The Unicorn in Captivity

Title: The Unicorn in Captivity
Date: 1495-1505
Artist: Unknown
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Unicorn in Captivity

The unicorn in captivity is realistic because the picture shows a unicorn drawn in full detail by the way u can see the texture of the lines. This picture shows color, balance and pattern from the background alone. First off it shows color from all they different colors in the picture such as the deep blues and soft reds. It also shows balance because there are other colors in the background that help make the unicorn more on the page and connected to the art. Finally it shows pattern from the repeated flowers in the background. The picture is also not realistic because there is no such thing as a unicorn so it brings out the viewers imagination. It looks life like because of the unicorn in the cage but the background doesn’t look realistic because it’s a repeating pattern of plants and flowers, if someone were to make it more realistic they would probably start with changing the background to something like a field or a farm. They would also change the unicorn into a horse or another animal because like I wrote before unicorns aren’t real.

This image shows formalism because most of the elements and principles of design are in this picture. For example there is emphasis on the unicorn because it’s white and color from the background like blue, red and yellow helps make the unicorn pop. It also shows space and balance from the way distance between each plant and also inside the cage how there’s plants so to show that the field is one piece and not to stop randomly around the cage. This image has a balance that intrigues people to look at the picture for longer so they can see the depth and detail in the unicorn.

            The unicorn in captivity makes people feel intrigued and curious like they want to know more or see more. It makes people feel this way because of the colors such as the blues and ivory white, it also shows unity in the image from the way all the colors match it helps make the picture flow in harmony. It’s unlike any other picture of a unicorn because it’s not a real animal so everyone’s interpretation of a unicorn is different. Unicorns look unalike in some art because people’s ideas are different from one another, so the picture of unicorn changes every time.