Legion of Honor Trip Essay Example for Free

Legion of Honor Trip Essay This semester marked the first time I had stepped foot onto any type of school or college in over six years. I must say things have changed. Everything seems to be taken over by the internet and I’m not exactly sure I like this idea just for the fact that it takes away from past habits. Furthermore, I am extremely glad that I had the opportunity to enroll in this Art 165 class because it taught me not only the history of art but how to appreciate it as well. As I drove up the road to the Legion of Honor I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a beautiful structure with amazing scenery to surround the museum. It really wasn’t like anything I had ever seen or been to before, if you can tell I don’t leave town very much. After making my admission official with putting on my un-adhesive sticker, I walked into a space of extraordinary history. Not knowing where to start, I began on to the left where I found artworks from the Medieval times and the Renaissance. In the room there was an incredible ceiling that displayed what I thought was an early pendentive. While in the Renaissance room, I seen a painting by El Greco that really caught my eye. It was his painting Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation. This painting is an oil on canvas and was done around 1605-1610. The art work explains the life of Saint Francis and his love to Jesus. People at the museum were saying that Saint Francis was a very poor man who always had his own death on his mind. He wondered constantly how he was going to die and if it was going to be a nice or painful death. The painting shows him kneeling and praising Jesus while having a skull in the background making you feel as if he was having death on his mind. The artist must relate to Saint Francis because on the issue of death or some type of detachment to the world because most of El Greco’s art shows humans in a very pale, thin and unhealthy perspective. The brushwork was extremely detailed with a beautiful diagonal composition. Entering the Baroque and Rococo section of the museum I seen the Equestrian Statue of Charles III. It was produced by Tommaso Solari of Italy in 1762. At first sight, you would think it was Donatello’s Gattamelata. The next thing you find out, is that it’s wax! Maybe that was common in these times, however, being that we never went over any wax statues or wax artworks, this was astounding to me. From a 360 degree point of view, this piece of art had me in awe. How does something made of wax stay so delicate and well preserved? If you look at the straps on the sides of the horses mouth or in King Charles’ hand, you would actually think they were real because of the extreme detail. Da Vinci had been commissioned to create a large scale horse which was never produced, however, seems to me the horse that King Charles is riding has a very familiar pose as well as its features as did Da Vinci’s concept. As I walked through the museum I found myself in the 17th Century Dutch and Flemish Painting room. There I seen a very different still life portrait. It was titled Hunting Still Life by the Flemish painter Jan Fyt. This oil on canvas was produced in 1655. It is told that his influences for hunting portraits and still life were from his teacher named Snyders. This still life contains graphic images of dead animals such as birds, chickens and a rabbit or hare tied to a rifle. I believe this portrait shows a great example of Tenebroso in the way the light shines on the animals making them the subject of the portrait. If you look at it closely the sunlight on the clouds says that the sun is coming from the opposite direction that the light that is shining on the animals is coming from. You can see the dog staring at its light source as if he’s defending the animals from cruelty, there is also a badger or some type of creature hissing at that light source as well saying â€Å"Get back! † Since dogs meant fidelity in paintings, then this dog is being true to his own kind in that sense and his red collar probably represents his compassion. I find myself a sucker for still life portraits and I enjoyed this one especially for its uniqueness.