Formal Analysis, Painting Analysis

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437971

Here, we observe Francisco de Zurbarán’s The Young Virgin (c. 1632-33). In this oil on canvas painting, a young girls sits center on an elevated surface with an incomplete embroidery project on her lap. She sits with her hands clasped in prayer, and her head and eyes are tilted to her right, looking up to the sky with serious but rosy visage. In front of her is a basket with cloth inside, six flowers arranged in a line, and a mug. To her right is a brown table at a diagonal, on its surface sits a closed book, flower, and closed scissors. To her left is a large, ornate vase containing what may be roses and lilies. Around her are two pink curtains, which have been pinned open and present a deep red ring of cherubs around her halo who observe the young virgin. Zurbarán creates a comforting mood of childhood ignorance and dramatic irony with color contrast and the use of the triangular shape to communicate the young virgin’s looming importance.

Firstly, allow me to strip the piece of color. Without color, we can better focus on light, lines, and shapes. We can follow the diagonals created by the curtains, the body of the young virgin, and the objects around her. These diagonals converge over the upper half of the virgin’s body, which is also in the center of the piece, bringing the viewer to focus on her illuminated face and neck. The brightness of her vertical sleeves entices our eyes to trace down her arms to her hands, which are clasped together. There is space between her hands, her arms, and her chest (emphasized by a heavy shadow) which suggests deep dimensionality and further illuminates the brightness of her arms, neck, and face by creating a triangular shape.

In fact, we can notice a heavy use of triangular shapes in this piece. The fabric of the young girl’s skirt piles underneath her seated body, spreading out and creating a base. Her body and fabric become more narrow as we get closer to her upper body, specifically her bright arms. These suggest the two diagonal legs of a triangle, which of course meet at her neck and face. The young virgin’s triangular form is further emphasized with two pink curtains. Pinned open, they have been draped into a diagonal fashion, assuming the position of the two diagonal legs of a triangle. A triangle is completed with a base, and this base can be seen in the harsh shadow of the edge of whatever surface the girl is seated on.

Now, adding color back into the piece, we can notice that the piece is mostly comprised of analogous colors, that is, red and orange. Zurbarán mostly uses tints of reds and oranges for the triangular shapes of the piece (skirt, curtains) and to suggest depth behind the virgin, where deep reds create a ring of soft suggestions of the faces of cherubs, hugging the virgin’s yellow halo. Yellow is slightly present in this piece, appearing in the mug, book, and two of the flowers on the floor. Blue is used to draw our eye into the center of the piece, where a low value and high intensity blue is the hue of the virgin’s vest. Blue is also present in the rest of the individual flowers on the floor or table. There is clear pairing of high and low intensity and value of the same colors (but different tints). We see this in the pairing of the depth of reds behind the virgin and the pink of the curtains. We also see this in the intense orange color of her skirt which touches the intense blue (which are on opposite sides of the color wheel). Zurbarán creates high contrast between colors by playing with the interactions between colors on the color wheel and different tints of the same color. Yet, at the same time, the low intensity of the setting’s colors create an earthy, comforting mood.

By seating the young virgin on the floor, scattering flowers, and using such earthy colors in the surroundings, Zurbarán captures the grounded nature of childhood. In addition, he emphasizes her youthfulness with heavy blush on the bottom of her face, which exaggerates the youthful roundness of her face. He also surrounds her with youthful flowers and colors but labels her with responsibility by adorning her with bold colors in her clothing, as she wears a bright white shirt, bold blue vest, and bright orange dress. From the virgin’s perspective, she is seated on the floor with her things scattered about, and she is in a respite from her everyday activity, in this case embroidery. As the audience, we can notice that she stands out due to the bold colors against the subdued setting creating dramatic irony where the audience knows she is special, but the virgin does not. Additionally, she cannot notice the holy cherubs behind her. This dramatic irony is furthered by the virgin’s theatrical placement, where her importance is physically reiterated: she is seated in between open curtains and on an elevated surface, comparable to a stage setting.

Francisco de Zurbarán’s The Young Virgin (c. 1632-33) communicates childhood ignorance and creates a unified sense of dramatic irony in the audience, where the audience knows her importance but the young virgin does not.