The works of classical painters are some of the most revered artifacts from antiquity. In particular, the Baroque style represents the depiction of light, dramatic colors and wonderful events. But for centuries, they have been downgraded to two dimensions.
The Renaissance masters developed better techniques for adding more realism to the paintings, especially Rembrandt, but they were still essentially classified as still life paintings in a two-plane afternoon.
Ever wanted to step inside one of these classics? Does your imagination limit your vision when seeing these pictures in 2D? It makes me. I’ve always wondered what some of these fancifully crafted realms would look like if I could step inside them and watch the movie unfold.
Thankfully, there are a few artists who have done just that. Agustin Vidal Saavedra and Spencer Blanchard has been quietly animating vintage paintings since 2019. Works by Caravaggio, Botticelli, Jaques-Louis David, Raphael, etc have been carefully deconstructed in Photoshop and animated in After Effects. And what a better means to animate than these dramatic paintings.
Saavedra is a visual artist living in Dublin, Ireland, and started gaining attention online thanks to the animation “The Last Day of Pompeii” by Russian romantic artist Karl Bryullov.
Blanchard, who credited his discovery and later became interested in animating these classics for Saavedra, began shortly thereafter with “The Swing,” Jean-Honoré Fragonard. But his most impressive work to date is the animated “Washington Crossing Delaware,” by Emanuel Leutze.
It must be said that these animations are extremely detailed and time consuming, as the short videos would suggest. As someone who has tried and failed many times to stay focused on even the simplest tasks in After Effects, I think I can speak to how difficult it is on screen.
In any case, if you like the feeling of being let down when you see someone whose skills are so out-of-the-box, then keep watching these two artists put on a mastery in both Photoshop and After Effects. You can find more works by Agustin Vidal Saavedra here. And, of course, check out the work of Spencer Blanchard here.
