Understanding History Through Art Essay Example
Understanding History Through Art Essay Example

Understanding History Through Art Essay Example

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  • Pages: 2 (374 words)
  • Published: April 14, 2022
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Art helps us to understand history better. Through the works of Adam Smith, who is mostly regarded as the father of modern economics and Karl Marx, the industrial revolution is explained and can hence be better understood. A Wealth of Nations by Smith specifically highlights the advantages of capitalism in the economy and development of nations. Capitalistic economies are where people perform and dictate their economic activities and processes on their own. In this type of economy, wages and price usually adjust themselves through self-adjusting mechanism often brought by market forces in the economy. His ideas are more common in the current economic systems in the world. In this setup, people follow their interests and are permitted to do so by the governments and leadership systems that exist at the said time. He mainly believed

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in the division of labor.

It, however, went against the ideas of Karl Marx ideas of the Communist Manifesto, which identified communism as the ideal form of sociological and economic systems of the society as a whole. Marx believed that capitalistic nature of the economy was oppressive of the poor and lower classes in the economy. He also concluded that a revolution by the two classes was the only way that this oppression would end. To him, communism which promoted equality among all individuals in the society was better.
Works of art hold relevant symbolism and clues that can help us understand the past. Colors and materials also hold such importance in the process of understanding history. The Portraits of Man by Matteo di Sebastiano and shows a woman and her husband of Gozzadini family where the families coat of arms feature

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prominently in both paintings. They both have clues in the existence of conjugal love and matrimony. There are also Christianity values are seen to exist from the sacrament of marriage. Chastity is shown by the presence of a girl and two rabbits.

Art, however, using the above portraits brings out the most vivid imagination of the past in that it is more evidenced by empirical existence of the culture and objectives that existed in the past. As compared to textbook reading to ascertain history, artworks of portraits paintings and carvings have a more appealing sense of imagination.

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