Musuem Essay #1

The painting on the left is titled, Virgin and Child with Saints by a Netherlandish (Ghent) Painter. It's oil on wood and was made in 1472. The figures of the Virgin and Child and Saint John the Baptist were scraped off and repainted to produce another piece of art work titled The Marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. I find this piece interesting because even though the part of the artwork has been scraped off, you can still see how much detail the artist put in the sketching out and preparing the outline before the paint. This amazing artistic craftsmanship really shows how the netherlandish painters really caught the imagery similar to that of an actual photograph. The painter is still unknown, but it has been ascribed to both Hugo van der Goes and Jean Hey.

 The painting on the right is titled Rembrandt by Herman Doomer in 1640. It is oil on wood also. Doomer was born in 1595 and died 1650. This painting is a self portrait of Herman Doomer himself. He was known for making fine cabinets and chests. This painting struck me with the marvelous use of portrayed lighting and shadowing. The use of color is limited, but it does evoke an eerie feeling and has sort of a dark tone to it because of the lack of color.There is a certain feel to it that makes you think that his eyes are following you and watching your every step, adding a creepy effect to an already spectral painting.

Both paintings grasp the viewers attention quite well. It's as if you can step inside both of these paintings and actually feel the tone and live in their presence. Both paintings are, what is considered to us, realistic. The detailed folds and implied texture on both paintings' clothing makes it so we can actually feel them. Both have a good amount of depth perception, making it not just a flat painting, but sort of like 3-dimensional. Both paintings have that eerie feel to it. Like in the left one, when the people were scraped off, it makes them look very ghost-like. And not to mention the creepy eyes that watch you on the right one. These two paintings struck me the most in the museum because I feel the mysterious and uncanny presence of the people in it, making my curious thoughts ponder through what's going on in their lifestyle.