By: Cindy Lozito
Any opportunity to learn more about art is an exciting prospect for me, but I especially enjoyed the Old Masters tour at the Metropolitan Museum.I’ve visited the Met dozens of times, but I’ve never really given the Old Masters paintings as much attention and analysis as they deserved. I personally favor contemporary art because I feel that the scope of topics and messages that modern artists portray is broader and more challenging to analyze, as opposed to the religious and domestic themes that artists from prior centuries often covered. However, the Met tour we experienced last Wednesday honestly opened my eyes to details and historical aspects of Medieval and Renaissance paintings that I didn’t think I would enjoy beforehand. Based on what the tour guide explained, it seemed like every element of the paintings shown served a purpose or showed a symbol. In the Madonna and Child paintings, I found it interesting how the amount of contact the Mary and Jesus shared through eye contact and touch evolved over time, signifying a more secular view of the Church. I loved how the tour guide explained reasons for the poses and composition of particular paintings, like the parallel figures of the Raphael painting forming a triangle that appealed to and encompassed the audience of the time period. I also enjoyed how the wedding portraits done by Fra Fillippe Lippi displayed the subject in a profile view, signifying the desire to exude a powerful social position.
As an experimental painter, I especially loved hearing about how tempera and oil paint differ in exuberance as well as how different types of brush strokes used in each time period enhance important details. The Rubens paintings were my favorite of the exhibit because I feel that his usage of contrasting colors and flowing brush strokes depict strong emotions that are difficult to master. The last painting shown with Rubens’s wife as the subject was breathtaking; every single element, from the facial expressions of the family members to the colors used in the surrounding scenery clearly expressed Rubens’s devotion and emphasis on his love. The brush stroke patterns and purposeful areas of unblended paint to convey energy and motion were also stunning. Possessing the capability paint such intense emotions is an incredible concept to me.
The Old Masters tour was an awesome learning experience that helped re-enforce my passion for analyzing art. Once the tour was over, I realized that I actually do enjoy Medieval and Renaissance art work. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and interesting, and some of the points she brought up, like how some of the paint colors have dulled in their luster and consequently give way to different interpretations of the themes, were things I would have never realized touring the museum alone. Her stories and background information about some of the paintings also helped in making the experience so fascinating. The tour really ignited my interest in Renaissance paintings, so much so that I think I might look into taking a course on paintings and painters themselves of the time period.
