A Comparative Study Of Female Painting Image Between Gai Qi And Rossetti

Both in China and western countries, the images of female paintings are always important creation subjects for the artist. Gai Qi, the Chinese beauty painter in Qing Dynasty, and Dante Gabrie Rossetti, a Pre-Raphaelite advocate in Victorian England, are both prominent figures of female paintings. Millions of viewers are captivated by their picturesque works. Because of their different background, home environment, aesthetic characters, painting styles and language, the images expressed in Gai Qi and Rossetti's female paintings have different characteristics, but both of them present the unique melancholy beauty of females.Based on the background of China and England in the late 18th and 19th century, this thesis selects the images of melancholy female paintings created by Gai Qi and Rossetti as the research subjects of analyzing and comparing the differences and similarities between their paintings. This thesis consists of four parts. Chapter One analyzes their different social and family background such as the decline in the late Qing Dynasty, the bureaucratic corrupt, the shackle of feudal manners, and Gai Qi's poor family; and the breakout of Victorian Industrial Revolution, the economic prosperity, the change from bucolic life to the dirty factory with its belching chimney, and the serious growing income disparity. All these factors provide some objective conditions for Gai Qi and Rossetti's creation of female images. Chapter Two throws light on the unique charm of melancholy beauty from the perspectives of affection and loneliness. The melancholia presented in their works is not simply sickly sentimental, but sedimentation of the two artists'journey of life. Chapter Three discusses their different styles of melancholy beauty. Specifically speaking, the images of female paintings created by Gai Qi are usually slim, tender and gentle with sloping shoulders and long neck, which fade the tawdriness away and emphasize upon the feeling of a pliant willow swaying in the wind. Meanwhile, it is also discussed in Chapter Three that the images of female paintings created by Rossetti are frail and languid with long neck, blond hair and phoenix eyes that show their languidness, meditation and illusion. Chapter Four is the conclusion part, which summarizes the agility and nebulousness of lines and the quiet and strong elegancy of colors, centering upon the different female melancholy presence in harmonious paintings. Only when the artists completely fulfill the perfect combination between shape and color, can they create ideal images of female paintings.Owing to their distinct artistic styles, both Gai Qi and Rossetti play great roles in Chinese and western art circles. In general, to investigate their artistic styles is contributed to helping us understand the deep connotation of the melancholy beauty, and their artistic innovation brings enlightenment and guidance to the study of images of female paintings.