Cross tattoo on arm
Cross tattoos on the arm have found a response in many hearts and are used by adherents of a wide variety of religious denominations. The cross is a fateful sign associated with the concepts of life and death, faith and strength, holiness and vices, unification and alienation. In the symbol one can see both traditional and subjective interpretations, since faith or lack thereof is a personal matter.
Praying hand tattoo meaning
Each tattoo has its own meaning. Some tattoos have two meanings: one direct, understandable to everyone, and the second hidden. The owner puts a hidden meaning into the tattoo. The tattoo of a praying hand, the meaning of which is invented or chosen by the owner himself, also has a common meaning for everyone, that is, a direct meaning. The meaning of this tattoo is revealed as readiness to pray at any moment. Some people get such a tattoo in memory of their loved ones and those dear to their hearts.
Hands of a praying man in the form of a tattoo on the bicep of a guy
Important! To avoid making a mistake in your choice, before getting a tattoo, ask yourself a few questions:
- Does the chosen design express any aspect of your personality or is it a fleeting desire inspired by circumstances?
- Will the picture look good exactly where you decide to get a tattoo?
- Are you ready to spend the necessary amount to get a tattoo from a good artist?
If you are satisfied with your honest answers, then you are on the right track! Feel free to get a tattoo!
Hands of a person washing with a cross
Celebrity Religious Tattoos
Many stars also use prayers as tattoo ideas. For example, Angelina Jolie applied a Buddhist mantra. However, many celebrities prefer the image of Jesus or his name. For example, Justin Bieber has an inscription in Hebrew, which is translated this way.
Review:
I have a small tattoo on my back, under my shoulder blade, with a line from the Bible. Despite the fact that I know about the attitude of the clergy towards drawings on the body, I did it. I don’t care about their opinion, what matters to me is my feeling of unity with God. Besides, this particular prayer gave me a lot to think about. With this tattoo I say “thank you” to the Creator. The main thing for me is that the tattoo is not noticeable, not pretentious. I think images of such a personal nature should not be displayed.
Alexander, Nizhny Novgorod.
History of the praying hand tattoo
Did you know? A praying hand tattoo is also referred to as hands clasped in prayer.
The inspiration for creating a tattoo of a hand folded in prayer was the medieval artist from Germany Durer, or rather, his painting. His painting, in fact, like the tattoo itself, depicts the hands of a praying man. There are still disputes over whose hands Durer actually painted: his own, his brother’s, or the hands of the city’s mayor. At present, no one has yet been able to give an exact answer.
Cross and hands of a praying man
Options for depicting prayers
It would seem that there are no options for this kind of tattoo. However, it is not. For example, often it is not the text of the address itself that is depicted, but the letter designation for the lines of the sacred scriptures. The text can also be written both in Russian and in the original language. The main requirement for such an image is the absence of unnecessary details. Although many lines from the prayers are accompanied by crosses, crescents and other attributes of a particular religion.
Did you know? A sketch by the artist Dürer has often become popular among tattoos of believers. It was he who depicted two hands folded for prayer. This sketch is now actively used as a basis for tattoos. Often a rosary, a cross on a chain held in the hand, or lines from the Bible are added to it. This image is especially popular in Western countries. In Russia, the prevalence of this tattoo option is much lower.
Prayer tattoo on forearm
Additional details in a praying hand tattoo
Often, in order to make a tattoo more unique and more interesting, some details are added to it, small changes are made. To the main design in the tattoo, hands folded in prayer are added to the Bible, cross and other objects that are related to Christianity. If a tattoo is made in memory of someone, then many people also write the name of the person in whose honor the tattoo was made.
Advice: Think very carefully before tattooing someone's name on your body. According to statistics, 99% of people who get a tattoo with someone's name regret it. By the way, tattoos with names are most often removed.
In addition to names, the Bible, a cross, you can also write a small inscription, a message, so to speak, to the person in whose honor the tattoo is being made.
Praying hand tattoo on forearm
Tattoos depicting a guardian angel: what types are there, photos
The specific meaning of a tattoo with angels largely depends on the semantic load of the plot and the specifics of the artist’s style. Let's study in detail how to choose the right tattoo design and where it is best to get it on the body. To do this, let’s first consider what types of tattoos depicting angels are.
Angels-children - Cherubim . They carry the symbolism of innocence and naivety, purity. Suffice it to recall little Cupid with arrows. Just the sight of a Cherub brings a smile, and such a tattoo will bring joy and love to a person.
Guardian Angel tattoo on hand
The angels of the highest caste are the Archangels . There are seven such representatives in total. These are: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Sariip, Jeremiel, Raguel. Archangels are the first messengers of God who are able to protect the heavenly forces and mortal souls from any forces of evil. They are depicted with weapons, more precisely, with a spear and sword.
Tattoo – Angel Michael
There are Supreme beings - fallen angels. Their path does not coincide with the path of God, so they were expelled from Heaven. Lucifer is one of the most famous, among them, he rebelled against God and was also expelled. As a result, he created an entire army of fallen angels who went over to his side. Those who prefer such tattoos are irreconcilable people who do not like to obey generally accepted norms.
Fallen Angel Tattoo
Fairytale angels are small, cute, sweet creatures who, by their nature, are slightly absurd, playful and a little frivolous.
Fairytale angels - arm tattoo
Reapers of human souls are dark angels (in other words, angels of death). These creatures come when it is time for a person to leave the world of the living, the time has already come. Such tattoos are rarely seen in public.
Sketch of a black angel
Praying hand tattoo photos and sketches
The praying hand tattoo, sketches of which are presented below, looks especially impressive when tattooed on the hand. But if you haven’t found your ideal tattoo in the attached sketches, you can make a sketch yourself and show it to the tattoo artist. He, in turn, will improve it, and the tattoo of your dreams is ready! You can also simply come to the master and explain to him in words what you would like to see on your skin. But remember that in words the master may misunderstand you or understand you not as accurately as you would like. So the best option in such a situation is to draw a sketch yourself. Believe me, you don’t need to have special artistic talents to do this; it’s enough to make the simplest sketch, and the rest of the work will be done by a master. To clearly see how this tattoo looks, you can look at the photos attached to this article. Also, other photographs can be found on the Internet under the request: Tattoo of a praying hand photo.
Hands of a praying man in black and white
Angel tattoo: meaning in a criminal environment, photo of tattoos
In places of detention, it is customary to apply tattoos that carry a certain meaning. Thus, a fallen angel with dark wings is most often applied by those people who deliberately went over to the side of evil and do not regret anything. Also, this tattoo sometimes reminds a repeat offender of some crime where he lost his comrade-in-arms.
Tattoo - fallen angel
Tattoo on the back of a man with the image of a fallen angel
IMPORTANT : Female thieves like to get flying angel tattoos. Such a tattoo supposedly protects them from failures in thieves' affairs.
Tattoo Care Tips
And finally, I would like to give some recommendations on how to care for a tattoo in the first days after application.
- Washing the skin with soap or shower gel, as well as applying special creams are the most basic and mandatory ways to heal the skin after getting a tattoo. These actions must be performed without fail. You need to wash your skin about 4 times a day; after each wash, do not forget to moisturize your skin with creams. The cream can be used more often than 4 times a day, but the result will not change much.
- It is not recommended to drink alcoholic beverages for the first few days after getting a tattoo.
- Also, during the period when the skin is healing, you should not exercise. This applies to a greater extent to tattoos that are located on the folds.
- In order to improve and speed up skin healing, it is advisable not to visit a solarium at first and, if possible, protect the tattoo from direct sunlight.
Did you like the article? Tell your friends:
Rate the article, it is very important for us:
Voted: 2 people. Average rating: 5 out of 5.
The most fashionable tattoos for girls 2019-2020: cool tattoos for girls - photo ideas
Just recently, wandering through the streets of the city at night, my attention was attracted by a girl whose exposed parts of her body were covered with a large number of tattoos.
My imagination completed the picture, and an image of a naked stranger appeared in my head, with tattoos small and large, colorful and plain, symbolic and incomprehensible.
The thought couldn’t leave me: are tattoos for girls beautiful? Or women's tattoos are not the best way for self-expression, but rather a deformation of femininity, natural beauty, impeccability, which was given to a woman from above.
Having looked at many different body designs and read more than one article about the symbolism of tattoos for girls, it turned out that tattoos for girls today are very popular among fragile creatures no less than among representatives of the powers that be.
In pursuit of self-expression, the young and seductive choose tattoos for girls according to their taste, asserting themselves, improving, and sometimes simply creating for themselves a mysterious amulet that can never be lost in fact.
Right now we are offering you an interesting excursion into the trends and tendencies of tattoos for girls 2019-2020, which will interest those who are ready for shocking and extreme manifestations of individuality and originality through tattooing for girls.
Fashionable tattoos for girls 2019-2020: exclusive ideas, new tattoos for girls, trends in body designs
If you are ready to take such an extreme step as a tattoo for girls, then most likely you are a unique, creative and charismatic person.
Fashionable tattoos for girls 2019-2020, which we have collected in a collection of examples, will allow you to find original variations, both for beginner lovers of body painting, and will satisfy the needs of already avid fans of body painting.
We tried to present beautiful and stylish tattoos for small girls, add paired tattoos and symbolic tattoos to the selection, and also show on which parts of the body artists most often perform tattoos for girls.
As it turns out, today this art is so developed that beautiful tattoos for girls are done very professionally and with high quality, which is good news.
For those who want to get a tattoo for girls, but doubts still do not allow them to take such a desperate step, we recommend trying beautiful temporary henna tattoos for girls in the Mahendi style, which came to us from ancient civilizations, in particular from India.
Such tattoos for girls will decorate your body with delicate and sophisticated patterns, symbols, curls, monograms, but after a certain time they will disappear. Permanent tattoos actually stay with us for life.
Tattoos for girls 2019-2020: simply beautiful or deep and symbolic?
Each tattoo for girls contains not just aesthetic beauty, but also a certain meaning, which, as a rule, is very important for its owner.
Women's tattoos are so diverse that most likely only professionals know about their true meaning. And sometimes even they are unable to understand the depth of meaning of a particular symbol.
Tattoos for girls in the form of inscriptions are considered the most symbolic. Made in an unusual, thin, or openwork, intricate font, tattoos for girls in the form of inscriptions in Latin, Hebrew, or another language can contain metaphors, sayings, quotes, spells, prayers, names, phrases, etc.
Next, the list of symbolic tattoos for girls 2019-2020 is headed by hieroglyphs. Such women's tattoos are presented in our review with several examples.
Often both men and women choose just such body designs, because they are small, can be completely invisible and carry a deep meaning; they can be made on any part of the body. Hieroglyphs, like other small tattoos, look very feminine and mysterious.
Of course, we cannot forget about such a category of tattoos for girls as signs that exist in our lives, the images of animals and birds, insects, incredibly beautiful tattoos in the form of floral patterns.
All of the ideas listed are tattoo trends 2019-2020. They are deeply symbolic, because each animal, bird, sign has certain qualities, designation, symbolizing features, personal traits and individuality.
So, for example, a tattoo for girls in the form of an image of a wolf will symbolize fearlessness, independence, freedom, unshakable spirit, purity, etc.
Flowers on a girl’s body symbolize beauty, mystery, tenderness and a creative spark.
Each tattoo for girls is symbolic and has, first of all, the meaning that the owner herself puts into it.
Great tattoo ideas for girls 2019-2020: best examples, location options
When it comes to getting a tattoo, it can be quite difficult to decide on its location, because the tattoo should be in harmony with your body, with your personality and your lifestyle.
Fashionable tattoos for girls 2019-2020 can be small and large, colorful and bright, or delicate and plain.
Colorful tattoos for girls can be made in the form of a 3D design, which is now very fashionable among fans of this skill.
Small tattoos with the appearance of a kitten, baby elephant, butterfly, dog, panther, wolf, owl, phoenix, etc. can become your tatem, a talisman, therefore, only you determine where exactly this beauty will be located.
Many people want the tattoo not to be conspicuous and to be visible only to those closest to them.
Such girls get tattoos near their intimate organs, tattoos on the tailbone, buttocks. Recently, tattoos for girls on the chest or near the chest have become fashionable.
The procedure is very painful, but such tattoos attract attention, which extreme sports enthusiasts really like.
It is more traditional to place the tattoo on the leg (top, bottom), arm, ankle, fingers, back, shoulder, and lower abdomen.
Small or paired tattoos for girls will look charming in colored and monotonous designs.
As for large drawings, here you need to think about all the points, because a large tattoo will remain on your body forever, so its place, the ability to hide the drawing if necessary, color scheme, etc. – all this should be taken into account when choosing.
With age, the skin becomes loose. This factor is also very important when you choose a tattoo, because the design will look terrible on sagging skin.
The most beautiful tattoos for girls 2019-2020: photo tattoos for inspiration
Now we come to the most interesting part - photo ideas. We can talk endlessly about tattoos for girls, but we’d rather show you super stylish tattoos that, when you see them, you won’t remain indifferent to this beauty.
Source: //life4news.ru/tatuirovki-dlya-devushek-foto/
Stories (since September 1, 2016)
(Romance “Hands” Sung by Klavdiya Shulzhenko
https://ok.ru/video/305008151174
In order for the monkey to turn into a person, starting to work and speak, it was important that its paw turned into a hand, the beginning of all the beginnings of humanization or the parallel development of another species of primates. The hand, as a part of the body, especially its hand, determined all the actions inherent in a person: strike, defense, grasping fruit, grain, game, stone or stick, contact for fighting or hugging, expedient skills and actions from drawing a line or a cross to creating a picture, picturesque dense...
In the history of fine arts one can find enough examples of the brilliant use of the expressive capabilities of the hands. The masters of Ancient Greece and the Renaissance perfectly knew the shape of the hand and its plasticity. Even at the birth of fine art, the artist’s handprint was considered as the author’s signature. The attitude towards fingers and hands as a means of expressing feelings and emotions is found among all true artists of different eras and countries. If you look closely at the paintings of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other legendary artists, it becomes clear that for them hands are not just a limb for manipulation, but an organ for acquiring and enriching knowledge and communication, as well as for transmitting their thoughts, views, images and incarnations . The human hand is capable of touching, comprehending, exploring and transmitting everything that is created by the hand, controlled by the brain and stimulated by the nerve trunks of the limb. ***
It seems to me interesting to show not only the image of a person’s hands at rest, but also in their actions along the plot of the painting chosen by the artist. Thus, the artist’s hands show the work of the hands with which he draws it. And what he draws or has drawn, showing what the profession and age of the owner of the hands is, what the hands are doing at the time of drawing. Let's try.
Fig. 1. If we are talking about the depiction of hands in painting, it is best to first consider the lithograph of the Dutch artist Maurice Cornelis Escher “(1948),”Drawing Hands.” The author painted an allegorical scene in the spirit of surrealism. If the “Drawing Hands” background and shirt are sketched out schematically in the drawing, then the hands themselves, as the main idea and task of the artist, are drawn in detail and anatomically correct. Slightly swollen veins protrude under the skin, folds on the bends of the fingers holding a pencil are clearly defined, nails are slightly lighter around the periphery. One hand draws the other, while itself being an image.
***
Fig 2
It is very difficult to discuss the painting by A. Durer: “Hands of a Prayer.” (Another name is “Hands of the Apostle.” Study for the painting “The Ascension of Mary”). 1508.
Beautiful “thoroughbred” hands folded in prayer with long graceful fingers, on the one hand, speak of the high origin of their owner, on the other, the admiration and sorrow with which they are folded in prayer make it possible to be convinced of the sincerity of a person who has known hardships. There are many myths about these hands. According to the most common of them, these hands belong to the artist’s brother, who was forced to work in the mine and provide training for Dürer. However, this version does not withstand even superficial criticism, because these are the hands not of a working man, but of an aristocrat. Well-groomed with neatly trimmed nails, covered with thin and delicate skin. I am more impressed by the idea of the hands of a praying person, moreover, as a completely finished independent painting, and not a copy of another, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the virtuosity and originality of the artist in the details of the painting..
*** Fig 3
Even Leonardo da Vinci in the painting “Madonna of the Rocks” (Leonardo da Vinci 1483-1494, Louvre, Paris) managed to perfectly show maternal love, which is expressed in the gesture of the Madonna’s hand, which at the same time seems to bless and protect her child. And also in deep inner concentration, in the concentration of spiritual feeling. That is, the hand, as if being in the center of the picture in a calm, pacifying position, at the same time, in the hand itself one feels the living, trembling, tense protection of one’s baby. And we see this in a static drawing of the master, in which we can also catch some movements. Moreover, the artist does not varnish or smooth the brushes of Mary, the angel, or the babies; he shows their anatomical details with rough folds, knots and distortions.
***
Fig 4
The hands in Titian's painting "Caesar's Denarius" are superbly drawn and painted. Through the comparison of the hands of two people, their position, shape, color, Titian in this work expresses deep thoughts, feelings, and conveys complex philosophical content. If in the image of Christ the ideally sublime principle predominates, then in the image of the Pharisee a certain grounded concreteness, his baseness, insignificance, full of vices, are strongly emphasized. His hand is dark and sinewy, his hook-nosed profile is sharp, his face is wrinkled, and an earring glitters in his ear. It’s like reality itself, endowed with energy and persistence, rough and disgusting. The theme of the meeting of two opposite worlds, the world of lofty ideals and real reality, seems to be consolidated and completed, created by a certain connection, an expressive contrast between the thin hand of Christ, which will never touch the coin to which Christ is pointing, and the powerful hand of the Pharisee, squeezing a piece of gold. Titian reduces the drawing to the opposition of two heads and two hands, two characters who have nothing in common...
***
My wife is partial to beautiful men's hands and believes that one can determine a man's features and character by his hands, not to mention his profession. However, such thin graceful male hands, like those of the praying Dürer or Titian’s Christ, are found in people with an unstable autonomic nervous system, and therefore, during excitement and emotional outbursts, they are often wet and cold. For example, my palms are always dry, soft and warm. Women often emphasized this to me. Although in shape (the length and thickness of the fingers) they are not classic for a person of my profession, a surgeon.
At the same time, in the paintings of the famous Russian artist Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov, who repeatedly painted the hands of the famous surgeon S.S. Yudin, his fingers literally look elongated, flexible, mobile, which of course helps in surgical manipulations, which he performed virtually and skillfully.
Fig 5
Perhaps that is why one of the options for the title of the painting is signed “Hands of a Surgeon.”
In another painting by artist M.V. Nesterov (1933), surgeon Yudin prepares to perform a spinal puncture and marks with his fingers the landmarks for inserting the needle. The emphasis in the painting is also on the hand and fingers, which are carefully observed by those present and employees.
Fig 6
It’s not for nothing that there is a cartoon of a group of artists by Kukryniksy, showing the possibility of multi-purpose operations with the fingers of one surgeon. On one of the fingers there is a surgical instrument, on the next there is a probe, on the third there is a removed appendage, etc.
Kukryniksy. Caricature of Yudin
Fig 7
***
Examining the hands of the Creator of the Universe and Adam, before touching their fingers on the ceiling painting of the gallery in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican in his fresco “The Creation of Adam,” Michelangelo builds the entire composition in such a way that the viewer’s gaze concentrates primarily on the hands: the strong-willed, energy-filled hand of the creator, which is contrasted with another, as if awakening from a deep sleep - the hand of Adam.
Fig 8
“The Creation of Adam” (Italian: La creazione di Adamo) is a fresco by Michelangelo, painted around 1511.
It can be assumed that the sketch for these hands could have been the ordinary hands of a random person in the episode of their close contact in the drawing from the Sistine Chapel. Although they are considered classics and are distinguished by the perfection of strength and beauty.
“God reaches out his hand to the hand, which is created in the image and likeness and almost touches Adam’s finger. The beautifully built Adam remains motionless, devoid of vital energy. It is this “almost” that creates the very tension and excitement that fills the air with an electric discharge. A split second and divine life will burst through the body of the first person.”
Fig 9 Fragment of a fresco from the Sistine Chapel
***
But let’s get down to earth and try to delve into and understand the Great Rembrandt’s painting “The Jewish Bride” (1885), stored in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in which the hands of the bride and groom demonstrate tenderness, love and reverence of touch. The man, embarrassed and slightly afraid of his action, for the first time allowed himself, without objections from the girl, to touch her breast. His face turned slightly pale from excitement. And the bride, flushed and blushing from the desired and at the same time unexpected and unfamiliar experiences for her, fixed her gaze on nowhere, not seeing anything, but feeling pleasure and passion. Before us is an unusual date and an original perspective on the canvas of the Great Master of Human Souls in drawing and paint...
Fig 10
In the words of Vincent van Gogh: “I would be happy to give 10 years of my life if I could continue to sit here in front of this painting of The Jewish Bride for two weeks, with only a crust of dry bread. for food." In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent wrote: “What an intimate, what an infinitely pretty picture this is.” And how can one not recall the poems of Robert Burns:
Cover my palm with yours, Cover it with yours, Cover it with yours And swear with your hand that you will be mine.
I knew the blind power of love, And passion costs me many torments, But I am ready to curse love, Until you are mine.
The instant glance of a girl's eyes has won my heart more than once, But I fell in love only now, my beauty.
Cover my hand with yours, Cover it with yours, Cover it with yours And swear with your hand that you will be mine!
***
Fig 11
Before us is a truly tragic painting by the Russian artist Vasily Ivanovich Surikov “Menshikov in Berezovo” (1883). After the death of Tsar Peter the Great, his faithful assistant and confidant of all righteous and unrighteous deeds, the groom’s son, who became a rich and all-powerful nobleman, lost his support and was exiled with his entire family to a Siberian village, where he was settled in a hut, the ceiling of which was lower than his height... Menshikov's hand, clenched into a fist, reveals the unbroken will of a man who is cut off from activity and does not want to put up with it. Deep, heavy thoughts are written on Menshikov’s stern and angry face. The awareness of his own powerlessness only inflames his heart. The fingers of his domineering hand clench tensely. Menshikov has not resigned himself, bitterness is growing in him, but he feels his powerlessness. How convincingly the hand lying heavily on the knees speaks of this! She seems to be clenching and unclenching in anger and rage.
***
This young and beautiful maid intertwined her fingers and stretched out her hands in front of her, expressing resentment, bitterness and annoyance over the broken jug. Squeezing her reddened fingers tightly, she tries to calm herself down and understand how this could happen. After all, she was very careful, and the jug was expensive, and now she cannot avoid punishment from the grumpy housewife and her words of apology will be uttered in vain. At least they wouldn't kick me out...
Of course, there is still resentment on the face, but the hands in the picture turned out to be more eloquent and frank in showing the state of the maid. Even the big toe of the bare foot raised itself automatically as a sign of solidarity with the toes...
Fig 12
“The Broken Jug”, 1891. William-Adolphe Bouguereau | William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1857-1922).
Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco.
He is one of those artists who very actively used images of hands in his work to express emotions and feelings. One of the first works in which the heroine’s experiences were conveyed through symbols was the painting “The Broken Jug.” Although the reason for the grief of the young and upset girl is completely clear, her tension and all the annoyance with a spoiled mood are conveyed by her tightly clenched, red, tired hands. Moreover, she will also get punished for a broken jug from the owners...
***
Fig 13
“The Lacemaker” 1823. The Tretyakov Gallery, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin.
With a slight hitch, the lacemaker's hands froze in those positions of the fingers, hands and forearms that were immediately ready to continue knitting lace. This stop is so natural and expressive that the viewer may not even notice it, continuing to follow the work of the lacemaker. Only her gaze can distract the viewer, attentive and, it seems, guessing the visitor. He will come out soon and her usual skillful hands will continue, as if nothing had happened, their delicate and painstaking work - weaving lace...
***
Fig 14 Mikhail Vrubel. "The Demon Seated" 1890
“Sad Demon, spirit of exile” - this is how Lermontov characterizes his hero. “The spirit is not so much evil as it is suffering and sorrowful, at the same time a powerful, majestic spirit,” says Vrubel himself about his hero, who actually illustrated Lermontov’s poem “The Demon.” In the intertwined hands of the Demon there is as much boredom, restlessness, sadly sitting inside the flower garden created by the artist’s imagination, as befell his loneliness and lot. The powerful shoulders, like the hands of the demon as a whole, are made with extraordinary anatomical accuracy and realism, for they are one of the main elements of the canvas. In them, especially in the hands, which are almost completely turned out, one can feel the hero’s tension and at the same time they resemble the former wings of an angel, which he does not have. After all, a demon is a fallen angel, an exile from heaven. The demon is so focused on his thoughts that he does not feel physical pain. And he holds back his pain in an elegant pose of his hands...
***
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov showed calmer hand positions in his sketch for the painting “Christ and the Sinner” (“Who is Without Sin?”, 1880).
One of those present clutches the staff with his right hand, the other with a pointing gesture of the hand from another painting of 1904 - with his left hand. .
Vasily Polenov. Study: The right hand holding a staff. 1880s Sketch for the painting “Christ and the Sinner (Who is Without Sin?)”
Fig 16 Vasily Polenov Study of the left hand. 1904.
These sketches provide fertile ground for various discussions, including the question of the artist’s choice of only brushes as the object of painting, and not portraits of entire characters. Moreover, the middle finger of an elderly man clutching a staff is clearly defective, because it does not bend at the nail phalanx.
The second brush, if this is also just a sketch, perhaps indicates something important in the painting. Perhaps this hand is pointing to someone or something. Perhaps he recognizes, denounces or even accuses someone. But the whole point is that the left hand depicted by the artist is an independent original painting. Just a left hand with a pointing gesture. With excellent anatomical accuracy of a knowledgeable person. Whims of the master.
***
Fig 17Pablo Picasso. "Old Guitarist" 1904
A very curious and somewhat unusual picture for the diverse Picasso from his “blue period.” The old guitarist is blind, and his fingers are so thin that they resemble bones, it seems, not only because Picasso at that time was fascinated by the paintings of El Greco, but also because the old man is constantly malnourished and always hungry. His clothes are shabby, even showing a crude tear in his skimpy clothing, confirming the assumption. There is no certainty whether the character is alive at all, and the question arises whether there is life in this old man, although music may still be heard in this picture. Sad, but aesthetically and surreally it looks like a barely alive old guitarist, not letting go of his musical source of his existence...
***
Fig 18 John William Waterhouse. «
My sweet rose." 1908
(“Soul of a Rose”)
This painting was inspired by Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Maud”: which tells about the love of a poor and almost insane young man for the daughter of a rich man, her name is Maud. The English artist Waterhouse, in fact, illustrates the only line from the poem: “And the soul of the rose went into my blood, translated by Grigory Kruzhkov.” In the poem, a young man inhales the scent of roses, but Waterhouse prefers to depict a red-haired beauty, whose blush is in such harmony with the flower petals. With an elegant hand, the girl pulls the rose towards her - like a lover’s head for a kiss.
Fig 19 William Bouguereau. Dante and Virgil in Hell. 1850
And again a picture illustrating a literary work. This time - Dante's Divine Comedy. In the tenth ditch of the eighth circle (and the ditch is intended for alchemists, forgers and counterfeiters), Dante, accompanied by Virgil, observes a battle between two damned souls: Gianni Schicchi, who pretended to be a deceased rich man. In Bouguereau’s painting, the dead and rich man Gianni Schicchi furiously rushes at his also a deceased rival, the heretic and alchemist Capocchio, attacks and bites him in the neck. The artist perfectly conveys this attack through the depiction of muscles, nerves and tendons of the limbs and the whole body, without exaggerating or distorting the structure of the muscles. What realistic and natural poses and hand positions, where each one plays its role!
. These carefully drawn muscles and tendons of the torso and limbs would make a splash at a bodybuilding competition, and not in hell, where we are supposed to be in the plot of the picture.
Fig 20 Viktor Popkov. "The Bolotov Family".
The simple-minded genre painting by contemporary artist Viktor Bolotov shows an everyday family scene in which the hands of a father and mother are aimed at calming a naughty baby. And besides, some trivial conflict is felt between the father and mother of the child. A wide, large male palm with a kind slap or push directs the baby to the mother so that she can accept him and calm him down. Both mother's hands warmly and tenderly embrace the boy's arms and pull him towards her. Everything will settle down in this family “tragedy” in just a few minutes, because the boy will feel that the hands of his mother and father want to help him and relieve tension and extinguish a little anger or resentment. Without these hands there would be neither the picture nor its plot...
***
Everyone knows the legend of Samson, who was a biblical hero and defender of the Jewish people from the Philistines, who possessed remarkable power contained in his hair. His Philistine lover Delilah, at the instigation of her fellow tribesmen, learned the truth about the origin of his strength, betrayed him by putting him to sleep, and handed him over to the Philistines, who cut off his locks of hair, the source of Samson’s strength, in a dream, after which they were able to capture and blind him.
This story provided an opportunity for artists who were interested in the plot to show Samson’s struggle with the Philistines and pay attention to the movements and hands of the participants in the struggle between them, as well as the behavior of Delilah herself and the role of her hands.
The subject has been used by several prominent artists. Moreover, everyone painted this scene in accordance with personal ideas, completely disregarding its original source...
From here it becomes clear the difference in the description of the hands and gestures of betrayal of all the characters who participated in the implementation of the planned meanness of Delilah, who succumbed to the tricks of the Philistines.
By tracing and comparing different images of the same event by different artists, the viewer can compare the picture of betrayal, struggle and its outcome shown by the artists based on their personal impressions and drawings. Particularly interesting are the movements and hand gestures of each of the participants in the action. It’s a pity that this is not a video, but so much is clear...
Fig 21
Samson and Delilah, 1629-1630, Rembrandt, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
In Rembrandt's painting, painted retrospectively, later than others, Delilah is supposedly ecstatic
signaled by the arrival of a man with scissors (and behind him the figure of the first Philistine with a weapon can already be seen). Samson is still sleeping in her arms, but she doesn’t seem to remember her betrayal and it seems that Delilah’s hands are protecting Samson’s hair. She still has a little time before the irreparable happens. Delilah is experiencing severe psychological stress and her restless hands, along with her facial expression, confirm this. Isn’t this the humanism of the author of the picture? After all, she is a participant in the conspiracy and a traitor to her lover.
***
Fig 22 Samson and Delilah, 1604-1614, Peter Paul Rubens, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati
In European art, Delilah had the fame of a femme fatale. After all, she only euthanized and selected a bunch of the desired hair, but it was not she who cut it off. Therefore, the main, but not the only culprit of the crime committed, according to some critics of the paintings...
Only Delilah's left hand is visible in the painting. Obviously the one who counted out the seven necessary braids from Samson’s shock of hair, which was the main focus of his strength. Confidants help sort through the curls so as not to make a mistake. Samson is still sleeping sweetly on Delilah's lap, but notes of doubt appear on her face. The powerful arms of the sleeping Samson are completely relaxed and hang like whips, resting on the floor. The fingers of the hand are bent inward due to their forced position. He is relaxed and safe.
Fig 23 Samson and Delilah, 1618-1620, Anthony van Dyck, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Dulwich
depicts Samson moments before awakening. The Philistines are already here, the hand of the man who brought the scissors has almost touched Samson's hair. The women in the background stood waiting. Delilah's right hand is limply lowered, and her left hand, as if mechanically, is participating in the search and identification of the necessary curls to cut off.
What about Delilah?
Van Dyck floods her figure with light, drawing our full attention to her. Delilah's right hand touches Samson's hair, and her left seems to ask him to wait another moment. She doesn't take her eyes off her lover. The artist seems to want to show us that Delilah has doubts about the correctness of her action, trying to delay the fateful event. But this artist has no cruelty and triumph in her face either. In the Philistine's right hand, scissors are already visible, and his left hand is ready to pinch the curls and prepare to cut them off
In the next painting, 1619, Guercino, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Samson, already captured by the Philistines, resists their attempts to overcome and capture him. I can’t help but pay attention and disagree with the author of the picture in showing Samson’s not very muscular and frail torso, which does not correspond to his image in literature.
Guercino, an artist of the Bologna school, shows us the moment of the arrest of the newly awakened Samson: A scene of a battle without rules unfolds before the viewer, when it is no less than “three against one” with an impressive play of hands. The fists of the Philistines are aimed at the main character, the hand of one of them tries to grab the strong man by the head, but cannot hold him by his just cut hair.
With his right hand, which is covered by several arms, Samson pushes away the attackers, and with his left elbow he rests on the knees of Delilah, who betrayed him, on which he was sweetly sleeping a minute ago. Delilah, with an indifferent expression on her face, forces Samson's elbow away, trying to pull out the cloth that is probably wrapped in his hair.
***
Finger gestures and postures also have a long history. They were the predecessors of speech among primitive people, since they were simpler, more understandable and easier to reproduce. They have survived to this day, although they have become more meaningful, more meaningful, sometimes trivial and obscene... However, I have not been able to find a single painting depicting a gesture of fingers or hands, although there are many descriptions.
***
Like
