Works of Art in Great Museum

Thich nu Tinh Quang

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is great museum; it is at www.metmuseum.org. It can help students in their study and research. There are a lot of columns to go in such as The Exhibitions, Works of Art, the Met Store, and Membership… When enter the Works of Art, everyone can observes several masterpiece of ancient and modern art:

Egyptian’s Ritual Figure (4^th century B.C), Korea’s Pensive Bodhisattva (mid-7^th century), Japanese’s Seven Gods of Good Fortune and Chinese Children (17^th-18^th century), British’s Head of a Man Wearing a Turban (1760)…they are the great works of art and created up by famous artists in the world.. In century of before Christ, two works of art which make me has dept impression are Henri Regnault’s Salome (1870) and Carlo Dolci’s Portrait of Agata (1616-86). They are the female paintings but have several differences in their pattern, period and art of colour. First, the Regnault’s painting represented for the French art in century of nineteen which was pained by oil on canvas. It modified in clearly French maner-the soft brush strokes. The Regnault’s Solome is process of painting with pigment that is bound with a medium of turpentine oil. This paiting could be used cold wax, resins and varnishes. The Carlo’s Portrait of Agata Dolci appeared in century of seventeen, which was pained by red and black chalk obtained the color from impurities of carbon, black iron oxide or manganese oxide since the Rennaisanse. It had light color and many shades. The Western mainly developed chalk as a medium in the European regions. Second, the woman in Regnault’s painting was considered a masterpiece of contemporary art in colour while the Agata youngest daughter in Carlo Dolci’s painting was composed with great delicacy and in perfection. The Regnault’s Salome pained both figure and ground in variations of brilliant yellow tones. Salome is cothed in dress of yellow, gold and pale orange; the background is gold, and the floor coverings are also dominated by golden tones, several areas of black lie an abrupt juxtaposition to these brilliant warm hues. The young girl in Carlo Dolci’s painting is formally dressed and wears a coral necklace; an impressional symble that Carlo wanted to make striking on the gray background. Since Roman times, red coral was believed to have healing power, and the people hung it to protect the “evil eye.” The coral necklace is outstanding on the gray color and the painting became lively. The differences of two works of art created a part of main feature in each painting.

Salomé, 1870
Henri Regnault (French, 1843–1871)
Oil on canvas 63 x 40 1/2 in. (160 x 102.9 cm)
Signed, dated, and inscribed (left center): HRegnault [initials in monogram] / Rome 1870
Gift of George F. Baker, 1916 (16.95)

 Portrait of Agata Dolci, 1616–86
Carlo Dolci (Italian, Florentine, 1616–1687)
Red and black chalk on pale gray paper 10 3/16 x 7 15/16 in. (25.8 x 20.2 cm) Rogers Fund, 1994 (1994.383)

Emperor Huizong, Chinese, 1082-1135

Five-Colored Parakeet on a Blossoming Apricot TreeHandscroll Chinese Northern Song dynasty, datable to 1110s
China Ink and color on silk Image: 53.3 x 125.1 cm (21 x 49 1/4 in.)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Maria Antoinette Evans Fund 33.364

The museum of Fine Art Boston online is at www.Mfa.org has numerous links to works of art. We can go in to all of the collection of art in the world such as works of art of Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, Americans, Japanese and religious art. Moreover, this website of art often have the exhibitions, for example, in Feb 2, 2010-May 9, 2010 painting exhibition of Luis Melendez’s Master of Spanish Still Life; in Aug 26, 2009-May 23, 2010 painting Exhibition of Tibet confluences. Every painting or sculpture in this museum has especial manner of the national character. The two works of art that I like at this museum are Chinese’s Five-Clored Parakeet on a Blossoming Apricot Tree Handscroll and Korean’s Vase. Although the two works of art all described about trees and birds in traditional techniques, they also have several differences on in their manners. The Five-Colored Parakeet on a Blossoming Apricot Tree Handscroll was pained by ink and color on silk in beginning of 12^th century and the era of Emperor Huizong. It is a landscape painting with bird, flower, and poetry. The Vase was a sculpture of glazed stoneware. The painting was inlaid decoration of white cranes and black bamboo. The Chinese’s painting is the traditional picture; it relied on varying degrees of intensity of ink to express the artist’s conception of natural, and required a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher…The artists produced paintings of such things as plum blossoms, orchids, chrysanthemums, pines and cypresses, using their subject matter to reflect their own ideals and character. However, the Korean’s Vase was also marked by the use of bold color, natural forms, and surface decoration. This painting was carved by natural paints; the carving of bamboo, bird, knotwork designs, Buddhist designs or mystical subjects was common in all styles of Korea paintings. They also used brush stroke techniques to carve on the stoneware. In conclusion, the Chinese’s Five-Clored… and the Korean’s Vase give onlookers the ideals of peace.

Vase (maebyong) Korean Goryeo Dynasty, Late 12th century Korea Glazed stoneware; inlaid decoration of white cranes and black bamboo 31.1 x 18.1 cm (12 1/4 x 7 1/8 in. ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Charles Bain Hoyt Collection 50.989 Plate 4. Nahan (Koryo period, ca. 1235), hanging scroll, ink and light color on silk, 52.5 x 40.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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