The Ten Subject Categories of Representational Painting Introduction to Humanities Heartland Community College Author: Migotsky 101 students

History Megalography Mythology Religion Portraiture Genre Landscape The following slides give definitions and examples of the ten categories of representational painting. These categories are: History Megalography Mythology Religion Portraiture Genre Landscape Still-life Rhopography Vernacular

HISTORY Historical paintings primarily depict an important event or time from the past. For example, battles have traditionally been a popular historical subject. Scenes from the lives of historically important figures are also typical subjects of historical paintings.

Benjamin West Clinedinst Battle of New Market 1914

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851

MEGALOGRAPHY Painting intended to excessively glorify some event, person, or thing. A great example of this might be a painting in which Elvis is made to look angelic or resurrected. Another good example would be a painting which pays homage to a sports figure.

Naoki Mitsuse Elvis 1994

Mark Bruni Michael Jordan, The Dunk

MYTHOLOGY A mythological painting relates to a belief, myth, god, or goddess. Many different cultures have paintings depicting mythological subjects.

Sandro Botticelli The Birth of Venus c. 1485

William Fahey Bird Goddess

RELIGION Any painting related to a religion or belief in a deity is considered a religious painting. A common example of this category would be a pieta, or painting of the Madonna and child. Other examples would include scenes from any religious text.

Fra Bartolomeo The Entombment 1515

Rabbi Karro Exodus 1996

PORTRAITURE A portrait represents a specific person, group of persons, or animal. Portraits are different from other paintings which happen to depict people because portraits are posed. Portraits don’t show people in everyday life, or people being glorified--a portrait is just a painting of a person. Portraits were often commissioned by wealthy--but not famous--merchants and their families.

Vincent Van Gogh Self-Portrait 1889

Raphael Portrait of Bindo Altoviti 1515

GENRE Paintings that represents everyday life are considered to be genre. An example of this would be a painting of me typing this right now. This differs from a portrait because it’s not just a painting of me. It’s a painting of me typing.

Jan Vermeer The Milkmaid 1658-60                                                                                           

Mary Frances Man Ironing Bra                                                   

LANDSCAPE Landscapes depict scenery such as mountains, plains, rivers, communities, etc. A painting of HCC would be considered a landscape. Seascapes are a subcategory of landscapes. These paintings are full of lakes, rivers, streams, etc.

J.M.W. Turner Landscape with a River and a Bay in the Background 1845

Caspar David Friedrich The Tree of Crows 1822

SEASCAPE A subset of landscape, seascape depicts a lake, river, stream, or other body of water.

Aelbert Cuyp Dordrecht: Sunrise c. 1650

Andreas Achenbach Sunset After a Storm on the Coast of Sicily 1853

STILL-LIFE Any painting of an inanimate object is considered still-life. A painting of a woman carrying a bowl of oranges wouldn’t be a still-life. If you were to take away the woman and paint just the bowl of oranges, you would have a still-life. Flowers and fruit are two of the most common subjects in this category.

Arshile Gorky Still Life of Flowers 1928

Camille Pissaro Still Life with Apples and Pitcher 1872

RHOPOGRAPHY Rhopography is the depiction of the trivial bric-a-brac of everyday life. Paintings of items that are unassuming or lack importance fall into this category. Even a painting of food that is left on a plate can be considered rhopography. If you think the painting of food would be still-life, you’re also right. A painting may fall into more that one category.

Idelle Weber Cooper Union Trash 1974

Giuseppe Baglioni Rubbish Dump

VERNACULAR Vernacular, or folk art, is made by people who have had little or no formal schooling in art. Folk artists usually make works of art with traditional techniques and content, in styles handed down through many generations, and often of a particular region.

Howard Finster 1920’s Car Lot 1992

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses) A Country Wedding 1951

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