EceDemirbolat 25261

Ece Demirbolat
25261
The museum I chose is the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The reason I chose this mu-
seum was that it impressed me when I went to Amsterdam. However, I could not interpret
the works, no matter how impressed I was, as I did not know much about the periods of the
paintings. So now I want to visit this museum again and to understand and interpret the
works with the information I learned in this lesson. Apart from this, other reasons are that
the Netherlands is known as the largest art and history museum. The works exhibited in the
museum are home to paintings, sculptures, sketches and decorative items belonging to Euro-
pean and Asian arts. Especially there are works made in the 17th - 20th centuries1. The mu-
seum was established in the late 1800s2. It was first established by King Louis Bonaparte in
the Royal Palace3. The first works of that time belonged to Louis Bonaparte. In 1885, the
museum was moved to its current location. The building was designed by the famous archi-
tect PJH Cuypers4. The building is one of the important examples of the gothic style of the
Victorian era5. As time progressed, the museum was enlarged with additions made6. Al-
though I browse online, the layout of the museum makes it very easy for you to visit be-
cause the floors are separated according to subjects. On the first floor of the museum, there
is a history section telling the history of the Netherlands and a European arts section. Dutch
paintings, sculptures and objects are located on all three floors of the museum. The Asian
Arts Department, whose entrance is on the Philips Wing on the ground floor, includes the
1 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en





works of the Netherlands periodically obtained through trade. At the same time, as the mu-
seum impressed me, its location was also quite impressive. Also known as the museum dis-
trict, this area hosts Amsterdam's museums such as the Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Mu-
seum, Anne Frank House, Rembrandt House Museum, and Heineken Experience museums.
The first painting I chose is Women Reading A Letter by Johannes Vermeer. Jo-
hannes Vermeer is a painter who is Dutch and is a painter using the baroque movement. It
is known for depicting the daily life in homes. This painting has been exhibited in this mu-
seum since 1885, with the artist being the first painting exhibited in this museum. This
painting belongs to the baroque period. this period started with the end of the renaissance.
Important for Baroque is the diagonal composition and open form. While drawing the view-
ers into the picture, it leaves them out due to the subject of the picture. The woman is not
aware that she is being watched. Furniture separates the audience with women. Vermeer
skillfully used light and shadow in this painting as well. The blue of the woman's jacket in
the painting immediately catches the eye7. Vermeer often used expensive dyestuffs such as
lapis lazuli or natural navy blue, for example in this picture. He used ultramaine to achieve
the blue color used in this picture. This stone was extracted from an area where Afghanistan
is now located and distributed to Europe from there8. The woman holds the letter in both
hands, nervously reading something important. We can't see anything about the content of
the letter, but in dutch picture, such pictures contain love letters. The jacket the woman
wears is called a beddejak9. As seen in the picture, it has straight sleeves and the front is
covered with ribbons. While witnessing a scene that is normally a special moment, as we
understand from the picture, the letter seems to have arrived at an unexpected moment, even
while the other to be read or read page is left on the chair. The white walls balance the com-
position and contribute to the composition's quiet, calm and exciting atmosphere. Although
we cannot see the light source in the picture clearly, we think it is daylight at first glance10.
One of the characteristics of baroque painting, taking its subjects from daily life is seen in
7 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved
December 31, 2020, from https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rijksmuseum?hl=en


this painting as well. The woman stands as if on a theater stage and draws us in. Light and
shadow are not spread evenly over the whole picture as in this picture. We also see a depic-
tion of an indoor room.
The second painting I chose is The Night Watch by Rembrandt Van Rjin. Rembrandt
Van Rjin is a painter and printmaker who is known as the painter of light and shadows. At
the same time, the Night Watch is not only the most famous painting in the museum, but
also the best known of the artist. Rembrandt was the first to portray subjects in motion in a
group. In this picture, we see the soldiers and guards preparing to go out. Rembrandt, also
known for his ability to use light, used light very successfully here as well. The man on the
left is known as Frans Banninck Cocq11. His hand looks as if he was out of the painting and
in three dimensions12. With this gesture, we understand that the lieutenant told the team to
take action.13 The captain's hand shadows Lieutenant Williem van Cattenburch's outfit.14
This shows us the direction in which the light falls on the picture. The painter placed the im-
portant people in the painting in the light and the rest in the shadow with the light game he
played here. For its time, the 17th century was a rare symbol for light and shadow to have
such an opposite meaning. Usually everyone who looks at the picture is equally fit. Nor-
mally, in all the militia portraits up to this picture, the guards were lined up in neat, static se-
crets, but as we can see in this picture, the men are in motion. We see a large-clawed
chicken and a gun hanging from the waist of the girl seen in the light. The girl served as the





mascot of the company15. Sergeant Rombout Kemp points to the left16. This display adds
movement to the picture. It is said that the person with only one eye and wearing a beret
may be Rembrandt himself, because the part of his face that we see is similar to some of his
self-portraits. This painting, which is one of the striking examples of the Baroque period,
also shows us some features of the baroque period. Group portraits are being worked on,
while the light is not distributed evenly on the whole surface and is reflected in parts, the
places under the light and the shadowed areas change. This has a symbolic meaning. Impor-
tant areas to be highlighted are illuminated with light.
The third painting I chose is Judith With The Head Of Holofernes by Sandro Botti-
celli. Sandro Botticelli is a painter who played a major role in the development of renais-
sance painting. His anxiety gave direction to his art. He was known for his volatile and en-
thusiastic figures. In his works, he uses the delicacy of movement and posture, the elegance
of a woman with a slender body, long neck and serious expression. This painting is from the
Renaissance period. Renaissance literally means rebirth. It originated in Florence and has
affected the whole world.The concept of the Renaissance is "A window onto A World". The
Renaissance period wants to explore the world. Paintings are more realistic because per-
spective is used in this period. Atmospheric perspective, linear perspective, single light are
techniques which used during this period. There are used symbolism and extreme detail,
fantasy and folk, snapshot from reality. There is not feeling. All about realism in details. In
this painting, we see a skull. This means that this remember to us of remembering the death.
A beautiful widow, Judith can enter Holofernes' tent because of her desire17. Holofernes was
an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia18. When it
is overrun with drink, it goes out and is cut by Judith; its head is taken into a basket19. Ac-
cording to many artists, Judith's sexualized femininity combined with her masculine aggres-




sion in an interesting and sometimes contradictory way. In the late Renaissance, Judith was
changing dramatically, a change described as “gracefulness". There is no dynamism in the
painting as in the other paintings. Instead, there is a fixity and stillness.
To sum up, In the first two works I examined, I would like to mention some differ-
ences between the periods while examining the baroque period in the last work, the renais-
sance period. Horizontal and vertical lines are frequently used in the Renaissance period.
When it comes to Renaissance, constancy should come to mind. In the Baroque period, sta-
bility left its place to dynamism and movement. Painters used dramatic actions, emotions,
feeling exist, snapshots from reality. There is a realistic form to idealistic content but natu-
ralism tendency is here. During this period, the lines were less emphasized than the renais-
sance. Backgrounds are important in the Renaissance, but not in Baroque paintings. Baroque
is magnificent, movement is often seen in magnificent works, while there is stability in Re-
naissance.

Bibliography
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

December 31, 2020, from https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rijksmuseum?
hl=en
Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from


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1 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

2 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

3 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

4 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

5 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

6 Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

8 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

9 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

10 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

11 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

12 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

13 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

14 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

15 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

16 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

17 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

18 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

19 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Google Arts & Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved

Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam. (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2020, from

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