Hagar the Stone Angel

... that she does not feel compassion, humility, and love. Constantly providing an honest insight into Hagar and the people that surround her. Her struggles for independence are interspliced with her hatred of weakness, poor self-awareness, and inability to love. Hagar Shipley is the metaphorical stone angel of the novel. As a result of the 3rd person narration we are able to draw from the story a revelation of self- knowledge. Accompanied by ... the triumph over old age and emotional blindness, only to be ... ...

  • Word Count: 1843
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Biblical Archetypes in the Stone Angel

... and peeked.(17)" The references show a religious side and help build character for the individuals in the novel. Margaret Laurence takes an article out of the Bible about an Egyptian bondwoman named Hagar, and uses her as the archetype for Hagar Shipley in The Stone Angel. Throughout the story of The Stone Angel you will come to the certainty of how Hagar Shipley's character and life correspond with that of Hagar, the Egyptian bondwoman from the book of Genesis. The story of Hagar the ... Egyptian bondwoman, begins in Chapter 16 of the book Genesis. Sarah was married to ... ...

  • Word Count: 920
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Stone Angel

... section of the novel Stone Angel provides us with a large quantity of information about the life of the main character Hagar, her family, and her childhood. Its purpose is to set up the entire book, through symbolism, narrative and description, and it does an extremely good job of this in an interesting fashion. It sets the tone and style for the remainder of the book, and provides us with insight into the novel, and the story that ... will be told, of Hagar ... ...

  • Word Count: 1523
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Stone Angel Biblical Reference

... a child, just like Esau and Isaac, should have received the blessing. "Hagar, who has always loved her son John more, wants John to be her Jacob and to want and to receive her blessing." (Biblical Archetypes / 29 May, 2002). Hagar says "I wish he could have looked like Jacob then, wrestling with the angel and besting it" (Laurence 1964, 179), as John is replacing the angel on the tombstone. John dies at ... a young age due to stupidity, and because of this Hagar never had a chance to give him her ... blessing. Ironically enough, "it is only in dying that Hagar realizes, through Marvin's...

  • Word Count: 1817
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Character Analysis of Hagar Shipley - The Stone Angel

... The Stone Angel", Hagar Shipley is the main character. The reader quickly realizes all of Hagar's faults from reading the first few chapters, but is incapable of knowing how a little old lady could become so cold and heartless. While travelling back and forth through past and present, the reader is slowly able to understand why Hagar does and says the things she does. No matter how arrogant, rude, or sarcastic Hagar seems to be, the ... everyone around her with her arrogance and sarcasm. This is Hagar's most noticeable characteristic, and is evident in her relationship with Doris. "Hagar ...

  • Word Count: 966
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

"The Stone Angel," by Margaret Laurence, is a novel written through the eyes of Hagar, the ninety year old protagonist who battles with a constant fear of being forgotten in her remaining years of life. The struggles that Hagar has provides an insightful first-person narrative of the what and how it might feel like to grow old. Hagar's first-born son Marvin, almost solely dedicates himself to being ... especially including her need of being remembered. Steven and Tina play a subtle, but powerful role in "The Stone Angel," as their relationship with Hagar are critical to her revelations during...

  • Word Count: 863
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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