Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2004. Mattie was two and a half years old and I would say by that point, he got the notion of Christmas and what it was about. Mattie enjoyed decorating, adding his handmade ornaments to the tree, and basically everything about the tree. This was the photo on the cover of our Christmas card in 2004!
Quote of the day: If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life. ~ Abraham H. Maslow
Today we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and saw an impressive exhibit entitled, Class Distinctions, Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.
This groundbreaking exhibition proposes a new approach to
understanding 17th-century Dutch painting. Through 75 carefully selected,
beautifully preserved portraits, genre scenes, landscapes and seascapes
borrowed from European and American public and private collections—including
masterpieces never before seen in the United States—the show reflects, for the
first time, the ways in which paintings represent the various socioeconomic
groups of the new Dutch Republic, from the Princes of Orange to the most indigent.
Nobles, merchants, and milkmaids are among the figures in
the thematic groupings, reflecting the social order of the new Dutch Republic.
Viewers are encouraged to look closely at the images for clues that
differentiate a mistress from a maid, or might distinguish a noble from a
social-climbing merchant.
A final section explores the places where the classes in
Dutch society met one another. Opportunities for these encounters arose in the
city and the country, winter and summer, indoors and out, at leisure or at
work, on the threshold of a house or of a business. Paintings depicting the
meeting of the classes are among the liveliest of the era.
Street Musicians at the Door (Jacob Ochtervelt)
This was an absolutely incredible painting that was exhibited in the third room, the room which housed paintings that depicted how the different social classes interacted. In Ochtervelt's painting, you can see a wealthy family inside their home. The woman of the house (seated left) was dressed in bright and rich colorful fabric. Her daughter and daughter's caregiver were on the right. Notice the bright and crisp lighting used to showcase this family. Whereas the two street musicians who have come to the threshold of the front door to entertain the family were depicted in more earth tones and the lighting is subdued. The threshold served an important purpose because it was understood that this was as far as the musicians were allowed to go, since it would have been socially unacceptable for them to enter the home. But the painting depicts the Christian value of charity. If you look closely at the woman on the left, she was holding a coin. The caregiver pointed in the direction of the seated woman. She was trying to signal the little girl to approach her mom and take the coin, in order to give the coin to the musicians. Frankly if I did not have the audio guide, I am not sure I would have figured out the messages artistically transmitted through this art work..... between light and how social classes were expected to interact with one another.
This group of wealthy men comprised the board of a local hospital. It was the way that Hals depicted these men at the table that enables us to understand who was the leader and person of prominence in the group. The man sitting closest to us, not behind the table, was the president of the board. Unlike the other men, he has no shadows on his face, but his face was brightly illuminated . The man on his right was seated with coins in front of him, and therefore was the treasurer of the board, the man opposite the president had paper and a pen in front of him, indicating that he was the board's secretary.
