Friday, May 22, 2009 C
"Thoughts after Lunch"
11:59am
I've just finished lunch. I chose healthy tilapia fish, acorn squash, green beans and carrot juice. The green beans were a little raw, so I didn't finish them. But as I sit here in the cafeteria, satisfaction will soon come. Ooh, I am weary, but I have at last seen the Vermeers!
There were maybe five, I photographed them all, from the sweet faced young woman with a pearl earring, to the complex allegory of Catholic religion - 'Faith with the World at her Feet'. I knew by composition and use of color it was one of his.
He, in contrast to the other Dutch painters, has a sense of intimacy in his paintings. There is no wasted space. His 'Woman with a Pitcher of Water' is the most perfect thing I have ever seen. The capture of the moment, the young woman has just opened the window, the air is warm and she is doing her task with all the sense of a sacred moment. How do I say this, it's the awareness of the moment:
The religious artwork didn't intrigue me so much, except one Madonna and Child scene, the faces having depth, but everything else flat and decorative. There is perfect duplication of the detail (looks 'copied and pasted').
There was another scene with Madonna and Child, this one with beautiful colors, a sense of being in a park or courtyard. But what a strange old man's face on the Christ child! |
Hans Memling (Netherlandish, active by 1465, died 1494) Oil on wood, ca. early 1480s, Overall 26 7/8 x 28 7/8 in. (68.3 x 73.3 cm); painted surface 26 3/8 x 28 3/8 in. (67 x 72.1 cm) Accession # 14.40.634 Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (For more details, see gallery page) |
Another 'strange' painting, of Venus lounging, with an angel to her left. That nasty little angel is PEEing on her! The info card said that was to aid in fertility??? |
Lorenzo Lotto (Italian, Venetian, born about 1480, died 1556) Oil on canvas, ca. 1410, Size 36 3/8 x 43 7/8 in. (92.4 x 111.4 cm) Accession # 1986.138 Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Marietta Tree, 1986 (For more details, see gallery page) |
At visit's beginning, (and a bathroom visit), I snapped some of the late Egyptian/Roman things, a lovely shroud, showing a golden scarab on back, on front her detailed portrait, with her wearing rings and some serpentine bracelets.
There was a lovely serpentine bracelet showing Isis, a Herakles knot, and Renenutet in her Greco/Roman form: |
Egyptian Gold Accession # 23.2.1 Rogers Fund, 1923 (For more details, see gallery page) |
I captured, too, a lovely gold bracelet with just the Herakles knot. Now, food is mostly digested, feet are rested, and it's the Lehman collection next!
Friday, May 22, 2009 D
"More Perfection"
I like the 'musical art', and caught two in the European painting section, as well. You could almost read the sheet music in one: |
Laurent de La Hyre (French, 16061656) Oil on canvas, ca. 1410, Size 41 5/8 x 56 3/4 in. (105.7 x 144.1 cm) Accession # 50.189 Charles B. Curtis Fund, 1950 (For more details, see gallery page) |
Forward...
Go Back to Travel Journal Archives...
Go Back to Main Journal Index Page...
Go to Index of Joan's pages...
© Joan Lansberry