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brownc8Applied Humanities
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- 1 Theme: Introduction to the Humanities (week 1)
- 2 Theme: Introduction to the Humanities (week 2)
- 3 Theme: Examining the Humanities (week 3)
- 4 Theme: Examining the Humanities (week 4)
- 5 Theme: Impact of the Humanities (week 5)
- 6 Theme: Impact of the Humanities (week 6)
- 7 Theme: Human Culture (week 7)
- 8 Theme: Human Culture (week 8)
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Appendix
- Allegory of the Cave, The
- Araby
- Art of Drowning, The
- Because I could not stop for Death
- Colonel, The
- Dinner-Party, The
- Don Quixote: Ch 1
- Don Quixote: Ch 2
- Don Quixote: Ch 3
- Don Quixote: Ch 4
- Don Quixote: Ch 7
- Don Quixote: Ch 8
- Everything That Rises Must Converge
- Everything That Rises Must Converge: “Let’s talk about something pleasant”
- Everything That Rises Must Converge: The further irony of all this
- Everything That Rises Must Converge: He was tilted out of his fantasy again
- Everything That Rises Must Converge: Julian was thankful that the next stop was theirs
- Frankenstein: Ch 5
- Frankenstein: Ch 9
- Frankenstein: Ch 10
- Frankenstein: Ch 11
- Frankenstein: Ch 12
- Frankenstein: Ch 13
- Frankenstein: Ch 14
- Frankenstein: Ch 15
- Frankenstein: Ch 16
- Frankenstein: Ch 17
- Hamilton: Act I
- Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton
- Hamilton: Act II
- Hamilton: Aaron Burr, Sir
- Hamilton: My Shot
- Jātaka Tales: The Hare’s Self-Sacrifice
- Letter from Birmingham Jail
- Letter from Birmingham Jail: Freedom is never voluntarily given
- Letter from Birmingham Jail: Two honest confessions
- Letter from Birmingham Jail: I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need
- Letter from Birmingham Jail: Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic
- London, 1802
- Meditation at Lagunitas
- Ode on a Grecian Urn
- Power of Patience, The
- Professions for Women
- Rose for Emily, A: I-II
- Rose for Emily, A: III-V
- Song of Myself: 1-11
- Song of Myself: 12-21
- Song of Myself: 22-32
- Song of Myself: 33-36
- Song of Myself: 37-43
- Song of Myself: 44-52
- Sonny’s Blues
- Sonny’s Blues: I didn’t write Sonny... for a long time
- Sonny’s Blues: I remember I was restless
- Sonny’s Blues: I gave up
- Sonny’s Blues: I found myself wandering aimlessly
- Sonny’s Blues: “All right,” I said, at last
- Stars Over the Dordogne
- Index of Writing Templates
- References
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As you search for works, or cultural artifacts, to include in your exploration document, consider the works of art included in this art gallery. While some of these works will be familiar (you studied them in previous sections of this theme), others will be wholly new.
Bust of Nefertiti A bust of Nefertiti. The face is symmetrical, but the left eye lacks the inlay that is present in the right. The bust is topped with a blue crown with a golden diadem band at the bottom, and a cobra, which is broken, centered on the blue portion, above the golden band. She wears a broad collar with a colorful floral pattern on it. The ears have some damage. Click to enlargeWerner Forman/Art Resource, NY
Thutmose
Bust of Nefertiti, ca. 1345 BCE
Era/Culture/Movement: Ancient Egypt
Medium: Painted stucco over limestone
Dimensions: 1′ 7″ (height)
Location: Neues Museum, Berlin
Discovered in the studio of Thutmose, court sculptor to the pharaoh Akhenaten, this unfinished portrait of the queen remains an enduring model of beauty.
Marble Statue of a Kouros Carved marble statue of a human male figure. The figure stands naked, with his left leg forward and his arms at his sides. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Unknown
Marble statue of a kouros (youth), ca. 590–580 BCE
Era/Culture/Movement: Ancient Greece
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 6′ 4.75″ × 1′ 8.25″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
As this perfectly poised nude figure strides forward, he exemplifies the Greek philosophy of physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.
Marble Bust of a Man Sculpted marble bust of a middle-aged or older man. He is bald. He has wrinkles and creases on his forehead, cheeks, and chin. His mouth is turned slightly down. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Unknown
Marble bust of a man, mid-first century CE
Era/Culture/Movement: Imperial Rome
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 1′ 2.5″ (height)
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
While the stern and worn features of this man’s face suggest years of political and/or military responsibility, the sculpture’s gravity demonstrates the reverence that Roman families had for their ancestors.
Pensive Bodhisattva The bodhisattva sits with his right leg crossing his left leg, his head and torso leaning slightly forward, and the fingers of his right hand touching his cheek. He sits on a platform covered by drapery folds. His crown is topped with an orb-and-crescent motif. He wears a small cape covering his shoulders. The sides of the cape are joined by a flat necklace. His torso is bare. He wears loose pants. His feet are bare. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Unknown
Pensive Bodhisattva, mid-seventh century
Era/Culture/Movement: Three Kingdoms Period, Korea
Medium: Gilt bronze
Dimensions: 1″ × 4″ × 4.25″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This elegantly elongated figure may possibly represent Maitreya, bodhisattva of the future.
The Lamentation In the foreground, the body of Christ is surrounded by nine people. There is a group of mourners in the left near-background. In the center and right near-background are a mountain and tree. In the far background are more mountains. Above the groups of people are ten diminutive angels. Of the nine people in the foreground, four are women with halos, three are men with halos, and two, without halos, are indistinguishable because they are facing Christ and only their backs are visible. The body of Christ is held slightly off the ground by three, or possibly four, of the people surrounding him. He has a halo and is unclothed except for a wrap around his waist. Of the two without halos, one is clothed in a blue robe and a white head covering. She or he is sitting on the ground at Christ’s right hip. That person may be helping to hold His body off the ground. The other person is clothed in a pale yellow robe and white head covering. She or he is holding her or his right hand under Christ’s head. One of the women with a halo is clothed in a pink gown trimmed with gold. She has an uncovered head. Her hair is brown. She is standing to the left of Christ’s head. Her right hand is raised with her palm facing outward. One of the women with a halo is clothed in dark blue. She has an uncovered head. Her hair is brown. She has a braid encircling her head. She is sitting at Christ’s left side, by His head and shoulders. She is cradling Christ’s head and torso in her lap. Her right arm is beneath His shoulders; her left arm rests on His chest. One of the women with a halo is clothed in pale blue or purple. She has a partially covered head. Her hair is brown. She is bending over Christ at his left side by his legs. She is holding His hands, one in each of hers. One of the women with a halo is clothed in a pink top, light red skirt, and green sash. She has an uncovered head. Her hair is brown. She has a braid encircling her head. Long strands of hair fall on each side of her face. She is sitting on the ground at Christ’s feet, holding a foot in each of her hands. Of the three men with halos, one is wearing a pink robe with gold trim. His hair is brown and wavy. He is standing, bent slightly at the waist, with his arms outstretched behind him. He is standing to the right of the woman holding Christ’s hands. The other two men with halos are standing behind and to the right of the woman holding Christ’s feet. One of the men is partially bald. He has graying hair. He also has a beard, mustache, and sideburns. He is wearing an orange robe with a white stole. His left hand is holding the right side of his stole. His right hand and arm are concealed under the right-hand side of his stole. The other man has dark hair, a beard, a mustache, and sideburns. He is wearing a blue robe with gold trim. His hands are clasped in front of him. The group of mourners in the left near-background bow their heads. Two of the mourners’ faces are partially concealed. One mourner’s face is clearly visible and expressing grief. One mourner is prominent and has her hands clasped together and is holding them against her cheek. The mountain in the center and right near-background slopes upward to a leafless tree. The angels all have wings, halos, and robes. They all are exhibiting sorrow in various ways, including weeping, praying, and holding their heads in their hands. Click to enlargeAlfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
Giotto di Bondone
The Lamentation, 1305
Era/Culture/Movement: Italian Renaissance
Medium: Fresco
Dimensions: 6′ 6.75″ × 6′ 0.75″
Location: Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy
The artist effectively humanizes Christ by depicting the dead body of Jesus being mourned by his mother and followers as an emotion-filled moment in a naturalistic space.
The Mérode Altarpiece This is a three-piece oil painting. Each endpiece is smaller than the middle piece. The left endpiece shows a man and a woman kneeling in front of a partially open door. There is a crenellated wall with an entranceway in the background. The man is wearing a sword and a dark robe. The woman is wearing a red dress, a dark cape, and a white cowl. The middle piece takes the viewer through the door of the left endpiece. It shows an interior room of a house. There is a partially open window in the background. On the left side, in the foreground, there is an angel kneeling by a table. The angel is wearing a white robe with a blue sash belt. There is an open book, a candle in a candlestick, and lilies in a vase on the table. There is a woman wearing a red dress sitting by the table. She is reading a book. Her dress and the angel’s robe are touching on the floor. Behind the woman is a long bench with a blue covering and blue pillow. Behind the bench is a fireplace. Above the angel, on the wall, are two small oval windows. In the sun rays coming through the right-hand oval window is a cherub carrying a cross. On the same wall as the partially open window is a niche with a pot hanging in it. The third piece shows the interior of a room with a man sitting on a bench. He is holding a piece of wood in his left hand and is using a tool on it. There are other tools on the table in front of him. In the background is a window with the shutters raised to the ceiling of the room. More buildings are seen in the distance through the windows. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Robert Campin
The Mérode Altarpiece, ca. 1427–1432
Era/Culture/Movement: Netherlandish Renaissance
Medium: Oil on oak panel
Dimensions: 2′ 1.5″ × 3′ 10.5″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Campin depicts the Annunciation (the angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she will be the mother of Jesus) as an event unfolding in a domestic space that would have been contemporary to that of the work’s initial patrons, who witness the scene through the open door.
The Adoration of the Magi This is a painting depicting the three magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. Jesus, sitting on Mary’s lap, Mary, and Joseph are surrounded by partially-built stone walls and elevated from those around them. There is a grey-haired man, with his arms half-raised, bowing in front of Jesus. There are two groups of people standing in the left- and right-foregrounds. There are intricate details and vivid colors. The groups of people represent the aristocracy and the peasantry. Both are clothed according to their station in life. Click to enlargeAlfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
Sandro Botticelli
The Adoration of the Magi, 1475
Era/Culture/Movement: Italian Renaissance
Medium: Tempera on panel
Dimensions: 3′ 8″ × 4′ 5″
Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence
By depicting members of the Medici family—who were the de facto rulers of Florence—as the biblical magi in a scene observed by other prominent contemporary members of Florentine society (including the artist at the right), this work combines sacred and secular messages.
The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse This is a black-and-white woodcut print. It depicts the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are arranged from top right to lower left across the print. Above the scene are clouds and an angel flying with the horsemen. Below the horses’ hooves, people are being trampled. The three horses and horsemen at the top of the picture appear to be well-fed and healthy. The horse and horseman in the lower left appear sickly, with their ribs showing. The topmost horseman has a bow and arrow in his hands. The next rider has a sword. The next rider has scales. The last rider has a pitchfork. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Albrecht Dürer
The Four Horsemen, from The Apocalypse, 1498
Era/Culture/Movement: German Renaissance
Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions: 1′ 3.25″ × 11.5″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Depicting the end of the world as described in the biblical book of Revelation, the artist personifies the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (from left to right): death, famine, war, and plague.
Mona Lisa This is a portrait painting of a woman. In the background, dirt paths wind beside a lake or river to mountains in the distance. Mona Lisa is seated in a chair, centered in the frame of the picture, and in three-quarter profile. Her left arm rests on the chair arm. Her right hand rests on top of her left wrist. She has brown hair that reaches her shoulders. She is wearing a dress and a wrap. She displays a hint of cleavage. She appears to be looking directly at the viewer. She has a slight smile. She does not appear to have eyebrows or eyelashes. Click to enlarge© RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY
Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa, 1503–1517
Era/Culture/Movement: Italian Renaissance
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 2′ 6″ × 1′ 9″
Location: Louvre Museum, Paris
Although this is one of the most famous images in the world, the identity of the sitter, and what is on her mind, remain unsolvable mysteries.
The Moses Moses is seated. His body faces forward. His head is turned slightly to the left. His hair is curly and wavy. He has two horns on the top of his head. He leans his right arm on stone tablets. His left hand holds the bottom of his long beard. His lap is covered with folds of cloth. The muscles of his arms and bones of his hands are sculpted in detail. His right foot rests on the ground and his left leg is bent so that only his toes touch the ground. Click to enlargeScala/Art Resource, NY
Michelangelo Buonarroti (commonly referred to by his first name)
The Moses, ca. 1513–1515
Era/Culture/Movement: Italian Renaissance
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 7′ 8.5″ (height)
Location: San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome
Depicting the Jewish leader as a muscular hero, this figure of Moses has horns because of a mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate Bible.
The Conversion of Saint Paul This is an oil painting depicting the moment Jesus spoke to Saul (before he became Paul) on the road to Damascus. Saul is shown lying on the ground on his outer garment beneath his horse. His eyes are closed and his arms upraised. He is wearing a leather Roman breastplate. His sword is by his left side. A man is holding his horse by the bit. The horse has his right foreleg raised and is looking at Saul. Click to enlargeNiday Picture Library/Alamy
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (commonly referred to by his surname)
The Conversion of Saint Paul, 1601
Era/Culture/Movement: Italian Baroque
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 7′ 7″ × 5′ 9″
Location: Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
On the road to Damascus, Saul has a physically blinding and spiritually transforming vision of Jesus and is converted to Paul.
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer Aristotle is standing and resting his right hand on the top of a bust of Homer, which sits on a table. Aristotle has a solemn expression. He is wearing a dark hat, a dark tunic, dark pants, a light-colored, billowy over-garment, and a thick golden chain with a medallion hanging from it. His left hand rests on his waist and is touching the chain. He has a ring on his left pinkie finger. The chain is worn from the right shoulder to the left waist. He has a dark beard and sideburns. His mustache is a lighter shade than his beard. The bust of Homer is light colored. He has a beard and mustache. He has a small band around his hair. The table is reddish. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, 1653
Era/Culture/Movement: Dutch Baroque
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 4′ 8.5″ × 4′ 5.75″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The philosopher Aristotle contemplates the respective achievements of the poet Homer (depicted in the bust on the table) and the general Alexander the Great (depicted in the medallion that hangs from a golden chain).
Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting) This is an oil painting. Centered in the painting is a young girl clothed in a hoop-skirted, light-colored gown. There are two older girls, one on either side of her, also dressed in hooped gowns. All of the girls have flowers fastened in their hair. The central girl’s hair is long and blonde. The older girls have hair that is darker and shorter. The older girl on the left is kneeling and holding the younger girl’s right hand. The girl on the right is standing, slightly bent toward the younger girl. To the right of this girl are two children, gazing out at the viewer. In front of them is a dog lying on the floor. To the left of the kneeling girl is a man holding a paintbrush. He looks out at the viewer. In the background is the reflection of a man and woman in a mirror, a man standing in a doorway on steps leading up, and a man and woman. Click to enlargePeter Horree/Alamy
Diego Velázquez
Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting), 1656
Era/Culture/Movement: Spanish Baroque
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 10′ 5.25″ × 9′ 0.75″
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid
The artist is in the act of painting the king and queen of Spain, who stand in the implied space of the viewer and can be seen in the reflection of the mirror in the background, as they are greeted by the princess and her entourage.
View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds This is a landscape painting. In the foreground is a hill. Beyond that are gable-roofed houses and a field with long lengths of linen spread out. The sun is shining on the houses and linen. Trees surround three sides of the field. Beyond the field with the linens is another field. The sun is shining on the middle of this field. It has a windmill on it. In the far distance, a church and the roofs of town structures are visible. The cloudy sky takes up two-thirds of the painting. Click to enlargeScala/Art Resource, NY
Jacob van Ruisdael
View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds, ca. 1670–1675
Era/Culture/Movement: Dutch Baroque
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1′ 9.9″ × 2′ 0.4″
Location: Mauritshuis, The Hague
From a high vantage point, we see the artist’s hometown of Haarlem on the horizon, as well as the surrounding fields.
Oath of the Horatii This painting is set in a Roman hall. On the left side are three Roman soldiers. The man closest to the viewer is holding a spear upright in his left hand. The man in the middle has his arm around the waist of the man holding the spear. All three soldiers are wearing sandals, short tunics, capes, and helmets. They are reaching toward swords being held by an older man who is centered in the painting. He is wearing sandals, a short tunic, and a cape. Behind the older man, three women are sitting on benches. One woman is comforting two small children. The other two women are comforting each other. Click to enlargeErich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
Jacques-Louis David
Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Era/Culture/Movement: Neoclassicism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 10′ 8″ x 13′ 9″
Location: Louvre Museum, Paris
Three brothers of the Horatius family swear an oath to their father that they will fight to the death to defend the city of Rome.
Self-Portrait (Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun) This is a self-portrait of the artist as a young woman. She is positioned slightly off center. She is seated at a partially finished portrait painting with a brush raised in her right hand. In her left hand, at waist height, she holds several slightly used brushes. She holds her palette on her left arm. She is dressed in a blue dress with a white lace collar and cuffs, and a red sash with a bow around her waist. She has a white turban with a bow on her head. Her hair is brown and curly. She has a slight smile. Her body is oriented toward the partially finished portrait on her easel, with her face turned toward the viewer. Click to enlargeWikimedia
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Self-Portrait, 1790
Era/Culture/Movement: Neoclassicism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 3′ 3.5″ × 2′ 8″
Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence
After serving as the favorite portraitist of Queen Marie Antoinette, Vigée Le Brun painted this self-portrait while in exile in Italy.
The Ancient of Days This is a watercolor etching. It shows an old man crouched in the center of an orange-red circle. Around the circle are yellow and orange areas connected to rays shooting out toward the bottom. There are dark clouds surrounding the yellow, orange, and red areas. The old man’s hair and beard appear to be blowing to the viewer’s left. His left hand is extending downward. He is holding a large drawing compass, which looks like a wide upside-down V, to measure the darkness. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
William Blake
The Ancient of Days, 1794
Era/Culture/Movement: Romanticism
Medium: Hand-colored relief etching
Dimensions: 9.2″ × 6.6″
Location: British Museum, London
The frontispiece to Blake’s Europe a Prophecy depicts a figure, possibly Urizen, measuring the darkness.
Power Figure (Nkisi N’Kondi: Mangaaka) This is a wooden sculpture of a human-like figure. The body is unclothed but wears a hat with patterning. The face is elongated. On the head, the ears sit high and toward the back. Overall, the sculpture is a dark color, but the eyes are white. The torso is bent slightly forward. The hands are resting on the hips. There is an open hole in the abdomen. There are nails and bits of metal hammered into various places on the body: along the jaw, outlining where a beard would be; in the shoulders and torso; around the hole in the abdomen; in the genital area; and in the knees and the feet. Each foot is placed on an individual block. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Unknown
Power Figure (Nkisi N’Kondi: Mangaaka), 19th century
Era/Culture/Movement: Yombe group, Africa
Medium: Wood, iron, resin, ceramic, plant fiber, textile, and pigment
Dimensions: 3′ 10.5″ × 1′ 7.5″ × 1′ 3.5″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This menacing figure was a spiritual guardian and enforcer of justice.
The Third of May 1808 This is an oil painting depicting a firing squad, those executed, and those about to be executed. There is a building in the background with a tower. There are seven men in the firing squad, each wearing a sword and hat. Their rifles are raised. The men wear pants and long military jackets. Some of the jackets appear white, while some appear to be darker colors. The men are positioned in the right foreground. There is a lantern casting a bright light between the firing squad line, the bodies of those already shot, and those about to be shot. There are bloody bodies lying on the ground in the left foreground. Just off-center to the left, a man dressed in a white shirt and yellow pants has both arms raised and outstretched. He appears to be the next man who will be shot. Next to him is a monk or friar in a gray robe. Behind them are more men, one with his head in his hands. To the left of this group of men are more men standing with their heads in their hands. Click to enlargeErich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
Francisco Goya
The Third of May 1808, 1814
Era/Culture/Movement: Romanticism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 8′ 10″ × 11′ 5″
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid
Commemorating a public uprising in Madrid against the French occupying army of Napoleon Bonaparte, this work lionizes the political martyrs.
The Great Wave This is a woodblock print. It shows large waves about to crash over three boats. One wave is dominant and is forming a circle in the center of the image. This wave is about to engulf the boat that is farthest away from the viewer. A second boat is at the bottom center, closer to the viewer. The third boat, appearing at the far left, is mostly hidden from view by the crest of a smaller wave. To the right, Mount Fuji appears in the background beneath storm clouds, centered in the circle formed by the dominant wave. The mountain is blue with a white snowcap. The waves are various shades of blue with whitecaps. The boats appear to contain rowers as well as passengers. The rowers are in the rear of each boat; the passengers are in the front. The sky is dark gray above Mount Fuji but is white and beige elsewhere. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Katsushika Hokusai
The Great Wave, ca. 1830–1832
Era/Culture/Movement: Edo period, Japan
Medium: Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: 10.25″ × 1′ 3″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Part of a series of 36 prints depicting Mount Fuji (seen in the background) from different points of view, this image focuses on the inhabitants of three boats attempting to navigate through a group of large waves.
Washington Crossing the Delaware This is a painting of George Washington standing in a rowboat. He is wearing black boots, which reach just below his knees; yellow pants; a blue jacket; a gray and red cape; and a blue three-cornered hat. There are three men sitting in the boat in front of Washington. They are all rowing. One man, a Western rifleman wearing a coonskin cap, faces forward. Two men sitting next to each other, one in a Scottish bonnet and one of African descent, face backward. There are three men directly behind Washington. One man, Lieutenant James Monroe, is standing, wearing a blue officer’s coat and holding an American flag. One is another Western rifleman wearing a coonskin cap. One is a soldier. Behind these men are General Edward Hand, who is holding his hat on his head and wearing a blue officer’s coat. There are two farmers with broad-brimmed hats huddling against the cold. One farmer has a bandage around his head. There is an androgynous rower in a red shirt. The last rower in the stern is wearing moccasins, pants, a green shirt, and a Native American hat. There are more boats with men and horses crossing behind Washington. Chunks of ice float in the river. The opposite shoreline is visible in the distance. The sky appears overcast. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Emanuel Leutze
Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851
Era/Culture/Movement: American history
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 12′ 5″ × 21′ 3″
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Depicting a Christmas-night military maneuver during the American Revolutionary War, this work celebrates General George Washington, the future first president of the United States, as the model leader.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone This is a painting of a canyon in Yellowstone National Park. In the distance, a winding river is visible, as well as a waterfall with mist rising from it. The canyon walls are yellow, brown, pink, and purple. There are evergreen trees in clumps in several places. In the foreground, there is a large rock jutting out on the edge of a rocky slope. Details of the rocks and trees are clear and distinct in the foreground. They become less distinct in the background. Click to enlargeSmithsonian American Art Museum, lent by the Department of the Interior Museum
Thomas Moran
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1893–1901
Era/Culture/Movement: American landscape
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 8′ 0.5″ × 13′ 7.375″
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Visualizing the majestic landscape of the Western United States in an era before color photography, this painting depicts nature itself as a hero.
The Gross Clinic (or The Clinic of Dr. Samuel Gross) This is an oil painting. It shows an older man in a dark frock coat standing and lecturing students in coats and ties while other men are seated or crouched over, performing surgery on a patient. Behind and to the right of the lecturer is a man taking notes. The setting is a surgical theater in the late 1800s. The students are seated in tiered rows. Three men in frock coats and ties are actually performing the surgery. One man in a coat and tie is administering anesthesia. There are two men standing in a doorway between the tiers of students. There is a woman sitting just behind the lecturer shielding her face with her left arm. There is a tray of surgical instruments in the foreground. Click to enlargeThe Philadelphia Museum of Art
Thomas Eakins
The Gross Clinic (or The Clinic of Dr. Samuel Gross), 1875
Era/Culture/Movement: American realism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 8′ × 6′ 6″
Location: Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The unflinching realism of this depiction of modern surgery, performed in front of a group of medical students, was shocking to contemporary viewers more accustomed to paintings of classical and idealized depictions of the human body.
Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare This is an oil painting. It depicts a steam-powered train inside a Parisian train station. The train station is large. It is partially roofed in glass. The smoke from the train’s smokestack is dull gray inside the station, and bright white outside the station. The end of the station that the viewer can see is open to the outside. The train is black. Passengers appear to be waiting to board. This is an Impressionist painting and, as such, the train, the station, the passengers, and the smoke are rendered with brush strokes that are not blended or delineated. Click to enlargeClaude Monet. Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877. Oil on canvas. 60.3 x 80.2 cm (23 3/4 x 31 1/2 in.). Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, 1933.1158. The Art Institute of Chicago.
Claude Monet
Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877
Era/Culture/Movement: Impressionism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 1′ 11.75″ × 2′ 7.5″
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Monet transforms this smoke-filled modern train station into a cathedral of industrial progress.
Paris Street; Rainy Day This is an oil painting of a Parisian intersection in the late 1800s. It has overcast skies and is apparently raining. Almost all of the pedestrians are walking with umbrellas. The couple in the foreground are sharing an umbrella. She is dressed in a fur-trimmed skirt, jacket, and hat. There is an earring visible in her left ear. She is holding on to her companion’s left arm with her right hand. He is dressed in pants, a buttoned vest, white shirt, bow tie, coat, and top hat. He is holding the umbrella. They are both looking to their right. A man with his back to the viewer is passing the couple on their left. He is wearing a top hat and coat and carrying an umbrella. The viewer sees only half of him. In the background are other pedestrians crossing the street and walking on the sidewalks. There is a triangular building in the background. The streets are paved with rectangular stones. There is a lamppost visible behind the couple sharing the umbrella. The painting is realistic and looks almost like a photograph. Click to enlargeGustave Caillebotte. Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877. Oil on canvas. 212.2 x 276.2 cm (83 1/2 x 108 3/4 in.). Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1964.336. The Art Institute of Chicago.
Gustave Caillebotte
Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877
Era/Culture/Movement: Impressionism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 6′ 11.5″ × 9′ 0.75″
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
This painting explores how human experience and relationships are shaped by the environment of the modern city.
Starry Night Swirls of blue and yellow make up the night sky in this oil painting. A yellow crescent moon is in the upper right corner. Venus, the morning star, is to the left of center, surrounded by rings of yellow and white. Other stars are scattered among the swirls of blue, each surrounded by white and yellow rings of various sizes. Under the sky is a village; a church and its steeple are centered and prominent. Mountains undulate in the background. The mountains are darker shades of blue. In the village, houses in various locations have lights in their windows. A green cypress tree in the left foreground reaches almost to the top of the painting. Click to enlargeDigital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY
Vincent van Gogh
Starry Night, 1889
Era/Culture/Movement: Post-Impressionism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 2′ 5″ × 3′ 0.25″
Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York
Van Gogh transforms the local countryside of Saint-Rémy, in the south of France, into a vision of dynamic spiritual movement from temporality to eternity.
The Thinker This is a larger-than-life sculpture of a nude male figure sitting on a rock with his chin resting on his right hand. His right elbow is resting on his left thigh. His left hand rests on his left knee. Click to enlarge© RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY
Auguste Rodin
The Thinker, 1902
Era/Culture/Movement: Realism
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 6′ 7″ × 4′ 3.25″ × 4′ 7.25″
Location: Rodin Museum, Philadelphia
Originally intended as a depiction of the poet Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy, this figure personifies the human aspiration for knowledge and imagination.
Bird in Space This sculpture of a bird does not have wings or feathers. The body is elongated. The head and beak are rendered stylistically. The sculpture implies the movement of a bird rather than the physical attributes of a bird. Click to enlarge© Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (ARS) 2016/Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Constantin Brancusi
Bird in Space, 1923
Era/Culture/Movement: Modernism
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 4′ 8.75″ × 6.5"
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rather than depicting a bird, this sculpture gives material form to the movement of the bird in flight.
Guernica This oil painting is violent and chaotic. On the left-hand side is the suggestion of an opening made by a lighter shade of gray. There is a wide-eyed bull whose tail forms the image of flames standing in front of the opening. Under the bull is a grieving woman holding a dead child in her arms. The center is dominated by a horse with a large gaping wound in its side. Under the horse is a dismembered man. The hand of his severed right arm is clutching a broken sword. His left arm is stretched above his head and his left palm is open. On his left palm is a five-pointed star. Above the horse is a light bulb. The rays of the light bulb and the light bulb form an eye. To the upper right of the horse is the floating head of a scared or shocked woman. Beside her floats a disembodied arm and hand holding a lamp with a flame close to the light bulb. Under the floating head another woman is partially bent over. She is blankly looking up at the lamp and light bulb. At the very right of the painting is a woman with her arms raised. She is trapped by flames above and below her. The bull, the horse, and the woman holding the dead child have sharply pointed tongues. There is a bird on the back wall between the bull and horse. It has a slash on its body with light coming through. Click to enlarge© 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Arts Rights Society (ARS), New York. Art Resource, NY.
Pablo Picasso
Guernica, 1937
Era/Culture/Movement: Modernism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 11′ 5.5″ × 25′ 5.5″
Location: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Mourning the aerial bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica, this painting visualizes the human impact of mechanized war.
Let My People Go This is an oil painting in purples, greens, and yellows. There is an outline of a man kneeling in front of men with spears on horses and chariots. There is a yellow beam of light coming from the sun illuminating the kneeling man. The men with spears are different shades of purple. There are waves of purple about to crash over the kneeling man. There are also waves of purple with yellow lightning bolts coming from them. Click to enlargeImage copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
Aaron Douglas
Let My People Go, ca. 1934–1939
Era/Culture/Movement: Modernism
Medium: Oil on Masonite
Dimensions: 4′ × 3′
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This work employs the biblical narrative of the Exodus from Egypt as a metaphor for the modern African American struggle for equality and justice.
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird This is an oil painting the artist, Frida Kahlo, made of herself. The background has large green leaves and one yellow leaf behind the artist’s head. There are two dragonflies, each on a leaf, almost symmetrically on each side of Frida’s head. There is a black cat behind Frida’s left shoulder. There is a monkey behind her right shoulder. Frida is looking directly out from the painting. She has dark hair, dark eyebrows almost joined in the middle, and a slight mustache. Her lips are red. She wears a solemn expression. Her hair is braided and wrapped around her head. She has a red ribbon woven through her hair. There are butterflies on the ribbon, one above each eyebrow. Frida is wearing a white top. She wears a necklace of thorns that reaches to her shoulders and trails in tendrils down her chest. The monkey is holding onto the necklace. The thorns are making Frida bleed. There is a hummingbird hanging from the middle of the necklace. Click to enlarge© 2016 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940
Era/Culture/Movement: Modernism
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 2′ × 1′ 6.5″
Location: Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
By transforming Christ’s crown of thorns into her own necklace, Kahlo explores a paradox between feminine beauty and suffering, between death (the dead hummingbird) and new life (the butterflies in her hair).
Gold Marilyn This portrait is on a publicity still from the 1953 film Niagara. The portrait of the actress, Marilyn Monroe, is painted on a background of gold. Her hair is bright yellow. Her eyelids and shirt collar are bright green. Her lips are vivid red. Her teeth are bright white. Her face and neck are pink. Click to enlarge© 2016 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY
Andy Warhol
Gold Marilyn, 1962
Era/Culture/Movement: Pop art
Medium: Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions: 6′ 11.25″ × 4′ 9″
Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York
Comparing the movie star Marilyn Monroe (who had recently committed suicide) with the Virgin Mary, Warhol explores the intersection of fame, identity, spirituality, and loss.
Untitled Film Still #56 Black and white photograph of a woman looking at herself in a mirror. The perspective is from the viewpoint of looking over her right shoulder. The reflection in the mirror shows the right side of her face. The reflection of the left side of her face is blocked by her hair as she looks in the mirror. She is neither smiling nor frowning. Her right eye is wide open. Click to enlarge© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #56, 1980
Era/Culture/Movement: Contemporary American
Medium: Photograph
Dimensions: 8″ × 10″
Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York
This self-portrait, which imitates a generic scene from a classic-type movie, explores the flexibility of feminine identity.
Betty This is a realistic painting of a young girl. Her body is mostly facing front, but her head is turned away as though looking at something behind her. She has blonde hair in a bun at the nape of her neck. She is wearing a pink shirt with a red and white flowered shirt over it. Click to enlargeGerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Betty, 1988
Era/Culture/Movement: Contemporary European
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 3′ 4.25″ × 2′ 4.25″
Location: St. Louis Art Museum
Depicting the artist’s daughter, this work explores the mutability of painting in a culture of digital photography.
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