Yale Art Gallery Part 1

As I stated in my short post at the beginning of the week, my family and I had taken a trip to both the Knights of Columbus Museum and the Yale Art Gallery. This was my second time visiting the Yale Art Gallery. It was nice to be able to set a more relaxed pace. My first trip there earlier this year was to research Renaissance art for an Italian culture class. I’m currently working through the images to decide which one(s) I’d like to focus on in my paper, which I will post by the end of the week. So in the meantime, here are some of the photos and pieces that interested and stood out to me while we were there, with a bit of background info.



Hercules Slaying Antaeus.
Matteo di Giovanni, 1470.
Tempera on panel 



This piece is based on the myth of Antaeus, who could not be defeated if he was in contact with the earth. Here we see Hercules besting him in wrestling by lifting him from the ground, Antaeus anguished in appearance.

What drew me to this piece in the first place was that because it was mythology and included among a gallery of holy religious artwork and icons, it stuck out to me among the walls decorated with saints and martyrs. Why it is interesting to me is the Sienese school was not known for mythological works and here we have an artist coming out of that school creating a piece depicting demigods (and here I thought I wouldn’t remember anything from Italian culture). I wonder how well that was received during its time?

Artemisia Prepares to Drink the Ashes of Her Husband, Mausolus.
Seventeenth Century. Anonymous.
Oil on canvas.

Around the corner from the holy and religious lies a somber portrait. The story behind this portrait is that Artemisia’s husband reigned over Turkey in fourth century B.C.E. He dies, and Artemisia erects this illustrious and beautiful tomb for him, which is called a mausoleum. This resting place is not to her liking and she therefore orders his ashes be mixed with water, so she can forever be his tomb.

I was struck by this painting upon first viewing by it's almost funereal quality. Personally, it strikes up imagery of something one might find adorning the halls of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Almost as if any second now the portrait is going to reveal a sinister side. On a more serious note, her posing mid action almost begs the viewer to inquire of her tale, but her forlorn gaze makes you think  twice. The background draws my attention quite a bit; I wondered what the room utilized for the painting possibly looked like? The off-canvas light source makes me wonder if maybe it was an upper room or an attic in their residence? I like this feature of the painting also in that the light appears to draw attention to her more than her ingestion of her late husband. It is almost as if you can see hope that she will come out of this dark period of her life.

Ezra Stiles (1727 -1795).
1771. Samuel King.
Oil on Canvas.

The last piece I wanted to share was another portrait. I spent a good amount of time in the American art section of Yale Art Gallery this time around. I have a soft spot for colonial folk art, and I found some of the simpler portraits in the collection brought this imagery to mind. This one in particular caught my focus for awhile, again, for the background composition more than anything else. I don't know if I'd label it simple now that I think about it. King put quite a good amount of detail into Stiles' facial features, most notably his eyes.

Close up of Hebrew book on Stiles' shelf.

Behind Ezra Stiles (I tend to gravitate more to the backgrounds of portraits than the actual subject. It is more interesting to see what minute details the artist chose to include), you'll notice his shelves containing his collections of books. I was intrigued by the fact that Samuel King had taken the time to clearly title most of these, undoubtedly from real books Stiles possessed. It was the inclusion of the Hebrew language in the portrait that caused me to look at the painting more. Ezra Stiles was a theologian and one of the presidents of Yale College, so it would make sense that he would be a bit more educated than your average minister of the time. What I also found out was that he was very good friends with a rabbi from Rhode Island and they would  communicate via correspondence in Hebrew (had I more free time, I'd try and decipher the title). I'm at a loss as to what the orb in the corner could be. I'm not sure if it's a representation of the Divine or it's light coming through a window or what, but it also has Hebrew writing included among cross symbolism.



Unknown globe. "All Happy in God."



So this was a small portion of what I came away with for the day. I'm excited to elaborate further on the day spent at the gallery and what was the focus I felt most important to share within my paper. Keep watch by the end of the week for the finished paper.