This piece, "Helios as Personification of Midday," was painted by Anton Raphael Mengs in 1765. I like the use of lighting in this painting because the intense nature of the yellow to white light from the sun creates a sense of awe, as it elevates the already divine subject. I like how the sun in this painting also frames Helios as most important, as it calls my attention directly to Helios, who blocks part of the sun and changes the shape of the light. The placement of the sun behind Helios also creates the idea that he is more powerful than the sun.
The first time seeing this painting, I was struck by its saturation and extremely bright light source, and now that I've looked at it several times, I still am. The sun seems to serve a rather unsubtle second purpose as a halo, and this makes its prominence as a light source more interesting, as it seems to be positioned somewhere in between where a distant, realistic sun would be, and right by Helios' head.
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