It was a good time to play Art of the Western World treasure hunt.
On my list:
Velasquez 'Rokeby Venus'
Van Eyck 'Arnolfini Portrait'
Vermeer 'Young Woman standing at a Virginal'
Monet--too many to list
'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'
Van Gogh 'A Wheatfield with Cypresses'
Da Vinci 'Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist'
Holbein 'The Ambassadors'
There were definite auras to these paintings when I saw them in person. Granted, I wouldn't be able to distinguish between an imitation and the original, but having a painting in front of my beats having a projected image any day. I was highly observant of the Rokeby Venus nonetheless; I watched a video devoted to the history of this painting so I knew to look for slash marks in the canvas. They were barely there, the painting's restoration was taken care of. The painting was larger than I imagined--it's such an intimate scene that I thought it would be on a smaller canvas. On the other hand, the Arnolfini portrait was smaller than imagined. I was all the more amazed at the fine brushwork and detailing in the convex mirror!
'The Ambassadors' was fun to look at from that special angle where the skull warps back into proportion. I noticed the still-life set up between the two men, and I was interested in their symbolic meanings. My independent art history research paper last semester was about Dutch still-lifes; unfortunately my knowledge is limited to the meaning of flower still-lifes.
I commemorated seeing these paintings in person by buying postcards of them. The Ambassadors one is the most fun to play with, since it's easier to find that perfect angle of looking at the skull.
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