While I love the Met and think it’s a wonderful museum, I don’t always have the time to stop by there and spend the time that I need to look at everything. The section of Old Master paintings was one I had never had the pleasure of walking through. The guided tour of it was exactly what I needed to fix both of those issues! That we had the opportunity to listen to an expert’s opinions and knowledge of the paintings was a great experience, and I will definitely be attending more guided tours and gallery talks from now on. Focusing intently on a smaller amount of paintings can be so much more rewarding than simply rushing through galleries trying to take everything in at once. Being with a guide who knows all about the elements of art and the history was very helpful and eye opening. I learned a lot about paintings through that short tour and it helped me to think about the organization behind paintings and the choices the artist makes, things I normally would gloss over when walking through a museum alone.
The use of light, the painstaking process of glazing, the use of structure (the triangles formed in some paintings to highlight significant focal points; e.g. “Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints” and “Ruben, His Wife Helena Fourment and One of their Children”), and the size and purpose of the paintings (e.g. the difference between “Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints” and “Crucifixion; The Last Judgment”) is something I have never considered in depth, not knowing much about it. I found the difference between the last two paintings I mentioned particularly intriguing. One is representative of the art of the “south” and of Italy, the other of the “north,” or the Netherlands. The first was large and included large hints as to the painted people’s identities, and was meant to be viewed in a church from afar. The other was likely meant for personal use and the detailing is so incredible and minute that it requires an extended examination of all its parts.
