The Metropolitan Museum is one of the largest museums in the world with an encyclopedic amount of art inside. When going through the museum’s Renaissance and Baroque paintings, some were very intriguing and made me very interested. So, here’s some of the art that I looked at.

The Renaissance sculpture of Saint Jerome in the Wilderness done by Antonio Rossellino in 1470s, which can be seen in The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 500. It was breath taking that I couldn’t resist looking at it. First off, the way that everything pops out as well as the border on the sculpture makes it seem like a 3D image. Even though it is done in one color (Tan), you can tell what everything is. Also, the marble that is used to make it gives it a glossy texture when seen in real life. 

The Baroque artwork of Wentworth House Made in American during the late 1690s, can be seen in The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 711. The artwork is made with Oak and Pine Wood which made the artwork seem more rustic. The colors are very tame either than that green chair which pop out. The tone of the picture seems dark and the size isn’t too big.

The big difference I see in these two artworks and throughout all of Renaissance and Baroque art is what is being painted. Where the Renaissance seems to be going back to the old ages where people paint gods and allusions to holiness, Baroque art is more towards the Greek humanism standpoint where it is more involving man and his things.

During my trip to the museum, I was overwhelmed by how big it was. It was very beautiful, although I have never felt good in large areas, since I’m always afraid of getting lost. I enjoyed it a lot, and it will always be memorable to me.

While I was there, I noticed some stark difference between the Renaissance and Baroque art. While both of them have an emphasis on naturalism in the human figure and a value of humanism, they portray this in different ways. Gerald David’s work, “The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” is very serene. The blues and greens of the artwork contribute to this serenity. It feels very stable, as though nothing bad could happen. Nothing in this shot indicates that it will end anytime soon. Mary has a calm nobility to her, as does the Baby, Jesus, which is actually odd, if one takes into account that He should not know how to regulate His emotions yet. This scene even seems more distant than it perhaps should.

On the contrast, Guercino’s “Samson Captured by the Philistines” is not serene in any way. The emotions spike upon looking at this one, by contrast to the other one. You can almost picture how the moment would continue to play out, were it to be ‘unfrozen’ from this ‘snapshot.’ It looks very unstable, and there is so much motion frozen in this painting. If you stare at it long enough, it almost seems to come to life and it makes you want to back away, so that no one will fall on you during the commotion.

Furthermore, while David’s work has one clear light across the entire scene, Guercino’s work has highlights on certain parts that draw your eye towards that instead of what is in the shadows.  Also, while in David’s work, the faces of the Virgin and Child are both idealized to look perfect and flawless, Guercino’s work has people with specified faces that are imperfect and very human. There is even a man in the background of “Samson Captured by the Philistines” whose beard is graying, a sign of reality, not an idealized utopia. These differences in the works of art are characteristic of difference among ALL works of art between the Renaissance and the Baroque time periods.

This sculpture is a depiction of Orpheus, known for being a famous musician and poet in Greek mythology, playing the violin. At the immediate eye view, one notices that the Bronze statue is very big in size- especially when seen in relativity to the other statues around it. The large scale of the statue helps catch one’s eyes and stand out amongst the others. Although it’s one solid color throughout, there are many details that bring the statue to life and give it a unique character, From the way the hind leg is positioned to be bent and elevated in relation to the front leg, to the way he’s playing the violin on the other side of his body as he looks upward not only makes it seem human-like, but it gives it almost this grace in it’s expression. The loss in stiffness, helps remind the readers, aside from the violin, that he’s an artist. This is an example of Renaissance art because there’s a lot of more flow in expression that help attribute to this overall involvement of art and even “rebirth”, which is what the Renaissance was all about.

This painting is an image of Christ, carrying the cross. Christ being a very important and symbolic figure with significant Religious meanings, globally. In the painting, Christ is holding the cross very firmly with both hands (and as we know in Baroque Art there was the common presence of religion in the art) which can be interpreted as holding onto religion, as it wasn’t something fully accepted at the time. The colors, navy blue and a red that has rose highlights creating a silk looking material, are highly contrasted among the background of dark clouds, as is the Brown cross with white detailing creating a wooden appearing surface. Again, bringing attention to Christ and the cross, symbols of religion. Lastly, Christ himself is looking up to the sky and often this is a symbol or gesture done for hope, one done when in desperate needs, at that. With another symbol of hope this may reveal how hope and religion went hand in hand, and therefore baroque art was used not only to create dramatic, emotional art, but also to coincide with the more political side of things which involved religion.

While both Baroque and Renaissance art have had significant impacts in expression during their time periods, both were very different in how they manifested in art. Renaissance art included more Humanism, Realism, Greek/Roman art forms, linear perspectives, architecture, music, and much more. Baroque art, on the other hand involved more color, more dramatic scenes, details, to “create a sense of awe” for the audience, with intentions to “appeal to emotion”, and etc. They are both significant because they help show the difference in focuses and ideologies that Art helped carry throughout each of these specific time periods.