New York City and the Arts

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.

I was surprised by our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have gone to this museum and looked at these same paintings many times. However, I never truly understood them. I never realized that when you walk between different paintings, there is an evolution of painting styles and changes in beliefs that contribute to the differences between paintings. Before this tour, I did not know that there was so much that could be learned from comparing two paintings.

One thing that I thought was interesting during the tour of the Old Master paintings at the Met was the progression of the image of the Madonna and Child. I have gone to many different museums and seen a lot of pictures of the Madonna and Child. I always noticed the differences in the paintings. However, it never occurred to me that these differences occurred due to an evolution of painting style and beliefs in society. For example, I remember that in the first Madonna and Child that we saw, the face of Jesus was not that of a baby. Instead, it was the face of an adult. Also, the figures looked two-dimensional and there was no indication between the mother and the child. This made the figures look unrealistic. However, the next Madonna and Child painting contained more colors and it showed a more developed relationship between mother and child. Also, this image introduced the idea of a divider between the image and the viewer. The third Madonna and Child painting had many different colors, baby jesus looked like a real baby, and the relationship between the mother and child was obvious. This image also contained a similar divider as the one found in the second Madonna and Child.  I thought it was interesting that this kind of progression in painting could be tied to the progression of beliefs. For example, I never realized that most icons in the past were used to represent symbols and ideals. As a result, they did not show life as it really was, but instead they showed it in an idealistic way, such as giving baby jesus the face of an adult. However, as people beliefs changed, they began to view religion as something everyone could relate to. As a result, the painting became more realistic and a barrier was introduced to acknowledge the viewer of the painting. I also thought that it was interesting that putting a divider on a painting can actually be used to include the viewer. I like the third Madonna and Child paintings more than the first two that we saw. The bright colors of the third painting and the portrayal of biblical characters in a human way made the painting more interesting to view and much easier to understand than the first two paintings.

Another thing that I thought was interesting was the evolution of the types of materials that artists used. I thought it was amazing that in the past so many paintings were commonly painted on wood. In today’s world, this seems highly impractical. In addition, I never knew that the development of oil painting allowed artists to paint over their mistakes. I liked this fact because as I was walking around the museum after the tour, I passed by a painting that demonstrated this idea. The painting said that the artist painted over a boy trying to hold back a dog. When I stepped a little farther away, and looked closer at the painting, I realized that I could see the outline of the boy. It is exciting for me to discover things like this in a painting because it makes me feel more connected to the painter. Finding mistakes like this, lets the viewer see a little bit of the thinking process of the artist and how they created a certain painting.

One of my favorite paintings that we saw was The Last Judgment by Jan Van Eyck. I enjoyed looking at this painting because this summer, I visited Italy and saw The Last Judgment by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. I remember that while looking at Michelangelo’s painting I was amazed by its size and could not imagine how much work had gone into painting such a large work of art with so much detail. However, Jan Van Eyck’s work, although considerably smaller, did not have any less of an effect on me. In fact, I thought it was even more amazing that such a large and complicated painting could have been painted in such a small size. I was surprised that this small painting was not lacking any detail. For example, the scene where people are in hell has so much detail, that it is almost hard to look at because of its graphic nature.

When I found out I was going to look at Old Master paintings at the Met, I knew I was going to enjoy it. I had been lucky enough to go to Europe two years ago and for two weeks I saw an abundance of Old Master paintings. Listening to tour guides explain the meanings and techniques behind the paintings helped me learn how to analyze them myself. Thinking back to that experience, I was prepared for this visit and ready to see how my analysis skills grew. The woman who led our tour of the master paintings at the Met reminded me to look at several aspects of the paintings including: color, shadows, dimension, differences in stylings of the time periods, texture, light, positioning, realism, and perspective.

I thought it was interesting to see how the Madonna and Child painting evolved over the years. Berlinghiero’s Madonna and Child from the early 1200s was more iconic, with few colors, not so realistic, abstract, little individual expression, child looked like an adult, there was no relationship between them, and it was overall more symbolic instead of realistic. Duccio’s Madonna and Child had a closer relationship between the two figures and the child looked more like a child. Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna and Child explored light more than the others as well as asymmetry. The plumpness of the baby and the overall detail led to more realism in the painting. As the time periods passed, I was able to see how the paintings became more realistic with the incorporation of light, shadows, and details such as wrinkling in clothing and skin. Besides the fact that I was interested in the progression of the art, I was attracted to the Madonna and Child paintings for probably the same reason most people are; Every one can relate to having a mother, and it is captivating to see a relationship we can all understand portrayed in front of us.

Peter Paul Ruben’s painting of himself, his wife, and his child was another painting that caught my attention and left me with many questions. Why is the parrot in the corner and what does it mean? After looking this question up, a source said it symbolized perfect motherhood, but I do not understand how. The first thing that catches my eye in the painting in his wife, and that is probably due to the luminescence of her chest that stands out. Secondly, the child stands out due to his yellow attire placed next to his parents who are both wearing black. By highlighting the child, it is evident that the child is loved. Another thing to note is the eye contact of the figures. Peter Paul Rubens is looking at his wife, and his wife is looking at the child. At first I thought he was jealous of this child, that his love with his wife was distracted by his child’s presence. After looking at it for longer, I felt that their bodies were positioned too closely together for any hostility to be present. Peter Paul Ruben’s seems to be gazing at his wife as if she means everything to him. I found it interesting when the tour guide said that experts can identify artists by their brush strokes and this painting was an example of a time when they did that.

Nicole Lennon

I love revisiting museums, especially large ones, where I can go see works that are like old friends, and explore new ones. I was mostly unfamiliar with the pieces that we viewed on our tour, which travelled from Eastern Europe’s Byzantine icons (tragically many of which were lost in Iconoclasm), through the Renaissance in Northern Europe, and down to the Italian Peninsula. I’m a big fan of the Dutch masters, so it was great to see detailed and complex work like that, especially when it is on such a small scale.

The guide of the tour was helpful, if hard to follow. Unfortunately the crowds were too loud to allow everyone in the group to hear her information concerning the paintings. Usually I do not enjoy guided tours, but I think that the split between a tour and free exploration of the galleries was a good balance.

When I arrived at the Met, I was somewhat exciting because we were about to see actual works of art rather than just talking about them in class. I definitely learned more about the Italian Renaissance as well as about art in other time periods in Europe. I learned how the portrayal of baby Jesus and Mary had changed from the 1200s to the 1300s in that there was more of a sacred and maternal connection between Mary and Jesus as the years went by. What I also found interesting were the portraits from the Renaissance period in the Netherlands. The paintings of the people were very realistic and detailed unlike the Italian ones which were more abstract. Some personal paintings that I liked were “Wolf and Fox Hunt” and ” The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus”. What I liked about the paintings were that they are of nature and they are very colorful. Overall, Ienjoyed the trip to the Met due to the new things I learned as well as the beautiful paintings I got to see.

Izaya Abdurakhmanov

When I arrived at the Met, I was somewhat exciting because we were about to see actual works of art rather than just talking about them in class. I definitely learned more about the Italian Renaissance as well as about art in other time periods in Europe. I learned how the portrayal of baby Jesus and Mary had changed from the 1200s to the 1300s in that there was more of a sacred and maternal connection between Mary and Jesus as the years went by. What I also found interesting were the portraits from the Renaissance period in the Netherlands. The paintings of the people were very realistic and detailed unlike the Italian ones which were more abstract. Some personal paintings that I liked were “Wolf and Fox Hunt” and ” The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus”. What I liked about the paintings were that they are of nature and they are very colorful. Overall, Ienjoyed the trip to the Met due to the new things I learned as well as the beautiful paintings I got to see.

I’ve been to the Met probably a handful of times, but I don’t think I’d ever explored the Renaissance rooms before, partially because it’s such a large and fascinating museum that it’s almost impossible to see everything you want to, and partially because there are other styles and time periods that I would prefer to spend my limited time at the museum viewing. That said, there were quite a few paintings in the rooms we visited that struck me for one reason or another. Not being a visual artist, my responses were generally caused by emotional rather than technical reasons, but I feel that I was still able to impart more than superficial meaning from the works.

The first one that struck me was the large Ruebens work, Wolf And Fox Hunt. Despite taking a course in Art History during my senior year of high school, I was completely unaware that collaboration on paintings had been relatively commonplace in the North during that time period. Since this course began I have become interested in the process of artists (dancers, musicians, actors, painters), and I am curious as to how Ruebens and his collaborators were able to create such an impressive and seemingly cohesive piece of art, despite the fact that there were probably differences in style and ability within the workshop. That this was not an extremely uncommon phenomenon I found especially impressive, since collaboration can be one of the most difficult and frustrating experiences for anyone, particularly when it is collaboration on a piece of art, with all of the emotional involvement that entails. It is the same reason I am somewhat amazed by the ability of musical groups who write and compose their own music can sometimes be capable of sustaining that creativity and unity throughout decades.

A second painting that stood out to me, this time because of its subject matter, was Jacob Jordaens’ Holy Family With St. Anne and The Young Baptist and His Parents. The painting drew me in because it is one of the few scenes of the Holy Family that I have seen where everyone looked like a family. While definitely of the period, and far from super-naturalistic, the relationships between the young Jesus and his immediate and extended family members were actually believable, and strikingly human. Most depictions of Jesus and his family focus on depicting them as divine and supernatural. While Christian theology certainly emphasizes this, there is also an element of the Holy Family that is supposed to have been very natural and human–they lived and acted and felt as all humans do. This painting could have depicted any gathering of loving family members, whether or not they are meant to have been divine, a relatively unique approach for an artist of any period to take.

The third painting that I was especially fascinated by was another Ruebens, albeit a very different kind of painting from the one our guide showed us. The work, entitled A Forest At Dawn With A Deer Hunt, is a small landscape. The only people you can find are hidden in the well-shadowed forest. The entire work is almost entirely focused on the trees, and the sunset in the upper left hand corner provides the only in-painting light. To be honest with you, I would never have said that this work could have been done by Ruebens, not because of any lack of skill in the painter or the painting, but because it is just so divergent from what I had thought was his typical work. This work piqued my curiosity regarding Ruebens, because it revealed another side of him as an artist, one that I personally find to be even more engaging than the Ruebens that creates giant masterpieces focused on conveying dramatic actions or human personality.

Zoe Johnson

On our trip to the Metropolitan Museum to see artworks by various master painters, I wasn’t really expecting anything out of it. I’ve already been to the Metropolitan Museum before, and to be honest, I’ve never really enjoyed the experience. However, this time’s trip to the Met was different and this can be attributed to our very knowledgeable tour guide. I’ve always been into the history of things so when she started off by mentioning the various histories behind the paintings, I was soon absorbed. I particularly liked her mentioning of the late medieval age paintings and the contrast that is created when artists began the shift from making emotionless images solely for the medieval church to drawing images with actual worldly emotion. In this transition to the Renaissance age, a particular Madonna and Child image stood out to me. In this image, Mother Mary is holding her child Jesus, but unlike the previous images with no emotion, this picture is revolutionary in that it was full of emotion. Mother Mary is clearly sad in this picture and the baby Jesus tries to comfort her. The warmth that is created between the mother and the child was very touching and I felt that the artist was very brave in creating this image, which must’ve been very strange for people to take in at the time. It made me realize that art has progressed throughout the ages, and this is due to the many brave artists that take a stand and paint something outside of the norm. Art continues to reflect who we are as a society and as long as our perspectives continue to evolve, so will our forms of art.

Kevin Wang

The first three paintings we stopped by were all biblical Byzantine paintings from the 1200s and 1300s. Religion does not interest me in the least. However, it did play an immense role in the history of humanity, so I am patient in learning about it solely as a factor in the development of society.

The first two paintings were both of Madonna and child, Jesus Christ. The first, painted by Berlinghiero, was a very flat, serious depiction of the two, certainly not meant to entertain. Christ’s body was that of a baby, while his head was that of an adult, which I felt increased the seriousness of the painting and gave it an everlasting “Benjamin Button” effect. The second Madonna and child, painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna, was a little more vibrant with its gold background and the presence of body that the two figures emitted. The third, titled “The Epiphany” by Giotto di Bondone, depicted the celebration of the birth of Christ, a breathe of fresh air from the repetitive scenes we witnessed before.

Next, we moved on to secular Italian art of the Renaissance, which took place in the 1400s. The art of this time period is clearly more decorative and casual, because it was purchased and funded by the aristocracy. The armoire and birth trays were both made to show off wealth and social status and were beautifully made. The second we switched off to paintings of royalty, we switched back to the ever-important Madonna and child, painted by Giovanni Bellini. This third version of the mother and child was the most vibrant, due to its bright colors, asymmetrical landscape and the illumination of baby Jesus.

Following Italy came the countries that made up the Netherlands and the Renaissance of the North (1500-1600s). After analyzing several paintings, the class deduced that the paintings of people of this time period were no longer painted in profile, as they were seen painted during the Italian Renaissance. I enjoyed the three-dimensional views of these paintings and their ability to capture detail in both facial emotions and body movement.

Next on the menu: Paintings of the South, which entailed Italy, yet again. Majority of the paintings we saw were religious, but certainly more friendly and inviting than the first couple we saw that afternoon. We were told that design was the focus of these paintings and this was evident in the assortment of shapes and lines present in the paintings. The most memorable one, to me, was the painting that included the four saints with Madonna and baby Jesus in the center, forming two triangles (or pyramids) of different size. The colors in this particular painting were varied and very pleasing to the eye.

Finally, the last set of paintings we visited were from the Baroque period (17th century). There was a noticeable transition from biblical icons to events of everyday life, full of action and emotion. Grouped together in the exhibit room of Peter Paul Reubens, we were surrounded by tons of energy and movement contained in wooden frames of all sizes. His love for his wife was clearly portrayed in the painting with him, his wife and their son. The lighting and the attention of the other two figures points directly at Reubens’ wife. A feeling of warmth and adoration is emitted from this painting.

I definitely appreciated the Baroque art the most, because it felt most realistic to me. I could connect to it emotionally through the human expressions and relationships it depicted, as opposed to the religious art of the Byzantine empire and the South, which I have no understanding of or belief in.

-Polina Mikhelzon

The trip to the Metropolitan Museum was fascinating.  We explored Old master paintings, specifically Italian and Netherlandish paintings.  I’ve always loved the Renaissance stuff, so this guided tour was a real treat for me.  We also looked at some Medieval paintings, which don’t really cut it for me because I find they lack emotion.   For instance, looking at Berlinghiero’s Madonna and Child gives me a weird feeling.  Paintings such as these were used solely for religious, nonsecular purposes.  The early 1300s brought in a new variety of paintings, which can be seen in those more modern Madonna and Child paintings, in which the mother and child bear contact with one another and the child actually looks like a youth instead of a great symbol.  Giotto di Bondone’s paintings also portray religious figures as real people, which I think makes the paintings more beautiful when they convey more emotion.  This painting makes much more use of color, which is inviting to the eye, taking the audience more into consideration.

The 1400s encompasses my favorite paintings, those of the Renaissance.  These are different because they were commissioned by citizens instead of made for religious purposes.  One of my favorite paintings in this collection was the painting by Fra Filippo Lippi, who painted the profile of a woman and part of the profile of a man.  The story behind is supposedly that the girl is a soon to be bride being painted and her fiance decides last minute that he wants to be part of the painting and so Lippi probably offended, paints the man on the side, barely showing the groom.  I love stories of painters that express their dignity being offended through their art.  What I love most about this painting is the view outside the window- a lush green village scene.  The idea of putting landscaping in the background was daring at the time.

Perhaps my most favorite painting, as much as I enjoy Renaissance paintings, is one by a Baroque painter (1630’s), Peter Paul Rubens.  I really love how he celebrates the female body in almost all his paintings.  My favorite is the scene of him, his ravishing wife, and plump, healthy son in what seems to be an affluent garden.  The colors and lines of the painting all are directed towards his new wife.  Her youth is underlied by the fountain and the roses in the background.  The idea that the painting was done in appreciation of his love is chilling to me.  One distinction between this painting and others of different eras is the fact that Rubens lets his brush strokes show, which to me separates paintings from photographs.  The texture appears more beautiful to me when you can see the brushstrokes.  The painting is of a happy family in a luxurious setting; What else could one ask for?

Walking around the museum after the tour, I discovered some other paintings that I really enjoyed.  I love Greek mythology and so I really enjoy paintings about Greek Gods and Goddesses, especially because the stories behind the paintings are quite interesting.  One that I especially enjoyed was by Rubens, who I have decided is my favorite master painter.  He manages to capture the story of Venus and Adonis in his painting.  The painting shows a bare, beautiful woman who seems to be pleading for a lover to stay, while a child with wings does the same.  The background, which shows two dogs and his hunting spear makes it obvious that the man is going off to hunt.  Also, the ominous, dark sky seems to be in agreement with the woman who warns the man to stay.  The real story is that Venus (the blond woman) and Cupid (little boy) try to restrain Adonis from going off to hunt because they know he will be killed.  I think Ruben’s beautiful painting does a perfect job at depicting this lovely since between the Goddess and the mortal.

– Mariam Kirvalidze