This is a statue of the Roman God Neptune. It is idealized because aspects of a belief system is used rather than a record of a person that the sculptor knew and studied. In other words, there was no real person named Neptune, but what people perceive Neptune to be. This piece can also be considered naturalistic because it focuses on some special features, which in this case would be Neptune's beard and wrinkles. The emphasis in this piece is clearly Neptune, since the background is black (negative space). This piece is interesting due to the fact that Neptune is looking in a direction where we can't see which makes the viewer wonder what he is seeing and thinking. Neptune, is also not in the "dead-spot" of this picture, but off-center making it less boring to look at. Lastly, there is balance in piece because the black negative space and the white/grayish statue balances off each other.
- John Marchetti
Excellent observations John!
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