Every Thursday, as part of my personal “enriched environment” initiative, I post a piece of art, usually from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently released online some 400,000 high-resolution images of its collection. All artwork will show a sun (or sunlight) somewhere.
I won’t name the piece or the artist, but instead invite you to study the art and post a comment addressing one or more of these questions:
- What is going on in this picture?
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What more can you find?
If you have another idea, run with it.
Special Update! The New York Times website does this same exercise every Monday with a news photo that is uncaptioned and contains no text (click!). The Times asks viewers the same three questions:
- What is going on in this picture?
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What more can you find?
However, at the end of the week, the Times posts the background information on the picture. So, I’ve decided to do the same. I’ll still post an unlabeled piece of art on Thursday. But return on Sunday (for the Sunny Sundays post!) and you’ll find an update on the artwork here.
Note: To embiggen the image, click on it!
Reading the News at the Weavers’ Cottage
Artist: Adriaen van Ostade (Dutch, Haarlem 1610–1685 Haarlem)
Date: 1673
Medium: Pen and brown ink, watercolor, white heightening, traces of graphite; framing lines by the artist (?) in brown ink and gold.
Dimensions: 9 5/8 x 7 15/16 in. (24.4 x 20.2 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Description
This scene of a man reading the news surrounded by family and friends within the sunlit confines of a weavers’ cottage epitomizes the rustic scenes of peasant life for which Ostade is so well known. Linen weaving, a profession practiced only by men, became the most important and lucrative occupation in Haarlem in the seventeenth century. Ostade celebrated the economic profit brought about by this industry in this outstanding watercolor, an autonomous work of art, and one which remained famous through the eighteenth century.
This would look like an illustration for a children’s book, except for the upper half of the painting, which draws my eyes away from the humans sitting by the doorway in the sunlight. I end up looking equally at the ceiling and all the clutter.
I’d like someone to explain what all the minor objects are in this picture. It’s dated 1673. What are the straps hanging on the peg just to the left of the open door? Is that a rope basket in the lower right corner? What is the knife sheath-like object hanging from the woman’s waist? Is that a drum hanging on the wall over the head of the man leaning on the open door? Is that a folding bed attached to the wall in the back of the room?
Very sweet picture. Yes, like for a children’s book. Soft colors and the humans all seem soft and doughy.
I know I sound like a broken record (a broken record, a broken record, a broken record) but once again the sun is off to the left of the picture. I am intrigued by the wood panels in the floor of the doorway – the rest of the floor looks like concrete or some other substance. When and where did houses do that? Also, what is the relationship among all the people? Perhaps the woman is married to one of the men – if so, who is the other guy? And what is the sitting man reading? It seems to be a single page, with a headline across the top, but most of the text is written in two columns. Which leads to the question: When did the people who printed texts in olden days in Europe decide to use two columns of text on a page, and not one? And does the fact that everyone in the painting appears well-fed (that is, not skinny from lack of food) indicate that this is a middle class home? The baby eating from the bowl supports that idea. But by today’s standards, the house here is in a bit of a shambles. Like the window over the door seems off one of its hinges.