Museum Essay #1

          
    The trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a great experience for me. This was my first time in this kind of museum since I came to this country. From other classes that I had taken, I had heard about this museum but didn't any idea of how it looked in the inside and the place where it was located. This museum has sculptures and paintings that are from many years ago which surprised me when I saw them and even more when I saw the date when they were done. In this museum, once I was inside every painting and sculpture caught my attention because of the big collection that they have but as the assignment says we were supposed to choose two paintings or two sculptures to compare them. From many options that I had, I decided to pick this to paintings right on top. The one on the left side has the title of "Madonna and Child with Saint Francis" made by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, in Italian, Bologna 1574-1625 and is an oil on canvas. The other on the right side, has the title "The Coronation of the Virgin" made by Annibale Carracci in Italian, Bologna 1560-1609 Rome also painted in oil on canvas.

     This two paintings in my opinion are good for this assignment. This two paintings have similarities that can be compared looking at them side by side. Both of this paintings have principles of design. What I notice at first, is the contrast that exist in. By describing where contrast is shown in this two paintings, I can say that the contrast that I see on the painting on the left side is between the red cloth that the lady who is carrying the child has on and the blue that one of the children that is hidden behind the man on the left side. On this painting I also see smooth shading and the different tone of shadings that is all over the painting that makes it have that realism. On this painting, another principle of design that I can notice is repetition. The person who made this painting used repetition on the shape that he used to make every person's head on this painting. About this painting I can say that the focal point is the lady and the child because is where all the people on this painting is looking at them. In addition, another principle of design is balance. On this painting there is an asymmetrical balance.

    In comparison to the painting on the left side, the painting on the right side is almost similar. Some of the similarities are the quantity of people that are in the painting. In terms of principal of design, I can tell that there is an asymmetrical balance in this painting. I say this because if I cut the painting in two halves, the amount of objects and people are the same, the shapes are different. As we see on the left side painting, this painting also has smooth shading that brings the painting to life. In both paintings, light is implied. Another similarity that the painting on the right side has is contrast. The contrast between colors is the same as the painting on the left side red and blue but in a different  place. In my opinion, what make this two paintings similar is where the viewer focus their eyes. For me on this painting my eyes were focused on the middle where the virgin is which was the same case as the painting on the left.