Art Essay

* Art is a term that describes a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, but here refers to the visual arts, which cover the creation of images or objects in fields including paintings, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media. They are two paintings that have been drawn by Dmitry Levitzky in 1773 and by Millais in 1871. The first portrait by Dmitry levitzky is called Nelidova, Ekaterina Ivanovna who she is the daughter of Lieutenant Ivan Dmitrievich Nelidov. She was raised in the Smolny Institute for Young Ladies and was noticed there by Empress Catherine II, who made her a maid of honor to the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, later Empress, whose husband Emperor Pavel I. She was sincerely attached to him, although their relations were never intimate. She was able to influence Pavel I, preventing some of his unwise decisions and tantrums. She was also a close friend of the Empress Maria Feodorovna. The second portrait by John Everett Millais is called The Martyr of Solway the â€Å"Margaret† depicted by Millais was Margaret Wilson, who was born in 1667 in Glenvernoch in Wigtownshire. She was a young and devout Presbyterian who was a member of the Covenanters, a Scottish Presbyterian movement of the 17th century in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638 to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Stuart kings embraced the belief of the Divine Right of the Monarch. However, not only did they believe that God wished them to be the infallible rulers of their kingdom – they also believed that they were the spiritual heads of the Church of Scotland. This latter belief was anathema to the Scots. Their belief was quite simple – no man, not even a king, could be spiritual head of their church. The following piece will demonstrate the differences and similarities between the two images in a compare and a contrast manner. Analyze the fundamental differences. Point out the major mutual points.