Art museum

This afternoon's trip to the David Owsley Museum of Art's medieval collection significantly helped aid in my understanding of the Middle Ages. While observing each piece of art, I was able to both understand and gain new insights about the time period as well as reiterate some of my own previously held beliefs about Medieval times.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the West Gallery was the amount of pieces that had some sort of religious involvement. Whether it was literal pieces such as Christ or a more symbolic piece such as Aertsen's Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at Emmaus Beyond all of them shared the same underlying theme of Christian representation. From previous experience and observations, I knew that religion was a significant part of the Middle Ages but today I learned exactly to what degree this significance actually was.

A large part of this revelation came from reading the descriptions next to each piece. For example, I learned from Christ? that this type of limestone head would have been placed on some sort of large-scale, 13th century sculpture exclusively for the purpose of embellishing a cathedral because cathedrals were regarded as the focus of town life. From this, I was able to gain understanding and hypothesize the effect and importance that religion might have played for peasants in small towns during this time.

Another example comes from Giovane's Saint Jerome. I found this piece to be the easiest to connect with on an emotional level in the sense that I felt I was able to instantly empathize with the human emotions that the subject in the painting expressed. Furthermore, the placard pointed out the very interesting observation that, historically speaking, Saint Jerome was known to be vegetarian and, in this painting specifically, is supposed to be portrayed as elderly. However, the painting suggests that he actually has a very muscular athleticism to his appearance despite his lifestyle and age. I find this especially significant because this may help gain understanding into the subjective view of the artist who experienced medieval times first hand. I wonder if, because the painting is a depiction of Saint Jerome, did the artist specifically portray him with such strength so as to suggest that this power may only be attained by the grace of God? Could this physical strength be a symbolic of the inner strength and connection that may have been needed between himself and God as he translated the New Testament from Greek to Latin?

However, my absolute favorite piece of medieval art in the museum was Vannini's The Gathering of Manna. As I read the description, I was happy to recognize its two main subjects (Moses and Aaron) as well as the historical significance of the event that was taking place (as laid out in The Bible). Furthermore, Dr. Comber later explained the reasoning behind the glowing 'horns' emitted from Moses's head and how it served as a prime example of Christian representation of Jews during the Middle Ages. This reminded me of the hostility between groups that specifically arose from religious differences during this time and begged the question, how did Jews represent Christian's during this time?

Overall, my understanding of the importance of religion and emphasis on Christianity was heightened with this trip to the art museum. I feel these new connections made today will be discussed frequently throughout the rest of this semester either literally or symbolically and will especially aid me during my Specialty Area research.

Works Cited

Aertsen, Pieter. Kitchen Still Life with a Scene of the Supper at Emmaus Beyond. 1551/1553, Oil on wood panel. David Owsley Museum, Muncie, Indiana.

French. Christ?. 1225/1235. Limestone. David Owsley Museum, Muncie, Indiana.

Giovane, Jacopo Palma il. Saint Jerome. N.d. Oil on canvas. David Owsley Museum, Muncie, Indiana.

Spanish. Christ. 1225/1250. Wood, metal, paint. David Owsley Museum, Muncie, Indiana.

Vannini, Ottavio. The Gathering of Manna. 1635. Oil on canvas. David Owsley Museum, Muncie, Indiana.